80 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Apple-tivig- Borer — J. T. Zimmerman, Cameron, 

 Mo. — The insect wliicli bores into the branches of your 

 fruit trees just above a bud or fork, and thus causes 

 many of them to break and fall, is the Apple-twig 

 Borer (Bostriclms hicaudatus. Say) . The annexed figure 



[Fig. 60.: represents the male of this beetle, the hair 



_. — "* line at the side showing the natural size. 

 He is distinguished from the female by hav- 

 ing two little thorns projecting backwards 

 from the posterior part of the body. Tho' 

 you do not mention what kind of fruit tree 

 it attacks, with you, we presume it to be 

 Color, the apple tree, for this liectle has long been 

 dark brown, known to have the peculiar habit of thus 

 boring into the twigs of that tree. It bores in the per- 

 fect beetle state, and not in the larval state as do the 

 other borers which attack the apple tree. The holes 

 seem to be made for food and protection , for they are 

 made by both sexes alike, aud we have found the 

 beetles in them, head downwards, in the middle of 

 winter. 



G. S. Bolerts. Poughleepde, N. r.— We should judge 

 from your description that the holes near the buds of 

 the present year's growth of your peach trees, were 

 made by the same insect. We have never before heard 

 of its workinKewTork, however, and cannot speak 

 definitely Tvithout receiving specimens. Try and send 

 us a few. 



C. R. BahMtt. Carroll City, Iowa.— The drilled apple 

 tvrig contained the very same species of beetle spoken of 

 above. „ „ „ , 



Xhe jnttrlty grounfl Beetle — S. T. Dale, Jasper, 

 Jfo.— The three large black beetles are. as you riglitly 

 conclude, the Murky Ground Beetle (Havpalus caligin- 

 osus. Say) which we illustrated at Fig. iS. Mr. Say 

 states that, when irritated, this "beetle emits a very 

 strong vinegar-like odor; but as your observations are 

 interesting, we quote your own word-s for the benefit of 

 our readers. Speaking of this beetle, you say: "I 

 have observed that it is a vegetable feeder to some ex- 

 tent I have taken three specimens iu the act of feedin^^ 

 upon the seeds of some wild plant, the name of which I 

 do not know. I also discovered accidentally that they 

 have the power of ejecting from their body some kind of 

 an acid substance, which has an effect similar to that of 

 sulphuric acid. One of the beetles I send you ejected 

 from some part of its body, making at the time a sort of 

 cracking noise, some of this acid upon my face. It con- 

 tinued to burn for two hours afterwards, although I 

 washed the part in cold water immediately. ' ' 



Curculios ana ISarlilice— />. A. Gompton, Ilaio- 

 ley, Pa —The Cuvculio does not pass the winter imder 

 ground in the larva state, but above ground in the per- 

 fect beetle state . You say that you ' ■ applied soft so.ap 

 early last spring to every twig of sever.al apple trees, 

 but "it had no effect upon the Barklouse." Just so; 

 you probably apolied it Ufore the eggs hatched out, 

 when it does no good. If you had applied a solution of 

 soap — say one part soap and six parts water — a,fter the 

 eggs hatched out, i. e. towards the end of May, it 

 would have killed all the young larvie that it touched. 

 We shall before long give exhaustive articles on both 

 the above subjects . In the mean time read ' ' Hogs vs. 

 Bugs ' ' in oui- flr.st number. 



Insects to be named — E. B. BeaA, BrooUyii, 

 jV r.— It is very difficult to identify larva; from descrip- 

 tions and figures with the requisite degree of certainty. 

 Of the three which you figure and the three which you 

 describe, we can only name one, that with recurved 

 horns on the second segment, which is evidently a Dryo- 

 campa, and either Dr. stiqma. or Dr. pelluciia, most prob- 

 ably the former. Both these insects occur on the oak. 

 - It is possible that the first larva which you figure may 

 be that of Limamdes s.-apha, Harris, but without a pro- 

 file view it is diflicult to speak with any certainnty. 

 As to the last larva ^vh^cIl you describe, it may not im- 

 Ijrobably be that of Zar/oa opercularis, Sm. Abb. 



Toung- Pecan trees girtlled — Jfo«.» c6 Redmond, 

 Areola, iff.— You say that in a young nursery of pecans 

 many of the trees are girdled and broken off by some 

 insect. If, as you state , the work corresponds with that 

 described on page hi of our last number, you will find 

 further light on the subject on page 76 of our present 

 number, under the liead of "Twig Girdlor." The 

 best thing you can do, is to pick up tho severed tmgs 

 and burn them. 



