206 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Cocoons and Chrysalias named — A. S. Fuller, 

 Ridgewood, N. ^.— Tlie large black chrysalis, measur- 

 ing nearly two inches in length, and one inch in 

 diameter, belongs to that large and beautiful moth 

 known as the Regal Walnut Moth ( Ceratommpa regalis, 

 Harr.) The front wings of this moth are pale olive, 

 adorned with yellow spots and veined with reddish, 

 while the hind wings are orange red. Its caterpillar 

 feeds on Black Walnut, Butternut, Hickory, Persimmon, 

 and Sumach, and is, when full grown, an immense 

 green creature, with 10 long orange horn-like and 

 prickly spines near the head, and other shorter black 

 ones on the rest of the body. The smaller, mahogany- 

 colored chrysalids taken from the earth belong, doubt- 

 less, to some species of Owlet Moth (Noctua family), 

 but it is impossible to identify the species until the per- 

 fect insect escapes. The gray, silken cocoons, woven 

 within a leaf and attached to the twig by a long silken 

 cord, belong to the Promethea Moth {Attacus Frome- 

 thea., Drury). The larger looser cocoons of the same 

 color, attached lengthwise to different kinds of twigs, 

 and among others to that of a blackberry, are those of 

 the Cecropia Moth {Attacus Cecropia, Linn.) The co- 

 coons which are more tightly woven, rounder, lighter 

 colored, and usually spun within leaves, are those of 

 the Polyphemus Moth (AUacus Folyphemus , Linn.) 

 Finally the cases which hang pendant Irom a number of 

 different shrubs and trees, both deciduous and ever- 

 green, and which are generally covered with pieces of 

 leaves or stems, belong to the Bag-worm (Thyridoptei-yi: 

 ephemerceformis , Haw , ) 



frjiite-Iined Morning- Spliinx — Stephen Blan- 

 chard, Oregon, Holt Co., ifo.— The beautiful hawk 

 moth whicli you send, distinguished principally by its 

 roseate under-wings and by a broad pale band running 

 from the apex to the base of the dark olive upper- 

 wings, is the White-lined Morning Sphinx (Deilephila 

 Uneata, Fabr.) It is a tolerably common insect, and 

 may quite frequently be seen, at twilight and even 

 during the day, hovering, humming-bird-fashion, over 

 Verbenas and other flowers. Its larva feeds upon 

 purslane, turnip, buckwheat, watermelons and even 

 apple leaves, upon any of which it may be found in 

 the month of July. It descends into the ground, and 

 within a smooth cavity, changes to a light brown chry- 

 salis, from which the moth emerges during the month 

 of September. The most common color of this larva 

 is yellowish-green with a prominent row of elliptical 

 spots, each spot consisting of two curved black lines, 

 enclosing superiorly a bright crimson spot and infei'iorly 

 a pale yellow line— the whole row of spots connected 

 by a pale yellow line, edged above with black. Such 

 is the accepted larva of this moth, and it is not gener- 

 ally known that a black variety occurs, differing totally 

 in its markings from the green variety. This insect 

 has a wide range, as it occurs in West India, Mexico, 

 and Canada, as well as in all parts of the United States. 



Insects named — Dr. W. W. Batterfield, Indianapolis, 

 Ind. — No. 1. Coptotomus interrogutus, Fiibr. No. 2. Gnemi- 

 dotusVi-punctutas, Say. No. 3. Vorixa not described. 

 No. 4. Laceophilus maculosus, Say. All the above are 

 very common species. No. 20, the wingless Plant- 

 louse found on a geranium, most iirobably from the 

 great length of its honey-tubes belongs to the genus 

 Aphis and is apparently undescribed. No. 21 is, as you 

 .suppose, Vanessa Antiop'i : the female, as in the case of 

 most butterflies, can be distinguished from the male by 

 the abdomen being stouter, and tapered to a point in- 

 stead of truncate at tip. Nos. 22 and 23 are Zlmsteria^ 

 erechthea, Guenee, a very common owlet moth. We 

 have observed that the spring brood of *his insect are 

 always several sizes smallei- than the autumnat brood, 

 and at one time we supposed the two forms to belong 

 to distinct species. The three small larvie "found 

 feeding upon the younger leaves and unopened flowers 

 of the woodbine,'' belong to some owlet moth, and 

 apparently to some of the climbing cut- worm moths; 

 but we cannot Identify the species with any certainty. 

