THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST, 



187 



harder portions of partly digestecf insects , " as you very 

 justly remark, and tound by yourself early last autumn 

 on the top of a fence In one of your fields , is not, as you 

 suspected, the excrement ol some aninint or other. 

 Birds of prey, such as Hawks and Owls, liavc the luiliit 

 of disgorging from their mouths the indiiristilile ]Kut-i 

 of their food, such as the hairy skins ul inici', tin' 

 feathers of birds, and the hard shelly parts of Injects, 

 in the form of an oval or round wad or pellet, and the 

 specimen you send is undoubtedly of this nature . Upon 

 soaking it'in hot water it came readily to pieces, scarcely 

 discoloring the water and exlialin^ no offensive odor 

 whatever as excrement would have done. On carefully 

 examining the fragments of which it was composed, we 

 find no less than tilteen complete specimens of the egg- 

 laying apparatus situated at the extremity of the tail of 

 a certain Grasshopper (Calopiemts differenUalis , Uhler 

 MS.), which is intermediate in size between oiir com- 

 mon Red-legged Grasshopper (Fig. 65, i, p. 73) and the 

 large European species represented on page 50 of our 

 .Tournal (Fig. 52). Hence to compose this one pellet the 

 lives of as many as tiftcfii lemalcs nf this Grasshopper 

 must have been sacrificed, he side.-i those of an unknown 

 number of males, the tails of wliicli are not hard and 

 shelly like those of the females, and are consequently 

 more completely digested. In this same pellet we also 

 tound eleven jaws and a great number of the front legs 

 of this same insect; besides three of its large and very 

 conspicuous hind thighs, prettily twilled outside with 

 black and yellow, and inside of a yellow eolor with two 

 large black patches. To one of tluje ihr. ,■ liind thighs 

 the prickly shank was still attaeln-.l. Tlie miire re- 

 mainder of the pellet was composed ol' diffeieut parts of 

 the shelly orust of this grasshopper; and wo could not, 

 on the nio<t dilitreiit search, find a single fragment be- 

 longini; to any other insect. 



We eaiinot ^ay lor certain what particular bird it was 

 that disehargeil this pellet ft-om its craw, but strongly 

 inchne to believe that it was some .species of Owl. We 

 will endeavorto aseertaiufrom our ornithological friend. 

 Dr. Velie, what particular species ofOwls or other birds 

 are known to him to prey upon grasshoppers, and report 

 the result of our enquiries in the next number of the 



Insects named— £*. T. Dale, Yellow Sprinqs, Ohio.— 

 No. 1, Ebiiria, quadrigeminata, Say. No. 2, Labidomera 

 trimaculata, Fabr. No. 3, G/iri/somela piddtra, Fabr. 

 No. 4, Copris anaglypticus. Say. No. 6, Tenebrio\Sea- 

 tus\ ienehnoides, Lee. No. 7, Agonoderuepallipes, Fabr. 

 No. 8, Anisodactijlu-a St. Criicis, Lee. No. 9, Meracan- 



tha, contracta, Beauv. No. 10, Cionua, ? No. 11, 



Saridius/arctue, Lee. No. 12, Trox ccqualis. Say. No. 13, 

 Pterostichus femoralis, Kirby. No. 14, Eleodes trkos- 

 tala. Say. No. 15, Lepiura pi-oxiiiui. Say. No. 16, 

 ApKonus tridentatus. Lee. No. 19, PiiaUs picipes, H. 



Sch. No. 20, 

 Lggotus recliea 

 23, Chriisovieh 

 Say. No. 25, 

 narcys 



To'. 



iNo. 



'eiii/idus. Fabr. 

 . Ipsfaseiatus, Say. No 

 No. 24, Melaiuirya striata, 

 , Burm. No. 26, ffyme- 

 Fhymata erosa, Fabr. 



There are a great number of species belonging to the 

 CURCULIONID.E which are not yet descnbed. The 

 Cionus, No. 10, we sent to Dr. Le Conte, and he kindly 

 informs us that it is not yet investigated. 



Crab Apple Borers—/. JTuffgins, WooJhwn, Ills. 

 — The two borers which you took from the trunk of a 

 Crab apple tree are, as you rightly suppose, not the 

 common apple tree borer — Saper'dn hiriftatu. Say. 

 They h.ave sixteen legs, and are, beyond all doubt, the 

 larvie of some large moth. They ai^ne \ er\ well with 

 a figure and description which' wo have, 'of a borer 

 which is found both in the Locust and in the Kcd Oak, 

 le Locust- 

 . , We have 



never before known of a borer of this kind inhabiting 

 the Crab, and cannot say, till we succeed in breeding 

 those whieli you have sent, whether it is the same as the 

 Oak and Locust boring species, or whether it is distinct. 



Nine-prongred 'IVheel-bug— A'. C. Thornton, 

 Moorestown, If. J. — The eggs you formerly sent were 

 really those of the Nine-pronged Wheel Bug (Reduvius 

 novetMriua, Say), as we have lately obtained from them 

 a number of the yoimg of that species. 



musqaltoes— J. M. Abbott, Union Grove, His.— The 

 eggs of the Musquito are laid in a bowl-shaped mass 

 tipon the surfiice of stagnant water by the mother-fly. 

