THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



61 



/ 



Grape-vine lieaf-galls — W. T. Tltildrvp, Harrie- 

 hiirg. Pa. — The grape-galls you seiul are the fame as 

 those which we figured on page 248 of our first volume. 

 In each freshly-forrueil gall vou will find from one to 

 four orange-colored mother-lice, a number of shining 

 oval whitish eggs of very minute size, and often a num- 

 ber of young six-legged larvie scarcely bigger than the 

 eggs, and of the same whitish color. Almost as soon 

 as the larva' hatch out, they stray off through the partly 

 open mouth of the gall on the upper surface of the leaf, 

 anil found new galls either on the same or on a yoiuiger 

 leaf. After a time, and when their stock of eggs is ex- 

 hausted, the mother-lice die; and the galls inhabited 

 by them then gape widely open at their mouths and be- 

 come gradually flattened and obliterated. Thus, upon 

 a grape-cane, the galls upon the oldest leaves will be 

 empty, while those on the ynung thrifty ones will be 

 swarming with inhabitants; and as fresh leaves put out, 

 these are successively " occupied and possessed " ' by 

 tlie enemy. The gall is formed, as with all those con- 

 structed by Plant-lice, by Ijark-Hce, or by Mites, by 

 one or more young larv:c stationing themselves on the 

 upper surface of the leaf, and irritating it with their 

 pointed beaks untilit bulges out in an unnatural hollow, 

 inside which the larvie remain. Finally, as the larva; 

 grow to unitin-ity, the lioUow becomes a fleshy green 

 sack, the mouth of which is almost closed up. The 

 mother-lice then lay eggs, and the same old cycle of 

 phenomena is reiieatcd again and again, till winter 

 sets in. 



These galls arc ])cculiar to the wild Frost (.irape( r/<« 

 e(irdifoiiu) of wluch the Clinton is a cultivated Viiricty, 

 and a-e not found upon the Morthern Fox Grape ( Vitis 

 /rt?'rwsco) from which oiu- tame Catawba, Isabella and 

 Concord arc derived. This accounts for the latter va- 

 rieties not being infested by these galls. Terhaps the 

 most effectual remedy would be to give up growing 

 (.'lintons for a crop; but if you do grow them there is no 

 known remedy but to i]luck oft' the infested leaves and 

 burn them. The old leaves, with empty galls, may just 

 as well be left on the vines. 



Maplc-worins— 7/. K, I'ickivy, Chumiiaiijn, 111. — 

 It is often said that the foliage of our maples is entirely 

 exempt ftom the depredations of worms. To a certain 

 e.\teut this is true, but it is not universally true. AVe 

 have known maples badly stripjicd by the striped green 

 larva of one of our most beautiful moih»{T>nioeampa i-ii- 

 liicunda), and there is a large larva covered with silky 

 yellow hair and with five slender ])encils of blaek hairs 

 projecting from among the yellow ones, which gener- 

 ally feeds on maple, leaves and produces a fine gray 

 moth {Acrmii/da amencaiia). The gigantic apple-green 

 larva, as big as a man's thumb, which you found feed- 

 ing on Silver Maple {Ac(r dasycarpum) is that of the 

 same Polyphemus moth, which we figured in No. 7 of our 

 first volume; and we Inive received it from a variety of 

 other quarters as infesting diflercnt kinds of maple, 

 though the books do not record the fact of its inhab- 

 iting this genus of trees. You remark that you have 

 also found the larva of the Cevropia moth feeding on 

 nuii)les; and this larva too we have lately received from 

 several other sources as feeding on the same trees upon 

 which it occurred with you, and in some instances strip- 

 ping them bare when of small size. It is remarkable 

 that, in the ease of this larva also, the books are equally 

 silent on the subject of its being ever found on maples. 



the outside 



Melancholy Chafer in Apples — John F. Fulton, 

 Ptiiishiiiii, llh. — The beetle which you find quite fre- 

 i|ucntly boring a hole in your apples is 

 the Melancholy Chafer, (Eiinjotnui tmhi,,- 

 chulicii, U. & v.) hcrcwitii illustrated 

 (Fig. 30.) 



Worms boring: inCucumlicrs — iV. 

 /;. h'uHMun. .sv. ,/(w,j;)/(,J//c/(..— The worms 

 which suihlcniy made their appearance 

 the forepart of September, boring into 

 .\()ur cucumbers and nmsk-melons from 

 are evidently— judging from your descrip- 

 tion—the same species mentioned on page 31 of our last 

 nunibir under the same heading. As stated in that 

 paragraph, they produce the Neat Cucumber Moth 

 (PInu'ilbmt „!lidalh, Cram.) 



I>ilac Borer— 7". J. Fncnmn, Bithany, J/».— The 

 IC-footed yellowish-white worm, w hich has been boring 

 into and destroying your lilac bushes, was dead when 

 it reached us, but we have little doubt that it was 

 the larva of a moth which is well known to attack the 

 Lilac, and which was named .Kijeria [TmchiHuni'] tyiin- 

 ffii by Harris. AVe have ourschi.'s never bred this 

 moth, but a $ specimen is in our possession which 

 was bred from Lilac by oiu- friend (.-harles Sonne, of 

 Chicago, and which had bored through the heart of a 

 branch over an incii through. This insect is closely 

 allied to the common reach-borer and still more closely 

 to the old-fashioned (irape-borcr. We should recom- 

 mend the application of soft soap to the trunks and 

 larger limbs of your lilac bushes in the early part of the 

 season, to pre\ent the $ motli from depositing her eggs. 

 Still, W'e have but faint hopes that soap would produce 

 this very desirable result; for although this substance, 

 when aiiplied about the last of May, affords perfect 

 security against our two common .\pple Borers, which 

 arc Beetles, we have experimentally ascertained that it 

 atl'ords no protection whatever against the common 

 Peach B.oier, which is a Moth, not a Beetle, and as we 

 said just now' is closely allied to yoiu- Lilac Borer. 



Burying: Beetles — ./"«. Jf. Oshurn, Oshkosh, Wis, 

 — Yoiu- boys ' ' having killed a striped snake about two 

 feet long, were surprised on looking for it the next day 

 to find half its length in the earth. Upon pulling it 

 out they noticed two of the.-ie bugs, which had evidently 

 dug the hole and drawn the snake in. The snake was 

 left about a foot from the hole, and the next day was 

 found drawn back into the hole its whole length, the 

 hole having been extended so as to admit ol it. " The 

 two beetles sent were c5" and $ ol tlie Margined Bury- 

 ing-beetle (Keciophorus iiianjinatHs, Fabr.) which is one 

 of our most common species. The luirying-beetles all 

 have the habit of burying dead animals, such as bird.>, 

 mice, snakes, etc., and two or three of them will often 

 accom[)lish prodigious feats of this kind in a given time, 

 when their small size is taken into consideration. Their 

 direct object in thus burying such carrion is the multi- 

 plication of their kind, by providing food for their 

 young; but indirectly, in tlu^ir character of scavengers, 

 they are of great benefit to man by ridding the atmos- 

 phere of that which wouUI pollute his nostrils and 

 threaten his health. They should never be ruthlessly 

 destroyed . 



The large brown snout-beetles, speckled with white, 

 which you shake from your plum trees along with the 

 common Curculio, are Hyluhius stupidue, Sell. ^ " 



