ps mes a eh See) CEASA ( iret ie MC ee Po ee A Se aie ae a Se I RA aed aL ae SNF eons ieee es, Hi cA «, a) Te Se Se oN os ri fe Se, at oe ee i o, A BN, |S A aetna Ais Po ey Te Ast, te, oS : gor LOR is ge i eS: LF apt War) Tee ul sgt 3 NAN \ ot hot AS eASACKUC NS RS a he at. =e ay ces AN ke Nea Aas ely Ke ef, ‘G2 x eS, os) - eel ae Beas he .) HET D, = * SUA, § = = mS pete: Cornell University LIBRARY OF THE BEPARTMENT-OF-ENFOMeroey Rew Work State College of Agriculture Slo NGERENP-COLLECTON ate 5 3 ie) OM se 5937 | DATE DUE - § DEMCO 38-297 Cornell University Libra treatise on some of the insects injuri Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003084419 PLATE I TREATISE ON SOME OF THE INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. By THADDEUS WILLIAM HARRIS, M. D. A New Buition,, ENLARGED AND IMPROVED, WITH ADDITIONS FROM THE AUTHOR'S MANUSCRIPTS AND ORIGINAL NOTES. ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS DRAWN FROM NATURE UNDER THE SUPERVIS:ON OF PROFESSOR AGASSIZ. EDITED BY CHARLES L. FLINT, SECRETARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE, NEW YORK: ORANGE JUDD AND COMPANY, © 245 BROADWAY. £ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1£62, by CATHARINE H. HARRIS, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY H. vu. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. * EDITOR’S PREFACE. Y a resolve of the Legislature of Massachusetts, 1859, chap. 93, I was directed to issue a new edition of Dr. Harris’s admirable Treatise on Insects Injurious to Vegetation, with suitable additions and illustrations. By a resolve of the Legislature of 1861, chap. 80, I was author- ized to use the plates prepared for the illustration of the edition for the Commonwealth, in the publication of one or more editions designed for a wider circulation than that for the State could be expected to have. It was thought best to insert the additions contemplated in the resolve, in the form of foot-notes. No alterations have been made in the author’s language, and the additional notes are en- closed in brackets to distinguish them from those in the former editions. Large additions have been made to the text, however, from the author’s own manuscripts. These will be found exclu- sively in the chapter upon the butterflies. In giving a somewhat wider significance to the title, I have but carried out the plan adopted by the author in his last revision of the work. Professor Louis Agassiz very kindly offered to supervise the drawings, comparing them with the original specimens before en- graving. It is believed that very great scientific accuracy has thus been secured in the illustrations. Special acknowledgments are due to Professor Agassiz for this valuable service, and also for assistance rendered by way of suggestion and advice throughout. Acknowledgments are also due to the following gentlemen, who have contributed notes on the subjects named: — Dr. John L. Leconte, of Philadelphia, on the Coleoptera; Philip R. Uhler, lv EDITOR’S PREFACE. Esq., of Baltimore, on the Orthoptera and Hemiptera; Dr. Jolin G. Morris, of Baltimore, on the Lepidoptera ; Edward Norton, Esq., of Farmington, Connecticut, on the Hymenoptera; and Baron R. Osten Sacken, Secretary of the Russian Legation at Washing- ton, on the Diptera. These distinguished entomologists have made specialties of the orders on which they have had the kindness to furnish notes, and their contributions have added much to the completeness of the work. I am greatly indebted, also, to Mr. Alex. E. R. Agassiz for very valuable services, and to Mr. Fran- cis G. Sanborn, whose enthusiasm in making collections, and oth- erwise promoting the progress of the work, has continued unabated from the first. Also to Messrs. James M. Barnard and Edward S. Rand, Jr., who have devoted much time and thought to the details of the work. Many individuals have aided by presenting or lending specimens for illustration, or otherwise, and among them should be mentioned, in addition to the above, Messrs. 8. H. Seud- der, of Boston, and J. H. Treat and J. O. Treat, of Lawrence. To prevent any misconception, it should be stated that, in the specimens from which figures 109, 111, 112, 113, 115, 116, 117, 126, 127, 128, 129, and 180 were drawn, the second pair of feet were displayed instead of the jirst, and that in figure 114 the fore foot should have been omitted. The drawings for the steel plates were made by Mr. Antoine Sonrel; those for the wood-cuts by the Messrs. Sonrel and J. Burckhardt. The engraving as well as coloring of the steel plates is the work of Mr. John H. Richard; the engraving on wood, that of Mr. Henry Marsh. The work of these artists needs no comment. The printing has been done by Messrs. Welch, Bigelow, & Co., of the University Press, Cambridge. This also speaks for itself. No labor has been spared to secure the utmost accuracy and perfection in every respect, and it is hoped and believed that the objects of the Legislature in ordering a new edition of this valu- able treatise have been fully accomplished. CHARLES L. FLINT, Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. Boston, January, 1862. AUTHOR’S PREFACE. HE first edition of this work was printed in the year 1841. It formed one of the scientific Reports, which were pre- pared and published by the Commissioners on the Zodlogical and Botanical Survey of Massachusetts, agreeably to an order of the General Court, and at the expense of the State. The Commis- sion for this Survey bore the date of June 10th, 1837; and the following instructions from his Excellency, Governor Everett, ac- companied it : — “Tt is presumed to have been a leading object of the Legisla- ture, in authorizing this Survey, to promote the agricultural benefit of the Commonwealth, and you will keep carefully in view the economical relations of every subject of your inquiry. By this, however, it is not intended that scientific order, method, or com- prehension should be departed from. At the same