THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



59 



Parsnip Caterpillars— Scorpions— /■. Brewer, 



Wa!jnemlle, Jfo — The green black and yellow caterpil- 

 lars found on your parsnip ptonts, are the larva; of our 

 common black Swallow-tail butterfly {I'apilio Anterias, 

 Cramer). They occur on the parsnip and carrot, as 

 well as on other umbellate plants, but seldom be- 

 come sufficiently numerous to get beyond our control . 

 The butterflies are fond of hovering over and obtaining 

 honey ft-oni the flowers of the Phlox, and in extricat- 

 ing their tongues, they generally pull off the petal 

 and thus mar their beauty. The " crabbish looking 

 fcUows ' ' that were ' ' under a stone on a high dry hill '^ 

 are true scorpions. The species is the Butlius carolini- 

 anus of Beauvois, and you will find an account of it by 

 Dr. G. Lincecum, accompanied with a figure, on page 

 203 of the first voliuue of the American Naturalist. 

 It is described as a Texan species, but besides the four 

 you have sent, we have ourselves obtained two, the 

 past summer, from the Iron Mountain region in Mis- 

 souri. We were not a little sui-prised on opening the 

 box to find four o.f these ' ' crabbish looking fcllo w.s ' ' 

 alive and coolly twisting their armed tails about, and 

 it required some steadiness of nerve to capture them 

 without getting stung. Their sting, however, is not 

 so venomous as that of certain tropical species, being 

 scarcely so bad as the sting of a bee. 



Noxions Insects najaeA.— James U. Parsons, 

 Franklin, N. y.— 1st. The vveb-splnning caterpillars 

 that make their appearance on apple trees in midsum- 

 mer and remain till frost, and which as j ou say are so 

 numerous with you this year that almost eviiy apiile 

 tree contains half a dozen of tlirir ih-n. iinii li. tlh 

 common Fall Webworm {Hypli u - ' 1 : i . i i . I : 



occui's also on various forcst-tr. i i ; ' 



the Pignut Hickory. Its moth i~i i i ; i - 



while that of the common Tent < ahipiiiir i- in.niiiisli 

 ochre-yellow. 2d. The other \\»vm iiii.-tin.:; :iijplu- 

 trees, with a red head and a rcl limiii> nu ilsbaek, 

 must be the Red-humped PromiiKiit (.\r /-./ '/,^/ i-nncin- 

 na, Sm. Abb). 3d. The wliite hairy cutcriiillar on 

 the same tree is probably the common ^V^ooly Bear 

 {Arctia virginica, Fabr.) which we have observed to 

 swarm occasionally on the apple . 4th . The large worm 

 in the core of your apples must be the common Apple 

 ■NVormorOodUng Moth Worm p /,,.//./. 



L.) 5th. The small worm whic'li ii- i; liiilpor 



the apple, makes long windin,;;- i> . ' i:i i.'i n. anil 

 appears to come out through till- -im. i- m ail prolia- 

 bility the Apple-maggot {Tnii«t„ /'■'„i,'„,u\,, \\iil,-,li), 

 which is such a pest in tlic IIihIm>ii Khir country and 

 in New England. Hcnic tin- inrniri.ius insect aiipears 

 to be gradually working il> \\ ay wt-tward. 



Cut-nrorms destroying; recently soivn 

 Wheat.— r. A'. Allen, AUentun, Mo.— The dingy brown 

 worms, with a conspicuous yellowish gray band along 

 their sides, came safely to hand. They are a species 

 of cut-worm; but thouL'h we have ilcscriptions of at 

 least a dozen worms of llii- .1:,--. :nhl lia\c Ineilmany 

 to the moth state, yet lli. - i\ Ik. !i . i ■' ihI ilillir from 

 themall. They are in all i: r: ili lai\a' ol'some 

 owlet moth or other (Kanii I \ A . I.ul tin- >pecies 



cannot be determined until wc hrcod tlirni. Vou say 

 that they are destroying the wheat recently sown on 

 oats stubble, both iu vour own vicinity and in Franklin 

 county, and that they do not seem to attack any hut 

 that whicji is sotvn on out^ ^tahlJr AVi' can give no rea- 

 son for this singular pailialii\ . liui il' it proves to be 

 general, it may serve miu a- a \\ca]>on against this 

 enemy, for you will bi-aMc ti. rva.lc it by not plant- 

 ing on oats stubble. In tli.. pia-mt state of things, 

 lime or salt sown on the land would be apt to check 



I'land, y. 3'.— The insect that was attacking the Fa 

 ia iextor, Harris) ononeo" 

 same Spijitd Soldier Bug 



Webworm, (Ifyphantria textor, Harris) on one of your 

 apple trees, was the same Spijitd Soldier Bug illus- 

 trated by figure 41 in tills number of the A. E. It 



however, not iu the perfect winged state, when you saw 

 it attack the worm, but in the pupa state. By the tinu' 

 it had reached us it had moulted into the perfect statr, 

 and by its side there lay the east skin or shell of tin- 

 pupa. The worm that you had so providently suiiplit-.l 

 it with, by way of provision on the long journev, was 

 dead and sucked as dry as a chip bv the beak of the 

 ferocious cannibal. 



