THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



97 



J. M. Tracy. Michigan. — The blister-beetles you send, 

 which arrived in excellent order, are the Lytta (Enea of 

 Say, a species so closely allied to Lytta Sayi, which de- 

 vours the young pear itself, that some have doubted whe- 

 ther the latter be not a mere variety. Respecting this 

 last, see Practical Entomologist, II, pp. 32-3. To avoid 

 confusion, the term " Cantharis" is now generally dropped 

 for the genus containing the Blister-beetles,because certain 

 authors had applied this name to another very distinct 

 genus of beetles now known as '■ Telephorus." As the 

 facts you mention respecting theoperations of this insect 

 are quite new, I will transcribe them for the benefit of 

 the general reader. 



"these beetles are doing considerable injury to the 

 orchards near South Pass, Mich., and were first observed 

 on the 19th of April, eating the blossoms of the pear. They 

 always commence their meal by eating the corolla of 

 the flower next the pistil and calyx, and often the just 

 formed fruit ; though they do not seem to relish the latter 

 and never eat the whole of it. Under no circumstances 

 will they touch the stamens. If reduced to short com- 

 mons, they will nibble a little on the tender young leaves. 

 They work most at the top of the tree and at the extre- 

 mities of limbs. Their number is great; sometimes more 

 than a hundred are found on one small tree. None of the 

 trees on which I have seen them exceed eight years 

 standinE;. Cherry trees are also peculiarly subject to be 

 attacked by them ; nor do plums or quinces escape. On 

 apple and peach trees they have not been observed. 



"The jarring process is as effectual against these fel- 

 lows as against the Curculio. A very slight jar causes 

 them to 'play possum' and fall. Early in the morning, 

 while it is cool, they will remain dormant for some mi- 

 nutes; but in the heat of the day they are soon up and 

 off'." 



There is another Blister-beetle of about the same size 

 and shape as cenea and Sayi, which I have always met 

 with on the blossoms of the wild plum, and which will 

 probably be found some day or other to bo destructive to 

 the blossoms of the tame plum. This species was des- 

 cribed by Mr. Bland, from specimens furnished by my- 

 self, as Lytta tarsalis. The three may be readily distin- 

 guished one from the other by the following table ; and 

 they are all of them nearly of the same size, shape and 

 make as the Blister-beetle figured in PnACTiCAL Entomo- 

 logist, II, p. 26, but are not striped as that is. 

 A. Head, thorax and wing-cases all colored alike. 



a. Head, thorax and wing-cases all downy...L. tarsalis. 



b. Head, thorax and wing-cases all smooth.. L. Sayi. 

 £. Head and thorax differently colored from 



the wing-cases. (Head and thorax downy, 



wing-cases alni 03 smooth L. Eenea. 



In all these species the legs arc red, with the knees and 

 more or less of the feet (tarsi) black. The three have 

 been referred by Leconte to his genus Pomphopcea — 

 which is one of many genera into which the very exten- 

 sive old genus Lytta has been subdivided. 



Henry Morey, 111. — On the closest examination I can 

 detect no positive signs of insect life in the specimens of 

 apple-tree bark which you send. Even if the powdery 

 appearance under the thi^ outside skin of the tree be the 

 work of some unknown insect, you need not trouble 

 yourself about it, as it evidently, just as you state, never 

 penetrates auy depth into the bark. There is no " borer,'" 

 properly so called, working in this manner, but there are 

 several minute b.irk beetles that do; none of them, how- 

 ever, are materially injurious to trees. I cannot tell, 

 without seeing the specimen, to what insect the row of 

 eggs found on an apple-tree limb belonged. 



Dr. C. Greene, Ohio. — I cannot believe that the appli- 

 cation of Gypsum, or of any other powder, to the flowers 

 of a plum-tree would have the least effect in preventing 

 the "Curculio" from laying its eggs in the fruit. Neither 

 do I believe that any fumigation of the flowers with of- 

 fensive odors would have any such effect. Dr. Trimble 

 has shown that all kinds of offensive compounds, even 

 when daubed upon the plum itself, fail to keep off the 

 "Curculio." — The grubs found under the hide of living 

 oxen arise from eggs deposited there by a large two-wing- 

 ed fly — (Esirus bovis — belonging to the same family as 

 the fly which produces the Head-maggots in sheep, and 

 another which produces the hots in horses. Another still 

 larger fly belonging to this family, which has the size and 

 the general appearance of a large Humble-bee, deposits 

 itfi eggs in the neck of our common rabbit, and the larvas 



arising from these eggs produce very extensive tumors in 

 the afleeted part. 



