ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



339 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



: fYom that particular luraltty, and if not, 



string of names is dry and uniiitercstinf; lo the general leader. Itre<|L 

 much time to conscientiously name the many lots nf insect* that reach us, 

 and iiercatler we can talte no notice of them; unless they are properly 

 mounted on entomolotjical pins, and the locality ijiven in which thev were 

 found. 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 th 



Beetles \rorkin^ inTVbeat, Oats and Rye ; 

 tlie Rrain Silvanus — it. U. Bmje, Coopershurg, Le- 

 high Co., /■((.— Tlif little brown cliiiifrate lioctlos, about 

 O.Oll iiu-li liiiii;, anil fliai-Licterizi'd chiefly by the List 

 tliri'e j()iiit.s i>t' the antennfc beiiiK [Fig. 2"8 ] 



(•nlar;,'<'<l, and by hiivinj,' three ]iroin- 

 iiunt loii^dtiuUual eiirime, or narrow 

 ritlfjes, on the thorax above, and six 

 [lointed teeth each side, is known as 

 the Grain Silvanus (Sihanus suriiir- 

 amensis, Linn.) We give an outline 

 of it at Fgiife '208. As the facts you 

 record of its habits are interestinjf , 

 we quote them in full. "'I'liis insect 

 is called here the 'Kcd Weevil.' it 

 spoilt'd nnich of my rye and wheat 

 Uist full, mainly by heat and moisture coior-Brown. 

 wliicli it caused, tlmuich it also ate out a small portion 

 ol'tlic end of the urain. Having removed the rye and 

 wheat, I lind that this pest has gone into the oats." 

 This is ill all iirobability an imiiortcd insect; and its 

 speeitie name would indicate that it originally came 

 from Surinam. It is a constant inliabitautof the stores 

 and warehouses in Europe, aiul an excellent figure of 

 it is found on Plate K of Curtis's Farm Insects. The 

 best way to get riil of it, where the grain cannot be 

 .subjected to a killing heat, is to stack the grain a year 

 or two until the insects are starved out of the barns, 

 just as tliey lay by ships in the grain Iraile, or use them 

 tor other freigbt, wlieii they once beeoine infested with 

 this insect, or with the true (iraiii Weevil {Oolaiulm 

 gramri'a). 



Beetles in dried "Knglisli Currants" — T. I'. 

 Muneoii, Astuna, /««.— Tile beetles wliieli bred so aliuii- 

 dantly in your dried ! nglish currants are the very same 

 species (.S'ilra?ius siirinameiisis) referred to above ill 

 answer to Mr. Hoye. Nothing seems to come amiss to it. 



Tlie same in Flourintr iflills — Stephen Blanchanl, 

 Oregim, J/i..— The little brown beetles that have ap|iear- 

 eil in such countless numbers in your llniiring mills arc 

 the very sanu' species as the preceding, ft lias been in 

 Ihe country for many yi>ars,ancl is frciiiieiilly luistakeii 

 lor the "Weevil." 



Insects named— -Am-. E. Vham', Il'ili/tilv, Uitfs.— 

 The large bonr found in rotti^n wood is the larva of the 

 Uroad-necked Prionus (/"rj^wus hUicnllun. Kig. lOlt. Vol. 

 U.) Your beetles are as follows, the numbers omitted 

 not named, because the specimens were either too much 

 damageil to ilet.'nninc accurately, or because they arc 

 ni'W to our cabinet and probably nndescribed. The 

 Ciin-iilioiiidiC have never yet been workeilup, and very 

 many of tlicin are yet unnamed. You must in future 



observe the conditions published at the head of this dc- 

 liai'tmeiit. Of those nnirked with a • we should like 

 lurthcr specimens. No. S, Chamyrus ceriiithia, Ileitz. 

 No. 4, Boron unieolor, Say. No. .t, Saprinun ilimhlla- 

 tipennis, Ia'C. No. 6, Tenehrio ohecurut, Fahr. No. 7, 

 BoUtoUus cinctut, Grv. (Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and l!) 

 all missing.) No. 13, Ero» moileslus. Say. No. 16, 

 Ileteraspis curlipen, Melsh. No. 18, Silvanus, sp. ? No. 

