84 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



found this cannibal larva pretty commonly 

 among the roots of a^jple trees infested by the 

 Eoot-lonse, not only near Cobden, but also at 

 Duquoin, S. 111. Wonderful indeed must be 

 that instinct, which enables the mother-fly to 

 perceive which particular trees in an orchard 

 have their roots swarming with lice, so as to 

 know exactly where to deposit her eggs ! 



The best mode to get rid of the Apple-root 

 Plant-louse is to drench the roots of the infested 

 tree with hot water. But to reuder this process 

 effectual, the water must be applied in quanti- 

 ties large enough to penetrate to every part of 

 the infested roots. There need be no fear of anj^ 

 injurious result from such an application of hot 

 water ; for it is a very general rule that veget- 

 able organsims can, for a short time, stand a 

 much higher temperature than animal organ- 

 isms, without any injury to their tissues. For 

 example, hot water has been from time imme- 

 morial employed to scald the borer in j)eacli- 

 trees; and thei'e is good evidence that it will 

 kill the onion-maggot without injuring the 

 young- growing onions. 



rior middlej and also aU the G tarsi exccjjt their extreme tijis, 

 and except in the hind legs the basal -J of the hrst tarsal 

 joint, all dull pale rufous. Wings hyaline; veins black. 

 Length 5 0-25 inch; alar expanse 0.48 inch. 



One $ j (^ unknown. Bred May 23 from asinf;;le pupariinn 

 found in the November preceding. On May 2 this piiparium, 

 which in the preceding autumn had Ijeen lightly covered with 

 moist sand and deposited in a cellar, had crawled up out of 

 the sand a distance of two inches, and attached itself to the 

 stopper of tile bottle in which it was inclosed. Upon being 

 replaced under the moist sand, it "was found two days after- 

 wards to have again crawled abuiit an inch up the side 

 of the bottle. We have observed the same locomotive powers 

 in tile puparia of several other Syrphidous insects, though, 

 so far as we are aware, this very anomalous faculty has not 

 hitherto been commented on by authors. 



We are indebted to Dr. LeBaron, of Geneva, Ills., who 

 has paid special attention to the Order (Diptcra) to which 

 this insect nelongs, for determining tlie genus to which it is 

 properly referable. According to him, *'the genus Pipiza 

 differs Irom Syrphus in the absence of the prominence in the 

 middle of the face, in the comparatively greater development 

 of the posterior legs, and in the want of the little spurious 

 longitudinal vein 111 the middle of the wing." "The only 

 species discovered by Macqnart," he adds, ' ' is from Caro- 

 Ima, and very different from yours. ^ ' 



Larva . — Didl pale fiesh-color, tinged with yellow . Attenu- 

 ated and somewhat depressed anteriorly; more blunt XJOSte- 

 riorly, the anal segment being furnishecl with an elevated 

 tube, which is ot a light polished brown at extremity. 

 Wrinkled transversely, with a prominent fold at anterior 

 . and posterior edge of each segment. The larger segments 

 well defined; the smaller ones less so. First segment tho- 

 roughly retractile, and sufficiently translucent when ex- 

 tended, to show the dark triple-jointed moutli . A few soft, 

 fleshy spines, of the same color as the body, and especially 

 distinct on anal segments. Generally covered and disguised 

 by the soil which it inhabits. Length when not extended, 

 0.23 of an inch. Described from two .specimens taken in 1866 

 and three in 1868. 



Pupa.— Dull dirty yellow. Gradually formed by the con- 

 traction of the larva, during which time the wrinkles are 

 obliterated, and it at last becomes quite smooth. Length 0,18. 



ANTS' NESTS I\ GARDENS. 



A correspondent informs us that by burying 

 a few sliced onions in ants' nests he has caused 

 them to abandon their quarters. We learn from 

 an experienced horticulturist, that (wo or three 

 tablespoonsfuls of kerosene poured into the liolcs 

 in their nests will produce the same cfl'cct. 



THE PARASITES OF THE HUMAN ANIMAL. 



We have had frequent occasion to dwell upon 

 the fact, that one kind of insect is often parasitic 

 upon another, either living within the body of 

 the species which it infests, or attaching itself 

 to that body externally. But insects are not the 

 only animals which operate or are operated 

 xipon in this manner. Throughout the great 

 group of the backbone animals ( Vertebraia) 

 scarcely a single species can be named, that is 

 not attacked by one or more parasites; and 

 although no known mammal, or bird, or reptile 

 is, strictly speaking, parasitic, we yet find 

 certain genera of lowly-organized fishes, 

 Ophidium and JEcheneis, that are so. It is, 

 however, among the ringed animals (Articulata) 

 that the greatest number of jjarasitic species 

 are found ; while, on the other hand, such species 

 of them as are not themselves parasitic are very 

 generally infested by others that are so. In the 

 great class of Insects, for example, almost 'every 

 known species is inhabited by one or more 

 parasites ; and even among the parasitic insects 

 many species are themselves inhabited b}^ other 

 parasitic insects, thus j)resenting the singular 

 spectacle of three living animals, each located 

 inside another one, and only the third and last 

 emerging alive and victorious from the two-fold 

 living envelope, in which nature has appointed 

 it to take up its dwelling. 



Some naturalists have supposed that man 

 forms a group in the Animal Kingdom entirely 

 distinct and isolated from all the rest. But the 

 more generally received opinion now is, that he 

 is more or less closely allied through the tailless 

 or " anthropoid " apeS; such as the gorilla, the 

 chimpanzee, and the ouraiig-outang, to the 

 short-tailed baboons and the long-tailed mon- 

 keys. We propose, in the following paragraphs 

 to show th.at, so far as regards any fancied im- 

 munity from parasitic enemies, the human 

 animal forms no exception to the general rule, 

 but that, on the contrary, an unusually large 

 number of parasites mark him out for their 

 exclusive prey. Up to a very recent date it was 

 almost universally believed, that the whole 

 animal kingdom was created for the sole benefit 

 and pleasure of man. No doubt each of the 

 various parasitic species that prey upon man 

 thinks — if he ever tliinks at all with the gang- 

 lions that serve him instead of a brain — that 

 the liuman animal was created for his sijecial 

 behoof, and that any attempt to get rid of liim 

 on the part of that animal is a grievous viola- 

 tion of the great fundamental laws of nature. 



This subject will perhaps be considered by 



