THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



137 



and beetles below ground. Now, I have a good 

 deal of faith in the accuracy of the Doctor's 

 observations, and accept these statements as 

 truth, the more willingly because the Four- 

 humped, or Apple Curculio, which attacks our 

 apples (juinces and liaws, does pass the winter 

 in the larva state under ground. But had he not 

 found the beetle in company with the larvae and 

 pupif, I should not so readily have accepted such 

 proof, but, like Oliver Twist, should ask for 

 more ; for the larvae of several species of snout- 

 bcetles very niucli resemble each other, and we 

 are all liable lo make mistakes, liulividually, I 

 never found Plum Curculio larva' at a greater 

 depth below ground than six inches, and my 

 efforts to And them in the winter under ti'ces 

 from which infested fruit had fallen during 

 the previous summer, have so far been fruitless. 

 As to whether the Curculio is the cause of the 

 Peach-rot, there can be no qncstion whatever 

 that it is greatly instrumental in spreading this 

 dreaded disease. So much is this the ca=e, that 

 by protecting fruit in such a manner that no 

 insects can get at it, you may in a great measure 

 save it from rotting: and this is an additional 

 reason why trees should be thoroughly jarred 

 and protected from the Curculio. But I yet 

 hold that the puncture cannot possibly be the 

 first cause of Peach-rot. This is sutliciently 

 proved by the tacts, that much of the fruit is 

 punctured long before the retting season com- 

 mences; that the fruit often arrives at perfect 

 maturity, still containing the grub; that in cer- 

 tain localities, and in favorable seasons, the rot 

 is scarcely known, though the fruit is badly 

 punctured; and, liiially, that the crescent of the 

 Curculio often (indeed, in the great majority 

 of instances) heals up entirely, thus precluding 

 the idea of any poisonous effect attending the 

 puncture. It might, with et]ual reason,' be 

 argued that the Grape-rots, the Potato-rot, and 

 all the innumerable other rots are also caused 

 by insects: but as I have already devoted all 

 the time I can sjiare to this paper, although 

 many interesting facts have not even been al- 

 luded to, and as this matter does not properly 

 come within my province, 1 leave it for the 

 discussion of the more wise and experienced. 



^°To all persons interesting themselves in 

 the American Entomologist we will allow 

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 five names which they send. 



ty Should a number of the Entomologist, 

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 upon being informed of the fact. 



[(•'is !« 



hARV.E IN THE HUMAN liOWEI,8 : : 



oNK oi' Mit. Walsh's i'ostiiumous aktri.ks. 



On July .")th, 1H09, vc received from Dr. J. 

 T. Wilson, of Quincy, Ills., over a dozen oflhe 

 curious fringed larva;, which we represent con- 

 siderably magnitied in the annexed drawing 

 (Fig. 93). The circumstances under which they 

 were found are detailed in the following ex- 

 tract from Dr. Wilson's letter: — 



The specimens sent were 

 discharged, along with sev- 

 eral hundred others, from 

 the bowels of one of my 

 patients. Five months ago 

 several hundred ot the same 

 1^ nondescript, but of much 

 larger size, were discharged 

 from the bowels of tlie same 

 patient. Having no knowl- 

 edge of this paiasite, I sup- 

 posed in the tiist instance 

 that there must h.ave been 

 some mistake about the mat- 

 ter, and therefore treated it 

 with indillerence. But on 

 the second occasion, 1 satis- 

 <x^ lied myself that they were 



( ,,iui_i>,,o\viiisii- really evacuated from the 

 "''"'•^ intestines. 1 am tully per- 



suaded that they multiply within the alimentary 

 canal; yet I think that they must have been 

 originally introduced through the mouth. I 

 confess that they are a strange parasite to me, 

 and I find they are equally so to all the medi- 

 cal gentlemen to whom 1 have shown them. 1 

 am very anxiotfs to get all tlie information upon 

 this subject that I can, and should like to learn 

 all that is at present known about it. 



I'rom the structure of these larva>, it is mani- 

 fest that they belong to a section of a genus of 

 Two-winged Flies, the Flower-flies (Antho- 

 mi/ia), which section was many years ago sep- 

 arated as a distinct genus {Homnlomyia) by 

 Bouche. The true Flower-flies are named from 

 the habit which the perfect insect has of set- 

 tling upon flowers; but in the larva state 

 most of them feed upon living vegetable mat- 

 ter, and are usually smooth soft whitish mag- 

 gots, of an elongate-conical shape, with the 

 head end tapei'fed to a point and the tail end 

 more or less squarely docked. It is to this 

 group that the Imported Onion-maggot Fly 

 {A. cejiarwtn), the Imported Cabbage-maggot 

 Fly {A. brassic(i'), and an apparently indige- 

 nous species which we have described and 

 figured as the Seed-corn Flower-fly {A. zece, 

 Eilcy),* all of them belong. On the contrary, 

 the larva; belonging to the other group {lloma- 

 lomyid), instead of feeding ii|n>n living vegeta- 



• Missouri Enlom. Rejiorl, l;G.i, pp. 1,M- 



