296 



or the more conspicuous yellow-hammer. A few old ham or beef-bones, with a little 

 meat on them, hung up on the orchard trees in fall and winter time will keep these 

 birds in the neighborhood during the season, if not the year round, and will pay the 

 owner many fold for his trouble. The imported Sparrow will not touch these larvae, 

 while the Orioles and Jays fatten on them. A pair of pet toads would devour a dozen 

 or more at a sitting that fall to them. 



Abnormal Oviposition of the Angular-winged Katydid. 



I have the honor to inclose herewith something that may or may not be of inter- 

 est. I have never seen such things before, and if eggs of any injurious insect, will 

 thank you for information thereabout. — [H. B. Osgood, captain and commissary of 

 subsistence U. S. Army, depot quartermaster, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, August 

 18, 1890. 



Reply. — The eggs which, as indicated on the box, you found glued upon your col- 

 lar when taken from the laundry, are those of the big, angular-winged Katydid {Mi- 

 crocentrum retinerve). This is an extraordinary position for these eggs, as they are 

 ordinarily glued to the stems or twigs of different plants. The Katydid is a leaf- 

 feeder through all its stages of existence, but seldom occurs in sufficient numbers to 

 do any appreciable damage. — [August 25, 1890. 



Dimorphism in Butterflies and Miscellaneous Notes. 



Your note on page 35 of volume iii. Insect Life, on Mr. Oberthiir's views about 

 dimorphic females of butterflies, is very interesting, and especially so to me, because 

 I have held a similar opinion myself. If you will turn to the Entomologist, 1889, p. 5, 

 you will see that my theory on the subject is very similar to that of Mr. Oberthiir, so 

 that indeed it can hardly be said that he has suggested a neiv hypothesis. I do not 

 know whether you intended to imply that he had, but that seems the tendency of the 

 note. However, Mr. Oberthiir's opinion on such a matter is certainly more valuable 

 than mine, and I do not wish to seem to undervalue it or to detract from the impor- 

 tance of his observations. Some other naturalists who are very competent disagree 

 with the theory of Mr. Oberthiir and myself altogether, but as to who is right only 

 time and observations can prove. 



You will remember Mr. Howard's notes on the food of Carpocapsa pomoyiella and the 

 question about Mr. W. West's observations as to its feeding on Walnut. I have asked 

 Mr. West about it, and he assures me that he has bred the true pomonella from AValnut. 

 He has also bred it from Chestnut (Castanea), as he stated at a meeting of the South 

 London Entomological Society at which I was present. * * » 



The Glole (published in London) of October 9, 1890, has along article headed 

 ^'Disease among Cocoanuts." It states that the Cocoanut plantations in St. lago de 

 Cuba have been ravaged by a disease which appeared at Matanzas after the cyclone 

 of 1870. It was supposed to be due to a Uredo, but Dr. Gal ves declared that a Coccid 

 was the culprit, and this Coccid he named Diaspis vandalicus. Very likely all this 

 is known to you, so I won't enter into details. — [T. D. A. Cockerel, 3 Fairfax Road, 

 Bedford Park, Chiswick, London, West, England, November 1, 1890. 



Reply. — I had overlooked your note in the Entomologist for 1889, page 5, but so 

 far as indorsing Mr. Oberthiirs theory, the question towards the end of the para- 

 graph has an indication that I do not necessarily believe with him that we shall in 

 all cases find the original form from which the divergent form has in time developed. 

 On the contrary I do not accept it, and such is certainly not to be looked for in the 

 case of our own Argynnis diana. 



In reference to Carpocapsa pomonella on Walnut, lam not inclined to change the 

 opinion arrived at by Mr. Howard, a conclusion which was based on notes which I 

 had made when considering the subject in years gone by, and before changing that 

 opinion I should like very much to have the specimens Mr. West bred submitted to 

 Lord Walsingham or some other good authority, as the chances are they would be 

 found to he piitaininana Staudinger. — [December 13, 1890. 



