lis 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



COLORADO POTATO Bl «S POISONOUS. 



KiUtor, Ameri.ii,, Enlvmoloaut : 



A friend of mine from Pierce coiinly, AVi-icon- 

 Kin, where these bugs liave enhanced the vaUie 

 of potatoes to one dollar per busliel, tells me 

 that the prairie chickens eat them readily, but 

 tliat it sickeus tlieni, and some of them die iu 

 cousequence ; and people liave quit hunting and 

 eating- the fowls. Domestic chickens seem 

 to be aflectcd in the same way, but turkeys 

 will not touch them, though curious as it 

 may seem, geese cat and thrive on them. A 

 family within liis knowledge, all ate of prai- 

 rie chickens, and all wei-e taken ill. His 

 own son burned a lot of the bugs, and the 

 fumes made him very sick. These things serve 

 to confirm the poisonous nature of these bugs, 

 and warn us to handle them cai'cfully. 



J. G. h.-wiN. 



IlASNinAl.. Mo. 



F.NTOMOLOCilCAL ANNUAL. 



We have received the following prospectus 

 from our friend A. S. Packard. ,Ii-.. of Sjdem, 

 Mass. : 



ExTOMoLoiiicAi- AxMAi, n iR 1868 —It is pro- 

 posfil. slioii'.il ^uttiri.ni in.-ouiam-ment be given, to 

 l)iil.li-h a \iM- I'.nnk nf I'lM-i'. - ill Amerlcaii Kntoiuol- 

 ..irv. I., l.c.'litr.l l,v III- A. ^. ra.-kard, Jr. Dr. J. 



l,.'l.r(„ntr Uilll Ilil.UIra " " ' 



Mr. .s. II. .^omlil.T..l,,,|.lri-^ 

 tliontcni; Baron K. ii-i.n 

 l.tiptcra: Mr. P. H. ilil. r. :. 

 anil Neuroptoi-a: aii'l lin Ivii 

 from otlicr cntonioloLiist^ 



a u.-^eful han.l-l k |m .\. 



-tiKiyof in-..i,. 11 xMll !.,■ 

 Ilic sprinsof l^ii''. \ii ■ 'liii' 

 printeil, prnviilr.l ihi-n' Inin. 



Will all (•Mt..lll..l,.i;-i-l,,lrMn,l 



TRAXSI'ORM.ATIONS OF INSECTS. 



It is commonly and correctly said that there 

 are four stages in the life of every insect: 1st, 

 the egg; 2d, the larva: 3d, the pupa, and 4th, 

 the perfect or imago stale. In most insects the 

 dividing line between these stage.= is well 

 marked, the larva and imago being active loco- 

 motive creatures, capable both of eating and dis- 

 charging f(P.ces, and the pupa lying still all the 

 time and neither eating nor discharging fceces 

 But in certain great groups, for instance the 

 true Bugs and (he Grasshoppers, the pupa is as 

 iiotive and locomotive and ravenous as either the 

 larva or the imago, and sometimes can not be 

 readily distinguished by the inexperienced eitli- 

 er from the former or the latter. 



DO BEES INJURE RASPBERRIES ? 



CFr-jiii the Procpedlngs of the New York Fruit Gnawers" Club.] 



A correspondent writes : I am informed by an 

 extensive berry grower that one who keeps bees 

 must not expect to grow raspberries. The bees 

 meddling with the pollen of the flowers is de- 

 cidedly injurious to this fruit, whatever may be 

 the case in regard to apples, pears, etc. Can this 

 be so? Such a question ought to be settled be- 

 fore the opening of .spring, so that choice could 

 be knowingly made between the bees and the 

 berries. 



J. Crane — It is certainly a mistake that bees 

 are injurious to the raspberry, or any other fruit. 



A. S. Fuller — I supposed that this question 

 had been fully, satisfactorily, and scientifically 

 settled years ago, in favor of the honey bee. 

 We are greatly indebted to these little friends 

 for the assistance they give us in producing 

 fruits, by distributing the pollen from one flower 

 to another, or upon the stigmas of the one In 

 which it is produced. Bees are very partial to 

 the flowers of the raspberry, because it yields a 

 large quantity of lioney, but I am quite positive 

 that they do no injury, even if they ;ire not 

 beneficial. 



Dr. J. E. Snodgras.s — If bees were injurious 

 to any plant, it seems to me that the buckwheat 

 would be the first to suffer, for as every one 

 knows, bees will work continually on it from the 

 time the first flower opens, until the last is gone. 

 But 1 never heard of any one complaining of 

 bees injuring this grain, and I am inclined to 

 believe that nature is a much better guide in 

 these matters, thau any of our correspondents. 



[It is undoubtedly true that bees and many 

 other flower-hunting insects are very beneficial 

 by carrying the pollen from blossom to blossom, 

 and it has been proved by Chas. Darwin and 

 others that many plants, when secluded from 

 the visits of insects by artificial means, always 

 fail to set any fruit. But, on the other hand, it 

 has been also proved by the most undeniable 

 evidence, that honey-bees occasionally destroy 

 quinces, peaches and grapes, and probably other 

 fruits as well, for the sake of the sugary matter 

 contained in tliem. See the Amkripan Ento- 

 MOLOfiiST. No. •'!, page 50. — Eds.] 



Erk.vt.v. — On page 00, column I, note, liiiel), 

 for "AncJii/lojierw.'' read " Jnchi/lopera";sa,me 

 page, column 2, line 12, for '• too " read " two." 

 On page 99, column 1, 3d paragraph, for 

 '• Greenhouse Plants," read " Greenhouse 

 Pests" ; same page, column 2, line 2o from 

 bottom, for ''wing, covers," read ''wing- 

 covers.'" 



