THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



147 



Gas-'n'aste vs. Cnrculio — H. of Centndin, llh. — 

 Vou say that Mr. Wells of Troy, N. Y., iu the Aijri- 

 niltiiral Tx'epoH of the I'atent Ofiiee for 18«0, p. 120, 

 •'shows that the Ammonia water or Gas-waste, whieh 

 is pcrmitteil to go to loss at nearly all Gas-works, if 

 properly applied, will destroy AI.1" noxious i'lseets in 

 the uroiiiid;' " whereupon yon base a proposal to sprin- 

 kle this (;as-w;!ste upon earth wiiich i< full i>r (.urculin 

 larva', and thus "destroy atone till swoop thi' whole 

 eroj) of the J.iltle Turk." AVe have referred to the 

 pai>er yon quote, and tind that it is not ..Mr. Wells who 

 makes anysnch assertions as that whieh you attribute to 

 him, but that he merely quotes .sueli assertions as hav- 

 ing been put forth by "the agent of a gas eonipany in 

 Massachusetts! This", we opine, makes a material dif- 

 ference. Of eoursB, every gas eouijiany would like to 

 lind a good market for their Gas-wa.ste, and as long as 

 human nature is human nature, men will ery up Ihi^ 

 virtues of whatever they are anxious to sell. Kven 

 this interested party, however, does not elaini that 

 Gas-waste will "destroy all no.xious insects in the 

 ground," but onlythat, "in one parlieuhir experiment, 

 a compost containing Gas-waste, (Jas-tar, Nitrate of 

 soda. Gypsum, and three other ingretlicnts "ai'1'KA1!s 

 to destroy the wire-worm!" Suppose, now, that the 

 wire-worm was really destroyed in this exjieriment, of 

 wliieh fact by the way the 'proof i-- liut very slight. 

 How does the gas-agent know tlud. it was not'tlu' (ias- 

 tar, or the Nitrate of soda, or the (Jypsnmthat ilestroyed 

 it, instead of the Gas-waste h.avingihnie this? I.ike'the 

 tailor in Shakespeare, when Falstalf oitViod him reil- 

 nosed old Bardolph as collateral security for tlie debt 

 wiiich was owing to him, "we like not s'u.-h security" 

 as that which you give us for tne merits of Gas-waste 

 as an Insect-destroyer. We would .iu>t about as soon 

 trust to Mr. Best's"Patent "Invigorator." 



£g:g:s of tkc Apple-tree Plaut-Ioiise, ag:aiu 

 — (_\ Wi/liams, Cobimhla, Mo. — The apple twigs wlucli 

 \ou sent .are covered with the little black eggs of the 

 common apple-tree Plant-louse (A/ihis unili].'' (in iiag<' 

 1)9 of No. 5 you will tind an account of their unusual 

 numbers .around your city, and a furtliei- accoiuit of 

 them on page r20 of No. 6, in answer to JI , W. f^eaman, 

 of .Shipman, Ills. You desire to cut from these infested 

 trees a number of scions for gralting, and w ish to kiiow 

 whether an immersion in strom,' l\c will kill the cicgs. 

 We think it will, and that it will be nior.' effectual if 

 used hot, though you should tirst ascertain by experi- 

 ment on a few, how long the twigs maybe iuuMerM'd 

 without injury. If you try this experiment we shall 

 be glad to ]ea"rn the'resnlt. Probalily tlie safest and 

 surest mode of kilUug these eggs would be, to immerse 

 the scions for eight or ten seconds in water too hot to 

 bear your linger in it for a single second. 



Wni. L. French, The small, black "insects" scat- 

 tered over your apple twigs, are the same as those 

 sent by Mr. Williams, of Columbia, Mo. .See above. 



Funguses among decaying- Bark — ./ T. 

 Whelphy, South F(im. Jlls.— The spc-imens sent which, 

 as you say, were found among decaying oak-hark, ap- 

 pear to us to be funguses of some kind or other; but 

 they may possibly be tubers on the root of some plant. 

 Not being specially learned in Botany, we sent your 

 specimens to a good bot.anist for his opinion , but as yet 

 have received no answi-r to our inquiries. Most botan- 

 ists are as ignorant as we candidiv acknowleilue our- 

 selves to be of the natural history of that veiy ditHcult 

 group, the funguses, whether large, medium-sized or 

 'niicrosco]iically small. 



I>riiis;-store Pests — J. M. Good, St. Loids, Mo. — 

 In our last luuaber but one (p. 99) we informed you that 

 the small w hitish six-legged larva', that were infesting 

 your I'apsicuni. Iielonged to the Fti/ni-i family ol beetles. 

 iiut that wc could not determine the partiiular species 

 lo which they belonged until we had bred them to tlu; 

 Ix^etle state. We have since been informed by our 

 leading N. A. authority on this order of Insects, Dr. 

 .r. Ij. Leconte, that a species belonging to this very 

 same family {Lasioderma fen-icorne, Fabr.), commonly' 

 attaclis capsicum, and also tobacco. In all probability, 

 therefore, this is the species that is troubling you. 



Synonyms— J?. />. Dto:, Waxhingfoii, D. C.—Da- 

 nais ArcMppus, Smith— the butterfly figured on page 

 •29 of No. 'J— is the siime as Panais ple.rippvs, JAnn. , 

 the latter name being but a synonym of the former. 



