62 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Wireworins in Potatoes — n'. R. S/ielmire, 

 Tuuti/ikiiinmon, Fenii.— The elongate, cyliiKli-ical. horny, 

 nialiiigaiiy-ciiloivil worms nearly an inch long, that 

 linrc.riip'M, liailly your crop of Mcr.'cr Tolatoes, area 

 very coniinoii>iif.-irs .,r\\iicw.inn>. \\\- lKi\e reason 



(O believe ll,;ll tl,i- |.,,l-lirul:n- Kill. I ].n..lllres a Click- 



licctle kiiMNMi ;,^ J/, /,..,,.■ . ;„,,,:'-/.. I.e I. .iile. There 

 are M-ore.- ..f ililVeiciU kiiuls of ( lielv-i.cellcs, and on 

 l)a.:;e 411 i>r our tinst volume you will tinil omc of them 

 ( Fi-. .'nil, anil by the side of il the larva from which we 

 liieil it , l-'i;.'. M). Most of them breed in rotten wood: 

 Ipul llure are :i lew Ihat devour living vegetable matter 

 ami are u'le it |le^l^ lo ilio tanner, especially in newly- 

 broken land. In suili land we have known them to 

 destroy the yonng corn-plants to a grievous extent, 

 inlawing' laterally into the .stem just under the surface 



the 



I'or these wire-worms live several years in the larva 

 state, and having six good legs of their own they 

 would readily migrate from the infected potato-sets on 

 to the young growing potatoes. You must not sup- 

 pose, howe\er, that wire-worms could bri'eil wire- 

 worms; for it is not till the larva has developed into the 

 Click-beetle that it lie.omes i-MieiMe of jiropagaling its 

 species. Sowing si\ bu-l.el- ..i -all to the acre is said 

 l)y oneof thehe.stfaiiiiri> in Iji^laD.i. .\ldernian Mechi, 

 to destroy all the wire-wonn- in the salted ground. 

 There are no doubt plenty of youis remaining in your 

 old potato grouud; for this species does not by any 

 means feed exclusively on potatoes. On the contrary, 

 it is a very general feeder, and we have met with it in 

 all kinds of situations, for example, iu an asjiaragus 

 bed, with no potatoes growing within ten rods distance. 

 \Ve know of no mode but baii(l-i)iekii)i; to de-trov the 

 wire-worms in your iioiai..i>, -oiliat ilir |n,iai..e- ran lie 

 used for seed. It is, as \ ou remark, a -iiijuiai' inil Wy no 

 means an unprecedented lai-t, that these insects took 

 the Mercers and did not touch the Goodrich potatoes 

 that were growing alongside. The Colorado Potato 

 Bug and the striped Blister-beetle are equally select in 

 tlieir tastes. Other such cases were collected by us on 

 page 160 of our first volume. 



Insects named—/. F. Watirs, SprinyfielJ, Mv — 

 The insects found on apple are as follows: No. 1 is the 

 larva of some small moth. It closely resembles that of 

 the Rascal Leaf-crumpler (Phijcita nchulo, M'alsh), but is 

 evidently distinct. No. 2 is a species of Lhnacodas or 

 slng-eatcrpillar, totidly unknown to us. If we breed 

 the perfect moth we will report further. No. 3 is the 

 lar\a of chnri .t. mx antinnator. Kabr. , n bug chiefly 

 (li>lin^iii-inal l,y the terminal half of tlie lliiial joint of 

 il- aiiti on r lirin;.; somewhat OViUly dilate.! ami flatten- 

 ed. 'I'iie iiKiline hug looks very much like ibe larva yon 

 .sent, except that it has wings. 



CiiraicA Pear Xwigs— 7'. .(. Thmp. Tro,/, Jlh-.— 

 'I'he nine |)ear I wi'^s were, as you rightly suppo.se, am- 



p'.llah-.l -.. lie ill\ li\- I Ik- liii'lie w liirli youscud. This 

 Il ■'■Il ■ i- lie— ^ !i I r i! 'i. !■ i! n-:> \ ariety of thccom- 

 m ■" r»i^- ■ir.ll-L- ■ ", : ■. '..'//x. Say), of which 



\ oinmc. 



Insects named— .ff. T. Bale, yellow Sprimje, Ohio. 

