102 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



smeared with tar or any other sticky subtance, 

 and attaclied to a long pole, is a good instru- 

 ment to remove them after the cotton first ap- 

 pears. If, however, this work is put off until 

 the firet of July, it will then be too late for 

 that year because, then all the injury for that 

 scaSon is already done, the whereabouts of 

 the young not being " comeatable " 



An Enemy of the Potato Beetle. 



JE. K., esq., Manheimtoicnship. — The "bot- 

 tled bug" accompanying the tonwof the Colo- 

 rado potato-beetle, which you left at our store 

 On the 2'2d inst., is called, in plain English, 

 the " Splned Soldier Bug," but technically it 

 is cjilled Anna Spinosa. It is one of the 

 recognized enemies of the potato pest, and 

 therefore iieople should carefully discriminate 

 in its favor. I have noticed this insect in 

 Lancaster coimty for more than thirty years, 

 and liave found it with other insects impaled 

 on its piercer and engaged in sucking out the 

 juices of their bodies. The fact that j'our son 

 found it with its piercer plunt^ed into the 

 pody of a young potato beetle ought to be a 

 sufficient guarantee of its beneficial qualities. 

 Happily, this insect increases as its host.s in- 

 crease, but unhappily, its increase is not as 

 rapid as its host's. This specimen is inima- 

 tm-c, although the fully developed bug is vei^ 

 little larger than the specimen under consid- 

 eration. It is really a hiig, in the true sense 

 of the word, and it belongs to the same order 

 as the "squash-bug," "bed-bug," and'a num- 

 ber of various other kinds of bugs. It has no 

 jaws [mandibles), and therefore does not mas- 

 ticate its food. Instead thereof, however, it 

 is provided with a "piercer" [Jiaustellum), 

 "lance," " straight sword," or whatever elfe'e 

 you may be pleased to call it. When this in- 

 strument is not in use, it is closed in on the 

 breast— " .shuts up like a knife" — but when 

 the animal is hungry and the larvte of a po- 

 tato-l)eetle is encountered, then it will stick, 

 cut, thrust, penetrate and wound, sufficiently 

 skillful to vanquish the larva, of a goodly 

 number of its host ; but cannot do much with 

 the hard sliell of tlie beetle after it has ma- 

 tured. For further specific particulars the 

 reader is referred to the May number of the 

 L.\NCASTER Farmer for iS75, pp. C5, 66, 

 where he will find the insect illustrated, and a 

 record of evidence from a reliable and intelli- 

 gent soiu'ce, corresponding with the above. 

 It aftbrd.s us additional gratification to find 

 that farmers are daily making observations 

 confirming what has been written on the sub- 

 ject of insect life, otherwise they might only 

 regard it as a mere fancy sketch, wiitten to 

 amuse, alarm, or to advance some personal 

 end, not connected with the interests of the 

 people. — B. 



Mr, ii. F., (Sout/i Prince street, Lnncaster. — 

 You are exceedingly unfortunate with your 

 " gooseberry bushes. " On the small quantity 

 of leaves you sent us we have detected tln-ee 

 different species of larvcc which are known to 

 prey upon the leaves of the gooseberry and 

 cui'rant. The first and most conspicuously 

 marked is what is known under the common 

 name of the "Imported Currant-worm," 

 [Nemntus ventricosus) which was introduced 

 into this country from Europe about twenty 

 years ago. These worms are of a green color, 

 wntli black heads, and covered all over with 

 black dots, at this time, (July 11) , but at the 

 last moult they lose these dots, and the color 

 becomes lighter. The secrmd is the "Native 

 Currant- worm," { Pristiophora e/rassidaria) 

