THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



153 



wings beiug less distinct, more double, and 

 extending to the outer angle. 



The larva is said by Dr. Fitcli to so much resem- 

 ble that of the preceding species lliat " we as yet 

 know not whether there are any marks whereby 

 they can be distiMguished troni each other." 

 (Heport 3, § 12-1). The moth is more common 

 in the AVest than its larger ally, and tliough wc 

 liave never bred it from the larva, yet we have 

 often met with a worm (Fig. IHl', a) which, tor 

 various reasons, we take to be this species. It 

 never grows to be quile so Jaige as the other, and 

 may readily he distinguished by its more decided 

 hluish cast; by having but four light and four 

 dark stripes to each segment (Fig. 102, 6); by hav- 

 ing no orange band across the middle segments, 

 and by the spots, with the exception of two on 

 the back placed in the middle liglit band, being 

 almost obsolete. The head, .shield on the first 

 segment, liump on the 11th, and a band on the 

 12th, are orange, spotted with hlack, the hump 

 being marked as at Figure 102, c. Venter orange, 

 becoming dusky towards head; leet aud legs 

 also orange, with blackish extremities, and with 

 spots on their outside at base. 



Tliis worm works for the most part in the 

 terminal buds of the vine, drawing the leaves 

 together by a weak silken thread, and canker- 

 ing them. It forms a simple earthen cocoon, 

 or frequently bores into a piece of old wood, 

 and changes to chrysalis, which averages but 

 0.36 inch iu length: this chrysalis is reddish- 

 brown, covered on the back with rows of very 

 minute teeth, with the tip of the abdomen trun- 

 cated, and terminating above in a thick blunt 

 spine each side. 



From the above accounts, wo hope our read- 

 ers will have no difficulty in distinguishing 

 between these three blue caterpillars of the 

 Grape-vine. But, says the practical grape- 

 grower, '' what does it concern me to know 

 whether the little blue varmints that are defoli- 

 ating ray vines, belong to this species or to that? 

 All I wish to know, is how to get rid of them, 

 and as they are all three so nearly alike, the 

 remedy applied to one must be equally effectual 

 with the others." Gently, dear reader; it muy 

 prove of considerable importance that you know 

 which particular .species infests your vines! If 

 you live in the West, and tiiid the iarva of the 

 Beautiful Wood Nymph, then you need feel no 

 alarm, while if you live in the East and find that 

 of the Pearl Wood Nymph, you may iu like 

 manner put your hands in your pockets and go 

 your way with an easy mind ; for neither of these 

 species are likely to become troublesome iu those 

 respective sections of the country, since hereto- 



fore they have always been quite rare iu those 

 parts. Again, the larva) of the two Wood 

 Nymphs have a fondness for boring into old 

 pieces of wood, to transform to the chrysalis 

 state, aud Mr. T. B. Ashton, of White Creek, N. 

 Y., found that tliey would eveu bore into corn 

 cobs for this purpose in preference to entering 

 the ground, wherever such cobs were accessi- 

 ble.* The Eight-spotted Forester, on the con- 

 trary, has no such habit, and while the only 

 mode of combating it is to pick the larvaj oft' 

 aud burn them, the Wood Nymphs may be 

 more easily subdued by scattering a few corn- 

 cobs under the vines in the summer — to be raked 

 up aud burned in the winter. 



SOUTHERN NOTES. 



BV J. PARISH STELLE, OP TENNESSEE. 



Entomology in thk South. — A person who 

 has never passed a season in the Sonth, can form 

 no correct idea of the vastly increased numbers 

 of insects which we have down here, compared 

 to the numbers existing in the North. I verily 

 believe that after crossing the old "Mason and 

 Dixon's line," each degree of distance south- 

 ward doubles the number of every species, to 

 say nothing of the hundreds of new species 

 peculiar to a warm country, that are brought 

 in by change of climate as one goes down. 



Why the South has more insects than the 

 North is a question easily answered. In the 

 North the severity of the winter kills a large 

 per cent, of them, and holds back those which 

 it does not kill to a late start in the spring, while 

 down here where there is, comparatively, no 

 winter, almost every individual lives through, 

 aud is ready to propagate its species so soon as 

 the proper season has rolled around. Even as 

 far up as the southern portion of Tennessee, I 

 could go out almost any day iu mid-winter and 

 make up quite a respectable cabinet of living 

 insects. This morning (January 15), I took a 

 stroll along the edge of one of our cypress 

 swamps, and saw a goodly number of grass- 

 hoppers and other insects moving merrily about 

 the land, while a passable turn-out of dragon- 

 flies were briskly skimming here and there above 

 the water. 



Undoubtedly the heaviest clog to the wheels 

 of culture in the South is noxious insects ; yet, 

 and I am sorry to say it, little or no steps are 

 being taken with a view to making it otherwise; 

 In some localities we occasionally sufl'er from 

 drouth, and the people living there are now 



"Fitch's Rep. 3, p. S2. 



