394 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 6, i6-27. 



the egg is passed, with which she investigates the 

 apertures in the bark or moss, and ascertains their 

 depth. Grasshoppers in the same manner intrude 

 fiheir eggs under the roots of grass. Each female 

 ]ays at a medium an hundred eggs. Tlio ultimate 

 purpose of their Being thus performed, they die. 

 The egg is elliptic, one 30th of an inch in length 

 of a pearl colour, with a yellowish cast ; as the 

 included animal advances in ripeness, the egg as- 

 sumes a brownish huo ; in twenty days is of a 



case with those that fall from branches most re- 

 mote from the trnnk. 



On the twenty-sixth day from their quitting the 

 egg, they begin to cease from feeding, an'l des- 

 cend by the trunk of the tree ; when arrived at its 



the tail. She is destitute of wings. Legs duskji 

 with white joints. 



Like others of the moth kind, they are activ- 

 only in the night ; and in the day time sit close ti 

 the bark of the tree, whose colour is so similar ti 



foot, they with great labour penetrate the earth ! theirs, that they are not seen without near inspec 

 near it to different depths ; and this appears to't'°" 



VoU 



depend in part on the quality of the soil, and in 

 part on the vigour of the animal. 



In grass land they are found from one to four 



lead colour, and with a moderate magnifier the inches beneath the surface, and when the trees 



larva may be seen to move in the shell 



stand in ploughed land, if the soil be loose, they 



On the twenty-first day the larva breaks from penetrate to the depth of seven or eight. 



its prison, is one line in length, and furcished | 

 with ten feet, sik anterior and four posterior. 



There appears to bo a great affinity befweerll 

 this insect and the Phalana brumala of Linnteua 



but that is twice as large as our Canker-worm 



It is described and figured by Reaumur in his Me- 

 moires des Insectes, vol. ii. tab. 30, fig. 8, 9. 



The writer of this paper believes the Canker. 



rfome individuals from an inscrutable cause de- p"'''" has not been observed by any systematic 



lay this operation so long, that the chrysalis state 



In moving from place to place they draw up comes on before they are able to penetrate the 



the hinder feet to the breast, bending the body 

 into a semi-circle, and then extend the body to 

 take a new grasp with the anterior feet, thus 

 seeming to measure the space over which they 

 pass. From this circumstance they arc called 

 ^eomdrce, and in English, loopers, span-worms, 

 inch-worms, &c. 



They are commonly hatched about the time that 

 the red currant is in blossom, and the apple-tree 

 puts forth its tender leaves. 



Having thrown off the shell, they move about 

 with great activity in search of food, and having 

 arrived at the e.xtremities of the branches or buds". 



earth. These perish for want of that equal moist 

 ure which those beneath the surface enjoy. 



It has been observed above, that they descend 

 by the trunk of the tree ; all which descend in 

 this manner, enter the earth near it. This is their 

 natural and regular course, and hence the great- 

 est number of them is found witliin a circle, whose 

 radius extends four feet from the trunk. Bui 

 some will always be found at a greater distance, 

 according to the area which the tree covers ; for 

 if dislodged by wind or accident, at the time when 

 they are about to seek the earth, they cover them- 

 selves near the spot they fall on. In recnrrinc to 



Begin to leecJ on the pulpy parts of the leaves, and the structure of the female insect, we see at once 

 if a leaf be taken from the tree at this period, and the reason why they are naturally confined to i 

 held against the light, it appears perforated with small circle 

 numerous small apertures like pinholes. Each in- 

 dividual acquires its full growth in about three 

 weeks, and in this term casts several skins, each 

 succeeding coat being of larger dimensions than 

 the former; the number of these, and the space 

 >vhich intervenes between their ch,a^ges, is not 

 ascertained. As they pass through these etages 

 they become more and more voracious, and in tlie 

 fourth week are more destructive thau in all the 

 former periods of their existence. 



They are continually spinning as they pass from 

 place to place, and attach the thread to their 

 path ; hence if a branch of the tree be struck 



The larva' or caterpillar is, when full grown, 

 about nine lines long ; the head pale, marked on 

 each side witli two transverse blackish stripes ; 

 the back ash-coloured, marked lengthwise with 

 small, interrupted dusky lines ; the sides black- 

 ish, with a pale line along the length of the body ; 

 there are two white spots on the last segment of 

 the body ; the abdomen or under side is ash-col- 

 oured. 



