336 



THE AMERICAN 



ENTOMOLOGICAL JOTTINGS. 



[Wc prnijosp lo pillilisli 

 extrarts liniri tlic li'lt.-is of 

 \vorlliv (..l.iTcTi.r.lvO, .Ml 



Notes from Wilkin sonville, Mass., July 

 28, 1870. — Allow me to express my deep sym- 

 Y)athy in your efforts to ditrase valuable instruc- 

 tion. I regaixl such publications as the Ameri- 

 can Naturalist, the American Entomologist 

 AND Botanist, and the like, as containing the 

 true gospel of salvation, iviy soul is vexed from 

 day to day because the writers of unrighteous 

 fiction are so popular, while the devotees at the 

 shrine of science, and the promulgators of God's 

 trnths, are, to such a degree, iicglecled — their 

 writings unsought — unread. Yet not wholly 

 so. I rejoice to believe that the number of stu- 

 dents in the school of nature is rapidly increas- 

 ing. And I devoutly pray and hope that the 

 beauties and attractions of nature may be so 

 unfolded and presented by such men as your- 

 selves, that the youth of America may be turned 

 from the unprofitable, innutritions, and demor- 

 alizing tood of fiction, to the bread and water 

 of a true life. 



What few plum trees have survived the black- 

 knot, have, for these dozen years, had their frnit 

 almost entirely destroyed by the Curculio ; and 

 so have the cherries; while apples, by the same 

 Turk, not by the. Apple Gwrculio, have, from 

 year to year, been greatly injured. I have 

 frequently counted ten and twelve crescent outs 

 on the same apple. Though it is generally be- 

 lieved that this weevil does not matnre in the 

 apple [it undoubtedly does, as we have abun- 

 dantly proved — Eu.], it penetrates sufficiently 

 to cause many to fall early, and others to be- 

 come irregular in shape, and to contain hard 

 and discolored markings where the larvis have 

 penetrated. The American Tent-caterpillar 

 (Cl'isiooamjxi americana) of spring was quite 

 scarce, but the Fall Web-worm (Jlyphantria 

 textor) is unprecedently numerous. They 

 commenced hatching this year uncommonly 

 early — in the first half of July — and from ap- 

 pearances are now, 25th, nearly all out. I have 

 entirely removed and exterminated tlieni from 

 an apple orchard of one hundred and fifty trees. 

 The mother moth deposits the eggs on a leaf 

 near the end of a twig. As soon as they hatch 

 they begin to cat and spin a web over them for 

 protection. This betrays tliem. As soon as 

 the web is seen, I sever the twig with pruning 

 shears attached to a pole and having an oper- 

 ating cord. Unlike the Teut-caterpillar, this 



eats only in its tent, extending it over its whole 

 foraging ground. If the twig is severed a little 

 below the web, every catei'pillar falls with it. 

 If the twig falls on buslies or shrubbery, the 

 larvtu, being somewhat indiscriminate feeders, 

 may survive and mature; but falling on grass 

 ground they generally perish, never, like the 

 Tent-oaterpiilar, returning to the tree. I have 

 recently found a twig oi worms among some 

 luxuriant Witch-grass {Triticumrefens),y^h&vQ 

 the worms seemed to survive by extending 

 their web over, and eating the grass. Such 

 cases are extremely rare. J. B. Haetwell. 



Salt Marsh Cateki-illar — Covinyton, Ky., 

 July 28, '70. — I was not a little surprised last night 

 to sec a fine fresh $ specimen ot Spilosoviu acrea 

 come fluttering into my lamp. Its popular 

 name, " Salt Marsh Caterpillaj-," and all that I 

 have ever seen about it, had led ine to believe 

 that it was peculiar to the coast region. There 

 are no salt marshes or even salt springs nearer 

 to this point, so far as I am aware, than the 

 Kanawha salines. There is a small, fixintly min- 

 eral spring about four miles from h^re (known 

 as Liatonia Springs), and the Big Bone Springs 

 are distant about twenty miles, but both are 

 more strongly impregnated with other minerals 

 than with salt. 



It was a perfectly fresh specimen, scarcely a 

 scale ruffled, and, judging from its flight, it had 

 scarcely learned to fly; and, theforc, could not 

 have traveled far. It corresponds with Harris's 

 figure and description (Inj. Ins.), and with spe- 

 cimens in my collection sent me from the re- 

 gion of the Gulf of Mexico, except that the spots 

 on the fore wings are larger, more distinct, 

 and there are a few more of them, and there is 

 a ditfereuce in the spots on the hind wings. 

 Scarcely any two specimens are alike though, 

 in this respect, I believe. 



Is it known so l\xr inland? If so, it must feed 

 on something else than the salt marsh vegeta- 

 tion. Harris says that the pujia is sometimes 

 carried into the interior in hay, but the impor- 

 tation of salt marsh hay into this region would 

 be worse than carrying coals to Newcastle, and 

 stranger than the appearance ot the insect. 



V. 1'. OtlAMKERS. 



[During the last half of July this moth con- 

 stantly flics into the light of our office, and it is 

 nearly as common as its relative, the Yellow 

 Bear {Spilosovia viryinica), in maiy parts (if 

 the West, where there are no signs of salt 

 marshes. It feeds on the dittcreut grasses, as 

 well as many herbaceous plants, and we have 

 reared it on Sunflower, Convolvulus, Petunia 

 and Willow. — Ei>.] 



