THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



125 



ENTOMOLOGICAL JOTTINGS. v 



[We propose to publish from time to time, uuUer 

 tlie al)Ove heading, such extracts from the letters of our 

 I'orrespondents as contain entomological tacts worthy 

 to he recorded, on accoiuit either of their scicntitic or 

 of their practical importance. We hope our readers 

 will contribute each theirseveral mites towards tbegen- 

 cral fund, and in case they are not perlcctly certain of 

 the names of the insects, the peculiarities of wliicli are 

 to be mentioned, will send specimens along in order 

 that each species may be duly identitied.] 



Bean-weevils— JfeA'^ Farms, N. Y., Nov. 1, 

 '69. — I enclose you a sample of bean.s to .sliow 

 yoii how thoroughly and effectually this little 

 vagabond is plying his time-immemorial avoca- 

 tions in the bean-patches in this quarter. Five 

 or six years ago I had occasion to call on a 

 neighbor, and in passing through the barn he 

 pointed out to me a heap of threshed beans, on 

 the floor, of the Early Mohawk variety, wliich 

 he said had been destroyed by bugs getting into 

 them since they were threshed. (?) A casual 

 'inspection showed that they were destroyed 

 sure enough. At Itast one-half of them were 

 as badly infested as the sample I send yon, but 

 as I pointed out to him, the damage which was 

 now an accomplished fact, had been commenced 

 during the growing season, aud the "bugs" 

 were now leaving the beans instead of entering 

 them. 



Next season I found a few among my own 

 beans, and they have been on the increase ever 

 since; and this year my Yellow Six Week- 

 variety are nearly as bad as my neighbor's re- 

 ferred to above. They are nearly as bad this 

 year on a pole variety, the 'Dutch Case Knife," 

 as they are on the low growing ones. The small 

 black bush variety, however, seems to have 

 escaped them. If some check is not put to their 

 ravages soon, the culture of beans will have to 

 bo given up here. Jas. Angus. 



[The weevil is the Bruchus ohsoletus. Say, 

 about which wc publish an article from Mr. S. 

 S. Ralhvon, in another portion of this num- 

 ber. — Kd.] 



IIakmless Parasites on the Larva of the 

 LiNA MoTiT — Covington, Ky., Jan. 21, '70. — 

 Last summer I took, feeding on walnut leaves, 

 a mature larva of Atlacu.s liina, upon which L 

 counted about 22 eggs like those of a Tuchina 

 fly; but I did not breed any parasites, and I 

 cannot conceive what became of them. Not 

 only was there a black patch under each egg, 

 but under some I distinctly saw with a lens a 

 minute orifice by which the parasite had entered 

 the integument of the Luna larva. There may 

 have been a few more than 22 eggs, as 1 counted 

 that nmtibor and then desisted from uncertainty 



as to whether some had not been counted al- 

 ready. The larva became a pupa aud about the 

 middle of last May produced a very fine moth, 

 which I now have. There was no room for 

 mistake, as this larva, and one which I took a 

 few days previously, and which had already 

 •'spun up" when I took this one, arc the only 

 two Lvnn larva' that 1 ever saw, and both pro- 

 duced the moths. 1 have met with no similar 

 instance in my entomological reading, and I 

 supposed that a parasite once in the body of its 

 host, death invariably resulted. I can imagine, 

 however, that one, or a few, parasitic lai-vw 

 might perish at an early stage of their exist- 

 ence without destroying the host ; but this would 

 hardly happen with so many as there were in 

 this instance, unless the present parasite had 

 made a mistake in depositing its eggs upon the 

 Luna larva, so that its progeny consequently 

 found an uncongenial habitat, and therefore 

 perished, V. T. C. 



The Handsome Digoek "Wasp as a Horse 

 Guard, again — Clarksville, Tenn., Dec. 2oth, 

 1869. — Allow me to state in confirmation of my 

 previous remarks, that I saw one of the speci- 

 mens of the Handsome Digger Wasp which was 

 sent to you, carry a Horse-fly into its nest. I 

 secured the wasp as it came out of its hole, then 

 dug up the nest, which had five horse flies in it, 

 and one half-grown wasp larva. I could pro- 

 duce many witnesses to subst.antiale their habits 

 as I have stated them. Not only do they catch 

 Horse-flies, but like the Bald-faced Hornet 

 {Bcmbex fasciatd), they catch house-flies also, 

 though I do not know whether they provision 

 their nests with these last, nor have I ever known 

 them to catch grasshoppers. 



A. H. R. Bryant. 



MR. WALSH'S PORTRAIT. 



Our readers will be a little disappointed in 

 not receiving with this numher, the portrait of 

 our late as.sociate, which was promised last 

 month. Bear with us yet a little while. A ])oor 

 portrait is worse than none at all, and rather 

 than hurry the artist, we have decided to give 

 him plenty of time, and to send tlie portrait 

 with the next, instead of with the present num- 

 ber of the Ento>iolo(;i.st. 



l-y Remember, that every one who ,sends us 

 Ave subscribers to the American Entomolo- 



<;ist, is entitled to an extra copy free of charge! 



■ • » • 



Erratum. — Page 101, column 2, Hue 2.5, for 

 'ferrojua' re.ad 'CeiTopia;^ samecolnmn, note, 

 for 'Chalrig maria ■ read 'Chafei.i lanrln'.' 



