130 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



t September, 



apple tree seventy-five; the different shade 

 trees have over a hundred; wheat, harley and 

 oats, fifty. The estimated annual destruction 

 of property by insects in the United States is 

 as high as $400,000,000. A great portion of 

 this loss might be prevented by the preserva- 

 tion of different kinds of birds." 



These insects, taken singly, are also mere 

 trifles, and those who study and explore them 

 are following a trifling pursuit, in the estima- 

 tion of those who only recognize "big things," 

 but the aggregated damage of these trifles 

 throws the wealth of the greatest of them en- 

 tirely into the shade. Birds no doubt save 

 much of this loss, how much jierhaps no one 

 could say, but efficient as birds may be as 

 insect scavengers, there is an insect, accord- 

 ing to the following paragraph, that turns the 

 table on the birds. According to the view of 

 many, the introduction of such spiders might 

 be allowed to victimize the sparrows. 



The Bird-Killing Spider. 

 "The bird-killing spider, a monster from 

 Bahia, with a hairy body three inches long 

 and terrible claws, has recently been received 

 in the Zoological Gardens, in London. He 

 hides under a bit of bark, from which he 

 emerges to kill his prey — a mouse, or a bird, 

 or he will eat a dozen ship cockroaches in an 

 hour. Unwarned by the fate of their com- 

 rades, the cockroaches walk up to the great 

 insect to stare at him; and are caught up and 

 devoured, one after the other, as the followers 

 of Ulysses by the Cyclops. The animal has 

 his uses, and will at least serve to reduce the 

 number of the cockroaches by which the Gar- 

 dens are infested." 



Red Ants. 



Washington, D. U., Aug., 1880. 

 "AVife put a lump of camphor gum into a 

 glass jar, and placed the jar in a closet infest- 

 ed with these ants. They disappeared, and 

 have not appeared since, though the camphor 

 was removed after about six months. This 

 was years ago. The closet was and is our de- 

 pository for sugar, canned fruits, syrup, &c. 

 We therefore set down camphor as a specific 

 for red ants." — A. B. G. 



TOBACCO PESTS, No. a. 



The Result of a Critical Examination and 

 Study of Various Specimens — Their Habits, 

 as Well as Their Methods of Destroying 

 Crops. 



In addition to the insects named in my first 

 paper upon this subject, 1 subsequently dis- 

 covered a fourth species amongst the early 

 infestors of the tobacco plants, in the form of 

 a very small Hemipterous insect — somewhat 

 allied to the " chinch-bug " that so destruc- 

 tively infests the corn and wheat crops of the 

 Western States. But before I could find time 

 to examine them specifically and describe 

 them, the specimens were lost, and the oppor- 

 tunity passed away, nnr did I succeed in ob- 

 taining fresh specimens. They were black in 

 color, except the mambranaceous terminal 

 portion of the upper wings— or wing covers — 

 and scarcely the sixteenth of an inch in length. 

 Of course these insects, appearing so early in 

 the season, must have hibernated during the 

 previous winter. Indeed, I have often, in 

 the months of March and April, when the 

 weather was unusually warm, found Scutcl- 

 lera, and other minute species of Hemiptera, 

 imder stones and other shelters in the open 

 fields, and these, though smaller, bore a gen- 

 eral resemblance to them. These little in- 

 sects cannot ent the tobacco leaves, as mandi- 

 bulated insects do, but being provided with a 

 sharp bill or piercing instrument, they pene- 

 trate the leaves like an aphid does and ex- 

 haust the plant of its sap, thereby enervating 

 it, or killing it outright. 



