1879.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



INSECT SAGACITY. 



The olcaiulor In Los Anijck-s, like the oraiiijc ti-oo, 

 is iiifestc<l Willi tlie hliick scale l)iij,'. .\ freeli plant 

 Bct out is 5(1 quickly coveted that an imiuest was 

 hcUl. Behold ! anarray of redaiits, each well loaded, 

 was obeervcd to be traiiepoitin;; these aphiiles from 

 plants alicady fiiiliiit; to new quarters for fresh pas- 

 ture-. I'l ■ ^ ^1 ' ii:: is the red ant's cow. By 

 tlluliii; I li III I i\es tlio bug to exude drops of 

 lusii' ^ II' vhieh is at once appropriated. 

 IIow\ir\ iiu h I ilieliuman brain and human 

 coffitaluHi : 11 ii;iMms that the sap of that plant 

 feeds llie Inn;, and that the buf; propagates there. 

 Naturalists go so far, but no further. 



A curious freak of the army worms (caterpillars) 

 occurred at thu Soiiora foundry, Culiforiiia. The 

 worms, having: gobbled uji cvnyl liin^' Kreeii in the 

 neighborhood, entered Un- rmiiidry in lorce. Not 

 lindlii'r srnib, and not w illiii- Ici ^ive it up so, tliey 

 pitc'ied '111" 111'' iiiiil'lers' sand, wliieli was to be 

 used I'll I I I Hi -, iiM morning. The castings were 

 a deal I 1 li^'ation revealed thousands of 



sand, which they deranged 



.—.!)■. 



Tlu' aliovL' coiUL-.s to US through the eolumn.s 

 of a rocciit iiuinborof the UaUiiiioie iS'kii. We 

 wish llic wiitt'i- had made acloafcr (U.stiiictiou 

 between " scale lnip;s " and " aiiliidcs." Scale 

 it)sects (.-..■.vO arc iisiiallv mi iiiini.nal.lc, nrirn 

 SO larfjc. and always so adlicsivc, thai \vc can 

 hardly sec limv they cunld l.c dclailicd and 

 trjiiisidaiited from one iilace to another l)y 

 auts, unless they were very largo ants, anil 

 very loose hu^s. Moreover, the con-i are not 

 as remarkable for the excretion of lioncv-dcw 

 as are the i/,,/,»7i,:. And y<d I lie coccus oC the 

 oranf;e does exu<ic a sweel nuicns I lia | allracLs 

 the ants, and we have otlcn noticed this on 

 the oranLTc tree in our possession. ]5nt seale 

 insects in this lalilndc are not remarkable for 

 this (inalily, at least not to any great degree. 

 It is common, however, to aphiih's, or "plant 

 lice " as they are popularly eallcd, known also 

 in England as "ant cows." 13nt surely a 

 shcpheVd or a dairyman, who slionld drive his 

 flock or his herd from an exhausted pa-lure to 

 one more Uixnriaid. in ordci- to ineiea-c Ihcir 

 volume of llesh or their (luantity of milk, coidd 

 .not lia\c acted more rationally in etiectiiig 

 that end than these insects did, if the above 

 record bo ;i veritable one. Ants arc well 

 known to have transplanted aphides to their 

 own homes— and not the-e alone, but also 

 their food- and to herd and feed lliem ilierc, 

 in order that they Ihein-elves nii-lil I'ea-t on 

 their saccharine excretions. About the bare 

 fact of pro]ia','ation, we presume the ants have 

 no ftirther interesi in it than it may increase 

 the amount oltlie hou'v prodnet. 



The "curiou- IVeak" ,<{ Uw armv worms 

 allude.l to inav not In' -o vei-y eurii'm- after 

 all. Allir thi'v bud ■•-olil'lcd npeverv -reeu 

 thing," it is prohalilc they were ready to 

 undergo their pupal transformation, and iind- 

 ing the inolders' sand tifforiled the necessary 

 conditions, they may have chosen that in 

 preference to the hard earth on which thcv 

 had traveled. The army worms creep into 

 the earth and change to a pupa afler tlicy 

 have com)ilet('d their larval period and lemaiii 

 there until they come forth a moth. 



THE FOX SQUIRREL. 



Sportsmen in this part of the <■. iiii'\ .,111 in in- 

 somewhat in aquandry as to wliai 1 i,,x 



squirrel. Some entertain the oiiii]:- n 1 :. : n ..nn 



applies to the commoii or more imi v iriM.Mii- 



nated red squirrel in this part of the eumiiv, which 

 opinion has thus far deterred many from "shooting 

 those animals. Blngby, in his history of animated 

 nature, one of the most complete natural histories 

 extant, does not say anything about the fox squirrel, 

 consequently we are inclined to tliink that no squir- 

 rels of that name exist, but that it may probably be 

 the local name of some species of gray squirrel. 

