ROCKY MOUNTAIN GRASSHOPPER CANNOT LIVE IN PENNSYLVANIA-Lancaster, Pa.-Early last spring (about the beginning of March) somebody sent me, through the mail, a small box of grasshopper's eggs, from Leavenworth, in Kansas. They were whitish, oblong, and arranged diagonally in oblong pellet-like masses, covered with a dark-colored glutinous substance. There were probably five hundred in all. Some of these eggs I put in a small box, and others I put in a jar, half full of moist carth, which I set, in a sort of conservatory,among some plants. Those in the box hatched out a week earlier than those on the moist earth, although the temperaure of the two places was about equal. Of course all those in the box starved for the want of food. About the middle of March they made their appearance in the form of a very active little black grass-hopper, which I took to be the young of the Rocky Mountain Grasshopper (Caloptenus spretus, Uhler). Those in the jar were carried to the garden along with the plants about the first of April, where the jar was accidentally upset, and the little "hoppers," about one hundred and fifty in number, all made their escape. But they, too, must also have all perished, for with my utmost vigilance during the whole summer, I never got a sight of a single one of them again. I conclude, therefore, that our climate is "unwholesome" to the Rocky Mountain species, although the Red-legged species (C. femur-rubrum, De Geer) lives and flourishes here.

S. S. R.

TOMATO WORM PARASITES-Cinnaminson, N. J., Sept. 27, '69.-There is a species of fly (parasitic) that is attacking the Tomato-worm in our vicinity in immense numbers. As many as forty or fifty of their cocoons may be seen fastened to the body of a single worm. The cocoons are about the size of a grain of wheat, and attached by their ends. [Migrocaster cocoons.— ED.] They appear to exhaust the vitality of the worm very much, some of them being entirely dried up, while others are so weakened that I doubt if they ever pass through their transformations. These worms are very destructive and nearly ruin our tomato patches. But now they may be seen by hundreds and thousands covered with these white cocoons. The fly is doing its work more effectually than a person could do it, for one-half the worms cannot be found, owing to the resemblance they bear to the plant; but the fly appears to have hunted them all out, comparatively few having escaped.

CHAS. PARRY.

THE GOOSEBERRY SPAN-WORM ATTACKS THE BLACK CURRANT-Credit, C. W., Nov. 5, 69.On page 13 of your current volume, it is stated as a remarkable fact that the three different Currant and Gooseberry-worms, all of them attack almost indiscriminately the Red Currant and the Gooseberry, while they are none of them ever found upon our cultivated Black Currant, or so far as is known, upon our wild Black Currant. In 1868 my Black Currant bushes were rather badly attacked by the Span-worm larvæ (Ellopia ribearia, Fitch), but the Saw-fly larvæ did not touch them. I noticed this fact in the Canada Farmer of July 1, '68. These Spanworm larvæ have been very injurious to the Buffalo or Sweet-flowering Currant (R. aureum) in this neighborhood during the last few years. Numbers of these bushes were entirely denuded of their foliage. They too were exempt from the attacks of the Saw-fly, though it ravaged Red and White Currant and Gooseberry bushes just alongside. I may mention that I have often found larvae of the Span-worm upon wild Gooseberry and Currant bushes in the woods, without however noticing the particular species of Gooseberry or Currant. C. J. S. BETHUNE.

GRAPE-BERRY MOTH-Shiloh, Ills., Sept. 29, 1869.-The Grape-berry worm is more numerous than ever. I have heretofore been in the habit of permitting my grapes to remain on the vines, until they had attained their utmost maturity; but I find that with this practice many of the worms escape, whilst if I gathered my grapes two weeks sooner, I should get most of the worms into the wine-press, and prevent them from propagating. As it is, I have the berries that drop off the bunches picked from the ground with a great deal of labor, but find it impossible to have them all secured. I apprehend too, that when I commence my late vintage many worms have already left the berries to change to pupa. An earlier vintage will give me an inferior wine, but a much larger quantity, and will enable me to destroy most of the worms. ADOLPH ENGELMANN. POLYPHEMUS MOTH-Vineland, N. J., Aug. 25th, 1869.-The last week in July a fine large larva of the Polyphemus moth wound up, and on the 14th day of August a splendid moth came forth from the cocoon. It fed and wound up in the open air, and only the day before it came out I cut the twig to which the cocoon was attached and brought it in, thinking that the pupa would remain as usual until next summer, before its final development.

