SB 931 WT^ 7 ^Ij.ll W '■■■ I' l l* Copy 1 ^-<*^ REPORT OF DK. FITCH ON THE NOXIOUS km OTHER INSECTS, DETRIMENTAL TO A6EICULTURE, ALSO AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. BRARY OF CONGRESS. ^ '' ^ [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT 1 ^^ $ ITED STATES OF AMERICA, f ALBANY: C- WENDELL, LEGISLATIVE PRINTEB, 1865.

fig. 1, which figure will also serve to represent this insect in almost every particular. It per- tains to the genus Fteromalus, a name derived from two Greek words, meaning bad wings, the wings in these insects being nearly destitute of ribs or veins. As they, by destroying the parasite of the tobacco-worm, cause that worm to be more numerous and hereby more injurious to the tobacco, and as they will often occur lurking about this plant in search of the cocoons upon which to bestow their eggs, they may not inappropriately be named the Tobacco Pteromalus. All the flies which cahie from the cocoons were females, from which the following description is drawn. The Tobacco Pteromalus {Pteromalua Tahacum), is one-tenth of an inch 16 TOBACCO-WORM. PARASITE'S DESTROYER DESCRIBED. long' to the end of its body, and is of a dark or bottle green color with a brassy reflection, and find}' shagreened upon the head and thorax. The head is large and placed transversely, about three times as broad as it is long, convex in front and concave at its base. Viewed in front it is nearly circular, with a large oval eye sliglitly protruding upon each side, of a dull red color fading to brown after death. On the crown three ocelli or eyelets appear as glassy dots placed at the corners of a triangle. The jaws are yellow, their ends brown, with four minute teeth. The palpi or feelers are dull white. The antennae, are inserted in the middle of the|face and when turned backward reach about half the length of the thorax. They become a little thicker towards their tips, and are of a brown color with the long basal joint dull pale yellow, and are clothed with a short incumbent beard. They are composed apparently of nine joints, the first joint being long and smooth, and forming. an angle with the remaining joints. The second joint is the smallest of the series, being but little longer than thick and obconic in its form. The third joint is thrice as long and nearly thrice as thick as the preceding, and has the shape of a pear, the contracted portion of its base being formed of two rings or small joints which are rarely perceptible even in the live specimen when highly magni- fied, except these organs be put upon the stretch. The fourth and fol- lowing joints are a third shorter than the foregoing, and are nearly equal and square in their outline, each successive joint very slightly increasing in thickness and diminishing in length. The last joint is about thrice as long as the one preceding it, of an oval or sub-ovate form, rounded at its base and bluntly pointed at its apex, and is probably composed as in the other species of this genus of three joints compactly united together. The thorax scarcely equals the head in width and is egg-shaped and thrice as long as wide. On each shoulder is a sliglitl}' impressed line extending obliquely backward and inward. The abdomen is a third shorter than the thorax, and in the live insect surpasses it in thickness, is egg-shaped and convex with its tip acute pointed. When dried it scarcely equals the thorax in thickness, and becomes strongly concave on the back and trian- gular when viewed from one side, It is smooth, polished and sparkling, of a green black color, the middle segments each with a broad purple black band visible in particular reflections of the light. Beneath it is black and at the tip shows some fine impressed longitudinal lines forming the edges of the groove in which the sting is inclosed. The legs are slender, pale wax yellow, with the feet and ends of the shanks dull white, the hips of the hind legs being stout and black, with their outer faces green blue and their tips pale yellow. The feet are five-jointed and dusky at their tips. The icings are transparent and reach slightly beyond the tip of the abdomen when at rest. The anterior ones are broad and evenly rounded at their ends, and have, near the outer margin, a thick brown rib or sub- costal vein extending more than a third of their length and then uniting with the margin and terminating some distance forward of the tip, after sending off a short straight stigmal branch which is thickened at its end, with its apex nolched. Towards the inner margin an exceedingly fine longitu- 17 TOBACCO-WORM. PARASITE AND ITS DESTROYER. THEIR DIFFERENT MOTIONS. dinal vein is perceptible, which, near its middle, g'ives oft" a branch runninj^ almost to the inner hind end of the wing. The hind win Neither burrowing worm nor insect. Shall pass o'er the magic circle." And this is well known to have been a casualty of frequent occurrence all along since the soil of our country has been cultivated by civilized men. In those diaries which have occasionally been kept in different parts of our land by persons who have been curious to preserve a record of local inci- dents of interest, we are sure to meet ever and anon with the statement, "Indian corn was this year greatly injured by the worms," "The season was wet and cold, and the worms made extensive ravages on the corn," and other entries of the same purport. From one of these sources we learn that a century ago there had been a distressing drouth in 1761, followed by an unusually long and severe winter and a late spring. " When at last the corn was planted, millions of worms appeared to eat it up, and the ground must be planted again and again. Thus many fields were utterly ruined." (Flint's Second Report, Mass. Board of Agriculture, p. 40.) It, however, may have been the Wire-worm which occasioned at least a por- tion of the destruction here related, for usually when one of these worms is numerous the other is so likewise. It is unnecessary to mention other yeara in which we have little more than the mere fact stated that these corn worms were very injurious. In addition to such manuscript mementoes, the published allusions to these pests date far back. Upwards of seventy years ago, when the old Agri- cultural Society of our State was first organized, in a circular which the Society issued, containing inquiries upon diflferent topics on which informa- tion was solicited, the first query respecting insects was, " Is there any ^9 CUT-WORMS. HAVE NEVER YET BEEN INVESTIGATED. way of destroying the _c:rubs in corn and flax ? " No answer to this inquiry, of sufficient importance for publicati(.)n, was received. But, although these Cut-worms have always been such a formidable foe in this country, against which the cultivators of the soil have had to con- tend, they have not, down to the present day. been subjected to any care- ful scientiHc examination. It was formerly supposed they were all of but one kind, one species of insect. In our day it has been ascertained that they are of several different kinds, and that they are bred from a particular group or family of millers or n:oths, of a dark color, which fly about in the night time and remain at rest and hid from our observation during the day — most of them belonging to the genus named Agrotis by naturalists. But the observations which have been made upon these Cut-worms have been so hasty and superficial, that, when we see one of these worms cutting o£f the young corn in our fields or the cabbage plants in our gardens, we are unable to give it its exact name; we are unable to say what particular species of miller or moth it is which has produced that worm. All that has yet been done towards a scientific investigation of this sub- ject may be narrated in a few words. Upwards of forty years ago, Mr. Brace, of Litchfield, Ct., in a short arti- cle published in the first volume of Silliman's Journal, gave what he evi- dently regarded as a sufficient elucidation of this matter. It appears that in a patch of ground planted with cabbages, where the worms had been numerous, he found their pupae to be common, lying a few inches below the surface, just after the worms had disappeared. From some of tliese pupse he obtained the miller or moth. In the article alluded to, he merely des- cribes this miller as being the insect which produces the Cut-worm, naming it the Phalena devastator or the Devastating miller. As he supposed all the Cut-worms were of one kind, he gives no description of the worm from which this miller is produced. And thus it remains unknown to this day what the characters and appearance of the worm are which belongs to this miller which Mr. Brace described. Some ten years after this. Dr. Harris, one season, gathered a number of full grown Cut-worms from different situations, to breed the moths from them; but what is most surprising, he took no notes of the differences in the appearance of these worms. He obtained from them four different moths in addition to the one which Mr. Brace had previously obtained. These he names and describes, but is unable to give any account of the worms which belong to either one of these species. In the Second Report which I presented to this Society, I gave very exact figures of the miller which Mr. Brace described, and of two others of the most common millers of our country belonging to the same group; and I also described five of the Cut-worms which I had noticed as being common kinds in our cornfields and gardens. Finally, in my Third Report I was able to give an account of one of our Cut-worms, and the moth which was raised from it. And this is the posture in which this subject now stands. Seven of the moths or millers of our country, which produce Cutjworms, have been named 30 CUT-WORMS. OCR ILL SUCCESS IN REARING THEM. and described. But only r.ne of thern is known to us in its larva state. We also know that at least five other Cut-worms, in addition to this one, are formidable enemies to us, depredating every year, more or less, upon the young- plants in our fields and gardens, but we know not the species to which they respectively pertain, and consequently are unable to distinguish either of them definitely, by giving to it its correct name. I have for a great many years regarded these Cut-worms as a most important subject requiring to be elucidated. And accordingly, almost every year, upon meeting with some of these worms, I have written in my notes a particular description of them, and have endeavored to feed and rear them to their perfect state, but without success. They are very intol- erant of confinement, especially when they are not grown to their full size. Upon discovering that they are imprisoned, they lose all relish for food, and become intent on one thing only, namely, to find some orifice in their prison walls through which to escape. Accordingl}^, when the shades of evening arrive, they come out from the earth in the box or pot in which thej' are placed, and crawl