priate common name of Golden Club. It is found in the natural order Aracea. The leaves are large, ten or twelve inches in length and about half as wide; the upper surface of the leaf is a light velvety green, the under surface much paler, and very smooth and shining, on long radical petioles; from the midst of these leaves arise several scapes, or flower-stalks, which, from the base up to within a few inches of the top, are of a dusky purplish color, which gradually fades into the purest white, terminating in a rich golden-yellow spadix, covered with small, perfect yellow flowers.

Leiophyllum buxifolium, Ell., is another charming pinebarren plant, and has received the characteristic common name of Sand Myrtle. It belongs to the order Ericacea, with our splendid Azaleas and Rhododendrons, which the European florists have coaxed into numberless varieties. Possibly this beautiful little shrub will be neglected by us until the European florists sell it back to us at high figures, as they already have many plants of this family.

The Leiophyllum is an evergreen shrub, with leaves small, dark green, very smooth and shining, and strung thickly along the stems, which in May are terminated with thick, umbel-like clusters of small white or pinkish flowers. Gray and other botanists give the height of this shrub at from eight to ten inches, and this is its usual height on the dry sandy barrens; but in Atlantic county, near the coast, in damp soil, I found an acre or more of this shrub with an average height of about three feet. I found it while in full bloom, and it stood so thick as to exclude almost everything else. It was surrounded by a thick, almost impenetrable, tangled mass of shrub-growth, bound together by the climbing prickly Smilax, through which I forced my way, and was more than repaid for my toil by the beautiful sight, which can never be effaced from my memory.

One of the most stately and beautiful pine-barren plants is Xerophyllum asphodeloides, Nutt. It is an Endogenous plant, and found in the order Melanthacea. The foliage consists of a thick tuft of grass-like leaves, from the midst of which arises a single flower-stalk, from three to four feet in height, bearing a dense raceme of showy white flowers. It is found in moist places, and commences blooming in May. Mr. Fuller, of Hearth and Home, remarked on first seeing this plant, that this alone was worth taking a trip from New York to see; and, florist as he is, this remark is a sufficient guarantee of its rare loveliness.

But I would not have the reader think that the pine barrens exclude the charming flowers of his acquaintance: From the latter part of March all through the month of April, the air is redolent with the sweet fragrance of the Trailing Arbutus (Epigea repens, L.), growing with a rich luxuriance in the white sand, with a simple mulching of oak and pine leaves. Also the delicate, early little Wind-flower (Anemone nemorosa, L.) is found in abundance, with the ever-present, aromatic Wintergreen (Gaulthera procumbens, L.), with its shining green leaves and bright scarlet berries. The little trailing Partridge vine (Mitchella repens, L.), with its scarlet twin berries-like the Wintergreen remaining on the plant all winter-greets us often in our early spring rambles. As the season advances so does the number of beautiful plants increase among the seemingly dreary pine barrens, of which I will try to make further report from time to time. MARY TREAT.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Plants to Name-H. W. Patterson, Oquawka, Ills. -No. 1, Thaspium barbinole, Nutt.; No. 2, Glyceria nervata, Trin.; No. 3, Erigeron strigosum, Muhl.; No. 4, Carex Meadii, Dew.; No. 5, Enothera fruticosa, L.; No. 8, Kaleria cristata, Pers.; No. 9, Panicum pauciflorum, Ell.; No. 11, Carex hystricina, Willd.; No. 12, Erigeron Philadelphicum, L.; No. 13, Cryptotania Canadensis, D. C; No. 14, Melica mutica, Walt.; No. 21, Hordeum pusillum, Nutt.; No. 22, Ptelea trifoliata, L.; No. 27, Hydrophyllum Virginicum, L.; No. 28, Osmorrhiza longistylis, D. C.; No. 29. Polytania Nuttallii, D. C.; No. 30, Sanicula Canadensis, L.

Huron Burt, Callaway, Mo.-No. 1, Annual Speargrass (Poa annua, L.) This is probably an introduced grass-it seems to follow in the line of advancing civilization. It is too small to be productive as a meadow grass. Mr. C. L. Flint, author of a Practical Treatise on Grasses," says: "This modest and beautiful grass flowers throughout the whole summer, and forms a very large part of the sward of New England pastures, producing an early and sweet feed exceedingly relished by cattle. It does not resist the drought very well, but becomes parched up in our pastures.'' It is called an annual, but comes up as you say in the fall from seed, ripens its seeds the ensuing summer and dies. No. 2, the common Rush-grass (Juncus tenuis, L.), very well characterized as "Wire-grass," and of little practical value. No. 3 is called Cleavers, or Goose-grass, (Galium aparine, L.) though not properly a grass, but a plant of the Madder family (Rubiacea). No. 4 is the omnipresent Knot-grass, or Goose-grass (Polygonum aviculare, L.), which everywhere takes possession of door-yards and paths, and thrives under the roughest treatment.

