176 
THE AMERICAN 
jection I made to them grew out of the fact that 
they took no pains to discriminate between my 
friends and my foes ; all insects excepting one 
or two, perhaps, went the same way with them. 
They had no taste for the Striped Potato Beetle 
( Lytt'a vittata, Fabr.) ; and, although I saw 
them holt ” an occasional Squash Bug (Coreus 
tristis , DeGeer), it didn’t seem to go down 
with anything of a relish. They will feed on 
squash bugs, however, as I know from having 
had some vines entirely cleared by them early 
in the season ; but I think they , only do so in 
cases where other i n sects are extremely scarce. 
I could note no loss to my fall brood of squash 
bugs, attributable to their being in the garden. 
Contrary to the general supposition, there is 
but little of the Gipsey spirit about the toad, 
for having chosen his beat, he seldom goes 
beyond it, or changes his location during the 
summer. One may settle him for the season at 
almost any particular locality by simply penning 
him up in a temporary enclosure for a few days, 
and then removing the enclosure without dis- 
turbing him. I have often established them in 
different parts of my garden on this plan, and 
but seldom failed to find them in the neighbor- 
hood of their respective stations every evening. 
A toad brought into a garden and immedi- 
ately set at liberty, will usually strike for some 
other parts tl^e^first night; butu fqw days’ pen- 
tinct interests, when but one legitimately exists ; 
or, in other words, striving to lead thpse who 
live by an exchange of products to believe that 
they are a distinct people — is not only foolish 
to the last degree, but extremely injurious to 
all. Such reflections, and nothing else, deter- 
red me from undertaking the publication of a 
“ Southern Entomologist” four months ago. I 
saw that the American Entomologist was all 
that the Southern people could desire, and so 
gave up the idea in the belief that they would 
patronize it, and thus derive greater benefits 
than they could from a publication purely local. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL JOTTINGS. 
Is the New York Weevil the Cause of 
Pear Blight?— Chicago, Ills March §lst, 1870. 
— A gentleman of this city, formerly residing at 
Lake Forest, a suburb* of Chicago, communi- 
cated to me a few days since, some facts he 
has observed&in regard to the “pear tree blight,’*’ 
from which he has formed the theory that the 
blight is caused solely by the New York Weevil* 
(Ithycerus novebordcensis, Forster) . Hisobser- 
yatiqns^ex^ended over &om.e -years, jaifgk were „ 
01 23456789 10 Missouri 
Botanical 
cm copyright reserved garden 
