128 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



<i( crevices. Tin eggs there elude Ucti ttioii . Ik ing ot .i 

 dai-k-browu, inclining to purple. Tlie joiuig «onn'! 

 which hatch from them are aUo Jark-brown, with large 

 licads; they are aclne and connuence ^pinning as won 

 as they are born. I.ucKilj , Ihi'. lM^ect si Idoni becomes 

 numerous enough to caiisie ^eiiou- .il.irm, as to combat 

 it on a large scale would be difficult Spi ci.il tices inaj 



\ 



)>«■ saved from its attacks by an application of soft soap 

 as far up the trunk as possible, about the end of June, 

 as it will prevent the moths depositing. At this time 

 also, the moths may be caught and destroyed from oft' 

 trees already infested, by visiting such trees early in 

 the morning, (or the moths are then .quite sluggish, 

 having emerged from the tree during the night, leaving 

 their empty chrysalis skins protruding hall way out of 

 the holes. This insect attacks the Oak as well as the 

 'Slack I/ocust, and, judging' ftom specimens which we 

 received a year ago from Mr. J. Huggins, of Wood- 

 burn, Ills., it also infe.sts the Crab-apple. According 

 1 1 Dr. Fitch, it is more common in Oak in the Eastern 

 folates than in Locust; but we ha\c found it more 

 partial to the Locust in the West. 



Eggs of Snowy Tree Cricket on Raspberry 

 Canes—./. B. Root, Uoalcford, Ills.— The straightrows 

 of punctures on your Doolittle Black-Cap Raspberry 

 canes, the punctures contiguous to each other, with 

 an egg placed slantingly across the pith leading from 

 each, are made by the Snowy Tree Cricket {(Eeanthw 

 nireiu, Amehican ENTOMOLOGIST, Vol. I, Figs. ;<« and 

 ;!!•). Tliough these eggs may l>e mistaken at first for 

 \vorms by the unskilled, yet no entomologist would 

 ever niistak'; them for such. An egg— no matter how 

 narrow or long it may be— can always be distinguished 

 ))y its lacking entirely those articulations which are so 

 characteristic of all insect larvie, and of most other 

 worms. The cane will be very apt to die above these 

 deposits, and to prevent the increase of the in.sect, 

 the infested canes should all be cut oft' and burned 

 before spring. 



Spotted Rove.beclle— /. JI., Wovdhurn, IIU.— 

 The large gray insect with short wing-covers, which 

 seemed to be vei'y anxious to cover itself with filth, is 

 the Spotted Rove-beetle (StapMUnus nuieiilums, Grv.) 

 The Rove-beetles arc voracious creatures, preying on 

 decaying uninial and vegetable matters. They are also 

 foiuiil abundantly under heaps of putrescent plants, 

 and, acting in the capacity of .Scavengers, must be con- 

 sidered beneficial. 



Raspberry Couty Gall— C/(«.>, 6V( )•/;<?« to', Ji'el/i/'s 

 Islawl. Oil III. — The swollen, gouty api)carance of your 

 [!'.;'"] raspberry and blackberry vines is 



caused by the Red-necked Agrilus 

 {Agriltis nitiiolh'e). You will find an 

 illustrated article on the subject in 

 the present mimbcr, under the same 

 caption that heads this paragraph. 

 Wn had never before found fresh and 

 living larv.-e, as the galls which we 

 lir.il heretofore received were too dry 

 when they reached us. Hut your 

 .yalls came very opportunely, for we 

 found three full-sized living speci- 

 niins within them, and are thus en- 

 abled to give a truer figure (Fig. !Mi) 

 than that given on page KiU. and to 

 add the following description for our 

 scientitic friends: 



Agrilus kukicolms —larra — 

 Color pale-yellow. J>ength O.'io 

 inch. Ulaineter 0.05 inch. Some- 

 what flattened, especially at sides, 

 Coiur-Whiiish. tlic Width nearly twice as great as 

 depth. A rufous vesicular dorsal line. Head brown; 

 jaws black. Joint 1 about )i wider than 2, and having 

 a somewhat horny yellow patch above, shaped some- 

 thing like a kite; joints i and 3 ^= 1 in lenglh; ' - 



2 and a together; 5—10 sub-equal and longer 

 than four; 11 half as long as 10; 12 swollen, somewhat 



long 1 



■nding in two thorns, each with 

 three blunt teceli on the iinier edge. 



As little or no fruit matures above these galls, which 

 are often quite near the ground, it is very likely, as you 

 suggest, that this cause of unfruitluluess is not sus- 

 pected by the casual observer. All aft'ected canes should 

 be cut oft' below the galls and burned before spring. 



Parasitic Cocoons — G. C. Braehe/I, Lawrence, 

 A-«««.— The little masses of light brown cocoons, all 

 soldered together (Fig. !)1) which you find lying on the 

 tFis. '.11.] ground under your 



apple trees, arc the 

 cocoons of a little 

 parasitic Ichneu- 

 mon fly. The fly 

 Coi..r-LiKUt bn.wn. comcs vciT near the 



genus Microgaster, but lacks the areolet, and will pro- 

 bably have to form a new genus; but for the present 

 all that you are interested in knowing is, perhaps, that 

 it is beneficial. It doubtless infests some wonn which 

 feeds on the leaves of .viir ;i|ipl'' trees, and as Dr. 

 AVarder has sent us scnnr nf iln- >;iim' cocoons, taken 

 likewise from your oi'cIkU'I. it x I'liis tn be quite com- 

 mon with you. It would interot lis to know upon what 

 particular worm it feeds. 



Tbe Pigeon Tremex in Apple— /o«<;^//./» Hiiu- 

 ijins, Wooilhurii, 7W«.— The large four-winged tly about 

 I'lT inch in length, with a lilack and rust-colored 

 cylindrical body of the size of a common lead-pencil, 

 and with a stout piercer at extremity, is a $ Pigeon 

 Tremex {Treme.r columia, Linn.) Your Undiug her 

 piercing an apple tree is a new fact, for though this 

 insect is well known to attack oak and elm trees, it has 

 not hei etofore been recorded as occurring in apple trees. 

 The Lunate Rhysa— that large Ichneumon fly figured 

 on the left of our cover— seeks the larva of the Trcmcv 

 in its hidden retreiit, and by means of her long oviposi- 

 positor, deposits an egg in its body, which hatches out 

 and destroys the wood-borer. 



