ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



373 



Hybrid between a Grape-vine and a Uick- 

 ORY I— Our friend Thomas Meehan, of the Gar- 

 dener's Monthly, has kindly sent us specimens 

 of the Grape-vine Apple-gall ( Vitis pomum, W. 

 & R.), wliich was pronounced by the Newark, 

 N. J., Courier to be j^roduced by hybridization 

 between a grape-vine and a liickory over which 

 it grows. If the editor of the Courier will turn 

 to page IOC of our first volume, he will find that 

 his hybrid is in reality a gall caused b\' a gall- 

 gnat ; and that it was the poison injected by the 

 little mother-fly, and not the pollen from the 

 Hickory catkin, which produced the wonder. 



Deatu of Noted Entomologists. — The year 

 1870 has witnessed the death of several noted 

 entomologists. Among them, we may mention, 

 with deep regret, the names of Julius Lederer, of 

 "Vienna, one of the most energetic Lepidoptero- 

 logists, who jjassed away on the 30th of April; 

 and of Jean Theodore Lacordaire, who was con- 

 ceded to be the best Coleopterist of his day, and 

 whose death at Liege, France, on the 18th of July, 

 is still mourned by tiie entomological world. 



Osage Orange for the Mulberry Silk- 

 worm. — Our remarks on this subject, on page 

 293, have had the desired eflect of bringing out 

 the author's name. During the Fair week at St. 

 Louis we had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Town- 

 end Glover, the entomologist to the Department 

 of Agriculture, who showed us a letter fi-om Mr. 

 Samuel Cornaby, of Spanish Fork City, Utah 

 county, Utah, reiterating the statement of his 

 successes, and giving a more detailed account of 

 his experience. This letter will be found in the 

 Monthly Department Ecport for October. The 

 scientific world will now place confidence in 

 these interesting and important facts, whereas, 

 as formerly presented, they lacked significance. 

 We cannot be too circumspect in dealing with 

 experiences and facts, and there is yet room for 

 improvement in this regard in the Monthly Re- 

 ports of the Department, as witness the records 

 of damage done by THE Potato Bug, pp. 340-1, 

 where the injuries of several distinct insects are 

 all mixed up together under one common head. 

 The ditterence in our own success and that of 

 Mr. Cornaby in feeding Osage orange to the 

 Mulberry Silkworm is owing, doubtless, to tlie 

 greater dryness of the atmosphere of Utah com- 

 pared with that of the Mississippi Valley. 



Grape Insect. — Among the articles we in- 

 tended to publish this month was one on tlie true 

 Grape Borer {xJSyeria poUstiformis, Harris), 

 which, by an oversight, was omitted in our 

 account of the Lepidopterous insects injurious 

 to the Vine. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Insects IVamed — Mra. M. ChappelUmith, Hew Har- 

 mony, lnd.—{L) The little orange parasites on grasf 

 hoppers were, judging Irom your description, six- 

 legged mites, belonging to Latreille's genus Aatoma, 

 and for wliicli Mr. Walsh proposed the speciti. name o 

 locustamm. Similar mites attack the commoi House 

 fly and other Insects, but very little attention has beei 

 given to these minute creatures by scientific mtn. (2., 

 The dusliy brown, short, robust cricket, which gnawf 

 apples, pears, quinces and peaches, is the Striped- 

 criclvct {NemoUus vitatus, Harr); and this specie* eon 

 sequently has these habits in common with tlie J ul ipini 

 Tree-cricket ( Oncharis saltator, Uhler), which you sent 

 on a previous occasion. (3.) The larva, of which w ' t% 

 ceived but the dry skin, was some species of eutrVri rni 

 but of course unrecognizable. (4.) The smooth !■ «! 

 beetle is Borirms Imvis, Oliv. 



MotU of Saddle-BacK— r. C. BUI, Ytllow Si.ni :■», 

 Ohio.— You will find a fair figure of the parent of I'lit 

 worm at Plate 1, Figure 7 of Harris's Correspondeace.' It 

 is there called Limacodes ephippiatus, which is a «yj "• 

 ny m for the more appropiiate name of Emp) etia «'«' ■ 

 lea, Clem. 



l,ociist Borer— IFm. B. Howard, Forsyth, Mo. 

 black and yellow-banded, long-horn beetle, whii' 

 found (Sept. 23) depositing its soft, elongate white eg^ 

 in the crevices of the bark of a Black Locust tree, is tb 

 beetle of the common Locust Borer (Arhopalus rotinia 

 Foster). It is the larva hatching from these eggs which f 

 so destructive to the tree. The ury small brown fly which 

 you noticed following the motions of the beetle waf 

 perhaps an egg parasite; but we cannot tell without 

 seeing specimens. 



Thie Northern L.adr Bird; its liarvae— CAus. 

 £. Billings, Philadelphia, Pa.— The yellow larva;, which 

 are characterized by rows of branching thorn-like yel- 

 low spines, tipped with black, and which you found 

 feeding on the leaves of the common yellow gourd, are 

 the young of the Northern Lady-bird (Epilachiia iorealie, 

 Thunberg), the only vegetable-feeder among all the 

 North American Lady-birds (Goceinella family), though 

 there are seversil European species that have a similar 

 vegetarian habit. This insect has such a predilection 

 for vines of the gourd family, and is often so injurious 

 to squashes, that Dr. Fitch called it the Squash Cocci- 

 nella. 



Not Eggs, tut Parasitic Cocoons— 5. Couch, 

 Fairhury, 111.— The worm you send is the Hog Caterpil- 

 lar of the vine, and the white oval objects attached to 

 its skin are parasitic Microgaster cocoons. Consequently 

 both your friends are wrong, the one in persisting tha' 

 they are eggs, the other in stating that they are lice 

 The former mistake is excusable, as they might readily 

 be mistaken for eggs ; but they bear no resemblance to 

 lice, which are active creatures with limbs. 



Do Gapes Occur in Pigeons ! — W. G. Barton, 

 Salem, Mass.—Vfe have never heard of a case of Gapes 

 in pigeons, and Dr. Paaren, of Chicago, informs us 

 that his pathological literature from almost all parts of 

 Europe does not mention pigeons among the birds 

 affected with this parasite. Koup, however, is very 

 common and fatal with them, esiiecially in the fall of 

 the year. 



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