155 



THE OSAGE ORANGE PYEALID. 



{Loxosiiuje maclurw, ii. wp., Kiley.) 

 By Mary E. Murtfeldt, Kirk wood, Mo. 



To begin with a premise which no one aesthetically cultured will con- 

 trovert, no fence of* any sort, be it massive wall or delicate tracery of 

 iron work, can compare in beauty and in harmony with the general 

 features of a landscai)e with a well-kept hedge; and the Osage Orange 

 is preeminently the hedge plant of the United States. True, it does 

 not thrive in very northern latitudes, but in all other sections, from 

 southern Texas to northern Iowa, it adapts itself readily to all varie- 

 ties of soil and surface, and, with far less care and in a shorter time 

 than any other shrub, it forms a beautiful, luxuriant, and impenetrable 

 barrier. 



Fig. 11. — Loxostege maclurce: a larva; 6, pupa; c, adult; d, cocoon — enlarged; e, side view of abdom- 

 inal segment of larva; /, dorsal view of same — still more enlarged (original). 



Hitherto one of its especial merits has been its comparative immunity 

 frominsect attacks. Occasionally it suffers, in common with soft maples, 

 grape-vines, elms, and some other trees and shrubs, from the Coccid, 

 Fidvinaria innumeraMUs, while it is annually preyed upon, to some ex- 

 tent, by various-Orthoi)tera, among which the Margined Cricket {Nemo- 

 hi us marginata) is at times conspicuously destructive. The pretty little 

 l:eiaf -hopjievs, Mata conica Qjnd P(£cilopterapriiinosa,es]}ecia\ly the fovmcvy 

 may be seen in summer ranged in close ranks along tlie tender shoots, 

 which are weakened and distorted by the innumerable punctures. Tlie 

 Tortricids, Teras iJastiana^ Cacoecia rosaceana^ and Lophodernstriferana 

 web and curl a few of the leaves and a handsome Cerambycid, I)or elm- 

 schema wildii bores the older wood, sometimes to the extent of killing an 

 entire plant, but, until two years ago, it has never, to my knowledge, 



