122 THIRTIETH REPORT ON THE STATE MUSEUM. [10] 



I send you herewith a letter which I have received from 

 Mr. James T. King, Druggist and Chemist of Middletown. 

 Mr. King forgot to state in his letter, that specimens of the 

 worm have been found in stewed apples, by a family residing 

 in Middletown, somewhat broken up, but in no other way 

 sensibly affected by the heat to which they had been subjected. 



Now, that public attention has been so widely drawn to this 

 subject by the publication, in so many of the newspapers of 

 the State, of your- recent letter, I thmk it safe to predict that 

 during the coming summer and autumn much more satisfac- 

 tory information will be gathered respecting this curious and 

 hitherto unknown parasite. 



The above prediction was not verified, arid it may therefore be 

 inferred that the parasite is not increasing rapidly, and that 

 its presence in fruit cannot be expected to be of frequent 

 occurrence. 



But a single instance of its detection has since been brought 

 to my notice. Prof. J. H. Comstock, of the Department of 

 Entomology, in Cornell University, has informed me that he 

 has in his possession an example of M. acuminata, taken in 

 January 29th, of the present year [1876], from a worm-eaten 

 " Seek-no- further." The apple was grown in the vicinity of 

 Ithaca, and had been stored in a bin in a cellar. The fruit 

 had been shaken from the tree, but not allowed, it is believed, 

 to lie upon the ground for any length of time. 



Prof. Comstock proposes,, during the coming season, to 

 communicate with a large number of pomologists with a view 

 of learning of the distribution, abundance, and such additional 

 facts as may add to our knowledge of this interesting creature. 



The first published notice of the detection of the Mermis 

 in fruit (unknown to me at the time of my communication to 

 Mr. Friend), appeared in the Gardener's Monthly, for May, 

 1872, a periodical published in New- York. A reference to this 

 notice is made in Prof. Riley's Fifth Report on the Insects of 

 Missouri, p. 49, in connection with descriptions of two addi- 

 tional parasites (Hymenoptera) of the apple-worm (Carpocapsa 

 pomonella larva), discovered by Prof. Blley. 



Mr. P. H. Foster, of Babylon, N. Y., communicates to the 

 Gardener' s Monthly, as follows : 



I discovered a parasite on the above worm [Carpocapsa 

 pomonella'] in the year 1869. I sent a specimen to Mr. B. 

 D. Walsh, of Illinois, which he calls a species of hair-snake 

 (Gordius). I also found one last summer imbedded in the 

 apple- worm in the center of a large pear. This Gordius is 