Geo. L. Bodley, Battle Creek, Mich.-The leaves you send are those of the Red Mulberry (Morus rubra, L.) On mature trees the leaves are seldom lobed, being ovate heart-shaped.

Chas. E. Billen, Philadelphia.—No. 12, the cultivated Poet's Narcissus (Narcissus poeticus). No. 11, Sedum ternatum, or Three-leaved Stone-crop, growing wild in rocky woods, also occasionally found in gardens, and often erroneously called a Moss. No. 13, Viburnum prunifolium, or Black Haw, a large and handsome shrub or small tree. No. 14, Winter Cress (Barbarea vulgaris, L.) No. 15, Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron bellidifolium, Muhl.) No. 16, Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum, Linn.)

J. L. Townsend, Marshall, Mo., asks for information on the following subjects: 1st, Time to commence studying botany, whether summer or winter. 2nd, Books needed, their price, and where they can be purchased. 3rd, Magnifying glass, the size, number of lenses, where to be obtained, and price. 4th, Microscope for that class of students who wish to pay attention to the Cryptogamia, kind, price, and where obtained. 5th, Collecting box, size, material and cost. 6th, White printing paper, cost, whether best purchased of printers or dealers. 7th, Hints on preserving ripened capsules and seeds, so that the pressure will not scatter them. 8th, How to get the flowers and fruit from high trees. 9th, Books for the special students, and works describing the medicinal plants for those who would be inter

ested in this class. 10th, Kind of box, case, or cabinet in which to place the holders containing the specimens, and whether to let them remain loose in the holders or fasten by mucilage or otherwise. 11th, Make of knife to use in dissecting plants. 12th, Full directions about making a portfolio for collecting specimens when on a journey. 13th, Method of preparing stone-fruits, so that they can be shown when ripe. 13th, How to examine dried specimens.

This is quite a formidable list of questions, but we will take them up seriutim, and answer as well as we are able.

1. The best time to commence studying botany is during the period of vegetable growth, when plants can be observed in a living state. Certainly something can be learned about plants by simply reading or studying the text-books; and we know that some teachers prefer to have their classes commence in the winter term and study morphology, physiology and classification, and then in the spring term enter upon the analysis of plants. This is probably a good plan for colleges and schools, for all the analytic botany that is obtained there is that obtained during the spring term, as the schools generally close in June, and do not reöpen until September, when the best part of the season has passed away. 2. There is no lack of good books on structural botany. No man has done more to extend the knowledge of botany in the United States than Prof. A. Gray, whose series of botanical works are not to be excelled. Prof. Wood has also a number of excellent works on the same subject. Students of Botany in that part of our country lying east of the Mississippi river will find in the Manual of Dr. Gray and the Class-book of Prof. Wood descriptions of nearly every plant they will be likely to find, exclusive of the lower cryptogamic orders. As we go westward of the Mississippi river, we find species which are not described in the works mentioned; these species become more and more numerous as we advance to the Rocky Mountains. Botanical students in that region of country will be unable to identify many of the plants they meet with. Probably within a few years some work will be published embracing all our vast territory. We have not at hand a list of prices of the botanical works we have mentioned, but they may be obtained through the booksellers of the country.

3. Good pocket lenses of two or three glasses may be obtained in most large towns. These will answer for the ordinary purposes of botanical investigation. There is a very neat arrangement of lenses, called Dr. Gray's microscope for the use of botanists, so contrived that the lenses may be fixed on a standard, and both hands left free to manipulate the object. This, we believe, costs from $2.50 to $4.00; but we do not know the manufacturers.

4. That class of students who wish to study cryptogamic plants, and to investigate the minute structure of the cells and tissues, etc., will need a compound microscope. We are hardly prepared to recommend any particular kind, further than to say that we would buy an American instrument. Excellent ones are made at Philadelphia, Boston, and other places; Chas. Stodder, 66 Milk street, Boston, advertises microscopes in the American Naturalist, and will undoubtedly furnish price lists, etc., on application.