time, that which is practically useful will receive a proportionally greater share of attention, than that which is merely curious; the promo- tion of comfort and happiness being the great human end of all science.” Upon a division of duties among the Commissioners, the depart- ment of Insects was assigned to me. Some idea of the extent of this department may be formed by an examination of my Cata- logues of the Insects of Massachusetts, appended to the first and second editions of Professor Hitchcock’s Report, in which above 2,300 species were enumerated ; and ‘these doubtless fall very far short of the actual number to be found within this Commonwealth. a* vi AUTHOR'S PREFACE. In entering upon my duty, I was deterred from attempting to describe all these insects by the magnitude of the undertaking, and by the consideration that such a work, much as it might pro- mote the cause of science, if well done, could not be expected to prove either interesting or particularly useful to the great body of the people. The subject and the plan of my Report were sug- gested by the instructions of the Governor, and by the want ofa work, combining scientific and practical details on the natural his- tory of our noxious insects. From among such of the latter as are injurious to plants, I selected for description chiefly those that were remarkable for their_size, for the peculiarity of their struc- ture and habits, or for the extent of their_ravages; and these alone will be seen to constitute a formidable host. As they are found not only in Massachusetts, but throughout New England, and indeed in most parts of the United States, the propriety of giving to the work a more comprehensive title than it first bore, becomes apparent. This was accordingly done in the small impression that was printed at my own charge, while the original Report was passing through the press, and in which some other alterations were made to fit it for a wider circulation. In the course of eight years, all the copies of the Report, and of the other impression, were entirely disposed of. Meanwhile, some materials for a new edition were collected, and these have been embodied in the present work, which I have been called upon to prepare and carry through the press. Believing that the aid of science tends greatly to improve the condition of any people engaged in agriculture and horticulture, and that these pursuits form the basis of our prosperity, and are the safeguards of our liberty and independence, I have felt it to be my duty, in treating the subject assigned to me, to endeavor to make it useful and acceptable to those persons whose honorable employment is the cultivation of the soil. T. W. H. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 15, 1852. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. INSECTS DEFINED. — BRAIN AND NERVES. — AIR-PIPES AND BREATH- ING-HOLEs. — HEART AND B Loop. — INSECTS ARE PRODUCED FROM Ecos. — METAMORPHOSES, OR TRANSFORMATIONS. — EXAMPLES OF COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION. — PARTIAL TRANSFORMATION. — LAn- va, on Inrant Srare.—Pupa, or INTERMEDIATE STATE.— ADULT, or Wincep Stare.— Heap, Eves, ANTENNE, AND Moutu. — THo- RAX oR CHEST, Wines, AND Lecs.— ABDOMEN oR HIND-Bopy, PIERCER, AND Stine — NuMBER or INSECTS COMPARED WITH PLANTs. — CLASSIFICATION; ORDERS; COLEOPTERA ; ORTHOPTERA 3; HieMIPTE- RA; NeurRoprera; Lerrporprera; HyM&iNoprera; DipreraA; OTHER ORDEKS anD GRours.— REMARKS ON SCIENTIFIC NAMES. » 1-22 CHAPTER II. COLEOPTERA. BEETLES. — SCARAB.ZIANS. — GROUND-BEETLES. — TREE-BEETLES. — CockcHAFERS oR May-BEETLES. — FLOWER-BEETLES. — STAG-BEE- TLES. — BUPRESTIANS, OR SAW-HORNED Borers. — SPRING-BEETLEs. TimMBER-BEETLES. — WEEVILS. — CYLINDRICAL BARK-BEETLES. CAPRICORN=BEETLES, OR LONG-HORNED Borers. — LEAr-BEETLES. — CRIOCERIANS. — LEAF-MINING BEETLES. — TorvTo1sE-BEETLES. — CHRYSOMELIANS. — CANTHABRIDES. ‘ 2 . é 23-140 CHAPTER III. , ORTHOPTERA. FEArwics. — CockRoAcnEs. — MANTES, OR SOOTHSAYERS. — WALKING- Leaves. — WA.LKING-StTICKs, oR SPECTRES. — MOLE-CRICKET. — Fietp CRICKETS. — CLIMBING CRICKET. — WINGLESS CRICKET. — GrassHoprers. — Katy-pip. — Locusts. . Fi 5 141-191 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. HEMIPTERA. Bues. — Squasu-Buc. — Cuincu-Bua. — PLant-Bues. — Harvest-F Liss. — Tree-Hoprers. — Lear-Horpers. — VINE-HOPEER. — Bran-Hopr- vER. — Turips. — Puant-Lice. — AMErticAN BLIGHT. — ENEMIES OF PLanr-Lice. — BARK-LicE. : 7 A ‘ . : 4 + 192-256 CHAPTER V. LEPIDOPTERA. CATERPILLARS. — BUTTERFLIES. — SKIPPERS. — HAwK-Mortus. — EGERI- ANS OR BorInG-CATERPILLARS. — GLAUCOPIDIANS. — Morus. — SPIn- NERS. — LiTHosIANs. — T1GER-Motus. — Ermine-Morus. — Tussock- Morus. — Lackey-Morus. — LAprpet-Mortus. — SATURNIANS. — CERA- TOCAMPIANS. — CARPENTER-MorTus. — PsycHIAns. — NOTODONTIANS. — Ow1-Motus. — Cut-Worms. — GEOMETERS, OR SPAN-WoRMS, AND CANKER-Worms. — DELTA-Motus. — LEAF-RoLLERS — Rup-Motus. — Fruir-Morus. — BEE-Motus. — Corn-Morus. — CLotuEs-Motus. — FEATHER-WINGED Motus. ‘ ‘ » 257-511 CHAPTER VI. HYMENOPTERA. STINGERS AND PreRcErs.—IIAniITs oF soME or THE HYMENOPTERA. —Saw-FLies AND SLues.—Etm Saw-Fiy.— Fur Saw-lFty. — Vine Saw-FLy.— Rose-pusuH Stue. — PEar-TrEE Stuc. — Hory-TArLED Woop- Wasps. — GALL-FLiESs. — CHALCIDIANS. — BARLEY INSECT AND JOINT-WORM. , : ‘ ‘ - . ‘ ¥ 512-501 CHAPTER VII. DIPTERA. GNATS AND FLIES. — MAGGOTS, AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS. — GALL- Gwats. — Hesstan Fry. -- Wuear-Fiy. — Remarks upon anp DE- SCRIPTIONS OF SOME OTHER Diprerous Insects. — Rapisu-FLy. — Two-wINGED GALL-I'Lizs, AND Fruit-FLies. — Coxcusion, 562-626 APPENDIX. — Tur Army-Worm - F . ‘ ‘ . 627-630 INDEX : . ‘ 631-640 Fig. 1. ithe Be “3. a “6 “ 6, Ts Fig. 1. 6c 2. 6 3. “ 4. a 5. ae 6. “ Ts “ 8. “ 9. oe 10 “11. “12. “13. “ 14, “15. “ 16. be 17. * 18. “ J9. ‘ 20. “ 21. Fig. 1. a 2. EXPLANATION OF PLATES. PLATE I. (Frontisprecx.) Nepa apiculata . Agrion basalis Mutilla coccinea Asilus (Erax) estuans, iia: z Cassida (Coptocycla) aurichalcea, Fibs. Locusta ((Edipoda) sulphurea, Fab, Nymphalis Arthemis, Druz. PLATE II. (Page 23.) Eumolpus auratus, Fad. . Chrysobothris (Trachypteris) ‘Baerisll Hone Galeruca vittata, Fab. P Coccinella novemnotata . 