306 



THE AMERICAN 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



NotlCE.— Such of our corrospondt-ntB as have already seut, or may here- 

 after send, 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. i^ists of 

 insects foniid in any particular locality arc of especial interest, as throwinK 

 light upon the p;eo<;raphical distribution of species But to make them of 



real value, it is requisite th"' — ' '— — '-' i-'i-— - ' -" ->■- 



insects in any particular list 

 from wliat locality they do c 



Insects Named — J. K. Kiild, Limoooi, J/o.^The 

 two fliittisli l)eelles witli dark brown wiiig-eovers, and 

 iv yellow thorax haying a central dark spot, are carrion / 

 eaters. There are se\eral species, of which this Silfhm 

 fellutii, Ctiteshy, is the largest in the genus. They are 

 related to the Burying-bectles {Necrophila), and feed 

 almost invariably upon dead animal matter, though 

 ooeasionally on rotten vegetables. The brilliant green 

 and copper-colored beetle, whicli had destroyed all tlie 

 caterpillars in a nest on a crab-apple tree, is the Bum- 

 maging Ground-beetle (Golosoma scrutator, Fabr.), a 

 very predacious and useful insect, whicli we illustrated 

 last month (Fig. 168), The hirge Two-winged Fly wliich 

 had killed the Bumble-bee, and which so much resem- 

 bles its victim In coloration, is tbe Yellow-necked La- 

 phria (LapTiria tlioracica, Fabr.) We have here a curious 

 instance of mimicry between a predacious Two-winged 

 Fly (Order Dijitau) and a honey-producing Four--i\inged 

 Fly (Order Hymenoptera), which, no doubt, enables the 

 former^ by deception, to catch its prey with ease. 

 Though these large predacious flies usually attack a 

 great ■sariety ot other insects, we Iuiac reason to believe 

 that the species in question confines its attacks In a 

 greivt measure to bees of the Bomliis Family, in which 

 the black and yellow are the prevailing colors. 



Caterpillar oli IVhlte-itiai ked Tussock Hloth 

 — 0. C. B. Lawrence, Xaa«.— The caterpillars from a 

 young apple Jjee.areJthose of the AVhite-marked Tus- 



"""" CriK lb6 ] 



Colors — Black white yello\ and red 

 sock Moth (,Oifpiia leu>,0':ti<ima) We icproduic licie- 

 ^\ ith (Fig Ibb) jn dlusti iliou fallen iioni p i^e 71 of oui 

 Fust A olume, ^\ hut a ou « ill find some recount of it 

 The male moth hi^ cui\ed pectin ited antenna, and i 

 white spot on each front ^\ ing ucai the uuiei hmd an^le. 

 It sits when in repose in the form of a delta, or rather 

 of a hetu-t of which the apex is ;\t the head, and extends 

 forwards its long, heavily clothed front feet to their full 

 length. The female is wingless, hke the same sex of 

 the Canker-worm moth, txnd never leaves the cocoon 

 from which she has emerged till her death, htivlng iire- 

 viously deposited a great number of rounded white 

 eggs, covered with a blanket of froth. In answer to 

 your i|iiestion, " will Soferda biviti(it<^ continue to exist 



if a tree dies during its stages of change?' ' it has been 

 pretty satisfactorily proven that if it dies before it has 

 arrived at the pupa stage, the insect perishes; but if 

 the pupal condition is attained, it may develop into the 

 beetle without hindrance. The Flat-headed Borer, 

 however, continues to thrive ou the dead wood for 

 weeks after life has ceased in the tree. 



Does the Apple Curciilio go underground 

 to transl'orni ! — Wm. Muir, Fox Creel:, Mb. — You 

 wish to know whether the Apple Curculio ever attacks 

 stone fi'uit, and whether its larva goes into the ground to 

 transform, as stated by Dr, Hull. To the tirst question 

 we reply emphatically " no , " as we have never found 

 it in stone fruit. To the second, we give it as our linn 

 conviction that the larva never goes into the ground to 

 transform. At till events, it never does when it infests 

 the wild crab, as we have abundantly proved the pres- 

 ent year; but in our own locality it is so scarce in tame 

 apples that we have not yet been able to decide whether 

 its habits when infesting tbe latter fruit are dilierent, 

 though we expect to do so before the end of the season, 

 and have already taken proper steps tow.ards deciding 

 the point. 



P. S. — Since the above was written wo have heard 

 from Mr. J. B. Miller, of Anna, Ills. , to whom we sent 

 for specimens of tame fruit that was in:ested, as we had p 

 learned that this insect was abundant in that vicinity. 

 Upon cutting open the fruit, Mr. Miller found that it 

 has the same habit of trau-forming within the tame fruit 

 as we have found it to have in the wild crabs. 



^ Walnut Caterpillars — G, M. Zevette, Indianapo- 

 lis, Ind. — The black worms with sparse white hairs, 

 which have entirely stripped the Black Walnut trees 

 around the State-house, though they have left vin- 

 touched the other kinds, are the larvaj of the Hand- 

 Maid Moth (Datana minist^'a, Drury) . The habit which 

 you noticed, of their descending and congregating in 

 masses on the trunk ot the tree. Is characteristic of this 

 and a few other species, and gives us a good opportu- 

 nity to destroy them. There are two broods of this 

 worm each year, the moths bred from the lirst worms 

 appearing during July and depositing eggs which give 

 birth to worms which go into the ground in the fall and 

 hibernate in the pupa state. 



Striped Blister Beetle— .J^cv. GtiU, Crescent UUl, 

 Mo. — The insects on your potato vines, 

 and which you eit'cctually killed by ilriv- 

 ing them into the lire, are tlie above- 

 named beetle, of which we here repro- 

 duce a likeness (Fig. 187). It is not so 

 abundant in JNorthern Illinois as in your 

 present locality, and that is the reason 

 you never noticed it there. The remedy 

 you have applied will be found applicable 

 to all the Blister-beetles that attack the 

 Potato. 



Parasite upon a Syrphus Larva — B. D. East- 

 man, M.D., Washington, D. C. — The little "capsule" 

 which you found on a wild rose, is the puparium of a 

 species of Hyrplms fly; but in the present instance it had 

 been stung when in the larva condition by a Ibur-wingeil 

 parasite, and the parasite having destroyed its host 

 emerged in place of the true inhabitant. The subject 

 of iJarasitism is extremely interesting, and opens a large 

 field of study. 



18T.] 



