Darling's Address upon Injurious Insects. 193 



frequently drenching the earth immediately round the roots, with a strong 

 decoction of burdock leaves and elder twigs.' Ladies may call upon their 

 friends who use cigars, to puff the smoke upon their rose-bushes, and thus ' do 

 the state some service.' Several insects are appointed by Providence to as- 

 sist us in keeping the aphis in check. Two only will be noticed at present. 

 One is the speckled bug, about the size and shape of a half-pea, called by 

 children Lady-bird, (Coccinella.) The other is a beautiful green fly, 

 (Chrvsopa perla,) with eyes of gold and wings of lace, but fetid almost as 

 the squash-bug. The eggs of this fly are hung by threads, about a quarter 

 of an inch long, to the underside of leaves. You will be careful not to 

 harm those useful insects." 



That beautiful and valuable tree, the Scotch larch, has re- 

 cently been attacked, in New Haven, by a beetle, which, 

 should it increase, will be likely to make sad havoc with 

 plantations of it. By the kindness of Dr. Monson, in whose 

 garden the insects were found upon the tree, we have been 

 favored with a few of these beetles, some account of which 

 we hope soon to give, by our correspondent, Dr. Harris, with 

 an engraving of the insect, and some observations upon it by 

 Dr. Monson. In the mean time, we quote the following : — 



" We entertain the hope of finding a substitute for the locust-tree in the 

 Scotch Larch, not much inferior either in beauty or utility. Brought from 

 a foreign climate, and planted out in a region where but few of that class 

 of trees existed, it was expected to grow unmolested by the ravagers. We 

 were not fully aware how true it is, that there is an insect for every thing 

 in every place. No sooner is a plant imported to our shores, from countries 

 hot or countries cold, it matters not which, but the devourers seize it with 

 as little regard to hospitality as the sharpers show to the emigrants of our 

 own race. So with the Larch. A beautiful tree, in the garden of Dr. A. 

 S. Monson, of this city, 15 or 20 feet high, was recently turned brown in 

 the midst of its luxuriance and perished. On examination, it was found 

 that a small harh-beetle, (ToMicus Pini,) had carried its zig-zag and winding 

 burroughs all about the inside of the bark, devouring a portion both of that 

 and the soft wood. We have been told the story of 80,000 beetles of a 

 similar kind being found upon a single pine in Germany. This seemed in- 

 credible ; but it will not be deemed so by any one who has seen Dr. Mon- 

 son's larch. The color of this beetle is a dark brown ; its length a trifle 

 more than the tenth of an inch. From the fact that a large number of the 

 beetles presented the appearance of having bedded themselves in their bur- 

 rows for the winter, it is probable that their eggs are laid in spring or the 

 early part of summer ; and that the larves prey upon the trees from that 

 time to August or September. Unfortunately for the tree, the only remedy 

 which promises to be effectual, is that applied in the case spoken of, and that 

 is fire." 



VOL. XII. NO, V. 25 



