76. 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



On Our Table. 



Insect Lives, or Born in Prison, by Julia P. Ballard, is a 

 pleasing little volume of ninety-seven pages (square 12mo.) 

 wherein it is the writer's aim to interest children in entomol- 

 ogy, and more particularly in ^itterflies and moths. The 

 transformations and developmen%f the various insects treated 

 of are described very prettily, and in a manner that teaches 

 while seeming only to interest ; and the instructions for cap- 

 turing, rearing, and preserving specimens are, as far as they 

 go, clear, simple and reliable. The observations and experi- 

 ences recorded are the writer's own, and the book is well 

 calculated to inspire, in little readers, a taste for natural history. 

 It is daintily bound, printed on toned paper, and has fifty 

 illustrations. The publishers are Robert Clarke & Co., Cin- 

 cinnati ; and the price is $1.00. 



Zoology for Students and General Readers, by A. S. Packard, 

 Jr., M. D., Ph. D. New York, Henry Holt & Co.— The im- 

 mense impetus which the general adoption of evolution theories 

 has given to every branch of biological research, and the 

 consequent rapid advance of zoological science, calls for a new 

 text-book every few years. The present volume, from the 

 hands of Dr. Packard, will not only befound to answer every 

 requirement as a full compendium, giving in a clear and com- 

 prehensive manner the results of recent investigations by the 

 most advanced zoologists everywhere, but it will be especially . 

 acceptable to American students, since h includes the work of 

 so many of our own investigators, and is profusely illustrated 

 with figures, many of them original, and others from bulletins 

 and reports not easily accessible to the general student, or 

 from treatises by many authorities. The reader will not fail 

 to note with pleasure the almost complete absence of those 

 well-worn figures, that have done duty in so many of the 

 older works, from Buffon to the pages of the last edition of 

 Webster's unabridged. Full indices, glossary, and biblio- 

 graphy, leave nothing to be desired in a work intended for 

 use as a manual in the laboratory. Special features to be com- 

 mended are the concise notes, giving directions for dissection 

 and preparation of material, which follow at the end of each 

 class, and the brief closing chapters on Geographical distribu- 

 tion of Animals, the Origin of species. Protective resemblance, 

 and Instinct and Reason. As a high-school and college text- 

 book this Zoology will fill a place that has long been vacant. 

 The treatment is less technical than in Nicholson's " Advanced 

 Text-book of Zoology," and it will probably be found more 

 useful for work in the laboratory. 



The Cotton Worm in the United States ; being a sum- 

 mary of its natural history, with an account of its enemies 

 and the best means of controlling it. Bulletin No. 3 of the 

 U. S. Entomological Commission, by Chas. V. Riley, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. Govt. Printing-office. 8vo. 150 pp., 1 colored 

 plate and 84 cuts. Our readers have had some advance mat- 

 ter from this bulletin laid before them. It is a^ summary of 

 work done and a prodromus of the final report. To quote from 

 the Introduction : " The facts given in this bulletin are, many 

 of them, for the first time published. If they oppose pre- 

 viously accepted views and opinions, they at the same time 

 dispel many errors that have heretofore prevailed as to some 

 of the more important questions in the natural history of the 

 species. The pamphlet is prepared for the benefit of the 

 planter and popular reader, with as little of the technicality of 

 science as is consistent with clearness and precision, and with 

 such matter as more particularly interests the scientific reader 

 printed in smaller type. The principal aim of the Commission 

 h.'is been to discover some safer and cheaper remedy than any 

 previously in use. Its efforts in this direction have been 

 limited by the means at command ; yet, as the context will 

 show, they have resulted in materially cheapening the cost of 

 protecting the crop, and there is promise of still greater 

 improvement." It can be obtained by applying to the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior. 



Catalogue of the Collection of Diurnal Lepidoptera formed 

 by the late William Chapman Hewitson of Oatlands, Walton- 

 on-Thames, England ; and bequeathed by him to the British 

 Museum. By W. F. Kirby. 4to. pp. ^6. Printed for pri- 

 vate circulation. London, 1879. 



The American Bembecida; : Tribe Stizini. By W. H. Pat- 

 ton. 8vo. pp. 7. (Ext. from Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. 

 Surv. Vol. V, No. 3.) Washington, Nov. 30, 1879. From 

 the Author. 



