302 



THE AMEEICAN 



ENTOMOLOGICAL JOTTINGS. 



ards the general 1 



111 order that e 



Do NOT DISSEMINATE INJUEIOUS INSECTS — 



Bidgeioood, JSf. J. — A few days ago I was asked 

 to purchase some damaged grain for feeding out 

 to stock ; but, upon examining the same, I con- 

 cluded tliat the best thing to be done with it was 

 to burn or boil the same on the isremiscs ; and 

 tliis course I ad\'ised without delay. It was all 

 infested like the ear I send [with larvaj of Angou- 

 mois Grain Moth]. In the same room there 

 were beans, all bored through hj the Bean 

 AVecvil enclosed [Bruchus obsoletus, Say] . You 

 can well imagine my surprise to find this insect 

 in such large numbers ; and it is surely time that 

 entomologists sounded the tocsin, and waked up 

 our agriculturists upon this insect question. 1 

 know that there are thousands of farmers in our 

 couutr.y who will not pay two dollars a year for 

 the Entomologist, just because they think it is 

 economy not to do so, wliile at the same time 

 they lose hundreds every year in consequence of 

 their ignorance of what this periodical teaches. 

 Not one farmer iu a thousand would know this 

 corn insect if it should come to him iu purchased 

 grain, consequently he would not hesitate to sow 

 afl'ected seed, and thereby bring ruin to himself 

 and neighbors. I bid you God speed iu your 

 great work. If coaxing will not do, scold, fret 

 and condemn, with an unsparing pen, those who 

 will persistently ignore the value of entomology 

 to our people. It is a pity, as well as a disgrace 

 to our nation, that we have no money to aid 

 science — which is only another word for pros- 

 IDcrity — while there are millions to squander upon 

 things, and even ideas, which will never benefit 

 us as a people, nor bring hapiiiness to one indi- 

 vidual. A. S. Fuller. 



A Rove-beetle as' a Parasite on the Cab- 

 BAGE Maggot — Boston, Mass., July 18, '70. — 

 Since I sent you the box containing lan-£B, &c., 

 I have bred a new parasite fi'om part of the same 

 lot ; perhaps some of your pupte produced 

 Staijliylinadoi instead of Diptera. I believe tliis 

 fact new to science, at least it is so to us here. 

 Early tliis spring my neighbor. Com. John Pox^e, 

 called my attention to a fly larva destroying his 

 young cabbage i^lants, just set out. I also found, 

 on looking over my own, some that were wilted 

 during the heat of the daj^, which proved, upon 

 examination, to be caused by the same insect at 

 work on the roots. I found from ten to tliirty 

 of dilTerent sizes on each infested xjlant. They 



destroy all the tender rootlets, and foUow the 

 centre of the main stock to the surface of the 

 ground, finally killing the plant. This enemy, 

 new to this particular location, I immediately 

 took steps to become more familiar with. After 

 transplanting some of my cabbages to my breed- 

 ing cases, I left one strong, healthy stock, which 

 I suspected of being infested, to remain in the 

 ground until it was perfectly dead, when I opened 

 the lull, Juno 20th, and took therefrom twenty- 

 six pupas, part of which I init into two boxes, 

 one with moist earth the other dr_v. On opening 

 them, July 12th, I found in each a perfect fly, 

 which proved to answer exactly to the descrip- 

 tion given by Dr. Fitch, in the New York State 

 Agricultural Report for 1866-7, of the Cab- 

 bage Fly (Anthomyia bi-assicai, Bouche). On 

 again examining my boxes, July 15th, 1 found 

 a pretty little black IJove-beetle (Staphylinus') , 

 0.15 inch long, and new to my collection. I 

 tlien presumed it came from a pupa acci- 

 dentally put iu the box with the soil ; but 

 when I again opened my boxes, July 17th, what 

 was my surprise to find in each three more of 

 the same species of beetle. Upon further ex- 

 amination, I found six of the fly puioaj with a 

 rough hole gnawed through the side, and as my 

 boxes were perfectly tight, I had but one con- 

 clusion to come to. After a careful examination 

 with the microscope of the remaining xmpfB, I 

 could detect no break in them, each segment or 

 ring was entire. On examining the balance I 

 foimd one live and one dead im^ago in one x^upa, 

 and the rest fly pupas alive ; thus proving beyond 

 a doubt that either the eggs, or what seems more 

 probable, the j'oung larvK of this Staphylinus 

 entered the fly larva?, long before they had arrived 

 at maturity. Philip S. Speague. 



[It would be well for our corresxiondent to 

 determine the species of Staphylinus which 

 plays in this new role, and we shall be glad to 

 hear further from him. — Ed.] 



OrSTER-SIIELL BaKK-LICE IN MlSSISSIPI'I ; 



Apple-tree Root-louse — Carthage, Miss., July 

 18, '70. — I am satisfied that we have the Oyster- 

 shell Bark-louse in this neighborhood. I last 

 winter cut down and burned about 200 apple 

 trees which were infested with it. It was mostly 

 on three or four large trees, from which it 

 seemed to have spread to the others, which were 

 small nursery trees. I kept a few of the limbs 

 mostly infested, and thought that I should send 

 them to you, but they have been mislaid iu some 

 waj', so that I am unable to find them. There 

 is no doubt, however, I think, but that it is the 

 real Oyster-shell Bark-louse ; ii suits your de- 

 scription exactly. I examined under a great 