hurriedly' and anxiously around and around, the whole night long, as I have found on going to them with a light. The vegetables transplanted into the box ioi them to feed upon remain un- touched. In this manner, they in a few nights wear th^ir lives away, and are found lying stark and stiff on the surface of the dirt of their cage. From the experience I have had, I regard them as among the most difficult insects which I liave ever taken in hand to feed and rear from their larva to their perfect state. It had accordingly become evident to me that a suitable knowledge of these Cut-worms could never be gained in the marmer I had attempted — by casual observations made at moments snatched from other investiga- tions. It was only by making them the leading subjects of examination; devoting to them ample time and care and vigilance; studying them as they were growing up in the fields and gardens; watching them from day to Aay, there, in their natural haunts, until they became fully matured and were done feeding, and tlien placing them in cages to complete their trans- formatiouiJ and reveal to us what the}' are in their perfect states; I say, it had become evident to me that it was only in this manner that the requisite knowledge of these creatures could be obtained, to prepare such an exact history of them as their importance and the advanced state of science at this day demand. I have, therefore, for several years, had it in contemplation, when a season occurred in which these worms were numerous, to devote my chief attention to them. And accordingly, cm becoming aware last May, that these worms would be quite common in my vicinity, I resolved to make them the subjects of special investigation. And I now proceed to give a summary account of these insects and their habits, and ihe progress whicli the researches of the past season has ena- bled us to make towards a more full and exact knowledge of them. It is in midsummer, mostly in the month of July, that the moths or mil- lers come abroad and lay the eggs from which the Cut-worms are bred. 31 CUT-WORMS. YOUNG WORMS IN AUTUMN. FALL PLOWING TO DESTROY THEM. The eggs are dropped at the surface of the ground, around the roots of grass and other herbage. The worms hatch and feed during tlie autumn, coming abroad by night and eating the most tender vegetation which they are able to find, and during the daytime Avithdrawing themselves under the ground to hide from birds and other enemies, and feeding upon the roots of the vegetation which they there meet with. Grass appears to be their favorite food, and its young, tender blades and rootlets furnish most of these worms their subsistence through the first stnges of their lives. During the autumn the earth is so profusely covered with vegetation and these worms are so small that no notice is taken of them or the trifling amount of herbage which they then consume. They become about half grown when the cold and frosty nights of autumn arrive, whereby they are no longer able to come out to feed. They then sink themselves deeper than usual into the ground, going down to a depth of three or four inches; and there, each worm, by turning around and around in the same spot, forms for itself a little cavity in which to lie during the winter; and it there goes to sleep, and lies torpid and motionless as though it wei'e dead. The soil at the depth where these worms are lying very slowly and gradu- ally becomes colder and colder as the winter comes on, and at length freez- ing, these worms reposing in it are also frozen. And when the warmth of spring returns, the ground thawing and becoming warm in the same gradual manner, these worms slowly thaw and awake from their long sleep and return again to life. The case is analogous to what occurs with our- selves when we have a finger or a foot frozen. On coming into a warm room, if we keep the frost-bitten part covered with snow or immersed in ice-cold water, whereby it veiy slowly thaws and the circulation gentlj' and gradually returns to it, the part readil}^ recovers; whereas, if instead of this, we hold it to the fire and thaw it suddenly and abruptly, high in- flammation and gangrene follows, and we lose the limb. And so, if these Cut-worms lying in the ground should be suddenly frozen or thawed, it would le fatal to them. This brings to our view an important measure which is much practiced for the purpose of destroying these worms and securing the corn crop from their depredations. Our farmers quite generally endeavor to break up their planting ground in the autumn, rather than in the spring, under the idea that they thereby disturb these worms in their winter quarters and expose them to the cold and frost, whereby a cpnsiderable portion of them are destr(.)yed. And I believe it is the general experience of our farmers that corn planted upon ground which has been thus broken up in the autumn is less liable to be injured by these worms, than where it has been broken up in the spring. But these worms, in common with all other insects, continue to be active in autumn so long as the weather rem.ains warm. It is not till they feel the chill of the autumn frosts that they retire into their winter quarters. Therefore, if the ground be broken up early in autumn, when the weather is still warm and the worms are in" full life and activity, it can be of little, if any avail, for the purpose intended, as they will readily crawl into the ground to the depth which they require for their 3^ CUT-WORMS. THEIR HABIT OP SEVERING YOUNG PLANTS. protection. In order that tliis fall plowing- should be efficacious, it is obvious it should be deferred until near the close of the season, when the worms have withdrawn themselves downwards and are lying' torpid and inactive in their winter retreat. If the turf under which they are reposing be then turned up to the surface, they will be incapable of crawling away into any new quarters, and the sudden freezings by night and thawings by day to which they will be alternately exposed, we are confident must destroy a large portion of them. When the spring has returned and we are engaged in making our gar- dens, a Cut-worm is occasionally turned up to our view in digging and working in the earth there; and if grass has been permitted to grow and form a turf around the roots of currant bushes or elsewhere, upon digging up and rooting out this grass, we are quite sure of finding a 'number of these worms nestled among it, indicating to us that grass more than any- thing else furnishes them with the covert and food which they desire. Although we thus find these Cut-worms Ij'ing in the soil of the garden early in Maj^ it is not until the close of that month and the beginning of June that they begin to attract our notice by the injury they do in our gardens and cornfields. It is when they are grown to about two-thirds of their full size that tliey commence the work which renders them so perni- cious to us, — that of severing the young, tender plants. Previous to this, during all the first period of their lives, as has already been stated, they lie concealed under the ground during the day time, feeding there upon the roots of plants, and only venture out by night to feed upon the green vege- tation above ground. Although in England they are called surface grubs, I discover they are not restrained to the surface of the ground, but mount up the sterns of young cabbages and beans and eat portions of their leaves. But, about the commencement of Jnne, the nights have become so short and the diij's so long, and the worms are now grown to such a size and their appetites have become so ravenous, that they are forced to a most singular change of their habits. The insipid roots of plants fail to yield them the amount of nourishment they require during the eighteen hours of daylight. They must either stay out to feed upon green herbage during the daytime, or they must, so to speak, set their wits to work to devise some way by which they can get this herbage down under the ground so that they can there feed upon it. We accordingly see them adopting the curious expedi- ent of cutting off tender young plants in order to draw them into the ground, whereby they may feed upon them during the long hours of the day. Is it not wonderful, that such sluggish, stupid looking creatures as these worms are, should have the intelligence to perform such a feat as this — cutting off the plant, to enable them to get the end of it down into the ground, so that they may cosily lie there and feed upon it in safety — gradually drawing it in, more and more, until by the close of the day the whole of the plant and its leaves are consumed; a feat strikingly analogous to that for wliich the beaver is so renowned, cutting down small trees and drawing and swimming them away to build a dam with them. Surely we should admire this loathsome-looking worm for such a skillful performance, 33 CTJT-WaRMS. THE STRIPED WORM FOLLOWED BY THE LARGER YELLOW-HEADED WORM, were it not that it is this very act which renders this creature such a pest, such a nuisance to us ! As to the kinds of plants which these worms thus sever to feed upon thorn, they appear to have but little if any preferences. They relish every- thing- that is young and tender and succulent. Thus they attack the corn, the flax, the potato stalks in our fields, and in our gardens the cabbage plants and beans, cucumber and melon plants, beets and parsnips, and also the red-rood and several other weeds. Nor are they limited to herbaceous plants. Where a sucker starts up from the root of a tree, while it is yet young and tender it is liable to be severed, if one of these worms chances to find it. They appear to have no discrimination in their taste, but relish equally well the most acrid and bitter plants, with those which are mild and aro- matic. Thus the onion stalks in our gardens are about as liable to be cut off as any other plants; and I have known the acrid smart-weed to be severed by them. The past summer, I set out in my garden a few tobacco plants, that I might notice what insects would come upon this filthy weed; and within a few days after, one of these Cut-worms gave me a very palpa- bl(! reminder that he would not tax me for cabbages and beans if I would only furnish him with what tobacco he wanted to chew. I have known a piece of writing paper to be partially consumed by one of these worms en- closed in a box where it became pressed with hunger. And where several worms are enclosed together in a box of dirt, over night, without any food, it is a common occurrence for the larger ones to devour the smaller ones. The past season, it was upon the 22d of May, in a hot bed, that 1 first no- ticed a plant severed by a Cut-worm; and the querj' at once arose, how could this worm get into such a close and secure place as that was? The loam forming the top of the bed had been obtained from the garden; and it was evident this worm must have been lying in the soil there, and had been brought