128 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



of crevices. Tlio eggs there elude detection, being of ii 

 dark-browu, inclining to purple. The young worms 

 which hatch from them are also dark -brown, with large 

 lioads; they are active and commence spinning as soon 

 as they are Ijorn. I^uckily, this insect seldom becomes 

 numerous enough to cause serious alarm, as to combat 

 it on a large scale would be difficult. Special trees may 



[Fig. SO.] 



Color—Lisht giay. 



be saved from its attacks by an appUcatiou of soft soap 

 as lar up the trunk as possible, about the end of June , 

 as it will prevent the moths depositing. At this time 

 also, the moths may be caught and destroyed from off 

 trees already infested, by visiting sucli trees early in 

 the morning, for the moths are then quite sluggish, 

 having emerged from the tree during the night, leaving 

 their empty chrysalis skins protiiiJing half way out of 

 the holes. This insect attacks the Oak as well as the 

 Black Locust, and, judging from specimens which vvc 

 received a year .igo from Mr. J. Iluggins, of Wood- 

 burn, Ills. , it also infests the Crab-apple. According 

 to Dr. Fitch, It is more common in Oak in the Eastern 

 States than in Locust; but we have found it more 

 partial to the Locust in the \7est, 



£g'grs of Snonry Tree Cricket on Raspberry 

 Canes — J. B. Hoot, Rocl-ford, Ills. — The straightrows 

 of punctures on your Doolittle Black -Cap Raspberry 

 canes, the punctures contiguous to each other, with 

 an egg placed slantingly across the pith leading from 

 each, are made by the Snowy Tree Cricket {(Ecanthiis 

 nieeus, Ameiiican Entomolocust, Vol. I, Figs. 38 and 

 oil). Though these eggs may be mistaken at first for 

 worms by the unskilled, yet no entomologist would 

 ever mistak'3 them for such. An egg — no matter how 

 narrow or long it may be — can always be distinguished 

 by its lacking entirely those articulations which are so 

 characteristic of all insect larva>, and of most other 

 worms. The cane will be very apt to die above these 

 deposits, and to i^revent the increase of the insect, 

 the infested canes should all be cut off and burned 

 before spring. 



Spotted Rove-beetle — J. H., Woodlum, Ills. — 

 The large gray insect \nth short wing-covers, which 

 seemed to be very anxious to cover itself with filth, is 

 the Spotted Kove-beetle {Staphilinua macidoeus, Grv.) 

 The Rove-beetles are voracious creatures, preying on 

 decaying animal and vegetable matters. They are also 

 foimd abundantly under heaps of putrescent plants, 

 and, acting in the capacity of Scavengers, must be con- 

 sidered beneficial. 



Raspberry Couty Gall — CMs. Carpenler, Kelly's 

 Island, Ohio .—'the swollen, gouty appearance of your 

 [Fis. 1)1 ] raspben-y and blackberry vines is 



caused by the Red-necked Agiilus 

 ( Agriliis rvjicollis). You will find an 

 illustrated article on the subject in 

 the present niunbcr, under the same 

 caption that heads this paragx'aph. 

 We had never before found fresh and 

 living larva;, as the galls which we 

 had heretofore received were too dry 

 when they reached us. But your 

 .galls came very opportunely, for we 

 found three full-sized living speci- 

 mens within them, and are thus en- 

 abled to give a truer figure (Fig. 90) 

 than that given on page 103, and to 

 add the following description for our 

 scientific friends; 



AGKILUS liUFICOLLI.S. —Lurcu — 

 Color pale-yellow. Length O.iio 

 inch. Diameter 0.05 inch. Some- 

 what flattened, especially at sides. 

 Color— whiiisii. the Width nearly twice as great as 

 depth. A I'ufo us vesicular dorsal line. Head brown; 

 jaws black. .Joint 1 about }i wider than 2, and having 

 a somewhat horny yellow patch, above, shaped some- 

 thing like a kite; joints 2 and 3 = 1 in length; 4 as 

 long as 2 and 3 together; 5—10 sub-equal and longer 

 than four; 11 half as long as 10; 12 swollen, somewhat 

 homy below, and ending in two thorns, each with 

 three blunt teeth on the inner edge. 



As little or no fruit matures above these galls, which 

 are often quite near the groimd, it is very likely, as you 

 suggest, that this cause of uufruitlulness is not sus- 

 pected by the casual observer. All att'ected canes should 

 be cut off below the galls and burned before spring. 



Parasitic Cocoons — tf. C. Braclcett, Lawrence, 

 Earn. — The little masses of light brown cocoons, all 

 soldered together (Fig. 91) which you find lying on tlie 

 tFig. ai.] ground under your 



apple trees, are the 

 coeoons of a little 

 parasitic Ichneu- 

 mon fly. The fly 

 Coiur— Light bmwu. comes Very near the 



geuus Miorog aster, but lacks the areolet, and will pro- 

 bably have to form a new genus; but for the present 

 all that you are in^rested in knowing is, perhaps, that 

 it is benefeial. It doubtless infests some wonn which 

 feeds on the le.ives of your apple trees, and as Dr. 

 Warder has sent -us some of the same cocoons, taken 

 likewise from your orchard, it seems to be quite com- 

 mon with you. It would interest us to know upon what 

 particular worm it feeds. 



Tbe Pigreon Xreniex in Apyfle — Joriatltnii Hag- 

 gins, Woodhuni, Ills. — The large four-winged fly about 

 IJo inch in length, with a black and rust-colored 

 cylindrical body of the size of a common lead-pencil, 

 and with a stout piercer at extremity, is a $ Pigeon 

 Tremex (Treme.c columia, Linn.) Your finding her 

 piercing an apple tree is a new fact, for though tliis 

 insect is well known to attack oak and elm trees, it has 

 not hei etofore been recorded as occurring in apple trees. 

 The Lunate Rhysa — that large Ichneumon fiy figured 

 on the left of our cover— seeks the larva of the Tremex 

 in its hidden retreat, and by means of her long oviposi- 

 positor, deposits an egg in its body, which hatches out 

 and destroys the wood-borer. 



