230 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [CnAP. II. 



Whisky for Ants. — Wm. Davis, of Marengo, Morrow County, Ohio, otfcra 

 the following plan for protecting fruit-trees from ants, which, he says, have 

 killed many trees for him. It is the same plan pursued in this city to make 

 loafers, and then get rid of them — that is, feed them with whisky and make 

 them drunk, and then wipe them out. He says : 



" Mix whisky, molasses, and water, in equal parts, and fill a tumbler about 

 two thirds full, and set it partly in the ground at the foot of the tree infested 

 by ants. When it gets full of the drunkards, scoop them out and kill them." 



We suggest feeding them to fowls. 



Do Worms liain Down? — A person at Angola, Ind., who notices that the 

 Club talks about all sorts of miscellaneous matters, wants us, in the absence 

 of more important questions, to talk about this: "Do fish, worms, and small 

 toads, such as are often seen after a shower, in places where it appeare they 

 must have fallen with the rain, actually come from the clouds?" 



Dr. Wateebuey replied — They do not; it is one of the popular errors 

 which are so hard to eradicate. 



The Locust Question. — A long discussion ensued upon the locust question 

 between Professor Mapes, Professor Nash, Wm. Lawton, Wm. E. Prince, 

 Dr. Trimble, and Andrew S. Fuller, about the habits of the seventeen-year 

 locust, which appeared in great numbers in the summer of 1860, in the vicin- 

 ity of New York. Every schoolboy of any pretension should read all about 

 these locusts, and study their natural history. Wherever they appear, try to 

 learn their habits, and whether they do injury to plants, either above or be- 

 low the surface of the earth. 



Prof. Mapes exhibited the effects upon branches punctured by the females 

 to lay their eggs, he still thought without permanent injury to the trees. 



Wm. R. Prince declared the whole theory of the seventeen-year locusts a 

 humbug. 



Prof. Nash thought they return in some localities in thirteen years, and 

 inquired if the nature of the soil had any efl"ect upon their maturity. 



Varieties of the Locust. — Andrew S. Fuller — We have many varieties 

 of what are called locusts, among which are the Cicada Septemdecim, Cicada 

 Canicularis, Cicada Jiimosa, Cicada Marginata, Cicada Supei'ha, Cicada 

 Jioiertsonia, and perhaps several others. The habits of these are well 

 known, and have been for many years. The seventeen-year locust has ap- 

 peared rcg.ularly every seventeen years for more than a hundred years, as is 

 well attested by numerous writers upon natural history. 



Dr. Trimble, of New Jersey, gave a lengthy lecture upon the locust, show- 

 ing how the insect deposits its eggs in the limbs of almost every variety of 

 trees. A great number of these twigs were distributed among the company, 

 to show the curious manner in which these eggs are deposited. 



This peculiar insect appears once in seventeen years ; but the year of its 

 appearance dififers in every part of the country. In 1855 it infested south- 

 ern Illinois. In 1800, 1817, and 1834 the trees of Delaware and Maryland 

 were literally covered by them ; and in 1843 many of the river counties on 



