56 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL QUACKERY. 



^Ye clip the following paragTaph from the 



Iowa Homestead of July 22, 1868 : 



The Curculio. — A correspondent of tlie Canada 

 Farmer writing from Saniia, says that he saved his 

 phuns from the curculio in the following manner : He 

 put woolen rags around the base of the trunlts of his 

 trees, havlno; fli'st steeped them in tanner's oil, renew- 

 ing the application of oil after every heavy shower. 

 He put chloride of lime in a saucer in the fork of the 

 tree. He spread white cloths on the ground under the 

 trees, poured sulphuric acid on the lime, and the fumes 

 brought down all insects from the trees. He also tried 

 jarring the trees, and by these means he succeeded in 

 raising a large crop of plums. 



This reminds us of a letter to a noted quack 

 ■which we ouce came across, and wliich read as 

 follows: — "Dr. Cubeaxl, Dear Sir, Iliad a pain 

 in my stomach j-esterday ; so first of all I took a 

 dose of your never-failing electric oil ; then I 

 tiied a dose of Dr. Humbug's infallible elixir of 

 lime ; and lastly I swallowed a dose of cold-drawn 

 castor oil. In thi-ee hours' time my stomach was 

 all right agam. Please let me know whether it 

 was the electric oil, or the elixir of lime, or the 

 castor oil that cured mc. Yours truh^, Samuel 

 Simpleton." 



"We incline to believe that it was the "jarring 

 the ti'ees " that saved the pliims ; and that the 

 " tanner's oil " and the " chloride of lime" might 

 just as well have been daubed on to the roof of 

 the house, for any effect that they had towards 

 keeping off the curcuho. "Will people never find 

 out that curculios can fly, and that attempting 

 to head them off from crawling up the trunks 

 of plum trees by oily bandages is all a matter of 

 moonsMne ! . 



THE CRUEL BUGHUNTERS. 



Entomologists are often accused of cruelty, for 

 sticking a pin through a living insect, and allow- 

 ing tlie insect to remain impaled alive till they 

 are ready to dispose of it. " See how it strug- 

 gles!" some humane jjerson exclaims, who has 

 just been swallowing a few dozen raw oysters 

 in the agonies of death; "what dreadful tor- 

 tures it must endure!" 



In rcalit}', however, it is the confinement, and 

 not the wound made by the pin, that the insect 

 objects to. You may take any night-flying 

 moth, and slyly transfix it by a pin to the object 

 on which it is sitting in the daytime. It will 

 neither flutter nor struggle. Now watch it as 

 evening approaches. It begins to struggle most 

 violently, and most persons would believe it to 

 be in extreme agony. The truth of the matter, 

 however, is that it now wants to be flying 

 abroad, and is fluttering to get free from the 

 pin. If it is the pin that is hurting it, why did 



it not flutter by daylight, when the pin was first 

 stuck into its body? 



The British entomologist, Stephens, tells a 

 story of a dragon-fly that he once caught, which 

 upon his directing its tail to its mouth by way 

 of experiment, actually bit off and ate four 

 joints of its own abdomen, and then having 

 accidentally escaped from him, flew away as 

 briskly as ever. Many such facts as these are 

 known to every field entomologist, and they 

 are utterly inconsistent with the hypothesis that 

 insects have any nervous system, susceptible of 

 the feelings of pain and pleasure, such as man 

 and the other higher animals are provided with. 



HONEY BEES EATING GRAPES. 



It will have been observed that we adduced 

 satisfactoi'y evidence in our last number (p. 33), 

 that the Honey-bees habitually gnaw holes into 

 peaches and quinces. The following letter, 

 which we copy from the Oliio Farmer, seems to 

 prove that they also destroy grapes. "We are 

 sorry to impeach the character of an insect 

 whose reputation for honesty and industry has 

 been blazoned forth, from the days of Solomon 

 to those of Dr. Watts ; but truth is truth, and 

 must not be smothered up : 



I have been much annoyed this fall by the Honey-bees 

 taking my grapes . They commenced about two weeks 

 ago on my Concords , and to save them from complete 

 destruction I was obliged to pick before fully ripe. 

 When the injury was trst discovered, I thought the 

 robins and blue jays were the guilty parties, but have 

 since learned that we had a worse foe than the birds 

 to deal with, The bees will puncture the skin of the 

 grape and extract the sugar, when the fruit immedi- 

 ately shrinks up, and soon rots unless used at once. 

 My Dianas, Israellas, Delawares, and Rogers' Hy- 

 brids have sutfered the most; the lonas and Catawbas, 

 being later, are not much disturbed yet, although I 

 have noticed several places where the bees are at work 

 on them . I think , without doubt , they have destroyed 

 one bushel of Dianas, that grew upon three thrifty 

 vines, and probably as many Delawares. Several of my 

 neighbors have suffered in the s.ame way. I would 

 like to hear from those more extensively engaged in 

 grape culture, as this is the first time I ever heard of 

 bees taking gi-apes. 



KespectfuUy yours, T. W. 



Richmond, Ind., Sept. 12th, 18G8. 



lyWe shall feel much obliged to our sub- 

 scribers, if, when sending their OAVn or the 

 names of others, they will mention what num- 

 bers have already been received. Our forms 

 were not stereotyped, and we supposed we had 

 printed a sulficiently large edition of our first 

 issue to enable us to send back numbers, for at 

 least a year to come, to all subscribers who 

 should want them. The demand, however, has 

 been beyond our highest expectations, and we 

 find it necessary to be sparing. In ordering the 

 Entomologist, therefore, please state whether 

 or not back numbers have already been received. 



