472 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 
CHESTNUT. FRUIT. 
antennae and legs render them the prettiest objects belonging to 
the aphis family. 
203. CnESTNUT leaf-witherer, Phylloxera ? Castanece , Ilaldeman. (IIo- 
mojitcra. Aphid®.) 
In August and September, on both sides of the leaves, punctur¬ 
ing them and extracting their juices and causing them to curl, a 
very small louse-like fly of a bright sulphur-yellow color with a 
black thorax, breast and eyes, its feet and antenna; tinged with 
blackish and its wings translucent. The wingless individuals 
associated with it are entirely yellow wiith red eyes. 
I have never met with this species. The veins or nerves of the 
wings are described as follows : “ First and third transverse ner- 
vures normal; second arising from the middle of the first and 
terminating in the normal position; posterior wings without ner- 
vures.” From this description the veins appear to be essentially 
different from those of the genus Chermes, to which Prof. Ilalde¬ 
man refers this species. And I cannot but think that more exact 
observations will detect a rib-vein in the hind wings, and will 
show that this insect pertains to the genus Phylloxera. 
The larva of the American maple motii (Jipatcla Americana , 
Harris), a large thick-bodied caterpillar two inches long and of a 
pale yellow color with two black pencils above on the fourth and 
sixth rings and a single one near its tip, feeds upon the leaves in 
August, but is much more common on the maple, under which 
head it will be described. 
AFFECTING TIIE FRUIT. 
One would suppose that the fruit of the chestnut, wholly 
inclosed as it is in a thick leathery bur, the surface of which is 
crowded with prickles with their needle-like tips pointing in 
every direction, was so effectually protected that no depredator 
could possibly reach it, or if attacked, we should think it could 
only be by some small insect panoplied like the rhinoceros, its 
hard shelly coat enabling it to encounter these prickles without 
harm. It is most wonderful, therefore, to discover that a little 
insect with a soft tender body, has the artifice of inserting its eggs 