Generic Arrangement of the Bees Allied to Melissodes and 

 Anthophora. By W. H. Patton. 8vo. pp. 9. (Ext. from 

 Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Vol. V, No. 3.) Wa.shing- 

 ton, Nov. 30, 1879. From the Author. 



On the Fertilization of Yucca. By Thomas Meehan. 8vo. 

 pp. 4. (Reprinted from the " N. A. Entomologist.") From 

 the Author. 



The Law Governing Sex. By Thomas Meehan. 8vo. pp. 3. 

 (Ext. Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phila., June 4, 1878.) From the 

 Author. 



Growth as a Function of Cells, and Preliminarj' Notice of 

 Certain Laws of Histological Differentiation. By Charles 

 Sedgwick Minot. Sqr. 12mo. pp. 30. (Ext. from Proc. Bos- 

 ton "Soc. Nat. Hist. Vol. XX, March 5 and April C, 1879.) 

 From the Author. 



Extracts from Correspondence. 



[We shall publish in this Department such extracts from the 

 letters of our correspondents as contain entomological facts 

 worthy to be recorded, on account either of their scientific or 

 of their practical importance. We hope our readers will con- 

 tribute each their several mites towards the general fund ; and 

 in case they are not perfectly certain of the names of the in- 

 sects, the peculiarities of which are to be mentioned, will send 

 specimens along in order that each species may be didy 

 identified.] 



Bucculatrix Cocoons. — The Biuculatrix po- 

 Diifoliella Clem, to which you refer (p. 23), occurs 

 on our Apple trees, but the cocoons are not 

 grouped and occur only scattered sparsely on the 

 larger branches. I also noticed that many adults 

 came forth late in the Fall, leaving the pupa case 

 partly exserted while others hibernate in the pupa 

 state. Is this species or a different species known 

 on Chestnut trees? One is perforated by a hole 

 made b}' some parasite. These two are in alcohol. 

 They may represent another species, but they 

 resemble those of the Apple very closely. Also I 

 have two very similar cocoons taken from the 

 twigs of the Jack-oak, and judge they are another 

 species. W. S. B., Ithaca, N. Y.. Jan. 28. 



With the experience given by V. T. C. on p. 50 

 of our last issue, we think it highl)' probable that 

 the cocoons on Oak and Chestnut may be identi- 

 cal with those on Apple, especially if the former 

 trees were in the neighborhood of the latter. 

 The question can safely be settled only by rear- 

 ing the perfect insect, and we shall be pleased to 

 receive specimens. 



Interesting Notes from South France.— 

 I have received from Mr. Monell some notes 

 about Colopha, etc., which I owe, doubtless, to 

 your kind intervention. Low and Thomas ac- 

 cuse Kessler with having given Schizomnra coni- 

 prcssa as a synonym of Tetrancura alba, while it 

 is the true Colopha of Monell. He will explain 

 in his next note on the Elm-lice, in which he will 

 describe the winged pupiferous forms of both in- 

 sects which are certainly emigrants from the Elm 

 to . . . ? ? ? Courchet's observations and my 

 own on the Pcinphigi of the Fir led us to the dis- 

 cover}' that all pupiferous forms arrive in sum- 

 mer, on the stems of the trees, with the sexuated 

 pi/olt's; only we cannot make out, as 3'et, to which 

 species of gall they respectively belong. Some 

 of them do not even belong to the genus ''Pem- 

 phigus" and have only 5-/b/«/(Y/antenn?E ; yet they 

 are certainly but a link in the biology of some 

 species or other. I wrote a little note "■ Les 

 Pucerous da Tcrcbinthc" (the Plant-lice of the 

 Fir) to follow the "Pucerons des Onncaux" (the 

 Plant-lice of the Elm), and until I ascertain, by 

 breeding, the correlation between the winged gall 

 emigrants and the pupiferous pseudogyne, I am 

 obliged to create new (transitory) names for the 

 gall-insects of Pemphigus cornicularius, iitricu- 

 larius, semilunarius, etc. I call the supposed 

 pupiferous forms, corniculoides, titriculoides, sciiii- 

 lioioides, etc. 



In the " Comples Rendiis de I'Academie" there 

 is an interesting paper by Fabre on some species 



