148 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



A Bundle o* entoinolog'ical Queries — Br. 



W. W. Butterfield, Ihdiampolis, Ind. — 1st, For the 

 best mode of (.lenuiUng tlie wings of Lepjdovteva , "we 

 must refer you to Dr. Olemens's Paper \\\Pi-oc. JSnt. 

 Soe. Phil., 1, pp- 173 — i. Dr. Clemens also gives 

 (iiienec's method. As you desire to form a good en- 

 tomological library, you ought, by all means, to get 

 this work, which is advertised in our columns. 2nd. 

 The large edition of Kirby and Speuce's Introduction is, 

 of course, better than the smidl edition, which we 

 have recommended for popular use, because it excludes 

 the dry scientific details; but it costs a great deal more 

 money. 3rd. It would take us as long to explain 

 wherein Westwood's Jntroductio/i is supmor to ivirby 

 and Spence's Introduction, as to explain wherein chalk 

 is superior to cheese. The two works cover quite 

 diflerent ground. 4th. The same remark applies to 

 Burmcister's Manaial, as compared with Kirby and 

 Spence's Introduction,. 5th. The first volume of 

 Stainton's Entomologist' s An,mml appeared in London 

 in 1855, price 2s. 6d." English money, and we beheve 

 the Ijack numbers are all of them procurable. 6th. "We 

 have never seen Morris's British Biitterfldes , andean, 

 therefore,say nothing abou t it . 7th. For tlie prices of the 

 two other entomological books named by you, we must 

 refer you to Wcstermanu & Co . , 440 Broadway, New 

 York", or any other importing bookseller dealing in 

 scientific works. 8th. The address of W. C. Hewitson, 

 the English entomologist, was, In 18G0, "Oaklands, 

 Walton-on-Tharaes, .Surrey, England;" and he proba- 

 bly resides there still . 9th. You will find the genus 

 Clytus on pages 104^-ti of the Melsheimer Catalogue U. 

 S' C'oleoft. Of course, it is not to be found in 

 LeConte's Introduction, because that work only exteud.s 

 at present to the Pentamerous and Heteromerou.5 

 Beetles. Dr. LeConte, as he has just informed us, is 

 now hard at work upon the Tetramera. 



Grape-ftcrryOToth.— i/. C. Pead.IIudfon, —The 

 little moths which you sent to Dr. Le Conte, and which 

 have been forwarded tons, through JIi-. E. T. Orcssou, 



/ of Philadelphia, are, as you rightly infer, entirely new 

 to science. Their larva^ the history of which you so 

 graphically give, have attacked the fruit of the Grape 

 very generally over the country, during the past year. 

 Specimens of" the moth, which w-e sent to the English 

 Lepidopterist, H. T. Stainton, could not be referre'cl by 

 him to any known genus ; but A. S.Packard, ,Tr., has 

 furnished us with advanceil sheets of his •• Guide to 

 the Study of Insects,'' wherein he briefly describes it 

 us Penthina vitii-orana. I'hc Junior Editor has adopted 

 this name in his first report, where this insect is more 

 fully described and illustrated. The remedy you prac- 

 tice, namely, that ofgathcring up all the leaves and burn- 

 nig them in" the fall , is a good one. as there i.s every reason 

 to believe that the insect winters over in the cocoon, 

 cither in the larva , or pupa state . In a future number of 

 this Jouraal we shall give a complete account of this most 

 anomalous insect. 



Hairy Caterpillar — T. S. Gold, Wed Ccrnwull, 

 Conn,.— The large caterpillar, covered with stitf black 

 hairs on each end, and with reddish hairs in the middle 

 ot the body, is the larva of a moth known as the I.sa- 

 bella tiger moth, (Ardia. Isnlrllu . Hiibn.). This moth 

 is of a dull orange color, Willi Ui.' forr wings variegated 

 I with dusky, and spotted willi liliu'k; i\w, bind wings 



"^ somewhat lighter, and also \\il\\ lilack spots. The 

 caterpillar, late iu the fall, rolls itself up in some 

 sheltered place, and passes the winter in a state of 

 torpor. In the following spring, it becomes acti\-e 

 again, and "feeds up" on the first green blades of 

 grass which it can obtain, after which it undergoes its 

 transformations in the usual manner. Your statement 

 that this caterpillar " «as unusually abundant last 

 autumn, collecting by the bushel in open drains, into 

 which they fell on their travels," is interesting. "We 

 have never before known them to occur in such num- 

 ber.s together. 



Borer ill Pliim Xivigs— IF/h . CnhrcU, Sparta, 

 jllg — The Borer in the plum twig which you send is in 

 the pupa state. It resembles, in every resiiect, the 

 pupa of the Oak pruncr {Elaphidion, putalor, Peck), of 

 which we have an accurate drawing and with which wo 

 are w'ell acquainted. If you found the twig already 

 ampvrtated it may possibly be that species; and it will 

 at any rate produce some closely allied beetle. 



Insects Named — Dr. W. W. Butterfield, Indiana- 

 polis, Ind. — 1st, The black and white butterfly is Fieris 

 protodice,^ Bdv. and Lee. The j? has much less blacK 

 on his wings , Common out west. 2nd , The other butter- 

 fly is Cynthia cardui, Linn,, common in all the tour 

 quarters oftheglobe, and figurediu Harris's/ft/. Ins.,]}. 

