160 



THE AMERICA]^ ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ened out measures 0.11 inch, and which is wliite with 

 the mouth parts, an oval spot each side just behind the 

 head, and the breathing holes, rufous— may be found 

 lying curled up in its cell ; but towards the end of March 

 it gradually transforms to pupa (Fig. 103, d), and the fly, 

 in your latitude, issues about the first of May. This fly 

 belongs to the Cynips family, but to the genus Diastro- 

 phus, which is confined to plants of the Rose family Just 

 as Cynips is to the Oak family, and as AntistivpMs , 

 described on page 74, is to Composite plants. If you 

 should keep one of these galls in a dosed vessel till next 

 summer, you would doubtless breed from it, besides 

 the true gaU-maker, a guest-fly or intruder {Aulax 

 syhestfis, O. S . ) which sponges on the BiastropJms for 

 board and lodging, and a little parasitic Chalcis-^j 

 which serves to keep the gall-maker in check. By 

 burning these unsightly galls at this season of the year, 

 you of course eft'ectually prevent the increase of the 

 insect which produces it. 



Clover-ivornis— ff. Pauls, Eiirelca, Mo. — You say: 



' ' In opening a stack ot timothy hay, in wJiich there 

 was a little clover at the bottom of the stack, I found a 

 lot of brown, grayish worms, that had nearly eaten all 

 the clover, but not the timothy. 1 wanted to compare 

 them with your description of the Clover- worm, but the 

 number of the Entomologist containing it was not at 

 hand. Are they the same thing?" Yes, they are the 

 identical -'Clover- worm"— the only "Clover- worm" 

 known to prefer the dry to the green plant, and a winter 

 to a summer existence ! This is the first time we have 

 heard of it In Missouri, though from having caught 

 numerous specimens of the moth in St. Louis, flying at 

 the light diiring the summer nights, we knew that the 

 worm must also occur not far oft'. The answer you 

 refer to will be found on page 220 of the last volume, 

 where figures are given of the insect in all its stages. 

 This insect is very widely distributed, occurring in 

 many parts of Europe, in Canada, as we are informed 

 by Mr. C. J. S. Bethune, and in most of the Northern 

 and Middle States of the Union. This is not to be 

 wondered at, when we know how very easily it may be 

 transported in the larva state in clover hay. Yet, com- 

 mon as it is, nothing was known of its larval history till 

 we published an article on the subject in the Prairie 

 Farmer ot Chicago. It would really be Interesting to 

 know whether or not this insect has the same habits 

 abroad as it has with us, for we cannot believe, as stated 

 by Humphrey, that it feeds on poplars in England. In 

 the Fraiiie Farmer Annual for 1SC8 we published the 

 following relative to its proper nomenclature : 



"Attacking and spoiling clover in the stack and mow, 

 by interweavinn; and covering it with abundant white 

 silken web, and black excrement that much resembles 

 coarse gunpowder. 



"Full accounts were given of this insect, first in the 

 Prairie Farmer of April 20th, under the name of Pyralis 

 -'■■--'-■- and corrected in tlie following issue to Asopia 



It is only left to state that from all we can learn, 

 this latter is the proper name. The two insects are 

 remarkably ahke, and easily confounded, though the 

 olinalis. is confined to the United States, while aostalis 

 occurs both here and in Europe, no difference bavin »■ 

 been (ound between our American species and those o° 

 Europe. Both of them have been recently referred to 

 the genus Asopia by a distinguished European Lepi- 

 dopterist, in monographing the family PYKALiDiE, to 

 which they belong; though the ditterences between 

 Asopia and Pyralis are very trivial indeed, and to our 

 mind there is no real reason why our insect should not 

 still be included in the latter genus, where Fabricius 



first placed it. Our Clover- worm, with its synonyms, 

 may be given thus : 



"Asopia costalis, Lederer. 

 ^•Pyralis eoitalis, Pabr. 

 " Pyralis fimh-ialis, Steph. 

 ' 'The student of Eu'tomology is eternally harassed and 

 perplexed by the many synonyms attaching to one in- 

 sect, every modern monographer dividing up the old 

 genera, till we have almost as many as we have species; 

 and we sometim.es wish that, instead of a hundred dif- 

 ferent persons, in as many parts ot the world, each 

 cutting up the old genera and creating new ones, ac- 

 cording to his particular idea, we could look to some 

 universally recognized head, such as our American 

 Entomological Society, for some jurisdiction and au- 

 thority in this matter of classification . 

 ■ "The only figure we are able to find of this moth, is 

 in Vol. I, pi. 45, fig. 18, of 'The genera of British 

 Moths, arranged according to the plan now adopted in 

 the British Museum, by H. Noel Humplirey;' where it 

 is called Pfypsopyyea costalis, and the caterpillar is said 

 to feed on poplars. The lithographs, however, are more 

 faithful than the author's pen, for in his text he most 

 laughably confounds this insect with the common meal 

 moth, Pyralis farinalis. 



"The simple 'Clover-worm' will, of course, fall far 

 more pleasing and significant on the farmer's ear than 

 these synonyms, but they are given for those who take 

 an interest in such matters. ' ' 



Since the above was published we have added to our 

 library several valuable works on moths; and we find 

 that, up to a quite recent date, both the leading French 

 and English authors place this moth in the old Linnean 

 genus Pyralis. The moth is popularly known in Eng- 

 land as the Gold Fringe. 



By making a good elevated foundaition for your clover 

 stacks, so that the air can pass underneath, and by 

 sprinkling the first few feet with salt when building the 

 stack , you will effectually preserve the hay against the 

 attacks of this worm. 



Seed Ticks under Bark of Apple-trees — 0. 

 £. Qaluslia, Morris, Ills. — The minute 8-legged "in- 

 sects" which infest the apple trees in Mr. Clapp's 

 orchard, harboring uiider the outer bark, are in reality 

 not true insects. IS'o insect has more than six true legs, 

 and though the larvae of most Moths and Butterfles 

 [order Lepidoptera^ , of Saw-flies [order Eymtnoptera\s 

 of some Two-winged flies [order BipUra\, and many 

 beetles (order Coleoptera) , possess from one to sixteen 

 additional legs, yet all over the six anterior ones are 

 simply membranous or prop-legs, and are lost when the 

 insects attain their perfect state. Thus whenever you 

 flnd an animal with eight true horny, jointed legs, you 

 may safely conclude that it is not an insect. The little 

 animals you sent, were in fact "seed-ticks,"' the 

 young of one of our most common wood-ticks {Ixodes 

 unipunctata, Pack).® "When recently hatched these 

 ticks have but six legs, but they very soon acquire 

 the additional pair. We do not think they will do any 

 serious harm to the trees, and should judge that they, 

 do not occur very generally over the orchard. 



Parasitic Cocoons — S. W. Beckworfh, South Pass, 

 Mis. — The " nest of eggs ' ' which you send, and which 

 you found near your door yard under some Red-oak 

 trees, are in reality the same kind of little parasitic 

 cocoons, spoken of, and figured on page 128 of our last 

 number, in answer to G. 0. Brackett. Of course they 

 should not be destroyed. 



Xicks and Xexas Fever — T/ios. W. Gordon, George- 

 town, 0. — See what we have said on this subject on 

 page 28 of our first volume . 



* Guide to Study of Inflects, p. 6G1. 



