There

Colors-Pea-green, lilac, and yellow. grape-feeding species by having the third and fourth rings immensely swollen, while the first and second rings are quite small and retractile. It is from this peculiar appearance of the fore part of the body, which strikingly suggests the fat cheeks and shoulders and small head of a blooded hog, that it may best be known as the Hog-caterpillar of the vine. The color of this worm when full grown. is pea-green, and it is wrinkled transversely and covered with numerous pale-yellow dots, placed in irregular transverse rows. An oblique cream-colored lateral band, bordered below with a darker green and most distinct on the middle segments, connects with a cream-colored subdorsal line, which is bordered above with darker green, and which extends from the head to the horn at the tail. are five and often six somewhat pale yellow triangular patches along the back, each containing a lozenge-shaped lilac-colored spot. The head is small, with yellow granulations, and four perpendicular yellow lines, and the stigmata or spiracles are orange-brown. When about to transform, the color of this worm usually changes to a pinkish-brown, the darker parts being of a beautiful mixture of crimson and brown. Previous to this change of color Mr. J. A. Lintner, of Schoharie, N. Y., has observed the worm to pass its mouth over the entire surface of its body, even to the tip of its horn, covering it with a coating of apparently glutinous matter-the operation lasting about two hours. Before transforming into the pupa or chrysalis state, it descends from the vine, and within some fallen leaf or under any other rubbish that may be lying on the ground, forms a mesh of strong brown silk, within which it soon changes to a chrysalis (Fig. 13) of a pale, warm Proc. Ent. Soc.. Phil., III, pp. 663.

Colors-Yellowish and brown.

yellow, speckled and spotted with brown, but characterized chiefly by the conspicuous dark brown spiracles and broad brown incisures of the three larger abdominal segments.

The moth (Fig. 14) which in time bursts from this chrysalis, has the body and front wings of a fleshy-gray, marked and shaded with olive

[Fig. 14.]

Colors-Gray, olive-green and rust color. green as in the figure, while the hind wings are of a deep rust-color, with a small shade of gray near their inner angle.

This insect is in northerly regions one-brooded, but towards the south two-brooded, the first worms appearing, in the latitude of St. Louis, during June and July, and giving out the moths about two weeks after they become chrysalids, or from the middle of July to the first of August. The second brood of worms are full grown in September and, passing the winter in the chrysalis state, give out the moths the following May. On one occasion we found at South Pass, Ill., a worm but grown and still feeding as late as October 20th, a circumstance which would lead to the belief that at points where the winters are mild they may even hybernate in the larva state.

This worm is a most voracious feeder, and a single one will sometimes strip a small vine of its leaves in a few nights. According to Harris it does not even confine its attacks to the leaves, but in its progress from leaf to leaf, stops at every cluster of fruit, and either from stupidity or disappointment, nips off the stalks of the half-grown grapes and allows them to fall to the ground untasted. It is fortunate for the grapegrower therefore that Nature has furnished the ready means to prevent its ever becoming ex

cessively numerous, for in all our entomological experience, we have never known it to swarm in very great numbers. The obvious reason is, that it is so freely attacked by a small parasitic Ichneumon fly-belonging to a genus (Microgaster) exceedingly numerous in species-that three out of every four worms that we meet with will generally be found to be thus victimized. The eggs of the parasite are deposited within the body of the worm, while it is yet young, and the young maggots hatching from them feed on the fatty parts of their victim. After the last moult of a worm that has been thus attacked, numerous little heads may be seen gradually pushing through different parts of its body; and as soon as they have worked themselves so far out that they are held only by the last joint of the body, they commence forming their small snow-white cocoons, which stand on ends and present the appearance [Fig. 15.] of Figure 15. In about a week the fly (Fig. 16, a, magnified; b, natu

in two or three days, another that is writhing with its body full of parasites will live without food for as many weeks. Indeed we have known one to rest for three weeks without food in a semi-paralyzed condition, and after the parasitic flies had all escaped from their cocoons, it would rouse itself and make a desperate effort to regain strength by nibbling at a leaf which was offered to it. But all worms thus attacked succumb in the end, and we cannot conclude this article to better advantage than by reminding the Grapegrower, that he should let alone all such as are found to be covered with the white cocoons we have illustrated, and not, as has been often done, destroy them under the false impression that the cocoons are the eggs of the worm.

