87 



Reply. — The box of locusts lias been received. The specimens were one female of 

 the Red-Legged Locust, Caloptenus femur-rubrum, and two specimens — one male and 

 one female — of the Two-striped Locust, Caloptenus bivittatus. These are both common 

 species and widely distributed. They occasionally increase in large numbers, and, 

 though non-migratory, often cause considerable damage to crops. The specimens 

 you refer to as having wings a great deal longer than the body no doubt belong to 

 another genus, probably Acridium or CEdipoda. 



In regard to the Periodical Cicada, the "seventeen-year" means that they appear 

 at intervals of seventeen years. We mail you a copy of Bulletin 8 on this insect, which 

 will give you its history. Did they appear in large numbers in your locality ? Can 

 you send us some specimens of them ? It will be very interesting to know whether 

 the species i» the true Seventeen-year Cicada or some other species. * ■* * 

 [August 31, 1888.] 



Australian Letter on Icerya. 



* * * The insect Icerya purchasi we haye among our orange tribe, "Citrus," and 

 if not frequently looked after I believe would spread to a great and damaging ex- 

 tent; but as we have so many other pests to contend with theone in question is kept 

 down. Just a few days before the arrival of your note we had a regular clearing all 

 around, and my overseer killed several dozen of the Icerya, of which this one muti- 

 lated specimen can be found now, which I send you in a little cotton wool, but I think 

 enough of it for you to identify the thing. I have not seen it on the Acacias, but 

 on other plants, and particularly on our native Currant Shrub (Leptomeria acida R. 

 Br.), but as I am not just now able to see or procure specimens of the insect- from 

 that plant I could not be quite certain, although I believe so. If not the same species 

 it is very much like it. I had several interviews on the insect with other horticult- 

 ural and agricultural reporters and practical men, from which I submit the follow- 

 ing, viz, that the sugar planters first noticed the Icerya on sugar-cane imported 

 from Singapore, but I have known it on the Citrus, especially young plants, this 

 sixteen or eighteen years myself. * * * — [Carl H. Hartmann, Range Nursery, 

 Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, March 20, 1887. 



NOTES. 



A DESTRUCTIVE CRICKET IN LOUISIANA. 



• 



A rather remarkable insect pest has come to light the present sea- 

 son in Catahoula Parish, La. It is a true cricket of the genus Gryllus^ 

 but the specimens so far received have been too badly damaged for 

 specific determination. Mr. Michael Dempsey, of Jena, writing under 

 date of May 7, says: * * * ''They infest portions of the hills and 

 swamp lands alike, doing irreparable damage to cotton, sweet and Irish 

 potatoes, peas, and tobacco. * * * Our farmers are seriously 

 alarmed at their fearful increase and their destructive habits. Their 

 holes in the ground are promiscuously scattered from a few inches to 

 several feet apart, and are seldom over a foot deep in the uplands, 

 although they go much deeper in the swamp lands, as the soil is 

 deeper and the subsoil softer. They are seldom visible in the heat of 

 the day, and do their cutting at night, taking all they want down into 

 the ground, where they eat as they please. * * * Jn 1852 I first 



