470 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



der the trees, in the autumn, with the hope of crushing some 

 of the chrysalids by so doing, and of exposing others to 

 perish with the cold of the following winter. If hogs are 

 then allowed to rp among the trees, and a few grains of 

 corn are scattered on the loosened soil, these animals will 

 eat many of the chrysalids as ■B'ell as the corn, and will 

 crush others with their feet. Mr. S. P. Fowler* thinks 

 it better to dig around the trees in July, while the shells 

 of the insects are soft and tender. He and Mr. John Ken- 

 rick, of Newton, Mass., advise us to remove the soil to the 

 distance of four or five feet from the trunk of the trees, 

 and to the depth of six inches, to cart it away and replace 

 it with an equal quantity of compost or rich earth. In 

 this way, many of the insects will be removed also; but 

 unless the earth, thus carried away, is thrown into some 

 pond-hole, and left covered with water, many of the insects 

 contained in it will undergo their transformations and come 

 out alive the next year. 



Canker-worms are subject to the attacks of many enemies. 

 Great numbers of them are devoured by several kinds of 

 birds, which live almost entirely upon them during their 



season. They are also eaten 

 by a very large and splendid 

 ground-beetle ( Calosoma scru- 

 tator), (Fig. 234,) that ap- 

 pears about the time when 

 these insects begin to leave the 

 trees. These beetles do not 

 fly, but they run about in the 

 grass after the canker-worms, 

 and even mount upon the 

 trunks of the trees to seize 

 them as they come down. 

 The potter-wasp (^Humenes 



Fig. 234. 



* See Yankee Farmer of July 18, 1840, and New England Farmer of June 2, 

 1841, for some valuable remarks by Mr. Fowler. 



