ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



339 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



;ie8 But to make t 



Bible to do RO, and rncli at 



Beetles -nrorkinjr inWIieat, Oats and Rye ; 

 tlie Grain Sil-vanus — M. H. Soye, Coopershurg, Le- 

 high Go., Pa.— The little brown elongate beetles, about 

 ().()!» inch long, and characterized chiefly by the last 

 three joints of the antenna; being [tin. jus ] 



enlarged, and by having three prom- 

 inent longitudinal carina;, or narrow 

 ridges, on the thorax above, and six 

 pointed teeth each side, Is known as 

 the Grain Silvanus {Silvanus suririr 

 ameneie, Linn.) We give an outline 

 of it at Fgure 208. As the facts you 

 record of its habits are interesting, 

 we quote them in full. "This Insect 

 is called here the ' Red Weevil.' It 

 spoiled much of my rye and wheat 

 last fall, mainly by heat and moisture coioi— Brown. 

 which It caused, tlioiio-li it nUo iite out a small portion 

 of the end of tlir 1:1:. in. ll,i\iim r.iiu.ved the rye and 

 wheat, Itind tlmi llii^ p.-i h.i^ -nur into the oats." 

 This is in all iii-..l>.iliilit> ini iiii|i..i-|i-.| insect; audits 

 spci^itie name would indicate that it originally came 

 li( Pin Surinam. It is a constant inhabitant of the stores 

 and warehouses in Europe, and an excellent figure of 

 it is found on I'hit.' Iv nl' ruili>"> Fnrm Insects. The 

 best way to i;c-t ri.l ..1 ii, whcr. tin' ,-niin cannot be 

 subjected to a Uilliim li.at, is |., Ma.lv the grain a year 

 or two until tlir iii-r.-is urc .sturvud out of the barns, 

 just :is till y l:i\ li\ -liips in the grain trade,^oruse them 

 for otlii r ririjiii. \\ Inn they once become infested with 

 this in-ir(. or with the true Grain Weevil (Colandra 



Beetles in dried "JEnglisb Currants"— 7". 1'. 



Miinson. Astoria, Ills.— The beetles which Ijred so abun- 

 ilaiuly in your dried ' nglish currants are the very.saim- 

 s|ii'i-ies {Silvanus narinamenHs) I'eferred to above in 

 answer to Mr. Uoye. Nothing seems to come amiss to it. 



Tlie same in Flouring iflills — Stephen Blanohard, 

 Oregon, J/o.— Thr littlr hriiwii lii'ctlcs that have appear- 

 ed in sui-li i-iiunllcss nuniliers in your flouring mills are 

 tlu' very same species as the preceding. It has been in 

 tlie country for many years, and is frequcnUy niistakrn 

 Inr the "Weevil." 



Insects named— ./o.«. E- Chcis, , Ilohjol-e, Mass. — 

 The lur^T ImriT lonnd in mttrn wuml isthe larvaof the 

 Hrnad-iua-licd Prinnns {f'ri,.,n,s t.ifi.-ntlus. Fig. 16!l, Vol. 

 II.) Yum- lirrtlis aiT ;i> ti.ll.iw-. tlir niiinhcfs omitted 



dani.-i-ial to.lrtriniinr arniialrh, oi- l„raiiM- they are 



ni'W to our rubinrt and pn.hal.ly ini.lr-,Ti I. The 



Curculionidie have never yet ticcn wurkiil uii. ami very 

 many of them arc yet 



observe the conditions published at the head of this de- 

 partment. Of those marked with a * we .should like 

 further specimens. No. 3, Chamyrus cerinthia, Heitz. 

 No. 4, Boros unicolor, Say. No. 5, Saprinus dimidia- 

 HpenniSi Lee. No. 6, Tensbrio ohscurus, Fabr. No. 7, 

 JSolitoJnus cincfus, Gry. (No.s. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15 

 all missing.) No. 13, Sros modestue. Say. No. 16, 

 Heteraspis mrtipea, Melsh. No. 18, SiUanvs, sp. f No. 