7 er Haltica chalybea, Jilig. . Attelabus bipustulatus, Fab. . Dicerca (Stenurus) divaricata, Say Sitophilus Oryzee, Linn. Chrysomela trimaculata, Fab. Clytus flexuosus, Fab. Callidium antennatum, Newm. Hylotrupes bajulus, Linn. . . Saperda (Compsidea) tridentata, Oliv Omaloplia (Serica) vespertina,.Gyl. . Clytus speciosus, Say Saperda candida, Fab. 7 A ss Larva . Desmocerus cyaneus, Fab. Saperda vestita, Say 5 Areoda (Cotalpa) lanigera, Linn. fi Saperda (Anaerea) calcarata, Say . PLATE III. (Pace 141) Locusta (Chloealtis) curtipennis Locusta (Tragocephala) viridi-fasciata, De Geer b 122 177 184 182 TED OF oo 2% TO oR TO TR wD 2 ee cee me oP ee EXPLANATION OF PLATES. Locusta (dipoda) Soe Linn. Aphis mali. . . F Tettigonia (Beythronewea) vitis Clastoptera proteus : : 5 . Cicada septendecim, Linz. . Chrysopa curyptera, Burm. . ‘ ; . cs Larva and cocoon PLAT H IV. Pace 27) Neuieee (Grapta) coma) Herr. - Vacant chrysalis Thecla Humuli, Harr. Ce ey ee Papilio Asterias, Fab. : “cc io 2 . a tf Larva € “ Chrysalis PLATE V. (Pace 318.) Eudamus (Goniloba) Tityrus, Smith . Philampelus Satellitia, Linn. . Philampelus Achemon, Drury . . Cheerocampa (Darapsa) pampinatrix, Smith geria (Trochilium) Pyri, Harr. eb io exitions, Say fo. a : Vacant shiesautls Me os Cucurbite, Harr. PLATE VI. (PaceE 340.) Lophocampa (Halesidota) Cary, Harr. Larva a tf zs Cocoon Deiopeia bella, Drury ‘ ‘ 5 Perophora Melsheimerii, Harr. Larva Case ts “ 1°) Pygera (Datana) ministra, Drury . Eudryas ane, Fab. Larva. : Imago . Arctia (Spilosoma) acrea, Drury & +“ “a iy Notodonta (Pygsera) concinna, Smith Clostera Americana, Harr. . PLATE VII. (Pace 376.) Orgyia leucostigma, Smith. Larva. . oe 73 “ “ “ “ “ é Cocoon and eggs . g ch depositing eggs : 415, 417 176 235 ‘ 225 - 211 . 247 247 300 301 276 265 265 263 264 Fig. 6. Bee pos re 2m EXPLANATION OF PLATES. Tinea granella. Larva. . : id se Wheat attacked by 3 Pyralis farinalis, Harr. . . ‘ Gortyna Zee, Harr. : ; 3 Hypaentas (Spilosomay textor. Cocoon e ee Pupt 2 35 Ww MS Young larva Clisiocampa Americana, Harr. Larva. . .) . Vacant cocoon : . Cluster ofeggs . . “ “ “ Clisiocampa silvatica, Harr. : ei ‘ ss Larva . Fi PLATE VIII. (Pace 512.) Tachina vivida, Harr. x , ; is Gasterophilus (Gastrus) Equi, a é . ‘ . Lophyrus ence, Harr. @ . . . : . * “ antenna 73 “ Cynips dichlocerus. Natural size . . . 7 ‘ z oe . Magnified a : ‘4 3 é . ss ie Gall on Rose-bush Cynips confluens. Galls on oak-leaf 7 “ “ Cimbex Ulmi. Cocoon . s F : i “ Notr. — The hair-line at the side of a cut shows its natural size. 546, INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. INSECTS DEFINED. — BRAIN AND NERVES. — AIR-PIPES AND BREATIHING-HOLES. — Heart axp Bioop. — INsEcTs ARE PRODUCED FROM EGcGs — METAMOR- PHOSES, OR TRANSFORMATIONS. —EXAMPLES OF COMPLETE TrANSFoRMA- TION. — PARTIAL TRANSFORMATION. — Larva, on Inranr Svare.— Pura, oR INTERMEDIATE STATE. — ADULT, OR WincED Srate. — Heap, Eyzs, ANTENN.E, AND Mout. — THoRAx oR CuEst, WINGS, AND LEGs.— ABDo- MEN OR Hinp-Bopy, PIERCER, AND Strnc. — NUMBER OF INSECTS COMPARED with PLANTS. — CLASSIFICATION ; ORDERS ; COLEOPTERA ; ORTHOPTERA ; Hemierera; Nevroprera; Leripoprera; HyMENorrera; Diptera; OTHER OrpERs AND Groups. — ReMARKS ON SCIENTIFIC NAMEs, HE benefits which we derive from insects, though neither few in number nor inconsiderable in amount, are, if we except those of the silk-worm, the bee, and the cochineal, not very obvious, and are almost entirely beyond our influence. On the contrary, the injuries that we suffer from them are becoming yearly more apparent, and are more or less within our control. A familiar acquaint- ance with our insect enemies and friends, in all their forms and disguises, will afford us much help in the discovery and proper application of the remedies for the depredations of the former, and will tend to remove the repugnance wherewith the latter are commonly regarded. Destructive insects have their appointed tasks, and are limited in the performance of them; they are exposed to 1 2 INTRODUCTION. many accidents through the influence of the elements, and they fall a prey to numerous animals, many of them also of the insect race, which, while they fulfil their own part in the economy of nature, contribute to prevent the undue increase of the noxious tribes. Too often, by an unwise interference with the plan of Providence, we defeat. the very measures contrived for our protection. We not only suffer from our own carelessness, but through ignorance fall into many mistakes. Civilization and cultivation, in many cases, have destroyed the balance originally exist- ing between plants and insects, and between the latter and other animals. Deprived of their natural food by the removal of the forest trees and shrubs, and the other indigenous plants that once covered the soil, insects have now no other resource than the cultivated plants that have taken the place of the original vegetation. The destruc- tion of insect-eating animals, whether quadrupeds, birds, or reptiles, has doubtless tended greatly to the increase of insects. Colonization and commerce have, to some extent, introduced foreion insects into countries where they were before unknown. It is to such causes as these that we are to attribute the unwelcome appearance and the undue multiplication of many insects in our cultivated grounds, and even in our store-houses and dwellings. We have no reason to, believe that any absolutely new insects are generated or created from time to time. The supposed new species, made known to us first by their unwonted depredations, may have come to us from other parts, or may have been driven by the hand of improvement from their native haunts, where here- tofore the race had lived in obscurity, and thus had escaped the notice of man. To understand the relations that insects bear to each other and to other objects, and to learn how best to check the ravages of the noxious tribes, we must make ourselves thor- oughly acquainted with the natural history of these animals. This subject is particularly important to all persons who are INSECTS.—GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 3 interested in agricultural pursuits. For their use, chiefly, this account of the principal insects that are injurious to vegetation in New England, has been prepared. It has been thought. best to prefix thereto some remarks on the structure and classification of insects, to serve as an intro- duction to the succeeding chapters, and, in some measure, to supply the want of a more general and complete work on this branch of natural history. The word Jnsect, which, in the Latin language, from whence it was derived, means cut into or notched, was designed to express one of the chief characters of this group of animals, whose body is marked by several cross- lines or incisions. The parts between these cross-lines are called segments, or rings, and consist of a number of jointed pieces, more or less movable on each other. Insects have a very small brain, and, instead of a spinal marrow, a kind of knotted cord, extending from the brain to the hinder extremity ; and numerous small whitish threads, which are the nerves, spread from the brain and knots, in various directions. Two long air-pipes, within their bodies, together with an immense number of smaller pipes, supply the want of lungs, and carry the air to every part. Insects do not breathe through their mouths, but through little holes, called spiracles, generally nine in number, along each side of the body. Some, however, have the breathing-holes placed in the hinder extremity, and a few young water- insects breathe by means of gills. The heart is a long tube, lying under the skin of the back, having little holes on each side for the admission of the juices of the body, which are prevented from escaping again by valves or clappers, formed to close the holes within. Moreover, this tubular heart is divided into several chambers, by transverse partitions, in each of which there is a hole shut by a valve, which allows the blood to flow only from the hinder to the fore part of the heart, and prevents it from passing in the contrary direction. The blood, which is a colorless or yellow fluid, does not ci- 4 INTRODUCTION. culate in proper arteries and veins ; but is driven from the fore part of the heart into the head, and thence escapes into the body, where it is mingled with the nutritive juices that filter through the sides of the intestines, and the mingled fluid penetrates the crevices among the flesh and other in- ternal parts, flowing along the sides of the air-pipes, whereby it receives from the air that influence which renders it fitted to nourish the frame and maintain life. Insects are never spontaneously generated from putrid ani- mal or vegetable matter, but are produced from eggs. A few, such as some plant-lice, do not lay their eggs, but re- tain them within their bodies till the young are ready to escape. Others invariably lay their eggs where their young, as soon as they are hatched, will find a plentiful supply of food immediately within their reach. Most insects, in the course of their lives, are subject to very great changes of form, attended by equally remarkable changes in their habits and propensities. These changes, transformations, or metamorphoses, as they are called, might cause the same insect, at different ages, to be mistaken for as many different animals. For example, a caterpillar, after feeding upon leaves till it is fully grown, retires into some place of concealment, casts off its caterpillar-skin, and pre- sents itself in an entirely different form, one wherein it has neither the power of moving about, nor of taking food ; in fact, in this its second or chrysalis state, the insect seems to be a lifeless oblong oval or conical body, without a distinct head, or movable limbs; after resting awhile, an inward struggle begins, the chrysalis-skin bursts open, and from the rent issues a butterfly or a moth, whose small and flabby wings soon extend and harden, and become fitted to bear away the insect in search of the honeyed juice of flowers and other liquids that suttice for its nourishment. The little fish-like animals that swim about in vessels of stagnant water, and devour the living atoms that swarm in the same situations, soon come to maturity, cast their skins, TRANSFORMATION OF INSECTS. 5 and take another form, wherein they remain rolled up like a ball, and either float at the surface of the water, for the pur- pose of breathing through the two tunnel-shaped tubes on the top of their backs, or, if disturbed, suddenly uncurl their bodies, and whirl over and over from one side of the vessel to the other. In the course of a few days these little water- tumblers are ready for another transformation ; the skin splits on the back between the breathing-tubes, the head, body, and limbs of a mosquito suddenly burst from the opening, the _ slender legs rest on the empty skin till the latter fills with water and sinks, when the insect abandons its native ele- ment, spreads its tiny wings, and flies away, piping its war- note, and thirsting for the blood which its natural weapons enable it to draw from its unlucky victims. The full-fed maggot, that has rioted in filth till its tender skin seems ready to burst with repletion, when the appointed time arrives, leaves the offensive matters it was ordained to assist in removing, and gets into some convenient hole or crevice; then its body contracts or shortens, and becomes egg-shaped, while the skin hardens, and turns brown and dry, so that, under this form, the creature appears more like a seed than a living animal; after some time passed in this inactive and equivocal form, during which wonderful changes have taken place within the seed-like