 which is of a uniformly green color without 

 the black dots ; these are the most numerous, 

 altliough usually the imported species are the 

 most numerous and destructive. These two 

 different species of currant and gooseberry 

 worms are of the same size and form, and pro- 

 duce two broods in a season. They belong to 

 what are termed "Sawflies," {Te.nthredo 

 Family) at the head of tlie order Hyjien- 

 OPTERA, or clear-winged ijisects. The third 

 is a Gcometre or " Looper," almost too young 

 to determine ; but as they are also feeding on 

 your goosebeiTy leaves, they are very probably 



the " Gooseberry Span-worm," {Ullopia rib- 

 enria). It is written that there is but one brood 

 of the.se worms in a year, and that the larva 

 attains its full growth about the 15th of June, 

 when it goes into the ground and changes to a 

 pupa, from whence it issues in the perfect 

 moth state about the first of July, a pale-yel- 

 low lly, mottled with light lead-color, and ex- 

 panding nearly one and a half inches ; and 

 that after the female is fertilized, she lays her 

 eggs on the twigs of the gOoseberry or cur- 

 rant, where they remain cx]idsed to the sum- 

 mer's heat and winter's cold until early the 

 foUfiwing spring, before they are hatched. 

 These little span-worms now (July 11) seem to 

 be about a week old, a quarter of an inch in 

 length, about the thickness of a knitting- 

 needle, of a dark color, with whitish spots 

 along the sides, not visible from above. This 

 is either a retarded brood, a different species 

 or a second brood of the same insect, prema- 

 turely produced by the unex;impled warm 

 weather which has prevailed since the first of 

 July. They have the same habit of suspend- 

 ing themselves by a silken cord, that we ob- 

 serve in the genuine Currant-moth, to which 

 we have provisionally referred them. They 

 belong to tiie order Lepidoptera, which in- 

 cludes the butterflies and moths of various 

 kinds. 



The remedy for these insects is powdered 

 hellebore or quick-lime, sprinkled on the 

 bushes while they are wet with dew, or first 

 sprinkling them with water; diluted carbolic 

 acid, tobacco decoctions, or soap solutions, 

 thrown upon them through a garden syringe, 

 are sometimes used to extenninate them. It 

 is almost impossible to destroy them by hand- 

 picking, especially the first and second named, 

 on account of their great numbers, small size, 

 and their color being so near that of the leaves 

 they infest. But if you want to save your 

 gooseberries, you must do something. 



C. W., Lancaster City.— The large worm, 

 about five inches in length, which you charge 

 with cutting off your bunches of green grapes, 

 seems to be an immature specimen of a species 

 of Philampelis ; but as it dillers considerably 

 from the mature larvce of both SatclUtia and 

 Acheriwn, we are not prepared to determine 

 its species ; and as it was dead at the time we 

 received it, it left no margin for future devel- 

 opment. The fact that you observed " some- 

 thing" cutting off your grapes for some time, 

 and then finding this individual, together with 

 a cluster of grapes, -in your rain stand, is 

 strong circumstantial evidence against him. 

 He must have met with the fatal accident the 

 man did who, in sawiug off a limb of a tree 

 which hung over a brook, stood upon the 

 limb instead of upon the stump, until sud- 

 denly both man and liinlj came down into the 

 brook together. Or perhaps more poetically 

 speaking : 



" Au envious sliver broke, 



When ildwii his vilian troiiliies and bimself, 



Fell in tlie treauherous brook." 



Many of our grape wines, the present sea- 

 son, are hanging too full of fruit, therefore 

 the limited i)runing that they are likely to re- 

 ceive from these worms will not be very harm- 

 ful. It is however tlieu- defoliations of tlie 

 vines, that has been the chief count in the in- 

 dictment against them ; and should they be 

 very numerous (which rarely happens) they 

 might prove very destructive to the thrift of 

 both the vines and the fruit. This larva also 

 goes into the ground and assumes the pxqja 

 form, and the mOth makes its appearance 

 early in the month of June. It expands nearly 

 {\\B inches. The colors are light olive grey 

 and dark olive green, and on the whole, is a 

 "pretty moth." Hand-picking is the most 

 feasable and efficient remedy. 



