ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



175 



IOWA BITTERFLIBS. 



SOUTHERN NOTES. 



Tlic following: species, collected in Griiuiell, 

 except as otherwise stated, aie to be added to 

 the Preliminary List of Iowa species reported 

 by Mr. Samuel II. Scudder in Vol. I, I'art 2, of 

 the Transactions of the Chicago Academy of 

 Sciences. Grinncll is on high rolling prairie, 

 the summit level between the Mississippi and 

 Des Moines Rivers, by the Rock Island and - 

 Pacific Iiailroad: 



Papilio Xurniis. Mim — ^'cllou- v;ivii'ty. Coiii- 

 iiion. 



Papilio Astcrias. l''uljr.— ( oiiiiuuii. 



Papilio Pliilenor. Fabr. — (irhinell and IvcokuU. 

 Difl'ers from Kolsduvars I'.escnption in primaries not 

 jjrecuish; tail not wliitish at base. Differs from Say's 

 in first tbigb having a conspicuous yellow line; crcn;e 

 vellowisb-wbite. Two specimens— tbat from (iiinnell 

 expands near -t inebes. 

 'Papilio Tlioas, Linn. — lieokuk and Davenpurl. 



Papilio Ajax, var. Ma/reUm.-, Ci-ani.— Keokuk and 

 Davenpoit. 



Ar^rynnis Myrina, Cram.— .Vdd to lioisduvars 

 description — underside of primaries witli three dull 

 whitish spaces, two of wbieli flank tbe middle nacre, 

 and are each divided by a transverse brown line. An- 

 tcnmc not conspieuously .annulated with white. Ex- 

 pands ^.3. 



Arg;)-nnis Bellona, Uodt. — Not uncommon. Am- 

 plify Boisduval's description — summit of primaries with 

 ferruginous patch, and before it a pale yellow oblique 

 band. Four of five specimens expand nearly ■> inebes; 

 the other ]. To. 



Vanessa Antiopa, Linn. — Not rare. 



Vanessa Progne. Cram. — Rare .so far as observed. 

 Expands 2.5. 



Erebia lVcpl»ele. Kirby.— Not uncommon. \i'ry 

 dark brown. lOxpands :; inches 



Hespcria Bathyllus, Sm. .\bb. {Pi/la,l(«. Scudd.) 

 — One specimen 



Nisoniadcs Catullus, (lodt. -.\dd to .Vbbott's 

 description— head spotted with white above. Front of 

 palpi and ueck, white. No spots on secondaries. Ex- 

 pands a little more than t inch . 



Thecla Strigosa, Harr. 



The following species, reported liy .Mr. Sciiddcr. I 

 have collected at Grinuell: 



Glaucus, Protodice, Philodke, A'uri/tlume, Coeeoiiiu, 

 Comyiitae, Si/richtus, JSrippus, Misippua, Ursula, Idaliu, 

 Aphrodite, yycteis, Tharos, Atalania, Cardui, HunUra, 

 Jivterrogationis, Poiilandia, Alopc, Jioisdiiralu, Tili/nm, 

 Bathyllus, Martialh, Ahaton, HoJioinoi, Aplirodite, .1- 

 iilhitm. Also, a Coeiiia from Keokuk, whore it is said 

 to have been common a few years since, but not noticed 

 of latG. 



H W. rviiKici:. 



Iowa <'OLLE(iK. Marrh. IsTll. 



[XOTE BY THE Editoii.— We regrel Ibat uiu- i:mn>|ii)»cluiil 

 tiaa not mentioned the ncxof Papilio philenor, Inr in Ilu- IVniulc 

 the primaries are scarcely ever greenish; :ind tin- luwu 

 specimens cannot difler from Boisduval's discriiili.ui in the 

 tail not being whitish at base, because Boisduvul mentions 

 no such character in the original French {Lepidoptcres diur- 

 nes) . No doubt Mr. Parker has t^een led into en'or by the 

 Knglish i-endering in Morris's Si/nopsis. It is always 'dan- 

 gerous to quote second-hand from an author.] 



IIY J. I'AUISIt STELLK, OI-' TENNLSSEB. 

 As EXI'ERI.MENT lOIt TOU.VI CO-0 ItOWKltS. — I 



visited the plantation of a Mr. George Harris, 

 in West Tennessee, last summer, and found 

 him protecting his crop of tobacco from the 

 ravages of the Tobacco Worm (SphiirK i>-mncu- 

 lata, Ilaw.) in a most novel kind of way. A 

 border some six or eight feet wide, and running 

 entirely around his tobacco-patch, was thickly 

 grown with Jiinpson or Jamestown weed (J)a- 

 lum slrinnonium, Linn.), the seed liaving been 

 sown, 1 suppose, for I neglected to ask. At 

 the time of my visit the weeds were in full 

 bloom, and on every third day Mr. Harris, so 

 he told me, went among them and dropped a 

 little arsenic into the bell of each flower. The 

 hawk moths came at night to deposit (heir eggs 

 upon the tobacco plants, but when they reached 

 the border they could not think of crossing 

 without first having a dip into their favorite 

 flowers; and, as a consequence — to use Mr. 

 Harrris's own expression — " two minutes later 

 found them laid out to dry." He assured me 

 that on some mornings hundreds of dead moths 

 were to be found lying about the edges of his 

 patch, and that the appeai'ance of a worm on 

 any of his plants wa.s considered a rare thing, 

 indeed. 



I was 01. ly a short time on Mr. Harris's plan- 

 tation, therefore I cannot, of course, stand good 

 for all he claimed as the result of his experi- 

 ment; still, I will say, without hesitation, that 

 I saw nothing which led me to form a single 

 doubt. His tobacco was clear of worms, and I 

 saw him putting arsenic on his Jimpson flowers. 

 I also saw a number of dead moths, and a 

 knowledge of tlie fact that they fly near (he 

 ground, and slowly from plant to plant, on their 

 way to deposit (heir eggs, caused me to believe 

 that they were killed as he claimed, and that 

 few would be likely to cross his border without 

 sharing (he same fa(e. It would cost but little 

 to try the thing, at all events, and therefore I 

 think our tobacco-growers would do well to 

 give it a fair test. If it will protect tobacco it 

 will also protect tomatoes ; and I am inclined 

 to think (hat fly-cobalt would be a more eflec(nal 

 poison to use than arsenic. 



ToAi>s IN THE Gakdex. — 1 wish to say, by 

 way of postscript to the article on page 91, Vol. 

 II, of this magazine, entitled " Toads vs. Bugs," 

 that I kept about a do/en toads in my garden 

 all through the last summer, and found them to 

 be zealous insect exterminators. The only ob- 