MRS. MARY TREAT.

worm with food. When first hatched, and for some time afterwards, the larva is green, with a tinge of pink along the sides, and with an immensely long straight pink horn at the tail. This horn soon begins to shorten, and finally curls round like a dog's tail, as at Figure 58 c. As the worm grows older it changes to a reddish-brown, and by the third moult it entirely loses the caudal horn.

In the latitude of St. Louis, this worm is found full grown throughout the month of September, and a few specimens may even be found as late as the last of October. The eggs of this species, as of all other Hawk-moths (Sphinx family) known to us, are glued singly to the leaf of the plant which is to furnish the future

When full grown, it measures nearly four inches in length, and when crawling appears as at Figure 58 a. It crawls by a series of sudden jerks, and will often fling its head savagely from side to side when alarmed. Dr. Morris* describes the mature larva as being green, with six side patches; but though we have happened across many specimens of this worm during the last seven years, we never once found one that was green after the third moult; nor do we believe that there are ever any more than five fullsized yellow spots each side, even in the young individuals. The specimen from which our figure was made, occurred in 1867, at Hermann, Missouri, in Mr. George Husmann's vineyard. The back was pinkish, inclining to flesh-color; the sides gradually became darker and darker, and the five patches on segments 6-10 inclusive, were cream-yellow with a black annulation, and shaped as in our figure. On segments 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, were numerous small black dots, but on each of the following five segments there were but two such dots. A pale longitudinal line ran above the yellow patches, and the head and first joint were uniformly dull reddishbrown.

The synonyms for this insect are Sphinx lycaon, Cramer; Pholus lycaon, Huebner, and Daphni pandorus, Huebner. We adopt Harris's nomenclature for reasons already given in a former number. Mr. A. Grote (Proc. Ent. Soc Phil., I, p. 60), believes that the Sphinx lycaon of the authors above quoted, is distinct from S. satellitia, Linn., and would fain eliminate" a third species (posticatus). For reasons which it would be tedious to give here, we prefer to regard lycaon as a variety of satellitia.

The most common general color of the full grown worm is a rich velvety vinous-brown. When at rest, it draws back the fore part of the body, and retracts the head and first two joints into the third (see Fig. 58 b), and in this motionless position it no doubt manages to escape from the clutches of many a hungry insectivorous bird. Dr. Morris, copying perhaps after Harris, erroneously states that the three anterior joints, together with the head, are retracted into the fourth, and Mr. J. A. Lintnert makes the same false assertion. It is the third segment in this species, as well as in the Achemon Sphinx, which is so much swollen, and into which the head and first two segments are retracted.

When about to transform, the larva of our Satellite Sphinx enters a short distance into the ground, and soon works off its caterpillar-skin and becomes a chrysalis of a deep chestnut

*Synopsis of N. A. Lepidoptera, p. 177.

+ Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil., III., p. 659.

existed as larva. In this last event, it doubtless becomes barren, like others under similar circumstances, as was shown in our last number (p. 55). The colors of the moth are light olivegray, variegated as in the figure with dark olive-green. The worms are easily subdued by hand-picking.

SOUTHERN NOTES.

BY J. PARISH STELLE, SAVANNAH, TENN.

CLOTHES-MOTHS.-We have several species of clothes-moths at the South, some of which work all through the winter as far up as Corinth, Miss. They are all troublesome enough, but the individual most to be dreaded is of a light buff color (Tinea vestianella,* Steph.), though we have another almost as bad (Tinea tapetzella, Linn.), that is nearly black, with the tips of its larger wings white, or pale gray.

These moths generally lay their eggs on the woolen or fur articles they intend to destroy; and when the larva appears it begins to eat immediately, making sad work in a very short time. With the hairs or wool it has gnawed off, it forms a silken case or tube, under the protection of which it devours the substance of the article on which it has fixed its abode. The tube has the appearance of parchment, is open at both ends, but furnished with kind of flaps that the insect can lift at pleasure for the purrusticella, Huebner.

protection against clothes-moths. One is tobacco sprinkled among the clothes, another is gum-camphor, and still another capsicum or pulverized red pepper. Each of these are good, no doubt, but they are rather objectionable to some on account of their unpleasant effect on the olfactories. I have found alum to be all that is required, without being the least offensive. In case of furs it may be pulverized and sprinkled into them freely; or it may be dissolved in water and the liquid applied. The latter mode is the best for most goods. An article well sprinkled with strong alum water will never be injured by moths.

