228 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Frog-spittle Insects — /. B. Hartwell, Wilhinson- 

 ville, Mass. — The' Prog-splttle insects belong to the 

 genus Aphi'ophoi'a in the Cercopis Family of the Order of 

 tlie 'Whole-winged Bugs (Jlomopiera.) 'We have our- 

 seh-es found the Aplirophora quadrangvlaHs of Say very 

 abundant in the larva, and occasionally in the perfect 

 winged state, in the well-known •' frog-spittle " upon 

 grass and various weeds growing among grass. Usually 

 but a single larva is found in a single mass of ' ' frog- 

 spittle," and of course this so-called "frog-spittle " is 

 nothing but the sap pumped out of the infested jilant 

 and discluirged from the body of the larva. The per- 

 fect insect, which is fully one-quarter of an inch long, 

 is of a pale dull brown color with obliciuc bands of darlc 

 brown; but the larva is of a shining black color with 

 pale yellow markings, so as to be ver/unlikc the winged 

 tly. There are several other species of Frog-spittle 

 iiisccts, one of which inhabits in great numbers the 

 twigs of the Red Osier Dogwood. Mr. E. K. Baxter, 

 of Sharon, A't., writes, as you point out, in the i^W 

 England Farmer ot May 22. 1S09, that sonic species or 

 other belonging to this genus ot insects ' ' has done 

 much damage in 'Vermont to the hay crop during the 

 past two or three years,' ' and that • ' it is believed by 

 some that in consequence of its depredations the quan- 

 tity of hay grown on some lields was one-third less, to 

 say nothing of the depreciation in the quality of the 

 crop." This is perfectly possible, provided that the 

 insects were sufficiently abundant; but we ourselves 

 have never met with them in any such exuberant 

 numbers. 



Eg-gs of Ground Beetle. — E.J. Ayres, Villa Ridge, 

 Ills. — The mass of yellowish-white eggs deposited in 

 close connection under the shriveled bark of such pear 

 J twigs as were poisoned and killed by the punctures of 

 the olive-yellow bug( Capsv.f oUimatus, Say). came duly to 

 hand. Each egg is about .02.i long, and about }i as wide. 

 Since their rcrcipt they have haitclied, and the young 

 larva' aiipaniitly bclongto some Ground Beetle (Carahus 

 family). The I'noment they are hatched they become 

 quite" active, and greatly resemble that which we illus- 

 trated on page 34 (Fig. 2C), The eggs of these Uround 

 Beetles are said by European authors to be \rsually depos- 

 ited under stones, and a short distance underground; 

 but A-ery little is known of the natural history of this great 

 group, 'and this is especially the case with our Korth 

 American species. In the'tirst place, the larvjc are 

 difficult to hud, as they lo-ve to seclude themselves; and 

 secondly, as is the ease with most cannibal insects, they 

 are difficult to raise to the perfect state, and do not well 

 bear confinement. 



IVeiv Insect-foe of tlie Potato — Isam IlicJcs, 

 Old Westlmni, Loiuj Island, N. i'.— The flat turtle- 

 shaped insect, aboiit J^iuch in diameter, found in such 

 profusion (2B specimens) on potato-stalks by your sou. 

 Is one of the handsomest of the Tortoise-beetles ( Cnssida 

 clavata, Fabr.) It has never yet been puljlished as in- 

 / festing the common potato, although se\eral allied 

 { species of Tortoise-beetles are great scourges to the 

 Sweet Potato. "VTe recently, however, heard from Mr. 

 G. P. Austin, of Omaha, Nebraska, that a friend of 

 his iuMas-sachusetts, Mr. Blanchard, found this insect 

 quite commonly in that State both on the culti\ated 

 potato and on "the Bitter-swc.et (Solaniim dulcamara.) 

 Hence we may safelv add it to the list of the Insect foes 

 of the Potato published in Nos. 2 & 3 of this Journal. 



Nativu Sillc-w-orm Hlotlis.— /. A. Bigeloto, Elh- 

 . hart, i«(Z.— The moths which issued from cocoons which 

 were kept in the house all winter, and which were taken 

 in the fall from apple and cherry trees, are two of our 

 most common species of native Silk-worm Moths . No. 1 

 is the Oecropia Moth (Attaciis Cecropia, Linn.), and No. 

 2 is the Promethea Motb (Attacus Prometliea, Linn.) 

 Their larvaj scarcely ever become sutHciently numerous 

 to be con.sidered injurious. 



Tomato Stallv Borer.— J?. J. Ayres, Villa Ridge, 

 Ills. — The worms which you find in your tomato stalks 

 are, judging from your description, the common Stalk 

 Borer (Gortyna nitela, Gudnce), which we figured on 

 page 20G of our last number, in answer to "Wm. Muir, 

 of''Fox Creelc, Mo. As tliere stated, it bores into a 

 variety of' plants, and we have often found it in the 

 stalks of the Tomato. 