from thence, in this soil, when the bed was being made. And the warmth of the bed had quickened the growth of this worm and brought it forward in advance of all its fellows. Three days later, the first bean plant in the garden was found cut off by another of these worms; and from that time they continued to become more common until about the first of June, when they were out in their full force, both in the fields and in the gardens. At first I supposed the worms in the cornfields were different from those in the gardens. But the more I exam- ined and compared them, the more assured I became that they were all of one species, although they varied greatly, some being pale and others dark, and some having very distinct stripes, whilst others had them scarcely per- ceptible. It was the same species which I named the Striped Cut-worm, in the Transactions of 1855, p. 545. It continued out in full force, depredating everywhere in the fields of flax and corn and in gardens, for a period of three weeks, when, the worms having got their growth, began to be less nume- rous, and had all disappeared at the end of the month. Just as this worm was about to vanish, another one, larger and more voracious, came out to occupy its place and continue the work of destruc- 3 34 CUT-WORMS. DIFFERENT OPERATIONS OP THE TWO WORMS. tion in ilie fields, none of them being met with in the gardens. It was on the 20th of June that, in examining a cornfield, I first noticed this second worm, lying under the sods, it being of a white or pale smoky color with a bright tawny yellow head, and the same kind which I have lieretofoi-e named the Yellow-headed Cut-worm. This cornfield had been broken up just before planting, and the roots of the grass were still juicy, succulent and unwithered, at least in all the larger masses of turf; and this worm evidently preferred these grass-roots to the young corn; for on examining a multitude of the hills of corn in which one or more of the young plants had been cut off, it was invariably the Striped worm first mentioned, which was discovered there; not one of these Yellow-headed worms had as yet molested the corn. Five days afterwards, this same cornfield was again visited. The weather in the interval had been warm and dry, whereby the grass-roots in the clumps of turf had become dry and withered, unadapted for feeding the worms any longer. And now on examining where the blades of young corn had been newly cut off, the mischief was discovered to have been done in nearly half the instances by this Yellow-headed worm, which was found lying in the earth contiguous to the severed plant. Thus, it was suflSciently demonstrated that so long as it could find any roots of grass for its nourishment, this worm did not molest the corn. Therefore the corn remained unattacked by it, until about the date specified, namely, the 25th of June. A few years before, however, I found this same Yellow- headed Cut-worm making severe havoc in a cornfield at the very beginning of June — there probably being no juicy roots of grass in this field, on which it was able to sustain itself. Having the fact thus established, that these worms will not trouble the corn, so long as they are able to find grass in the field on which to nourish themselves, it becomes an important ques- tion to be considered, whether, after all, it may not be better to break up our corn ground in the spring than in the fall; so that hereby, a portion of the roots of the turf may remain sufficiently fresh and unwithered to feed these Cut-worms and hereby keep them back from falling upon the corn. This is a difficult subject to determine; and it is only by repeated observations, carefully made, that it can be satisfactorily settled. The operations of these two worms were so very different that upon see- ing a severed plant it was readily told which worm it was that had cut it off', and would be found lying in the ground by its side. The smaller Striped worm, which first appeared, cut off the plants half an inch or an inch above the surface of the ground; and many of the plants, being sever- ed at this height, survive the injury, new leaves pushing up from the centre of the stump. Instances were noticed, in which the worm had cut off the plant below the lower leaf, which leaf remaining, green and thrifty, the plant would thereby be vigorously sustained while new leaves were putting forth from its centre. The larger Yellow-headed worm, on the other hand, severs tlie plants almost an inch below the surface of the ground, whereby tliey are effectually killed in every instance. This worm also lies deeper in the ground than the other, it being usually met with about two inches below the surface, whilst the smaller worm only goes down 35 CUT-WORMS. THEIR PTJPA STATE. STRIPED CUT-WORM DESCRIBED. pufficientl}' to hide itself from view. It is also much more irritable, more ferocious and combative. If two of them are enclosed in a box together, and one crowds against or attempts to crawl over the other, it spitefully resents this freedom and snappishly tries to bite the intruder. These Yellow-headed worms continued to cut off the corn for more than a week after the others had disappeared, remaining out till about the close of the first week in July. When the Cut-worm is done feeding it crawls down into the earth to the depth of three or four inches, where it is not liable to be disturbed by any other worms inhabiting the superficial soil. It here doubles itself too-ether in the shape of a horse-shoe, and by turning around and around in the same spot, presses the soil outward iroin around it, compacting it into a thin brittle kind of shell which the wet from any showers of rain will not Denetrate, forming a large oval cavity with a smooth sur- face on its inside. In this cavity the worm lies motionless and be- comes contracted in size and of a stiff and more firm consistency. The forward part of its body becomes swollen, more and more, till at length the skin bursts open upon the back and the hard shining yellow shell of the pupa begins to protrude from this opening. By slight sudden starts or shrugs, the skin is gradually thrown ofl" and remains in a shrivel- led mass at tiie end of the insect, which is now in its pupa form, without any mouth or feet, its shape being that of an elongated egg of a shining chestnut yellow color, thrice as long as thick, but only half as long as was the full grown worm. This pupa or chrysalis lies quiet and motionless in its oval cell under the ground for about four weeks, when its outer shell- like covering cracks open upon the fore part of the back, and the moth or perfect insect crowds itself out from it, and upward through the loose earth to the surface. The first moth from the Striped Cut-worm presented itself to us this year on the evening of the sixth of July, and upon the evening of the tenth the same moths had become exceedingly numerous. The worms had been so diversified in the depth of their color 'and the distinct- ness of their stripes, that I had confidently expected to see a similar diver- sity in the moths which they produced. I was, therefore, greatly surprised to find the latter remarkably uniform, no differences occurring to my obser- vation this season that were susceptible of being described as varieties. Now that we have ascertained the moth of tiiis, one of our most common Cut-worms, it is important that we give the most accurate description of it and of the worm from which it comes, that we are able to draw up from the numerous specimens we have examined, and thus place this species on record so distinctly that it may ever hereafter be readily recognized. The Striped Cut-worm, as we have heretofore termed it, is a cylindrical worm, usually about an inch in length when disturbed beside the severed plants in our gardens and corn fields, and upwards of an inch and a quar- ter when it is fully grown. Its ground color is dirty white or ash gray, occasionally slightly tinged with yellowish; the top of its neck shining black, with three white or pale longitudinal stripes; a whitish line along the middle of its back between two dark ones; on each side three dark stripes 36 CUT-TVORMS. MOTH OF THE STRIPED WORM DESCRIBED. separated by two pale ones, whereof the lower one is broader; often asome- what glaucons white stripe below the lower dark one, and all the underside below this dull white. This is the best concise general description of the worm that I am able to give, the characters stated being sometimes quite faint, but in most instances sufficiently plain and distinct. I proceed to give a more full description of the several parts. The head is shining black, with a white stripe in the middle, which stripe is forked, resembling an inverted letter Y. The nose piece and upper lip are whitish, the former being wrinkled or longitudinally striated, and the latter having a trans- verse row of white bristles. The jaws are black and four-toothed. Ou each side is usually a white spot, and in other instances the whole head is more or less mottled with white, or is throughout of a tarnished white color witii only a dustj' streak on each side of its base. The neck above is of the same shining black color and horny substance as the head, with a white stripe in the middle, continuous with that upon the head, and a stripe on each side, curving slightly outward at its hind end. The sides of the neck are dull white, with a short double blackish stripe across the middle. The hack is ash gray, this color forming a stripe along each side of the middle, where are two dusky lines, and between them a whitish line of the same thickness. The sides are dark gray or of the same dusky shade as the two lines on the middle of the back, this color being divided into three stripes of equal width by two faint pale lines, the lower one broader and formed of spots mottling the surface. These pale lines sometimes take on a glau- cous white appearance, and sometimes adjoining the lower dusky stripe on its underside is a third glaucous white stripe, which is broader than those above it, and along its lower edge are the breathing pores, forming a row of oval coal black dots. The underside, including all below the breathing pores, is dull whitish, the legs being varied with smoky brown, and the pro-legs having a ring of this color at their base. The Moth is represented, plate 4, figure 2, with its wings spread, and figure 3 as we tisually see it when at rest and with its wings closed. It measures 0.70 in length and 1.30 across its extended wings, and is of an ash or dusky gray color, and distinguished principally by two coal black spots, one nearly square, placed outside of the centre of the fore wings, and the other nearly triangular, a little forward of it, a roundish nearly white spot sep- arating them. Its head is gray, and its palpi or feelers are blackish upon their outer side. These organs are held obliquely forward and upward and are densely covered with erect hairy scales, giving