U8 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[October, 



was thirty yards in length. This author says 

 if the posterior end of this living; column is 

 brought in contact with the anterior portion, 

 a circle is formed, and that these little animals 

 will continue moving around in a circle for a 

 whole day sometimes, before breaking and 

 continuing to advance. These little 'army 

 maggots ' are sometimes extensively preyed 

 upon by predaceous coleopterous larva, espe- 

 cially by those of the family Stapiiylinidce, 

 commonly called the ' Rover Beetle. ' 



" There may be different species of these in- 

 sects in the tJnited States, but so far as my 

 examinations have gone, the specimens brought 

 me by Mr. Develin, of the Inquirer, from Dr. 

 Rohrer, agree with the species described by 

 Baron Osten Sacl?en, of the Russian Legation 

 at New York, and which he has named Sciarn 

 toxoneicroe. On the continent of Europe they 

 are commonly known as the ' Heerwurm.' 



"Mr. D. informed me that Dr. R. subse- 

 quently foimd them in his rose bushes, destroy- 

 ing the leaves,- but this is quite a mistake. 

 He may possibly have found the ' Rose-slug' 

 {Selandria rosea), wWch, when quite small, 

 might be confounded with the ' army maggot' 

 by a superficial observation. But the rose-slug 

 has feet, and belongs to the order Hymenop- 

 TERA, which includes the saw flies, bees, wasps, 

 ichneumons, hornets, yellow-jackets, and nu- 

 merous other four clearwinged insects. The 

 army maggot is the laivfe of a two-winged 

 fly (Diptera), and could not climb a rose stalk. 

 The female fly which deposits the eggs from 

 which the rose-slugs hatch, is a small lilack 

 four-winged fly, and performs that operation 

 on the leaves of the rose, about the last of 

 May, or the beginning of June, and after the 

 larva has matured it goes in the ground to un- 

 dergo its metamorphosis, and comes forth a 

 fly, which by the same i>rocess produces a sec- 

 ond brood ; after the second brood goes in the 

 ground, they remain there until the next sea- 

 son, about the period above named. 



" I do not know any one who has bred the 

 'army maggot" in this country to the imago 

 state, but it has been done frequently by Euro- 

 pean entomologists. They unfortunately have 

 rarely come under the observation of practical 

 entomologists, and when so occurring, perhaps 

 under circumstances which would preckule 

 the possibility of conducting successful exper- 

 iments. It seems to me the only way would 

 be to follow the column until it goes into the 

 ground again, (which it has been seen to do), 

 and then procure some of the earth and keep 

 it in a proper condition until the mature in- 

 sects are developed. In this way I have fre- 

 quently bred the ' wheat-midge ' ( Cecidomyia 

 trrtia'l." 



One of these "Worm-Snakes," or "Army- 

 Maggots," was seen in Lancaster city in the 

 month of .July or August last, but it was only 

 some days afterwards that the /ncf came to our 

 knowledge. As a general thing, people have 

 too little interest in these things to trouble 

 themselves much about their collection, preser- 

 vation, or record, and when they do make any 

 report of them, it is to the editor or local re- 

 porter of some daily or weekly newspaper, 

 where the subject is referred to in the common- 

 est and most general terms, and without re- 

 gard to its place in the system of nature. — Ed. 



•*■ 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



W. B., Lancaster City. — The birds you sub- 

 mitted to our inspection both belong to the 

 Rail family (Rallidte). The smaller one is 

 the common or "Carolina Rail, (Porzana 

 Carolina) and the larger one is the " American 

 Coot " (Fulica americana). 



The former is considered a good game bird, 

 about on a par with woodcock and snipe ; and 

 " Rail shooting," in its season, is deemed an 

 excellent sport — " Reed -bird and Rail " being 

 coupled together from "time immemorial." 

 The latter, however, although a larger bird, 

 and seeming to make a nearer approach to the 

 duck family, (Anid^e) has no reputation as a 

 game bird. It occurs in this county less fre- 

 quently than the common Rail, but a little 

 farther soutli they can be sometimes counted 

 by hundreds, if not thousands, in swamps and 



manshes, where they feed en both animal and 

 vegetable food. We kept one for over two 

 months confined without making the least 

 possible progress in its domestication, during 

 which time it ate sparely of lettuce, cabbage, 

 bread, meat, flsh and worms. 



Mr. J. D. — It has occurred to me that you 

 wanted to know specifically what the birds 

 were which you sultmitted to me some days 

 ago. The two upiier ones were " Reed-birds " 

 (Dolichonijx oryzivorus) in their autumnal 

 l>lumage. All the remainder, except one per- 

 liaps, were the "Little Sandpiper" (Tlngra 

 xvilsonii). The larger specimen was, I think, 

 tlie "Jack-Snipe {Tiiigra maadata). There 

 are eighteen or twenty species of the Snipe 

 family that are found in Lancaster county, and 

 tlieir species in some cases can onlj' be deter- 

 mined by measurement and comparison. — R. 



J. T. B., MillersvUle, Pa.— The insects on 

 the branch of the " alder " which you submit- 

 ted to us on the 2.5th ult. , and who.se white 

 cotton-like secretions gave them the appearance 

 of being covered with hoar frost, are a species 

 of " Wooly Aphis," of which some fifteen or 

 twenty species have been described under the 

 generic names of Eriosoma and Pem^jhigus, by 

 Harris, Fitch, Walsh, Riley and others. This 

 species is, as near as we can make it out, 

 Eriosoma lanigern, F, if it is not a distinct 

 species peculiar to the alder. We hoped tliat 

 we might be able to affix them to the branch, 

 and in that way preserve them, by suddenly 

 submitting them to heat, but our design was 

 defeated, for they nearly all dropped off, leav- 

 ing it almost bare. Most of them we im- 

 mersed in alcohol, but this separated the cot- 

 ton-like flocking from them, leaving them 

 naked ; a few we have preserved in a small 

 box. About one-half of them are winged, 

 which is a confirmation of what Riley and 

 Fitch say about them, although Harris repre- 

 sented them as wingless. Of course they are 

 injurious to any tree or shrub on which they 

 are found. 



