30 



THE AMEEICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



And now, after partaking of an impromptu 

 dinner, kindly prepared for us at a few minutes' 

 notice, we steer for home and the luxury of a 

 clean sMrt, after fifteen miles of dusty roads and 

 other fifteen miles of primitive wilderness that 

 never knew what dust was. In the evening we 

 drive over to Alton to see Mr. Wm. E. Smith, 

 one of the millionaires of Alton, and an enthusi- 

 astic horticulturist. His grounds are kept in the 

 most beautiful order ; and in passing through 

 Ms vineyard with us he picked up and handed 

 to me a species of Chafer {Endrosa quercus, 

 Knoch), which is often mistaken for the com- 

 \, mon Majr-bug {Lachnosterna quercina, Baioch). 

 This species I have never myself captured any- 

 where else in Illinois, though I had previously 

 received two specimens from Mr. Wier, of La- 

 cou, on the Illinois river. 



Slandering the Locusts— Midge Work Mistaken for 

 Locnst Work — Jumping to Conclusions. 



June 22nd. 

 On Monday morning I find myself on the road 

 to Alton, side by side with Dr. Hull, in his 

 buggy. We call in to see a farmer, who has 

 complained that the Locusts have been injuring 

 his wheat. Upon inspecting specimens, I iind 

 that a portion of the kernels in many of the ears 

 of wheat are blasted, and have shrunk up to 

 nothing. The farmer says that the Locusts were 

 upon his wheat in great numbers ; hence he de- 

 duces the conclusion that it was these insects 

 that did the miscliief. There is no insect now to 

 be found in the ears on the most careful inspec- 

 tion, and the mere fact of the Locusts having lit 

 upon the wheat certaiuly does not prove any- 

 thing against them ; for, as the wheat field ad- 

 joined the timber, they would naturally do this 

 in any case. Subsequently, in Macoupin county, 

 I found just such ears in a field of wheat, grow- 

 ing upon natural prairie-land, distant at least 

 two miles from the nearest timber, and where, 

 consequently, no Locusts could have been pre- 

 sent. Upon closer examination, I came to the 

 conclusion that the damage in both these cases 

 must have been done by the common Wheat- 

 midge {Cecidomyia tritici, Kirby), otherwise 

 known in the West as the "Weevil," or the 

 "Eed Weevil." In the latter case, indeed, I 

 observed many ears where the blasted portion 

 of the ear was roughed up in the very peculiar 

 style, that is characteristic of the work of the 

 Yellow-bird upon wheat infested by the Wheat- 

 midge. Hence the Locusts would clearly be 

 justified in suing the Alton farmer for defama- 

 tion of character. This is a fair specimen of the 



way in which persons, who are not conversant 

 with insects, often jump to conclusions respecting 

 their depredations. " Because the Locusts had 

 been on the wheat in great numbers, therefore 

 they must have caused the blasting of certain 

 ears." " Because the cat was in the barn where 

 the cow died, therefore the cat must have killed 

 the cow." 



Calling at the oflSce, in Alton, of W. C. Flagg, 

 Esq., the popular Secretary of the State Horti- 

 cultural Society,' I have a long and interesting 

 conversation with him on sundry Entomological 

 matters. In the afternoon he drives me over to 

 his splendid and extensive property at More, 

 some ten miles east of Alton, where I pass a most 

 agreeable evening. 



Mocking-birds at Moro— Drive to Jonathan Hng- 

 gins's— Some of his Apple-trees dying from un- 

 known causes— "None of my funeral"— A Bug- 

 forsaken country— The Robin. 



June 23kd. 

 On awaking early in the morning, my ears 

 are saluted from the surrounding slu'ubbery by 

 the weird notes of the mocking-bird, imitating 

 with the most jjerfect exactness the cry of the 

 wMp-poor-will, and then suddenly breaking 

 away into its natural melody. After breakfast, 

 Mr. riagg drives me over to the residence of 

 Mr. Jonathan Huggins, at Woodburn in Macou- 

 pin Co., a distance of some fifteen miles. Here 

 we all adjourn to the orchards, to inspect certain 

 apple-ti-ees that have been dying in the most 

 exasperating manner from certain unknown 

 causes. It is not the work of borers ; for there 

 are no signs of borers anj^where in these trees. 

 Neither is it the common fire-blight ; for we are 

 aU of us familiar with the very remarkable 

 diagnostics of that scourge of the Pear-growers. 

 And yet the trees are certainly dying, first the 

 topmost boughs, then the centre of the head of 

 the tree, then the upper part of the trunk, then 

 the lower part of the trunk along with the 

 sprouts growing out of it. Can it be the work 

 of the Apple-root Plant-louse? Certainly the 

 trees near Cobden, lulled by the Eoot-louse, that 

 I had myself seen, presented a verj^ different ap- 

 pearance : they had evidently died all at once, 

 and not piecemeal and by degrees like these 

 trees. Still it is possible that the same bisect 

 may work differently in different latitudes. So 

 I determine to solve the problem by ocidar 

 demonstration, and request friend Huggins to 

 lend me a sharp spade. It is the middle of the 

 afternoon and a broiling hot day — the thermo- 

 meter in the region of thi'oe figures — ^but I pull 



