THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



95 



QUACKS AHD PHYSICIANS. 



The difference, as I take it, between a Physician 

 and a Quack is simply this, that the former always 

 wants to find out what your disease really is, before 

 he prescribes for you, and then varies his prescrip- 

 tion according to the nature of the disease ; while 

 the latter does not trouble his head for one moment, 

 to ascertain whether you are afilicted by Gout or 

 Cancer, by Neuralgia or Dyspepsia, by Inflamma- 

 tion of the Lungs or Palpitation of the Heart, in- 

 asmuch as his Infallible Golden Elixir is warranted 

 to cure all diseases that the Human Species is sub- 

 ject to. 



As with the diseases of men, so with the diseases 

 of plants. We often see men prescribe for plants 

 that are infested with some insect or other, with- 

 out taking the least trouble to ascertain what par- 

 ticular species of insect is doing the damage. As 

 the habits of different insects differ very greatly, it 

 is consequently all haphazard whether the proposed 

 remedies can do any good or not. I find the fol- 

 lowing example of this " hit or miss" method of 

 prescribing in that excellent Journal the Western 

 Rural for March 30, 1867. 



REMEDY FOR ROSE INSECTS. 



Can you, through the columns of the Western Rural, 

 give any plan fur preventing the destruction of roses by 

 insects? A little black insect has destroyed our roses for 

 the past two seasons, by eating the buds just before blos- 

 Bommg. A. E. It. 



Fayette, Toioa. 



Remove the soil from around your rose-bushes to the 

 depth of four or five inches, and the width of one and a 

 half or two feet, and scatter it thinly over the surface of 

 the garden, or pleasure ground, that the larvae of injuri- 

 ous insects which it contains may be exposed to destruc- 

 tion. Fill the excavation with rich compost, in which 

 well-rotted cow-manure forms the principal ingredient. 

 This will increase the vigor of the plants and enable them 

 to withstand the attacks of insects. It will be found that 

 unhealthy plants suffer most from the rose-bug, the slug 

 and other pests. Dusting the leaves with ashes or road- 

 dust has been found beneficial, also syringing them with 

 soap-suds. The syringe is more suitable than the 

 sprinkler; with it the insects on the under sides of the 

 leaves oan be reached. 



What the " little black insect" spoken of by A. 

 E. R. really be, it is impossible to say with any 

 certainty; but likely enough it is nothing but the 

 common Plant-louse of the Rose, {Aphis rosx). 

 In this case " removing the soil from around the 

 rose-bushes" will not kill a single one of the pests, 

 because that insect never goes under ground in any 

 of its states. Certainly it cannot be the common 

 Rose-bug {Macrodacti/liis suJi^plnosus), that is af- 

 flicting A. E. R.'s bushes; for that insect is yel- 

 low, not black. Neither can it be the common 

 Slug-worm of the rose, {Selandria rosx), for that 

 larva feeds on the fully-expanded leaves, and does 

 not gather more peculiarly on the unexpanded tips 

 of the twigs, as does the Plant-louse of the rose. 

 I am acquainted with the larva of a small moth, 

 (probably a species of Argyrotnxa), which in parti- 

 cular seasons bores the unexpanded flower-buds, 

 especially of moss-roses, till nothing is left of them 

 but a mere shell. But that larva is rather green 

 than black ; and if the Western Rural knows that 

 it goes under ground to transforin, it knows more 

 than I do. 



It is very true, that if the insect complained of 

 be really a Plant-louse, '■' syringing the bushes with 

 soap-suds" will probably be beneficial. But on 

 that supposition, why impose on A. E. R. the ad- 

 ditional labor of removing so much soil 1 Prescri- 

 bing after this blindfold fashion is a good deal like 

 pouring into the stomach of a human patient, who 

 may perhaps be troubled with a cold in the head, 

 remedies to cure the Gout, and remedies to cure the 

 Itch, specifics against Rheumatism, and specifics 

 against the Measles, and a variety of other medi- 

 cines to operate specially upon the Lungs, the 

 Heart, the Kidneys and the Liver. b. d w. 



THE EPHEMERON OR MAT-FLY. 



It is popularly supposed that this insect lives 

 only a few hours, or, as the Greek etymology of the 

 word " Ephemeron" denotes, only a single day. So 

 far as regards the perfect insect, this is true of cer- 

 tain species belonging to this Family; though it is 

 recorded by authors, that other species live several 

 days in the Perfect or Fly state ; and I h~ave my- 

 self kept one of our largest species — -the Palingenia 

 hilineata of Say — alive in my breeding-cages for 

 nearly a week. But although in the Fly state the 

 duration of life is very short, yet in the larva or 

 grub state most of these insects live nearly a year, 

 and some of them, as is said, nearly two years, all 

 of them without exception inhabiting the water 

 during that stage of their existence. Hence the 

 beautiful and well known reflections, which Dr. 

 Franklin puts into the mouth of "the ancient 

 Ephemeron that had actually lived 370 minutes," 

 however instructive they may be in point of Moral- 

 ity, are incorrect and untrue in point of Natural 

 History. b. d. w. 



A GROUNDLESS FEAR. 



We clip the following item, with the accompany- 

 ing editorial remarks, from the Montldy Report of 

 the Agricultural Department, for February, 1867, 

 (p. 62). 



Dixon, III. — " Last year I had some very fine asters, 

 and a long, slim, black bug destroyed them by eating the 

 flower. In the morning I would kill them, and before 

 evening another swarm would literally cover them. I 

 saved a few seeds, but do not like to plant them, for fear 

 I might be propagating the bug." 



[The insect injuring the asters is probably the li/tta, a 

 species of the cantharidoe, and which is very injurious to 

 the aster.] 



The particular species was no doubt the Black 

 Blister-beetle, {Li/tta atrata"), which I know to be 

 peculiarly hard on Asters, and which sometimes 

 also attacks the potato plant. (See the Practical 

 Entomologist, II, p. 26.) The gentleman at 

 Dixon need not be apprehensive of propagating 

 the "bug," or properly speaking, "beetle," by plant- 

 ing his aster seed. Its eggs are not laid upon the 

 seed of the aster, nor upon any other kind of seed, 

 but in the earth. And it is in the earth that the 

 larva exclusively lives; feeding upon the roots of va- 

 rious plants, until it is ready to come out into the 

 light of day, in the form of the perfect Beetle. 



B. D. w. 



