Natural Science News. 



VOL. I 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and items of Interest to the 

 student of any of the various branches of the 

 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



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August Insects. 



During this month great multi- 

 tudes of bugs (Hemiptera) are 

 found in our fields and gardens; and 

 to this group of insects the pres- 

 ent chapter will be devoted. They 

 are nearly all injurious to crops as 

 they live on the sap of plants, 

 stinging them with their long suck- 

 ers. Their continued attacks 

 cause the leaves to wither and 

 blight. 



The grain Aphis, in certain 

 years, desolates our wheat fields. 

 We have seen the heads black 

 with these terrible pests. They 

 pierce the grain, extract the sap, 

 causing it to shrink and lose the 

 greater part of its bulk. It is a 

 most insiduous and difficult foe to 

 overcome. 



The various leaf-hoppers, Tetti- 

 gonia and Ceresa, abound on the 

 leaves of plants, sadly blightly 

 them; and the Tettigonias frequent 

 damp, wet, swampy places, A 

 very abundant species on grass 

 produces what is called "frog's 

 spittle." It can easily be traced 

 through all its changes by fre- 

 quently examining the mass of 

 froth which surrounds it. Tetti- 

 gonia vitis blights the leaf of the 

 grape-vine. It is a tenth of an 

 inch long, and is straw-yellow, 

 striped with red. Tettigonia roses, 

 a still smaller species, infests the 

 rose, often to an alarming extent. 



The Nototiecta, or water boat- 

 man, is much like a Tettigonia, 

 but its wings are transparent on 



ALBION, N. Y., AUGUST 3, 1895. 



the outer half, and its legs are 

 fringed with long hairs, being 

 formed for swimming. It rows 

 over the surface in pursuit of in- 

 sects. Notonecta undulata, Say, is 

 a common form in New England. 



Another insect hunter is the sin- 

 gular Ranatra fusca. It is light 

 brown in color, with a long respi- 

 ratory tube which it raises above 

 the surface of the water when it 

 wishes to breathe. This species 

 connects the Water-boatmen with 

 the Water-skaters, or Gerris, a 

 familiar insect, of which Gerris 

 paludum is commonly seen running 

 over the surface of streams and 

 pools. 



Reduvius and its allies belong to 

 a large family of very useful in- 

 sects, as they prey largely on cat- 

 erpillars and noxious insects. Such 

 is Pirates picipes, a common spe- 

 cies. It is an ally of Reduvius per- 

 sonatus, a valued friend to man, as 

 in Europe it destroys the bed bug. 

 Its specific name is derived from 

 its habit while immature, of con- 

 cealing itself in a case of dust, the 

 better to approach its prey. 



Another friend of the agricultur- 

 ist is the Phymata erosa. Mr. F. 

 G. Sanborn states that "these in- 

 sects have been taken in great 

 numbers upon the linden trees in 

 the city of Boston, and were seen 

 in the act of devouring the 

 Aphides, which have infested the 

 shade trees of that city for several 

 years past. They are described 

 by a gentleman who watched their 

 operations with great interest, as 

 •stealing up to a louse, coolly seiz- 

 ing and tucking it under the arm, 

 then inserting the beak and suck- 

 ing it dry.' They are supposed to 

 feed also on other vegetable-eating 

 insects as well as the plant louse." 



Phytocoris lineolaris swarms in 

 our gardens during this month. It 

 is described and figured in "Har- 

 ris's Treatise on Insects." Close- 

 ly allied, though generally wing- 

 less, is that enemy of our peace, 

 the bed-bug. It has a small, some L 

 what triangular head, orbicular 

 thorax, and large, round, flattened 

 abdomen. It is generally wing- 

 less, having only two small wing- 

 pads instead. The eggs are oval, 

 white; the young escape by push- 

 ing off a lid at one end of the shell. 

 They are white, transparent, dif- 

 fering from the perfect insect in 

 having a broad triangular head, 

 and short, thick antenna\ Indeed 

 this is the general form of lice 



No. 27 



(JPediculus vestimemti, and P. capit- 

 is'), to which the larva of Cimex 

 has the closest affinity. Some 

 Cimiees are parasites, infesting pig- 

 eons, swallows, etc., in this way 

 also showing their near relation to 

 lice. Besides the Reduvius, the 

 cockroach is the natural enemy of 

 the bed-bug, and destroys large 

 numbers. Houses have been 

 cleared of bugs after being thor- 

 oughly fumigated with brimestone. 



During this month the ravages 

 of grasshoppers are in the West, 

 very widespread. We have re- 

 ceived from Major F. Hawn, of 

 Leavenworth, Kansas, a most in- 

 teresting account of the Red-leg- 

 ged locust {Caloptcnus femur-rub- 

 rum). They commence depositing 

 their eggs in the latter part of 

 August. They are fusiform, slight- 

 ly gibbous, and of a buff-color. 

 Tney are placed about three- 

 fourths of an inch beneath the sur- 

 face, in a compact mass around a 

 verfical axis, pointing obliquely 

 up and outwards, and are partially 

 cemented together, the whole pre- 

 senting a cylindrical structure, not 

 unlike a small cartridge. They 

 commence hatching in March, but 

 it requires a range of temperature 

 above 6o° F. to bring them to 

 maturity, and under such condi- 

 tions they become fledged in thir- 

 ty-three days, and in from three to 

 five days after they enter" upon 

 their migratory flight. 



"Their instincts are very strong. 

 When food becomes scarce at one 

 point, a portion of them migrate 

 to new localities, and this move- 

 ment takes place simultaneously 

 over large areas. In their pro- 

 gress they stop at no obstacle they 

 can surmount. In these excur- 

 sions they often meet with other 

 trains, from an opposite direction, 

 when both join in one. 



"The insects are voracious, but 

 discriminating in their choice of 

 food, yet I know of no plant they 

 reject if pressed by hunger; not 

 even the foliage of shrubs and 

 trees, including pine and cedar." 



We find the Hop-vine moth and 

 the larva which abound on hops 

 the last of summer. Also the Ily- 

 thia colonelia, known in England 

 to be a parasite of the Humble 

 bee. We have frequently met 

 with it here, though not in Humble 

 bees' nests. The larvae feed di- 

 rectly upon the young bees, ac- 

 cording to Curtis (Farm Insects). 

 The Spindle-worm moth (Gortyna 



