168 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



An Orcbard g-iving^ ont—Wm. M. demons, 

 Minerva, loioa. — The borer that works in your apple 

 trees "just above the ground," is most probably the 

 common Round-headed Borer (Saperda lieittata, Say). 

 After he is once in the tree, the knife is the only mode 

 to get rid of him; and you can easily see where one of 

 these borers is at work, any time in the summer, by 

 the rust-colored castings that they throw out of the 

 crevices in the bark on to the ground. When first dis- 

 charged, these castings look as if they had been forced 

 through the barrels of a very minute double-barreled 

 gun, bein» arranged closely together in two parallel 

 strings. Of course, the iirst heavy rain disturbs this 

 very singular arrangement — the cause of which is a 

 perfect mystery to us, though the fact is indisputable. 

 Hence, the best time to hunt these borers in an orchard, 

 is after a long dry spell; for then you will see the 

 greatest number of these curious double-barreled wads 

 of rust-red excrement, which will show you where to 

 look for Mr. Borer. Sometimes, but not often, he is 

 found in the crotch. 



The above kind of borer makes a hole about the size 

 of a pea, that is neail)^ round. There is another and a 

 smaller kind— the Hammer-headed Borer {Ghrysohothrh 

 /«mora<a, Fabr.) — vvhicb makes a much smaller hole of 

 an oval shape, being twice as long as wide. This kind 

 is peculiarly fond of sun-scalded trees. You can keep 

 both kinds out of the trunks of your trees by soaping 

 the trunks about the last of Jlay. The first kind is by 

 far the most destructive of the two. 



Plant-louse Eggs on Apple and ITIountain 

 Ash— Wm. Stewart, Qaiiuji, Ills. — The minute oval 

 shining-black eggs which you send — some on Apple and 

 some on Mountain Ash twigs — are the same as those 

 spokeu of in the Answer to C "Williams on page 147 of 

 our last number. The genus of trees popularlv known 

 as "Mountain Ash" (Sorbus), botanically speaking, 

 has nothing whatever to do with true Ash (Fraxinus) , 

 but is so closely allied to Apple {P>/rus) tliat Dr. Gray 

 considers it as a mere subgenus of that genus. Hence, 

 although we are not personally aware of the foct, that 

 the same species of Plant-louse that infests the Apple 

 likewise infests the Mountain Ash, yet it mav very 

 probably do so. We know that the same indigenous 

 Bark-louse (Aspidiotus Ilarrisii) attacks both trees 

 indiscriminately. Still, the eggs of most insects are so 

 •simple in structure and coloration , and present so few 

 distinctive characters, that the Mountain Ash Plant- 

 lice may prove to belong to a distinct species from the 

 conunon Apple Plant-louse {Aphis mali.) 



Feacb Borer and " Sow-bugs "— Z*. W. B. 

 Kurtz, State Unirersity, Oolamhia, Mo. — The insects 

 which you took from the roots of your Peach trees 

 reached us all smashed up, and as flat as a pancake. 

 Soft larviB should never be enclosed loosely in a letter, 

 as their lives under such circumstances can never be 

 vouched for when they once get into Uncle Sam's 

 clutches. We had no difBculty, however, in recog- 

 nizing the large white grubs as the common Peach- 

 borer {jjigeria exitiosa. Say), wliile the little grav 14- 

 legged aiiimals were "sow-bugs," popularly so 

 caUed. These last are not true insects but belong to 

 the same class (Crustacea) as the lobster, craw -fish, 

 etc. We judge them to lie the species named the Un- 

 spotted PorceQio (Porcellio immaculatus) by Dr. Fitch, 

 though from their mangled condition it is impossible to 

 tell definitely. These "sow-bugs" in reality do no 

 harm to the trees , as they simply shelter in the holes 

 which the Peach-borer has made , and subsist entirely 

 on the gummy matter and detritus which said borer 

 leaves behind him . 



Cigantic Rbinoceros Beetle — F. G. Smitli, 

 Vaniz, Canton, Miss. — The beetle which you foimd in 

 a dry rotten log, is a (5" specimen of the Gigantic 

 Rbinoceros-beetle {Dynastes Tityus, Linn.) The spots 

 on the wing-covers vary greatly in size, form and 

 position, while in some instances the wing-covers are 

 uniformly chestnut-brown and immaculate. The § 

 lacks the peculiar Rhinoceros-like horns of the (J . 



Eggs under Scales of Apple-tree Bark — G. 

