ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



309 



Spotted Pelidnotii ; i:rrar regarding it — J . 



P. Gros, Ihirim Centre, N. }'.— Your beetle is Ihe.SpiiUetl 

 I'elidnota, of wliicli you will fiiul u full account in the 

 present niunbcr. The little hronze-coloreil ciliated eggs 

 are those of a true bug (Ecteropteru), and you are entirely 

 mistaken in supposing them to be the eggs of this beetle. 

 No beetle is ever liatched from the egg a perfect beetle, 

 any more than a bird is hatebed |)erfecl and full Hedged 

 from its egg. 



•ilicr, Pickens Uta., Mhs, 



Prickly Rose Gall — S«/.« 



— 'IMic pretty little priekly 

 galls which you found on 

 a wild rose, and w hich we 

 illustrate herewith (Fig. 

 V.vi), may be appropriately 

 known in popularlanguage 

 as the Priekly Uosc-gall. It 

 is made by a rather large 

 gall-lly (Rhoilites Uculof, 

 llarr.) which has a black 

 and rough-punctured head 

 and thorax, and a smooth, 

 highly polished, brownish- 

 red liody. The color of the 

 gall varies with its age ; the 

 young gall often being of a 

 beautiful rose-color, and Oilur— Eiti 

 reminding one of a strawberry, the mature gall being 

 more generally green , and the old last year's galls being 

 dull silvery -gray. 



((uestions ansAvercd — A". Panone, CiimhriJgt, 

 Mutf.—Tlu- small ease found on your sister's dress was, 

 so far as we could make out, that of some clotlns moth. 

 The Clothes moths, and main- of those moths which 

 live upon vegetable substances, construct a tubular 

 dwelling of the material on which they feed, and drag 

 it about with them during the larva stage; in most eases 

 it serves also as a cocoon for the final transformations. 

 Only one lar\a inhabits each case. The cocoons at- 

 tached to the skin of the caterpillar you send are those 

 of a parasitic Micrmjaster. The insects on the hawthorn 

 twig arc the common Oyster-shell ]$ai'k-lousc. The 

 young, when tirst hatched from the egg, are minute 

 whitish, oval, six-footed creatures, very active, and 

 scarcely visible without the aid of si microscope. As 

 they renuiin active but a few days before li.viiig them- 

 selves to the bark, they should be attacked as soon as 

 batched. Ants freipiently vary their diet with .soil and 

 helpless or disabled insects. 



Uog-caterpillar of the Vine infested %vitl> 

 Parasites— t/. M. Wilson. Sterling, Ills .—\o\ir Grape- 

 vine worm is the abo\'e-named species { Cho:rocainp(i 

 pimipiiiatrij) , i\nd the little white cocoons are those of 

 the same little Microgaster referred to and illustrated at 

 Figure In of this vohuue. 



Larva of Abbot Sphinx -A'. E. Todd, Mew Yo I. 

 — The worm which you found on your grapevines, and 

 which measured nearly four and a half inches in length, 

 is the larva of the Abbot .Sphinx {Thtjreus Ahholii. A. E.. 

 II, Fig. 81). The catcli-'cm-and-kill-'em remedy is the 

 best you can adopt in this instance. 



Cecropia AVorni — E. O, Ilofmaii, St. Louie, Mo. — 

 Your worm on rUuu is the Cecropia worm (Fig. U'2 of 

 this voliuue). 



Flat-licaded Uorer In 'Soft Maples— £. K. 



EUiott, ilaiiliattuii, Iuins.—'\'\w hammer-hcaded borers 

 which you send, and which had killed a tine Soil Maple 

 tree, are the Flat-headed Apple-tree Borer {Vhri/so- 

 hot/iris fetiwrata, Fabr.) This insect is greatly dam- 

 aging the Soil Maples in nnuiy of our Western towns, 

 and unless precautions are taken to prevent sucli a 

 catastrophe, this line tree will soon be as badly injured 

 all over the country as the lllack Locust has been by its 

 liorer {Arhopidus rohiiiia). We wish we could whisper 

 into the ear of every man who plants a Soft Maple, that 

 unless he thoroughly soaps the trunk and larger In-anchcs 

 once or twice every sununer, his tree will not last pro- 

 bably more than half a dozen years. We notice this 

 beautiful shade tree dying wherever we gi>, when a 

 little knowledge of these " contemptible bugs'' would 

 have enabled their owners to save them. Two appli- 

 cations of soap during the year— the one as eai'ly as the 

 beginning of May, the oilier any tinu' during sununir— 

 will protect the trees from its attacks. 15e earelul also 

 not to bruise or injure the bark in any way. 



Clicrry l»lant-licc and their Vovti — C. II. h'o- 

 hirls, I'oughkcepsie, N. )'.— The ]"lanl-liee on the cherry 

 trees are the above-named species (Aphis cerusi, IJnn.) 

 The maggots "of beautiful colors" which feed with 



CFiK.lVKi.] 



-(,.) lilii 



such gluttony on these lice 

 are the larv;e of some Syr- 

 |)hu.«-lly; and the darker, 

 more active larva, is that of 

 the Convergent Lady-bird 

 (Ilippodamiu, conikrge/is. <iu.), 

 which we illustrate herewith 

 (Fig. 1!)3), a showing the 

 _ J^l";';; larva, h the i)upa, and c the 

 omiip"'r;d"i,T„';ki;ndi;'iiitc.' ' beetle. Both these last in- 

 sects are very u.seful in destroying the i)lant-lice, and 

 both pass through their transtbrmations on or luiar the 

 place where the larva is found. The Hj/rphus pupa is 

 attached by the whole length of the luider surface, 

 while that of the laily-bird hangs by the tail from the 

 bark or leaf of the tree. 



Grape-vine Floa-bcetic — The steel-blue beetle 

 which has done so much damage to your vines is the 

 above-named insect (Ualtica chalyhea. 111.) The brown 

 "slugs" or "worms" accompanying them are the 

 young of the same. It is probably the (irajie-vine Saw- 

 fly (Selandria eitis, Harris) in the larva state, that you i 

 allude to as having a tadpole form. Harris reconunends 

 lime dusted on the leaves; also a wash of one pound of 

 hard soap to five gallons water — ;. e., strong soai)suds. 

 Blood Sucker anil Pear Slug — Geo. A. Watson, 

 ilaijsrille. A'l/.— The black bug, cif which you oneefoumi 

 a specimen, gorged with your own blood, under a mat- 

 tress, was too much mutilated to be recognizable, though 

 we can tell you with certainty that it belongs to the 

 great Iledurius laniily. The fragments seem to be- 

 long to the Black Corsair {Pirates pieipes, II. Seh.), 

 the beak of which we know to be very sharp and 

 poisonous. All bugs arc suckers either of the juices 

 of plants or of the fluids of aninnds, ami many .species 

 vary their diet at will. Instances are frequent of bugs, 

 whose ordinary food is of a vegetable character, pierc- 

 ing and sucking the blood of human bcing.s. 



The I'ear slug {.'^elandna cerusi. Peck) is easily de- 

 stroyed by dusting the trees with lime. Coal oil will 

 iiyurc the tree. Strong soai)suds will be uscftil, but 

 slacked lime is better. 



