THE AMEEICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



63 



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Gall on Spotted Touch-me-not — Prof. A. N. 



Prentiss, Cornell Unkersity, Ithaca, N. Y. — The succu- 

 lent green globular galls, which you find on the 

 Spotted Touch-me-not (Impaticns fulra), and which 

 contain numerous deep orange colored larva;, have been 

 briefly descrihcii {CeciJomyiaiinjiatieniis,O.S.) by Os- 

 ten Sacken, but the gall-gnat is as yet unknown. The 

 larvaj went into the ground soon after their receipt, and 

 we hope to obtain the fly from them in due time. Succu- 

 lent galls pei'ish so easily that they cannot well he pre- 

 served, so we have made the accompanying diawing 

 [Fig. K : 



(Fig. 42) of this Touch-me-not gall, a .showing the 

 entire gall, h a cross-section, with the cavities in which 

 lie the hirvic, and c the breast-bone of the larva highly 

 magnitied. This breast-bone is almost clove-shaped, 

 as shown in the figiu-e. For the benefit of the rest of 

 our readers we ipiote that part of your letter which re- 

 fers to the color and growth of the gall : 



I have examined a number of galls very carefully, in- 

 oUuling some in their fresh state some "time ago, and 

 always find some touches of color, orange usually — in 

 some instances quite bright — on the end of the gall op- 

 posite the stem, but the prcvailiiiLC color is ^'r<>en. I 

 judge the greater part of the -all i^ ci.niii.j.sod of the 

 stem inuncdiatrly uniirr tlic llowcr. 'J'lic position of 

 the bract would indicate this. Hut I find on the cud 

 of the gall where the flower should have been, a num- 

 ber of foliaceous plates, which arc not easy to account 

 for except they be regarded as abortive remains of the 

 flowi^r. These plates arc the colored part ol the gall. 



ITnknoivn L.arvn:— ^. J/. Harruhl, Sahni, X.-l. — 

 The small wiiite wooly worms which '' in proportion 

 to their size will aflbrd a larger ' staple ' than either a 

 Cotswold or a Southdown," arc the larva; of some 

 moth. They were dead when they reached us, and we 

 shall not be .able, in consequence, to breed the perfect 

 insect. They may possibly be the young larvie of the 

 Itabbit Moth (I.aijoa operculann , Sni. & Abb.) spoken of 

 on page 29 ol our last number, in answer to H. A. 

 Green of your State; but we incline to believe that 

 they belong to a closely allied species (Lnjoa pjj.n'Jif, i-a , 

 Sm. & Abb.) 



Blood-suckingr Cone-nose — /'. B. WaUon, St. 

 Louis, Mo. — The bug sent by you is the Blood-sucking 

 Cone-nose ( Cono/7«'n«» sampiimiia, Le Conte.) See Vol. 

 1, Fig. 74. 



Egrg^s on a. Grape-cane — J. Cochrane, Hnvanna, 

 Ilh.—lu no one of their four stages are insects .so difficult 

 to identify as in the egg stage. The reason is simple. 

 There are so few characters to tlistinguish one egg from 

 another; and moreover, but very few species are 

 known and described in tlic egg state. We can often 

 identity a squashed beetle or a S([uasbc<l moth; but a 

 S(|uashed egg is almost always beyond our aliilities. 

 Hence the row of eggs attached to a grape-cane, which 

 you send us wrapped up in pap(;r and enclosed in 

 your letter, without any otlicr protection from the 

 heavy hands of Uncle Sam's V. O. clerks, might just as 

 well have been kept at liome. Wo really are tired to 

 death of continually repeating to our correspondents 

 — besides our standing "iSotice" to that eflect— that 

 specimens should be enclosed in some kind of box or 

 other, in order that they may reach us in recognizable 

 order. Is thei'e no drug-store at Ilavanna? Are there no 

 guii-caps for sale there? or do the druggists there retail 

 their pills, and the gunsmiths their gun-caps, loose over 

 the counter and without any package to hold them? Do 

 pray, Mr. Cochrane, try and do better for the future! 



Gregarious AVillow Worms — 11. C. Jlrai-hlf, 

 Liiirniiei , Kuiistm. — The pale yellow worms — inarketl 

 with three slender black lines along the back, and tlu-cc 

 other black lines each side, but characterized chiefly by 

 two black warts close together on the top res[icctively 

 of the fourth and eleventh segments — which you found 

 feeding on your "New American Weeper, ' ' arc the lar- 

 v;e of the American Spinner (t'iorfrca Amiiiciinu, Ilarr.) 

 Tlioc worms are gregarious, remaining closely hud- 

 dled logether, in swarms of twenty or more, within a sort 

 of coeoon formed of leaves. They .are fouiul on poplars 

 as well as on willows, and seem to be especially partial 

 to the (■omiuon cottouwood. You will find an illus- 

 trated accoiuit of this insect in Ifarrls's Injurious In- 



M'ctS. 



Oatcrpillars named—'/. II'. Cuplnj. Allan, Jllx. 

 — The worms that have l)ecn so I'onunon, Ibldiu.g up the 

 leaves of the Ulack Locust, are the larva' of th(^ Tityrus 

 Skipper (Eudamwi tilyrus, Fabr.), spoken of on page 

 27 of our last number in answer to T. W. (J. of 

 Georgetown, Ohio. The worm, which you call the 

 " Mock -eyed worm," is the larva of the Troilus 

 Swallow-tail (P,(/)«;/,) /'/T.//«,>', Mnn.). It fei'ilson Sassa. 

 fras and Prickly Ash. 



II'. I). Buttrv, Wchi^tn: .l/y.—Vo.ir worm on Sassafras 

 i"; the larva of the same Troilus Swallow-tail, .spoken of 



Insects Named— id/ U. ^'iiil'cr, Ell.utlieth, 1ml. — 

 The large hairy wingless insect known in your locality 

 •as the "Stinging Ant," and which has only been 

 known there for about ten years, is the same MutilU 

 ciiccinea, Linn., (g) which was spoken of on page ;!2 of 

 our last number in .answer to Dr. M. M. Keiizic, of 

 Centreville, Mo The large " hornet" with pale rust- 

 colored wings and black abdomen marked with pale yel- 

 low, and which you say is quite rare in your part of the 

 couiU,ry, is the Iland.somc Di.g.giu- Wasp (,sy/,^//.^ gj,,- 

 riosux, Drury), figured on page 12!) of our First "N'ohime. 



Rangre of tUe Rcar-Horsc— T. T. Cliumhers, 

 Curiiiijlon, Kij. — The Rear-horse {Mantis Camlina, 

 Linn.), is known to range as far North as Lat. 40^. We 

 have no doubt but tlicy woidd live in your part of the 

 eouiUrv. 



