80 
They are reported from three neighborhoods.—[.J. Dexter Peirce, Larimore, N. Dak. ; 
June 20, 1891. 
RepLty.— * * * The insect is undoubtedly the Rocky Mountain Locust, Calop- 
tenus spretus. Please send full particulars concerning the extent of country over 
which the insect occurs at present, and as toits numbers. Strenuous efforts should 
be made to stamp it out, and the best means to accomplish this are given in Bulletin 
No. 25 of this division. * * * [June 27, 1891.] 
SECOND LETTER.—The locust, Caloptenus spretus, has made its appearance upon & 
strip of country about 10 or 15 miles wide, extending from Larimore, Grand Forks 
County, to the boundary line, and, I hear, north of the line. They appear almost 
entirely on unplowed stubble. Where they are thickest (judging by the pans) there 
are about two bushels on each acre, ranging from one-third grown to little ones. They 
do not cover all the country, but are in patches here and there. 
There has been a feeble effort to fight them with pans containing tar or kerosene 
and water. The latter works best. The State is about to give up the fight, as there 
are no funds available. Funds and men are needed to fight them. People are very 
apathetic, especially outside the district already invaded. *~ * * Can the Gov- 
ernment.do anything for us? The States to the south are liable to be invaded if they 
are not stopped here. There are no funds available here, and the farmers are too poor 
to fight them themselves unless material is furnished them.—[J. Dexter Peirce, Lari- 
more, N. Dak., July 3, 1891. ] 
[NoTrE.—Owing to the fact that no appropriation was available to the authorities 
of the Department of Agriculture out of which materials for fighting the pest could | 
be supplied, Mr. Peirce’s request could not be granted. It was clearly a case for the 
State to take hold of, and two years ago Minnesota met similar conditions by a special | 
appropriation, and by hard work and the expenditure of $3,500 the invasion of this | 
insect was completely stamped out. ] | 
Habits of Mantispa. 
I send by to-day’s mail a specimen for identification. I showed it to Prof. G. W. | 
Dunn, of Oakland, Cal., and to Dr. Lorenzo Yates and Prof, H. C. Ford, both of this | 
city, neither of whom could classify it. Ishall feel greatly obliged if you will give 
me its class and name.—jT. N. Snow, Santa Barbara, Cal., June 12, 1891. | | 
REPLY.— * * * Itis aspecies of the Neuropterous genus Mantispa, a remark- | 
able genus of which only three or four species are known in this country. So farasI 
know this one has not been specifically described. These insects are remarkable not | 
only for their curious figure, which somewhat resembles that of the ‘‘ Rear-Horse” | 
or ‘* Praying Mantis” of the order Orthoptera, but also from their habits, as their | 
larve are parasitic in the egg-sacs of spiders. The eggs of the only species which | 
has been carefully studied (a European form) are rose-red in color and are fastened | 
upon stalks. They are laid in July and the larve issue 21 days later. They pass the | 
winter without food and the following spring find their way into the nests of certain | 
spiders, where they feed upon the young. The Mantispa larva undergoes two changes | 
of form and in about a month changes to pupa, the adult issuing in time to lay the | 
eggs the following July.—[June 23, 1891.] | 
A Correction. 
In InsEctT LIFE, vol. II, page 260, there is a note entitled ‘‘ North European Dragon | 
Flies,” dealing with Dr. Trybom’s paper ‘‘ Odonater insamlade under Svenska expe- 
ditionen till Jenisej, 1876,” and stating that these species were collected in ‘‘ North | 
Sweden.” But the Yenisey River is in Siberia, and Siberia is not in Sweden nor in 
Europe at all. It is desirable that this curious mistake should be corrected. [E. | 
Bergroth, Tammerfors, Finland. ] 
