THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



79 



>fxSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.^ 



E^grs of the AVhite-lJarkcd Tussock Moth — 



J. M. Hannah, Salem, N. J. — The egg mass which you 

 tiiid s'uetl fast to your fruit trees, and which is com- 

 posed of numerous perfectly round, cream-colored eggs, 

 partly covered with glistening white, frotli-lilce matter, 

 and attached to agia\ cocoon, aie the piodutt of the 

 al)0\enuntd niotir Thev inoduce Mn inotlN utor- 



( )1 1 -lillCk \\lllll., -SI i| \ I I I I 



piliai"s, lue mosi sinking features being a vemiiUiou red 

 head and neck; four cream-colored brushes on the 

 l)ack, and two long plumes at the head and one at the 

 tail. Fig. 07 is a correct likeness of the lull grown 

 female worm. It Is not often that we can guess the sex of 

 an insect in the larval state, but with this caterpillar we 

 can invariably do so after the lid moult. "We bred a 

 great niunber of these worms during the past summer, 

 and discovered that the male never gets to be more than 

 half the size of the female, and that ho undergoes but 

 three moults before spinning up, while she goes through 

 her foiu-th before making her cocoon. This insect seems 

 to have a wide range, but it is mostly confined to par- 

 ticular orchards or localities. Indeed , since the female 

 is wingless and invariably attaches her eggs to the out- 

 side of her own cocoon , it follows that this insect can 

 only travel in the caterijillar state, and that it is scat- 

 tered through the country, principally by being carried 

 in tiie egg state on nursery stock. It multiphes rapidly, 

 for there are two broods a year; but, luckily for us, it is 

 checked in its increase by numerous parasites. We have 

 ourselves bred numerous ChaUis flies ii-om it, and also 

 an undescribed four- winged fly, belonging to the genus 

 Pimpla. In gathering the cocoons in the winter time , 

 all those which have no eggs ou the outside should be 

 left untouched, as they either contain the empty chry- 

 salis skin of the male, or else some parasite which will 

 help to diminish their numbers another year. 



Currant Borers — B. N. McKinstry , East Sumner, 

 111. — The borers in the cuiTant stems, which were first 

 noticed in your neighborhood in 1807, and which are 

 causing the death of the bushes , are , we have little 

 doubt, the common Imported Currant-bush Borer — the 

 larva of a little moth (TrocMUum tipuliforme, Linn.), 

 which has transparent wings and a blue-black body. 

 We have in this country a native currant-borer, belong- 

 ing to the very same geiius (Trochilium caudatum.HaTr ,) 

 the lan-a of which could scarcely be distinguished from 

 those you have sent. But this native species seems to 

 be confined to the indigenous or native currant. The 

 real American currant-borer, which attacks our culti- 

 vated currant bushes, is the larva of a beetle (Psenocerus 

 supernotatus , Say) , and may always be distinguished ft-om 

 the other two by having no legs whatsoever. As is the 

 case with many other imported insects, the European 

 currant-borer is far more destructive than the natives. 

 All dead branches , and all such as contain borers, should 

 be cut down to the ground in early spring and burnt. 

 In answer to your query as to whether the currant worm 

 has ever done any damage in the Western States, we 

 will state that there are three distinct worms which 

 attack the currant in this country, and that we shall 

 shortly publish an illustrated article on these insects. 



Beech-twi§^ Plant-lice— ffeo, Burnside andJ. T. 

 Whelpley, South Pass, 111. — The woolly Plant-lice from 

 the twigs of a beech, .are the same species spoken of in 

 the answer to F, H, Guiwits, on page 58 of the last num- 

 ber of the Entomologist, They belong not only to 

 a diflerent species, but to a difi'erent genus from the 

 Woolly Eoot-lice that infest your apple-trees. Owing 

 to your excellent packing, the specimens 'reached us in 

 first-rate order. 