them a short, thick outline of a compressed cylindrical form, and cut off transversely at their ends, with a small naked joint protruding therefrom, little longer than thick, and scarcely a third of the thickness of the joint from which it pro- jects. Coiled up between the palpi and slightly visible on their underside is the long spiral tongue or trunk. The antennae are slender, thread-like, but tapering towards their tips. They are simple in the females, and in the male are toothed like a saw along their opposite sides, the teeth being sharp and fringed with minute hairs at their tips. The thorax is the thickest part of the body and is of a square form, as is very evident when the 37 CtlT-WORMS. WINGS OF THE MOTH DESCniBEn. wings are spread. It is gray, with a black band in front, edged on its bind side witii an ash gray one, paler than the ground; and on the sjhoulder at the base of the fore wings is usually a small spot of dull pale yellow. The abdomen is tapering and somewhat flattened, dusky grayish, paler towards its base, its tip more blunt in the male than in the female and covered with a brush of hairs. The leg>i are blackish gray and hairy on their undersides, the spurs at the end of the middle and hind sh;iid\S beinjr black in their middle and white at each end. The feet are five-jointed, long and tapering, the first joint much the longest and the following ones suc- cessively shorter. They are gray, gradually passing into black at their ends, each joint having a white ring at its tip. The tvings in repose are laid flat, one upon the other, in a horizontal position, sometimes so closed together that their opposite sides are parallel, but oftener widening buck- ward (as represented in figure 3), and forming a broad shallow notch' at their hind end. The fore wings vary in color from ash gray to dusky gray, and sometimes have a tawny reddish reflection. Their outer edge is gray- ish black, with irregular alternations of black spelts having an asli gray spot between them, and towards the tip are about three equidistant pale gray dots. The costal area or narrow space between the outer edge and the first longitudinal vein is pale ash gray, gradually becoming dull and obscure beyond the middle. At the base, on the outer edge, are two black spots or short transverse streaks, with a pale gray streak between them, and opposite these, on the basal middle of the wing, are similar streaks placed obliquely, which are frequently faded to a blackish cloud-like spot, with a pale gray streak crossing its middle. Outside of the central p;ut of the wing are the stigmas, two large roundish pale gray sp(jts, having a square coal-black spot between them and a triangular one forward of them. 'Ihe anterior one of these stigmas is broad oval, almost circular, and placed obliquely, with its outer end mijre towards the b;ise of the wing than is the inner end. It is of a uniform pale gray color, slightly paler than any other part of the wing. Its edge is well defined by the black color surrounding it, except at its outer end, where it is incmn- plete, being confluent with the ash gray color of the costal area. The hinder stigma is kidney-shaped, being concave on its hind side, and occupying this concavity is a pale gray spot or cloud, quite varijible in its size in different specimens, and frequently taking on a bulf or cream yellow tinge. This stigma is brownish or watered gra^', becoming piiler along its anterior edge, its ends, particularly the inner one, being Vfiguo and indefinite, blending with the adjacent coloring, sometimes so much so that only its middle portion is distinct. Between these stigmas is a large square spot of a coal-black color, occupying the whole space between the two midveins of the wing, its fore and hind sides made concave by the rotundity of the stigmas which bound it upon these sides Forward of the anterior stigma is a second black spot of a somewhat triangular form, also occupjnng the whole space between the two midveins at this point. On its hind side it is concave and cut off obliquely by the obliquity of the stigma, whereby it is prolonged along the inner vein, usually into a long acute 38 CUT-WORMS. DESCRIPTION OP THE WINGS CONTINUED. point. Its anterior end is cut off, either transversely, obliquely or irregu- larly, by a faint pale grey streak, which is a portion of the anterior or extra-basal band. (See generalties preceding the description of the winga of the Tobacco- worm moth ). In the best specimens this pale streak is dis- tinctly seen to be prolonged backwards along the outer side of the black spot almost to the stigma, and tlien suddenly turning at a right angle, it runs obliquely toward and outward in a straight line to the outer margin, between the two small black spots which are here placed on the margin. In the opposite direction this pale streak is also prolonged from the for- ward end of the black triangular spot, inward and backward and curves slightly toward to the inner longitudinal vein, and beyond this, with another similar curve, is extended to the inner edge of the wing, it being margined on both sides by a black line, that along its hind side being commonly more conspicuous. And a short distance back fi'om this line, equidistant between tiie inner midvein and the inner vein, may always be seen a black dot or short dash, which is the extreme point of a black stripe called the teliform stigma, which is common upon the wings of the moths of this genus, but in this variety of this species is wholly wanting, except this minute vestige of its apex. And also crossing this inner half of the wing obliquely at about two-thirds of the distance from the base to the hind edge are two other parallel blackish lines, representing the post-medial band. The anterior one of these lines is irregularly wavy and angular, and turns obliquely forward as it approaches the posterior stigma, and appears to pass into the inner hind angle of the square black spot. The posterior line, as traced from the inner edge of the wing, curves slio'htly backward till it reaches a point a short distance back of the inner end of the hind stigma, when it becomes nearly transverse, and then curves foward and obliquely outward to the outer edge of the wing, ending in the posterior one of the two black spots which are on the outer edge oppo- site to the anterior side of the hind stigma. This line, in the middle of the wing, is festooned or made up as it were of crescents united at their ends, these ends projecting backwards and forming about four acute angu- lar points; and sometimes this line is made more distinct by a faint pale o-ray line bordering it on its hind side, at least in the concavities of the crescents. But both these blackish lines are commonly quite faint and entire- ly vanish in many specimens. Beyond this, a broad space on the hind bor- der of the wing is darker colored and traversed by a whitish line, which is wavy and often broken into a series of small irregular spots, these spots sometimes liaving larger black cloud-like spots adjoining them on the fore side. Back of the outer end of this line the tip of the wing is occupied by a triangular gray spot. The hind edge is faintly sinuated, with a series of slender black crescents surmounting the sinuosities. The fringe is con- color with the portion of the wing immediately forward of it. The bind wings are smoky whitish, with a broad dusky hind border, dusky veins, and an obscure dusky crescent near the centre. Their fringe is dull white with a dusky band near its middle. On the underside they are clearer white, with a broad, dusky hind border and sprinkled with dusky scales 39 Ctrt-WORMS. NAME OP THE MOTH. DESTROYER OF TUE CUT-WORMS. towards the outer side. The veins are not marked with dusky, except a spot or short streak upon each of them, forming- a transverse row forward of the hind harder, which row becomes obsolete towards the inner edf>-e and towards the outer edge is confluent, forming a dusky band. The cen- tral crescent is more distinct than on the upper side, and on the hind edge is a row of slender black crescents. The fore wings are dusky, of the same shade with the border of the hind pair, becoming slightl}^ paler towards their bases. They show an oblique black streak on the outer edge between the middle and the tip, and immediately beyond this is a very faint band crossing the wing parallel with the hind margin. The description now given makes it apparent, I think, that tliis moth is not essentially different from the species of Agrotis named nigricans by Lin- nasus, which species we have upon this continent with the same varieties described by authors as occurring in Europe. In this species the teliform stigma is marked by two parallel lines connected by a rounded mark at their ends. But in the examples which I bred from the Cut-worms of the corn, and all those which I captured that season a mere dot was the only remaining vestige of this stigma. Therefore to facilitate future references to this particular variety of which I have here treated, it may be well to separate it under a distinct name, which I have accordingly done. The larger Yellow-headed Cut-worm which came out as this was disap- pearing, produced as I expected, the same moth which was described in my Third Report, under the name Hadena amputatrix, the Amputating bro- cade moth. Thus it wag the larvce of these two insects which were so numerous and did all the injury to our crops the past season, neither of these being the species which Mr. Brace describes as the insect which produces the Cut- worm. And it is therefore evident that in difierent years and at different localities, it is sometimes one sometimes another of the insects of this group which becomes multiplied and injurious to us; whereby it will requii-e a series of observations extending through several seasons to obtain a full acquaintance with them. Before leaving this subject I may advert to one of our most efficient na- tural destroyers of these Cut-worms, which correspondents are occasionally sending me, for information as to its name, its origin, &c. It is the larva of a large black beetle, (Plate 4, fig. 4), having rows of round dots upon its back resembling burnished gold, the brilliancy of which dots cause it to be frequently noticed as it is wandering about in plowed fields and pas- tures in search of food, the beetle as well as its larva subsisting upon these Cut-worms. It is the Bold Calosoma, Calosoma calidum as it is named in scientific works, and pertains to the order Coleoptera and the family Cara- BIDjE. Its larva (Plate 4, fig. 5,) is a flattened, black, worm-like creature, having six legs inserted upon its breast, and a pair of sharp hook-like jaws projecting in front of its head, giving it, in connection with the agility of its movements, a very ferocious and formidable appearance. It is curious to watch this little creature when it is upon a hunting excursion, in pursuit 40 CUT-WORMS. THEin DESTItOYEH'S