118 



THE PKAC'TiCAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



IIr aiUls, tliat he noticed the insect upon young corn for 

 the first time in lS(i6, when they were even more injuri- 

 ous than in 1H67; and that he learns, that in 1S67 some 

 fields of corn near the Susquehanna Kiver are nearly 

 ruined by them. 



It appears from the Rural If eio Yorker of June 29, 1867, 

 that Mr. L. V. Smith, of Geneva, Ontario County, N. Y., 

 had his corn trouhled by this same beetle in 1S66, and 

 that in 1867 "they have increased to an enormous quan- 

 tity, particular fields furnishing from six to twelve bee- 

 tles to each hill." The Editor says, that "Dr. LeConte 

 calls \i Sphenojyhorus antiquus ;" but I know of no species 

 described by any one under that name. Certainly, in 

 1S61 Dr. LeConte was uuable to name the species for me. 



It may be observed that Geneva, N. Y., lies upon Sene- 

 ca Lake, and that Tioga County, N. Y. lies upon the north 

 branch of the Susquehanna River, in the immediate vi- 

 cinity of which river the beetle, according to Mr. Her- 

 vcll, has been most destructive. These facta seem to con- 

 firm the theory advanced above, namely, that the beetle 

 breeds in marshy places in decaying wood, and migrates 

 tlienoe on to the corn. May it not be possible that it is 

 sometimes carted out on to cornfields in swamp muck? 

 It would be interesting to learn, whether fields that have 

 been manured witli swamp muck are niore largely infest- 

 ed, than those which have not been so treated. 



ANSWEES TO COEKESPONDENTS. 



Henry K. Smith, 111. — The large four-winged fly, with 

 a three-fold tail as fine as a horse-hair, of which j'ou scud 

 a very good drawing, can be nothing else but a female of 

 Pimpla (i'%s.sn) utraia Fabr. The long tail is the instru- 

 ment which it uses for insei-ting its eggs into the solid 

 wood of a tree; and it was long ago remarked that they 

 often get stuck fast in performing this operation, just as 

 you have yourself observed. You will find a good wood- 

 cut of your insect in Harrises Inj. Ins. p. 539; and it is 

 tolerably common everywhere in the Northern States. 

 But instead of, as you surmise, "killing the hickories," 

 which you found tliem piercing with their ovipositors, 

 they do just the contrary. Thci/ are your friends and not 

 your enemies. They are a species of the multifarious group 

 of Ichneumon flies, and pierce the solid timber in order to 

 reach the larvic of certain timber-borers, and deposit their 

 eggs in these larvae. Most usually it is the larva of an- 

 other large four-winged Ay (Tremex co/«m6a), belonging 

 to a very diflercnt Family, which they attack in this man- 

 ner; and of the perfect fly of this last you will also find 

 a figure in Harris (p. 5.36.) If you had extended your ex- 

 aminations, you would probably have found the larva of 

 this Fly, which belongs to the tfrocervs family in the Or- 

 der Hymenoptera, at the bottom of the puncture made by 

 the ovipositor of your insect. 



Dr. Wm. M. Smith, N. Y.— Judging from the specimens 

 you send, the Bed Cedars in your neighborhood have been 

 destroyed, not by any insect, but by a parasitic fungus. 

 "Whether or not this fungus is known to Botanists, I am 

 not aware. Perhaps Sulphur dusted upon the trees might 

 be found as efi'ectual in destroying it, as it is in destroy- 

 ing the two distinct funguses on the Grape-vine known 

 as "Mildew" and "Rot." The largo tracts of pine-trees, 

 killed years ago in North Carolina, were destroyed by 

 Bark-beetles. 



L. D. Morse, Seer. Mo. State Bd. Agric. — The "gray-bee- 

 tles" which are "doing a great deal of damage to the 

 vineyards near St. Louis, and also at Bluffton, 80 or HO 

 miles west of St. Louis, eating both leaves and fruit," are 

 the same "Grape-vine Fidia" {Fidia viiicida) which I il- 

 lustrated in the May number of this Journal. A single 

 specimen mixed in with the rest belongs to the closely 

 allied speoies Fidia longipes, which is black, instead of 

 chestnut-colored, under its gray hair. It appears, therefore, 

 that both these sjiocios depredate on the graiio-vine. 



A. M. Burns, Ks. — The larva boring the twigs and stems 

 of your Currant bushes is the same Currant Borer (JSr/e- 

 ria tipuliformii), which I figured and illustrated in my 

 Article on Borers in the 1st Volume of the Pk.\ctioal En- 

 tomologist, p. 29. It produces a moth, not a beetle, and 

 18 closely allied to the Peach Borer (.^r/cria exitio.w). 