 After hatching out they finally becoi"ne the "wiggl'e- 

 tails" or wriggling worms that may be seen in the 

 summer in any barrel of water, that is exposed to the 

 atmosphere for any length of time. Finally, the "wig- 

 gle-tails" come to the surface, and the full-fledged 

 musquito bursts out of them, at first with verv short 

 limp wings, wdiich in a short time grow both in'length 

 and in stittness. The sexes then couple, and the above 

 process is repeated again and again, probably several 

 times in the course of one season. It is a curious fact 

 that the male musquito, whicli may be known by its 

 feathered aiilci]ii;r, i~ |'i;\ -i<,hl\ iiMaimlilc of sucking 

 blood. The inn-sH!:.. i- i,-, ,:i. ,i .omt 1-..1 r,l |M..t .S.1- 

 though in tin- w iiu. ii -1 I i ■ ij i!^ -u,k- n;ii' l.lood 

 anddisturl- mir r. -1. 11, m.. ; ,r.,, -i:itr tl... iiiMTt i> .le- 

 cidedlv beiiciicial ii\ |iurii\iim >iaunaiit water, that 

 would" otherwise l,rce.l malarial discaso. Linuaais long 

 ago showoil. that if you [ilace two Ijarrcls of stai.'Uaii't 

 and impure water iide l)y ^i.le. neither ol theiu'^con- 

 taining any " wiyu'IelaiN" ^r •■tii.i- |i\ iiiL' :iriiinals, and 

 cover one of them o\ri- ^\illl . m , 1. ^\iirs \]ir other 

 one uncovered, so that it wc- .;! ... 1:, lull ot'--\vig- 

 glctails" hatched mit irMiiMi; . ■ ■: ;.--iir.l ky Iho 

 female Musquito ; then the (■ii\ri, ,1 i,:!ii> 1 uili in a few 

 weeks become very ofl'ensivc, and the uneo\ered barrel 

 will emit no impure and uns.avory vapors . 



Larg-e silken Cocoon— Z>)'. W. W. ButterMd, In- 

 dianapolis. 1ml. — The empty cocoon which you send 



is that of the /'/. • il. . i ^■ /•' .",.,;, 



Drury). These c - . . 1 . , imm! i - i,-a- 



fras, and occasional I ■•. n' •.• ^ ■ . .•■!'', . -..- ,i;.|, pinU 



{Azalea), buttoii-lm-li . \...Am ," • '„>). 



snow-drop'/.''' . . ■ ■ •■ "> ou ^,ix- tliai vou 



found ■ 



does li 



liut 



Cd Ul 



aiidolti- 



ng upon 

 maturity 

 upon ail 



his premise 

 deserted the 

 adjoining lil 



the leaves of this lilac. As, however, all the larvie 

 belonging to this ^enus are pretty general feeders, it 

 is likely enough that yours fed upon ironwood leaves, 

 although, until it is actually seen to do so, the fact 

 cannot be considered as firmly established. 



Bugrs in AIcoliol— /^. P. Smith, Haddam Keel:, 

 Cr— The least troublesome mode of preserving bugs, 

 which you do not intend to study lor three or four 

 y,.ars, i"> t,. do as yoii Ina e alreadv .lone^-piil tliem in 



aleoll,,] Tllr alrnh,.! InO-l l.e replrni-llr, 1 a- it u a-tcs 



It also ruins irice(.\ cralily many li:iir\ in-.cN. sn.'ii as 



bumble-bee-, rp-., and it stitVeii- Hi. nihMiiim ni.aii- 



branes of the jniut- "( all insert-, -o thai i-\,u the 



ber^astiio'-Zer:, , l ii,,..,.i ran l.r rraJih iiia.re. As 



to Two-will - ill,.- e ,1, ami in..ili. ami Inill.'r- 



flieS (LfJ>: l ■ j.rli.ll.c.l rollrrPn' r\,r pufS 



them into alri-lni . i„r:iii-r it render- tliein ainio-t en- 

 tirely worthless as specimens. On the whole, we con- 

 sider alcohol as a kind ot entomological make shift, or 

 what the French call apis-aller. 



Borer in Plum Xwigr — Wm. Col nell,. Sparta, Ills. — 

 AVe have since bred the Plum t wig lioreruhiih you sent 

 some time ago. It is the EhipliiJi.'n [Hiipennalhif] 

 parallelum, Newman, as kindly dotermine'd by Dr. 

 Le Conte. This beetle greatly reseiiii)les hoih in size, 

 coloration and general markiiies, the common Oak 



Pruncr, (Sia /■',,• [I-:hti<lii.li"i,] n'l/osus, Fabr,) and we 



should expect Irom analoiry that this Plum borer also 

 pruned the twig whiih it inhabited. The fact there- 

 fore, which you meutiou, that it docs not so prune the 

 plum twig is'interesting. 



Animals infesting^ "Wells—//. C. Edrimfton, 

 Bryan City, Tacas.- We cannot tell you, without seeing 

 specimens, what the minute animals are, which infest 

 your wells; nor can we recommend any other remedy 

 than that suggested on page 147 under the same head- 

 ing as the above. 



