40 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Ba.rk.-Iice on Apple Trees. — J. G. Fleck, Dixon, 

 Ills. — The bark -lice you send are the common imported 

 or oyster-shell species; and there is not, so far as we 

 can see , a single U viug egg under any of the scales on 

 the twigs received. Some of these scales are the old 

 last year's ones, formed in August, 1867, only about 

 five per cent, of which you found, as you say, to con- 

 tain eggs in March, 1868; but many of them are appa- 

 rently this year's scales, perfected in August, 1868, and 

 which then must have contained, each of them, scores 

 of minute oval white eggs. The question now recurs, 

 "What has killed 95 per cent, of last year's eggs in 

 March, 1868, and almost the entire crop of this year's 

 eggs in September, 1868?' ' We answer, judging from 

 the peculiar appearance of many of the scales sent , that 

 this must have been done by a minute microscopic Mite, 

 which preys upon these eggs everywhere in the North- 

 ern States from ISTew York to Illinois, and the natural 

 history of which has been given in detail by the senior 

 editor of this journal, in his annual report, printed in 

 the Transactions of the Illinois State Horticultural So- 

 ciety for 1867. It certainly cannot have been done, as 

 you suggest, by the cold winter of 1867-8; for, near 

 Kock Island, His., the thermometer was, during that 

 winter, once as low as 27° below zero, and yet no effect 

 was thereby produced upon the Bark -louse eggs in that 

 neighborhood. In a future article we propose to illus- 

 trate the natural history of the different kinds of Bark- 

 Uce that trouble the farmer and the fruit grower . 



Xlie " Saddle-baclc " Caterpillar — Fmil Bax- 

 ter, Naumoo, HI. — The brown flattish caterpillar, armed 

 with prickly horns, and with a bright green saddle- 

 shaped patch over the middle of the body , which con- 

 tains a round brown mark on its back, is the larva of 

 Emp-etia stimulea , Clemens. You say that you "found 

 similar ones three years ago on a common BTdrello 

 y) cherry tree, and having just touched the back of my 



j/ hand with one soon found their dangerous quality, but 

 stopped the pain by dipping my hand in lye water. 

 These I send were found to the number of ten on a wild 

 frost grapevine, and the finder's hand soon swelled up 

 with watery pustules, accompanied with intolerable 

 itching and a kind of fainting of heart; happily a doc- 

 tor was at hand, and in four hours the patient was 

 better. ' ' Their prickles have long been known to have 

 this stinging quality. They feed on various ft-uit trees, 

 and have also been founfl on the rose and on Indian 

 corn. They belong to an anomalous family of moths, 

 and as you may have observed, they have no legs, but 

 gUde along with a snail-like motion. 



0. A, Kenyan, McGregor, Iowa. — The caterpillar ta- 

 ken from an apple tree, " of'^a mud-turtle shape and ap- 

 pearance," which you send, is of the same "Saddle- 

 back" species spoken of above. 



Tlie Reg:al Afalnut Caterpillar— if. Copley, 

 Copley House, Brighton, Ills. — The immense green cat- 

 ei-pillar, measuring five inches, partly covered with 

 long prickly horns, and having cream-colored patches 

 along the sides, reached us in fine condition. You say 

 you found it on a black walnut tree in your door yard, 

 and that it was kept for some time in a bird cage, 

 where it appeared contented, and was noticed at times 

 to drink water. It is the larva of the Regal Walnut 

 moth {atheroma regalis, Packard), a moth which 



, sometimes expands over six inches, and whose colors 



' ai-e rust-red, slate-color and yellow. The caterpillar 

 enters the ground and becomes a black clirysahs dui-ing 

 the month of September, and the moth makes its ap- 

 pearance during the fore part of the following July. 

 We have found it feeding on the persimmon and hick- 

 ory, and it also occurs on the butternut and sumach. 



like Hessian Fly — Fred. D. Ga/rson, " Mrtliem 

 Farmer," Fond da Lac, Wis. — The specimens of wheat 

 straw which you sent contained the "flaxseed" or 



\y pupa state of the Hessian fly. You say that upon care- 

 ful search and inquiry you are convinced that much of 

 the wheat crop has been damaged by it the present sea- 

 son in your section . The fly appears during the fore 

 part of September, and generally disappears by the end 

 of the month . Wheat sown so late that it does not come 

 up till after its disappearance generally escapes its rav- 

 ages. We bred nothing but parasites from the speci- 

 mens you sent, and they will probably be less trouble- 

 some next year. 