shell, one end of the shell is forced off, and from the inside comes forth a buzzing fly, that drops its former filthy habits with its cast-off dress, and now, with a more refined taste, seeks only to lap the solid viands of our tables, or sip the liquid contents of our cups. Caterpillars, grubs, and maggots undergo a complete trans- formation in coming to maturity ; but there are other insects, such as crickets, grasshoppers, bugs, and plant-lice, which, though differing a good deal in the young and adult states, are not subject to so great a change, their transformations being only partial. For instance, the young grasshopper comes from the egg a wingless insect, and consequently un- able to move from place to place in any other way than by N 6 INTRODUCTION. the use of its legs; as it grows larger it is soon obliged to cast off its skin, and, after one or two moultings, its body not only increases in size, but becomes proportionally longer than before, while little stump-like wings begin to make their appearance on the top of the back. After this, the grass- hopper continues to eat voraciously, grows larger and larger, and hops about without any aid from its short and motion- less wings, repeatedly casts off its outgrown skin, appearing each time with still longer wings, and more perfectly formed limbs, till at length it ceases to grow, and, shedding its skin ‘tor the last time, it comes forth a perfectly formed and ma- ture grasshopper, with the power of spreading its ample ‘wings, and of using them in flight. Hence there are three periods in the life of an insect, more or less distinctly marked by corresponding changes in the form, powers, and halits. In the first, or period of infancy, an insect is technically called a larva, a word signifying a mask, because therein its future form is more or less masked or concealed. This name is not only applied to grubs, cat- erpillars, and maggots, and to other insects that undergo a complete transformation, but also to young and wingless grasshoppers, and bugs, and indeed to all young insects be- fore the wings begin to appear. In this first period, which is generally much the longest, insects are always wingless, pass most of their time in eating, grow rapidly, and usually cast off their skins repeatedly. The second period — wherein those insects that undergo a partial transformation retain their activity and their appe- tites for food, continue to grow, and acquire the rudiments of wings, while others, at this age, entirely lose their larva form, take no food, and remain at rest in a deathlike sleep— is called the pupa state, from a slight resemblance that some of the latter present to an infant trussed in bandages, as was the fashion among the Romans. The pupz from caterpillars, however, are more commonly called chrysalids, because some ‘of them, as the name implies, are gilt or adorned with golden ORGANS OF INSECTS DESCRIBED. 7 spots; and grubs, after their first transformation, are often named nymphs, for what reason does not appear. At the end of the second period, insects again shed their skins, and come forth fully grown, and (with few exceptions) provided with wings. Thus they enter upon their last or adult state, wherein they no longer increase in size, and during which they provide for a continuation of their kind. This period usually lasts only a short time, for most insects die imme- diately after their eggs are laid. Bees, wasps, and ants, however, which live in society, and labor together for the common good of their communities, continue much longer in the adult state. In winged or adult insects, two of the transverse incisions with which they are marked are deeper than the rest, so that the body seems to consist of three principal portions, the first whereof is the head, the second or middle portion the thorax, or chest, and the third or hindmost the abdomen, or hind- body. In some wingless insects these three portions are also to be seen; but in most young insects, or larve, the body consists of the head and a series of twelve rings or segments, the thorax not being distinctly separated from the hinder part of the body, as may be perceived in caterpillars, grubs, and maggots. The eyes of adult insects, though apparently two in num- ber, are compound, each consisting of a great number of single eyes closely united together, and incapable of being rolled in their sockets. Such also are the eyes of the larva, and of the active pups of those insects that undergo an imperfect transformation. Moreover, many winged insects have one, two, or three little single eyes, placed near each other on the crown of the head, and called ocelli, or eyelets. The eyes of grubs, caterpillars, and of other completely trans- forming larvee, are not compound, but consist of five or six eyelets clustered together, without touching, on each side of the head; some, however, such as maggots, are totally blind. Near to the eyes are two jointed members, named antenna, 8 - INTRODUCTION. corresponding, for the most part, in situation, with the ears of other animals, and supposed to be connected with the sense of hearing, of touch, or of both united. The antennze are very short in larvae, and of various sizes and forms in other insects. The mouth of some insects is made for biting or chewing, that of others for taking the food only by suction. The biting-insects have the parts of the mouth variously modified to suit the nature of the food; and these parts are, an upper and an under lip, two nippers or jaws on each side, moving sidewise, and not up and down, and four or six little jointed members, called palpi or feelers, whereof two belong to the lower lip, and one or two to each of the lower jaws. The mouth of sucking-insects consists essentially of these same parts, but so different in their shape and in the purposes for which they are designed, that the resemblance between them and those of biting-insects is not easily recognized. ‘Thus the jaws of caterpillars are