THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ventral surface are constantly four pairs of bright 

 dots, and others are occasionally flashing. The 

 owner was so cautious of it that I could not get 

 any structural points. — Saml. F.Clarke, Ph. D., 

 Baltimore, Md., June 22, 1S80. 



We have on several occasions found this lumi- 

 nous larva in Missouri, usually in cellars, and 

 have in vain endeavored to rear it to the perfect 

 state. The accompanying figure, made some 

 years ago for an article on luminous larvae, not 

 3'et published, will serve to indicate its charac- 

 ter, and the beautiful appearance it presents in 

 the dark. We think Baron Osten Sacken right in 

 conjecturing this larva to be that of Mclaiiactes ; 

 yet, when Packard, in his "Guide," speaks of 

 his figure 426 as that of Melanactes without qual- 

 [Fig. 108.] 



Luminous elaterid lar\a a A 

 dark, c, probable parent — nat size, </ 

 of same — enlarged (after Riley) 



ification, he convej's a wrong impression, since 

 no one has ever decided the matter positively by 

 breeding. 



There is another larva occurring in the more 

 northern States, which has very much the same 

 appearance and the same phosphorescent peculi- 

 arities, but which is seldom half as large as that 

 which you send, and which we figure. Both 

 Mr. E. P. Austin and Mr. B. P. Mann, who 

 have studied this northern form, believe that it 

 belongs to Asaphes, and probably A. memnonius, 

 being led to this conjecture by the absence of 

 Melanactes in New England. 



Worms Injuring Wheat.— "Osage County.— 

 A little white worm, from an eighth to a quarter 

 of an inch in length, has about destroyed twenty 

 acres of wheat for Squire Dick Campbell. It 



attacks the stalk at the first joint below the head 

 and cuts it nearly in two. Not a single wheat 

 grain was to be found in twenty or more heads 

 examined by us. The field attacked is located 

 in the bottom. An upland field only a short 

 distance awa}' is, as yet, entirely unharmed, and 

 promises an abundant crop." 



I clip the slip above from the Republican, of 

 this morning, and as I am not sutliciently in- 

 formed to determine what the mischief worker 

 may be, I refer the matter to you, and will be 

 pleased to have you tell me. — James Monaghan, 

 St. Louis, Mo. 



We take it that the worm referred to above is the 

 American Meromyza, the maggot of a two-winged 

 tly, referred to on p. 181 of our last number. 



Ash Root Borer : Supposed Eggs of Odon- 

 tota. — In compliance with your request, I have 

 collected more specimens of the Ash-boring 

 larva, which will be forwarded to you forthwith. 



In plj'ing the ax, several specimens appeared 

 in the pupa state. Also observed that the tree 

 breaks by wind pressure where most bored, 

 usually near the ground, sometimes ten or twenty 

 feet up ; that above the fracture many of the de- 

 predators perish by drying of the wood ; that 

 wood decay begins at the center, and progresses 

 outwardly ; that avoiding the outward shell and 

 the inward mush, the larviB feed where decay is 

 incipient ; that, as one of the enclosed blocks 

 plainly shows, where they venture near the sur- 

 face, they fall a prey to the woodpeckers ; that 

 away from browsing live stock, young Ash seed- 

 lings are plentiful and healthy ; that this insect 

 is most numerous in trees of full, mature growth, 

 and that exposure of the trunk to the sun hastens 

 the increase of the insect. 



In a small box within the larger one you will 

 find two Linden leaves. On one is the cocoon 

 of a small, but numerous spider ; upon the other 

 a deposit of globular eggs, which may belong to 

 Mrs. Odontota Rubra.— 'Si\&\h\ Reed, Scottsville, 

 N. Y. 



The roots of Black Ash infested with the Borer 

 finally reached us, and, having found in it speci- 

 mens of the perfect beetle, we were enabled to 

 determine the species. It is the Farattdm brun- 

 nea (Fabr.), a species which, in the larva state, is 

 frequentl}' found within dead, or decaying wood, 

 of various trees, especially of Oak and Beech. 

 This species is not known to attack healthy tim- 

 ber, and from the specimens you send, and from 

 what you state in your letter, it would appear 

 that the decay of your trees is not primarily 

 caused hy the borer, but is due to some other 

 cause. 



But there can be no doubt that the death of the 

 trees is accelerated by the working of the Paran- 

 dra larva, and thus the species may be considered 

 as injurious, especially where it occurs in such 

 vast numbers as in the roots of your Ash trees. 

 We found an Ichneumon fly belonging to the 

 genus Pimpla parasitic upon it, but too rarely to 

 materially lessen its numbers. 



The supposed eggs of Odontota rubra are in 

 reality the eggs of some true bug. The eggs of 

 the Odontota, whatever they may look like, must 



