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THE ILLINOIS F^HMEH. 



265 



as the Bibio albipennis^ Say, and whose 

 history and hahits, by tlie aid of Dr. 

 Asa Fitch, entomologist of the New 

 York State Agricultural society, I was 

 enabled to make out quite satisfactorily. 



From one to two hnndred of this lar- 

 va were frequently taken from a single 

 gizzard, all in a fresh, unmacerated con- 

 dition ; and usually, when this larva was 

 found, it was the only food in the stom- 

 ach. 



To quote from a communication re- 

 ceived from Dr. Fitch, he says, "My at- 

 tention was first directed to this fly some 

 twelve years ago, when I was occupied in 

 investigating the wheat midge. I ob- 

 served it to be so very common in fields 

 of growing wheat that I suspected it of 

 living at the expense of that grain crop ; 

 but on looking around I found it was 

 equally as common everywhere else — 

 resting upon the grass, leaves, and flow- 

 ers in my yard and garden, as well as in 

 meadows, pastures, and forests. * 



* * * * It comes abroad about 

 the 20th of May, and continues about a 

 fortnight. You will readily recognize it 

 by its commonness, and its white trans- 

 parent wings ; its body being black, 

 clothed with soft white hairs. It is very 

 sluggish, moving around but little, and 

 is easily picked up by the fingers. * 



* * On page 764 of the London 

 Gardener's Chronicle of the year 1844, 

 is a valuable article of Ruricola, (J. 0. 

 Westwood,) giving a full history of the 

 Bibio Marci, t\\Q European analogue of 

 the one in question. 'It appears these 

 insects (unlike most others of the family 

 Tipulidoe to which they pertain) are most 

 pernicious, the larva feeding upon the 

 roots of plants, sometimes to such an ex- 

 tent as to cause them to wither and die. 

 Ruricola states that the larva of the Mar- 

 ci, and other allied species of Bibio, are 

 frequently sent to him by gardeners, 

 who find them to be mischievous in their 

 strawberry beds, vine borders, flower 

 pots, and other situations where the soil 

 remains undisturbed during the autumn 

 and spring. ' And another writer, Bouche 

 says, 'that his bed of ranunculuses was 

 completely demolished, for several suc- 

 cessive years, by these worms eating the 

 roots.' From these facts every one will 

 perceive that the robin, consuming, as 

 you found it to do, from one to two hun- 

 dred of the Bibio larva daily, during the 

 months of March and April, has proba- 

 bly been ridding our gardens of these 

 vermin every year hitherto; thus ren- 

 dering us an important service, of 

 which we have been wholly unaware. — 

 The larva are gregarious ; living togeth- 

 er in Bwams, and peforating the ground 

 so that it resembles a honeycomb. 



This is probably caused by the parent 

 fly depositing her whole stock of eggs in 

 one spot, she being too lazy and slothful 

 to wander about and distribute them in 



different places. Hence the robin on 

 finding one of these worms, knows that 

 there is a host of others at the same 

 place, and thus repairs to that spot, day 

 alter day, and gluts himself with them 

 till the whole colony is exterminated." 



To this extract I may be allowed to 

 add, that my own observations, during 

 the past year, confirm the conclusions of 

 Dr. Fitch respecting this larva in every 

 particular, having found its colonies in 

 November, and observed the fly in early 

 summer. I may also here introduce an 

 extract from a communication of a lady 

 friend, under date of Oct. 7, 1858. 

 She says: "On speaking of your re- 

 marks concerning the food of the robin, 

 at the Teacher's Association at Bridge- 

 water, in June last, to my father, he told 

 me of a little circumstance which I 

 thought just proved your statement. It 

 was formerly the custom to have a shoot- 

 ing match on election day in May. On 

 such an occasion in North Bridgewater, 

 about the year 1820, a great many birds 

 were killed, so many that a man bought 

 them by the cart-load for the purpose of 

 enriching his land. In consequence, 

 there was a great scarcity of birds in that 

 vicinity, and a great amount of grass 

 land -seemed to be injured, but from 

 what cause no one knew. The grass 

 withered and turned dark—colored, as 

 though it had been burnt, commencing 

 in small tufts and spreading in large 

 circles.'.' It would seem that the insect 

 under consideration would, growing un- 

 disturbed, produce precisely this result. 



