221 



pests, aud the iusect being a stranger to ns, I inclose these samples for such intorma- 

 tiou as you may be able to give us iu the premises, as there is much uneasiness con- 

 cerning the future crop. — [J. J. Wingar, Tempe, Ariz., April 13, 1886. 



Reply — * * ^ r^Yie iusect damaging j'our grape-vine is one of the Jumping 

 Flea-beetles and is known as Graptodera ignita. It is a close relative to the Steel-blue 

 Flea-beetle of the East (G. chalybea), which also injures grape-vines in this way. On 

 a small place it is the custom here to kill the beetles by jarring them on sheets satur- 

 ated with kerosene, as in the early spriug they do not readily take to tlight. In the 

 large vineyards the best plan would be to spray the vines with a dilute solution of 

 Paris green. — [April 21, 1886.] 



The " Voice '" of Vanessa antiopa. 



* * * Vanessa antiopa has a " voice " similar to Acherontia atropos, but evidently 

 not sc strong, much finer, but still remarkably loud for its body, proboscis, and for a 

 day-butterfly. I heard it in Europe, iu Lorraine, from two Antiopas on a beech-stem 

 walking around each other, and agitating their wings with often-repeated cries, evi- 

 dently preparing for copulation. 



I wrote of it to Dr. Eimer at Toebiugeu, but he wanted some larvpe of the Antiopa 

 to study the thing, aud I could not find him an^, as they are scarce in Lorraine. — 

 [Ch. Werckl(5, Ocean Springs, Miss., September 6, 1886. 



Reply. — * * * Your observation concerning the "voice" of Vanessa antiopa is 

 new to me, although it may have been noticed before. — [September 10, 1886.] 



A Swarming of the Milk-vreed Butterfly in 1886. 



The following is a brief account of a migratory movement of enormous numbers of 

 the common so called Milk-weed Butterfly observed at West River, Maryland, on the 

 23d of September, 1886. About 7 o'clock in the morning my son, Gr. Murray Ellzey, 

 called the attention of myself and several other gentlemen to the fiict that ' ' the whole 

 heaveus were swarming with butterflies." There were an iunumerable multitude of 

 them at all heights from, say, 100 feet to a height beyond the range of vision, except 

 by the aid of a glass. They were flying due southwest iu the face of a stiff breeze. 

 Observations upon the flight of individuals between points of known distances apart 

 showed that the rate of movement w'as not far from 20 miles per hour. Where they 

 originally came from or whither they went we could not fcell. They undoutedl^' came 

 from beyond the bay, which, in that place, is 14 miles across, and they must have been 

 early on the wing. By 11.30 o'clock the numbers had declined, aud it was evident 

 the bulk of the flight was over, but for several days a great many individuals, evi- 

 dently following the migratory movement, were observed. 



My brother-in-law, Mr. Daniel Murray, who had been three days previously, viz, 

 on the 20th of September, at Long Green, in Baltimore County, Md., saw a vast mul- 

 titude of the same butterflies iu migratory movement; they were seemingly ex- 

 hausted in flight and settled on the trees in such multitudes as to give them the ap- 

 pearance of an autumnal forest. I was surprised at the great power of sustained flight 

 exhibited, also at the great distance an individual butterfly could be seen by the lui- 

 aided eye, at least across the water — not less than U miles.— [M. G. Ellzey, M. D., 

 Washington, D. C, January 20, 1887. 



Reply.— [Acknowledgment of letter, with references to articles which have been 

 published on the subject.] 



A Phylloxera on the Pecan. 



* * * I send you a fuller specimen of the galls— the fungus growth on the Pecan 

 trees I wrote you of. It ouly appears where the flowers appejir, and in the green 

 state Avhen opened is full of the minutest insects. This is all of the information I can 