On June 12, 1880, Mr. Daniel Lippold, of 

 Salunga, sent me some larvfe which he found 

 depredating upon his tobacco plants. These 

 larvae were confined in two tin boxes. One 

 box contained half a dozen "cutworms,''' 



from which I bred the moths. Although 

 these "cutworms" differed somewhat in 

 color, from a gray to nearly black, yet they 

 were about the same in size and peculiarity of 

 making (where distinctive marks were visi- 

 ble) and all had a repulsive, greasy look, as 

 though they had been taken out of liquid 

 grease ; and I have therefore no doubt they 

 were the same species. I have captured cut- 

 worms in my own garden, cutting oil' cab- 

 bages, redbeets, corn, beans and other vege- 

 tation, and they exhibited about the same 

 variety in color, marking and greasy look, but 

 on breeding the moths from them they ap- 

 peared to be the same, differing only in shade 

 of coloring. These may then be regarded as 

 the "common cutworm," or as Prof. Riley 

 has appropriately named them, the "greasy 

 cutworm " (Ai/roUs telifera,) which certainly 

 " liUs the bill ""better than "black," "gray " 

 or "mottled cutworms." 



These pests do not, in an honorable way, 

 come out and eat as much of the leaf of the 

 plants they infest as they need, and then re- 

 tire, but they usually cut off the plants just 

 beneath the surface of the soil, without eat- 

 ing the tops at all. When they are disturbed 

 they immediately coil themselves up into a 

 ring as near as they possibly can. They do 

 not like the sunlight, and hence during the 

 day they are buried in the loose soil, in the 

 vicinity of the plant. It is said that this 

 worm is almost a cosmopolitan, having been 

 found in England, on the Continent of Eu- 

 rope, in Japan, Australia, as well as nearly 

 all of North America. These worms, when 

 they came into my possession, were an inch 

 and a half long, and within three days there- 

 after they buried themselves beneath the 

 soil, and began to pupate. The pupa is three- 

 quarters of an inch in length, shiny, or glossy 

 light-brown in color, the anterior margins of 

 the segments dark-brown. The anal segment 

 is armed with two very small spines or points, 

 by the assistance of which it pushes itself 

 towards the surface about the time the moth 

 is evolved. 



On the 7th of July the moths appeared. 

 This moth is commonly called the "Lance 

 Rustic," from the dark brown lance-shaped 

 spots on the anterior wings, which are a light 

 brown in color. The hind wings are lustrous 

 and whitish in color, with a grayish margin. 

 The antennsB of the females are Hlamental or 

 thread-like ; but in the males, along the iimer 

 margin, near the base, they are more or less 

 pectinated. The body of the largest specimens 

 is three-fourths of an inch in length, and the 

 wings expand one and flve-eigliths of an inch 

 from tip to tip. I have seen scores of these 

 insects captured by setting bottle-traps for 

 them, containing sweetened water. Many fly 

 into windows, where a light is exposed, and 

 " come to grief " by flying into it or against a 

 glass globe or chimney protecting it. The 

 moth is hidden during bright days and comes 

 forth to court and feed at night, although I 

 have frequently seen them on flowering plants, 

 feeding on nectar, during cloudy weather. 

 They are remarkably fond of sweet fluids, 

 and for that reason might easily be decoyed 

 into traps. Gut worms are largely preyed 

 upon by Ilyniipterous and other parasites. 

 There is no better or safer remedy than hand- 

 picking while they iire yet in the larva state, 

 and discriminating in favor of the parasites 

 when seen and known. These cut worms, in 

 various stages of development, may be found 

 in the earth during the entire winter, and so 

 long as they remain too torpid to feed they 

 remain in statu quo until the return of genial 

 spring. This accounts for their early appear- 

 ance, and their advanced physical condition 

 so early in the se.ison. These are doubtless 

 the remains of a second or third brood of the 

 previous season. 



During the advent of the army worm in 

 Maidieim township, in the month of June 

 last, Mr. George Shreiner, a very intelligent 

 and respectable farmer of that township, sent 

 me about a dozen of these worms, which he 

 found preying upon his young tobacco plants, 

 contiguous, to a wheat field that was bady in- 



fested by them. On comparison I found them 

 identical with those he had previously sent 

 me from said wheat field. The wheat had 

 rapidly ripened before the worms had matured 

 their larval condition, and they "finished 

 out" on the tobacco plant. These also pro- 

 duced the true "Owlet" — Leucaniaunipuncta. 

