THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



217 



must be the real mother insect, anil should be 

 destroyed ! No reader of the Entomologist will 

 be apt to make such a grave blunder, for they 

 ■Hill know when they observe this large buzzing 

 lly, tliat it is doing them good service. This fly 

 is of a dark gray color veith a satiny lustre, and 

 the last abdominal joint is brick red or reddisli- 

 ycUow. Wlicn we recollect that besides this 

 Tachinu Fly which had provided foi- the des- 

 truction of nine-tenths of the worms, there are 

 live other distinct parasites which are known 

 to attack them, by depositing tlieir eggs in the 

 body of their victim, where these eggs cannot 

 bo seen; we shall have no cause to wonder if 

 I here sliould be no vestige of the Army-worm 

 around lliiniiilinl next year. 



The Foe ISoiiietimes proves to lie the Frieiul. 



We have heard of the Army-worm, some- 

 times passing throngli a wheat field when the 

 wlioat was nearly ripe, and doing good service 

 by devouring all llie chess and leaving nii- 

 toiiclied the wheat; but the following item from 

 CoHinsvilli', Illinois, which we clip from the 

 Jlisnoiiri Democrat, contains slill more start- 

 ling facts: 



'• Hauvkst ani> Cuoi-s.— Notwitlistanding the 

 unfavorable weather, many farmers have com- 

 menced the wheat harvest. The yield in this 

 immediate vicinily will be superabundant. Some 

 fields were struck with rust a few days since, 

 but the Army-wtniu making its appearance 

 simultaneously, stripped the straw entirely bare 

 of blades and saved the berry from injury. These 

 disgusting pests have saved" thousands of dollars 

 to farmers in this neighborhood. A few fields 

 of corn and grass have been partially destroyed, 

 but by ditching around fields, the worms' rav- 

 ages have been confined within comparatively 

 narrow limits.'' 



BELATED INDIVIDUALS of the PERIODICAL CICADA. 



On page Gl of the pre^nt volume of the Ex- 

 TOMOLUGisT, wc Stated that scattering individuals 

 of the Periodical Cicada, and more especially of 

 the 13-year brood (C. tredecim), frequently ap- 

 pear the year before or the year after their 

 proper period. It was our good fortune to meet 

 with two of the empty pupa shells of this insect, 

 oil the 7th of June, while Major E. S. Foster ot 

 Bushburg, Mo., caught a single perfect (^ insect. 

 Their song- has also been heard in 1809 by sevci-al 

 persons who are well able to distinguish it from 

 that of any of the other species which make their 

 advent among us each year. Yel (he woods 

 seem strangely quiet, when we recall the loud 

 resonance of tlie 13-year Cicada, which animated 

 llicm a year ago. 



IS THE CURCULIO SCARCER THAN IT WAS 

 LAST YEAR? 



On page 202 of our last number we published 

 a letter from Judge A. M. Brown of Mlla 

 Ridge, Ills., stating that he found the Curculio 

 much scarcer than it was a year ago; and wc 

 gave our own experience as corroborative of 

 the fact in Missouri. We liave been informed 

 tliat at the June meeting of the Alton (Ills.) 

 Horticultural Society, Dr. Hull gave it as his 

 conviction that this conclusion was hastily 

 drawn, and that tlie Curculio was more 

 abundant than ever before, and that it was 

 utterly impossible for them to obtain a crop 

 of peaches in Southern Illinois. Now wo care 

 little for opinions, for we write for truth and 

 are ever ready to stand corrected when there is 

 occasion, but we are not in the habit of forming 

 hasty conclusions, and though, as a general rule, 

 we highly esteem the Doctor's opinions, we are ' 

 unwilling that the ipse dixit of any oue indi- 

 vidual shall stand as record for all future. Wc 

 know not how much territory the Doctor in- 

 tended to embrace in his assertion, but as no 

 qualification is given we suppose he refers to 

 the whole AVestern country. As to the last 

 statement, that it is impossible for them to have 

 any peaches the present year in South Illinois, 

 we leave the result to confirm or disprove it. 

 We have ourselves made personal observations 

 in Missouri, at various points along the Iron 

 Jlountain and along the Pacific IJail Roads, as 

 well as at Hannibal, and can truly say that wc 

 have often had difficulty to find any trace of 

 this little pest, especially where there was a 

 failure of the crop a year ago. We have also 

 made observations in Illinois, both at Alton 

 and at Warsaw with the same results. And 

 surely if the conclusion we formed a month ago 

 had been as false and hasty as the Doctor 

 claims, it would have been contradicted by a 

 number of our readers. Now what are the ex- 

 periences of others? 



To commence with, near Rock Island, Ills., 

 the plums have been punctured by the Plum 

 Gouger about as extensively as we ever saw 

 this insect work; but there are very few Cur- 

 culio crescents on the same trees to be met with. 

 Mr. G. Wilgus of Warsaw, Ills., writes as 

 follows upon this very important subject : 

 " Most of my peach-trees are loaded with fruit. 

 Only a few peaches appear to have been stung 

 by the Curculio, and but a very small number 

 indeed of those which bear the crescent mark 

 have fallen from the tree, or contain either egg 

 or wpriii, The >younds appear to have healed 