Insects named. — E. T. Dale, Jasper, Jasper county, 

 Jfo.— Tlie insects which you sent us for identification 

 reached us in excellent condition. Thej^ are as follows : 

 (1) Not $ Lytta atrata as you suppo,se, but both (^ and 

 8 of Ilenous eonfertus , Say . (2) , which you think an oak 

 borer, is Tragidion, fahipenne. Say. (3) Cicindela sex- 

 guttata, Fabr. ; (4) Cicindela p-urpwrea, Oliv. ; (5) Cicin- 

 dela punctalata, 0\iy .; (6) Chrysomela auripennis. Say. 

 The immense mass of white, cotton -like cocoons found 

 wrappe^l around a tomato stalk, is formed by the para- 

 sites that infested some unlucky potato worm such as we 

 figured at a, on the first page of No . 2 . The flies that 

 issue fromtliese cocoou.s belong to tha gcmxa Microgaster, 

 but we do not know that they have ever been described 

 specifioally. There are two kinds, much resembling 

 each other, which infest the common potato or tomato 

 worm; the one spinning a smooth cocoon which is gen- 

 erally attached by one end to the body of the worm, the 

 other spinning a loose cocoon, in company, and thus 

 forming the masses which j'ou send . The soldier beetles 

 are, as you suppose, the Chaaliognatus pennsyl-eanicus , 

 DeGeer, figured on page 51 of our last number. 



Eg'g's ot true Bug's — S. C. Thorjdon, Mooresiown, 

 N. J. — The mass of eggs of a dark piu-ple color, with a 

 butt-colored fringe at the upper end of each egg, and 

 all of them fastened together and attached endwise to 

 the bark of a horsechestuut tree, thereby forcibly re- 

 calling a lot of ninepins, was deposited by some true 

 bug (order Heteroptera) . The eggs are larger than any 

 we'have before seen, and belong most likely to some 

 large cannibal bug of the Reduvius family. I'hese eggs 

 are very subject to the attacks of minute four-winged 

 ichneumon flies , which eventually issue from them in 

 the place of the young bugs. Do not destroy them; 

 they will produce friends . The water containing the 

 animalcules arrived safely. It contains several different 

 species, but we have not sufficiently studied these mi- 

 croscoiiic animals, to be able to identify them. The 

 larger species — that which can even be seen with the 

 naked eye — belongs to the genus Cyclops . 



Museum pest once more — G-. M. L., Indianap- 

 olis, Ind. — The small hairy larvie which you find bor- 

 ing into whalebone, and also infesting woolen goods, 

 are those of the Museum Pest (Anthrenus museorum), a 1/ 

 beetle belonging to the same family as the Bacon-beetle 

 ( Dermestes lardarius) , and like that insect a terrible pest 

 in all collections of Natural History. You say that you 

 have also found it on the cocoons which you have hung 

 up in your office for hatching, but that, so far as you 

 have observed, the flies hatch just as well as when not 

 disturbed . You will find out your mistake when these 

 larvEE have become a little more numerous with you . 

 AYe referred to this subject in the last number of the 

 Amer. ENTO.yor.OGiST, p. GO, and again In our an- 

 swer to J. Huggins, on p. 79 of this number. 



Tbe Tarantula ol" Texas ag:aiu — Clias. Pealody, 

 iflemvood, Mo.— The .specimen which you send, and 

 which is called a Tarantula in your neighborhood though 

 it does not look' like that which is found in Italy, is really 

 a Tarantula and the very same species (Mygale Hentsu, 

 Matey) , which we spoke of in our last number on 

 page 60, in answer to James Bell of Eureka, Mo. j 



At the November meeting of the Meramec Horticultu- 

 ral Society we learned that this species had in past 

 years been found in your State, but it must be more 

 common than usual the present year, for Dr. 0. W. 

 Spalding, of Kirkwood, Mo., has also sent to us a 

 specimen that was captured this fall. 



'JTUe Hessian Fly on Seed "WUeat — U, Scott, 

 S-t Gilmore street, Baltimore. — You say that yoii beUeve 

 that the Hessian Fly lays its eggs upon the seed wheat, L 

 and that it can therefore be destroyed by a pickle. There 

 are two broods of this insect every year, one coming out 

 in the fly state in May, the other late in August, and 

 neither brood of flies living more than a few weeks. 

 How then is it possible for the female fly to lay her eggs ^ 

 upon seed wheat in harvest time, when there are no 

 Hessian flies about in harvest time? You might as well 

 suppose that your corn-crib had been robbed by swal- 

 lows in the middle of the mnterl 



Xlie Cecropia Moth — D. B. Waiie, Springioater , 

 If. Y. — The cocoon sent is that of the Cecropia Moth — 

 the largest and handsomest insect in the LT. S. The 

 larva, however, had died after spinnino- up, without 

 changinginto the pupa state. You will find figures of this 

 species, iu all its stages, in Harris's In,j. Ins., pji. 387-9. 