transformed to a spiral sucking- tub2 in butterflies and moths, and those of maggots to a hard proboscis, fitted for piercing, as in the mosquito and horse-fly, or to one of softer consistence, and ending with fleshy lips for lapping, as in common flies ; while in bugs, plant-lice, and some other insects resembling them, the parts of the mouth undergo no essential change from infancy to the adult state, but are formed into a long, hard, and jointed beak, bent under the breast when not in use, and designed only for making punctures and drawing in liquid nourishment. The parts belonging to the thorax are the wings and the legs. The former are two or four in number, and vary greatly in form and consistence, in the situation of the wing- bones or veins, as they are generally called, and in their posi- tion or the manner in which they are closed or folded when at rest. The under-side of the thorax is the breast, and to this are fixed the legs, which are six in number in adult insects, and in the larvee and pupe of those that are subject BASIS OF CLASSIFICATION. 9 only to a partial transformation. The parts of the legs are the hip-joint, by which the leg is fastened to the body, the thigh, the shank (tibia), and the foot, the latter consisting some- times of one joint only, more often of two, three, four, or five pieces (tarsi), counected end to end, like the joints of the finger, and armed at the extremity with one or two claws. Of the larva that undergo a complete transformation, mag- gots and some others are destitute of legs ; many grubs have six, namely, a pair beneath the under-side of the first three segments, and sometimes an additional fleshy prop-leg under the hindmost extremity ; caterpillars and false caterpillars have, besides the six true legs attached to the first three rings, several fleshy prop-like legs, amounting sometimes to ten or sixteen in number, placed in pairs beneath the other segments. The abdomen, or hindmost, and, as to size, the principal part of the body, contains the organs of digestion, and other internal parts, and to it also belong the piercer and the sting with which many winged or adult insects are provided. The piercer is sometimes only a flexible or a jointed tube, capable of being thrust out of the end of the body, and is used for conducting the eggs into the crevices or holes where they are to be laid. In some other insects it consists of a kind of scab- bard, containing a central borer, or instruments like saws, de- signed for making holes wherein the eggs are to be inserted. The sting, in like manner, consists of a sheath enclosing a sharp instrument for inflicting wounds, connected wherewith in the inside of the body is a bag of venom or poison. The parts belonging to the abdomen of larvee are various, but are mostly designed to aid them in their motions, or to provide for their respiration. An English entomologist has stated, that, on an average, there are six distinct insects to one plant. This proportion is probably too great for our country, where vast tracts are covered with forests, and the other original vegetable races still hold possession of the soil. There are above 1,200 2 10 INTRODUCTION. flowering plants in Massachusetts, and it will be within bounds to estimate the species of insects at 4,800, or in the proportion of four to one plant. To facilitate the study of such an immense number, some kind of classification is neces- sary; it will be useful to adopt one, even in describing the few species now before us. The basis of this classification is founded upon the structure of the mouth, in the adult state, the number and nature of the wings, and the transformations. The first great divisions are called orders, of which the fol- lowing seven are very generally adopted by naturalists. 1. Corzoprera (Beetles). Insects with jaws, two thick wing-covers meeting in a straight line on the top of the back, and two filmy wings, which are folded transversely. Trans- formation complete. Larvae, called grubs, generally provided with six true legs, and sometimes also with a terminal prop- leg; more rarely without legs. Pupa with the wings and the legs distinct and unconfined. Many of these insects, particularly in the larva state, are very injurious to vegetation. The tiger-beetles ( Cretndelade*), the predaceous ground-beetles (Carabide), the diving-beetles (Dytis- etde), the lady-birds ( Coccineliade), and some others, are emi- Fig. 1. nently serviceable by preying upon caterpillars, plant-lice, and other noxious or destructive insects. The water-lovers (Hydrophilide), rove-beetles (Sta- phylinide), carrion-beetles (Sitphade), skin-beetles (Dermestade, Byrrhide, and Trogide), bone-beetles (some of the Mitidulade and Cleride), and vari- ous kinds of dung-beetles (Spheridiade, Histerida, Tenebrio molitor, Ceotrupide, t+ Copridide,t and Aphodiadet), and (Meal-worm.) clocks (Pimeliade and Blaptide), act the useful Larva. ies es) A i) a Pl aS part of scavengers, by removing carrion, dung, and other filth, upon which alone they and their larve subsist. Many * See the Catalogue of Insects appended to Professor Hitchcock's Report on the Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoilogy of Massachusetts. 2d edit. yo. Amherst. 1835, tT All the Scarabeide of my Catalogue, from Ateuchus to Geotrupes inclusive, to which may be added many included in the genus Scarabecus. COLEOPTERA.—ORTHOPTERA.—HEMIPTERA. 