1880.. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



133 



involves no doubt as to its itleutilifiition. The 

 "colored man" you met was liKhl, except iu 

 calling it a "buK." The fatuily to which it 

 belongs arc called ''llag-nioths," but this 

 speceies is called the "saddle-moth," from its 

 re.scmblance to an old-f;ishioned saddle, and it 

 does "sting all over. " Every bristle on it is 

 a barbed tube, through which it injects into 

 tlie wound it makes an active poison, and, 

 although perhaps not fatal to human life, yet 

 it produces an unplua.sant, and sometimes 

 painful irritation, or inllammation. The tech- 

 nical name of this if\>vcws\>iEiiipritiaSti)nult.'i, 

 and it belongs to tlie family Ij.\micodii)(K ; 

 section IIktehoceha, order Lei'IDOI'TEKA. 

 This is, however, only the larval form of tlie 

 insect, which spins itself in a smooth spheri- 

 cal cocoon, about the size of a marrow-fat 

 pea, and in the snnmier following it evolves a 

 small, but rolvust moth. The body of llu^ 

 moth, including its busliy tail, is half an inch 

 long, and it is one inch across its expanded 

 wings. The colors are reddish lu-own, green 

 and dark brown. The anterior feet of the 

 larva are very small, and it is entirely desti- 

 tute of the characteristic prolegs of Lepidop- 

 terous larva, its locomotion being accom- 

 plislied by the longitudinal contraction and 

 expansion of its abdominal segments. It is 

 an almost omniverons feeder, and we have 

 found it on apple, pear, quince, plum, cherry, 

 corn, apricot, cabbage, roses and various 

 other species of vegetation (except the peach). 

 It is also a cosmopolitan, so far as our Union 

 constitutes the world, occurring from Massa- 

 chusetts to California, and from Maine to 

 Texas. 



In relation to your ancient German book, 

 and the political information of the past, 

 which you desire, we will include it in a 

 special communication, agreeably to your re-- 

 quest, as soon as we can elaborate it. Your 

 translation of "Des Landsmans Advocate" is 

 perhaps hardly correct, unless the latter term 

 means different in German from what it does 

 in English. An advocate is a supplicator— a 

 pleader, rather than an "advisei." 



A BUTTERFLY. 



The following corresi)ondence will explain 

 itself : 



QuARKVviLLE, August 23, 1880. 



Dr. S. S. Ratiivon— .Sir ; I send you a butterfly 

 eauijht by Benj. F. FerETUSon, near Puseyville, 

 which, I thiuk, is soraelhiiig rare. If so, please 

 answer through The Fahmer, and oblige, yours, 

 truly, R. (' . Edwardn. 



Dear Sir: Your " butterfly " was duly re- 

 ceived and turned out to be "moth;" and, 

 not because it is "rare," but because you 

 think it is, and therefore seem to br iu blissful 

 ignorance of its character, I deem it worth 

 while to say something on the subject. 



This moth (MurroKiUa o-iuocw/rttK,) com- 

 monly called tl'.e "Five Spotted Si)hinx," 

 " Ilawkmoth " and " Humming-bird Moth," 

 is the parent of the green "Horn worm," 

 which, about this season of the year so .seri- 

 ously infests tobacco plants. There are two 

 species of this insect that seem to be partial 

 to the toljacco plant, but they also occasionally 

 prey upon the tomato and potato ; the one 

 above named and the "Carolina Sphinx" 

 {Mucrosilla CaroUnd.) The latter is a. South- 

 ern species, and the former a Northern species, 

 but we, occupying intermediate or overlap- 

 ping territory, have theref<ire both species. 