SOOT FOR CABBAGE WORMS.-I experimented last summer on the Southern Cabbage-worm (larva of Pieris protodice, Boisd.), and found soot to be a very good thing to prevent its ravages. The soot was taken from my chimney, and as I had burned a great deal of yellow pine, it was virtually lamp-black. Having first wetted the cabbage with a fine rose I sifted the soot upon them; and, though it did not keep them entirely clear of worms, owing, I suppose, to the fact that I could not get it on all parts of the plants, I raised a very good crop, while not one of my neighbors matured a single head. The thing is worth trying, and in localities where pine soot cannot be had, I take it that common lamp-black would have the same effect.

A LARGE BROOD.-I "hatched" in Septem

ber last, from the cocoons on one tomato worm, (Sphinx 5-maculata, Haw.), two hundred and seventy-one small Ichneumon flies! If any person interesting himself in entomology can beat that for a single brood he may take the belt from me.

THE SQUASH BUG.-My last summer's experience in this section with the Squash-bug (Coreus tristis, De Geer), showed no difference in favor of any variety of squashes. I raised the "White-bush Scallop" and found them to be as hard on it as on any other kind.

The best means that I hit upon of saving my squashes from the pest, was to remove the earth from the roots of the plants as low as it would bear, and fill up with a mixture of dry ashes and salt. Without this precaution I found them going down into the ground on the under side of the vine, and working where I could not get at them.

In addition to the salt and ashes application, I trimmed off all the leaves that touched the ground as soon as they came down, and spread them out under the plants, and upon examination, mornings and evenings, I generally found about all the old bugs nicely housed away beneath the leaves. I think leaves are far better to trap them under than boards or shingles. A decaying or wilting leaf seems to attract them; you will usually find them on such leaves when looking over your vines.

TOADS vs. BUGS.

We make the following extracts from some passages in Fogt's book "On Noxious and Beneficial Animals," which are quoted at full length in the fourth number of Le Naturaliste Canadien. For the benefit of the American reader, we translate from the original French.

"A remarkable fact has lately been published in the newspapers. There is actually a considerable commerce in toads between France and England. A toad of good size and in fair condition will fetch a shilling [twenty-five cents] in the London market, and a dozen of extra quality are worth one pound sterling [five dollars]. You may see these imported toads in all the market gardens where the soil is moist, and the owners of those gardens even prepare shelter for them. Many grave persons have shaken their heads, when they heard of this new whim of the English; but those laugh the best who laugh the last. This time the English are in the right. I used to have in my garden a brown toad as big as my fist. In the evening he would

"Toads become accustomed to man, and do not appear to be incapable of tender sentiments. Everybody has heard the story, which seems borrowed from some old popular legend, of a toad which for thirty years lived under an espalier tree, and came out every evening, when the family was taking supper, to get his share of the meal like the dogs and the cats. The family shed tears on the day when an accident deprived that devoted servant of life. Some of my friends believe that, after having heaped benefits upon a toad, they have obtained from that despised animal evident proofs of gratitude. A certain Capt. Perry has told me that, in traveling through the interior of Sicily, he once found on the road a snake that was just about to devour a toad. He killed the snake, and the toad went his way. Six days afterwards he returned by the same road. All of a sudden something hops along close behind him. It was his toad, who had adopted this mode of expressing his gratitude towards his preserver, and who had positively recognized him. But, Captain,' I said to him, how could you possibly identify the particular toad whose life you had saved? One toad is as like another toad as one egg is like another egg. That is very truc,' replied the Captain, but he looked at me with such grateful eyes, that I could not doubt his identity for a moment." "

6

THE TOMATO-WORM AGAIN.

By way of specimen brick, we print here one of the many ridiculous paragraphs about this poor slandered and vilified Tomato-worm, with which the newspapers always abound at a certain time of the year. The accuracy of its Natural History is only excelled by the accuracy of its English Grammar. It will be noticed that in the last sentence there is a stray nominative case, "a tomato," looking about in vain for some verb with which it can agree. We scarcely know which to pity most, the nominative case or the Tomato-worm. And then think of that most absurd assertion, that the Tomato-worm-which has been well known to Entomologists for about half a century "was first discovered this

season!!!"

