212 



THE AMERICAN 



ANSWERS TO COREESPONDENTS. 



^OTloJ■: —Such of c 



"spondeuts as have alreadv sent, i 





after seiid, small collections of insects to be named, will please to inform us 

 if any of the species sent are from other States than their own. Lists of 

 insects found in auj' particular locality are of especial interest, as throwing 

 light upon the Keographical distribution of species But to make them or 

 real value, it is requisite that we know for certain whether or not all tlie 

 insects in any particular list come from that particular locality, and if not , 

 from what locality they do come. 



We have lately received several small collections of insects to he named, 

 and have, so far as our time would allow, answered by letter, because a long 

 strineof names is dry and uninteresting to the general leader. It requires 

 muen time to conscientiously name the many lots of insects that reach ns, 

 and hereafter we can take no notice of them, unless they are properly 

 mounted on entomological pins, and the locality given in which they were 

 tbund. At least two specimens ol each species should be sent when it is pos- 

 sible to do so, and each species should be separately numbered. When there 

 are but few, we shall answer as heretofore in the columns of the EUTOMOL- 

 OGIBT, but when there are many we shall answer by mail. 



How to Study and Breed Insects — Jason E. 

 Gowden, Ameslury, Mass. — You are referred to the series 

 of articles, from ttie pen of Mr. F. G. Sanborn, now 

 appearing in our magazine. 



Okas. E. BilUn, PUladelpUa, Pa.— Please refer to 

 same article. See also page 68 at bottom of column 2. 



Shed Snake Scale— Jixs. B. EawMns, Vandalia, 

 2iis, — 'We have on two former occasions received just 

 such an object as you send, and as your own words fitly 



[Fig. 128,] 



color — Translucent white. 



describe it, we quote 

 them: " Having a 



i- very rare specimen 

 I in my collection, I 

 ' take the liberty of 

 asking your opinion 

 of it. It is about an inch and a quarter in length, 

 by one-quarter in breadth, and is almost as thin as 

 tissue paper. It is semi-transparent, and an ordinary 

 microscope reveals no organs of life whatever. Still 

 it is possessed of motion, and can travel over a table 

 pretty briskly after the fashion of a measuring-worm. 

 Its body seems hard to the touch, and has a fine polish 

 which reflects the colors of the rainbow. When dis- 

 turbed it quickly coils up like a watch-spring. I think 

 a small piece of tissue from the inside of an onion, cut 

 the proper length, would have a close resemblance to 

 it. It was found on an old decayed log. ' ' 



This wonderful creature is in reality a shed abdomi- 

 nal scale of some snake, and lest some other ot our 

 readers may at some future time be as sorely puzzled 

 over it as you have been, we give an outline of it at 

 Figure 128. Hairs and other epidermis are more or 

 less hygrometric, and readily move under a change 

 in the condition of the air. These snake scales are so 

 sensitive that they will readily pulsate in keeping with 

 the beatings of the heart, if the finger be held close to 

 one end. We incline to believe, however, that its con- 

 tracting has caused you to stretch the story of its moving 

 briskly over a tahle just a leetle. If you place a hair on 

 a hot stove, you will find that it will curl up as rapidly 

 as the Hair-worms described in this number by Profes- 

 sor Leidy . 



Worms under Mulcb Bay — /. F. Flagg, Mead- 

 vilU, Pa. — The dirty brown worms, about one-half 

 inch long, having a small shiny, brown, retractile head, 

 four longitudinal rows of minute black spines, and ter 

 minating abruptly at the tail with a flesh-colored proleg 

 below, and tour pointed fleshy protuberances above, 

 are the larv« of some species of Crane-fly {Tipula). We 

 have long since been acquainted with these worms, but 

 they have never, so far as we know, been bred to the 

 perfect state. We have observed them, in the month 

 of February, crawling by thousands over the snow and 



[Fig. 129.] 



ice in a meadow; and your finding them under the hay 

 and leaves used as a mulch around your rose-bushes, is 

 quite in accordance with their habits,^ for they love 

 moist and cool situtvtions. They feed on decomposing 

 vegetable matter, but also sometimes seriously injure 

 grass meadow.s by devouring the living roots. A little 

 stilt, sprinkled over the ground before the mulch is 

 applied, would doubtless prevent their appearance, if 

 that is what you desire. They are not cut-worms, 

 v^ A ncTT Pear-tree Insect — E. J. Ayres, Villa 

 Ridge, His.— The blackish beetles with a greenish cast, 

 and finely ])unctured, which htive injured so many of 

 your young pear trees, by completely 

 eating out the ends ot the new shoots, 

 and of the buds just before they burst, 

 belong to the family of "Horn-bugs" 

 (LuCAKiDiE), as they are called in 

 this country, or "Stag-beetles," as 

 they are termed in England. The 

 species is the Platycerus quei'cus, 

 Sch., and may be known in popular 

 language as the Oak Horn-bug. As 

 its name would imply, it is perhaps 

 common on the difterent kinds of p„,^^_B,„^^ ,^i,^^f^„^ 



oak, though we have met with olive-green hue. 



it on but few occasions ourselves, and have never 

 before heard of its destructive habit of devouring 

 pear buds. In the larva state it feeds on dead oak logs 

 and stumps. Attracted by the earlier development of 

 the pear buds, compared with those of the different 

 oaks, these beetles, with appetites sharpened by a long 

 winter fasting, are led to invade your orchard during 

 the early part of the season, but will in all probability 

 retire to their usual haunts in the woods, as soon as 

 there is a fit supply of their more natural food. But as 

 your orchard is surrounded with timber and is more or 

 less subject to such invasions every spring, we should 

 advise you in future to protect the smaller trees just 

 planted by covering them with millinet, as it is diflicult 

 to ward oft' beetles which fly so readily by any other 

 means . As this is an entirely new enemy to the Pear 

 we give an outline sketch of the female (Fig. 129), the 

 male dift'ering only in his somewhat lai'ger size, and his 

 rather more robust mandibles. 



Apple-tivig Borer — Joel B. Myers, Tola, Kaits, — 

 The brown beetle which you found boring into a small 

 l^ear tree at the axil of a limb , is the $ Bostriohus hioau- 

 datus, to which we have frequently referred in back 

 numbers. 



Cocoons of Polypbemus lHotb — H. J. Dunlap, 

 Ohampaign, Ms. — Your cocoons, found on a Morello 

 Cherry tree , are those of the Polyphemus Moth [Attacus 

 polyphemus, Linn.), which was figured in the March (1869) 

 number of this maiirazine, 



Cralls on supposed Dock — S. V. Summers, M.D,, 

 St. Louis, Mo. — The galls on what you take to be some 

 species of Bumex, are in reality the Golden-rod Moth 

 Gall [Gelechia gallmsolidaginis^,* Riley). You have 

 doubtless been led into the error of confounding the 

 two plants from finding these old Golden-rod stalks near 

 some growing dock. We have long since known that 

 Ghrysomela [Gastrophysa] cyanea, Melsb., breeds on 

 Dock, and from this habit, it might appropriately be 

 called in popular language the Dock Leaf-beetle . 



• Mo. Ent. Sep., I, p. 178. 



