ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



341 



Caterpillars named — Dr. E. H. King, Witt Liheiiy, 

 Iowa. — 1. The green, lilaek ami yellow worms feeiling 

 on celery are the larvie of the common Asterias Swallow- 

 tail (PapiKo asterias,' Cram.) The forked process, or 

 osmaterium, is simply a sccnt^organ, anil has no sting- 

 ing or otherwise injurious powi'r. The smaller hlackcr 

 worms are the young larva; of the same species. This 

 insect feeds on all sorts of jilants of Ihc Parsh'V Family 

 (UnAelUfera). 2. The hla.k and yellow worms, with 

 reddish wartsonthe back, and covered with stiff y<'llow 

 and brown hairs, are a very common species of cater- 

 pillar, the larva of a spei'.klcd gray moth (Acroaycla oh- 



Colnr»~(a) Itlack, yellow and ri'ililiah; (/.) i>ale yellow or brown; (c) gray. 

 I'tnata, Giien.) which may be known in popular l.inguage 

 as the Smeared Dagger, the moths belonging to this 

 genus being very generally called Daggers in England, 

 on iiccount of a dagger-like mark which is comnion to 

 most of them near the amd angle of th<' front wings. 

 This insect is a very general Iccder, occurring on a great 

 variety of herbai'cous ))lants. /shrubii and trees, and it 

 olten proves injin'ious to Apiilc and ^Villow. We pre- 

 sent herewith (Fig. 2111) figures of the larva (a), the 

 cocoon (?i)i ^'ii'l ll'i' nioth (c). 



Insects named — I.. P. Kraft, Bellenille, Ills. — No. 

 1, Callimorpha veslalie, I'ack. {un(loiditcdly=/Mtoi<.'oH««). 

 Mo. 3, Acronycta populi, Riley. No. 3, iiesia diffinis, 

 Boisd. No. 4, Acronycta pti,\M\n. 'So. ^>, Acronycta 

 ylramcano. Harr. Ho. 6, Grapta pro<jne. Cram. No.", 

 CatocalairmulinSfGuim. No.S, Ilotnoptera lunata, Drury. 

 No. 9, Calopteryx maculata ? No. 12, Perithemis ihnnitia. 

 No. 14, I)ipla.r ruhicunilula, i>a\'~assimulnta, I'hler. No. 

 16, Lihcllula luctuosd, Burm. No. IG, Aijrivn apicotin (^, 

 Siiy. 



The Botanical Department— ?%"«. W. Duffy, 

 Jffferson, Texas. — The botanical d<'partment, as we have 

 before stated, is under entire charge of the botanical 

 editor. We have nothing to do with it, and arc not re- 

 sponsible for anything that appears in it. On the i(iies- 

 tlon of the Origin of Species, we have for many years 

 admired Darwin's development hypothesis, and the 

 longer we live the lirmer wi! belu^vc in it. 



Colorado Potato Beetle— (7. C. Collins, Chicago, 

 nis. — Your beetle is no more nor less than tliis dreaded 

 insect. 



Dr. S. Holman, Springfield, ifo.— The "grubs" you 

 seud are its larvae. 



The Abbot Sphinx; Parasites on its Larva — 



Tlws. W. Gordon, M.D., tfeoryrfoion, 0.— The caterpillar 

 sent is the larva of the Abbot Sphinx, a pretty choco- 

 late-brown hawk meth, having a yellow patch on each 

 hind wing, and which wc rec^ently illtistratcil. These 

 and other larv;c of the Sphinx tribe are frequently at- 

 tacked by a very small four-winged Hy belonging to the 

 genus Micriiijuster, in the Order Ilymenoptera. The tly 

 does imt eat the flesh of the caterpillar, but pinicturi'S 

 its skin, and inserts in its body minute eggs at various 

 l>oints; these eggs hatch therein, disclosing small white 

 grubs or maggots, which subsist on the fat and llesh 

 of the caterpillar until the latter is full grown. The 

 parasites then make their exit through the skin anil 

 spin their cocoons, loosely attaching them to the sur- 

 face of the caterpillar, which generally dies from ex- 

 haustion soon after, while the parasites thcmsclvi's pass 

 through their transformatious in a few days and bcciune 

 liiur-winged flics like their jiarent. 



Crane-flies — Rose-biigs — Ants — l>r..l. W. Potts, 

 Elkaheth, Iml. — The long-legged insei-t sent, is an luide- 

 termined species of Orane-lly (.T/pulu). 'I'hey feed in 

 the larva state on the roots of grass and other plants. 

 No. 2 is, as you suggest, the common Ilose-ehafer (.I/i/- 

 crodactylus subspinosus) , which is almost omnivorous, 

 very few plants being unpalatable to its taste. All male 

 and female ants when drst developed from the pupa 

 have wings, the barren ones or workers ne\er. The 

 males and females after pairing, which they ellect on 

 the wing, drop to the earth and cast otf their wings. 

 The males soon die, and the females retire to their 

 chambers to lay eggs; but neither ever again acquire 

 wings. The females are the largest; the workers, or 

 nurse-ants, generally next in sine, and both kinds may, 

 of course, be found in the same nest. 



IVot a Gall but a Wasp IVest — Kate Parsons. — The 

 roinid cell which you found at the root of a nasturtium 

 is not a gall, but the mud cell of the Fraternal Potter 

 Wasp (Eumenes frattrna. Say) which we illustrated at 

 Figure 110 ol the lirst volume. 



Cabbage Worms- 7?. H. Foster, Hahylon, A'. }'. — 

 The green cabbage worms which are causing such de- 

 struction to the cabbages in yoiu' part of the country, 

 are the larv:e of the imported Rape Butterfly (Pieris 

 rapm), which we have several times referred to. Salt is 

 found more eflectual than either tobacco, cresylie acid 

 soap, or guano. 



The Unicorn Prominent — Kmnut Payru, liacine, 

 IV/s.— The reddish-brown worm, with the second and 

 third joints green, and a prominent horn just behind 

 them, which worm you found on a rose bush, is the 

 Unicorn Prominent {Notodonfa unicornis, Sni. & Abb .) 

 'J'lie moth has the Iront wings light brown, VJiriegatcd 

 with greenish-white and dark brown : the hind wings 

 in the c? arn whitish with a dusky spot on the inner 

 hind angle, while in the § they are dusky. The worm 

 feeds on a variety of trees and shrubs, and though when 

 perched on the edge of a dark green oak leaf there seems 

 little resemblance between the animal and its food, yet 

 we quote your interesting remarks about its mimicry : 



"I think this worm furnishes a woiider/iil instance ol 

 mimicry of the vegetable li\ the animal organism. The 

 green segments just buck of the head riscijihlc a sniall 

 portion of the green leaf, and the otiier paiis admirably 

 counterfeit the brown-and-russit tim- of ihc dead leal, 

 while the form of the animal in its \aiiou- postures aids 

 the decci)tion by its rescmlilancc to a haf partly alive and 

 partly dead, the greeuinostly eaten and the hrowu loru." 



