252 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Beetles around Peach Trees — E. HolUster, Jr. , 

 Alton,, His. — The deep brown orblankisli shiny beetles, 

 about one-third of an inch long, which you find around 

 the roots of your peach trees, are the Hdops pullus, 

 Say, and may be known in Binglish as the Mournful He- 

 lops. We have found them very common the present 

 year around both apple and peach trees, and especially 

 around such as have been troubled with borers. We 

 believe they only seek the decaying wood, and they are 

 consequently not injurious. 



A Quick. Traveler — tf. IJ. Brod^iead , Pleaxatit Hill , 

 Mo. — The blue-gray animal with SOloi.glegs, the last 

 pair prolonged backwards like antcnuEe, which ran so 

 rapidly along the wall of your room at night, is not a 

 true insect, but belongs to the Myriapods, and is known 

 as Cennatia forceps. Though these <'reatur(is inspire 

 dread in the hearts of housekeepers, we believe they are 

 perfectly harmless, having frequently handled them and 

 had them crawl over us. 



Unkiionrn ItXotb — W. (f. Jiarton, Salem, Mass. — 

 We. do not recognize from your description the small 

 moth that you captured in August. The buttei-fly 

 which Harris calls OyntTiia Lavinia, Fabr., but which 

 is more commonly known as Jimonia omnia, Bdv. and 

 IjCc. , is vei-y common in South Illinois; and in one par- 

 ticidar year it was met with in tolerable abimdance near 

 Rock Island, inNorth Illinois, although before and since 

 that year we have never seen there a single siiecimen . 



Corn Borer — F. M. N., Farmiiigfoii,, Conit. — The 

 l>orer which is doing such damage to the corn in your 

 neighborhood is evidently the larva of the Stalk-borer, 

 yiiortynanitda, Gueu.) previously referred to . It was 

 dry and shrunken upon arrival and we thought at first 

 it might be the Spindle-worm of Harris, (tf. sac) but 

 upon soaking it in water, it proved to be the first named 

 insect beyond a doubt. 



^J Horns of Stag: Beetle — 0. R. Edwards, 



Green. Ky. — The chestnut-brown horns belong to the 

 larg(^ Stag-beetle, or, as it is sometimes called in your 

 State, the Buck-beetle (Lticanas elaphus, Fabr.) It 

 lives in the larva state in rotten logs of the Sweet G-uni, 

 and cannot be considered injurious. The $ has not 

 by any means such immense horns as the (^. Properly 

 sx^eaking, they are not in either sex horns, Out jaws. 



Imported. Gooseberry "Worms — C. P. Fii.ulkner, 

 Bridgeport, Ct. — White hellebore powder is the best 

 thing to destroy these worms when large; but the evil 

 may be nipped in the bud by hand-picking the leaves 

 on which the young larva; hi^ve hatched out. Such 

 leaves may be readily recognized by their being full of 

 small roundish holes . 



Worm on Bark o* Walnut Tree — Frarik S. 

 Fuller, Gardner, Johnson Co., Kansas. — The worm 

 which you found on the bark of a Walnut tree, and 

 which was "as spiteful as a rattle-snake," was en- 

 tirely rotten and unrecognizable when it arrived, 

 though it apparently belonged to the Notndonta family of 

 moths . 



Rotten Root-W, M. JBeeelier, Newport, Mo. — The 

 Early Harvest Apple-tree, planted in spring of 1867, 

 evidently died from soijie kind of Rotten root, and the 

 minute white twisting worms were feeding on the dead 

 roots and acting as scavengers, 



Ijarg-e Dragon-fly — Geo. S. Graver, St. Lams. — 

 The lai"ge Dragon -fly which was sent to you by a friend in 

 Warrensburg, Mo., and which has a brown body 

 marked with pale blue, is the ^sclma eonstricta jf" of 

 Say. In the g the blue color is always replaced by 

 green. It is a very common species, and like all the other i/ 

 Dragon-flies — known likewise as ' ' Darning-needles , ' ' 

 Mosquito-hawks, etc. — is beneficial to man, devouring 

 great numbers of smaller and injurious insects. 



Stinging larvas — F. It. King, West Liberty, Mus- 

 catine Co., Iowa.— The small blackish larva: with long 

 sprangliug prickles, which you find on .Black Walnut, 

 are those of a large and handsome moth, Saturnia maia. 

 When of larger size, these larvae will sting the back of 

 the hand like a nettle, though on the horny palm they 

 can e.vert no influence. It has long been known that 

 the Colorado Potato-bug avoids Peachblow potatoes 

 as much as possible . 



Raspberry "Worms — E. H. Beche, Galena, 111. — 

 The little green 22-footed worms, smooth when they 

 are young, but covered "with two-fold sprangling 

 prickles after the last moult, w-hich you found preying 

 upon the Rasi>berry in Kane county , Ills . , are the lar- 

 ViB of the same Raspberry Saw-fly {Selandria rahi,\\ 

 Harris,) already referred to in the answer to Benj. Bor- 

 den, on page 2-24 of No. 11 . 



Plum Curculio — Henry Lulzer, St. Cliarhs, Mo. — 

 You wish to learn to identify the common Plum Cvu'cu- 

 lio (Conof rachclu.^ ncimphur, Herbst.) We can assure you 

 that you took the i-ight steps and that the beetles you 

 bred (July 16,) from " .so-called German Prunes " that 

 were injured, and which four weeks i^reviously you 

 placed in a glass jar with sand and loose earth, are the 

 genuine article. 



lieaf Galls and Caterpillars on the Sug^ar- 

 berry— .?. L. Scofield, New YorTc. — The tree you found 

 while vi.siting in Fairfield county, Conn . , and of which 

 none of the residents could give the name, is the Sugar 

 berry or Hack berry (Celtis occidentalis .) The flat galls 

 upon the leaves are caused by some species of Gall- 

 gnat, and the caterpillars feeding upon these leaves 1/ 

 were half grown larva: of the White-marked Tussock 

 Moth. (See p. 79, Fig. 67.) 



Hellgrammite Fly — <?. Irons, Lehanon, Ohio.— 

 The gigantic fly which you never saw in your section 

 of country before, is the above named insect [Corydalis 

 cornutus, Linn.), which we figured on the front page of 

 number 4. As you perhaps have not that number, 

 we send you a copy . 



Dark. Grape-iirorin — T. W. G., Gem'get,own, 0.— 

 The largo dark caterpillar, found under a grape arbor, is 

 the larva, of Tliyrfus ahhottii, Swainson, a dark brown , 

 moth, with the edges of the wings deeply scalloped and 

 the inner half of hind wings yellow. It has long been 

 known to attack the Grape-vine. 



Too fond of Honey — T. W. Gordon.— The long 

 legged animal which your wife found in a jar of honey y 

 is Germatia forceps, spoken of in this number in answer 

 to G. G. Brodhead. 



Caterpillar of Polyphemus Moth— .,f . DeWyl, 

 M. D., Jefferson City, Jfo.— The large green caterpillar . 

 found on a plum tree in your orchard Is the larva of the ' 

 above named rootii, which wo figured on page 121. 



