20 
Arma spinosa attacking Colorado potato beetle in Illinois. 
Cankerworms. (Prairie Farmer,-1871, v. 42, p.-.) 
Anisopteryx vernata bears cold easily and in mild winters issues from the 
ground in all months. Females are wingless and crawl up the tree to de¬ 
posit eggs on twigs. The majority issue from the ground in March: eggs 
are deposited in clusters of one hundred or more: young hatch soon after 
leaves begin to unfold, and after three or four weeks enter the ground to 
pass the winter. They are general feeders but most destructive to the 
apple and elm. The main point is to intercept the ascent of the females. 
For this purpose troughs filled with oil. or cloth bands smeared with tar, 
molasses, or melted India-rubber, and fastened around the tree trunks, have 
been used. Dusting trees with lime or syringing them with whale-oil 
soap-suds may check the worms. Late fall plowing about the trees is of 
some utility. 
The Chinch Bug once more.—The Hessian Fig and other Insects. (Prairie 
Farmer,-1871, v. 42, p.-.) 
[See 16th Rep. State Ent. Ill., Appendix, p. 38.] 
The most common and destructive enemy of fall wheat is the Hessian 
fly. Wheat sown as late as the last of September in a great measure es¬ 
capes its injuries. 
Notes in Season. The Plum Gouger.—The Camel Cricket.—The Apple Ttcig 
Borer.—Hessian Fig. (Prairie Farmer, March 16, 1872, v. 43, p.-.) 
Bostrichus bicauclatus burrows into apple twigs, probably to eat the pith 
and for shelter during hibernation, and apparent!}" breeds elsewhere. 
The Plum Gouger.—Beetles found in kernels of preserved plums. It will 
not pay to try to keep this and the eurculio from a few trees only, un¬ 
less they are well isolated, in which case making the surface beneath 
them unfit for the reception and transformation of the grubs might check 
the eurculio, but would not answer for the gouger. 
Mantis Carolina. —Suggestion that it be reared to prey on other insects 
considered impractical. 
Hessian fly reported from Kansas.—The worst insect enemy of fall wheat. 
The principal preventive is sowing wheat so late that it will not come 
up before the first of October. 
The Colorado Potato Beetle. Its Destruction by Machinery. (Prairie Farmer, 
March 30, 1872, v. 43, p.-.) 
Data not yet sufficient to predict the probable future of this insect. 
Best means of combating them are hand picking and applications of Paris 
green. Describes and figures Squires's machine for capturing them. The 
use of Paris green at first, followed by the machine when the plants are 
large enough^ is recommended. 
Beminiscence of Benjamin I). Walsh. (Prairie Farmer, April 13, 1872, v. 
43, p. .-.) 
Mr. Walsh was an eccentric man, and his character presents a number 
of interesting points. His devoted study of nature withdrew him in a 
great measure from ordinary associations, enhanced his peculiarities, aud 
often exposed his character and motives to misapprehension. He was an 
Englishman with a great deal of the John Bull in his composition. He en¬ 
joyed a sharp controversy, but there is no reason to suppose that he har¬ 
bored personal animosity. 
Elected as alderman of Rock Island in opposition to a clique of un¬ 
scrupulous politicians he served fearlessly for one year in spite of attempts 
at intimidation and threats against his life. 
Mr. Walsh was unaccustomed to the society of ladies and his conversa¬ 
tion was said to be sometimes not quite in accordance with the conven¬ 
tionalities of modern society: but the retired and studious habits of his 
life and the unquestioned integrity of his character forbid any suspicion 
of the intrinsic purity of his mind. 