5. The common collecting box is made of tin, in a cylindrical form, about two feet long and six inches in

diameter, with a door or lid nearly the whole length. Specimens may be collected in this box, and if moistened will keep fresh for a day or two, and may be analysed at leisure. A box of this kind is especially useful to collect and keep material for analysis by a class; but most botanists, we apprehend, after a time drop the tin box and employ the portfolio, or collecting book. This is made of strong binder's board, eighteen or twenty inches long and ten or twelve wide, and may be either a simple cover, to be filled with loose sheets, or the sheets may be bound in with blank pieces after the manner of a scrap-book. The paper should be a strong, smooth and thick manilla. Into this book the specimens should be placed when collected, and may remain there several hours, or a day, until an opportunity occurs to transfer them to the press. The book may be fastened with straps and buckles at the side and ends, and a handle may be attached for convenience of carrying.

6. White printing paper may be procured either of printers or dealers, as may be most convenient. The price varies with the quality; it is usually sold by weight, or rather the price per ream depends on the weight.

7. Specimens containing capsules or pods should be collected before the fruit-vessels are fully ripe, when little trouble will usually be experienced from their bursting. If, however, the seed is likely to be scattered, it may be kept in a small paper sack, in the same paper with the specimen. Indeed, it is a good plan to have some seeds of every species kept in this way for ready examination. In cases where the seeds are too large, as in the oaks and hickories, they may be kept in suitable boxes, properly labeled and numbered.

8. For getting specimens of flowers and fruit from high trees, the usual mode is by climbing. Nurserymen and orchardists have contrivances, such as shears attached to a long handle, long-handled chisels, etc., which might be turned to advantage in some cases.

9. Students wishing to pursue only special departments of botanical investigation will require special works-as, for instance, Sullivant on the Mosses and Liverworts of the United States; Harvey on the Marine Algae of North America. The medical uses and properties of our plants are treated of in the American Dispensatory, the Eclectic Dispensatory, Bigelow's American Medical Botany, and probably in other works with which we are unacquainted.

10. As to the final disposition of plants in the Herbarium; some keep them in folios, some in pasteboard boxes, and some in drawers. In every case they should be excluded from sunlight, and from the approach of insects. Wherever the collection cannot be made stationary and permanent, it will be better to use pasteboard boxes. At some future time we will give details. We will only say now that the specimens should be gummed to the sheet, either by the direct application of mucilage, or by means of narrow strips of gummed paper fastened across the stems of the plants at suitable intervals. We prefer the latter method.

11.

We know of no special pattern of knife for dissecting plants. Any one with a sharp, thin blade will answer most purposes.

12. This has been answered under No. 5.

13. We know of no better way of preserving stonefruits than by drying or keeping in alcohol.

14. In order to examine dried specimens, the flowers and small parts must be first thoroughly softened by immersion in hot water, or by means of steam. They may then be dissected in the usual way.

Entomological Department.

CHARLES V. RILEY, EDITOR,
Room 29, Insurance Building, St. Louis, Mo.

ANNOUNCEMENT.

We hereby announce, by the mutual consent of both publishers and editors, that the AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST will be suspended during the year 1871. It is unnecessary to give the several reasons which have induced us to adopt this course. Few persons are aware of the labor required to conscientiously manage a journal of this character, and the health of the entomological editor has been so poor of late, and his other duties are so pressing, that he will be glad of the respite which this suspension will, in part, afford.

The suspension of a journal is generally looked upon as portending failure and discontinuance; but in the present case it has no such meaning. One more number, which will complete Volume II, will be issued before the end of the year, and, nothing preventing, Volume III will commence with the year 1872. All those who receive this announcement with regret, and who intend to renew their subscriptions in 1872, will do well to signify such intention to the publishers.

THE CODLING MOTH. (Carpocapsa pomonella, Linnæus.)

HAY-BAND vs. RAGS-ONE OR TWO BROODED.

After a series of experiments, instituted the past summer, we have proved that, after all, the hay-band around the trunk of the tree is a more effectual trap for the Apple-worm than the rags placed in the fork of the tree. There is no superiority in the rags over the hay-band, unless the former are made to encircle the tree as thorougly as the latter. Where rags are placed simply in the forks, many of the worms pass down the tree from the outside of the branches. If the rag is tied around the trunk, it will impede almost

NO. 11.

every worm that crawls down the tree from the fruit which hangs on, or that crawls up the trunk from the fruit which falls; and it then has a decided advantage over the hay-band, because it can either be passed through a roller or scalded, and used again.