 20, Valligrapha multipunctata , Say. No. 21, Clytus leu- 

 .ozonus,* Lop. and Gory. No. 22, Listroderes cavdatus, 

 Say. (Nos. 23, 24, 28, 27 and 29 missing.) No. 25, Hister, 

 sp. ? No. 28, EydrophiluB glaher, Hbst. No. 30, Tele- 

 phorus bilin£aius, Say. No. 31, Haltica puhescens, lUig. 

 No. 32, Eydrophonia, sp. ? Nos. 33 and 34, Gryptocephalus 

 venustus, Fabr. No. 35, G. lituratus, Fabr. No. 36, G. 

 sp. ? No. 08, G. congestus, Fabr. No. 37, Golaspie, near 

 puncticolUs, Say. No. 39, Diahrotica vittata. No. 40, 

 Hippodamia IS-punctata. (Nos. 41, 42, 43 and 44 shaken 

 off the isinglass and mixed up.) No. 48, Hylohius con- 

 fusus, Kirb. No. 49, Cymindis pilosa, Say. No. .50, 

 riatynus ohsoletus, Lee. No. 51, Sietena frontalis, i'abr. 

 No. 54, Steledota geminaia, Say. No. 55, Brontes duMus, 

 Fabr. No. .56, ^/)AorfM«, sp. ? 'So.^, Melasomascripta. 

 Fabr. No. 59, Gycocephala immaculata, Oliv. No. 60, 

 Ancylocheira Nuttalli, Lee. No. 63, Hydrophilus mixtus, 

 Lee'. 



Carolina Sphinx — Wm. H. Howard. Forsyth, Mo. 

 -Surli is the lar-i. -ray ni.illi wlii.li you sri^t [Sphinx 

 C.m.Un.i. I.inn.), ami «liirli is tlir parriil of the eo.u- 

 niim Ti.hac.u-wi.rni. '^ou shnul.l nrvrr srml living 

 moths loose in a box; tliuy do not relisli eontinement, 

 and generally batter themselves to pieces. 



Insects clustered on Apple treea— Robert L. 

 Ham, Great Falls, N. .ff.— The black-and-yellow marked 

 insects which you find clustered or huddled together on 

 the trunks of your apple trees, some without and others 

 with wings, are the Psocus venosus of Burmeister. They 

 feed on the lichens on the bark, and are therefore 

 harmless. 



LiarTKi named — T. W. Gordon, Georgetown, 0.— 

 Yourfirst larva isthe "Saddle-back" (Empretia stimulea, 

 see Fig. 36 of this volume). The green worm, covered 

 with bunches of brush-like spines, is the larva ot Satur- 

 ?da lo. Both these larvae have a stinging power. The 

 white cocoons on the large potato-worm are the parasitic 

 Microgaster cocoons we have so often referred to. 



Mite Gall on Sugar IMaple— -■(. Furnas. Pannlle, 

 /«,/.— The naiTOW yellow pfdtiilMTamTs, in Ibnn re- 



liiig 



aging al)out0.25 inch in length, winch cover the upper 

 surface of the leaves ot Acer saccharinvm, are galls pro- 

 duced by mites (Acari). This gall is apparently unde- 

 scribed, as are some other mite-galls closely resembling 

 it which occur on Plum and Cherry. We shall provi- 

 sionally call it the Maple-purse Mite-gall (Acarus aceris 

 orumena). 



Cheese-fly and Blowr-fly— .S. , Piclcens Station, 

 Miss.— We have our reasons for adopting the plural form 

 "fimguses," in preference to "fungi," and we find 

 that the custom is being adopted by some of the best 

 writers in Europe. The skippers in cheese are distinct 

 from those in bacon, the former being the larvae of a 

 small two-winged fly of a black color {Peophila casei, 

 Linn.), and the latter the Larva; of a much larger blue 

 species (Musca wmitoria, Linn.) 



