60 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



., Cabbage Worms— IFm. C. Holmes, Plattebiir<], Mo. 

 "h:;"p lie green worm -which lias been destroying-the cab- 

 bages in your neighborhood, is in all probability the 

 larva of the Southern Cabbage butterfly {Pieris proto- 

 Jice, Boisd.) At least we know that this is the most 

 common insect found on the cabbage in your locality; 

 but as you describe it simply as a " green worm," we 

 cannot decide positi\cly, because there arc several other 

 worms of a green color which also attack that plant. 

 At Figure 37 a, we represent the larsa of tlie South- 



Colui-s— (a) Greenish-blue, yellow and black ; (ft) light bluish-gray. 



ern Cabbage butterfly; at J the chrysalis, and at Fig- 

 ure 38 the $ butterfly. The (^ difl:"er.s remarkably 

 from the § , and in our next number we shall present 

 IFiR. sn.: 



Colors— Black and white- 



Ilis portrait, together with an illustrated account of tlie 

 two other common butterflies belonging to the same 

 genus (Pieris), which at present attack the Cabbage in 

 dift'erent parts of the United States. One of the.se, 

 known as the Rape Butterfly (Pieris rapat, Schrank), has 

 of late years been introduced from Europe, and has 

 beon rapidly spreading westward from the Atlantic sea- 

 board, while the armies of the Colorado Potato Bug 

 have been marching in the opposite direction, towards 

 the sea. Thus, while there is every reason to believe 

 that we shall. In a few years' time, give to our Eastern 

 brethren the greatest .and most destructive insect foe of 

 the Potato; they seem determined to pay us back in our 

 own coin, by sending forth into the West the greatest of 

 cabbage pests. The only known way to destroy these 

 Cabbage worms is to pick and kill them either by hand or 

 chicken-power, and to catch and kill the buttei-flies 

 which ai'e constantly hovering over the plants during the 

 sunshiny days of summer and autumn. 



The Rape Butterfly— /o«. E. OUaee, Uohjole, 

 Mass. — The two white butterflies which were taken in 

 Bangor, Maine, are cj iid g of the Rape Butterfly 

 {Pin-is rapce,, Schrank), a recent importation from 

 Europe. AVe shall illustrate this insect in our next 

 issue. 



Bad packing: — 11. C. Pmrdshe, PainesvilU, OTiio. — 

 The green larva, marked with brown at each end of its 

 body, and with a large round brown patch on the 

 middle of its back , and also with sprangling horns at 

 each extremit\' which sling like a nettle, is the Saddle- 

 back caterpillar (Fiiipretiu stimulea, Fig. 30). It feeds 

 on a great variety of trees, besides Indian corn on 

 which you found it, and last year we met with it on 

 Sumac. The Spliinx lana found on gi-ape-vine is pro- 

 Inibly Chwrocampapampmatri.r, otherwise known mDar- 

 iipsa myron, a full account of which appeared in the last 

 !No. of our Magazine; but when it reached us, owing to 

 your bad packing, it was dead, dried up and rotten. Lar- 

 va; ought by rights to be packed in a tight tin box, along 

 with some of their appropriate food, which as well as 

 the larvffi ^vill then keep moist. But if you are obliged 

 to pack them in a pasteboard box, whicli always suflers 

 the moisture to evaporate from it, it is making matters 

 t<'n times worse to put in dry paper to till up the empty 

 space instead of moist leaves. If correspondents only 

 knew how much bad packing added to our labor in 

 identifying insects, they would take a little more pains 

 to follow the printed directions, which have been re- 

 peatedly inserted in the Entomologist. To recognize 

 insects, when in the condition in which they frequently 

 reach us, is as difticult a task as to recognize a corpse, 

 after it has been afloat for three long summer months in 

 the waters of the Mississipiii. 



" Grand Daddy L.ong-Iieg:s " — Wm. M. Howard, 

 Forsijth, Mo. — The long-legged Spider, which is com- 

 monly known in your vicinity by the above name, is 

 doubtless some species of Phalungium : but as there are 

 some fifteen or more described N. A. species, we could 

 not properly refer the species you speak of without 

 seeing specimens. These long-legged spiders are like- 

 wise popularly known as "Uarvest-men" and ''Grand- 

 father Gray Beards' ' in some parts of the country. They 

 all have similar habits, being carnivorous and seizing 

 their prey very much as a cat seizes a mouse; but they 

 differ from other spiders in that they bodily devour 

 their victims, instead of sucking out their juices. The 

 fact then, of your one night noticing a " Daddy Long- 

 legs " poucce upon a Honey-bee, which happened to 

 come near it, is not to be wondered at. Yet it maybe 

 considered as an exceptional occurrence, and we should 

 advise you to encourage, rather than destroy these long- , 

 legged spiders, because they are known to devour great j/ 

 numbers of Plant-lice, and Mr. Arthur Bryant, of 

 Princeton, Ills. , has found them devouring the larva 

 of the Colorado Potato-bug. 



Borer in Apple TTirig- — G. C. Brackett, Lawrence. 

 Kansas. — The borer in the apple twig sent is not, as you 

 suppose, the larva of the Apple-twig Borer (Bostriclius J 

 hicaudatus. Say), which bores into the twigs in the 

 beetle state only ; but is evidently the larva of some long- 

 horned beetle. It resembles in every respect the larva 

 of the Parallel hoag\ioTa{ElapMdionparallelum, Newm.), f' 

 which we have bred from both apple and x>lum twiga, and ( 

 it will in all probability produce that beetle. The hole 

 at the axis of the leaf-bud, which connects by a bur- 

 row through a side-shoot, with the main chamber in 

 the twig where rests the larva, was evidently made by 

 that larva while younger. The Parallel Longhorn 

 bears a very close resemblance to the Oak Pruner (E. 

 Tillosum, Fabr.), which you will find figured on page 98 

 of Harris's Iiijurious Insects. 