Insect infesting: Grape Seed — A. S. Fuller, 

 Ridgeioood, N. J. — The grapes which you received from 

 Canada came safely to hand. The maggot which in- 

 fests most of the seeds, and causes the berry to shrivel 

 up, was first described by Mr, AV. Saunders, of Lon- 

 don, Ont. The head is of the same translucent, milk- 

 white color as the body, but the jaws, which ai'c finely 

 pointed, are light brown, and there is a patch of brown 

 at their base. It has exactly thirteen segments exchi- 

 sive of the head, and everyscgnicnt has a few white, 

 fleshy hairs, these hairs luinu- thickest mvir the head 

 ■and longest on the under part (if tlic tir^t three segments, 

 thus imitating Icet, as is often tlie case with footless 

 lanie of this character. ]'^ig 68 gi\es a magnified \iew 

 [Fig.os.j of this larva. It is evidently 



the voung of some species o'f 

 the ■(•uivulio family. AVc 

 have (iflen taken a minute 

 dark bioNMi eiueulio on the 

 blossoms of the grape vine 

 in the spring of the year, and 

 have, at several different 

 Color, iiiiik-wiiitc. times, received it from cor- 



respondents who found it in the same situation. It is 

 the Anthononms suturah's of Le Conte {enjthropterus of . 

 Say) , and it may possibly be the parent of this seed- 

 larva. You say truly that this will prove a formidable 

 enemy to those who are endeavoring to raise new 

 varieties from the seed, and we advise the burning of 

 all the shriveled berries. In order to make sure of 

 breeding this larva to the perfect state, we should be 

 glad to receive further specimens of the infested grapes . 



Museum Pests, ag^ain — Jonathan JIuggins, Wood- 

 hum, Ills. — You say: "During the appearance of the 

 locusts (Cicadas),! collected some half dozen specimens, 

 and set them away In a close paper box. In the raiilti- 

 (ilicity of cares, they were neglected till to-day (Nov. 

 2d). On examining "thera I discover insects in the worm 

 state, which have evidently been feeding on the locu.sts. 

 I send them for your edification, " etc. The insects 

 are in all probability the larvic of the Museum pest 

 (.inthrenusmuseorum, Linn). They are not peculiar to 

 the Cicada, but attack alike, all dried insects. We 

 noticed this pest in your collection while at your house 

 last June. On page 00 of No. 3, in answer to T. Sv. 

 Hoit, Jr., of St. Louis, Mo., we have suggested the 

 means of preserving a collection from its ravages. When 

 a collection is badly attacked we should advise the use 

 of benzine with carbolic acid in it, for although we have 

 had no occasion to use it oursehes, wc have the author- 

 ity of Mr, G, C. Eye, of Park Field, London, Mr. R. 

 is the leading coleopterist in England, and in a private 

 letter he strongly recommends this mixture, and further 

 states that, if a box is very badly infested with these 

 marauders, he pours benzine into it bodily, so as to 

 cover the bottom, and then shuts it up quickly. It 

 soon evaporates and leaves no stain. There is an- 

 other species (A. rarius, Fabr.), with the same 

 habit, and so closely resembling the one we have , 

 been speaking of, that we doubt whether it could be ^ 

 distinguished in the larva state. The hairs on these 

 larvaj arc of very singular forms, and make interesting 

 objects for the microscope. 



Grape-Vine Leaf-hoppers — P. C. Holmes, Gar- 

 diner, Maine. — There are eight or nine distinct species 

 of the small Leaf-hoppers , that have for a long time been 

 popularly known .as the " Thrip," common on the 

 grape-vine in various parts of Canada and the United 

 States. All of them belong to the same genus {Ery- {, 

 throneura) and are of nearly tlie same size, but difl'er from 

 one another by marked and con.stant peculiarities of 

 coloration. The species which you send, of a pale yel- 

 low color, with transverse blood-brown bands, is the ./ 

 Grape-killing Leaf-hopper (JSrythroneura viti/e-r. Fitch). "^ 

 Y'ou say that these insects entirely destroy tlie foliage^of 

 your grape-vines, thereby preventing the Iniit Irom 

 ripening, .and that they will always attaek the Delaware 

 before any other variety. A toreli lairied tlu'ough the 

 vineyard at night has been found to be tlie nidstcfticier.t 

 means of destroying the common (^rape-\ inc Leaf-hop- 

 per {Tettigonia Erythroneura ritis, Harris), and would 

 undoubtedly prove as eft'ectual for the species under V 

 consideration. The operation should be repeated sev- 

 eral times through the summer. 