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS IN CANADA.-Parties in Canada, who wish to subscribe for the AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST, can obtain it, postage free, by remitting $2.00 to the Rev. C. J. S. BETHUNE, Secretary to the Entomological Society of Canada, Credit, C. W.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

NOTICE. Such of our correspondents as have already sent, or may hereafter send, small collections of insects to be named, will please to inform us if any of the species sent are from other States than their own. Lists of insects found in any particular locality are of especial interest, as throwing light upon the geographical distribution of species. But to make them of real value, it is requisite that we know for certain, whether or not all the insects in any particular list comé from that particular locality, and if not, from what locality they do come.

Striped Cucumber Beetle-M. M. Gray, Cardington, Ohio.-We quote your letter in full, as it well describes the larva about which you desire information: [Fig. 17.]

I inclose a specimen of bug which we call the Cucumber or Squash bug, and also a small worm or larva which has destroyed many of my melon and cucumber vines. My object in part is to learn if this worm or larva is the product of the bug or something different and foreign to it. In the early part of the season the small striped bug commenced working on my vines, and they began to wilt and die. I used sulphur and plaster, quassia, tobacco, etc., to prevent or check their rayages, but with little effect. Finally I hunted out and killed a good many, and shortly they seemed to disappear, and my vines began to revive and grow. About three weeks later the vines began to wilt and die worse than before! But this time there were no bugs to be found. Upon examination of the roots, however, I discovered this little white-worm with a black head. from 1-16th to 1-4th of an inch in length, eating into and perforating the root and vine; and as the vines they infested the most were the same that the bugs preyed upon the worst, I conjectured there must be some relation between them.

1

I

Color-Whitish.

2.

Color-Whitish.

2

The larva referred to which attacks the roots, and of which we present highly magnified figures (Fig. 17, 1, dorsal view, 2 side view), is in reality the young of the very same Striped Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica vittata, [Fig. 18.] Fig. 19), which is so injurious to the leaves; for we have ourselves bred the beetle from this larva, and in 1865 Dr. H. Shimer, of Mt. Carroll, Ill., first published an account of its transformations.* After boring into and around the roots for upwards of a month, the larvæ enter the surrounding earth, and within a smooth oval cavity soon change to pupa (Fig. 18, 1, ventral view; 2, dorsal view), which are trans[Fig. 19.] formed to beetles about two weeks afterwards. There are two or three broods during the year. By getting rid of the beetles in the early part of the season, you of course prevent the injuries of the larva, and the most effective agents for this purColors-Black and yellow. pose, or at least those in which we have the most confidence, are Paris green and white hellebore. This insect has been very injurious the present year. Prairie Farmer, Aug. 12, 1865.

Leafy Oak-gall-B. H. B., Pickens' Sta.. Miss.The cone-like leafy oak-gall which you send, and which we herewith illustrate (Fig. 20, a), is apparently the [Fig. 20.]

a

Color-Green.

gall named Quercus frondosa by Bassett, meaning literally "full of green leaves." You do not mention the kind of oak on which it occurred, but from the fact that Mr. Bassett described his as occurring on the Chinquapin, yours might have been taken from this species, though we have found the same gall both on White and on Bur Oak. This gall is developed after the summer growth of the tree is completed, and the axillary bud, which otherwise would not burst till the spring following, is made, by the puncture of the gall-fly, to develop prematurely in the singular manner illustrated above. The cell (Fig. 20, b, section showing larva) containing the larva is half immersed in the apex of the cone, and though the perfect fly is unknown, the character of the larva indicates it to be Cynipidous. (See article on Galls, Vol. I, No. 6.)

Drop of Gold-B. H. B., Pickens' Sta., Miss.The drop of gold in shape of a French loaf'' attached to a leaf of the Shellbark-Hickory, is in reality the vacated egg-shell of some large moth, and not improbably of that large species which produces the Royal Horned Caterpillar. The smooth short-oval eggs of the same large Stinking Bug, which we figured on page 12 of our first Volume (Metapodius nasalus, Fig. 6, b), have, even when vacated by the young bug, just the same lustre of burnished gold. In July, 1868, at Lacon, Ill., we found a row of nine of these eggs, all arranged in regular order, like the beads of a necklace, upon a leaf of White Pine; and from these eggs we subsequently hatched out the young bugs.