 In other localities they attacked the oats, 

 corn and timotliy when the wheat became too 

 ripe. Whether they will ever make tobacco 

 a first choice or habitually prey upon it, is a 

 matter for the future to develop. The army 

 worm may, therefore, be regarded as a possi- 

 ble, if not a probable, enemy of the tobacco 

 plant. Other insects have to my knowledge 

 made a change in their habits, and have be- 

 come infcsters of tobacco within the last two 

 years, of which I shall have something to say 

 in a future paper. For further information 

 in regard to the "army-worm, " in the cate- 

 gory of tobacco enemies, the natural enemies 

 to which it is exposed, and the artificial reme- 

 dies which have been employed against it, the 

 reader is referred to the July and August 

 numbers of The Lancaster Faemek. If 

 they hey have not got them they can easily 

 obtain them at a small cost. 



On the 17th of June last, Mr. Homsher, of 

 Strasburg, brought me a number of small 

 black beetles, which he alleged he found on 

 and under the leaves of his young tobacco 

 plants, and although he could not positively 

 say that he saw them eating the tobacco leaves, . 

 yet, inasmuch as they were there in consider- 

 able numbers, he was anxious to know what 

 their purpose was there. These little beetles 

 are five millimeters in length, and nearly two 

 in breadth ; convexed and oblong in form, 

 thorax slightly punctured, and the elytrons 

 or wing cover longitudinally striated; anten- 

 nfe laminated at the end, the laminations 

 opening and closing like a kind of fan. The 

 punctures on the thorax are hardly visible to 

 the naked eye, and the stria or corrugations 

 of the wing-covers are also barely visible, and 

 the whole is a shiny black. They are a species 

 of Aphodius, belonging to the family Scrabidif, 

 and the section Lamellicornia. In short, they 

 are "Dung-beetles" and live in and feed on 

 dung, and if they were in the tobacco field for 

 the purpose of "chewing tobacco" (which 

 doubtless some people may regard as filthy a 

 habit as chewing dung) they have made a 

 wide departure from their normal habit. 

 There are about one hundred species of 

 Aphodiufi and allied genera, all very similar 

 in form and habits, and most of them varying 

 little in size— -none of them being very con- 

 spicuous in size. They appear to be the striga- 

 tus, of Say, and it is" barely possible that like 

 manjr other Lamellicorn beetles, (although 

 apparently very remotely,) they may become 

 suthciently demoralized to feed on the tobacco 

 plant. Still I hardly think it probable. It is 

 more likely that they emerged from the pupal 

 form in the soil of that field, and had not yet 

 found their accustomed element in which 

 they prepare the perpetuation of their species. 



There is a remarkable ui\iformity in the 

 larv.'e of Lamellicornia, and those of the 

 Aphodians which are known do not differ 

 materially from the general form. They are 

 all bent as if strung on a fish hook ; soft, 

 wrinkled, of a whitish color, and the anal 

 segments generally enlarged. The adults, 

 when not on the wing, are usually found in 

 dung, and often on its removal the earth be- 

 neath it will be found perforated, evidently 

 the apertures in which they bury their eggs, 

 and a portion of the dung for their young to 

 feed upon after their exclusion from the eggs. 

 Although I have seen ten thousands of these 

 insects in dung I have never once seen their 

 larvffl there, from which we may infer that 

 their larval period is passed in the soil. 

 How many broods there are, or whether any 

 brood survives the season, is perhaps not 

 clearly known. This much I know, that I 

 have found the adult insect flying abroad as 

 late as Nov. , 'and as early as March, on un- 

 seasonably warm, sunny days. Although 

 many of the Melolo7ithons, another family of 

 the Lamellicornia, are destructive to the 