11 Coleoptera (some Staphylinide and Mitidulade, Dia- gig. 2, peridide, some Serropalpide, Mycetophagide, Hroty- lide, and Endomychide) live altogether on agarics, mushrooms, and toadstools, plants of very little use to man, many of them poisonous, and in a state of decay often offensive ; these fungus-eaters are therefore to be reckoned among our friends. There are others, such as the stag-beetles (Lucanide), some spring-beetles (Elateride), dark- ling-beetles (Zenebrionide), (Figs. 1-3,) and many gig. g, bark-beetles (Helopide, Cistelade, Serropalpide, CEle- merade, Cucujade, and some Trogositade), which, liv- ing under the bark and in the trunks and roots of old trees, though they may occasionally prove injurious, must on the whole be considered as serviceable, by contribut- ing to destroy and reduce to dust plants that have passed Imago. their prime and are fast going to decay. And, lastly, the blistering-beetles (Cantharidide) have, for a long time, been employed with great benefit in the healing art. Pups. 2. Orrnoprera ( Cockroaches, Crickets, Grasshoppers, §c.). Insects with jaws, two rather thick and opaque upper wings, overlapping a little on the back, and two larger, thin wings, which are folded in plaits, like a fan. Transformation par- tial. Larvee and pupe active, but wanting wings. All of the insects of this order, except the camel-crickets (Man- tide), which prey on other insects, are injurious to our household possessions, or destructive to vegetation. 3. Hemrerera (Bugs, Locusts, Plant-lice, ¢c.). Insects with a horny beak for suction, four wings, whereof the uppermost are generally thick at the base, with thinner extremities, which lie flat, and cross each other on the top of the back, or are of uniform thickness throughout, and slope at the sides like a roof. Transformation partial. Larvae and pups nearly like the adult insect, but wanting wings. The various kinds of field and house bugs give out a strong and disagreeable smell. Many of them (some Pentatomade and Ly- 12 INTRODUCTION. geide, Cimicide, Reduviade, Hydrometrade, Nepade [Plate IL Fig. 1, Nepa apiculata], and otonectade) live entirely on the juices of animals, and by this means destroy great numbers of noxious insects; some are of much service in the arts, affording us the costly cochineal, scarlet grain, lac, and manna ; but the benefits derived from these are more than counterbalanced by the injuries committed by the domestic kinds, and by the numerous tribes of plant-bugs, locusts or cicadz, tree-hoppers, plant-lice, bark-lice, mealy bugs, and the like, that suck the juices of plants, and re- quire the greatest care and watchfulness on our part to keep them in check. 4. Nevuroprera (Dragon-flies, Lace-winged flies ; May- flies, Ant-lion, Day-fly, White Ants, gc.). , Insects with jaws, four netted wings, of which the hinder ones are the largest, and no sting or piercer. Transformation complete, or partial. Larva and pupa various. The white ants, wood-lice, and wood-ticks, (Zermitide and Psocide,) the latter including also the little ominous death-watch, are almost the only noxious insects in the order, and even these do not injure living plants. The dragon-flies, or, as they are com- monly called in this country, devil’s-needles (Libellulade), (Figs. 4, 5,) (Plate I. Fig. 2, Agrion basalis,) prey upon gnats and mosquitoes ; and their larvee and pupe, as well as those of the day-flies (Hphemerade), semblians (Semblidide), and those of some of the May-flies, called caddis-worms (Phryganeade), (Fig. 6,) all of which live in the water, devour aquatic insects. The predaceous habits of the ant-lions (Myrmeleontide), (Fig. 7,) have been often described. The lace-winged flies (Hemerobi- ade), (Fig. 8,) in the larva state, live wholly on plant-lice, great numbers of which they destroy. The mantispians (Jantispa- de), and the scorpion-flies (Panorpade), are also predaceous insects. 5. Leprporrera (Butterflies and Moths). Mouth with a spiral sucking-tube ; wings four, covered with branny scales. Transformation complete. The larv.e are caterpillars, and have six true legs, and from four to ten fleshy prop-legs. Fig. 5. — Libellula pulchella, Drury, NEUROPTERA. Fiz. 8. — Polzstoecchotes punctatus, Feb. Fig. 7. — Myrmicleon obsoletus, Say. i4 INTRODUCTION. Pupa with the cases of the wings and of the legs indistinct, and soldered to the breast. Some kinds of caterpillars are domestic pests, and devour cloth, wool, furs, feathers, wax, lard, flour, and the like; but by far the greatest number live wholly on vegetable food, certain kinds being exclusively leaf-eaters, while others attack the buds, fruit, seeds, bark, pith, stems, and roots of plants. 6. Hymenoprera (Saw-flies, Ants, Wasps, Bees, §c.). Insects with jaws, four veined wings, in most species, the hinder pair being the smallest, and a piercer or sting at the extremity of the abdomen. Transformation complete. Larve mostly maggot-like, or slug-like ; of some, caterpillar- like. Pupze with the legs and wings unconfined. In the adult state these insects live chiefly on the honey and pollen of flowers, and the juices of fruits. The larve of the saw-flies ( Tenthredinide), under the form of false-caterpillars and slugs, are leaf-eaters, and are oftentimes productive of much injury to plants. The larvae of the xiphydrians (Xiphydriade), and of the horn-tails (Uroceride), are borers and wood-eaters, and con- sequently injurious to the plants inhabited by them. Pines and firs suffer most from their attacks. Some of the warty excres- cences on the leaves and stems of plants, such as oak-apples, gall- nuts, and the like, arise from the punctures of four-winged gall-flies (Diplolepidide), and the irritation produced by their larvae, which reside in these swellings. The injury caused by them is, com- paratively, of very little importance, while, on the other hand, we are greatly indebted to these insects for the gall-nuts that are extensively used in coloring and in medicine, and form the chief ingredient in ink, We may, therefore, write down these insec‘s among the benefactors of the human race. Immense numbers of caterpillars and other noxious insects are preyed upon by in- ternal enemies, the larva of the ichneumon-flies ( Zvaniade, Ichneu- monide, and Chaleidide), which live upon the fat of their victims, and finally destroy them. Some of these ichneumon-flies (Ichneu- mones ovulorum*) are extremely small, and confine their attacks .* Now placed among the Proctotrupide. HABITS OF SOME HYMENOPTERA. 