Xlie Preying- Iflantis, alias Devil's Riding: 



Horse, etc.— Amelie Pettit, Jefferson City, Mo.— The 

 insect, which "the children eali Devil's riding- 

 horse , " and which you would like to know the scientific 

 name of, is the Mantis Carolina, of Linna;us. Its food 

 consists mainly of files, though it is a most voracious 

 cannibal and will devour its own kind as well as any 

 other living insect that comes within its grasp. It dis- 

 dains all dead food, and never makes chase for theliv- 

 imr, but warily, patiently, and motionless, it watches 

 till it.s victim is within tin- n-auli of its fore-arms, and 

 tlirn rlntrlu-- it witlL a su. Iil(-n and rapidmotion. Its 

 apiH-ai-am-r is i-,-all,\ f.n-niidalili-. and its attitude while 

 watc-hini;- lor its pr(-y, qnilr nn-naccous, and on this ac- 

 count it is held in a i-ry ;:inrral ami snpei-stitious dread. 

 It is, however, uttiilx in.apalil.- uf harniuig any one; 

 and, as one of our lir-t iVii-nMs. slicnildlii'cbtrisbedand 

 protected. The tVniali- allaclirs iK-r c^,;;s, in a solid 

 cnmpart mass, tn the twigs ot trees. This egg-mass is 

 (l.-pii-iti-.l wlinli-, and the operation of depositing re- 

 (jnir.-- \\ ( II ni jli an hour. Though soft at first, the mass 

 .sonn hanlrn-, and is readily transferred and introduced 



The Pigeon Xremex — F. Brewer, Waynesville, Mo. 



— The two four- winged files, each measuring about one 

 and a half inches in length, and each with a black and 

 rust-colored, cylindrical body of the size of a common 

 lead pencil, which has a stout piercer at the extremity; 

 are both of them females of t he I'i,i;-i-ou Trcmc-x ( Tremex 

 coluniba, Linn.) Tou say they have- at least one suspi- 

 cious habit, and that you Ibimd them seeni-ely attached 

 \" an nak tree, apparently in llie act <il' depositing an 

 , ;:iid \u\i wi^li lo knuw wln-llier er not thev are 

 : ' niiuVi.ni- P. Irnit liv,-. ,n- wliellu-r they' arc 

 . -iiiMh .| lu iMir-i Her-. Tliey njay Ije eonsidcrcd as 



qiieutly ean-eilie dealli nf tin- tree ili,-v in lest 'i'linn.^-li 

 they breed in -.-\eral diil'ei-eni l^inds i.i' idri'-i tree-, wc 



of 



Falirieins) wliieli pre\enl it- lH-eoinin;j- tunlnly uumer- 

 UU-. The- leniales of butli these lelmeiunon flies are 

 fnrni-hiMl with extreinely long ovipo.sitors, by aid of 

 w liieh they are enabled to reach and ovipositin the lar- 

 \a 111 the Pigeon Tremcx. 



Flcsli-ivornis,— TV;'. W, J. Stuuii, Homtoit, Texas. 

 —Vou say that ei-hteen months a-u, you placed a can- 

 cer in a bottle .if rdenhnl, \vliere it lias remained undis- 

 turbed ever sinee: hut the eerli. hc-iii^' pornns, the alco- 

 hol had lelt the bottle, ■ ' the cancer began to be con- 

 verted into worms , ' ' and that now it is " a living mass 

 of worms. ' ' Those which you send are evidently the 

 larvre of one of the numerous sjiecies of two- winged 

 flies, belonging to the great MUSCA family. The parent 

 fly, attracted to tin- bottle by the odor, deposited her 

 eggs on tlie eorls , and lln- young maggots which hatch- 

 ed from them, lindin- no difficulty in penetrating the 

 ininedialely commenced to fullil their 



porous 



tlii-x w 



rbcd 



Ulldh; 



blance to the Texas Sci'cw-worm which breeds iu the 

 wounds of cattle and sheep, specimens of which had 

 been previously sent to us by Mr. Thos. Aflleck of 

 Brenham, in your State. 



Fall Wcb-ivorm on Hicltory — /"/•«/. W. W. 

 Danielle, Madison, Wis.~^\\e brown hairy catei-pillars , 

 rather more than an inch long, which are covering the 

 hickories ivith their webs in your vicinity, are popu- 

 larly kiio\Nn as tile Fall A\-e:'i-worni. They are the 

 lar\ a' of a -mall molli ! /,>,-.', .,„',/„ t..,tor, Harris) which is 

 ol'a -noxv wliite rolor, wiiliiMii marks of any other color 

 whalever, llnrin;; the mnnllis ol September and Octo- 



tliev form sli-hl eoeouii- In iiiterweavin- the hails of 

 their own bodies with a few silken tlu'cads. In these 

 they are soon transformed to shiny mahogany-colored 

 chrysalids, and become moths the following June. 