It has been very generally accepted in this country that the Codling Moth is double-brooded, and in all our writings on the subject we have stated it to be so, though no one, so far as we are aware, ever proved such to be the case beyond a doubt. Mr. P. C. Zeller, of Stettin, Prussia, informed us last winter that it is only singlebrooded in that part of the world, and Harris gives it as his opinion that it is mostly so. Now, such may not improbably be the case in northern Prussia, and the more northern of the United States, though we incline to believe otherwise. At all events, this insect is invariably double-brooded in the latitude of St. Louis, and its natural history may be briefly told as follows: The first moths appear, and begin to lay their eggs, soon after the young apples begin to form. The great bulk of the worms which hatch from these eggs leave the fruit from the middle of May to the middle of June. These spin up, and in from two to three weeks produce moths, which pair and in their turn commence, in a few days, to lay eggs again. The worms (second brood) from these eggs leave the fruit, some of them as early as the first of September, others as late as Christmas. In either case they spin their cocoons as soon as they have left the apples, but do not assume the pupa state till towards spring-the moths from the late matured worms appearing almost as early as those from the earlier matured ones. The two broods interlock, so that in July worms of both may be found in the fruit of one and the same tree. We have repeatedly taken worms of the first brood, bred the moths from them, and obtained from these moths the second brood of worms; and we have done this both on enclosed fruit hanging on the tree in the open air, and on plucked fruit indoors. In the latter experiments the moths would often cover an apple with eggs, so that when the worms hatched they would enter from

In contemplating this subject, it is not my purpose to dwell on that inappropriate and inelegant definition of this term given by Webster"a student closely attached to books, or addicted to study"-but to briefly notice the work of insects in some of our libraries: for even our treasured volumes are not exempt from the ever-annoying pest of injurious insects.

When the lover of books finds that his choice and elegantly bound volume, which was placed in its case for safe keeping, has been riddled and marred, and may be ruined, by some ruthless worm, he is as much annoyed as the polished gentleman who finds that his fine cloth suit has been the prey of moths; or the careful lady, who finds the fur separated from the skin of her muff, or cape, by the same relentless foe.

Books have been infested with caterpillars, mites, and beetles, in foreign countries; and in our own country books have been occasionally injured by some of these insects; but, so far as I am informed, insects have not been very annoying in American libraries. Harris, in his general work on injurious insects, makes no allusion to them. I have observed worm-caten volumes occasionally in some old eastern libraries, especially in New York city.

Several species of Boring beetles belonging to the family Ptinida destroy books, as well as

many other kinds of property, even furniture, clothing, produce, pictures, etc., etc. M. Piegnot informs us that one of these penetrated directly through twenty-seven large quarto volumes in so straight a line that he was able to pass a string directly through and suspend the whole series of volumes. (Horner's Introd. to Bibliography, 311.)

During the past year I was not a little annoyed and surprised to find the larva of a species of Ptinus in some books in my office, from which I have bred the perfect insect, which proves to be the common Brown Ptinus (Ptinus brunneus, Dufs.-P. frontalis, Mels.)* They had injured several of my books, as well as many of the volumes of a small law library that had been recently shipped here from Keokuk, Iowa. Besides these, I have only seen one or two volumes in other libraries in Mount Carroll containing the marks of their work.

They usually operate in leather-bound or halfbound volumes, by boring galleries along in the leather where it is joined to the back of the leaves of the book; most frequently about the linial angle formed by the board-back, and the edge of the back of the leaves. Sometimes they are in the middle of the back, or about the corners of the book-back. They usually bore along quite under the surface of the leather, cutting it almost through; occasionally a small round hole penetrates through the leather to the outer surface. The galleries are filled with the debris.

This account of their work is, as I see it, where the insects are not yet very numerous; but I can readily foresee that they may, if unmolested, become so numerous as to cat up the binding and entirely ruin the volumes of a library.

Sheep-bound books seem to be their favorite resort; but I have found one larva in a clothbound volume about one of the binding cords where it is attached to the board, in all probability feeding on the paste used in the binding.