Breeding: Cages. — H. S. Redney, Potsdam, N. J. — 

 "We must refer you to what was said on page 99, in 

 answer to D. P. Smitli, on the subject of breeding in- 

 sects. The breeding cage there described answers 

 every purpose. The food-plant of the insect you intend 

 to breed, can be kept fresh in the bottle of water, and 

 the insect may eitlier enter the ground to transform, or 

 spin up in some corner of the cage, according as its 

 nature prompts it. "We generally have the tin tube 

 which is in the centre of the bottom-piece of sufficient 

 size to hold a wide-mouthed quinine bottle. To facili- 

 tate the breeding of difierent species, two small cages 

 will be found better than one large one. Ours are H]4 

 inches square; and 18 inches high. If the stems of the 

 plants do not fill the mouth of the bottle, it should be 

 stopped up with cotton-wool, so as to prevent the 

 drowning of the larv*. 



Elm-tree Borer — Willie M. Greqory, Berea, Ohio — 

 ■We have bred to the perfect state, several of the borers 

 which you found in dry elm wood, and which we 

 informed you (p. 108'j would produce some long-liorned 

 beetle belonging to the Ceramliyx family. The beetle 

 was named Plnjsocnenmm hrerilinewm by Say, and is a 

 rather pretty species. It measures nearly % of an inch 

 in length, and is principally characterized by its deep 

 puriilish-blue ^ving-covers, which are slightly constiicted 

 and have three white short lines about the middle. It 

 breeds in live as well as dead elm , but usually only in 

 such trees as are partly dead. 



Peach-twiar Borers — Geo. Fislier, East Liverpool, 

 Ohio — We are entirely unacquainted with the minute 

 brown borers which are infesting your peach twigs. 

 They will produce some small moth. "We hope you 

 will watch them, and when they are full grown, send us 

 a good lot of specimens so that we can breed them. In 

 order to do this you will have to sacrifice some of your 

 peach twigs, but we advise you to speedily destroy all 

 those which are not thus to be laid oii the altar of science, 

 by cutting oft' the infested twigs and bui'ning them. 



Eggs ot Periodical Cicada in Savin Tiirig. — 



Jas. A. Greasoa, Jronton, Mo. — We received the Savin 

 twig (Janipems salina) disfigured by the punctiires of 

 the Periodical Cicada, and which was taken from a tree 

 that has died from these injuries. Though we stated on 

 page 6.T that this insect never deposited in evergreens, 

 you will find, by referring to page 117, that we were 

 glad to correct the error. 



Elm-tree Sa'iv-fly. — A. E. Whitney, Franklin 

 G-rove, Ills. — The large smoky-winged fly, which you 

 found on an elm tree, and which has the head, thorax, 

 and first two segments of the abdomen black, with the 

 rest of the abdomen reddish-brown, is the (^ Elm-tree 

 Saw-fly {Cimhex Laportei, Ilarris). The larva of this 

 insect is a pale green 22-footed wonn and feeds upon 

 the leaves both of Elm and Willow. 



Beetles named — 0. FarTcer, Washington, D. C. — 

 No. 1 is Braehinus Americanus, Lee. No. 2, Benibidium 

 ■rupestre. "Dej. No. 3, Tachys pulchelltis, Ferte. No. 

 4, broken all to pieces. No. 5, Endrosa vulada, Lee. 

 No. C, too much injured to identify. 



Snout-beetle— fi". KleUihaus, Syces, Pa. — The large 

 brown Snout-beetle, speckled with dirty white, of 

 which you desire the name, is the IlyloMus confusus of 

 Kirby. We know nothing of its habits; but all the 

 species of this genus are timber-borers , and usually in 

 pine. 



Cannibal Beetle — Mrs. Mary Treat, Vineland, 

 N. J. — The savage green beetle which you describe, was 

 doubtless some species of Calosoma. (See Fig. 46.) 

 Send specimens. 



White Grub Fungus again. — A. W. Beale, Sa- 

 vanna, Mo. — The White Grubs with sprouts are attacked 

 by the same fungus which we have several times spoken 

 of. (See pp . 186 and 207 . ) 



"White Grub — Geo. S. Grover, Warrenshurg, Mo. — 

 The grub which has injured a great many fields of corn 

 in your neighborhood is the common White Grub. 



Cut-'worms — G. G. Brodhead, Pleasant Bill, Mo. — 

 "i'our cut- worm is the "Greasy Cut- worm," the larva 

 of the Lance Ru.stic {Agivtis telifera, Harr). 