The chrysalis is near five lines in lengtli, about 

 a line and a half in dicimeter, of a light hazel col- 

 our, oblong and pointed at one end. 



Entomologist ; in conformity therefore with the 

 rules of Natural Science, and until some abler 

 hand shall attend to it, he is inclined to call it 

 Phaliena, (vernata) geometra seticornis, alls cin- 

 ereis, fasciis tribus obscuris, fuscis ; posticis im- 

 maculatis : femina aptera. 



The food of insects of this order in their per- 

 fect state is honey, which they draw from the^ 

 bottoms of flowers through a long tongue or pro- 

 boscis. There are many, however, which are des- 

 tined only to the continuation of their species; 

 these have no tongue. Of this kind is the Pha- 

 Isena vernata. 



The principal check provided by Nature, upon 

 the too great increase of this insect is the Ampe- 

 lis Garrulus of Linnsus, called by Mr Catesby the 

 Chatterer of Carolina, and in the Rev. Doctor 

 Belknap's History of New Hampshire, Cherry. 

 bird. This bird destroys great numbers of them 

 while in the larva state. Another check is a dis- 

 ease which may be called Deliquium, and is prob- 

 ably occasioned by a fermentation of their foodi 

 In this disease the whole internal structure is dis= 

 [solved into a liquid, and nothing is entire but the 

 exterior cuticle, which breaks on being touched. 

 The canker worm is said to have been observed 

 first in*he southern states, where it is probably a' 

 native.- It is certain it must bespread by some 

 means independent of itself, since the female, by 

 the privation of wings, is forbidden to range 

 It may have been introduced into New England 



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Being furnished with fewer feet than other cal- 

 Rrpillars they are more exposed to falls, and while 

 they are secured from injury by the thread they 

 emit, they are also, hy being able to regain their 

 position, in some measure confined to their native 

 >ree. 



immediately beneath the mouth is a conical pa- 

 pilla, from which the fibre which suspends them is 

 emitted. 



Their ascent when thrown from the tree i.9 

 slow, and performed hy bending the head and an- 

 terior part of the body back, until the feet in the 

 third segment can reach the thread, which they 



them from the earth in the month of November P^""'^ °'' "^® United States, by falling from trees 

 While they are in chrysalis, they are uninjured uiP"" ''•■'''"^ges and travellers passing under them, 

 bv frost. This conjecture is rendered probable, by its beiuir 



ascent is long. 

 This part of their economy has sugffosted to 

 bome persons the expedient of breaking the 

 threads, by striking with a stick between the sus- 

 pended insects and the branches of the tree, and 

 It is said that those which thus fall to the earth 

 never rise to the tree again. This is probably the 



, by ; _ 



found in all places which have intercourse with 

 such parts as arc infested with it ; and by its b&~ 

 ing unknown in new settlements. 



It is principally found on the Apple ; but has 

 been discovered on a Plumb-tree, which stood 

 very near an Apple-tree. 



The above Essay took the premium of 50 dollars. 



POTATOES. 



We have, at various times, said much about the " 



mportance of attending more than we have ever 



done to the qualities of our potatoes as food ; 



their fitness for the table. We may be said to 



;the worst potatoes in Massachusetts [not Maine 



blackish, transverse stripes, and a small dash of '^^here they have the best] of any State which pre- 



the same color at the tip. The under wings are . '^""^^ '° ''^'^"^ 'hem. 



Their ii.Uural and regular time of rising is about 

 the middle of March, but happens sometimes as 

 early as the twelfth, and is sometimes retarded to 

 the twenty. fourth, according to the warmth or 

 coldness of the season. They continue to rise for 

 a longer or shorter time according to the greatei 

 or less depth at which they lie, and the extrica- 

 tion of the frost from the earth: commonly from 

 twenty to thirty days. 



The antennse or horns of the perfect insects are 



of an uniform colour, and rather lighter than the 

 ground of the upper ones. 



The old red Cranberry potatoe was a good one, 

 and was thought to be extinct. Last year we met 



The body of the female is nearly four lines in ^'"' 'hem again veiy large and fair, but their 

 length,, ash-coloured, and marked on the back, Soodness was gone. The history given to us of 

 with a brown list extending from the thorax to i "'°'" ^^^^> that when they had nearly run out 



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