224 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



isli; (h) lifillt brown. 



Seed-corn mag^g'pt. — G. Pauls, Eurel'a, Mo. — 

 The whitish maggots, "}{ incli longj find tapering at one 

 end and blunt at the other, 

 which have injured your 

 seed-corn planied oiinew 

 ground by devouring its 

 substance, arc tlie larvie of 

 some Two- winged fly, AVe 

 ' ave never before known 

 leed-eoru to be tluis at- 

 tadced in the AVest, but tlie 

 JuniorEditor has described 

 a species* by the name of 

 tlie Com Antliorayia (Anthomyiazeaf, Riley), which in- 

 fests seed-corn in "a similar manner in New Jersey. At 

 Figure 158 we represent this CFis- I'O ] 



New Jersey maggot of tlie 

 natural size, as it appears in 

 the corn; and at Figure 159 

 a we give an enlarged view 

 of it. After becomingfull fed 

 these maggots leave tlie ker- 

 nels for llie surrounding 

 eartli and contract to pupa> 

 (F'ig. iril) ?;), from which in 

 due time tlie fly escapes. The Corn Antliomyia is a small, 

 modest-looking, yellowish-brown fly, wirli a grayish 

 caste, anil your maggots will very Ukcly iirounce the 

 same species, as they sufliciently rescmlilcil lliusc from 

 New Jersey. It appears that "this niaggnt i.s again at 

 work in New -Tersey, for a farmer in .Susscv: cuuiity, in 

 that State, lately reported to the Iv'ew York Farmers' 

 Club that his corn failed in a great measure to coine up, 

 thou^li he could not disco^■er the cause . By soaking the 

 seed before planting in gas-tar or copperas', the injuries 

 of this maggot might probably be pre\ented. 



* See his First Annual Report, pp. 151-0. 



Cut-ivorins.^iV". C. Burcli, Jefferson Ciiij, Mo. — 

 The Cut-worms, one of which had severed a peach 

 sprout about an inch ))elow the surface, are fuU-g'rown 

 specimens of the same species which you sent last 

 month — the larva! of the Lance Rustic {Agrotis telifera, 

 Harris). They have been less injurious lately than 

 they were a month ago, because they have nearly all 

 ceased feeding [June 10, '69], and have become pupa; 

 or moths, we cannot recognize with certainty tlie 

 beetle you describe, but it evidently belongs to the 

 Buprettis family, and is most likely the common Flat- 

 headed Apple-tree hover {Chiijsohothris femoraia, Fabr.) 

 Compare it with Figure l(i of' the Missouri Entomolo- 

 gical Report. 



fiew YorK IVecvil — D. IT. Kanffman, Des Moines, 

 loioa.—The Snout-beetles that have been depredating 

 upon apple-twigs are the same New York "Weevil which 

 we illustrate in an article in this number, and which 

 seems to be peculiarly abundant and mischievous this 

 spring, as we have recently received specimens of it, 

 along with grievous complaints of its depredations, 

 from dozens of different quarters in the Valley of the 

 Mississippi. 



W. D. Turril, Madison, Wise. — The insect sent is the 

 same as that referred to above in the answer to Mr. 

 Kautfman. 



Insects around peach-trees — G. C. JBrodhead, 

 PleasOnt Hill, i/o.— The white larva which you found 

 near the root of one of your peacli-trees is the same as 

 that we have illustrated (Fig. 161) in the present num- 

 ber, in answer to G. JPauls of Eureka. The other 

 minute white twLsting worms, about the thickness of a 

 needle, are referred to in om- remarks on " Mounding 

 I'each 'I'rees ' ' on page 2".i3 of this number, and are not 

 young borers. 



Hollo-nr Plums— C. li. Edwards, Hou'Ung Gieen 

 7r?/.— Such piiiled-up hollow plums as you send, we 

 have often seen before, lliis result is not caused by 

 insects however. It is a horticultural nut, but one, 

 wliich has not, we beUeve, been very satislactorily 

 cracked., An Iowa correspondent of ours had his en- 

 tire crop destroyed by this peculiar altectioii of the 

 fruit a year or two ago. 