The Luna Moth-Geo. W. Kinney, Snow Hill, Mo. -The immense green moth with an eye-spot in each wing and with each of the hind wings prolonged into a tail, is the Luna Moth (Attacus luna, Linn.) The specimen was and we were glad to get the eggs which she had deposited. The larva feeds on Walnut and Hickory. T. W. Hoyt, Jr.-The large pale green swallow-tail moth which you describe is the Luna Moth referred to above.

[Fig. 21.]

Hag-moth Larva-Dr. C. T. Farrell, South Pass, M.-The curious brown slug-like larva found on Siberian Crab, of which a better idea can be formed by the accompanying illustration (Fig. 21) than by any descriptive words of ours, is the larva of the Hag-moth (Limacodes pithecium, Sm. & Abb.) When received, it had already moulted its long fleshy appendages and attached them to the outside of its round compact cocoon, and ten days subsequently the moth made its appearance. This moth is of a dusky brown color, the front wings variegated with light yellowish-brown. In the Northeastern States this insect is supposed to be single-brooded, but in your latitude it is probably double-brooded. The "spider-like animal'' on Blackberries is the pupa of the Many-banded Robber (Harpactor cinctus, Fabr., see Vol. I, Fig. 44.)

Color-Brown.

M. B. Baldwin, Elgin, Ill.-The specimen you found on a spear of grass, and from which you detached, in handling, some of the appendages, is the same Hagmoth larva. At the time you found it, it was evidently in search of some cozy nook in which to form its cocoon, for it had already commenced the operation when it reached us, and the species has never been known to feed on grass.

Stinging Bug-J. M. Shaffer, Fairfield, IowaThe singular craggy-looking bug, about 0.38 inch long, of a yellowish color variegated with brown, with the legs green and a transverse deep-brown band running superiorly across from one side to the other of the dilated abdomen, is Phymata erosa, Linn. The genus is characterized by the immensely swollen front thighs, and by the last joint of the antennæ being also swollen, this last character being a remarkable one, as Amyot and Serville well remark, in bugs of such carnivorous propensities. Your statement that one of these bugs stung you severely, does not greatly surprise us, though we never heard of their stinging before, and have handled hundreds of them with impunity. The stinging was of course done by the beak, which is 3-jointed and somewhat resembles that of Harpactor cinctus, Fabr. (Vol. I, Fig, 44, b.) The plant upon which you found these bugs we take to be Parthenium integrifolium, and Mr. A. Fender, of Allenton, Mo., is of the same opinion. We have noticed them ourselves in the latter part of the summer lying quietly in wait for their prey upon a great variety of wild flowers, but mostly on such as like themselves are of a yellowish color so as to conceal them from view. We have also often seen this Bug with its beak inserted into a small bee or a small wasp, which it is wide awake enough to hold at arm's length with its prehensile front legs, so that the poor unfortunate captive has no chance to sting it.

Pear-tree worms-B. Hathaway, Little Prairie Ronde, Mich.-The worms found on pear-tree leaves are the same Red-humped Prominent noticed in the answer to D. W. Kauffman of Des Moines, Iowa.

"Dobson "-Fisherman -We cannot tell without seeing specimens, what it is that the disciples of the "gentle art" call Dobson." It may be the larva either of some May-fly (Ephemera), or of some Dragonfly (Libellula), or of a dozen other insects.

White Pine Weevil-4. S. Fuller, Ridgewood, N. J.--The borers which have been attacking the leading shoots of your Pines, gradually spreading to the branches, have produced the perfect beetle since their receipt, and as we anticipated, they turn out to be the White Pine Weevil (Pissodes strobi, Peck.) At Figure [Fig. 22.]

Insects named. —J. R. Muhleman, Woodburn, Ills. The moth, with the front wings variegated with light and dark brown with a conspicuous dark zigzag line running across the outer third, and with the hind wings of a lustrous coppery reddish brown, is the Pyramidal Amphipyra (Amphipyra pyramidoides, Guen). You say you bred it from a grape-feeding larva [Fig. 23.]

Colors (a and b) whitish; (c) rust-brown and white.

22 it is illustrated in its three stages of larva (a), pupa (b), and beetle (c). We have not known this insect to occur in the West, but it has long been known to be common in the Eastern States. The only practical way of counter-working the injurious work of this weevil, is to cut off the infested shoots and consign them to the flames, while they yet contain the larvæ and before the beetles have escaped. Dr. Fitch, under the impression that most of the beetles are perfected in the spring, recommends that this work be done in August and September; but as all the beetles had issued from the shoots you sent, by the end of August, we should advise you, so as to be on the safe side, to do such work in July.