THE MORSE OR WALRUS. 



{7 ricfiectis rosina rus .) 



The carniverous ftimily Phocidje contains 

 a curious group of amphibious animals, known 

 under the common name of seals, (Harp-seals, 

 Fetid seals. Monk seals, common seals), sea 

 elephants, sea lions, sea bears, sea cows, sea 

 leopards, and other land animals to which they 

 are imagined to bear any resemblance, includ- 

 ing sea dogs. The great Swedish naturalist, 

 Linnffius, included all these animals in the 

 genus Phoca, but as many species have been 

 discovered ssncejiis time, they are now dis- 

 tributed among several genera. But it is not 

 of tliem we propose to speak on this occasion, 

 but about an animal belonging to another genus, 

 and which is better known to the world at 

 large under the name of "Walrus," some- 

 times also, in books on natural history, the 

 "Morse" (Trkhecus rosmaru^, and which in- 

 habits the cold and unfriendly arctic regions. 



Although ,.the^ walrus bears a general resem- 

 blance to the seals, and is of a similar nature, 

 yet it dilfers veryconspicuously from them in 

 this, that it has no canine or incisor teeth in 

 the lower jaw, and lias the upper canines enor- 

 mou.sly developed into formidable tusks, which 

 in many ca.ses are over two feet in lengtli. In 

 size it vies with the elephant seal, or sea ele- 

 phant [Phoca leonina) having a body as large 



as an ox, and attaining a length of twenty , 

 feet or more ; its body is covered with a coat 

 of short brown hair, and its "muzzle" is' 

 amply provided with bristling whiskers. It 

 finds its strong tusks very useful in lifting 

 itself from the water upon the rocks or ice- 

 banks, where large numbers are often congre- 

 gated together basking in the sunsliine. These 

 tusks also serve as a means of defense, and for 

 obtaining sea-weed, upon which, together 

 witti fish, it feeds ; it is therefore not entirely 

 carnivorous. When attacked it becomes very 

 fierce, and is a formidable antagonist, espe- 

 cially when it is attended by its young. It can 

 readily smash a boat with its tusks, or, rising 

 in the water, it hooks them over the side and 

 upsets it. 



The period of gestation of the female wal- 

 rus is about uiue months, and she generally \ 

 brings forth but one calf at a time, but never i 

 more than two at a time; this twin generation 

 does not, perhaps, occur oftener in the walrus : 

 than it does with the cow, the mare and other i 

 female mammals. The walrus was at one 

 time extensively captured for its oil, and an 

 extensive trade was carried on in that perilous 

 product — as many as fifteen hundred being 

 slaughtered in a single day by a ship's com- 

 company. But that product has become very 

 much diminished, if it has not entirely ceased 

 — not only because the number of animals has 

 been greatly diminished, or they have moved 

 farther north, but because the whale-oil trade 

 superseded it, and this alsohaving decreased, 

 their places, for illumining purposes, having 

 been superseded by coal_oil. 



What next will be substituted can perhaps 

 be more satisfactorily demonstrated at the ad- 

 vent of our second historic centennial. The 

 inhabitants of the cold region where it exists 

 feed freely on its flesh, and sometimes fairly 

 gorge themselves with it. The animal itself 

 is capable of a protracted abstinence, some- 

 times prolonged to two or three weeks. It is 

 gregarious in its habits, and often thousands 

 congregate together at their feeding and breed- 

 ing places. 



THE BOBOLINK. 

 ( Diilichonyx ortjzivnrua. ) 



It is wonderful how the name of this bird 

 •lianges in different localities, and at different 

 seasons of the year ; but this is not more won- 

 :lerful than the changes in its own plumage. 

 When the bird — particularly the male — first 

 appears in the spving of the year, clad in 

 " nuptial plumage," with its merry 

 " Inkdum dinkdum, 

 Bob-o'linkum," 



its colors are black, drab and white, and so 

 distributed and arranged as to elicit the name 

 of " skunk-bii'd " in the northeastern States. 

 It is then gay, happy, and full of its own pecu- 

 liar music ; but after the breeding season is 

 over, the male assumes a'garb very similar to 

 the female, and it is then difficult to distinguish 

 between the sexes, or between the old and young 

 birds. Its nature also ^changes, and instead 

 of the lively bobolink we meet in the spring, 

 it is a dull and lazy gormandizer,'and,breathes 

 no merry song, but has short, spiritless and 

 monotonous calls instead. It_is,then esteemed 

 a favorite " game," and is known in the north 

 under the name of "Reed-bird." Shooting 

 reed-birds "down at the Neck," has long 

 been the sporting habit and locality of the 

 " crack-shots " of Philadelphia, and when the 

 season is inaugurated, great bundles of these 

 delicate little birds may be seen in the win- 

 dows or adjoining the doors of all the fash- 

 ionable i-estaurants. In the Southern States 

 it is known by the common^name'of "Rice- 

 bird," or the more elegant names of "Rice- 

 bunting " and " Rice-troopial." Later in the 

 season it finds its way to the Island of Cuba, 

 where it is known bv a name that is equiva- 

 lent in English to;""Butter-bifd." It gets so 

 very fat in Cuba— and tliis is also the case 

 sometimes in the United States, especially in 

 the South— that when tb.ey fall to the ground 

 the delicate skin bursts, and the feathers be- 

 come saturated with oil. North or South, they 

 are a popular table bii'd, although small in 





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