 G. Jiraclceit, Lawrence, Kans. — The eggs which you 

 found under the scales of the bark of one of your 

 apple-trees, are apparently those of some Lepidop- 

 terous insect. We can tell you nothing definite about 

 them tm they hatch. 



Bee queries — Wm. R. Howard, Forsyth, Mo. — 1st, 

 ' ' Langstroth on the Honey Bee ' ' is the work you 

 need; it is published by Orange Judd & Co., of New 

 York, at $2.00. 2nd , the bee -moth is always injurious to a 

 hive of bees and never beneficial. 3rd. A new swarm 

 is composed of both old andnew bees, as may be ascer- 

 tained by examining them the moment they are hived, 

 when some wiU be found with the wings quite ragged, 

 denoting age, while others are so young as to be 

 scarcely able to fly. Thus your neighbors were each 

 partly right and each iiartly wrong in their several 

 assertions . 



Supposed gall on Pear brancb— .3^. C. Free- 

 man, South Pass, III. — The roundish body, about the 

 size of a hazel nut, " found around a node or new 

 starting point of growth on a large stalk of pear-tree," 

 is not a gall, nor has it anvthing to do with any insect, 

 so far as appearances iiidi'catc. We t;ike it to be sim- 

 ply a diseased mass of spongv dead wood, which has 

 been surrounded bv a new growth of solid and licalthv 

 wood. So that in all probability this is a nut that 

 ought to be cracked by the plant-men and not bv us 

 bug- men. 



Insects named— Z>/'. W. W. Butta-fieli, In- 

 dianapolis, Ind. — As to your Clytus (No. 4), it is proba- 

 bly the true Gl. caprea. Say, and Say was in error in 

 describing the tip of the wing-case in this species as 

 emarginate and spined. Dr. LeConte informs us that 

 all the caprea in his possession have the tip of the 

 wing-case simply rounded, and that he has never seen 

 any with the apicat spine, as described by Say. Gen- 

 erally, Say is exceedingly accurate; but we are none of 

 us infiilUble, and it is a sure sign of an entomological 

 charlatan to pretend to be so. 



Elin Tree 'BoTev— Willie M. Greyori/.—The borer i 

 which you found while splitting dry elm wood, is evi- / 

 dently the larva of some long-horned beetle belonging ^ 

 to the Geramhy.i: family; but to what particular species 

 it belongs, cannot be definitely ascertained till we 

 breed it. Two beetles belongingto this fomily— the one 1/ 

 known as the Lateral Saperda (Saperda lateralis, Fabr. ), 

 and the other as the Six-banded Dryobius (DryoUus. 

 Q-fasciatus, Say) — attack the elm in the larva state, 

 and your borer may perhaps belong to one of these. 



Insects named— £'. T. Dale, Yellow Springs, 

 Ohio. — We have since heard from Dr. LeConte, that 

 your ground-beetle (No. 12) is Bradycellus vulpeculus, 7 

 Say. The genus Bradycellus belongs to the same group 

 (Harpalini) to which we reierred your species. 



Alter the above lines were penned we received your 

 letter stating that Mr. Cresson had referred ;it to the 

 same species . 



Singing mice — W. H. Gill, Tori: Station, Mo.— Mice 

 are not insects, and as this journal Is the American 

 Entomologist and not the American Naturalist, we 

 cannot enter upon the very singular subject of musical 

 mice! Thanks for the curious extracts which you 

 send us. 



NOTICE. 



All letters, desiring information respecting noxious or other insects, should 

 be accompanied by specimens, the more in number the better. Such speci- 

 mens should always be packed along with a little cotton, wool, or some such 

 substance, in any little paste-board box that is of convenient size, and never 

 enclosed loose in the letter. Botanists like their specimens pressed as flat as a 

 pancake, but entomologists do not. Whenever possible, larvoe (i. e. grubs, 

 caterpillars, maggots, etc.) should be packed alive, in some tight tin 

 box— the tighter the better— along with a supply of their appropriate food 

 sufficient to last them on their journey ; otherwise they generally die on the 

 road and shrivel up to nothing. Along with the specimens send as full an 

 account as possible of the habits of the insect, respecting which you desire 

 information ; for example, what plant or plants it infests ; whether it destroys 

 the leaves, the buds, the twigs, or the stem ; how long it has been known to 

 you; what amount of damage it baa done, etc. Such particulars are often 

 not only of high scientific interest, but of great practical importance. 



EOR SALE, at the rate of 35 for $1.00, by W. V AN- 

 DREWS, 130 Charlton street, New York. Eggs of 

 B. Permji expected soon. ■ . April— It 



