THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



245 



ON OUR TABLE. 



Kroiu W. C. Flagg, Secretary— Transactions 

 of the Illinois State Horticultural Society for 

 1868, being the Proceedings of the Thirteenth 

 Annual Meeting at Bunker Hill, Dec. 1.5th, 

 16th. 17th and 18th, with Proceedings of the 

 Local Societies, etc. This is a Report of SM 

 pages, with an appendix of 21 pages giving the 

 tables of fruits recommended by the Society 

 and by individuals. It is published by the 

 Prairie Parmer Company, is gotten up in neat 

 style and well bound; and altogether forms a 

 most valuable Record of Illinois Horticulture 

 for the year 18(18. Full of interest, it evidences 

 care in its make-up. .and reflects great credit on 

 Mr. Flagg, as have done all the previous Re- 

 ports of the Society. 



From Wm. Gossip, Secretary — Proceedings 

 and Transactions of the ]Sova Scotian Institute 

 of Natural Science, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 



From R. W. Furnas, President — Second An- 

 unal Report of the State Board of Agri(uilture 

 of Nebraska, Omaha, 1869. 



From the Publishers — Cotton Culture, by 

 Jos. B. Lyman, late of Louisiana, with an addi- 

 tional chapter on Cotton Seed and its Uses, by 

 J. R. Sypher, New York, Orange Judd & Co. 



A POISONOUS WORM. 



•'In an exchange we find mention made of the 

 case of a young girl being stung by a tomato 

 worm, and dying from its etTect. They are 

 (piite frequently found on the vines. They arc 

 about the size of a man's finger, and two or 

 three inches long, and of a green color." 



Paragraphs like this are just now as abund- 

 ant as is usual at this time of the year, both in 

 the Political and in the Agricultural Press. As 

 we have already explained, they are sheer hum- 

 bug and delusion, manufactured out of whole 

 cloth. It is as impossible for a tomato-worm to 

 sting witli the horn that grows out of the hind 

 end of its body, as it is for a dog to sting with 

 its tail or a hen to sting with her wiugs. 



BF° The Junior Editor having changed his 

 place of residence, begs that all letters be ad- 

 dressed to him, hereafter, at 221 North Main 

 street, St. Louis, Mo. 



^r On account of the delay in engraving our 

 cover, the mailing of this number has been re- 

 tarded fully one week. 



•» • »» 



EF The publishers of those papers which ad- 

 vertise to club with ours, will please take notice 

 of our change of subscriptiou price, 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



AVheat midg:e, ulia.i Milk Weevil, uttan Red. 

 Weevil— C%aR. Corhi'f. S/. Genrrie'a. Dehiiniiv.—'VXxe. 

 orange colored maggots iu the lieads of your wlieat wore 

 luuloiibtedly the larv.-e of the common Wheat-midge. 

 We found a single belated si)'>ciraen in the wlieat which 

 you sent us. We cannot explain the heads hi your field 

 all turning brown, except on the supposition of certain 

 peculiar weather producing this ettect on the variety 

 you cultivate under the name of ' ' California Wheat. ' ' 

 If the brownuess of the ears had been caused by the 

 Wheat-midge, then the uninfected ears would not have 

 turned brown; whereas you say that the heads changed 

 color "all over the field." Neither can vee see any 

 trace of flingoid action , as in the case of what has been 

 generally termed "Blight" In the West this season, 

 but is more properly known as "Mildew." In true 

 Mildew, it is only a portion of every car that is afi"ected, 

 and even with the naked eye, the powdery structure of 

 this black fungus can be distinguished. In your ears, 

 on the contrary, the entire chaff is of a nearly uniform 

 jiale brown color, without any indication ot fungoid 

 structure, even when greatly magnified. As to the 

 " small black insect" on the heads of your wheat, 

 which you suppose to have been a true Thi-l.ps, your 

 conjecture is a very probable one; but without speci- 

 mens before us we can ofler no positive opinion. 



I.arg-e Fisl»-fly — A. li. IfcCutchen,, Lafayefte, Wal- 

 ker Co., Ga.—Tl\e large fly bearing a res(^mblance to the 

 Hellgrammlte Fly (Fig. 56, c) in color and general appear- 

 ance, but diflering from that insect in having shorter, 

 darker and toothed or pectinate antenna; (f § , and in hav- 

 ing the black veins of the fore wings interrupted with 

 whitish spots, is the ChauUodes pectinkornis of Linn^us. 

 You say it flew into your room at night and ' ' made a 

 noise similar to that of a bat. ' ' Its larva doubtless 

 lives in the water and has similar habits to that of the 

 llellgrammite Fly. That of an allied species, (C/j. ras- 

 frieiiniix, Rarab.), the male only of which has pectin.ate 

 antenns, has been described by the Senior Editor as 

 living under the bark of floating logs, and as destitute of 

 the remarkiible paddle-like gills or branchia; on the 

 belly, which enable the larva of the Hellgrammlte Fly 

 to live permanently under water. No other larva be- 

 longing to this genus is known to science. (See Proc. 

 Ent. Soc, Phil., II, pp. 26.'i-.5.) 



Cotton-nrood leaC-galls— J/as-. J. IS. Taylor, 

 Seneca, N. Y. — The hollow roundish galls, about the 

 size of a hazel nut, on the stem of so many cotton- 

 woods leaves are produced by the Poplar-stem G.all- 

 louse {Pemphigus popuUoauUs, Fitch). Early in the 

 year a single wingless louse punctures the stem of the 

 nascent leaf, till the irritation causes this hollow growth, 

 inside which the mother-louse brings up a large family 

 of descendants, most of which by the middle of the 

 summer acquire wings. The gall then gapes open and 

 the insects escape. 



Insects Named — ./. G. Goodrich, South Pasn, Ms. — 

 The cinnamon-brown beetle with two longitudinal 

 white stripes, which fell on your paper (July 7,) while 

 you were writing, is the perfect form of the noted 

 Round-headed Apple-tree borer {Sapenla hiritfata, 

 Say.) The spotted Lady-bird is a light variety of the 

 l.'j-spotted species {MysiaVt-pmctata,, Oliv.) 



