SS4.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER- 



179 



Arvicola. Lacp. 

 xanthognatus. Leii. Meadow Mouse, 

 liparius. Onl. Short-tailed Mouse. 



Mus. Lin. 

 (k'cumanus. Pitl. Cominoa Kat. 

 irtltus.' Lin. Black Rat. 

 luusculus. Ldii. Com. Mouse, 

 agrarius. Gml. Field Mouse. 

 Gkkbillus. Uen. 

 canadensis. Dis. Jumping Mouse. 



Akctomys. Gml. 

 monax. Gml. Ground Hog. 

 SciURUS. Gml. 

 ciuereus. Lin. Cat Squirrel, 

 caroilnensis. Glm. Gray Squirrel. . 

 hudsonius. Frs. Red Squirrel. 

 niger(?) Lin. Black Squirrel. 



Tamias. 

 striatus. Kin. Ground Squirrel. 



Ptekomys. 111. 

 volucella. Lin. Flying Squirrel. 

 Family II— Inclaviculata. 

 Lepus. Lin. 

 aiuericanus.'' Lin. Common Hare. 



1. Very rare, if at all in existence in this 

 county at the present time. 



la A specimen of this animal was shot in 

 Martic township in 1870, and the skin, under 

 the name of "Black Fo.k," was brought to 

 us for identification, and we have never 

 ceased to regret that we did not secure it for 

 the museum of the Linna^an Society. 



2. This animal is also becoming rare in this 

 county, and a very few years may chronicle its 

 total extinction. 



3. This animal, according to authors, is 

 very improperly called the Bablnt. It appears, 

 however, that excepting the " English Rab- 

 bit, which has been introduced and domesti- 

 cated here, we have not a tme rabbit in this 

 county, or even in North America. 



"CARPET MOTHS." 



Of course the term moth is used here in its 

 general sense ; for people regard everything as 

 a moth that does the evil work of a moth, and 

 yet it is very manifest that the different in- 

 sects that do so much damage to carpets, furs 

 and woolen fabrics in general, do not all be- 

 long to the (scientifically restricted) moth 

 family or families ; nevertheless, all the.se 

 depredators pass the longer periods of their 

 lives in a larva'., or worm state, and it is 

 during this period entirely that they do their 

 destructive work, and it is also during this 

 period that remedies for their expulsion or ex- 

 termination can be most effectively applied. 

 The few that arc, or by any possibility can be 

 destroyed, after tlieir final evolution to the 

 imago or winged state, amounts to compara- 

 tively little and may amount to nothing. If 

 female insects are destroyed before they have 

 been fertilized, or before they they have de- 

 posited their eggs, it means xomethiwj, but if 

 not until before oveposition it moans notliiny; 

 because, after that act, and without being able 

 to do further injury, they soon die of their 

 own accord. 



There are various substances, either of 

 which will destroy carpet-moths, if the reme- 

 dies are intelligently and perseveringly ap- 

 plied. Coarse linen or cotton cloths, thorough- 

 ly saturated with a strong solution of alum. 



or camphor, or with coal oil, kerosene, ben- 

 zine, creosote, or a decoction of Cayenne 

 pepper, or tobacco ; and these saturated cloths 

 laid under the infested parts of the carpet 

 will be an effectual extinguisher, but as these 

 substances are volatile they need to be fre- 

 quently renewed. As these insects usually 

 work along the edges of the carpet, if before 

 the carpet is laid the floor be thoroughly 

 painted with any of those remedies, it will 

 prevent them from making a lodgment there ; 

 saturated cloths, however, are better, because 

 they retain the antidote longest. None ol the 

 carpet insects are very active in their larva 

 states, nor do they make any rapid effort to 

 escape, hence they are accessible at all times. 

 There is a species of "Silver-tail" (Lepisma), 

 sometimes in damp and dark places, that are 

 very active, but these are not very destructive 

 to carpets. 



All the moths that infest carpets are very 

 small insects, the largest of them in their 

 imago state, scarcely measuring eight-tenths 

 of an inch from "tip to tip" of their ex- 

 panded wings, and many of the species are 

 supposed to liave been introduced from Eu- 

 rope. The larvaj of those that belong to the 

 true moth family live in small cylindrical 

 coccoons made of fine white silk, and covered 

 on the outside with small fibres, granules and 

 shreds of tlie material upon which they are 

 feeding. These little coccoons are open at 

 each end, and through the posterior end the 

 little worm casts its granular fteces, the head 

 and two or tliree seeraents of the body pro- 

 truding from the anterior end, when they are 

 at their destructive work. They are not as 

 readily affected by remedies as those that con- 

 struct no coccoon; but still perseverence in the 

 remedies we mentioned, will finally overcome 

 them. The "clothes-moth" {Tinea cestianell(x) 