These moths usually remain quiet or con- 

 cealed during the day, and when their wings 

 are clcsed they are inconspicuous, and may be 

 sitting on the bark of a tree or old gray wall, 

 or fence, and not be seen. But when evening 

 approaclies they take wing and fly to the 

 various kinds of Inmipet flowers, especially 

 to the "Jamestown Weed," and, poised on 

 their wings like a huilmiing bird, they suck 

 the nectar from the flowers and then go forth 

 to the tobacco Helds to dejiosit their eggs on 

 the plant, which, iu due time, are hatched, 

 and from which the destructive worms are iti 

 time developed, 'xhesc habits are, and ought 

 to be, well known to tobacco growers, and 

 also suggest means for the destruction of the 

 moths. Some introduce poison into the 



flowers ; some station themselves near the 

 l)lant they visit, and strike them down with 

 paddles, and otliers use various kinds of traps 

 into which the moths are decoyed and are 

 thus destroyed. Mr. Gibble, of Mount Joy, 

 has invented a trap that seems to answer the 

 purpose ve.iy well. The order LEriuoPTKit.v 

 (mealy-winged insects) is usually divided into 

 three sections, viz : the Diurnia, or day tlyers 

 (which includes the butterflies ;) the Noclur- 

 nia or night flyers (including the larger num- 

 ber of the moths,) and the Cr(}iusrularia, or 

 twilight flyers (which includes the hawk and 

 hummiiig bird moths,) and (he species under 

 consideration belongs to the last named 

 division. 



A female niolh of this siiecies will deposit 

 during the season from (idl) to l.OUll eggs, each 

 of which may be capable of producinga worm. 

 The tobacco grower will, theiefore, perceive 

 what an immense amount of labor he may 

 save, if he can contrive to kill the females 

 before they have deposited any eggs. The 

 eggs are not all deposited at one time, nor in 

 one place, but here and there at intervals, as 

 long as any remain. 



■■GREEN WORM WITH HORNS." 



SAi.isiinuv, N. C, Au^-. :iO, 1,S80. 

 Dh. S. .S. IvATiivoN, Lancaster, \'a..—IJvur Sir: I 

 mailed you this day a box containing a ^reeu worm 

 Willi horns. I call it a " worm " because 1 know no 

 other name for it. Please give the common and the 

 technical names for it through the columns of Tun 

 Fahmeu. This worm was found by my two little 

 girls, under a persimmon tree on the ground. I also 

 include its nest. — Martin liichmiui. 



Your letter, your worm, and your postal 

 card, all came duly to hand. Your worm is 

 the larval form of the " Koyal Walnut Moth," 

 ((.\rali>caiiqiii reytdU) but as the caterpillar is 

 more freciuently found than the moth, it is 

 usually styled the "Royal Horned-caterpil- 

 lar." Indeed, persons maybe for years ac- 

 quainted with the caterpillar, without ever 

 having seen the moth, and if they attempt to 

 breed it they may fail ten times where they 

 succeed once. This worm is partial to the 

 black walnut, but it also feeds upon the leaves 

 of the butternut, the hickory and the per- 

 simmon. From the the first to the middle of 

 September it comes down from the trees and 

 burrows into the ground, where, in a week or 

 ten days, it changes into a black chrysalis, 

 first having formed a cavity, in which it re- 

 poses until the following •.nonth of June, 

 when it issues forth one of our largest and 

 most beautiful American moths, the females 

 of which deposit their eggs on the trees they 

 are acctistomed to feed upon, and the same 

 cycle of development occurs year after year. 

 There is but one brood during the year, and 

 from their limited number in any locality, 

 there is reason ta believe that many of the 

 young perish, and also that niaity of those 

 that go into theground, from unfriendly causes 

 never come tortli again. Too much drought, 

 or too much moisture is sure to kill them— at 

 least this is so in breeding them artificially. 



You are entirely mistaken in regard to its 

 nest. This worm never spins a web on trees, 

 nor elsewhere. The web you sent seems to 

 belong to some species of "web-worm," (//}/- 

 jKiKtria) and from the great number of granu- 

 Uir i)ellets it is doubtless the aiiandoned nest 

 of a colony of these little defoliating jiests. 

