THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



59 



/ Saddle-back Iiarva— e<>0. T. Cost, Fairfield, 

 \ Green Co., Ohio. — The worms you found on Indian 

 Corn, devouring the blades and slllc, are the larviu of 

 the Saddle-back Moth (Empreiia .diinuha. Clem,)— the 

 same as that spoken of on paije 'i'i of our last niinilicr 



Color*— (Jicen, hrown ami iToain-coIor. 



under the head of Stinging larv/e. As we are ever 

 and anon receiving this species, we present herewith 

 figures of it for future reference. (l<^ig. 38, a, \nw\s. 

 view; h, side view.) 



|/Silk Spiders— 6^,0. Iluwe, M. I)., Punt, a U llai-hc. 

 Im. — The two spiders whose haljits you so well des- 

 cribe, are not sexes of the same species, but are very 

 distinct one from the other. The very dark brown spe- 

 cies with the upi)cr part of the head-thorax and sun - 

 ilry spots on the abdomen silvery white, and the three 

 hind pairs of thighs lor the most part of a very light 

 \i\-o\y\-\,\& Epeirariparia, Ilcntz. The liglit brown spe- 

 cies, chiefly characterized by the long narrow abdomen 

 and tlie two tufts or whorls of short dark stitf hairs on 

 eacli of the si.'c larger liigs; but which also has the 

 head-thorax more or less silvery -gray above, and the 

 abdomen regularly spotted and speckled with the same 

 color, is the Nepliila phnnipes of Knoch. It is the spe- 

 cies on which I'rof. I?. G. Wilder made some experi- 

 ments with a view to obtain textile malerial from its 

 spinnerets, and you will liml it ligured in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Volume 

 .K, page 210. 



(.'. W. Spauliliiig, Kirkwooil, Mo. — The spider sent by 

 you is the same Epdra riparia , Hentz, spoken of above. 



fntomolog^ical Works—.?. W, GoivUs, OlUco, 

 .V. }'.— There is no work that we know of, either pulj- 

 lished or in course of preparation, which gives the spe- 

 cific characters of all our N. A. beetles. The descriptions 

 of very many will l)e found in Say's Enlomolmjii. a. work 

 in two volumes, containing the Entomological writings 

 of Thomas Say, .ind published in 185!) by Ballicre Bros, 

 of New York. Very many other descriptions are scat- 

 tered through the Proceedings of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History, of the Philadelphia Academy of Nat- 

 ural Science, and of the American Entomological So- 

 ciety, while still others have been published by Euro- 

 pean authors. Neither Mrlsheimcr's catalogue, nor 

 Le Conte's which is yet untinislied, will help you to 

 identify the species. Morris's Synopsis, so far as it 

 goes, will help you to determine many of your ]je- 

 pidoptera. The Eiidryas larva which feeds on Epilo- 

 hiitm coloratiim, or Purple-veined Willow-herb, is in 

 all probability E. iinio Hiilmer, though we cannot 

 tell positively unless you send sjiecimens, either living 

 or in alcohol . 



Insects named— .<!. //. II. Bryant, Clarhrille, 

 l'e.ras. — The two large brown cocoons formed by im- 

 mense green worms whii-h you found on your apple 

 tree, but which afterwards fed on " Ked Haw," are 

 the cocoons of the Cecropia Moth {Attacus Cecropia, 

 J>inn.) The large hairy ant-like insect of a black color, 

 with the forehead, upper part of thorax, and two 

 broad bands on the abdomen, of a <leep blood-red, is 

 .Uulilhi mceineii, Linn. That with wings is the ^ and 

 that without wings the J. You say that "the former 

 apiiears to bo nearly always on the wing, and the latter 

 as much so on the run, stopping ever and anon to 

 gr.abble for food."' Y'ou further remark that they are 

 connnonly called "Cow-killers," but do not give any 

 reason. Have they ever been known to kill cows? The 

 sting of the $ is said to be very severe; but as with all 

 AV'asps, Ueos and Ants, the (f has no sting at all I 



A new Bee Enenij' — /'. Brewer, Waynetrilh', Mo. 

 —The flattened larva which you caught in the act of 

 eating a bee near a hive is the larva of some (iround- 

 beetle. The pitchy black horny plates above, the 

 softer whitish lower surface with various sized shiny 

 black spots, thei-jointed antenna^ and mojiillary palpi, 

 the i-imnioi\lallal palpi, the exarticulate eercus spring- 

 ing from each upper side of the terminal segment, the 

 still' anal proleg, but above all, the 2-jointed lobe of 

 the maxillary palpi — all indicate its cauabidous na- 

 ture. We suspect it will produce some species 

 of JIarpalus, and if we sueceeil in breeding it we 

 will inform you of the fact, and at the same time 

 illustrate this larva. We doubt whether it would 

 show any preference for the honey-bee over other in- 

 sects. The Ground-beetles are voracious and general 

 feeders, ami will eat almost any soft-bodied insects they 

 can get hold of. 



Tliousand-lc^^cd AVornis — /. W. Merchant, Car- 

 th'igf. Miss. — None of the Thou.sand-lcgged Worms are 

 known to he poi.sonous, though there is an enormous 

 llundred-lcggeil Worm (ScoUpmilra eastanr/cp.i), which 

 is lound iuthe southerly regions of N. A. and may pos- 

 sibly occur in your State, the bite of which is very 

 poisonous. This last species is (! or 7 inches long, of a 

 dark green color with a chestnut-colored head; audit 

 has 42 legs, or 21 on each side. We have handled with 

 impunity hundreds of times all the dillerent kinds, 

 whether of the Thousand-legged or of the Hundred- 

 legged Worms, which we meet with out North; and 

 one of the former groiip (Jaliis nMrijimitus, Say), is over 

 three inches long. We have this summer found two dis- 

 tinct thousand-legged worms {Julus <(• Puhidesinus) bur- 

 rowing into strawberries near Uock I.sland, Ills. , but 

 only in very small numbers. The idea of their being 

 •'poisonous" is entirely without foundation. We 

 shouki have no more objei:tion to eat a strawberry with 

 one of them inside it, than we have to eat a cherry 

 with a Curculio larva inside it. And yet those that we 

 I'oinid in strawberries were as long as those that 

 your neighbors met with in the same situation, 

 namely, one inch. 



Caterpillar of Cecropia Moth — .1. Ji. Lowman, 

 Klrl-u'DOil, Mo. — The gigantic green caterpillar sent by 

 you, was the larva of the Cecropia Moth {Atlacus Ce- 

 cropia, Linn.). Seepage 20 of last number under the 

 same head. 