MODE OF KILMXG TtltM. of its prey. It wanders about over the plowed land, until it comes upon a spot where it perceives the surface has been newly disturbed. This indi- cates to it that a worm has probably crawled down into the ground at that spot. It immediately thereupon roots down into this loosened dirt, and disappears from view, the motion of the dirt indicating its movements, as it pushes itself along. At times it lies perfectly still, to discover if any worm is moving in the dirt anywheres near it. Now it is the habit of the Cut-worm, the same aa of most other worms, when any other creature ap- proaches and disturbs it, to give at short intervals a sudden, spiteful jerk, to menace and frighten away the intruder. But now, aware by the brisk motion made in the dirt near it, of the proximity of its mortal foe, it restrains itself from its wonted habit, and lies as still as though it were dead. It is only by some motion in the dirt, or l)y coming abruptly against it with its head and feelers, that this destioyer can discover the worm, for I have seen it draw the hind part of its body along the side of a worm which was lying perfectly still, and crawl away, without being made aware of the worm's presence by touching it in this manner. One of the most interesting and w(jnderful exhibitions of insect economy which the world affords, is this Calosoma larva murdering a Cut-worm. The larva it may be is young and less than half the size of the worm, but the lit- tle hero never shrinks from the encounter. Upon discovering a worm he is instantly on the alert, all vivacity and as if crazy with excitement. The worm perhaps holds its head bent down stiffly upon its breast. The larva hereupon briskly roots and pushes the worm about and pinches it with its jaws, whereby he gets it to throw back its head, whereupon he instantly grasps the worm by its throat, sinking his sharp jaws through the skin, and cling- ing thereto with the grip and pertinacity of a bull dog. The worm mad- dened by the pain, writhes and rolls over and over and thrashes his tor- mentor furiously about to break him off from his hold; he coils his body like a Boa constrictor tightly around him to pull him away: he bends himself into a ring with a small orifice in the centre, and then briskl}' revolving, draws him through and through this orifice to tear him off; but every expedient of tlie poor worm fails. The larva clings to his grip upon the worm's throat, till the latter, exhausted by his violent struggles, gradually relaxes his efforts, becomes more and more weak and powerless, and finally succumbs to his fate. Having thus killed the woim the larva leisurely pro- ceeds to feed upon it, biting two or three holes through the skin in diifer- cnt places to suck out its contents. It is occupied three or four hours in completing this work. And the larva becomes so gorged hereby that its own skin is distended almost to bursting. It then crawls slightly under ground, and there lies and sleeps off its surfeit, and then comes out and wanders off in search of another meal of the same kind. When this larva is small a single Cut-worm suffices it for one or two days; but as it approaches maturity it devours one or two worms daily. 41 BEE-KILLBR. A NEW INSECT. ITS CLASSIFICATION AND JfAMK. 13. Nebraska Bee-killer, Trupanea Apivora, new species. (Dipteta. AsilidEe.) Plato 4, fig. 1. Killing the honey bee in Nebraska; a large slender-bodied two-winged fly, an Inch long. Whilst we are occupied in closing this Report to place it in the printcr^g hands, July, 1864, a new insect comes under our examination, of such an interesting character that we herewith present a fig-ure of it, and the fol- lowing account, the principal portion of which we have also communicated to the Country Gentleman. R. 0. Thompson, Esq., Florist and Nurseryman, in a note dated Nursery Hill, Otoe county, Nebraska, June 28th, 1864, says: "I send you to-day four insects or animals that are very destructive to the honey bee, killing a great number of them, and also of the Rose bug's. What are they ? Many wish to know what this Bee-killer is. Is it the male or the female that has the three-pronged sting ?" The specimens, two of each sex, laid between pledgets of cotton wool in a small pasteboard box and forwarded by mail, came to hand in good con- dition, admitting of a very satisfactory examination. They are a large two- winged i^y, having along and rather slender and tapering body, about art inch in length, with small three-jointed antennoe, the last joint being' shorter than the first, and giving* out from its end, and not from its side, a slender bristle. The ends of its feet are furnished ott the underside with two cushion-like soles, and the crown of its head is hollowed out or concave, and in this hollow is seen three little glassy dots or eyelets. These charac- ters show it to pertain to the order Diptera, and to the g-roup which Lin-- nasus a century ago separated as a genus, under the name Asilus, but which is now divided into several genera, forming the family Asilidcef, On inspecting its wings we see the two veins which end one on each side of the tip of the wing are perfect and unbroken, and towards the middle of the outer one they arc connected together by a small veinlet or short transverse vein. This indicates these flies to pertain to the genus named Trupanea by Macquart. About a half dozen species inhabiting the United States and pertaining to this genus have been described by Wiedemann, Say, and others. This Nebraska fly appears to be different from either of those, and 1 am, there- fore, led to regard it as a new insect, hitherto unknown to the world. And a more appropriate name cannot be given it than that by which it is called by Mr. Thompson and his neighbors, the Bee-killer or Trvpanea Apivora. The general definition of this species, or its brief essential characters Avill be, that it is dull black with the head yellow, tlie fere body butternut brown, the hind body on its underside and the legs pale dull yellow, the tliighs being black on their foresides, and it is coated over with hairs which are gray in the female and grayish yellow in the male, the end of the body in the latter sex having a conspicuous silvery white spot. In this Asilus group of flies the species are separated frorji each other by marks which are often very slight and obscure. It is, therefore, im- portant that a detailed description of these Nebraska flies should here be 42 SEE-RILt,ER. DESCRtPTtON OP TBE INSECT. giveri) that they may not be confounded with any other species which may be closely similar to them. Tliey measure to the end of the wings 0.85 to one inch, and to the end of the body 0.95 to 1.15, the males being rather smaller than the females. The head is short and broad, shaped like a plano-convex lens, flat on its hind side and convex in front. Its summit or crown is deeply excavated, leav- ing a vacant space between the upper part of the eyes, in the middle of which excavation are the oceli or eyelets, appearing like three black glassy dots placed at the corners of a triangle. The ground color of the head is yellow. All the face below the antennae is covered with long hairs form- ing a moustache of a light yellow color, with a tuft of short black bristles at the mouth, and on each side are whiskers of a yellowish gray color. The base of the head has a sort of collar formed of radiating gray hairs, and behind the upper part of each eye is a row of black bristles. The eyes are large and protuberant, occupying two-thirds of the surface of the head, and are finely reticulated or divided into an immense number of minute facets. The antennse are inserted at the anterior edge of the excavation in the crown of the head. They are small, scarcely reaching to the base of the head if turned backward. They are black and composed of three joints, the first one longest and cylindric; the second shortest andobconic; the third thickest and egg-shaped, its apex ending in a bristle which is about equal to the antenna in length, and is sliglitly more slender towards its tip, where it becomes a little thickened. The trunk or proboscis is as long as the head, its end projecting out from the bristles of the face. It appears like a long, tapering tube of a hard crustaceous texture, black and shining, blunt at the end, with a fringe of hairs around the orifice. In one specimen the tongue protrudes from the orifice in the end of the trunk, sharp pointed and like the blade of a lancet in shape, hard, shining and black. The thorax or fore body is the broadest part of the insect, and is of a short oval form, wath bluntly rounded ends. It is of a taruished yellow- ish brown or butternut color, with two faint gray stripes along the middle of the back, alternating with three darker brown ones. It is bearded with black hairs and posteriorly with long yellowish gray ones, which are inter- spersed with black bristles. The abdomen or hind body is long, slender and tapering from its base in the male, and is more broad and somewhat flattened in the female. It is black above and covered with prostrate hairs, which are dull yellow in the male and gray in the female. On the sides and beneath the ground color is dull yellow in the male and gray in the female, and clothed with gray hairs in both sexes. The two last segments, the eighth and ninth, are conspicuously protruded, making two or three more segments than are usually visible externally in insects. In the female these segments taper to an acute point, and are black and shining. In the male they appear like a cylindrical tube with a projecting valve under- neath at the base, and are coated over with dull yellow hairs, and on the upper side with silvery white ones, pressed to the surface and forming a conspicuous oblong spot of this color, which is two-lobed or notched at its eads. And in the dead specimens before me three bristle like processes 43 8EE-KILtER. LKGS AND WINGS DESCRIBED. DELIOItTS IN THE StJNStttNB. over a tenth of an incli in length, of a tawny yeUow eokjr, polished and shining-, project from the blunt end of the bod3^ These are termed a three- pronged sting in the above letter. But the magnifying glass shows they arc abruply cut off at their ends and do not taper to a sharp point capable of piercing the human skin. The legs are long and stout and of a pale, dull yellowish color. The thighs in the males are chestnut brown, and on their anterior sides they are dull black in both sexes, the hind pair being entirely black, except a stripe of dull yellowisli along the under side. The hind shanks also are frequently black on their anterior sides The legs are covered with gray hairs and have several black bristles in rows running* lengthwise. In the males the four anterior shanks and feet have the hairs yellow, and on the feet the bristles also are of this color. The tvings are long and narrow, and in repose are laid flat, one upon the other. They are transparent, with a smoky tinge, and