THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



247 



liarg:e compound Gall on Grape-vine — A. S. 



Fnlhr. llhlq.imo,!. N. J —The nms< of irrc-ular succu- 

 lent swellings on the stem and leaf stalks of the grape- 

 vine (jou do not mention the \ariety). eaeli swelling 



rt-.R IS,.] 



Colorg— Pale-greeii and 



about the size of a large pea and often having a rosy 

 cheek, is produced by a pale reddish Gall-gnat, the 

 Lasioptera litis of Osten Sieken, At Figure 183, 

 we represent the gall you sent, and at « a section of one 

 of the swellings, showing the cavities which contain the 

 orange-yellow larva; which are the authors of th(^ work. 

 Tliese larvc-e leave the galls and enter the earth to trans- 

 form . Baron Osten Sacken observes th.at many of these 

 cavities are abandoned by their inmates and invaded by 

 numerous Thrips, and we noticed the same state of 

 tilings with your gall, the Thrips being cannibal and 

 preying upon the gall maker. 



D. W. Kaufman,, Des Moines, Iowa.— 'the series of 

 fleshy bulb-like swellings on the terminal shoot of a 

 grape-vine, are the same as figured above in answer to 

 A. S. Fuller. The only two cells that were not empty 

 in the specimens sent by you (July 11th), contained 

 each of them a parasitic larva spun up in its cocoon and 

 belonging apparently to the Proctotrypes family. Of 

 course this parasitic larva must have preyed upon the 

 gall-making larva, which would otherwise have vacated 

 the cell. On pages 106 and 107 we have figured and 

 described two other kinds nf stalls nia<le by gall-,gnats 

 upon gi-apc-vine. 



Insects Named— J//'.«. -I/, 

 1st. The elongate shiny-grein I 

 long, that has " devoured alivr 



7,„ J.llnl. X. J.— 



"lul half an inch 

 nliersof insects, 

 hu-vu' as well as perfect ins.V !s, wijiiuafew weeks," is 

 / -' ' ■ ■ nx, Oliv. The other genera of the group 



1" n hh li iiii- Ill-ret belongs {Tmyosita family) feed upon 

 M J, iihi, iiijiirr. either living or dead, certain Euro- 

 ]ii III -peril-. Iniiiu- \ rry ilcstruotive in granaries; but 

 \\ . -I rt ,111.1 .■\|iir--l\ -i;iies that no insect belonging to 

 llii- l;iouip allele ks liih.T living or dead animal matter, 

 llciiee it would seem Dial the fa,-ts which you have oil- 

 men which you sent II-. aii.l \\ lii.'h reacheil us in \ ig- 

 orous health, had led mot lirailily on tlie road on the 

 bodies of the moths wliieli you sniipiii'd as food 

 lor him. 2d. Tlie " funny lilllr .ateii-illars, feeding 

 both upon the fruits and upnn llie haves of the rasp- 

 lierry, and decorating thpir bodies with bits of leaves, 

 dried anthers of flowers, or any small light substance 

 I hey can get, such as bits of paper or of thread," must 

 l.r the AjJiJ..-: iiihiroru of tlu'. .Junior Editor, first des- 

 irihiil ill llie Missouri Report. They produce a small 

 |iali-^recii miith. od. The large black larva that 

 sii/r^ rut-WDi'iiis by the throat and preys upon them 

 111..-! .■\t.ii-i\.ly, is probably that of Calos,,,,,,: nilhhnn. 

 I'al.r :i liaii.l-.iine black beetle with copper-coh>red 

 dots w hicli w.- tigured on page i8, Fig. 4(i. This larva — 

 which as you say has a general resemblance to that of 

 a Ladybird, except that it is so much larger— is des- 

 cribed by Fitch as seizing cutworms by the throat and 

 "clinging thereto with the .grij) and pe-tinacity of a 

 bulldog." 



Destructive l,arvse— /.' /'. Ziv, MarslifieW , Mo.— 

 The larva; you sent arrived in -ii.li ill--lia|ied and eon- 

 fused masses that we emiM mak.' m. thing of them. 

 You say " they not only d.'-tni> .mI th.- .aliliage, po- 

 tatoes and other vegetables, liiil Ili.I th.' iinpiKleni'e to 

 enter the nursery by thcui-an. I- aii.l .h-ii-.iv'.l .very 



leaf of about 6,000 quinc.' .iitlini;-. an, I I. i.ear 



grafts; then began on the a[iiil.' giaft-. hut .li-aii|a'ared 

 before doing them much damage." AVe regret that 

 you did not pack them better, or give a description of 

 their appearance. We hope you will do so another 

 year. The bristly black worm, covered with what 

 seems to be eggs, is the larva of the Buck Moth (.Satui- 

 nia maia, Hiib.), for a fuller .account of which, see page 

 186 in answer to G. W. Copley. What you take for 

 eggs on Its body are the cocoons of a parasitic ichneu- 

 mon fly . 



Eggs of Tree CricKet on Grape-vine— .1. .S. 



Funei-. — Vhti vow of .■..nli-imiis h.iles. wliich eatise the 

 Grape cane t.i partly split, aii.l which l.i.ik us though 

 they had been made by a stout pin, are caused by the 

 Snowy Tree-cricket {(Ecanihus menus), and had for- 

 merly contained its eggs. You will find this insect 

 figured on page 38. We hatched a number of them this 

 spring, but reared but one female to the full grown 

 state . They led entirely on plant lice at first, but when 

 these were denied them, they fell to devouring one 

 another, practically carrying out the tloctrine of "might 

 is right," until the strongest individual was left alone, 

 the conqueror of the field , 



New York -Weevil- Char?es Waters, SprinffviVe, 

 I17.S-.— The snout-beetles are the same N. Y'. Weevil 

 of which the history was given in Number 11, page 221. 