*Trans. N. Y. State Agr. Soc. 1857, p. 735.

Unnatural Secretion of Wax-F. Brewer, Waynesville, Mo.-The honey bee which has such a profuse waxy formation exuding apparently from the rings of the abdomen, and which you took alive from the entrance of one of your hives, presents a very unusual appearance, and a most remarkable case of wax formation. Mr. J. T. Langstroth, to whom we sent the specimen, suggests that the bee had a kind of wax dropsy!" The specimen is interesting, and beautifully illustrates the manner in which the ordinary wax of our hives is secreted from the belly of the worker bee, as explained by Hübner, Reaumur, and other writers on the subject.

Raspberry Borer-F. A. Gates, Massillon, Iowa. -The borer you describe as having nearly ruined your patch of raspberry bushes, is apparently the common Blackberry and Raspberry borer (Oberea perspicillata, Hald.) which in the perfect state is a beetle. The large ochre-yellow moth, with a conspicuous white spot on the front wings, and each of the wings tinged with purple and crossed near the tip by a purplish line, which moth had deposited a large number of eggs on one of the raspberry leaves, was not, as you inferred, the parent of the borer. It is the Senatorial Dryocampa (Dryocampa senatoria, Fabr.) The young worms hatching from those eggs would have fed upon the leaves, though the more common food-plant of the species is Oak.

Cocoon of Horn-bug-A. R. McClutchen, Lafayette, Ga.-The egg-shaped cocoon formed of excrement and rotten wood glued together, contained the large white larva of some Horn-bug, probably Lucanus dama, Fabr.

Colors-Light and dark Brown.

like the one illustrated on page 225 (Fig. 163). We have also the present summer bred the same species of moth from a similar larva feeding on Red Bud, and have found the larva on the Poplar, which makes three distinct plants that it is known to attack. The specific name of the moth probably refers to the pyramidal hump on the 11th segment of the larva. You say you "recollect a similar larva in Europe on apricots, prune trees, etc., producing an analogous moth." Not at all unlikely, for there is a very similar worm common to the whole of Europe, and which feeds on Oak, Willow and Elm, as well as on fruit trees, and produces a very closely allied moth, the Amphypyra pyramidea of Linnæus. The other moth of which you send a pencil sketch, and which is of a uniform deep brown, with two oblique white lines running-the inner line entirely, and the outer one but partially--across the fore wings, is Agnomonia anilis of Drury, who states that the caterpillar is violet-white with longitudinal rose-colored lines and an elevated brown ridge across segments 4 and 11, and that it feeds on plants of the genus Chironia. The chrysalis is enclosed within a few leaves and is covered with a rosy efflorescence. The other pencil figure which you send seems to represent Limacodes cippus, Fabr. (See Harris, Inj. Ins., p. 420).

Cecropia Moth Caterpillar-H. G. Lewelling, High Hill, Mo.-The gigantic green caterpillar, covered with beautiful yellow, blue and coral-red tubercles, which you find on the leaves of an apple tree, is the larva of the Cecropia Moth (Attacus cecropia, Linn.) It is an immense feeder, and we have known it to be so abundant as to greatly injure young Apple and Soft Maple trees, but its occurrence in very large numbers is extremely rare. We shall figure this caterpillar in a future number.

Saml. H. I. Green, Elkart City, Ill.-The large worm found by you descending from an apple tree is the same as the above.

How Cut-worms originate-Thos. W. Gordon, Georgetown, Ohio.-You ask how our common cutworms originate. They are produced from eggs deposited by obscure colored owlet moths belonging to several different genera, and for fuller information on the subject we refer you to the First Annual Report of the Junior Editor, where the history of twelve different species is detailed.