are perceptibly darker at their tips. Their veins are black, except the parallel ones in the outer border, which are dull yellowish brown. The broad parje or panel at the tip of the wings, which is technically termed the second sub-marginal cell, rapidly narrows as it extends forward into the wing, for two-thirds of its length, the remain- ing third being quite narrow, with its opposite sides parallel. Along the vein which forms the boundary of this cell on its outer side, is a percepti- ble smokiness, which is not seen along the sides of the other veins. This vein is slightly bent in the form of a bow two-thirds the length of the cell, when it abruptly curves in the opposite direction, and is then straight the remainder of its length. A veinlet connects it to the next longitudinal vein, thus forming between the anterior portions of these two veins a third sub-marginal cell, which is very long and narrow. The arrangement of the veins in the wings, forming three submarginal cells as above described, induces me to refer this species without hesita- tion to Macquart's genus Trupa7iea; although the silvery white spot on the tip of the male abdomen would indicate it to pertain to the genus Erax, as restricted by the same author. The brief note of our correspondent gives us no particular information upon the habits of these flies or the manner in which they attack and kill the bees. But the members of this Asilus group are all so similar in their habits that we are aware what the operations of this species will be. And some account of the habits of these insects may be of sufficient interest to the reader to be here related. These Asilus flies, like some other of our most rapacious insects, parti- cularly delight in the hot sunshine. One or two evidences of this may here be adduced. Flies of this kind are rare in ray vicinity. I suppose I might hunt for days without being able to find a living specimen. And I do not recollect to have ever seen one of them, hitherto, about my house or yard. Tiiree days ago, however, when occupied in preparing this account, I casually spread some damp newspapers before my door to dry in the hot sun. " On stepping out to gather up these papers I was most agreeably surprised to see alighted upon one of them and basking in the sun, what proves to be a 44 BEE-KILLEU. ITS FETID ODOR. CRUEL MODE OP KILLING ITS PREY. species of Tiupanea wliich I had never met with before, and which is closely like though probably distinct from this Nebraska Bee-killer. The genial warmth reflected frttm the white surface of the paper lying in the clear sun had evidently attracted it to this unusual situation. So late as the month of October, ten years ago, upon a clear warm day, in a sunny nook upon the south side of a forest, I came upon quite a num- ber of the Erax rxifibarhis, flying about and alighting upon the leaves— a species I have never met with except in that instance. They were warmed into such quickness of motion, and were so extremely vigilant and sl)y of my approacli, that with my utmost skill I was able to capture but two in- dividuals which were impeded in their movements from being paired to- gether. I infer these Nebraska flies to be common and far less wary than the species alluded to— else our correspondent would have been unable to secure two individuals of each sex to transmit to us. And I suspect these specimens were obtained when they were copulated. If so, it is probable that the three sting-like bristles which I have described above, are not protruded and visible externally, except at such times. In flying, these insects make a very loud humming sound, which can scarcely be distinguished from that of the bumble-bee; and when involved within the fulds of a net, they utter the same piping note of distress as does that insect. This very probably contributed to impress our correspondent with the thnught that the three bristles which are extruded by the male are a formidable three-pronged sting. Another fact which I do not see alluded to by any author, is the fetid cariou-like odor which some of these Asilus flies exhale. I noticed this odor in the Erax rufibarbis which was captured as above related. And in these Nebraska specimens, though they have now been dead a fortnight and freel}' exposed to the air the latter half of that time, this disgusting scent still remains, and so powerful is it that on two occasions nausea has been produced when they have happened to be left upon the table beside nie. As the newly coptured fly above mentioned is wholly destitute of this fetor, it may be that it is only at the period of sexual intercourse that it occurs. These flies are inhuman murderers. They are the savages of the insect world, putting their captivCvS to death with merciless cruelty. Their large eyes divided into such a ujultitude of facets, probably give them most acute and accurate vision for espying and seizing their pray; and their long stout legs, their bearded and bristly head, their whole aspect indicates them to be of a predatory and ferocious character. Like the hawk they swoop upon their prey, and grasping it securely between their fore feet they violently bear it away. They have no teeth and jaws wherewith to bite, gnaw and masticate their food, but are furnished instead with an apparatus which answers them equally well for nourishing themselves. It is well known what maddening pain the lu^-se flies occasion to horses and cattle, in wound- ing them and sucking their blood. These Asilus flies possess similar organs, but larger and more simple in their structure, more firm, stout and powerful. In the horse flies the truiik or proboscis is soft, flexible and sen- 45 BEE-KILLER. ITS HABITS AND DESTRUCTIVENESS. sitive. Here it is hard and destitute of feeling — a larg-e, tapering-, horn- like tube, inclosing a sharp lance or sp(>ar-pointed tongue to dart out from its end and cut a wound for it to enter, this end, moreover, being fringed and bearded around with stiff bristles to bend backward and thus hold it securely in the wound into which it is crowded. The proboscis of the horse files is tormenting, but this of the Asikis flies is torturing. That presses its soft cushion-like hps to the wound to suck the blood from it ; this crowds its hard prickly knob into the wound to pump the juices there- from. It is said these Asilus flies sometimes attack cattle and horses, but other writers disbelieve this. Should any of our Nebraska friends see one of these bee-killers alighting upon and actually wounding horses or cattle, we hope they will inform us of the fact, that this mooted point may bo defin- itely settled. Certain it is that these flies nourish themselves principally upon other insects, attacking all that they are sufficiently large and strong to overpower. Even the hard crustaceous shell with which the beetles are covered fails to protect them from the butchery of these barbarians. And formidably as the bee is equipped f(^r punishing any intruder which ven- tures to molest it, it here finds itself overmatched and its sting powerless against the horny proboscis of its murderer. These flies appear to be par. ticularly prone to attack the bees. Kobineau Desvoidy states that he had repeatedly seen the Asilua diadema, a European species somewhat smaller than this of Nebraska, flying with a bee in its hold. But it probably does not relish these more than it does other insects. We presume it to be because it finds them in such abundance, as enables it to make a meal upon them most readily, and with the least exertion, that these Nebraska flies fall upon the bees and the rose bugs. And so large as they are, a single one will require perhaps a hundred bees per day for its nourishment. If these flies are common, therefore, they will inevitably occasion great losses to the bee keepers in that part of our country. No feasible mode of destroying this fly or protecting the bees from it at present occurs to me. Indeed such an accurate knowledge of the particu- lar habits of this species as we do not at present possess, is necessary, to show in what manner it can be most successfully combatted. Since the foregoing account was written, Mr. Thompson has favored us with another communication, giving some most interesting observations upon the habits and destructiveness of this insect, which we here append in his own words. He says. My attention was first called to this fly destroying the honey bee by a little boy, a son of D. C. Utty, Esq., of this place- After sending you the specimens I watched its proceedings and habits with much care, and find that, in addition to the honey bee and rose bugs, it devours many other kinds of beetles, bugs and flies, some of which are as large again as itself. It appears to be in the months of June and July that it is abroad upon the wing, destroying the bees. None of them are now (August 2d) to be seen. When in pursuit of its prey it makes quite rapid dashes, always capturing the bee on the wing. When bnce secured by wrapping its legs about it, pressing it tightly to its own body, it imme. diately seeks a bush or tall weed, upon which it alights and commences 46 p BEK-KILLER. ITS TENACITY OF LIFE. devouring its prey by eating (piercing) a hole into the body and in a short time entirely consuming it (sucking out the fluids and soft internal viscera) and leaving only the hard outer skin or shell of the bee. Upon the ground beneath some favorable perch for the fly near the apiar^', hundreds of these shells of bees are found accumulated in a single day — whether the work of one fly or of several 1 am not able to say. I have just returned from a pro- fessional tour through the northern portion of our Territory'-, taking Nur- ser}^ orders ; and in many things this business and the apiary are closely connected. In no case have I found a hive of bees that has thrown off a swarm this season ! The dry weather, bad pasture and other reasons Avere assigned as the cause. But many persons^ since they have found this fly at his work of destruction, now believe it to be the cause of the non- swarming of their bees ; and I am led to the same opinion. I have only to add further, that this Bee-killer delights in hot, dry weather, and is very invulnerable and tenacious of life. I have observed the honey bee and also the hornet sting it repeatedly, but with no other effect than to cause it to tighten its hold upon them. Once when I forced the assassin to release his prey, he gave me such a wound in the hand as has learned me ever since to be cautious how I interfered with him. He will live an hour with a pin thrust through his body which has been dipped in the solution of cyanuret of Potassium, THE HOP ^^PHIS. From an Address delivered before the Annual Meeting of the State Agricultural Society- Albany, February 8th, 1865. The insect which the past season attracted the most notice and did the most damage in our State, was the Aphis or Plant-lonse upon the hops. Althoug-h the hop has been growing-, both wild