 Will some member of the Legislature, or some 

 naturalist be kind enough to lielp our sportsmen out 

 of this quandry?— f'on-cvyioHt/in^ Xcm Era. 



It is questionable whether there is a sjieci- 

 men of the trtic "fox sipiirrel" {Srun-m Vid- 

 pinm] to be found in Lanea:4er eonnt\-, if in 

 the State of Pennsylvania. The fox squirrel 

 is the largest scpiirrel kn')wn to Xorlii .\meri- 

 ca, but belongs to the Southern States, from 

 North Carolina down to Texas. It measures 

 twelve inches or more from the no.se to the 

 root of the tail, and the tail has a length of 

 fifteen inches. The cars and nose are always 



white, but otherwise the color is very variable, 

 from a gray above and white beneath, through 

 all shades of rusty to a imiform black. The 

 Western fox siiuirrel 1 ,sV/»,-ir.s /(/i/'.re/,,,,,*.,-,) is 

 conliiied mainly to tlie .Mi..-i--ippi \all, v. It 

 is nearly as large as tie' Southern -peeie-', hot 

 the tail'isonly the length of thi: body. The 

 no.sc and ears are never white. The "color is 

 a rusty gray iibovo and a bright ferruginous 

 (the color of iron-rust) beneath. 



Intermediate between tliese two species, 

 and of nearly the -aine -i/ ■ in l"id\. is the 

 "Cat S,|uirrel," also called ihe |ox -,p,iirel, 

 (.S'ci'iiru.s- c//(fi-f !(.-.■,) of IVnnsylvania, with a 

 geographical habitat extending from Xcw 

 Jersey to Virginia ; but its tail is two inches 

 longer than the Western .sjieeies, and one inch 

 or more shorter than the Siiulherfi species. In 

 color it nearly resembles the Southern fox 

 squirrel, but organically it is heavier than 

 either of the other two. The ears and nose 

 are never wdiite. It is most abundant in the 

 Alleghanics, but thirty and forty years ago it 

 was frequently met with in Lancaster county ; 

 it was, howc;ver, seldom met with on the 

 western side of the AUeglumies. There is at 

 least one specimen of it in the museum of the 

 Liniia'an society. Our common gray squirrel 

 {sriurits carolincTisis,) is about ten inches in 

 length to the root of the tail, and that ap- 

 pendage is about one inch longer than the 

 body ; and, although it may vary in the shade 

 of gray above, it is always a pure white be- 

 neath. 



We have not the game laws before us, 

 and therefore we cannot recall what species 

 peoiile are prohiliited from .shooting, but if it 

 .says fox siptirrel it does not mean the "red 

 squirrel" (Sciiirus liwls(mius,) or "chicarce," 

 as it is called in some places— but must refer 

 to wicretf.'s our "cat .squirrel," so called from 

 the "stumpiness" of its ears. 



In enacting laws relating to the animal 

 world, legi.slators only create confusion, when 

 they ignore scientific nomenclature. The 

 scientilie names ought to be, at least, inclosed 

 in pan ntliesis, a- wi' have them in this arti- 

 cle, and ilieii tlie rkMdei-, it lie chooses, Can 

 skill o\('r III. rn williou', de-t royiii:.' the seu.se. 

 Thev will be land marks, or ratlier a com|iass, 

 to point out the dircclion in which the reader 

 is sailing, for there is no relianc,' .generally, in 

 local common names. The Soiitiiern .species 

 is specifically named ri///»ii(iN, which is from 

 vul^KS, a fox, and that i- jierhajis the oidy 

 species that is entitled to the comnum name 

 of "]^ix Squirrel." 



In conejiision, we may be permitted to say, 

 that I'.ingliy's history of animated nature can 

 not lie very "complete," or it surely woultl 

 have said something about an animal so com- 

 mon as the fox squirrel. There are many so- 

 called histories of iinimated nature that nVight 

 just as well never have been written, for all 

 the help they afford in solving seientific prob- 

 lems ; for. do as wo will, we cannot absolve 

 ourselves from the aid of science. 



TWELVE HUNDRED CATERPILLARS 

 TAKEN FROM A SINGLE TREE. 



