374 



THE AMERICAN 



Tlie Cabbagre Plntella — Chas. M. Beaiey, Ames, 

 Iowa. — Tlie small green worms which have been work- 

 ing most cruelly on your cabbages are, as you rightly 

 conjecture, the larva of the small moths which you 

 send in company with them. It is the same insect 

 (Plviella eniciferarum) spoken of in answer to Wm. K. 

 Howard in this number. 



Gigantic RbinoceroB Beetle — Subscriber, Jef- 

 ferson City, Mo. — The large beetle which you send, and 



[Tig. 224.] 



Colors— Glaucous-green, with brown spots. 

 of which we herewith present a portrait (Fig. 224), is 

 a 1^ of the Gigantic Rhinoceros Beetle (Dynastes tityus, 

 Linn). It occurs quite commonly in your part of the 

 country, but is very rare in the more northern States, 

 being in reality a southern insect. It breeds in the 

 old stumps of several trees, and Say relates an in- 

 stance of its occurring in considerable numbers in and 

 about the cavity of a cherry tree which had been blown 

 down by the wind in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. 

 The colors of this beetle are very variable, as is also 

 the shape of the spots upon the wing-covers. The horn 

 also frequently occurs undivided instead of being bifid 

 at the tip. The $ has a perfectly smooth thorax, and 

 only a very small rounded tubercle on the head. "We 

 have a cf specimen in our cabinet which is of a uni- 

 form deep chestnut brown, and immaculate. 



Bee-bread JDeTouredbjr 'Worms — L, G. Francii, 

 Springfield,, III, — The small moths which you send, and 

 which in the larva state infest your old hives, living on 

 the bee-bread and detritus, but never attacking the 

 wax, as does the true Bee-moth ( Gallerea eereana, Fabr.), 

 are a species which was called by Dr. Fitch the Indian 

 Meal Moth {Tinea [Ephestid] zees). He so named it be- 

 cause it is lond of feeding upon stale Indian meal. It 

 lias been bred from the dried roots of DandeUon, and as 

 you iind it in your bee-hives, nothing would seem to 

 come amiss to it. 



Rape Butterfly — Jaion E. Cowden, Amesbury, Mass. 

 — Yes, the worms which have done such great damage 

 to your cabbages are the larviB of the above-named im- 

 l)orted insect. 



Grape-leaf Gall — S". G. 



Ohio. — The galls on the underside of your grape-leaves 

 are the Clinton Grape-leaf gall, treated of In another 

 part of this number. 



1^ Bean 'WeeTil — Henry Kleinkaus, Hyces, Pa. — The 

 weevils infesting the beans from Porter Township, 

 Pike county, in your State, but which are not found in 

 your vicinity, are the native Bean-weevU [Bruckus obso- 

 letus, Say), which we have on several occasions referred 

 to. 



Cabbage Insects — Wm. R. Howa/rd, Forsyth, Mo. — 

 Your cabbage insects came safely to hand. They are 

 /as follows : No. 1, Plutella cruciferarvm, Zeller, a cosmo- 

 politan little cabbage pest, which has been unusually 

 destructive in Missouri the present year. This same 

 insect has long been well known in Europe under the 

 name of Gerostoma, xylostella, and was named Plutella 

 limbipennella in this country by the late Dr. Clemens, so 

 it has synonyms enough. No . 4, as you suppose , are 

 pupse of Plusia brasticie, Eiley. No . 3, Strachia histri- 

 onica, or 'the Harlequin Cabbage-bug (Fig. 56 of this 

 volume) . This is the first we have heard of its appear- 

 ance in our State. No. 5 — in tin box — is the chrysalis 

 of the Troilus Swallow-tail {Papilio Tr»ilus). 



Two-Striped Walking: Stlcli.— C. B. Edwwrdi, 

 Bowling Grem, Ky. — Your insects are ^ and $ of the 

 above species {Spectrum bivitiaium, Say). Never hesitate 

 to send an insect for fear it is common. If it has attracted 

 your attention from any beneficial or injurious quality, 

 or trom any peculiarity whatever, we shall always be 

 glad to get it. 



Ijadder Spider — £em 0. Saffer, Indianapolis, Ind. — 

 Yoiu' spider is Epeira riparia, Hentz, commonly known 

 in this vicinity by the above popular name, on account 

 of the curious zig-zag ladder-like silken trellis which it 

 spins down the middle of its common web. 



Sug'aring' for JUotbs; Preserving: IjarTie — R. 

 S. Boutwdl — The sugaring and sweetening process for 

 catching moths is about as old as the science of Ento- 

 mology itself. Papilio thoas occurs in Illinois. We 

 have had best success in preserving larva with a mix- 

 ture made as follows : Diluted carbolic acid (1 part acid 

 to 50 of water), 5 parts ; alcohol, 4 parts ; glycerine, 1 

 part. The glycerine should be dissolved in the acid 

 before the alcohol is applied. It is difficult to prevent 

 the crystals of carbolic acid from deliquescing and be- 

 coming discolored, and it is very essential to have a 

 good article. We have so far found Calvert's Number 

 2, made in Manchester, England, the least subject to dis- 

 color. We kill our larvae by a few moment's Inuner- 

 sion in hot water. It is well to transfer the specimens, 

 after they have remained in the above mixture a few 

 weeks, to another which has a greater proportion of 

 alcohol; for, after all, nothing has yet been found equal 

 to alcohol for general purposes of preservation, and the 

 other preparations are used principally to prevent too 

 much shriveling and contraction in the specimens. 



N. A. liepidoptera Wanted — Okas. &. Botheram, 

 Websdale, 78 High street, Barnstaple, England. — The two 

 persons who would be most likely to furnish you with 

 eggs and pupae of our N. A. Lepidoptera, are W. V. 

 Andrews, Room 17, No. 137 Broadway, N. Y., and W. 

 W. Butterfield, Indianapohs, Ind. We invite such of 

 our subscribers who wish to exchange to correspond 

 with Mr. Websdale. 



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