and cultivated, in this country, from time immemorial, I am not aware that this enemy has ever attacked or been observed upon it, until two summers ago, when it sud- denly made its appearance in excessive numbers; and in consequence of its advent, the two past j'ears have been the most disastrous to the exten- sive hop growers in the central section of our State, which they have ever experienced. In some yards the hops have not been picked, and in other yards a portion of those that have been gathered, it is said, ought never to have been dried and put up for market, they are so small and worthless; whilst the best that have been grown are of an inferior quality, the bitter principle, on which their value depends, being deficient, according to the published reports, to the extent of from 15 to 25 per cent. The newspapers and agricultural periodicals have abounded with notices of this failure of the hop crop. From the extended accounts which some of these publications have given, it would appear that there are three dif- ferent maladies with which the hop vines have recently become atfected, namely, the Aphis or plant-lice, the honey dew, and the black blight. The plant-lice are soft pale yellowish-green insects, not so large as the head of a pin, which remain stationary upon the under sides of the leaves, crowded together and wholly covering the surface. The honey dew appears on the upper surface of the leaves, as a shining, clear and transparent fluid, sticky, like honey smeared over the surface. The black blight also occurs on the upper sides of the leaves and resembles coal dust sifted upon and adhering firmly to them, or the leaves look as though they had been held in the smoke of a chimney until they had become blackened over with soot. This black blight is deemed to be a kind of fungus growing from the leaves, analogous to the rust and smut in grain, and it is stated that in some hop yards sulphur has been dusted over the leaves to kill or check its growth, but without having the slightest effect upon it. Which of these maladies is the most pernicious, it would be difficiilt to judge from the published accounts, one writer seeming to regard the Aphis as the principal evil, whilst another wholly ignores this insect and dwells upon the black blight as being the cause of the failure of the crop. And it is not a little amusing to observe how very wise the reporters to some of the newspapers appear in giving an account of these diseases, and what a display of scientific lore they make, when their statements betray to us 48 the fact that they have not the first correct idea upon the subject on which they are writing. The truth is, these three maladies, about one and another of which so much has been said, are all one thing — differing merely as cause and effect. If there were no lice on hops there would be no honey dew and no black blight. I am aware the hop growers will be much surprised at this state- ment, and will scarcely credit it, they have been so accustomed to regard these things as distinct from and in no wise connected with each other — deeming the honey dew to be a fluid which has exuded from the leaves in consequence of some disease therein, and the black blight to be, as already stated, a kind of fungus growing from the leaves, whilst the plant lice, occurring only on the opposite or under side of the leaves, appear to be wholly separated from these substances upon their upper surface. But I am perfectly assured of the correctness of what I say, and can produce specimens which will demonstrate that I am correct. I regret that this subject did not occur to my mind last summer, or I would have had such specimens for exhibition here at this time. Upon the first opportunity^, I will procure and place in the Museum of our Society, specimen of leaves showing this honey dew upon them, and others showing the black blight; and by the side of these leaves I will place white paste-board cards having the same honey dew and the same black blight upon them — thus demon- strating that these substances do not exude and grow from the leaves unless they also exude and grow from the paste-board cards. I will now briefly explain how these two substances come upon the leaves. Each Aphis has two little horns projecting from the hind part of its back, which horns arc termed the honey tubes. From these tubes the fluid called honey dew is ejected, in the form of minute drops, like particles of dew, which, falling upon the leaves beneath tliem, the upper surface of the leaves becomes coated over with this fluid, more or less copiously as the Aphides producing it are more or less numerous. And now, th s deposit of honey dew being exposed to the action of the atmosphere and alternately moist- ened by the dews at night and dried by the sun by day, is gradually decom- posed, changing from a clear, shining, transparent fluid, to an opake, black substance resembling soot, and it is then the black blight. In this simple manner do we account for and explain these phenomena — these three impor- tant diseases of the hop, about which so much has been said and such eru- dition has been displayed by some of the writers in our newspapers. These same phenomena, called honey dew and black blight, are not pecu- liar to the hop, but occur on other kinds of vegetation when infested by plant-lice; and an abundance of authority will substantiate my statement that this honey dew is caused by these insects. But I find no allusion to the black blight in any author, and what I state of that is the result of my own observations. It is proper, therefore, that 1 here adduce some of the evidence which I have, upon this particular point. It is over twenty years ago that I first noticed this blackness as being occasioned by plant-lice. Among several willow trees by the side of a stream near my residence, there was one so thronged with the willow aphis 49 that I went several times to that tree to contemplate the spectacle which these insects presented. And all throug-h the following' winter, no person ])assing witiiin sig'ht of that tree could fail of noticing- the blackness of its trnidv and limbs, it being- the more remarkable as none of the other willow trees around it had any ting'<> of this color. Tlie thouglit ther('n|)nu became impressed upon my mind, that it was the plant-lice vvith which this tree had been so overrun the preceding- summer, wliicli had in some way imparted tliis blackness to its bark. Two or tliree winters afterwards, I noticed the same blackened appearance to a pine tree, which tree I knew had been thronged with Aphides the summer before. I need nt)t specify the several other instances of this phenomena which I have noticed. Seve- ral years since, when I was investigating' the Aphis of the apple tree, 1 discovered that, in addition to the bark of trees, tlie leaves alst) acquired tliis sooty appearance, irom these insects: and then, upon g'iving this sub- ject a particulai' examination, I became assured that this black substance was merely the honey dew in a decomposed state. Some wi;iters have remarked that dry weather causes the several kinds of plant-lice to increase and become pests to thci difierent species of vege- tation wliich they respectively inhabit; and my own observations incline )iie to regard this remark as being- correct. During- the dr}' period in June Avhich frequently succeeds the spring- rains, I have in particular years ]ioticed these insects as occurring' in unusual numbers, wliereupon I liave ai)pi(.'liended that, liaving- ac(|uired such a start s(j early in tlie seafon, the}' would prove to be the most perjiicious insects of the year; but rainy weather coming- on after this, they have seemed ther(;upon to decline and have censed to attract i'urther attention. Hence I think it true as a general rul(>, that dr}' weather favors and wet Aveather retards tlK^ir increase. And at liist thoug-ht, this view is further strengthened by the fact that this Aphis upon the hops was so excessively numerous the past summer, when we experi- enced a drouth of such protracted length and severity. But, on the other hand, these insects were similarly Jiumerous the year before, when the summer was unusually wet. We are thus assured there is some influence more potent than the hygrometric state of the atmosphere, which has brought them h)i-th in such hosts ui>on the hops. rerha[)S in no other group or faiuil}^ of insects are the difierent species so vcM-}^ closely akin to each other as in this of the Aphides. So nearly identical are most of them, botli in their appearance and habits, that we know them to be distinct species only from the fact that they inhabit dif- ierent plants, each one btnng unable to sustain itself upon any other than the plant to which it belongs. Being thus intimately related, we should confident!}' expect that the same atmospherical or other influence which causes one species to suddenly multiply and become extremely numerous, would operate upon and similarly afl'cct the other species also. But this is by no means the case. As every one will remember, in the summer of 1861, all our tields of grain suddenly became so thronged with the Grain Aphis as to throw the whole country into alarm. Wh_y did not the same cause which brought that insect upon us in such a remarkable nuuiner, operate also t<) bring this insect upon the hops at that time, instead of 4 two years later ? Or, if this insect was not then in our country, when it did appear iu such vast nuinbei'S two years ag'o, why was not the same influ- ence which occasioned its surprising multiplication then, felt also by the Grain Aphis, causing' it to re-appear in our g-rain fields ? The two insects being- so intimately related, it is a mystery beyond the reach of human compreliension, how some hidden influence comes to operate upon the one, causing it to multiply and increase so astonishingly, whilst the other remains passive and not in the least affected hj it. This insect is not limited to the extensive hop plantations in the central parts of this State, but appears to have everywhere overrun the hop vines, lioth wild and cultivated. It was abundant the past summer in my own }ieighborhood, and specimens were also sent me from St. Lawrence county, wiiereby we kn(nv that its range extends to the eastern and northern con- flnes of the State, but farther than tliis we do not possess any definite information. This Aphis appears to be identical witli that which has long been known ill Europe as tiie worst enemy of the liop, and which sixt^'-five years ago received its scientific name, Aphiti Hmmdi or the Hop Aphis, from the Ger- man naturalist Schrank (Fauna Boica, vol. ii, p. 110.) Messrs. Kirbj' and Spence, in their introduction to Entomology (American edition, p. 135,) speak of the damage inflicted by this insect as follows : "Upon the presence or absence of Aphides, the crop of every year depends; so that the hop- grower is wholly at the mercy of these insects. They are