 The two-winged fly, banded with black and yellow like 

 a wasp, whigh you noticed flying round your honey- 

 suckles , is a Syrphus Fly, belonging to the parasitic 

 " genus iiccevii, and should therefore be carefully protected 

 instead of being destroyed. Its larva Is a legless mag- 

 got, and feeds most ravenously upon Plant-lice. 



Peacb Twig- Borer — Wm. Muir, Fox Creek, Mo. — 

 The livid brow:- worm, with vchitish longitudinal 

 stripes, which is boring into and ruining great num- 

 „. , ,„ , bers of your peach 



[Fig. 140.1 ■ "buds" and shoots, 



is evidently the com- 

 mon Stalk Borer 

 {Goriynanitela, Gue- 

 %^xsr— "-a '~® w '^s'^sgaj, nee) , which we fig- 

 ured and described 

 on page 22 of our see- 



Color-Livid-brown and whitish. ^^^ ZtZ\,^li^. 

 ring to that page, it inholiits the stems of a number of 

 different plants, though the fact of its also boring into 

 peach stems is an entirely new one. At Figure 140 this 

 borer is represented as it appears when full grown. 

 Those you send are but one-third grown, and as the 

 point of entrance is always discernable by a slight dis- 

 colored spot on the stem, you might save many of your 

 "buds" which show this sign, by carefully cutting out 

 the borer. In this way we have often saved plants of 

 the Dahlia, to which this borer is very partial. 



The Apple-tAvig Borer — A. HinoUeji, DuBois, 

 /«.— The beetle that you find boring in the stems of 

 your young apple-trees is the Apple-twig Borer (i(os- 

 trichus Ucaudattis, Say, Fig. 141). Unlike the two com- 

 rFie in 1 wn Borers of the Apple-tree, it is only in 

 the perfect beetle state that this iasect at- 

 tacks the Apple, and usually it is the twigs 

 of good-sized trees that it preys on, boring 

 in just above a bud and working downward 

 through the pith in a cylindrical burrow 

 for the space of one or two inches. The 

 _ male is distinguished from the female by 

 Color-Dark having two little thorns projecting from the 

 brown. hind end of its body , and both males and 

 females are found in these burrows, and always with their 

 heads downward, showing that they bore the hole, notin 

 the larva state like other borers, but in the perfect beetle 

 state. Neither can they bore these holes as a breeding- 

 place for their future larva; ; for no larvaj have ever been 

 found therein. Kvidently therefore they must bore 

 them as a means of supplying themselves with food, 

 which we should also infer from the fact of both sexes 

 occurring therein in about equal numbers. With in- 

 sects, as a general rule, it is only the female that labors 

 for the well-being of her future ftimily. 



Apple-tree Borers on South Side of Trees— 

 Jno. F. Wielandy, Jefferson Oity, Mo.— It has long been 

 known that the Flat-headed Apple-tree Borer (Ohryso- 

 lothris femorata, Fabr.) prefers what are known as 

 "sun-scalded" trees, and that it is almost invariably 

 found on the south or southwest side of the tree. 

 This fact was recorded by the Senior Editor in the late 

 Practical Entomologist (Vol. I, p. 2B) and was quite 

 recently reiterated by Elmer Baldwin of Farm Kidge, 

 Ills., who states, {Western Rural, Apr. 29, '69) that "he 

 has never known it to occur in a healthy tree, but al- 

 ways in those partially killed by sun-scald." Your 

 experience confirms the fact. 



Cocoons of tlie Cecropia Moth — Tlios. W. 

 Gordon, Georgetown, O^io.— The large cocoons taken 

 from various trees are not those of the Polyphemus, 

 but of the Cecropia Moth. The cocoons of the former 

 species are very closely woven, tough and hard, bluntly 

 oval in form and of a pale buff color. Those of the 

 latter are of an ashy -brown color, much more loosely 

 woven and invariably more or less attenuated at each 



Flea-beetles— CoZ. Fred. HecTcer, Lehanon, St. Clair 

 Co., 111.— The minute brassy-brown flea-beetle that, as 

 you say, covered your wheat-fields and meadows, but 

 not your vineyard, by millions towards the latter part 

 of April is an undescribed species of Longitarsus. In 

 North Illinois this species is rare, though we have 

 received several specimens from Canada West. Like 

 other species belonging to the Flea-beetles, this one no 

 doubt preys upon living vegetation . 



Grape-vine Caterpillar— .ff. S. Foster, Bush- 

 lurq, if».— The caterpillar which is eating out the ter- 

 minal buds of your grape vines is entirely new to us. 

 We shall endeavor to watch its workings and to give 

 you further information about it at some future day. 



