THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



59 



Saddle-back l,a.rv a— Geo. T. Cost, Fairfield, 

 Gmii Co., Ohio.— The womis you found ou Indian 

 I'orii, devouring tlie blades and silk, are the larvte of 

 the Saddle-back Moth {Empi-ttia xtimiiha, Clem.) — the 

 as that spoken of on page 32 of our last number 



under the head of SxiNCilNG lauv.e. As we are ever 

 and anon receiving this species, we jjreseut herewith 

 figures of it for future reference. (Fig. Z6, a, back 

 view; h, side view.) 



Silk Spiders— &<o. Tlowe, M. D., Ponh- a la Hache, 

 /,«.— The two spiders whose habits you so well des- 

 cribe, are not sexes of the same species, but are very 

 distinct one from the other. The very dark brown spe- 

 cies with the upper part of the head-thorax and sun- 

 di-\ sputs on the abdomen silvery white, and the tliree 

 hiiid pairs of thighs lor the most part of a very light 

 brown, is Epeirariparia, Ileutz. The liglit brown spe- 

 cies, chiefly characterized by the long uarrovv abdomen 

 ant! the two tufts or whorls of sliort dark stiff hairs on 

 each of the .six larger legs; but which also has the 

 head-thorax more or less silvery -gray above, and the 

 abdomen regularly spotted and speckled witii the same 

 color, is the A\pkila jjlnm/jnx of Knoch. It is the spe- 

 cies on which I'rof. B. G. Wilder made some experi- 

 ments .with a view to olitain te.\lile material from its 

 spinnerets, and you will find it figured in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Volume 

 X, page 210. 



6'. W. Sjyauldirif/, Kirhwood, Mo. — The spider sent by 

 you is the same Epeira riparia , Heutz, spoken of above. 



Entomological AVorks— 5. W. Cowlcs, Olisco, 

 -V. }'. — There is no work that we know of, either pub- 

 lished or in course of preparation, which gives the spe- 

 cific characters of svU our N. A. beetles. 'I'lie ile^c ii]iii .ii~ 

 of very many will be found in Say's J?«/",„ ■/. ;w. a woik 

 in twovolumes, containing the Entomological writings 

 of Thomas Say, and published in 1859 by Balliere Bros, 

 of New York. Very many other descriptions are scat- 

 tered through the Proceedings of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History, of the Philadelphia Academy of Nat- 

 ural Science, and of the American Entomological So- 

 ciety, while still others have been published by Euro- 

 pean authors. Neither Mclslieimer's catalogue, nor 

 Ijc Conte's which is yet untiiii-lie^l. will lelp you to 

 identify the species. MorrisS v;,.,- ■. ~" far as it 

 goes, will help you to determine many of your Le- 

 pidoptera. The Eiidryas larva which feeds on Epilo- 

 hiiiiii, coloralum, or Purple-veined Willow-herb, is in 

 all probability E. unio Hilbner, though we cannot 

 tell positively ludc.ss you semi si)ceimens, either living 

 or in alcohol . 



Insects named— .1. H. li. Bryant, Clarkmille , 

 Taas. — The two largo brown cocoons formed by im- 

 mense green worms which you found on your apple 

 tree, but which afterwards fed on '•Ilcdllaw," are 

 the cocoons of the Cecropia Moth {.Utacas Gecropia, 

 Linn.) The large hairy ant-like insect of a black color, 

 with the forehead, upper part of thorax, and two 

 broad bands on the abduiiu n. i.f a diap blood-red, is 

 Mutilla coccinea, Linn. 'i'lrii wiiii win-s is the (j' 'ind 

 tliat without wings the ^. 'Imm ^:l^ ili.it "the former 

 appears to be nearly ahvay.> u:i the wing, and the latter 

 as much so on the run, stopping ever and anon to 

 grabble for food." You further remark that they are 

 commonly called "Cow-killers," but do not give any 

 reason. Have they ever been known to kill cows? The 

 sting of the $ is said to be very severe; but as with all 

 AVasps, Bees and Ants, the cf has no sting at all! 



A new Bee Enemy—/'. Brewer, Waynesville, Mb. 

 — Tlie flattened larva which you caught in the act of 

 eating a bee near a hive is the larva of some Ground- 

 beetle. Tlic pitchy black horny plates above, the 

 softer whitish lower surface with various sized shiny 

 black spots, the 4-jointed antenna; and maxillarti palpi, 

 the 2-jointed lahial palpi, the exarticulate cercus spring- 

 ing from each upper side of the terminal segment, the 

 stiff .anal proleg, but above all, the 2-jointed lobe of 

 the maxillary palpi— all indicate its carauidous na- 

 ture. We suspect it will produce some species 

 of Jhirpalus, and if wo succeed in breeding it we 

 will inform you of the fact, and at the same time 

 illustrate this larva. AVe doubt whether it would 

 show any preference for the honey-bee over other in- 

 sects. The Ground-beetles are voracious and general 

 feeders, anil will cat almost any soft-bodied insects they 

 c^u get hold of. 



Xkousand-lcgrg^ed Worms — /. W. Mirchant, Car- 

 thage, .l/(ss.— None of the Thousand-legged Worms are 

 known to be poisonous, though there is an enormous 

 Hundred-legged Worm (Scolopmdra castaiie!i'fp.f), which 

 is (ound in the southerly regions of N. A. and may pos- 

 sibly occur in your State, the bite of which is very 

 l)oisonous. I'his last species is 6 or 7 inches long, of a 

 dark green color with a chestnut-colored head; and it 

 has 42 legs, or 21 on each side. We have handled with 

 impunity hundreds of times all the dilferent kinds, 

 whether of the Thousand-legged or of the Hundred- 

 legged Worms, whicli we meet with out North; and 

 one of the former group {Jalus mar/iinatu.i, Say), is over 

 three inches long. We have this summer found two dis- 

 tinct tli.i:i-iii'l-I---' I \>. -rm- i.',,/'- <r /•'.■, ,.,,.) bur- 

 rowing : ■ It I I; . 1 - ;,'.[.-. but 



only in . '■"• ■ '• <' i' i ' " ' ■ I'li" i'l • .: ir lieing 



"poisuuuu. ■■ 1. .n;ir. !> v,i[li>u.t l.jun,i.aiun. We 

 shoidd have no more objection to eat a .stravvl^erry witli 

 one of them inside it. than we have to eat a cherry 

 with a Curculio larva inside it. And yet those that we 

 found in strawberries were as long as those that 

 your neighbors met with in the same situation. 

 namely, one inch. 



Caterpillar of Cecropia Moth— .(. Ji. Mowman, 

 Kirhwood, Mo. — The gigantic green caterpillar sent by 

 you, was the larva of the (Jccropia Mcrth {.illafiin Ce- 

 cropia, Linn.). Seepage 2G oflast number under the 

 I same head. 