Liarg:e Green 'Worm in a Peach — G. Wilgus, 

 RicTimew, Ills. — The pale-green, 16-legged worm, 

 specked with white and with a lateral white stripe, and 

 about an inch long, which you found ensconced in the 

 inside of a peach, is the larva of some large moth, but 

 we cannot say po.sitively to what particular species it 

 belongs. We" ourselves, only a few weeks ago, found 

 a specimen of the very same worm burrowing into an 

 apple in the orchard of A. C. Hammond, of Warsaw, 

 Ills. In all probability the usual food of the larva is the 

 leaves of the apple, peach, &c,, and it is only occa.sion- 

 ally and incidentally that it attacks the fruit. Similarly 

 we" are acquainted witli quite a number of worms that 

 usually feed uiioii oak-leaves, but will occasionally be 

 met with eating out the heart of the ' ' oak-apples " of 

 the Black Oak. 



Iclincunion Flics. — Henri/ I{linehaus\ Nyns, Pa. — 

 The small narrow white cocoons, spun alto,gether in a 

 [Fig. KM ] neat cluster on the branch of a dwarf apple 

 ■" - -V3KS3 tree, and which we represent herewith 

 /'fnO'^fflS (I'^'S- T>0), were made by some species of 

 >J ' ^ 'iiiJai'^ smalllchneumon-flybclongin.t; to the genus 

 c<iior-wii:tr. Microqastcr. Wc li'ave since iircd the flies, 

 and they scarcely 'differ from those which commonly 

 attack the Tomato -worm {Spldn.r.quinqueinaculatii, Haw.) 

 Of course these cocoon m.asses should not be destroyed. 

 Raspberry AVorin?. — Benj. Bordei, I'hinouth 

 V.diin! /'(/(//,— 'riiciirccn WDrnis about »,,' inch long on 

 till' i-as|Ilicn-y'liMVCs;Vrcllic lar\a'ortlic Uaspbcrry Suvv- 

 flv {.\laii,lriii itihi. llarrisK It was lir,-t described by 

 Harris in 1851) in the New England Farmer, and is re- 

 ferred to in Sir. Saunders's Report on Canadian Insects 

 (p. 19J-). It has occurred in great alnnidaiice in certain 

 Years in Illinois, especially at Lacon (ni the Illinois 

 River, from which point wc liiive ourselves rcceivetl 

 specimens. 



Hairy Grape-lear Folders— ,1. G. Davis, Farina, 

 JlU.—Thc small pale green caterpillars, with long white 

 hairs, which fold up the leaves of your grape vines, are 

 injurious and should of course be destroyed. They are 

 the larva; of the Grape-vine or Gartered Plume 

 (Pteronhorus perisceUdactylus, Fitch), a pretty Httle 

 tawny-yellow moth, with each of the upper wings 

 partly split into two, and, each of the lower wings 

 entirely split Into three lingers or plumes. You will 

 find an" account of it witlijigures in the Missouri Ento.- 

 mological Report, page 13 1 . 



Row olE Kg-gs in Maple Twigs— JuJes Bower, 

 Florence, /owa.— The double row of elongate eggs, each 

 eg"- about % inch in length, deposited in a series about 

 IK inch long in the twigs of the Ash-leaved Maple, and 

 als'o, as you think, in those of the Soft Maple, are those 

 of one of the green grasshoppers belonging to the Caty- 

 did Family. Two of them hatched out on the road, 

 i'rom the great similarity both of the eggs and of the 

 young larvas in this group ( Orchelimum and Xiphidium) , 

 we cannot determine to what particular species they 

 belong. 



Butterfly named— ^. R. Bodley, M. D. , Hills- 

 dale, Mich.— 'She "most beautiful butterfly," crossed 

 with pale greenish-white and black bars, and with a. 

 crimson spot near the inner angle of the hind wing, 

 which vou do not find mentioned in any of the works 

 you possess, and of w*ich you send a rude .sketch ; is the 

 Jlarcellus Swallow-tail {Papilio marcellus, Cram). Its 

 larva feeds upon the Papaw. 



Cockscomb Gall on Elm teaf.— (?. W. Copley, 

 Box 3.53, Alton, y;Zs.— The galls on the elm leaf whicli. 

 were exhibited at the last meeting of your local Society, 

 and which you rudely sketch, were evidently the 

 Cockscomb Elm-gall, made by a species of plant-louse 

 {Thela-xes ulmicola, Walsh). You will find an account of 

 this gall, with illustration, on page 108 of No. G. 



Grasshopper's Eggs.— .£". P. Burlingame, Slielhy- 

 -eille, J/o.— The elongate pale-yellow eggs found in a 

 clod in a corn-field are those of some grasshopper. We 

 cannot be certain as to the species, but they are just 

 about the size of those of the common Carolina Grass- 

 hopper (ffi&^oiffi Carolina), which has black hind wings 

 edged with a-eam-color. 



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