L. R., LancOiSter, Pa.— The beautiful cater- 

 pillar you sent is si)ecifically new to us. It is 

 of light chestnut-brown in color, and is fully 

 three inches long. Tlie head and lir.st segment 

 are a pale green in color, with two light brown 

 longitudinal stripes passing from the moutli 

 over the front of the head and on the top of 



the segment aforesaid, and extending over the 

 third segment, where they terminate at each 

 end of a transverse oblong pea-green patch on 

 the tojj of said segment. On" the eight next 

 succeeding segments there are the same num- 

 ber of large pea-green patches, oblong in front, 

 but becoming almost circular in the middle 

 and towards the posterior end. On next to 

 the last segment there is a poll -shed deep 

 brown convexed eye-like disk, surrounded by 

 three dark and light-bro\\ii rings, and beyond 

 the disk, and on the two terminal segments, 

 are two crescent-shaped patches of pea-green. 

 There are lateral rows of irregularly shaped 

 spots of the same pea-green, one on each seg- 

 ment, small in front, but increasing in size to 

 the end. The six pectoral feet are light- 

 brown, but the prolegs are dark-brown, except 

 the anal pair, which are light. It belongs to 

 the " Grape-sphinxes," and is probably a spe- 

 cies of Thyreus or Sesia. 



F. L. — The small, yellowish, green and 

 black spotted caterpillar, on your grape leaves 

 and which, when small, only destroy the sur- 

 face, leaving the nervures remaining, but when 

 larger, move in a compact column and destroy 

 the whole leaf, except the midrib ; are the 

 larva of the "American grape- leaf codling" 

 [Procris Americana). When mature, it is 

 about half an inch in length and of a yellow 

 color dotted with black. The larvce then spin 

 themselves into small whitish silken cocoons, 

 ou the leaves of the grape — often side by side, 

 in the manner they had been feeding, and in 

 about ten days — more or less — a small black 

 moth is evolved, having an orange colored 

 ring or collar, and from the fact that we have 

 bred these handsome liCtle moths late in Sep- 

 tember, we infer that there are at least two 

 broods in a season. Pluck off the infested 

 leaves, and crush, burn or scald the insects, is 

 the cheapest and best advice we have to give. 



E. K., Manheim Tiup.—Tha " worms " that 

 have been destroying the heads of your "Tim- 

 othy grass" are the "white-lined army- 

 worm" [l/acania alhilinca). When young 

 they are green in color, and the stripes are 

 only faint ; but as they increase in pize, and 

 at their subsequent moultings, they gradually 

 change in color, and become more distinct in 

 lineation, until the last moult, when they are 

 nearly the color of the ripened straw. They 

 then go into the grotind and change to a 

 brown chrysalis, and the moth appears about 

 the first of August. Until we can procm'e 

 good cuts of this insect in its various states, 

 we must refer the reader to page 165 Vol. IX. 

 of the proceedings of the "Pemi'a Agricul- 

 tural Societj\" 



We have not heard that they were very nu- 

 merous the pi'ese«t season, except in a few of 

 tlie timothy fields. As they are all now in 

 their piqja sleep in the ground, when their 

 destruction becomes an object, perhaps burn- 

 ing off the stubble would produce heat suf- 

 ficient to eflect that object. 



L. F., Lancaster, City. — The large mottled 

 wonns which you found on the leaves of your 

 grape vines, and which, when at rest, lie 

 stretched along the branches, are the larvce of 

 the "Abbott Sphinx" or "Abbott Grape 

 Moth" (Thyreus Ahhotii). The round shiny 

 si)ot on the top of the back next to the last seg- 

 ment of the body, is not the eye, asjyou suppos- 

 ed, those organsbeing two in number and at the 

 other end of the body. They never occur 

 very numerous, and therefore, the best plan 

 to destroy them is by hand jiicking, although 

 while at rest they may be a little difficult to 

 find, as, unless you have a close view of them 

 you may easily confound them with the woody 

 branch. When' i\w, worms are done feeding 

 they go into the ground, and, in this locality, 

 the moth comes forth in April, expands about 

 three and a half inches, and is of a variegated 

 chocolate brown and yellow color. 



M. R. P., Lnnrnstrr, Pa. — Your large black 

 beetle with the narrowed "waist," aiid the 

 rows of bright copjier-colored spots on its 

 wing covers, is what in general terms is called 