Mr. (J. Lemon, of East Chestntd street, 

 brought us two compact masses of caterpillars, 

 which he fotmd hiid been depredating upon 

 his fJerman walnut tree, containing about 

 twelve hundred in number- lather more than 

 less. These are the larva' of Datana ministra, 

 the " Hand-Maid " or " walnut inolh." The 

 color of these larva' is so near that of the 

 branches of the tree that they sometimes strip 

 ofT all the leaves without their presence being 

 suspected, which was the ease with ^Ir. Le- 

 mon, he not knowing that they were present 

 until he found them all htiddled and matted 

 together on the ground, and on the trunk of 

 the tree. Length, one and a half inches ; 

 head, jet black : color, maroon brown ; pec- 

 toral legs, six ; prolegs, ten ; a medium yel- 

 lowish marginal line or stripe on each side the 

 entire length : three finer lateral lines on 

 each side, of the same color and length ; 

 sparsely covered with whitish hair; at rest, 

 much in the habit of adhering by the prolegs 

 and raising the head and front part of tlie I 



Ivody upward and backward ; or, when dis- 

 turbed at feeding, apt to assume this po.sition 

 with a sudden jerk, or suddenly throwing the 

 front part of I he body friun side to .side. 



The foreg<iiiiL', however, maiidy represents 

 these caterpillars before their last moidting. 

 Alter that period the I'ormer linesaud coloring 

 become obliterated and Iheaninial is black all 

 over, as to Hie head and bodv, and the hair 

 becomes thicker, whiter and longer. The 

 head also becomes larger and blacker ; and if 

 Mr. ]j. could have .seen his "iiatch" of worms 

 to-day, he jirobably would have failed to 

 recogiii/.e them— they would have been so 

 greatly changed. 



This issomeiimes called the "walnutmotb," 

 and although it infests all kinds, it is jiartial 

 to the cultivated kinds of waliinls, but must 

 not be conro'anded with the " liii|icrial walnut 

 moth" (Dryocanipa imiierialisi. the larva of 

 which attains to three or four inches in length, 

 and as thick as a man's thumb, with half a 

 dozen prominent horns on the front part of 

 the body. The siiecies we have been con- 

 sidering often surprises jieople by its sutldcn 

 deliarture. I'erhajis tlu' tree is"full of them 

 to-day, and yon apply sonic pow-wow remedy 

 for their removal, such, for instance, as hang- 

 ing old hor.seshoes on the limbs, boring a 

 gimlet hole into the trunk and filling it with 

 sulphur, or rubbing the trunk and larger 

 branches with the kidneys of a he-owl ; and 

 behold, the next day it is found that all the 

 caterpillars have vanished, and the remedy is 

 recorded as a success. Ihit the eaterpiliara 

 having' completed tlieir larval development, 

 have oii]\ erept into the groimd to undergo 

 their impal traiisrormation, afler which they 

 coint^orth in the form of a brownish yellow 

 moth, expanding from two to two and a half 

 inches, the head and thorax covered with a 

 thick velvety coat of fur, of a rich brown 

 coloi-, and then each female is ready to found 

 a new colony. They are, however, liable to 

 many casualties, or ihe country might boon be 

 overrun with them. 



Mr. Lemon was fortunate In trapjiing them 

 as he did ; and here we may say that we know 

 of no caterpillar that is easier to destroy than 

 this one, for they arc so gregarious in their 

 habits that they always collect togi'ther in 

 compact masses on the trunks of the trees 

 when they are done feeding, or at nights, and 

 make no attenqit to escape. 



There are sometimes two broods of these 

 moths ill one season ; indeed, a little farther 

 South this is always the ease. l!ut when they 

 come down from the trees so late as the Ttliof 

 August, to iicrl'orni ther last moult, it is ijiiite 

 likely the piipie would remain in the ground 

 until next siiring. 



ANTIDOTE FOR CURRANT "WORMS. 



A correspondent writes to the Country 

 Ocntkman : Seeing occasionally in your paper 

 some one recommending soapsuds, carbolic 

 acid, white hellebore, etc., for currant worms, 

 let me state my expirience. 



My bushes have borne well during all the 

 passed years, and we have had curiaui pics, 

 currant jelly, etc., (we iire temiicrate— so we 

 don't make currant wine), while our neigh- 

 bors have stood back and wondered. Some 

 .said it was because we lived on a cross-road, 

 that currant worms, like tramps, preferred 

 the main lines. A few made their appearance 

 every year ; we picked them oil' and saw them 

 no more. This year one bush had ii good 

 many on it, and we picked ofl" the leaves 

 where they had been at work, but the worms 

 were gone. "What did they leave for?" 

 " Where did they go ?" " What carried them 

 off V" were questions we asked oureelves. So 

 we investigated. 



Near by was a large colony of ants, and we 

 have seen niimbeis of them rnniiiie.' over the 

 bushes. Knowing what inquisitive tliinss 

 ants arc, we set the jiail down <in the knoll 

 and awaited results, riesently one mounted 

 the pail, went down into it and returned with 

 a worm larger than himself, and off lie went 

 home. When he returned he brought with 

 him his brothers and sisters, liis father and 