Fourth. During the month of May, 

 the Bibio larva entirely disappeared 

 from the gizzards, but, up to the 21st of 

 June, was replaced by a variety of in- 

 sects or worms only, including spiders, 

 caterpillars, and beetles, of the family 

 of Elateridae, the parents of the well 

 known wire-worms, so destructive to 

 corn and various other seeds when com- 

 mitted to the ground. 



The earth-worm I found to be a fa- 

 vorite food for the young bird, but spar- 

 ingly employed by the adult for its own 

 use. 



Fifth. From the date of June 21st, I 

 began to find strawberries, cherries, and 

 pulpy fruit generally, but in a majority 

 of the examinations intermingled Avitli 

 insects, which led me to conclude that 

 they were not fond of an exclusively 

 vegetable diet, but rather adopted it as 

 a dessert, and from the ease of procuring 

 it, particularly during the enervating 

 season of moulting. At this season of 

 the year, I discovered a marked differ- 

 ence in the food of the birds killed near 

 or in the village, and those killed in the 

 country at a distance from gardens and 

 fruit trees, the latter having less of stone 

 fruit and more of insects in their giz- 

 zards, which led me to conclude that the 

 robin is not an extensive forager. 



Sixth. The mixed diet of the robin 

 seems to continue from the ripening of 

 the strawberries and cherries to October, 

 the vegetable portion consisting, during 

 August and September, in great part of 

 elderberries (Sambucus canadensis) and 

 pokeberries (Phytolacca decandra.) 



Seventh. l)uriug the month of Octo- 

 ber the vegetable diet is wholly discard- 

 ed, and its place supplied by grasshop- 

 pers and orthopterous insects generally. 



Eighth. Early in November the robin 

 migrates southward — the few remaining 

 eking out a miserable existence, during 

 the winter months, on bay berries (My- 

 rica cerifera,) privet berries (Ligustrum 

 vulgare,) and juniper berries (Juniperus 

 communis.) 



Having entered upon this investiga- 

 tion unprejudiced, I have only sought 

 for the facts as observation should de- 

 velop them, and these a^e the results to 

 which I have arrived at no small expen- 

 diture of time and labor. All of which 

 is resnectfully submitted. 



J. W. P. JENKS, Ch'r. 



MiDDLEBORO', Mass., March 5, 1859. 



After this investigation we hope the 

 Robin will again come into general fa- 

 vor. He occasionally, it is true, takes 

 a few of our strawberries and cherries, 

 but he destroys thousands upon thou- 

 sands of insects which are injurious to 

 useful vegetation. We shall not grudge 

 him the small amount of fruit he takes 

 from us, while we know that his habits 

 otherwise are all for the benefit of the 

 Farmer. 



•«»- 



Influence of the Moon. — It is stout- 

 ly contended by some that the moon has 

 a great influence upon newly planted 

 crops, making soap, and even it is or- 

 thodox in some parts of New England to 

 believe that pork killed in the increase 

 of the moon will swell in boiling, while 

 if killed when that planet is waning, the 

 pork will shrink while undergoing the 

 culinary preparation. The learned Ja- 

 panese insist that epidemics are more 

 general and fatal during the full moon ■ 

 than at any other period — that less rain 

 and snow fall during the full moon than 

 at any other time, and that more rain 

 and snow fall, and more heavy storms 

 occur in the last quarter of the moon, 

 than at any other given time. They 

 graft their trees, trim their shrubberry 

 and house plants during the decrease of 

 the moon, for they hold that the moon, 

 during its decrease, exercises a health- 

 ful and healing influence upon the incis- 

 ions made upon all animal and vegetable 