 —The insects came in fair condition. No. 1 is Duxdug 

 iHlatatun, Say. No. 2, Pterostichut adoxus, Say. 

 No. 3, BraihjciUvK dichrous, Dej. No. 4, (3 specimens) 

 are .ill different forras ot Aiiomala varians , Fabr. No. 

 5, Anomalahinotata, Schon. No. 6, Chrynochmauratue, 

 K;ibr. No. 7, Hippodamia rjlacialU, Fabr. "We have 

 foiuid this species the present year preying on the eggs 

 of the Colorado Potato Bug, and in consider.ation of its 

 good services, we honor it by adding its "photo" 

 (Fig. 40) to our albiun of friendly bugs. No. 8, 

 [Fi-. 4.1] li;i.i..;l,iinm parentJiesu, Say. No. 9, 

 L,i,,;i /iotaia,Fahr. No. 10 same as 

 |\ 4 &:>. No. 11, AUndria eyUndrica,GeoS. 

 '\ No. 12, f/oma»'»y>rf««a. Melsh. No. 13, 

 c.>ior»-Oran«o, Which you Say "is from Georgia, where 



;.rram-''cSor'."' it is called the 'Cabbage bug, ' and where 

 it is found b> llion-aml- on cabbage and turnip 

 plants," is si: /. Ilahn, an account of 



which with li^iin- 'm -Ii .11 shortly publish. No. 

 W, Eiiryomia ju,ia^,J,;uo-i (;. A: P. (See Volume 1, 

 Figure 23). No. 16, which "feeds and deposits its 

 eggs on the leaves and young twigs of Sumach (Khm 

 glabra) " is Blepharida rhois, Forstcr, whicli we re- 

 ferred to in our first volume, page 235. No. 16, 

 ritnittkliufi.culptiis, Lcc. No. 17, Toj-otvs cylindricollit , 

 Say. No. 18, Harpalun enjlhropmf Dej. No. 19, IlarpaluH 

 pennxylraiiicuii, De Geer. No. 20, Anoniala Ivcicola, 

 Fabr. (Darkvar.) No. 21, same as No 5. No. 22, 

 same as No. 4. No. 23, Serica retipertina . Say. No. 

 24, Strangalia h'neula, Say. No. 2o, Strangalia fmneliea, 

 Newm No. 26, HetoemU cinerea, Oliv. No. 27, 

 Stenooorus viUosus, Fabv. No. 28, taken on Rhue 

 toncodendron , is Saperdapuncticollis. Say ^iHgenimata, 

 Randall. No. 29, Acnrnodem puldieUa, Hbst.' No. 30, 

 I.iptum riittiis. Forst. 



Tomato-Feeding Worni— .1. V. Davis, Farina, 

 nu.—Tha greasy grayish worm, char.tcterized chiefly 

 by a series of triangular black spots along the back, 

 cueh segment with two spots, both of which are 

 [ii-. 41.1 edi;.'<l on til.' outside with a white line, 

 ile tli.T.' i- an indistinct light linebe- 

 .■.11 til. in iKi;;. 41) and a much more 

 liii. t "iii^ il.mu' the breathing-holes at 

 li -i.il - I- I lie larva of a moth which 

 may be knoH n '•\ ih p [nilii name of the Spider-wort 

 owlet Moth I,/'. , . ,, ,„, ,.';«,!, Sm. and Abb.) This 

 moth has the front wings variegated with gray, brown 

 and yellowish -white, and the hind wings pure while 

 with the extremities of the nerves and the outer border 

 dark brown. We have bred this moth from worms 

 which fed with e<iual relish on Cabbage and Tomato, 

 while Mr. Abbot found it on Liver-wort and Pea. It 

 may therefore be considered a very general feeder. The 

 speii.- \aiii- L:i rally in appearance both in the larva 

 and |i. J 1. ( I -tat. -. The worms are found full-grown as 

 early as the for.' [lart of July, and the moths issue from 

 the latter part of that month to the latter part of Sep- 

 tember. 



Cocoons of Icliucumou IMcs—Carrii MitcliM, 

 South Pans, 7Z;«.— The mass of little white cocoons on 

 the large Tomato worm which you send are formed by 

 the larva: of a small parasitic Ichneumon Fly (genus 

 MicrogasUr), and the ilies had mostly issued on the way 

 hither. (See Figure 15 in our last number) . 



