14 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



certain species of bugs, which Mr. Kiehl has as- 

 certained to prey upon the larva of f lie Colorado 

 potato bug. One of these proves to be a species 

 of true bug hitherto unknown to have this very 

 commendable propensity (the Stireirus Itetyrci] 

 /?w(6jvV?^(/.s- of Say), which will be subsequently 

 figured and illustrated in this journal. The 

 other is the largo stinking bug (Arma spitiosa), 

 already referred to as commonly throughout 

 Illinois preying upon these obnoxious larvas. 

 But alas! at Mr. Riehl's one individual, at the 

 very least, of this highly meritorious species 

 seems to have become demoralized and to have 

 acquired depraved tastes ; for I actually found 

 him with his beak immersed up to the hilt in 

 the body of a poor innocent ladybird (C'occi- 

 nella), which had probable only a few minutes 

 before been making its customary dinner ofl" a 

 batch of potato bugs' eggs. 



[CONTINUED IN OUIi NEXT.] 



A NEW BAKK LOUSE ON THE OSAdlE ORANGE. 



At figure 8, b, wc have represented a new 

 species of bark louse {Lecanium maclnra', 

 n. sp.,) which has recently appeared in consid- 

 erable numbers on the twigs and leaves of the 

 Osage orange at Wilmington, Will county. 111., 

 and also in the vicinity of Alton, in South Illinois. 

 The dark part is the scale covering the insect, 

 and this scale, as usual in the genus to which 

 the insect belongs, is of a blood brown color. 

 The pale part is snowy white, and is composed 

 of a fine cottony down enveloping the eggs and 



young larvEB. By the middle of July hosts of 

 the young larv.-e, which are remarkable for hav- 

 ing a longitudinal dark line along the back, had 

 strayed away from the parent scale, covering, 

 not only the bark of the twigs, but also the very 

 leaves. Fitch describes two closely allied bark 

 lice, infesting respectively the grape vine and 

 the pear (Lcc. vitis and Lee. jyyri), as having 

 white cottony matter protruding from the tip of 

 the scale, as in the species here figured. But, 

 in all the specimens of these last two species 

 which we have seen, there was nothing of the 

 kind externally visible, though the eggs under 

 the scale were partially enveloped in a delicate 

 white floss. 



At figure 8, a, ^e also give a view of 

 another new species of this same genus, with 

 similar cottony matter at its tail {Lecanium 

 acericola, n. sp.,) which infests the bark and 

 the leaves of the common maple. It was re- 

 ceived by us June 26th, ISCj?, from Mr. B. W. 

 McLain, of Indiana, and in a few weeks after- 

 wards the young bark lice commenced hatching 

 out from the cottony matter. We have also re- 

 ceived the same bark louse from Mr. Tiffany 

 of Davenport, Iowa, who found them on his 

 soft maples. 



None of the species belonging to this particu- 

 lar genus of bark lice {Ijecanium) have ever 

 been known to swarm, for any length of time, in 

 such numbers as to become permanently injuri- 

 ous to the plant upon which they feed. In the 

 case of another genus of bark lice (Asp idiot ns) , 

 to which the common imported oyster shell 

 bark louse (Asp. conchiformis) and the native 

 American white bark louse (Asp. Ilarrisii) be- 

 long, a very difforent rule prevails, as most 

 fruitgrowers in Wisconsin and North Illinois 

 know to their cost. This last genus, by the 

 way, is readily distinguished from that now un- 

 der consideration by the egg-bearing scale, in- 

 stead of being in one single piece, being com- 

 posed of three distinct little scales, each larger 

 than the one that precedes it, counting from the 

 head end. 



Reasoning from analogy, therefore, we should 

 infer that this Osage orange bark louse is not 

 likely to become so abundant, or so generally 

 distributed, as to cause any material damage. 

 Hedge-growers will please to make a note of 

 this, and govern themselves accordingly. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL IGNORANCE IN THE SOUTH. 



Suppose some ingenious person were to ad- 

 dress some such letter as the following to any 

 agricultural journal published in the United 



