250 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Insects Named— -ff. A. Manffer, Zone Cedar, Minn, — 

 No. 1, Platynus cwpripemiis Say. No. 2, Gassiila palUda, 

 Herbst. (Gold-bettle; common ou Morning-glory and 

 Sweet Potato vines. See article in this number . ) Xo. 

 3, Chhi-iiiiis .scriceiis, Forster. No. 4, the striped si^eries 

 is Agoiinih-rus 2jaUij)es, Fabr. ; the brown species is ^t/iiara 

 ■mtisoiilus, Say. No. o, Lytta cinerea, Fabr. (Ash-gray 

 Blister-beetle, figured page 24, tig. 14 «.) No. 6, 

 Harpaliix jienmylranwm , Fabr. (figured page 34, Fig. 27.) 

 No. T, Lyilii iniiriita, Lee. (Black -rat blister-beetle, 

 figured page 24, Fig. 14, h.) No. 8, Jiollocenmfavdug. 

 Fabr., a dung-beetle. No. 9, Calosoiim niHilinu . Fabr. 

 (figured 1. age 48, Fig. 40.) 'So. \f), Pii^h,„irl,u^ .lumju- 

 tim, LeC. (figured page 48, Fig. 47.) No. 11, Fri^mnx 

 imhHeornis,, Linn. $, a timber-borer. No. 12, two 

 very distinct species of wire-worms, which arc the 

 hirvae of Click-beetles or Skipjacks {Elater femily.) 

 Out of the above 12 insects, Nos. 1, 3, 4, (i. 9 and 10, 

 arc cannibals and therefore generally our friends; No. 

 8 is neutral; and tlie rest are vegetable-feeders and in- 

 jiu-ious. ''The (xold-beetle,'" (No. 3) when alive 

 changes from reddish gray to golden; but when ticad 

 it soon loses the fine golden pohsh. Your finding No. 

 7 working on potatoes so abundantly in the forepart of 

 .luly that "some fields were nearly ruined by it,"' is 

 very interesting, as it confirms what wc stated page 4!), 

 as to the true Black Blister-beetle (£//«« nfnitit) not oc- 

 curring till the latter part of August and September. 

 You must surely beinistaken about the larva of No. 11 

 being very plenty in unbroken jn'airie land. The dif- 

 ferent species of this genus are timber-borers, usually 

 attacking the roots of woody shrubs and trees, and 

 coidd not exist in the larva state on prairie laud, exi'cpt 

 where there are hazel-roughs, etc. 



L.ig'litiiing:-Iioppers — T/ios. W. Gordon, Georgetown, 

 0. — The downy greenish-white "hoppers" which you 

 found on plum trees, arc the larva; of the Frosty Tree- 

 hopper (PiecUoptera prmnosa, Say), an insect which 

 occurs also on a great variety of other plants, and 

 which in the mature state is of a dull lead-color, 

 dusted over with a tine white powder. The group 

 to which tbis insect belongs {Fulgora family) may 

 be called in Jinglish "Lightning lioppers,'' wuich is the 

 meaning of the scientific term for them. Di-. Harris 

 has very .ippropriately named the allied MemhraHs 

 family '•Tree-hoppers," the CV/rw/zAv family "Frog- 

 hoppers," alluding to the frogspittic insects, and the 

 Tettiyonia family "Leaf-hoppers;"' but hitherto the 

 "Lightning-hoppers' ' have had no Bnghsh name , In 

 reality they do lea]) like a flash of lightning. 



Bag-'worins— r. W. GordoH.~T\ie " small moving 

 cocoons," which have literally stripped many of Mr. 

 Wilson's quince trees, arc the common Bag-worm, 

 alias Drop-worm, ,ili,ii P.;islcet-vvorm (Theridopteryj' 

 ephemermfonnix, Haw), to «hlch we have often allu- 

 ded. The specimens wi-rc but one-third grown, and 

 had eaten and gnawed every thing in the box in whi(.-h 

 they were packed; their bags looking more like bags of 

 paper than of leaves, when they arrived. The larger 

 "cocoon" was an old c?-hag of the same species. 



iSaiiil. Thaiiipsmi, J/. />.,, Alhion, TZ^s.— The cases con- 

 taining worms which are injuring Mr. Jos. Sheaviug- 

 ton's cedar trees are the old and young bags of the 

 same species spoken of above. We shall sbortl.x- ])u])lish 

 an illustrated article on this insect. 



W^ooly Gall on IThite Oaik—A. S. Fuller.— The 

 wooly gall of a dull buff color, found on the twigs of the 

 [Fig. 187.] White (Xak, is the 



Wool-sower Gall, 

 caused by the 

 Sower Gall-fly 

 ( Cyiiips seminator, 

 Harris.) We here- 

 with represent 

 (Fig. 187 «.), a 

 cross section of 

 one of these galls, 

 showing how it is 

 composed of nu- 

 merous seed-like 

 bodies each of 

 which is attached 

 to the central 

 portion of the gall 

 Color— Light-buff. by a black point, 



and at li wc give one of these pip-like bodies separateil 

 and showing where the fly escapes from it. Osten 

 Sacken has recorded the very singular fact, that in old, 

 bixt not in recent sijecimens, the two sexes sometimes 

 differ considerably in their color. {Proc. Fut. Sor., J'/r/'l., 

 IV. , p. 351.) This is a good illustration of a polythala- 

 nious gall. 



Cabbagre pests— c/o///i -1. Willimns, Earrodslmrg , 

 Kij. — The elon,g.ate cylindrical mahogany-colored horny 

 worms, abotit % inch long, which you state to "feed on 

 the roots ot the. cabbage, sometimes destroying the en- 

 tire crop," are the larva of some species of Click- 

 beetle {Elater family). From their shape and hard- 

 ness, these larvae are called " Wire- worms." We 

 cannot determine the particidar species, as, fi-oni 

 the fact of this family remaining many years in 

 the larva state, but very few indeed have been 

 bred to maturity. lu all probability your species 

 feeds, not exclusively upon cabbage, but gener- 

 ally upon all garden crops. We have several such 

 species in the North, but they all differ from yours. 

 Alderman Mechi, one of the most scientific farmers in 

 England, claims to have destroyed the wireworms in 

 his fields for many successive years by sowing salt at 

 the rate ol about six bushels per acre, just as the small 

 grain was coming up. The Flea-beetle which you state 

 to "prey on the leaf of the young cabbage -plant," is 

 the same wavy-striped Flea-beetle which you will find 

 figured and illustrated in A. E. , pp. 158-9. 



Bu§rs gatlnerliig' on Pear Shoots — M. J. Ayres, 

 Villa Ridge, 111. — The black shiny insects, about one- 

 tenth of an inch long, which you "at first noticed 

 swarming ou the ground and collecting on the ends of 

 the Eosin-weed" but which have lately "collected in 

 great numbers ou the shoots of the young pear trees," 

 are the same Flea-like CorimeUciia {CorimelmnapvMcaria, 

 (iorm. ), spoken of on i)age 207 in answer to Jno. M. 

 Pearson , 



Potato-biiff— /. B. Oartwdl, WiJI.->,ixo„nlle, Mass. 

 — The Potato-bugs which you lia\'c ' • fiT([iiently found 

 feeding on the leaves of Potatoes and Tomatoes, but 

 not in sufficient numbers to be seriously injurious," 

 are the same species of Tortoise-beetle (Cassida clwmta) 

 referi-ed to in om- last No. (p. 228), as found on potatoes 

 both in New York and in Massachusetts . . 



fOVO'^ 