 291 . 3rd . The larger beetle is Ariwpalus pictiis,'(^ Drury , 

 Walsh, formerly confounded by all authors wi"th 

 A. rohiniai,^ Foster, "Walsh, and first distinguished 

 from that insect by the Senior Editor of this Journal. 

 The two species are absolutely uudistinguishable in the 

 $ , but the ^1^ differ as follows : pictus^ has antenuaj 

 longer than the body, and stout: legs much longer and 

 stouter than in pictus $ , and the elytra tapered 

 to the tip, as iu a Lsptura; roiinice^ has antennas 

 shorter than the body, and slender; legs no longer 

 or stouter than iu roljinim^ , and the elytra scarcely 

 tapered at all towards the tip. Furthermore, 

 pictus breeds in hickory, and comes out in June, 

 while robinim breeds in locust, and comes out end 

 of August, and forepart of September (See Proc. 

 Ent. Soc. Phil., Ill, pp. 420—2). 4th. The smaller 

 beetle would be considered by most entomologists as 

 the variety of Vlytuscaprea, Say, with white instead of 

 yellow baiids, which Say refers to ; but we believe it to 

 be a distinct, and probably undescribed species, because 

 the tip of the elytrum is not emarginate and spined, as in 

 caprea. It is closely allied to 6*?. leucozonus,Govy unAF . , 

 found in Colorado, but ditfers in several characters . The 

 genus Arhopahis differs from Cli/tus, with which latter 

 genus it was formerly confounded, iu the antennie not 

 being clavato, and in the thighs not being swelled. 

 The author's name after every species shows yoii where 

 to look for a description. 



Insects Named — E. T. Pule, i'ellow ,ijvinffs, Ohio. 

 — jSTo. 1, Melanades piceus , DeGieer. 'So. i, Bolhocems 

 furctus, Fabr. No. 3, -B/ricA^ms, undertermined, No. 

 4, Jlutilla fjfuadriffuttata, Say. No. 5,- Chlanius sericeus, 

 Say. No. 0, Cftlcenius fncolor, Dejean. No. 7, Ecar- 

 thrus orljatus j^MC . No. 8, Pterostichits {pa-cihts) chalcitcs, 

 Say. Nos. 9 and 10, Pterostichits candicalis , Say. No. 

 11, JS'ehria pallipes, Say. No. 12 belongs to Ila'rpalini. 

 No. 13, Boletophagiis t'Oi'Hj^fws,. Fabr. No. 14, Cassida 

 pallida, \iw\if,t. 'No. 15, Cassida {coptocyela)l)ieittata, 

 Say. No. 10, Ceruchus picniS(^, McLcay. No, 17, 

 Centronipvs calearuivSj'Pahw No. 18, Tttrops jucunda, 

 Lee, as kindly determined by LeConte. No. 19, 

 Arhopalus fvlminnns, Faluv No. 20, Scaphinotus 

 eleratiis.Vuhr. As to No. 3, which you suggest may 

 be B./uinrins, Dr, LeConte Ibnuei'ly described a great 

 many species of j5r<'c7!i«;?«, but he now considers that 

 the species run into one another so promiscuously, that 

 they cannot he separated satisfactorily. Of No,' 4, we 

 ha-\ V a single specimen from Coloratlo; it is apparently 

 unknown to ilr. Cresson. No, 12 belongs to the very 

 extensive and difficult group of Ilarjnilin/; but, a's 

 the genera of this group are based upon the structural 

 characters of the male, and the only specimen you send 

 is a female, we cannot even determine the genus to 

 which it belongs. We found loose in the box, without 

 numbers, Ifi' specimen of Jr/»)/)'/.'y.? roliin'a: Forstcr; l^f 

 audi $ Arr/ienodes septentrionis, IIIist.,,'ind 1 speci- 

 men ot Calosoma Willcoxi, Le<'. The insects came in 

 very fair order. Always send r?5 of each species. 

 whim it is possible to do so . 



Pear-root Borer-Pflz-fo/' Eailr, .•<outh Puss, Ills.— 

 The borer in the iiear-root, which has killed three of 

 your trees, is the ^■ery same insect which we have 

 spoken of in "Answers to Corre.sjiondents," both on 

 page 16 of No. 1, and on page 4(1 of Xo. 2, The speci- 

 men is but half grown, Tlio fact of its attacking the 

 Pear is not new, as you will find by referring to the 

 January number of the Gardeners' MontJih/, where '-A. 

 J, H.,'"' of \ineland. N, J., describes it as even mor<' 

 injurious to the Pciir than to the Vine. You will find 

 further particulars about this borer in the First Annual 

 Eei)ort of the Junior Editor, which is just published. 



Insects named — M. II. Boi/c, Cnopcrslairg, Pmn . — 

 No. lis Gryllotalpaho'-calis, Burm., (mole-cricket), the 

 long-winged dimorphous form which 31r. Sciulder has 

 considered as a distinct species and named longipennis: 

 No. 2 is the larva of some species of the Lampyris fam- 

 ily; No. 3 is Brochimena, anniilata Fabr.; No. 4 is 

 the larva of No. 3; and No. 5 is Lueanus elama . Linn. 