 The Horned caterpillar is solitary in its 

 habits, rarely more than one being foimd in 

 the same place. The largest specimens found 

 in Pennsylvania rarely exceed five inches in 

 length, and no doubt farther South they may 

 be larger, even six inches, and pnssihli/ eight 

 inches in length ; but 10 or 12 inches — accord- 

 cording to your informant — seems a "little 

 steep." It is like the man, who, under a 

 fright bought a one dolliir shad, and when he 

 got it home it turned out to be a two-pennv 

 herring. Tuey are very formidable looking 

 animals, and people generally have a great 

 dread of them, but they are perfectly harm- 

 less, and may be handled with impunity. I 

 have handled dozens of them without sus- 

 taining the least injury. The female moth, 

 which is usually the largest, expands six 



inches (more or less) from tip to tip of its front 

 wings ; and the colors are a l)riek red, yellow, 

 and law u or gray— a very showy insect, and 

 coveted by collectors. The first of these 

 worms I ever saw was when I was a boy about 

 10 years of age (1822). It fell from a black 

 walnut tree, and very nearly fell on me. I 

 and my companions were dreadfully fright- 

 ened at it, and we represented it as "bigger 

 than the biggest cowcummer." Finally we 

 returned to the .place and managed to get a 

 string around it and carried it into the town, 

 where it was the wonder of the period. By 

 the time we arrived home it had diminished 

 in size to that of a much "littler cowcum- 

 mer" — it may have beiiu live inches long. 

 Thus it is in the domain of nature, there 

 often is a vast diflerence between the apparent 

 and the real, where we subject its phenomena 

 to mathematical rule; and yet there are 

 many instances in which the real far trans- 

 cends the ideal. 



THE ' FLEE-BEETLE." 

 iVr. T. S.. MarieUa,Pa.— 



Silt : Yom' bottle, by the hands of Mr. 

 .John .lacobs, was roceivod. It contains fifteen 

 specimens of the "llea-beetle," that has re- 

 cently been infesting the tobacco crop in about 

 Marietta and elsewliere. This insect ig the 

 Hidtica (Epltrhr) pubeticenn, 111., and is the 

 same insect referred to in my first paper on 

 "Tobacco Pests," published in the New Era 

 in June last, and on pp. 82, 8H of The Lan- 

 caster Farmer for .Jtme, 1S80. On that oc- 

 casion among other insects, as infesting the 

 tobacco in the seed bed, there were two speci- 

 mens of HaHira, an<l these wei'e of two differ- 

 ent species, namely, piihescens and cunmieris, 

 but the whole fifteen of yours are the first 

 luimed, and I feel thankful for your conde- 

 scension, for it enables me to determine ap- 

 proximately which species is most abimdant 

 and likely to be the greatest pest to the to- 

 bacco plant. 



The whole family Halticula are leapors — in- 

 deed that is the meaning of the term IlaHicn, 

 and puhi'Kenx has reference to the short hairy 

 or downy surface of the body, which is only 

 visible through a microscope. The curuvwrix 

 originally infested the cnotmiber, and hence 

 its name. This insect also infests the potato 

 vines and other solanaccous plants, and as the 

 tobacco is allied to the same family it is not 

 at all surprising that these insects .should 

 manifest a preference for it, on account of its 

 greater succnlcncy. 



I coidd name a dozen of different insects 

 that now infest the tobacco that formerly in- 

 fested other plants, and they infest it for the 

 reason just stated, and becatisc of its great 

 abundance. I am often a.sked why it is that 

 tobacco grown in adistriut where it had never 

 been grown before should immediately be in- 

 fested by the "Horn worm," although miles 

 away from any other tobacco field. My answer 

 is tliat the worm was previously there in 

 limited numbers.feeding on other allied plants. 

 I have known the "Horn-worm" from my 

 boyhood, and dug u|) its chrysalis, with its 

 peeidiar handle, many a time in digging pota- 

 toes in the fall, long before any tobacco wag 

 cultivated in Lancaster county or Pennsyl- 

 vania. It then fed on potato vines. After 

 the introduction of the tomato and the egg- 

 plant it attacked these plants, and when to- 

 liacco was introduced it showed a still greater 

 preference for this plant, and because of its 

 abundance the number of the worms |)ropor- 

 tionallv increased. The case is the same with 

 the HaHkans or "Flea-beetles," the "cut- 

 worms," the ".Soldier bugs," the "Tree 

 Crickets and others. This summer I bred the 

 moth of the Southern "Boll-worm" (J7«?to?^i.? 

 armiijera) from a larva fotmd on tobacco and 

 sent me from Spring Garden, in Donegal town- 

 shi]). Toliacco is a great crop. It furnishes 

 an abundance of provender for noxious in- 

 sects, as well as pecuniary profit to man. 



This is the second brood of these insects (if 

 not the third) aiid this brood will hiliemate in 

 the beetle form dining the winter, and be on 

 hand next spring for the young crop. Second 



