1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



573 



the potatoes are dug aad allowed to dry, and are 

 then put into pits that are lined with straw. As 

 they are deposited in tlie pit, either charcoal pow- 

 der, gypsum, or the ashes of coal or wood, should 

 be freelj" scattered among them, in quantity suffi- 

 cient to fill up all interstices. Tliey should then 

 be protected from the action of direct sunlight, 

 and after a few days, covered with two, or what is 

 better, four feet of soil ; care being taken that the 

 ground aljout the pits is effectually drained. 



EXTRACTS AND BEPLIES. 



CHRYSALIS OF BUTTERFLIES. 



I send yoii something I cannot find a name for. 

 Please tell me what they are. I found them both 

 on a stalk of caraway. j. e. c. 



Oxford, N. H., Aug., 1871. 



Remarks. — Our very small stock of entomologi- 

 cal knowledge enabled us to recognize the two 

 "somethings," which came safely to hand in your 

 little pill box, as the chrysalids of two ditferent 

 kinds of butterflies. But not being aljle to decide 

 what kind of butterfly either of the cocoons con- 

 tained, we submitted them to Prof. Sanborn of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History, who very kindly 

 examined them and furnished the following an- 

 swer to your inquiry : — 



Messrs. R. P. Eaton & Co. : — Sirs, — The speci- 

 men with gold spots on a bluish ground is the 

 chrysalis of Dunais archippus Fain', which is de- 

 scribed but not figured on page 280 of Harris's 

 Treatise, (edition of 1862) ; this I presume you 

 have at hand. 



The otlier, greyish and gi'een, is the chrysalis of 

 Papilio anurias Lmn. which species is fairly illus- 

 trated on Plate IV. figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the work 

 previously referred to. Francis G. Sanborn. 



Hobton, Mass., Aug. 11, 1871. 



uaaais archippus. 

 With Prof. Sanborn's help we were enabled to 

 find in Mr. Harris's book a description of the speci- 

 men with a string of golfl beads around oue end of 

 its bluish case and gold spots on other parts, — one 

 of the handsomest chrysalids we ever saw. The 

 spots and the necklace were as bright as burnished 

 gold. We also find figures ot the caterpillar, 

 chrysalis and butterfly, in tha American Entomolo- 

 gist, Sept., 1868, pages 28 and 2©. The colors of 

 the caterpillar are black, white and yellow, banded, 

 and is full two inches long; the butterfly is most 

 beautifully ornamented with orange, red and 

 black, and spreads its wings about four inches. 

 They sometimes congregate in large numbers. 

 They live on milk weeds, &c., and do not injure 

 useful plants. 



PAPILIO ASTERIAS. 



Naturalists depend mostly on the characteristics 

 of the butterfly to determine the species. The 

 chrysalis and pupa of ditferent species are often 

 very similar in appearance. Mr. Harris describes the 

 butterfly which issues from your greyish and green 

 chrysalis as follows ; — It is of a black color, with a 

 double row of yellow dots on the back ; a broad 

 band, composed of yellow spots across the wings, 



and a row of yellow spots near the hind margin ; 

 the hind wings are tailed, and have seven blue 

 spots between the yellow band and the outer row 

 of yellow spots, and, near their hinder angle, an 

 eye-like spot of an orange color with a black 

 centre ; and the spots of the under side are tawny 

 orange. The female differs from the male, above 

 described, in having only a few small and distinct 

 yellow spots on the upper side of the wings. The 

 wings of tbis butterfly expand from three and a 

 half to four inches. 



The caterpillar of this butterfly lives on parsley, 

 carrot, parsnips, caraway, &c., and is sometimes 

 called the parsley-woi'm. They sometimes injure 

 the plants considerably. The eggs, laid in July 

 and August, are hatched soon afterwards, and 

 after attaining their growth become chrysalids, and 

 are transformed to butterflies about the beginning 

 of June the next year. Gathering and destroying 

 by hand is the only known method of preventing 

 their ravages. 



GRASS FOR NAME — WILD RYE ( ?) 



Can you give me the name of the grass, which I 

 enclose to you ? It is new to me, the first which I 

 noticed being two years ago ; it is now thinly 

 mixed in on several moist pieces of natifral mow- 

 ing; see none of it on land which has been culti- 

 vated. G. E. F. 



Salisbury, N. H., July 2.5, 1871. 



Remarks. — The flowers and roots are parts 

 which botanists wish to see in determining varieties 

 of grasses. Hence it is often dillkult to determme 

 the name of a grass without these. A pretty good 

 botanist to whom your specimen was shown 

 thought it was witch gi-ass. But on comparing the 

 two, a material ditterence was observable in the 

 arrangement and density of the spikeiets, and 

 otherwise. We therefore enclosed it to our corres- 

 pondent, E. A. Ellsworth, a graduate of the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College, who has given it a 

 thorough examination and concludes, though not 

 with much positiveness, on account of the absence 

 of flowers, &c., that it is Zlymus striatus. Wild 

 Rye, or Lyme grass. 



We are pleased by the spirit of inquiry mani- 

 fested by the receipt of plants, insects, &c., for 

 names. It shows that a need of a better knowledge 

 of the things Ijy which we are surrounded and 

 with which we have to do, is felt. 



And now, boys and girls, how shall the long 

 evenings of the coming winter be emploj-ed ? Will 

 not the study of some of the many prinuiry books 

 on botany, natural history, &c., pay better than 

 reading love and murder stories ? A little knowl- 

 edge is not a dangerous thing in these days, if it 

 ever was. 



THE FIVE-SPOTTED HAWK-MOTH. 



Since we wrote our reply to the inquiry of Mr. 

 H. G. Ballon, of Lunenburg, for name of a large 

 butterfly that he enclosed in his letter, we have 

 obtained the following cut, which, though coarsely 

 engraved, illustrates not only the butterfly, but 