Red-humped Caterpillars on Apple and Pear-D. W. Kauffman, Des Moines, Iowa.-What you are irreverently pleased to term "a lot of ugly disgusting worms," but what we consider as one of the most gorgeously dressed caterpillars that God has created, is known as the "Red-humped Prominent' and produces a brownish yellow moth, called in English "the Trim Prominent" (scientifically Notodonta concinna). Do pray, Mr. Kauffman, for the future take a careful look at the wonderful Works of the Great Author of Nature, before you again slander and malign them, and call that "ugly and disgusting" which is in reality a perfect gem of insect beauty. Look at the brilliant coral-red head of your larva, and the hump on the middle of its back of the same lovely color! Did you ever see a string of coral beads, on the fair white neck of a young lady, show to greater perfection than do these bright red parts, among the delicate black, yellow and white lines traced lengthways by the finger of Almighty God along the rest of its body? Surely such artistically arranged colors can not be "disgusting" to any properly trained eye! But these worms are "ugly" forsooth! They are at most only about 14 inch longthey have no sting-no irritating hairs or prickles such as have the larvæ of a very few of our rarer mothsand they will not even bite, however much you may please to irritate and torment them. Surely a grown man ought not to fancy that so harmless a creature as this is hateful or formidable! But they ate all the leaves off one of your young pear-trees! Very well! They had just as good a right to do so as you have to sit down to your dinner, consuming vegetables and fruits that would otherwise have fed a host of beautiful creations which the vulgar denominate "bugs." God made this lovely green world for the pleasure and benefit not of man alone, but of the multitudinous hosts of the inferior animals. True, we have a right to destroy these inferior animals, when they interfere with our wants and wishes; and so we have a right to take the life even of our brother man, when our own life, and even in certain cases when our property merely, is jeoparded by him. Kill and be killed" is the great law of Nature, from one end of the Animal Kingdom to the other. But when we are compelled to kill, let us always do it in a merciful and not in a wanton and cruel spirit; and especially, even when we are obliged in self-defence, or for purely scientific purposes, to take the life of some of these little miracles of perfection that the poet calls "winged flowers," let us not add insult to injury and slander them as "disgusting," when even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like the very meanest of them!

The Red-humped Prominent-of which we herewith represent the three stages (Figs. 24 larva; 25 pupa, and [Fig. 24]

Colors-Black, white and red.

26 moth) has hitherto been found only on rose, thorn, cherry, plum and apple, and especially on the last. Your finding it on pear, which is very closely allied

to the apple, and yet is inimical to the life of several insects commonly found on apple, is a new fact. The species is not very common in the Valley of the Mississippi; but when it does occur, it occurs in great numbers, because the mother-moth deposits a very large number of eggs upon a single leaf. As these larvæ are gregarious throughout their entire existence, and do not scatter over the whole tree, as do many [Fig. 25.] others that occur on our fruit trees-some of which wander off from the very earliest stage in their larval life, and others, as for example the common Tent Caterpillar (Clisiocampa americana), only toward the Color-Brown. latter part of their existence in the larval state-they can always be easily destroyed. For ourselves, we never feel the least fear or scruple at crushing hundreds of any of these caterpillars in our naked hands; any one, however, that is more nice than [Fig 26]

Color-Brownish-yellow.

we are can put on a pair of stout buckskin gloves before he commences the

squashing process. But although we do not hesitate to squash any kind of caterpillar bare-handed, we by no means advise any one to try this operation, either upon the Colorado Potato Bug or upon any of the Blister-beetles. For all these last-named insects are more or less poisonous, and we have known a young girl make her hands very sore by crushing with her naked fingers a lot of the Ash-gray Blister-beetles, that were infesting some English beans.

Insects named-T. W. G., Georgetown, Ohio.The yellowish-green worm with an immense reddishbrown head with two yellow spots upon it, is the larva of the Tityrus Skipper (Eudamus tityrus, Fabr.) a brown butterfly with a semi-transparent yellow band across the front wings, and the hind wings each produced into a short rounded tail behind. This worm is most commonly found on Honey Locust, though it also feeds on the common Black Locust, on the Wistaria and on the False Indigo, (Amorpha fruticosa.) The dusky-brown tree-hopper with a long yellow spot each side and a horn-like projection from the fore part of its body is the Two-spotted Tree-hopper (Thelia bimaculata, Fabr.) which likewise occurs on Locust. The pale yellow and black worms all huddled together on the leaf of a Grapevine are the larva of the American Procris (Procris Americana, Boisd.) If you have Harris's work on Injurious Insects you can find in it figures of all three of these species.

Gold Gilt-beetle-Dr. W. H. Martin, Pinckney, Mich. The brilliant beetle, resplendent in a full suit of green and gold and about half an inch long, which you find devouring the leaves of the common Dogsbane (Apocynum androsamifolium), is the Gilt Goldbeetle (Chrysochus auratus). It is very common everywhere in the West upon this plant in the perfect beetle state, but as its larva is never met with there, it most probably during the larval state feeds underground upon the roots either of this or of some other plant. Your finding the beetle upon another species of the same genus of plants (Ap. cannabinum) is, we believe, a new fact.