Red Cedar Caterpillar — -BoW . Peter, Lexington, 

 Ky. — The troublesome caterpillar which has been spoil- 

 ing youi- red cedar trees , and which clothes itself with 

 a case made of the leaves of the cedar stuck together 

 with a kind of .silk, and canies its case with it on its 

 predatory travels till it is full grown, when it hangs it- 

 self up by a silk string to a twig to pass the winter; 

 is the larva of Thyridopteryx ephemermformis — a moth, 

 the male of which is black, with glassy wings, and the 

 female of which Is perfectly wingless and legless , and 

 never quits her case. The male escapes from his case 

 during the month of September. The eggs pass the 

 winter protected by and contained within the female 

 case. The nature of the insect forbids Its spreading to 

 any great extent, and It can be readily checked by des- 

 troying the cases in winter time . 



TVbeat-midg'e Ti^inter killed. — J. P . Alexander, 

 Independence, Mb. — You say that this fly has heretofore 

 been the greatest enemy to wheat culture in your 

 neighborhood , but that you could not find a single in- 

 fested stalk during this year's harvest; and you ask if 

 it was not the open, snowless winter that killed them. 

 The sudden increase or decrease of a particular insect 

 is something which is observed every year, and depends 

 on so very many contingencies, th.it it is always diffi- 

 cult to ascertain the true cause. It is asserted 

 that the Chinch-bug is frequently killed by hard , bleak 

 winters, when there is butUttle snow on the ground, 

 and we think it quite possible that the Midge is sus- 

 ceptible to the same severe weather . 



Grape-vine Borer — Alfred Barter, Virgil City, Mo. 

 The "gimbs" which cut off your grapevines three or 

 four inches below ground , are half grown specimens of 

 the same borer spoken of under the head of "A new 

 Grape-root Borer," on page 19 of our tti'st number. 

 Since you set your vines last spring, "using green oak 

 stakes , ' ' these grubs are doubtless not yet a year old . 

 During the session of the "Mississippi Valley Wine 

 Growers' Association," we ascertained that this in- 

 sect is far more common than we had supposed, and 

 that Mr. Husmann of Hermann, Mo., has been ac- 

 quainted vrith it since 1850. 



Col. Jno. n. Ilogan. — The root-borers which you 

 send, and which have destroyed a great number of 

 your vines, are the same as the above. 



Hair Lines. — Our readers will bear in mind 

 that all our illustrations which are enlarged for 

 the purpose of making their characters more ap- 

 parent, will have a hair-line accompanying them 

 to indicate the natural size. When no such line 

 appears, the illustration is supposed to be of the 



true size, unless otherwise stated. 



• ♦ • 



To OUR Subscribers in Canada. — ^Parties in 

 Canada, who wish to subscribe for the Aynerican 

 Untomologist, can obtain it, postage free, by- 

 remitting one dollar to the Bev. C. J. 8. Bethune, 

 Secretary to the Untomologtcal Society of Catif 



ada, Credit, C. W. 



• * • 



Erratum. — In Number 1, on page 19, column 

 2, line six, for "joints" read "joint." 



WOTICE. 



All letters, desiring information respecting noxious or other inBects, ehould 

 be accompttnied by Bl)ecimen8, the more in number tJie better. Such speci- 

 mens should always be packed along with a little cotton, wool, or some such 

 substance, in any little paste-board box that is of convenient size, and never 

 enclosed loose in Cite letter. Botanists like their specimens pressed as flat as a 

 pancake, but entomologists do not. Wlienever possible, larva (i. e. grubs* 

 caterpillars, maggots, etc.) should be packed alive, in some tight tin 

 box — the tighter tlie bettei^along with a supply of tbek appropriate food 

 sufficient to last them on their journey ; otlierwise they generally die on the 



iniormauun: ror exuinpie, wuuLpiuiiL ur jjiuiilb il iiucsib , wiiuLiit^i ii ucquaj/d 

 the leaves, the buds, the twigs, or the stem ; how long it has been known to 

 ._.._. > of damage it has done, etc. Such particulars are often 



not only of hiRh acientiflc interest, but of great practical importance. 



