EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIVISION. 29 
A SILK-SPINNINO MITK. 
I write for information upon a very curious occurrence to which my attention was 
recently directed. Last Wednesday, September 6, my father noticed thai one of his 
large ash trees glistened and sparkled in quite a remarkable manner. Thinking it 
was the oozing out of sap, which in such quantities would have been fatal to the 
tree, he proceeded to investigate. Judge of his astonishment when he found if to be 
the complete covering of the tree with an exceedingly delicate, filmy, compact cob- 
web (?). From the ground up on the trunk some 25 feet, and extending out on most 
of the branches, this web reached. The covering was as complete as if a Bllken 
kerchief had been wrapped around the tree-trunk. The author of this gigantic cob- 
web (?) is a minute, orange-colored mite, or some say spider, with his myriads o 
ters, brothers, cousins, and aunts. They were found in large masses along the tree- 
trunk and in the crotches. Concerning the conditions and surroundings I can only 
say that the tree stands in (lose proximity to pines, maples, apple and eve] _ 
trees. The weather has been, the entire summer, of unprecedented dryness. Three 
days after its appearance the most severe storm we have had for two months developed. 
This somewhat tore and washed away the web, but to-day, the seventh after its first 
discovery, it and the mites are still there. Any information concerning this fellow 
and his workings which yon deem expedient and have the kindness to forward, I 
shall be most deeply thankful for. — [Geo. W. Mansfield, Melrose Highlands, Ma--.. 
September 14, 1882. 
Reply. — Your letter of the 14th September, 1882, is duly received, together with the 
accompanying specimens, which prove to be a species of red mite, closely allied to 
the so-called "red spider" {Tetranychus telarius), but specifically distinct. The facts 
which you detail are very interesting, but have been previously observed by Mr. B. 
P. Mann, now of this Department, and mentioned at the Cincinnati meeting of the A. A. 
A. S. Should you wish to remove the mites from your tree you will probably find the 
use of kerosene in emulsion the most satisfactory. 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST. 
* * * Thus far we have met but few C. spretu*, and from present outlooks there 
is no possibility that we will find any numbers of this insect in this vicinity nnless they 
should drift in from across the range. This, however, is not likely to occur, since at 
the present time great tires are raging iu the localities where they would cross were 
they to come this way. We have quite a number of specimens which we will carry 
with us, as they might be destroyed in the mails, the roads are so rough and the care so 
slack between this point and Benton. Have heard it hinted that there are some 
locusts in the sect ion about the Columbia and Snake Rivers that are causing some 
trouble. This may be true. * * At present I do not think there is any danger 
of locust visitations east of the Rocky Mountains for L883, but since leaving civiliza- 
tion, " God's country," as Americans call it up here, we have had no opportunity of 
reading the papers or hearing the news of the day. * * — [L. Brnner, Fort Mc- 
Leod, N. YV. T., Canada. September 3, 1882. 
AN [N8ECT ENEMY to ["HISTLE. 
I send an insect with this note, for name. Its food-plant is the Canada thistle. 
where it inserts its beak in the stalks. I And them so thickly on some of the plants 
t hat they almost co\ er t he stems. Bui my anxiety to learn its name is o]\ account ot' 
the relation it sustains to the ants. I wish to send some notes to the American Xat- 
unilist about the ants, and their behavior toward these creatures,' which is more inter- 
est ing than anyt hing 1 ever observed among the aphides and ants. If it is ondescribed, 
will you name it and Write a description, to be inserted with my notes tor the Nat- 
uralist .' 1 am still studying ants and spiders, and have some \er> interesting- 
of the latter.—- [Mary Treat. Franklin Palls, X. 11.. September 4, I8b2, 
[The insect sent proved to he Entilia nnuata Fabr. ) 
