THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



•Ill 



(Te«e6r('o o6»r «»■««■), which has almost exactly 

 the same habits, belongs to the same genus and 

 is of very nearly the same size, shape, and color, 

 is comparatively quite rare among us. and is 

 scarcely known to our millers and Hour- 

 dealers. 



On a careful and close examination, it will be 

 found that almost all our worst insect foes have 

 been imported among us from the other side of 

 the Atlantic. The Hessian Fly* was imported 

 almost ninety years ago ; the Wlieat Midge about 

 half as long ago; the Bee Moth at the beginning 

 of the present century; (he Codling Moth, the 

 Cabbage Tinea, the Borer of the Red Currant, 

 the Oyster-shell Bark-louse, the Grain Plant- 

 louse, the Cabbage Plant-louse, the Currant 

 _ Plant-louse, the Apple-tree Plant louse, the 

 Pear-tree Flea-louse, (he Cheese-maggot, Ihe 

 common Meal-worm, the Grain Weevil, the 

 House Fly, the Leaf-beetle of the Elm, the 

 Cockroach, the Croton Bug, and the diffeient 

 Carpet, Clothes and Fur Moths, at periods 

 which cannot be definitely fixed. Even within 

 the last few years the Asparagus-beetle has be- 

 come naturalized in New York and New Jersey, 

 whence it will no doubt spread gradually west- 

 ward through the whole United States, while 

 the Rape Butterfly, as shown in our last number, 

 was introduced about a dozen years ago, and is 

 rapidly spreading ovcvsomc of the Eastern States. 

 And only a year ago the larva of a certain Owlet- 

 moth, {Hypogymna dispar), which is a great 

 pest in Europe both to fruit-trees and forest- 

 trees, was accidentally introduced by a Massa- i 

 chusetts entomologist into New England, 

 where it is spreading with great rapidity. It 

 is just the same thing with Plants as with In- 

 sects. We have looked carefully through Gray's 

 Manual of Botany, and we find that— exclud- 

 ing from consideration all cryptogams, and all 

 doubtful cases, and all cases where the same 

 plant is supposed to be indigenous on both sides 

 of the Atlantic— no less than two nuNDUKD and 

 THIRTY-THREE distiuct spBcics of plauts liavc 

 been imported among us from the Old AVorld, 

 all of which liave now run wild here, and many 

 of which are the worst and most pernicious 

 weeds that we have to contend against. In the 

 U. S. Agricultural Report for 1865 (pp. olO-519) 

 will be found a list of 99 of tlie principal -'Weeds 



•ioi tlie sake of the 8cientiB( leadei we subjoin heie in 

 thiir legiilai oidei , the scientific n imes ot the Insects cat i 

 loguedbythen En^'li hn imes iiithi tevtsotthisi n I'lanh — 

 Cenrf ; T } I nil an Ca, 



PhuJ ''a >/',,/ /', 1 „, l',Bs' 



Blalla mie I hs Ut bm „ r w c Ti a /„ I Jill "l 

 tian lla pellio iilla \l 

 Hjpogymita dnpar 



asparar/i Pet isiapcE lad 



of American Agriculture," by the late Dr. Wiu. 

 Darlington. Of this whole number no less than 

 41), or nearly one- half, are species that have 

 been introduced among us from the Old World. 

 Among these we may enumerate here, as the 

 best known and the most pernicious. Butter- 

 cups, (two species.) Shepherds' Purse, St. John's 

 Wort, Cow-cockle, May-weed or Dog-feunel, 

 Ox-eye Daisy, Common Thistle, Canada This- 

 tle, Burdock, Plantain, Mullein, Toad-flax, 

 Bind-weed, Jamestown (Jimson) weed. Lamb's 

 Quarter, Smart-weed. Field Garlic, Fox-tail 

 Grass and the notorious Cheat or Chess. And 

 (o those we may add the common Purslane, 

 which (lirough some strange oversight has bee'u 

 omitted in Dr. Darlington's catalogue. 



It will be supposed, perhaps, since there are 

 about as many voyages made from America to 

 Europe as from Europe to America, that we 

 have fully reciprocated to our transatlantic 

 brethren the favors which they liave conferred 

 upon us, in the way of Noxious Insects and 

 Noxious Weeds. It is no such thing. There 

 are but very few American insects that have 

 become naturalized in Europe, aud cveu these 

 do not appear for the most part to do any seri- 

 ous amount of damage there. For example, on 

 one or two occasions single specimens of 

 our Army-worm Moth (Leucania unipuncta) 

 have been captured in England ; but the insect 

 has never spread and become ruinously common 

 there, as it continually in particular seasons 

 does in America. Our destructive Pea-bug 

 {Bruclms pid) has also found its way to Europe ; 

 but although it is met wiih iu England, and 

 according to Curtis has become naturalized in 

 the warmer departments of France, Kirby and 

 Spence expressly state that it does not occur in 

 England "to any very injurious extent," aud 

 Curtis seems to doubt the fact of its being na- 

 turalized in England at all.* Again, the only 

 species of White Ant that exists within the 

 limits of the United States, (Termes fron- 

 talis), has been known for a long time to be a 

 guest at the Plant-houses of Schonbruuu in 

 Germany; but is not recorded to have ever as 

 yet spread into the surrounding country. As 

 to our American meal-worm {Tenebrio ob-icu- 

 rus), Curtis states that it has been introduced 

 into England along with American flour, and 

 that it is sometimes abundant in London and 

 the piovinces;t but Kirby and Spence say not 

 one Avord about it, and it seems to be confined 

 to the English sea-ports and the places where 



•Kirby & Spence Introd. letter Uth; Curtis Farm Insects, 

 \Farm Insects, p334. 