These insects may be well enough in some places, at least on the pins in an entomological collection, but I do not like their notions of book-gnawing. So to teach them better habits, I searched carefully and destroyed all I could find, and afterwards subjected the volumes to baking in an oven, being careful not to heat them sufficiently to burn the leather brittle. A better plan would be to put them into some water-tight box, and to immerse the box with its contents in boiling water long enough to heat the books through and through to near 212o Fah. If this does not clean them out, I shall brush the

This and the following described insect were kindly determined by Dr. Horn.

books over thoroughly with a strong solution of corrosive sublimate.

Should these insects become more numerous, I shall prefer a cloth-bound book because of less liability of such books to be attacked by the insects. The bookbinder might easily remedy the difficulty by adding a little corrosive sublimate to the paste he uses; but to him there is an objection on the score of health.

This is an imported insect, and therefore is all the more to be feared according to the teachings of Mr. Walsh, who endeavored to prove that all imported insects are worse than the indigenous ones. The causes of this may be various, but the grand reason is supposed to be that the natural enemies in their native country do not accompany them in their migrations. Some entomologists, however, say that this species does but little harm.

Another Boring beetle of the Plinus family (Sitodrepa panicea, Thomas Anobium paniThomas-Anobium ceum, Fabr.), feeds on capsicum and other spices, wafers, farninaceous meals, etc., and are numerous about drug stores, as I have seen in this town. The same insect was found in a handsome red bead made of some kind of colored paste, much to the annoyance of the young lady who was wearing it: for, strange as it may appear, nothing much more annoys a young lady than a harmless worm. I have had these beads in a close box, and there has been developed a new brood every year since I placed them in this confinement. The eggs are white, ovate, and probably each female only produces a few. By crushing a pregnant female I obtained six eggs.

The larva of these bead beetles is somewhat hairy, yellowish-white, 6-legged, and coiled up by retracting the abdomen under the thorax. It is considerably corrugated, especially along the sides. The head is smooth, horny, and white, and the mandibles and parts about the mouth are black. It lives in the bead, and feeds so carefully that one would not suspect its presence were it not that the perfect insect cats a hole through the same to make its escape. Sometimes, but rarely, two were found in a bead.

When ground capsicum contains these insects it will be found cemented into somewhat irregular hollow balls, attached around the sides of the vessel in which it is contained. It is strange that they will live and thrive equally as well in such a pungent substance as they do in barley meal, if, indeed, they be one and the same insect, and I am not able to detect any marked difference between the capsicum, barley meal, and beadinhabiting insects.

The larva of the Brown Ptinus, or Book-bee

tle, is similar in appearance to that of this Spicebeetle (Sitodrepa), but close examination shows it to be much more hairy. I have taken them from the books and placed them in small corked vials, and observed that they soon buried themselves in the cork, where they lived and fed for as much as two or three months. The Brown Ptinus matures in April and May, and at this time I have so often taken them in a basin or pail of water, during the past four years, that I conclude that it would be a good plan to set pans of water in the library for the purpose of entrapping the perfect insects.

These two insects, though belonging to the same family, are quite different in appearance. Compared with the Book-beetle (Ptinus), the Spicebeetle (Sitodrepa) is of a lighter brown, and is more nearly cylindrical. The antennæ are much smaller and mostly retracted after death. The Book-beetle is of a darker brown, usually considerably hump-backed, with the thorax considerably narrowed just in front of the wing-covers. It is more densely covered with hairs, and with a lens the hairs are seen much more conspicuously-stiff and bristle-like. I thus speak of their differences in contrast because some have considered them the same.

These insects produce a peculiar sound, which is supposed to be caused by striking their jaws. against some foreign object, and which is, perhaps, made to attract their partners. This sound somewhat resembles the ticking of a watch, and ignorant and superstitious people believe it to be ominous of death-" the death watch."

When apples are stored near the library, the Codling Moth, upon leaving the apple and seeking a place to transform, may locate itself in a book, as I have upon several occasions observed. When it enters the book between the back and leaves, it gnaws and mutilates them very much to make a desirable place in which to spin its cocoon. On one occasion I observed that the larva, after cutting through three or four leaves and spinning a good deal of silk, left for more desirable quarters. In this way many other caterpillars may injure books, when by accident they gain access to them.

We read of various book enemies that have attracted attention from time to time. A caterpillar (Anglossa pinguinalis), said sometimes to subsist on butter and lard, does no little damage to books by fixing itself and spinning a web on the binding. Still another, according to Kirby and Spence, does much damage by taking its station between the leaves.

A mite (Celetus eruditus) cats the paste of the binding, and thus is a troublesome enemy.