51 



structive to the vine, is not confined to it in its operations ; for it is equally injurious to 

 the raspberry and blackberry, and sometimes attacks the plum, cherry and peach. Fig. 51 

 represents the male and Fig. 52 the female. Their color is of a delicate 

 Fig. 51. ^ green, and they are exceedingly lively and musical, keeping up, when 

 numerous, a perpetual sharp, chirruping noise during the warmer parts 

 of the day. The tree cricket is accused, on good authority, of severing 

 grapes from the bunches, and sometimes even cutting off an entire bunch. 

 Mr. 0. V. Riley, from whose valuable observations we have drawn so 

 largely, says that he has caught them at it ; but probably such malicious 

 acts are rare, for, though the insect is common enough with us, we have 

 never observed any such results from its presence. The heaviest charge 

 brought against it is for the partial destruction of the canes, and this 

 arises from the carrying out of its own instinctive care in providing for 

 the safety of its progeny. The female, during the later weeks in auturnn, 

 being fully charged with fertilized eggs, proceeds to prepare a place for their reception ; 

 settling itself comfortably down on a grape, raspberry or other cane, and elevating the 

 posterior parts of its body, it thrusts its long ovipositor, with which it is furnished, straight 

 into the stem, about half way through its thickness. FlG> 52 



Into the orifice thus formed it forces a long yellow egg, 

 and then proceeds to deposit another alongside, and so 

 on, until from five to fifteen eggs have been placed in a 

 row. In this manned, the stem on which it operates is 

 very ranch weakened and is liable to break off on slight Color- Pale green, 



occasion ; or where this does not occur, the branch often dies beyond the punctured part. 

 Each female will deposit from twelve to sixteen egg3, which remain thus during winter 

 safely lodged. 



Early in spring the eggs begin to swell, and about midsummer, or a little before this,, 

 the young insects appear. An Ohio correspondent of the Practical Entomologist, vol. 2, p. 

 94, says that he kept portions of infested cane in a drawei-, from which the young insects 

 appeared on the 20th of May. Possibly the additional warmth and protection thus given 

 to the canes may have hastened the hatching of the young, for we have found the un- 

 changed eggs in the canes, in the open air, later than this. When first hatched, they feed 

 on plant lice, and probably continue to do so until nearly full grown. We have seen the 

 matured insect feeding occasionally on ripe plums. Mr. Riley, in the American Entomolo- 

 gist, vol. 1, p. 247, says : — " We hatched a number of them this spring; they fed entirely on 

 plant lice at first, but when these were denied them, they fell to devouring one another, 

 until the strongest individual remained the conqueror." 



In consequence of their destruction of plant lice, it has been urged by some that they 

 should be regarded rather as friends than enemies ; but we think that the injury they do 

 far more than counterbalances any good that can be placed to their credit, and we would 

 advise their destruction. First kill as many of the perfect insects as possible, which may 

 best be done by jarring the canes, when they drop to the ground, and stamping their lives 

 out with the foot before they have time to hop or fly away. The second, and probably 

 the easiest method, is to cut away, late in the fall or early in spring, all those parts of the 

 canes containing eggs, and burn them. Their regular rows of pin hole punctures can 

 be readily seen. 



No. 14. — The Honey Bee (Apis mellifica, Linn). Before leaving this subject, we 

 must advert to a charge made against that very useful insect, the honey bee, of injury, 

 which, we trust, will not be found very widespread. A correspondent in the American 

 Entomologist, vol. 1, writing from Richmond, Indiana, says that he has found the honey 

 bee very destructive to his grapes. They commenced about the last of August, on the 

 Concords, which, to save from complete destruction, he was obliged to gather before fully 

 ripe. The bees puncture the skin of the grape and extract the sugar, when the fruit im- 

 mediately shrinks up and soon rots, unless used at once. The vines which suffered most 

 were Diana, Delaware, Isabella and Rogers' Hybrids. Of Diana, he lost fully a bushel of 

 grapes, and of Delaware, about as many. 



Mr. James Dougall, of Windsor, in a recent letter, says that the greater part of his 