 20, OalUgrapha multipiinctata. Say. No. 21, Clytvt Im- 

 .ozonus,* Loj). and Gory. No. 22, Listroderet caudatut, 

 Say. (Nos. 23, 24, 2G, 2" and 29 missing.l No. 25, Iliiitfr, 

 sp. ? No. 28, Uyilrophihie glaber, llbst. No. 30, J'ele- 

 phorus hilinealus, Say. No. 31, Ilalticn puheta-ru, Illig. 

 No. 32, Ilydroph&rus, sp. ? Nos. 33 and 34, Cryptocephalus 

 t-enuHus, Fabr, No. 35, C. liluratus, Fabr. No. 3(J, C. 

 sp. ? No. ; 8, C. conyestiie, FttUr. No. 37, fo/a»p««, near 

 pimcticoUis, Say. No. 30, IHahrotica rittata. No. 40, 

 Hippodamia VA-punctata. (Nos. 41, 42, 4;J and 44 shaken 

 ofi"the isinglass anil mixed up.) No. AS, Hylohius con- 

 fuetis, Kirb. No, 40, Cymindin pilosa, Say. No. 50, 

 Platynus ohsoletus, Lee. No. 51, Sistenafriintalit,Vuhr. 

 No. 54, Steledota gfminata. Say, No. 55, Brontes duhius, 

 Fabr. No. .50, ^p/iorf?'««, sp. ? tio,^^^, Melasomaacripta, 

 Fabr. No. 59, Cycocephala immaculata, Oliv. No. 60, 

 Ancylocheira NuttalU, Lee. No. 03, Hydrophilus mixtua, 

 Lee. 



Carolina Sphinx— IFm. S. Howard, Forsyth, Mo. 

 —Such is the large gray moth which you sent {SpM/tx 

 CaroWrta, Linn.) , and which is the parent of the com- 

 mon Tobacco-worm. You should never send living 

 moths loose in a box; they do not relish confinement, 

 anil generally batter tliems.'lves to pieces. 



Insects clustered on Apple treem— livherl L. 

 Ham, Great Falls, N. H.— The black-and-yellow marked 

 insects which you find clustered or huddled together on 

 the triuiks of your apple trees, some without and others 

 with wings, are the Psocus venosus of Uuriiici.-ter. They 

 feed on the lichens on the bark, and are thcrelbre 

 harmless. 



l.arva; named— 7". W. Gordon, Georgetown, 0.— 

 Yourfirst larva is the "Saddle-back" (Empretia stimulea, 

 see Fig. 36 of this volume). The green worm, covered 

 with bunches of brush-like spines, is the larva of Satur- 

 iiia lo. Hotli these larva; have a stinging power. The 

 wliiti^ cocoons on the large potato-woriii are the jiarasitic 

 M/crogastir cocoons we have so often refi'rred to. 



Mite Gall on Sug-ar Iflapio — 4. Furnas, Danville, 

 /«./.— The narrow yellow protuberances, in form re- 

 minding one of an old-fashioned ring-pui-se, and aver- 

 .igiiig about 0.25 im-li in length, wliii'li cover the upper 

 surface of the leaves ni Acer aacchnrinum. aw. galls pro- 

 duced by mitt^s (.icari). This gall is appaiently nnde- 

 scribed, as arc some other mite-galls closely resembling 

 it which occur on Plum and Clnrry. We shall jirovi- 

 .Moiially call it the Jlaplc-piirse Jlile-gall {.intnix acrris 

 t-riimena). 



Cheese-fly and Blow-fly— .fl., Picleiis Station, 

 j//«s._\Ve have our reason^ for adopting the plural form 

 "funguses," in preference to "fungi," and we find 

 that the custom is being ado])ted by some of the best 

 writers in Europe. The skippers in cheese are distinct 

 Ironi those in bacon, the former being the larv.'eofa 

 small two-winged fly of a black color (Peophita casei, 

 Linn.), and the latter the larvic of a much larger blue 

 species {Musca vomitoria, Linn.) 



