340 



THE AMERICAN 



Fall Army-ivorin — K. KeUey, Ottaioa, Kansas. — 

 Tlie worms you send, which are called the "Army- 

 worm," and which have appeared in such numbers as 

 to alarm the farmers in your locality, are not the true 

 Ai-my-worm, but a very closely allied species. Indeed, 

 they look so much alike, that most persons, not ento- 

 mologists, would confound them together. The tme 

 Army- worm (Leucaniaunipuncta) never occurs so late in 

 the season, but appears in your locality in May, and is 

 never seen after the end of June; it also contincs its 

 attacks to cereals, and if you have access to our Second 

 Jlissouri Report, you will there findafuU account of it. 

 The worm you send, on the contrary, mostly appears 

 in the fall of the year, and though it is very fond of bor- 

 ing into the green ears of corn, yet it attacks all other 

 grain, and even turnips and other garden truck. This 

 worm was described in our First Report (p. 88) as the 

 Wheat Cut-worm, from specimens received from Mr. 

 T. R. Allen, in the fall of 1868; but when we consider 

 its general habits, and the close resemblance which it 

 bears to the true Army-worm, the name of "Fall Army- 

 worm," by which it is generally known, becomes very 

 appropriate. We did not succeed in breeding the woi-ms 

 two years ago, and the natural history of tliis species so 

 far remains a closed book, which, however, we soon 

 expect to unlock. This worm is at present (Sept. 10, '70) 

 doing much damage in many parts of Missouri, and the 

 same remedies and preventives employed against the 

 Army-worm should be used here. 



&. Pauls, Eurelca, Mo.— Yowr worms arc the same 

 species referred to above. 



8Iug:s on Plum trees — Mrs. Franh Taylor, Canton, 

 J\^. }'._The slugs that have been doing so much damage 

 on your plum trees are, in all probability, the common 

 Cherry-slug {Selandria cerasi, Peck.), and you will find 

 the proper remedies suggested on page 296 of the last 

 number. 



l,arva. of Imperial inoth ; Tboas Sivallow- 

 tail—Oeo. M. Dodge, Ohio, Ills.— The large worm you 

 describe, and which you found feeding on maple, is 

 the larva of the Imperial Moth {Dryocampa imperialis, 

 Drury). The immense black and yellow swallow-tail 

 butterfly is Papilio Tkoas, Linn. 



I.arge Asilus Fly— i. G. Safer, Elizabeth, Ind.— 

 The two large Two-winged flies are cf S of the Verte- 

 brate Asilus (Asilus vertebratus, Say), which, however, 

 belongs to the more modern genus Promachus. These 

 flies are cannibals, and quite ravenous, two allied species 

 {Promachus Bastardii, Loew., and Asilus Missouriensis , 

 Riley) being great bee-killers, and consequently to be 

 dreaded by every apiarian. The large pill-like galls 

 wliiili you find on the ground below white oak trees 

 arc apparently undescribed. We shall inform you fur- 

 ther as soon as we breed the fly. 



Itlole Cricket— F. K. Deyo, MaTcanda, Ills.— the in- 

 sect you send is the common northern Mole-cricket 

 ( GrijUotalpa borealis, Burm.) It is fossorial in its habits, 

 living in underground galleries and feeding on the roots 

 of plants. 



'I'lie Imperial Dryocampa — Samuel Willard, 

 Sprhiijfield, His.— The large yellow and blood-brown 

 motli is (^ Dnjocampa Imperialis, Dniry. 



G. W. Copley Alton, Ills.— The large worm foinid on 

 a gate-post is the larva of the above. 



Hog-caterpillar of tl»e ■Viiie--.£'. V. Noyes, Anna, 

 Us.— ThXi is yoiu- insect. (See pp. %%A of this vol.) 



A rare capture in Illinois — B. S. Bmiell, Evans- 

 ton, Ills. — The large sulphur or citron-yellow butterfly, 

 with a large quadrate orange patch near the middle of 

 the front wings, and with the posterior part of the hind 

 wings also more or less orange, is Callydrias philea, 

 Linn., the largest species of the genus. Its habitat is 

 usually given as Brazil, St. Domingo and Cuba, and the 

 fact of your capturing it in northern Illinois is interest- 

 ing, and its occurrence there very exceptional. Indeed, 

 we do not think the species was ever taken in Illinois 

 before. We have here another instance of that ciuious 

 law which we have on several occasions referred to, 

 namely, that many insects which on the Atlantic sea- 

 board only occur in southerly latitudes, are often found 

 in quite a high latitude in the valley of the Mississippi. 

 We have now in our cabinet a specimen of that large 

 and magnificent moth, Thysania Zenobia, Cram. , which 

 was last year taken by Prof. D. S. Sheldon, at Griswold 

 College, Daveni)ort, Iowa, though we know of no 

 hitherto recorded instance of its occurrence anywhere 

 near so far north. 



Hag-motb Larva — D. M. Hunter, Meadville, Pa. 



— Your cinious worm (Fig. 209) found on a young apple 



[Mr. 209.] tree, and which we herewith 



^1^^^^ '" ^^ illustrate, is the larva of the 



^^vfl|B^^^_ Hag-moth (lAmacod^s* pithicium, 



^^HBB^ Sm. and Abb.) which was re- 



^^■B^^L -v ferred to on page 25 of this vol- 



^^^H^B^^ume. When this worm is 



^I^BBBBtS^^ !*?-'''* i"t unfreciucntly become 



^^^ ^9 . 1, la. lie. I. and when .-^pinning 



C'uiur BroivD. ,,|, it always dc'laclics tlicm of its 



own accord, and manages to fa.-itcn Mi<-ni to the outside of 



its round cocoon. The moth is of a dusky brown color, 



the front wings variegated with light yello\vish-brown. 



<?. Pauls, Eurelca, Mo.—\o\\ will recognize your worm 

 in the above figure. 



Insects named— iA-«. E. U. B., Bar Mills, Me.— 

 The black, yellow and orange larvie on Parsnip are those 

 of the Asterias Swallow-tail {Papilio asterias), quite 

 common, and repeatedly referred to in our answers. 

 The pretty yellow and rose-colored moth is the Flowery 

 Primrose Moth {Alaria fiorida, Guen.) Its larva feeds 

 on the diflerent species of Evening Primrose ( ffinu^Awa), 

 and the moth itself may often be captured early in the 

 morning in the calyxes of the flowers. 



Some Friends and Foes— Z>r. G. IV. Spaulding, 

 Rose Hill, Mo.— The banded bug foimd on rose bushes 

 is the Many-banded Robber (Harpactor cinctus. Fig. 44 

 of Vol. I). The large ladybird is the 15-Spotted Mysia 

 (Mysia Ib-punctata) ; and the still larger black Ground- 

 beetle, with coppery spots on the wing-covers. Is the 

 Fiery Ground-beeetlo ( Galosoma calidum, Fabr., Fig. 46 

 of Vol. I.) AH these three are thorough cannibals, and 

 beneficial. The two large long-horned beetles, bred 

 from grape roots, are both males of the Tile-horned Pri- 

 onus (Prionus imbricornis). 



Xlie Royal Borned Caterpillar— ZJr. /. T. 

 Hodgen, St. Louis, Mo.— Yowr immense larva on Per- 

 sinimon is the above-named insect. It formed the sub- 

 ject of the plate to our first volume. 



Dried up— jT. P.— The larva in the rose-bud had 

 become too dry to recognize. 



*Xhis infiect b«loDgB to the genus Phdbttrtm of Orote & BobiDeon. 