THE TOMATO-WORM.--Dr. Fuller, at the corner of Fayette and Montgomery streets, has in his office a Tomato-worm measuring about five inches in length, and weighing about an ounce. It was taken from a tomato vine in his garden, and is now securely enclosed in a glass bottle. It eats and digests daily about twenty times its own weight of tomatoes and tomato leaves. It eats constantly, except resting occasionally from one to two minutes at a time. This worm was first discovered this season, and is as poisonous as the bite of a rattlesnake. It poisons by throwing spittle, which it can throw from one to two feet. This spittle striking the skin, the parts commence at once to swell, and in a few hours death ends the agonies of the patient. Three cases of death in consequence of this poison have recently been reported. The medical profession is much excited over this new enemy to human existence. It is advisable for persons picking tomatoes to wear gloves. The question arises whether or not a tomato partly devoured by one of these vermin, and then afterwards eaten by a person, there may not be sufficient virus left upon it to poison the one who eats it? -Syracuse Standard.

The question arises, whether or not, in a paragraph such as this, written by a silly ignoramus and published by a sensationist Editor, there may not be sufficient nonsense still undiscovered, to drive fifteen thousand fools crazy?

PARIS GREEN POISONOUS.

[From a Letter from Dr. C. HERING, Philad.]

"In dusting vegetation with Paris Green, in order to destroy noxious insects, the greatest care ought to be taken that the wind may not carry it towards the person of the operator. The arsenite of copper is one of the slow but more dangerous poisons. Many people have been poisoned by sleeping in rooms papered with green paper; and this was caused by the very same stuff. It may even injure the soil, if used repeatedly. Small doses of arsenic alone have rather promoted the growth of rye; but arsenite of copper is much more virulent in its effects, and other cereals or crops may be essentially injured by it."

We may add here, that a very thin dusting indeed with Paris Green, mixed with flour in order to reduce its strength, is sufficient to produce the desired effect upon the obnoxious insects. If used too freely, it becomes injurious to vegetation. "Some of our potato vines and egg-plants," says Prof. A. J. Cook of the Michigan Agricultural College, "have been totally ruined by a too free use of Paris Green. We used one part of the mineral to five parts of flour."

MR. WALSH'S SUCCESSOR.

There is perhaps no more forcible exemplification of Mr. Walsh's individuality of character, than the fact that it is difficult to find the proper person to fill his place. We are so far interested in this matter that we desire to see some competent person-some one who shall be a credit to the State of Illinois, appointed to fill the vacancy. Mr. Walsh had drawn two years' salary ($4,000), i. e., he had received pay to June 11th, 1869. He had, however, issued but one Report, and the Law requires an Annual Report to be published. Why he did not publish a second Report when it was due, we cannot very well say; but perhaps he did not understand the true reading of the Law. For about four months during the spring and summer of 1869 he was quite sick, and too much prostrated to do anything; but he was in excellent health and excellent spirits for two or three months previous to the accident which caused his death. He had just got ready to go to work on his second Report, and his last letter to us was principally occupied with an enumeration of the insects he intended to treat of, and of the illustrations that would be needed. The most vigilant search amongst his manuscripts and papers, has failed to reveal anything written for this Report; but we know, both from correspondence and conversation with him, that he intended to add to this second Report a fully illustrated edition of his first, which was issued as Acting State Entomologist-the two to form one large handsome volume, with about three thousand dollars' worth of steel-plate illustrations.

We recently had the pleasure of calling on Governor Palmer, at Springfield, in company with representatives of the Executive Committee of the Illinois State Horticultural Society. They all seemed to be of the opinion that the best course to pursue would be to defer appointing a successor till the next biennial session of the Legislature, in the winter of 1870-71. But meanwhile to commission some person to carry out Mr. Walsh's intentions, as far as it is possible with our knowledge of them, by publishing a Report on the Entomology of Illinois. If the proper steps are taken, a work on the noxious and beneficial insects of Illinois, equal in usefulness and popularity to "Harris's Injurious Insects," might be prepared by the end of the year 1870. Our idea would be to republish his first Report with full illustrations, and with such additions and corrections as would be found necessary, and to add to it a second