196 



THE POISONOUS NATURE OF THE MECONIUM OF LEPIDOPTERA. 



Mr. Th. Goosens, at the meeting of April 11 of the French Entomo- 

 logical Society, read a note upon the Meconium of Butterflies. It 

 seems that he had in a bottle some chrysalids of Va7iessa prorsa. There 

 were also in the bottle some caterpillars of Fidonia atomaria, but these 

 were in a tube, and the tube had a cork stopper. One of the Yanessas 

 issued, spread its wings, and, ready to take its flight, ejected the me- 

 conium amassed in its chrysalis state. This matter fell upon the stopper 

 and immediately killed tbe twenty caterpillars. The experiment was 

 repeated by placing a little of this liquid in a bottle with another lot of 

 caterpilUvrs, which also perished. Larvse, however, i)laced in contact 

 with the dry meconium lived as usual. His conclusion was that it is 

 probably the evaporation of the substance, which is composed in a large 

 part of uric acid, which has the property of killing caterpillars, and that 

 its poisonous action is often the unsuspected cause of the death of larvae 

 in breeding-cages. 



THE PEACH-TWIG MOTH AND ITS PARASITE. 



Popular Gardening for July, 1888, reports a so-called " new enemy to 

 the Peach " in Delaware and Maryland, which is said to be a worm from 

 one-quarter to three-eighths of an inch long, and about as thick as a pin. 

 It feeds on the leaf, buds, and ends of the young shoots, which of 

 course kills the tips of the twigs. Some orchards in Kent and Sussex 

 Counties, Delaware, are said to look as if a fire had passed over the 

 ends of the twigs and scorched the leaves. The origin and habits of 

 the pest are said to be not yet known, while the area over which it ap- 

 pears is said to be limited. 



It seems from reading this item that this is by no means a new 

 enemy, but that it is the old and well-known Anarsia lineatella Clemens. 

 This insect was mentioned in the Annual Report of this Department 

 for 1872, by Mr. Glover, as having done a great deal of damage in the 

 vicinity of the Maryland Agricultural College in May of that year. Al- 

 most all of tbe twigs of the trees were observed to be killed at the end. 

 The moth was bred and identified and the insect studied in all stages. 

 Apple trees were observed to be damaged in the same way, supposably 

 by the same insect. 



Our notes show that adult insects issue during May and June and 

 the next brood infests the fruit of peach. The larvae are found during 

 the latter part of July and August and mature during September. 

 The larva leaves the fruit before transforming and suspends itself to 

 the outside of the fruit. The first full account published is by Pro- 

 fessor Comstock, in the Annual Report of this Department for 1879, 

 l)age 255. According to the Annual Report of the Entomological 

 Society of Ontario for 1872, Mr. William Saunders has found the same 

 larva boring in the roots of Strawberry in Ontario. Mr. Lintner, in 