the barometer tliat indicates the rise and fall of his wealth, as of a very important branch of the revenue, the diflerence in the amount of the duty on hops being often as much as ^6200,000 per annum, more or less, in proportion as this fly prevails or the cosatrary." This statement forcibly shows what a direct interest our own government has in patronizing these investiga- tions in which I am employed — this one little insect, in years when it is numerous, taking from the revenue of the British government half a million of dollars! My own researches upon this insect are obviously too limited as yet, to enable me to give such a particular history of its habits and operations, as its importance merits. I therefore present tlie following account from the London Gardener's Cln-onicle, for the year 1854, page 429: " As soon as the Aphides settle upon the hops, they suck the underside (if the leaves, and immediately deposit their young, which are viviparous, and have the singular faculty of propagating their species within a few hours after their birth; and in this manner many generations are produced without the intervention of the fully formed Aphis fly; indeed, upon one hill of hops, millions of lice are born and die, neither parents nor progeny having ever attained the condition of the perfect insect. When the first attack of these flies upon the hops is severe, and early in the season, the "Towth of the plant is commonly stopped iu the course of three or four weeks. If the attack be late, that is about mid-summer or afterwards, the vine has then attained so much strength that it struggles on against the bliglit, to its disadvantage, and the result is a total failure of the crop at least: tor the leaves fall off, and the fruit branches being already formed, 51 there is no chance of rccovcr3\ At this time, and in this condition, tlie stench from the hop plantation is most offensive. * * * * " The proo-ress and usual termination of the Aphis blip^lit nia}^ be thus described : The flies, as before remarked, on their first arrival, immediately suck the underside of the upper small leaves of the vine, and thus tliey there deposit their j-oung, upon the most succulent part of the plant. Tlie multiplication of the lice is so rapid, that the leaves become so thickly covered as scarcely to allow a pin to be thrust between them. They quickly abstract the juices of the vine, so that the leaves assume a sickly^ brown hue, and curl up, and the vine itself ceases to grow, and falls from the pole, the lice continuing till they perish for want of food ; and thus tiie crop is destroyed, and the grower may often consider himself fortunate if the plant recovers a due amount of vitality to produce a crop in the follow- ing year, for occasionally the hills are killed by the severity of the attack. This description, of course, applies only to the most severe and unusual blights." The Aphides are the most evanescent of all insects. They spring up suddenly, in such immense numbers as to threaten the utter destruction of the vegetation on which they subsist, and ere long they vanish with ecpial suddenness — sometimes coiitinuing but a few weeks, and rarely remaining in force longer than through one year. It thus appears, that, so long as the atmospherical or other influence which favors their increase, continues to operate upon them, they thrive and prosper, and when this influence passes away they rapidly decline. The writer in the Gardener's Chronicle, cited above, remarks of this Aphis on the hops, " These insects are remark- ably susceptible of atmospherical and electrical changes, and on a sudden alteration of the weather we have known them perish by myriads in a night. This was specially exemplified in the Farnham district, about the middle of June, 1846, which suddenly recovered from a most severe attack, and afterwards produced the largest crop ever known in that quarter. We know, also, several instances in East Kent, which occurred in the same year, when the planters sold their growths on the poles at a few shillings per acre, and these same plantations so far recovered that many of them afterwards produced a crop worth from 30^. to 50Z. per acre." The decline and disappearance of these plant lice is greatly expedited by other insects which destroy them • and in many instances it is to these de- stroyers rather than to any atmospherical change, that the vegetation on which they abound becomes so suddenly released from them. No other tribe of insects has so many enemies of its own class as the plant lice. The different species of Goccinella or lady-bugs which are everywhere so com- mon, live exclusively upon the aphides, as do also the larvae of the two- winged Syrphus flies and the four-winged Golden-eyed flies. Superadded to these destroyers the plant lice also have their internal parasites— ex- ceedingly minute worms or maggots residing within their bodies and feeding upon till they kill them. Thus, whenever a tree or shrub becomes thronged with plant lice, these destroyers gather among and around them, in rapidly augmenting numbers, and subsist upon them until they have wholly exterminated them. Kirby and Spence (page 187) state that in the 52 year 1807 the sea pIiovc at Brighton and all the watering places on the south coast of Eng-Jand, was literally covered with lady bugs, to the great surprise, and even alarm, of the inhabitants, who were ignorant that their little visitors were emigrants from the neighboring hop-gr(Uinds, where each had slain his thousands and tens of thousands of the aph's. These several kinds of destroyers of the plant lice were everywhere com- mon upon the hop vines the past summer. I believe that in every instance in which leaves with tlie lice upon them w'ere sent me by correspondents, I found one or more of these destroyers also upon the leaves ; and in one box that came to me, not one of the lice was remaining, all having been devoured by several of these enemies wdiich had happened to be inclosed in the box. These destroj^ers having been so common, it is quite probable that they have now subdued these lica to such an extent that the coming- season the crop will be much less if at all damaged b}' them. It is of great importance that we should- have some remedy, whereby, when these insects do fall upon the hop vines in such myriads as they have done the past two j-ears, we may be able to promptly' destroy them. As the lice remain stationary npon the undersides of the leaves and are so very tender and delicate that the slightest pressure suffices to crush and kill them, Mr. Kirby recommends to take the leaf between the thumb and finger, and move the finger so as to gentl}' rub over the under surface of the leaf, whereby every aphis upon it will be destroyed. He thinks women and children can be employed for a small compensation to do this work, taking every leaf in succession between the thumb and finger, and thus wholly ridding the vines from these vermin. But we all know it will be an immense labor to thus take hold of every leaf upon the vines occupying whole acres of ground. Many of the leaves, too, are quite large, being five or six inches broad, and the finger is but three inches long. It will there- fore require one hand to hold the leaf stead}^, whilst the thumb and finger of the other are drawn several times along it, mowing down tlie vermin by successive swaths. Moreover, the veins on the underside of these large leaves are studded with prickles, whereby I doubt if a dozen leaves can thus be rubbed over before the skin of the finger will be cut through to the quick. I need not specify other obstacles which occur to my mind, all con- curring to convince me that this proposed remedy, of the success of which Mr. Kirby is quite sanguine, is wholly impracticable. Washing and syringing the plants with strong soap suds has been often recommended for destroying the aphis upon them. I have recently been experimenting with this remedy, upon the plant lice which so badly infest the beautiful verbenas of our Flower Gardens, and I find it to be of but partial efficacy. It only kills the young, tender lice ; those which are ma- ture are so robust that they are not destroj'ed, even though the infested stems and leaves are immersed in a strong solution of soap. There is one remedy, and one only, which we know to be efficacious and perfectly sure for destroying the different species of plant lice. This is the smoke of tobacco. It operates like a charm. It never fails. But to apply it, it is necessary to place a box or barrel over the plant, burning the tobacco in a cup underneath, until its smoke has filled the inclosed space 53 and penctrate-'J all the interstices between the leaves. Hereby the rose bushes and other shrubs and plants in our gardens are with ease wholly- cleansed Irom these vermin. To render it available for destroying these insects upon the hf)ps, probably a piece of canvas ov other large cloth cau be thrown over tlieni or some other apparatus devised whereby they cau be fumigated for a few moments in the same thorough manner. INDEX Agrotis nigricans 21 Americana, Arctia 24 Amputating Brocade moth 39 A mpiitatrix, Hadena 39 Apivora, Trupanea 4 j A rctia Americana 24 " Caja 24 " Parthenon 26 Asilus diadema 45 Beetle, Potato I9 Bold Calosoiiia 39 Brocade moth, Amputating 39 Caja, Arctia 24 Calidum, Calowma ^ 39 Calosoma calidum 39 Carolina, Sphinx 2 Celeus, Sphinx , 2 Congregala, Wlicrogader 12 Corn cut-worm 27 " grubs 27 Cut-worms 27 " striped 35 " yellow-headed 34 " their destroyer 39 Decemlineafa, Dorypjhora 19 Destroyer of the cut-Avorm 39 Devastating miller 29 Devastator, Phalena 29 Diadema, Asilus '. 45 Doryphora lO-lineaia 19 " juncta ; 20 Erax rufibarbis 44 Five-spotted Sphinx , , 2 Garden Tiger moth 24 Hadena ampiutatrix , 39 Juncta, Dorypjhora 20 Kalmice, Sphinx 1 7 Lilac worm , 1 7 31icrogader congregala 12 Moth, Brocade " 39 " Cut-worm 36 " Garden Tiger , 24 " Tobacco worm . , 5 0\ 021 489 667 9 56 INDEX. ^ ^^' ^^^ ^^' "^ Page. Muskcto Hawk 3 Nebraska Bee-killer 41 j^'igricans, Agrotis 27 Nijrtherii Tobacco worm . 1 Parasite of Tobacco worm 12 " " a second . 18 Parthenos, Arctia 26 Fhalena, devadator 29 Pull/gramma 1 Q-Jineafa 20 Potato-beetle, Ten-lined 19 " worm 1 Pteromalus Tabacum 15 Quiuquemaculata, SphrnJ' 1 Pose buo-s destroyed by Bee-ki!ler 41 Eufiharbii<, Erax • 44 Sphinx Carc)li)ia 2 " Kalmice 1 " " quinqaemaculata 1 Striped cut-worm 35 Surface catt(>rpillars 27 g-rnbs 2T Tabacinn, Pteromalus 15 Ten-lined Potato-beetle 19 Tiger nioth 24 Tobacco Pteromalus 15 Tobaccc-worm, Nortlh/rn 1 '• Southern 2 Parasite 12 " a second parasite 18 Tomato-worm 1 TrupcDiea Apivora 41 Yellow-headed cut-worm 34 Hop Aphis : Black Blight , . 47, 48 Coccinnella or Lady bug 51 Honey Dew ^ . /. 47 Hop Aphis .' 47 " blight descrilied 51 " decline? and disa|_)ijearance 51 " depredations upon hops 50 " Evanescent 51 " identical with Aphis Humuli 50 " internal parasites 51 " progress and termination 51 reniedy 52 MiLl\