Peter Ferris. N. Y. — The second batch of eggs arrived 

 safely, but some few of the larvse had already hatched 

 out on the road. I notice that Dr. Fitch says that the 

 web-nests of Clisiocampa sylvatica are very commonly 

 overlooked, "even though diligently sought, being of so 

 slight a texture and placed along the side of the trunk or 

 of one of the larger limbs of the tree and hereby rendered 

 inconspicuous." {N. Y. Rep., 11, J. 321.) The larvae 

 hatched from the first lot of eggs have already spun 

 slight webs. " The other eggs on one of the twigs" are 

 those of the common Apple-tree Plant-louse, which is 

 going to be very destructive and abundant this year. 

 They had hatched out all of them on the road. 



S. Siewers, Iowa. — You can get insect pins of James 

 W. Queen k Co., Philadelphia. 



NOTICES. 



The American Bee Journal is published monthly at 

 Washington, D. C, in octavo form, so as to make annu- 

 ally a handsome volume of 210 pages. It contains a vast 

 amount of valuable information on the practical manage- . 

 ment of Bees, partly from American correspondents and 

 partly translated from the numerous periodicals on the 

 same subject which appear in Germany and other parts 

 of Europe. The price is .$2 per year. We can only sug- 

 gest one improvement to the Editor. The gigantic Drone 

 Bee, of which a wood cut is given on the wrapper, is of 

 very impure breed and should be replaced by something 

 truer to nature. It must be a cross between a Blue-bottle- 

 Fly and a Honey-bee ; for it has only got two, instead of 

 four wings; and instead of the regular and definite pat- 

 tern of vein-work found on the wings of every honey- 

 bee without exception, the artist has given us a system 

 of vein-work such as is found in no insect whatever that 

 God ever made upon the face of this terrestial globe. 



The Farmer's Advertiser is a Ifi-page quarto journal, 

 which appears bi-monthly at St. Louis, Mo., at $2 per 

 year, payable in advance, and is exclusively devoted to 

 such matters as concern the Agricultural interest. It is 

 well printed and edited, and the Market Reports are pe- 

 culiarly full and instructive, exhibiting in a tabular form 

 the separate price of each article for the three preceding 

 weeks, so that the farmer can see at a glance whether the 

 market is rising or falling for anything that he has to 

 seU. 



The Massachusetts Teacher is published monthly in 

 octavo form, at Boston, so as to form annually a hand- 

 some volume of nearly 450 pages, at the low rate of $1 50 

 per year, payable. in advance. Although this Journal is 

 chiefly, as its title indicates, devoted to educational sub- 

 jects, yet it occasionally contains matter of much inte- 

 rest to the Farmer and the Gardener. Judging from the 

 advertisements stitched up along with it, it must have a 

 very extensive circulation. 



The Horticulturist is an old established Monthly of 

 twenty-one years standing, and is published in New York 

 at $2 50 per year, the twelve numbers making an octavo 

 volume of nearly 400 pages. It is very copiously and hand- 

 somely illustrated, and is well printed and edited. 



The Gardener's Monthly is published in Philadelphia, 

 in the same form and style as the above, at ,'?2 per year. 

 The well-known name of the Editor — Thomas Meehan — 

 is a sufficient guarantee that nothing but what is practi- 

 cally valuable shall find admittance into its columns. 



The New England Farmer is an excellent Weekly 

 Newspaper, devoted in large part to Agricultural matters, 

 and published in Bostcm at $2 50 per year, payable in 

 advance. To New England farmers it is peculiarly valu- 

 able, and being now in the twenty-first year of its exist- 

 ence may be considered as having attained years of dis- 

 cretion. 



. The New England Homestead is a new quarto 16-page 

 Africiillural Journal, published every month at North- 

 ampton, Mass., at the ridiculously low price oiffly ccntK 

 per annum. It is well printed on paper of fair quality, 

 and edited with talent and judgment. How the pub- 

 lishers can afford it at such prices, unless they steal their 

 paper and borrow the use of their types, we do not know ; 

 but there seems to be no limit to Yankee ingenuity and 

 progressiveness. 