 some times gets into carpet, especially fine in- 

 grained carpets. "The true "cariiet" or 

 "tapestry moth" is the Tinea tapetzella, and 

 for a long time no other insect was supposed 

 to infest carpets. The "hair-moth" [Tinea 

 crinella) has also been found in Brussels car- 

 pets, but it is more frequently found in the 

 hair stuffings of furniture, carriages, sleighs, 

 etc. The Knea pcllionella confines itself 

 mainly to the diflerent kinds of fur, and 

 hence its name "fur-moth;" but as we happen 

 to know from experience the members of this 

 moth family can adapt themselves to varied 

 circumstances, there is no reason why this 

 latter species may not also be occasionally 

 found in carpets. These moths, including the 

 "grain-moth," (Tinea granella) have been 

 known as pernicious destroyers for very many 

 years, some of them away back in tlie times 

 of Pliny and Columella; but perhaps the most 

 destructive enemy to the carpet is of recent 

 date, and belongs to a very different order of 

 insects, although people generally include it 

 among the true moths. This is a Coleopterous 

 insect, and may be more properly be called a 

 "Carpet-beetle," [Anthrenus scrofula riu.s). It 

 belongs to the family DEinrKsriud;, which 

 includes the "Bacon-beetles," "Bone- 

 beetles," " Peltry-beetles," '■ Museum- 

 beetles," etc., etc. It has been especially de- 

 structive to carpets in Xew York and the 

 Eastern States, and has also ajipeared in sev- 

 eral localities in Penn.sylvania, and perhaps is 

 even in our own county. 



Its pernicious cogener the "museum-beetle" 

 {Anthrenus variens) is a most prolific and de- 

 structive insect, and when it once gets a 

 lodgment in museum specimens, and particu- 

 larly in a cabinet of insects, it is impossible 

 to destroy or expel it, without the greatest 

 vigilence and perseverence. Its larva is a 

 small brownish hairy worm, about a quarter 

 of an inch long and has six anterior short 

 feet, and seems to glide along in sliort jerks, 

 rather than run or walk. The beetle is scarce- 

 ly the eighth of an inch long, and about half 

 as broad as long, and moves similar to the 

 larva. The color is mottled gray and brown. 

 The antenuic are short and clubbed, and when 

 disturbed it is apt to feign death, but soon 

 attempts to scamper off. There is not sufB- 

 cient difference between the carpet and 

 museum beetles to necessitate a particular 

 notice of it. 



The carpet-beetle is usually found along 

 and under the edges of the carpet, and there 

 is where the remedies are to be applied. In 

 the summer it flies abroad, and is often found 

 in the flowers of different plants, especially 

 those that are very polonaceous. 



But carpets are subject to the attacks of 

 still another insect, which, by way of distruc- 

 tion may be named the "carpet-maggot," or 

 " carpet-fly." Although, perhaps, not as for- 

 midable as the afore named species ; still, on 

 two or three occasions, it has been found 

 under carpets in the City of Lancaster, and 

 has also damaged them, particularly on one 

 occasion. This insect belongs to the dipterous 

 order, which includes all the various two- 

 winged flies: and it has a remote alliance to 

 the domestic house-fly. The larva is a slender 

 white worm, with a light brown cone-shaped 

 head. (See Proc. Lin. Soc. in this number of 

 the Farjier.) This is the Scenopinus pallipes, 

 described by Mr. Say, more than half a cen- 

 tury ago, although it is probable he knew 

 nothing about its larva or its habits. The fly 

 itself is of a blackish color, with a metalic 

 lustre, and expands less than half an inch. 

 We think this insect would succumb to any 

 of tlie remedies we have mentioned more 

 readily than any of tlie others we have men- 

 tioned—indeed we think that boiling water 

 would be suflicient to destroy it, although we 

 found it lived longer in alcohol than we sup- 

 posed it would from its apparently delicate 

 organization. It will be thus seen, that "a 

 poor mans' labor is never done." 



— -*- 



THE PEACH BORER. 



A Delaware man sends the New England 

 Homestead some heretical views as to the 

 proper way to fight tliis pest. " I am very 

 much opposed," he writes, "to digging ont 

 the grubs with a knife. I believe it is a great 

 injury to the tree. . I prefer to plow the earth 

 away from the trees in the spring after they 

 have blossomed. Plow as near as convenient 

 with a two-horse plow, and finish with a sin- 

 gle horse plow, taking care to run a shallow 

 ifnrrow. With a hoe draw away what earth 

 remains about the trunks and leave the 

 trunks exposed to the sun. The earth thus 

 drawn away contains the eggs of the grub. 

 Scatter wood ashes around the trees. It will 

 keep the trees in good healthy condition and 

 the grubs do not like it. A neighbor who 

 digs out the grub with a knife always has a 

 poor crop, while my method gives good crops." 



The foregoing paragraph clipped from the 

 Weekly Press, is something more than hereti-r 



