248 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Grape-vine lieat'-gall — A. A. HilUard., Brighton, 

 Ills. — The numerous green fleshy excrescences on the un- 

 derside of the leaves of your Clinton Grape-vine vrhich 

 we represent herewith, (Fig . 184 ,) are galls caused by the 



[Fiff. 184.] 



Coloi^Green. 



Grape-leaf, Gall-louse. The best way of getting rid of 

 these diseased leaves is to pluck them as soon as they 

 show signs of the galls, but their increase is made very 

 uncertain by numerous cannibal insects which prey 

 upon the gall maker. There were preying upon the 

 specimens you sent numerous wooly larvte of a genus 

 (Smjmnus) of small dull colored Lady-birds; two Lace- 

 wing larvie; numerous whitish maggots which have 

 since contracted to pupa; with two oblique processes at 

 the tail end, and which belong to the genus Leu,- 

 eopis of the Two-wiuaed Flies; the red larva; of 

 some species of Thrips , and lastly two full grown speci- 

 mens of the Insidious Flower-bug, (Fig. 1S8, i) another 

 fact which continus the opinion given on page 196 that 

 this bug is a cannibal. This gall occurs most abun- 

 dantly on the Clinton grape-vine, but is likewise found on 

 other varieties of the Frost Grape, such as the Taylor, 

 Huntington and Delaware, on all three of which va- 

 rieties we have found it the present year. The louse 

 which forms the gall was first described as Pemplhigus 

 mtifoUat by Dr. Fitch, of New York, though it does not 

 belong to that genus. Dr. Shimer, of Mt. Carroll, 

 made some interesting observations on the habits of this 

 insect,® and made it the type of a new family (Dadylo- 

 sphmrida) and of a new genus {Dactiilosphmi'a.) The 

 distinguishing features of this supposed family are cer- 

 tain appendages attached to the legs which Dr. Shimer 

 calls digitidi, though the characters of the wings point 

 unmistakably to the genus Phylloxera of the true Flant- 

 lice . We shall not now discuss the validity or propri- 

 ety of this new family, as we intend to give a more com- 

 plete account of this louse in our future articles on 

 Grape insects; but we will say here that Dr. 

 Shimer is unfortunate in grinding out new genera and 

 new families, tor he has proposed a new family and 

 genus {Li'pidomphes) for the common Apple-tree Bark- 

 louse {Aspiiiuiiis \3Iytihixp!x'\ oonchiformis , Gmel.) 

 based upon similar ai)pcndages, which he found on its 

 legs; whereas if he had been better postedhewouldhave 

 known that tliese appendages are characteristic of al- 



«Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil., Jiiuuary, 1867. 



most all Bark-lice. t There has lately appeared a new 

 Grape-^^ne disease in Europe which has attracted very 

 general attention and has done great damage to the 

 vineyards in many sections. This disease is in the form 

 of little cankerous spots which cut off the supply of 

 nourishment and cause the roots to rot. These spots 

 are produced by the punctures of a louse {Phylloxera 

 vastafrix, Planchon,) in all respects resembling that 

 which there produces a gall on the leaf very similar to 

 the gall of this country which we have figured; and ac- 

 cording to an article by " J. 0. "W," (a signature that 

 indicates good authority,) which appeared in the Jan. 

 30th number of the Gardener's Ghronide of England, 

 the insect which occurs on the root is actually identical 

 with that which produces the gall on the leaf. Some 

 authors, and among them J. Lichtenstein. who lii'st 

 drew attention to this disease, even contend that this 

 European Leat-gall is identical with ours, and that it 

 has been imported from North America. 



t See Figures b v V . Siguoret of feet of Lecanium vitis aud 

 L. CoJ/'ea, etc, PI. XI, Tom. Vm, Annalea de la Soc. Ent. 

 de France, 4e Serie . 



Grape-vine Insects — G. Pauls, Eurelca, Mo. — The 

 large pale-yeUow 8-spotted beetle which has so badly 

 eaten the foliage of your grape vines, is the Spotted 

 Pelidnota {Peliinota punctata, Linn). It feeds in the 

 larva state on old rotten stumps and roots of such trees 

 as the Pear and the Hickory, and comes out as a beetle 

 about the first of July, in your latitude. The brown 

 insect with a i)rolougation like the beak of a bird in 

 front, and two yellowish spots on the edge of the back, ' 

 which has punctured your tender grape stems, and in 

 many Instances caused them to turn brown and wilt, is 

 a tree-hopper (Enchophylluvi hinotatiwi), which occurs 

 quite commonly on the Red-bud and other trees. Its 

 favorite home, however, is the Hop-tree or Tree-tre- 

 foil {Ptelea trifoUata), on the twigs of which it is very 

 abundant in all its stages, from the smallest larva to the 

 full-grown bug. We have sometimes seen them ranged 

 longitudinally on such a twig, like a file of soldiers in 

 close military order; and under such circumstances a 

 white waxy matter exudes copiously from the bark, 

 which attracts tree-ants like the honeydew of the Plant- 

 lice. In English this species may be called the Two- 

 spotted Tree-hopper. 



T. W. G., Georgetown, 0. — The spotted beetle sent by 

 you is the same species {Pelidnota punctata) mentioned 

 above. 



JTEusenm Vests— Chas. P. Faulhner, Bridgeport, 

 Conn. — The beetle infesting your collection of insects is 

 not the Anthrenus varius nor A . museoriim, but the com- 

 mon Bacon-beetle {Dermestes lardarius), which has the 

 same mischievous propensities as the other two. Its 

 larva, however, is much more easily captured than that 

 of the Anthrenus, not having the same pecuUar gliding 

 and dodging motions. In the present number we pub- 

 lish a letter from Dr . Le Conte , on the best means of 

 preserving a collection from these pests. 



"Wheat Maggots—/?, X. Faulhner. — The pale green 

 slender maggot, one-fourth of an Inch long, which 

 blighted about one in fifteen of the heads of your 

 wheat, by devouring the substance immediately above 

 the upper joint, was undoubtedly the larva of the 

 American Meromyza {Meromysa Americana, Fitch), a 

 full account of which, with figures, you will find In the 

 Missouri Entomological Report, pp. 159-61. 



