6o Editors' Letter- Box. 



living botanists of this city, I may mention Elias Durand, Dr. Leidy, Professor 

 George B. Wood, and Professor Horatio C. Wood, Professor Joseph Carson, 

 Thomas Meehan (editor of ' The Gardener's Monthly,' and corresponding secre- 

 tary of the society), and many others." 



A notice of the hall has already appeared in our columns. 



A. R., Dedham, Mass. — The bugs you enclose are a curculio, called 0-tio- 

 rhynchus picipes, or the pitchy-legged weevil. It is not described in Harris, and 

 was unknown here in 1855 : since then, however, it has increased alarmingly in 

 New England, but is not so common in the MiddLe States. These weevils feed 

 upon the young shoots of peas, turnips, carrots, and parsnips, and often commit 

 immense havoc. 



During the day, they remain in the soil, or in some dark place, but feed at 

 night, attacking the stem of the young plant, and eating holes in it. 



They are also very destructive to the young shoots of vines and fruit-trees, 

 to raspberries, and even eat out the buds of pear and apple trees. 



The larvas are also destructive to the roots of flowers and plants in autumn, 

 winter, and spring. The larvae, or maggots, are fat, whitish, and wrinkled, with 

 horny, hazel-colored heads. They lie generally in a curved position, and, having 

 no feet, remain feeding under ground, pretty nearly in the same spot where they 

 were hatched. Having arrived at full growth, they form an earthen cell, and 

 change to a torpid pupa of a whitish color, with black eyes, exhibiting through 

 the skin the hmbs folded up of the future beetle. The horns, rostrum, and legs 

 are compactly arranged ; and the small wing-cases are wrapped round the sides, 

 exposing the body. From this pupa issues the beetle, or weevil, which is in- 

 cluded in the order Coleoptera, the family CucURLiONiDiE, and the genus 

 Otiorhynchus, or Curculio, described by Fabricius as C. picipes, but by 

 Marsh am as C. v as tutor. 



This weevil is immensely destructive, and it is almost impossible to protect 

 crops against their ravages. The best way is to collect them by hand, and de- 

 stroy them. 



We can see no reason why they should come into the house. They are very 

 hard, and tenacious of life. In England, a family of sand-wasps destroy the 

 weevils, capturing them, and burying them as food for their young. 



The insect in various forms is magnified and figured in Carter's " Farm In- 

 sects," plate M, page 400 ; whence the minutes given above are derived. 



N. T. H., Abington. — Names of plants. No. 1, Trollius Eiiropmis, a small 

 flower. No. 2, Spirea hypericifolia. No. 3, Stellaria longifolia. No. 4, Ara- 

 bis albida. 



Berries. — Is the blackberry a profitable fruit to raise for the market? — 

 We think not, generally. About Boston, its cultivation for that purpose has 

 nearly been abandoned. The bushes winter-kill ; don't bear every year ; diffi- 

 cult to pick ; take up a good deal of room ; and, for these and other reasons, is 

 not a popular fruit with market-gardeners. 



