286 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



stomach of the king-bird, Tyraiinns caro- 

 luicnsis, bees, a cherry-stone, a hairy cater- 

 pillar and a red locust. 



On Friday afternoon, 27th August, at 

 4.15 p. ni., Mr. E. Burgess gave a des- 

 cription, with illustrations on the black- 

 board, of the structure of the mouth or- 

 gans of Lepidoptcra. Prof. Cook thought 

 the proboscis might be uni-oUed by hydro- 

 static pressure, as the mouth organs of the 

 bee are distended. Mr. Riley said that in 

 Trypeta solidagi/ns the mouth parts are 

 distended by the injection of a litpiid 

 when the fly is issuing from its gall. Dr. 

 Hagen said that the proboscis of Chiono- 

 bas contains very strong muscles. 



Dr. Hagen read a paper on the anatomy 

 of ProdoxHS dedpieiis. 



Prof. Fernald read a pa])er on Phoxop- 

 teris angulifasciaiia. 



Mr. O. S. Wescott described a moth trap 

 which he had constructed. He described 

 also the manner in which a geometrical 

 spider measures off the interval between 

 the successive turns of the spiral in her 

 web, by reaching out her leg at every knot, 

 to graduate the distance of one thread 

 from another. 



Dr. Hoy described a trap constructed 

 by him, for the capture of insects. Mr. 

 Mann remarked that such a tra]) had been 

 described as Mr. Clover's invention many 

 years ago. 



Mr. Grote said that he had found Dory- 

 phora deceinlineata feeding on Datura mitea. 



The meeting was then adjourned until 

 next year 



ON A NEW PYRALID INFESTING THE SEED 

 PODS OF THE TRUMPET VINE. 



CLVlJUNOI'TERON TECUM. K, NOW CF.N., N. SI'. 



BV THE EDITOR. 



Silk Cui.turk iok Profit. — In the 

 first issue of the Daily FA'ening I'ranscript^ 

 which bears date Boston, July 24, 1830, 

 occurs the following advertisement : 

 FIVE THOUSAND SILK WORMS. 



Silk Cocoons, Silk worms' eggs, etc., may be 

 seen at No. 5 Trcmont House. Also the process 

 ol the separation of the silk from the balls by 

 reeling, and much curious and useful information 

 obtained relative to the hatching and rearing of 

 silk worms and production of raw silk. 



Admittance, I2;4 cents. Children half price. 

 Season Tickets, 50 cents. 



It is to be hoped that the Bostonian of 



fifty years ago availed himself of such an 



opportunity, and profited thereby. — C.R.D. 



In opening the ripening pods of the 

 Trumpet vine \Tccoiiia radicaiis) during 

 autumn many of tliem in the Southwest 

 will be found to require considerable force 

 to separate the two halves, owing to the 

 fact that they are bound together with a 

 silken web. Ui)on separating the parts, 

 close examination will generally reveal 

 from one to a dozen dull, yellowish-white 

 worms with more dusky brownish head and 

 neck, and with the other normal character- 

 istics of the hirva: belonging to the family, 

 the smaller and larger larvix:; closely re- 

 sembling each other. These worms are 

 generally enclosed in tough flattened cases 

 among the peculiar, winged, flattened, 

 brown seeds, which are then plentifully in- 

 termixed with dry, coarse, blackish, excre- 

 mentitious grains. The silken case thus 

 inhabited by the larva is opened at both 

 ends, and generally has attached to it ex- 

 ternally a mass of seeds from which the 

 germ and cotylidons have been eaten out 



! froin one side. Before enclosing them- 

 selves for ))upation it is the invariable 



' habit of the larva.^ to secure the two halves 

 of the [)od by a web as above described, to 

 prevent the natural splitting and opening 

 upon ripening. By the forepart of Nov- 

 ember the larva ceases to feed and re- 

 mains dormant within its flattened cocoon 

 (Fig. 152, d attached to the inner wall of 

 the pod until late in the following spring. 

 About the middle of April the worm 

 awakens and gnaws in the side of the pod 

 a circular hole, which it fills up with silk 

 and excrement. It then retires and trans- 

 forms to a smooth, golden-brown pupa 

 (Fig. 152, r). This pupa when about to 

 give forth the moth does not partially 

 emerge, as is so often the case with endo- 

 phytous Lepidopterous larvae, but the moth 

 itself pushes, uninjured, through the lightly 

 closed opening prepared while in its larval 



j state. The moth issues at irregular inter- 



j vals through most of the summer months. 



I It seems to be strictly nocturnal and is not 



