160 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ened out measures 0.11 Incli, and which is white with 

 the mouth parts, an oval spot each side just behind the 

 liPiul , and the breathing Iioles, rufous— may be found 

 \yuvj: curled up in its cell; but towards the end of March 

 it gradually transforms to pupa (Fig. 103, d), and tlie fly, 

 in your latitude, issues about the first of May. This fly 

 l)elongs to the Ci/nips family, but to the genus Diaxtro- 

 plim, which is confined to plants of the Rose family just 

 as Cjnipx is to the Oak family, and as Antislmphis. 

 described on |Kige 74, is to Composite plants. If you 

 should keep one of these galls in a closed vessel till next 

 summer, you would doubtless breed from it, besides 

 the true gall-maker, a guest-fly or intruder {Aulax 

 sylrestris, O. S.) which sponges on the Dimtrophm for 

 board and lodging, and a little parasitic CliaUin-^j 

 wliicb serves to keep the gall-maker in check. By 

 burning these unsightly galls at this season of the year, 

 you of course pfl'ectually prevent the increase of the 

 insect wliicb produces it. 



riovcr-worms— e. Pauls, EurA-a. J/o.— Vou say: 

 "In opening a stai'k ol timothy hay, in which there 

 was :i HI tic clnvcr :it llic bottom of the stack, I found a 

 lot ol lirowu. !;i;iyish worms, that had nearly eaten all 

 flic clover, but not the timothy, 1 wanted to compare 

 tlicm witli your description of the Clover- worm, but the 

 number of the Entomologist containing it was not at 

 band. Are they the same thing?" Yes, they are the 

 identical "Clover-worm"— the only "Clover-worm" 

 Knciwii to prefer the dry to the greeu plant, and a winter 

 to a summer existence ! This is the first time we have 

 hrar.l o|- it in :Missniiri, tlioii-1, fr,,,,, having caught 



""""''■""" ^1"''' ■"" "'' ""' "i"!'' i'l ^t l.niiis, flying at 



tlie n-hl (liiriii- ilie Miiiiiiiri- iii-hiN \vc knew that the 

 worm must also occur not far oil'. Tlie answer you 

 refer to will be found on page 22(3 of the last volume, 

 where figures are given of the insect in all its stages. 

 This insect is very widely distributed, occurring in 

 many parts of Europe, In Canada, as we are Informed 

 by Mr. 0. J. S. Bethune, and in most of the Northern 

 and Middle States of the ITnion, This is not to be 

 wondered at. when we know how very easily it may be 

 transported in the larva state In clover hay. Yet, com- 

 mon as it is, nothing was known of its larval history till 

 we published an article on the subject in the Prairie 

 Farmer of Chicago, It would really be interesting to 

 know whether or not this Insect has the same habits 

 abroad as it has with us, for we cannot believe, as stated 

 by Humphrey, that it feeds on poplars in England. In 

 the Prairie Farmer Annual for 1S68 we published the 

 lollowing relative to its proper nomenclature : 



" Allackiiii; and spoiling clover in the stack and mow, 

 by ml. rwraMiiL' and covering it with abundant white 

 silken Heb. an.i black excrement that much resembles 



"full ae.'o s were given of this insect, tiivf in llio 



be. 



Ho 



nie genus .,«„/„„ hv a .i,.|,n,M,-.h..l i:ui-,,|,ean Lepi- 

 doptcris t. Ill mono,ma|ibii:i: il,e lamily I'm: vlid.k, to 

 which they belong; Ihnimb the .liihien, cs between 

 Asupm M\ii Pi/rahs M-K viuy liivial indeed, and to our 

 mind there is no real reason why our insect should not 

 still be included in the latter genus, where Fabricius 



first placed it. Our Clover-worm, with its synonyms, 

 may be given thus: 



"AsopiA COSTALIS, Lederer. 



' • PjiralU coitiilie. Fabr. 



' ' Pyralis Jimhrialif, Steph . 

 ' 'The student of Entomology is eternally harassed and 

 perplexed by the many synonyms attaching to one in- 

 sect, every modern monographer dividing up the old 

 genera, till we have almost as many as we have species; 

 and we sometimes wish that, instead of a hundred dif- 

 ferent persons, in as many parts of the world, each 

 cutting up the old genera and creating new ones, ac- 

 cording to his particular idea, we could look to some 

 universally recognized head, such as our American 

 Entomological Society, for some jurisdiction and au- 

 thority in this matter of classification. 



"The only figure we are able to find of this moth, is 

 in Vol. I, pi. 4."), H^- IS. of -The genera of British 

 Moths, ananui .1 a. . (nilini: Ic. I be plan now adopted in 

 the l'.rili~b Mil-. iii;i . li. il N.mI lluinplirey;' where it 

 is called ///,,. . aihl I ill- caterpillar is said 



iaitlitul lliaii Ibi- aiiiliurs [Jen, lor in his text he most 

 laughablv .nnluiiials this insect with the common meal 

 moth. I',jrnlisf„r-n,alh. 



"The simple •Clover-worm' will, of course, fall far 

 more plca.sing and .significant on the farmer's ear than 

 these synonyms, but they are given for those who take 

 an interest in suc^h matters. ' ' 



Since the above was published we have added to our 

 library several valuable works on moths; and we find 

 that, up to a quite recent date, both the leading French 

 and English authors place this moth in the old Linnean 

 genus Pyralis. The moth is popularly known in Eng- 

 land as the Gold Fringe. 



By making a good elevated foundation for your clover 

 stacks, so that the air can pass underneath, and by 

 sprinkling the first few feet with salt when building the 

 stack, you will eff'ectually preserve the hay against the 

 attacks of this worm. 



Seed Ticks under Baric of Apple-trees— C. 

 B. Galusha, Morrh, Pis. — The minute 8-legged "in- 

 sects" which infest the apple trees in Mr. Clapp's 

 orchard, harboring under the outer bark, are in reality 

 not true insects. No insect has more than six true legs, 

 and though the larva; of most Moths and Butterfles 

 [order Lepiiloptera'], of Saw-flies [order Hymenoptera^. 

 of some Two-winged flies [order Piptei'a^, and many 

 beetles (order Coleoptera), possess from one to sixteen 

 additional legs, yet all over the six anterior ones are 

 simply membranous or prop-legs, and are lost when the 

 insects attain theii- perfect state. Thus whenever you 

 find an animal with eight true horny, jointed legs, you 

 may safely conclude that it is not an insect. The little 

 animals you sent, were in fact "seed-ticks,"' the 

 young of one of our most common wood-ticks (Ixodes 

 unipunctata, I'ack).*" When recently hatched these 

 ticks have but six legs, but they very soon acquire 

 the .additional pair. We do not think they will do any 

 serious harm- to the trees, and should judge that they 

 do not occur very generally over the orchard. 



Parasitic Cocoons — S. W. BeciwoHh, South Pass, 

 Pis. — The " nest ofeggs " ' which you send, and which 

 you found near your door yard under some Red-oak 

 trees, are in reality the same kind of little parasitic 

 cocoons, spoken of, and figured on page 128 of our last 

 number, in answer to G. C. Brackett. Of course they 

 should not be destroyed. 



Ticks and Texas Fever— J/io*. W. Gordon, George- 

 town, 0— See what we have said on this subject on 

 page 28 of our first volume . 



•Guide lo Stmly of Insects, p. 911. 