Animals int'estingr 'W'ells — ■Jonathan Ifugi/ins, 

 Woodlum, ]lh. — The soft white worm-like creiitiires, 

 with seven pairs of legs, with four antenna', the upper 

 pair of which are much shorter than the lower pair, and 

 with the last joint of the body in the form of a shield, 

 and bearing two forked appendages, aie the connnon 

 M'ater Aselins (.t.f////,v arjuuta-tif:) .'' They belong to the 

 sauLC class of animals {Crustaeea) as t'he lobster aud 

 iiaw -tisli. and are tlierefore not true insects, though 

 included in the same .ureal branch of tlie Animal King- 

 dom with them. These little animals are quite com- 

 mon iu pools and wells, and though .-uiything but a 

 jileasant addition to ilrinking water, thev can not be 

 considere<l as hurtful. Indeed they tend to purify the 

 water, by devouring the dead organic matter vvhich 

 it ciuuains. They seem to thrive best in unclean wells, 

 anil we noticed much wondy tibre and sediment amongst 

 the specimen-; which you sent. A frog or a salaman- 

 der ]ilaced in the well'would jirobablv extirpate llieni, 

 tho\igh tlie surest method would be to clean it out. 



//. J. Diuilnp, Chauipaign., 7«».—Thi' animals which 

 you sent and which are commonly supposed to originate 

 in pine pumps, but which exist"also in wells that have 

 no pumps and which ;uv bricked and stoned up, as was 

 shown in the discu-sioii al Ihe coilei;e on the 'JNi of 

 .January; are the same (_'ru>tacc;ms s|H.keii of alio\c in 

 answer to Jlr. lluggins. They do not change into any- 

 thing else and sehloin grow beyond j;, inch in length.' 



G. Bi-odheud, Lelninoii, Mo. — The animals which you 

 lind in your well, are known by the name of Uammlinix 

 ptihx, and belong to the same great class as the above: 

 Ijut while the Atflhis belongs" to the order Isoi'OT>a, 

 this belongs to the oriler Amphii'ODA. 



Small Galls and ^linings nn AppIc-Twig^s — 



(). 0. A. Ganhier. C„h'Mhia, Mo. — The specimens sent 

 are quite new to us. The oval swellings, about one- 

 tenth inch long, on the apple-twi.gs are iirobably iiici- 

 jiieiit galls, but by what insect tliey are proilucid we 

 have im knowledge. The snake-lilie toiluoiis ilevated 

 jiatliwav upon a sin'.;li' twig is the work of some boring 

 larva, and in-olialily of lli.it of some small species of 

 moth or lioetle: but uoilihig is known to us, or said by 

 other authors, respecting its liistory. Dr. Clemens has 

 described the mines made by several scores of small 

 moths, but they are all made, not in the bark of the 

 tw'igas yours are, but in the leaf. Please send us, if 

 pussible, specimens of the galls from time to time dur- 

 ing tin; ensuing summer, that we may watch tlieir de- 

 velopmeiit. 



Stinking- Bugs—f. L..hini,eii. W,ii/„.ir,7!,', Wanvu 

 Co.. (M/e.— The ■'Stinkini; bu:;s" tha't vou iliscovered 

 (in a dead White oak, between the bark and the wood, 

 are true bugs {Iletcroptmi) aud belong to the genus 1 

 Jlrachi/rhynchus. The species, though quite common. "^ 

 seems to be undeseribed. It conies near Jl. gi-a),iihitiis. 

 Say, but difl'ers in sundry details. They liy'bernale in 

 all'stages of growth, as is evident from the specimens 

 sent. Thev are lint known to lie iniurious to vegeta- 

 tion, but. hke several allied s|iecies 'fouud under hark, 

 teed exclusively upon decaying vegetalile matter, (^uite 

 a number of the True Bugs— including the common Jied- 

 Inig — have the peculiar smell that you discovered to be- 

 long to these Bark-bugs. 



Kg-gs in Peach tivigs — Gei. F'sher, East Lieev- 

 pO"l, Ohio. — The semi-transparent yellowish c.ggs, about 

 one-eighth of an inch long aud four or tive times as long- 

 as wide, of a cylindiical slKqie, but a little pointed at 

 one end, which you tind obliiiiicly inseited into a ]ieach 

 twig, in a row I'leadv an inch long, are the eggs of the 

 Snowy Tree-cricket '((£'(■</«/'/(«« uinii.^). Vou will tind 

 a tigii're of both se.ves of this insect on page 38 of the 

 Amkimcan Entomolooist, with a brief reference to 

 its habits. Owing to the gum that naturally exudes 

 from the wounded bark of tlie peiich-tree, the row of 

 eggs lias a peculiar appearance when located upon this 

 tree. 



FIat*lieaded Apple-tree Borer — B. F. Miidij, , 

 Manhattan, Kansas. — The borers which you send, and 

 which you found in the lower branches of an apple 

 tree, as high as live feet from the root, are the insect 

 above named. The best method of preventing its at- 

 tacks, is by thoroughly soaping your trees in the spriiig- 

 of the year. 