 Like the Apple-mnth worm, it is an Imported, and not 

 a Native American species. The insects that are proper- 



ly called "currant worms" feed externally on the leaves, 

 not internally on the wood and pith. There are threo 

 distinct species of these last, as I showed in my Article 

 on the Gooseberry Sawfly in the last number of Volume 

 I of the Practical Entojiologlst. One of the three is a 

 Native American species and is a "looper" or "measuring- 

 worm," producing a moth or "miller;" and two produce 

 four-winged Flics (Order Hymenoptera) belonging to the 

 family of the Sawflies {Tenthredo family). Of these two, 

 one, as I have shown, is a Native American species, and 

 does comparatively but little damage ; the other is an Im- 

 ported species, which is gradually overspreading the 

 country, and is destined to be as destructive to the Cur- 

 rant and Gooseberry as the Colorado Potato Bug is to the 

 Potato. 



L. Mitchell, Ct. — You inquire whether the so-called 

 "Sw;imp-applc" on the Azalea is a proper fruit, or a gall 

 produced by the sting of an insect. If you will send along 

 specimens, I will tell you what they are ; but there are no 

 Azaleas growing in my neighborhood, so far as I am 

 aware, and I do not know what you mean by "Swamp- 

 apples." Because you understand what is meant by a lo- 

 cal name, it does not follow that everybody else does. 



J. M. K., Iowa. — The insects that, as you say, have de- 

 stroyed your apple-crop for the last three years, are the 

 same Rascal Leaf-erumpler (Phycita nebulo) figured and 

 described by myself many years ago in the Frairie Far- 

 mer. The little worms inhabiting the horn-like cases, of- 

 ten secured by silken cables among the crumpled leaves 

 of the twigs, change to small moths in July. I know 

 of no remedy but to pick ofl' and destroy the cases, which 

 can be most conveniently done in the winter, when the 

 leaves are off the trees. 



M. W. Seaman, 111. — The specimens found on cherry 

 and aj)iile-trees, some on the trunk and limbs and some 

 in a ])iece of old cloth hanging in the tree, are the matur- 

 ed larvte of the Twice-stabbed Ladybird, (CAiYocorua ii- 

 vuhieruSy) enclosing the pupa. You will find a figure both 

 of tlio larva and of the perfect beetle, in my Article on 

 Plant-lice (Piiactical Entomologist II, p. 42.) As is there 

 stated, the species preys upon Plant-lice and Bark-lice, 

 and is consequently, not our enemy, but our friend. 



C. Faxon, D. C. — The thousand-legged worm that in- 

 fests tlie roots of your Strawberry plants, causing the 

 plants to wither away, is not, as you suppose, the lulua 

 which I figured and described in the Practical Entomo- 

 logist, (II, pp. 34 and 70.) Although it belongs to the 

 same family as lulus, yet it belongs to a very distinct ge- 

 nus {I'olydesmus), which diflers from lulus in the joints 

 of the body being much less numerous (about 20 instead 

 of about 50), and in their being separated from each other 

 by a wide space, instead of fitting closely one to the other, 

 so that the whole body is almost as smooth as a goose- 

 quill. The species sent is the Polydcsmu.t serratus of Wood, 

 which I have also received from New York as infesting 

 gardens there. The experience of English gardeners, who 

 have long been troubled with European species of this ge- 

 nus, shows that it does not^as you infer, confine itself to 

 weak and sickly plants, but attacks perfectly vigorous 

 ones, the sickly, withered apjiearance being the conse- 

 quence of, and not the allurement to, its depredations. 

 You say that "the least touch of hot water destroys them, 

 without injuring the strawberry plants." This I can 

 readily believe, from the fact that hot water will kill 

 onion-maggots without hurting the young and tender 

 onion-plants. — The cocoon found on your maples is that 

 of the Basket- worm or TiAg-vform {Thi/ridopteryx eplieme- 

 rccformis), which has been repeatedly referred to in these 

 columns. 



N. H. B., N. J. — I can see no tokens of the work of in- 

 sects in the specimens gathered from your cranberry 

 vines; but, as tiiey were not enclosed m any box, but 

 simply folded inside your letter, they reached me dried 

 up to nothing and pressed as flat as a board. Having, as 

 you say, spent already some twelve thousand dollars on 

 your cranlLjerry plantation, you might have invested a few 

 additional cents in postage stamps. 



A. Gilbert. Iowa. — The pretty caterpillars, banded with 

 orange and sky-blue, and with a conspicuous white patch 

 on each side of the hind part of the body, are the !arvi» 

 of tlie Eight-spotted Forester (Atypia octomacutata) — a 

 very beautiful moth. It ie not a very common species in 

 the Northern States, and has always been found where 

 you met with it — feeding on the leaves of the grape-vine. 