15 to the eggs of other insects, which they puncture, and the little creatures produced from the latter find a sufficient quantity of food to supply all their wants within the larger eggs they occupy. The ruby-tails (Chrysidide) and the cuckoo-bees (Hyleus, Sphecodes, Nomada, Melecta, Epeolus, Celioxys, and Stelis) lay their eggs in the provisioned nests of other insects, whose young are robbed of their food by the -earlier-hatched intruders, and are conse- quently starved to death. The wood-wasps (Crabronide), and numerous kinds of sand-wasps (Larrade, Bembicide, Sphegide, Pompilide, and Scoliade), mud-wasps (Pelopeus), the stinging velvet-ants (MJutillade), (Plate I. Fig. 3, Mutilla coccinea,) and the solitary wasps (Odynerus and Aumenes), are predaceous in their habits, and provision their nests with other insects, which serve for food to their young. : The food of ants consists of animal and vegetable juices; and though these industrious little animals sometimes prove troublesome by their fondness for sweets, yet, as they seize and destroy many insects also, their occasional trespasses may well be forgiven. Even the proverbially irritable paper-making wasps and hornets (Polistes and Vespa) are not without their use in the economy of nature ; for they feed their tender offspring not only with vegetable juices, but with the softer parts of other insects, great numbers of which they seize and destroy for this purpose. The solitary and social bees (Andrenade and Apide) live wholly on the honey and pollen of flowers, and feed their young with a mixture of the same, called bee-bread. Various kinds of bees are domesticated for the sake of their stores of wax and honey, and are thus made to contribute directly to the comfort and convenience of man, in return for the care and attention afforded them. Honey and wax are also obtained from several species of wild bees (Melipona, Trigona, and Tetra- gona), essentially different from the domesticated kinds. While bees and other hymenopterous insects seek only the gratification of their own inclinations, in their frequent visits to flowers, they carry on their bodies the yellow dust or pollen from one blossom to another, and: scatter it over the parts prepared: to receive and be fertilized by it, whereby they render an important service to vegetation. 16 INTRODUCTION. T. Drerera (Mosquitoes, Grats, Fies, ge.). Insects with a horny or fleshy proboscis, two wings only, and two knobbed threads, called balancers or poisers, behind the wings. Transformation complete. The larve are maggots, without feet, and with the breathing-holes generally in the hinder extremity of the body. Pupz mostly incased in the dried skin of the larvae, sometimes, however, naked, in which case the wings and the legs are visible, and are found to be more or less free or unconfined. The two-winged insects, though mostly of moderate or small size, are not only very numerous in kinds or species, but also ex- tremely abundant in individuals of the same kind, often appearing in swarms of countless multitudes. Flies are destined to live wholly on liquid food, and are therefore provided with a proboscis, enclosing hard and sharp-pointed darts, instead of jaws, and fitted for piercing and sucking, or ending with soft and fleshy lips for lapping. In our own persons we suffer much from the sharp suckers and bloodthirsty propensities of gnats and mosquitoes (Culicide), and also from those of certain midges ( Ceratopogon and Simulium), including the tormenting black-flies (Simulium molestum) of this country. The larve of these insects live in stagnant water, and subsist on minute aquatic animals. Horse- flies and the golden-eyed forest-flies (Zabanide), whose larve live in the ground, and the stinging stable-flies (Stomoxys), which closely resemble common house-flies, and in the larve state live in dung, attack both man and animals, goading the latter some- times almost to madness by their severe and incessant punctures. The winged horse-ticks (Hippobosce), the bird-flies (Ornithomyia), the wingless sheep-ticks (Melophag?), and the spider-flies (Vycte- ribie), and bee-lice (Braule), which are also destitute of wings, are truly parasitical in their habits, and pass their whole lives upon the skin. of animals. Bot-flies, or gad-flies (stride), as they are sometimes called, appear to take no food while in the winged state, and are destitute of a proboscis; the nourishment obtained by their larvae, which, as is well known, live in the bodies of horses, cattle, sheep, and other animals, being sufficient to last these insects during the rest of their lives. Some fies, though TWO-WINGED INSECTS. 17 apparently harmless in the winged state, deposit their eggs on plants, on the juices of which their young subsist, and are often- times productive of immense injury to vegetation ; among these the most notorious for their depredations are the gall-gnats ( Cecidomyie), including the wheat-fly and Hessian fly, the root- eating maggots of some of the long-legged gna‘s (Tipule), those of the flower-flies (Anthomyie), and the two-winged gall-flies and fruit-flies (Ortalides). To this list of noxious flies are to be added the common house-flies (Musee), which pass through the maggot state in dung and other filth, the blue-bottle or blow-flies, and meat-flies (Lucilie and Calliphore), together with the maggot- producing or viviparous flesh-flies (Sarcophage and Cynomyie), whose maggots live in flesh, the cheese-fly (Piophila), the parent of the well-known skippers, and a few others that in the larva state attack our household stores. Some flies are harmless in all their states, and many are emi- nently useful in various ways. Even the common house-flies, and flesh-flies, together with others for which no name; exist in our language, render important services by feeding while larvae upon dung, carrion, and all kinds of filth, by which means, and by similar services rendered by various tribes of scavenger-beetles, these offensive matters speedily disappear, instead of remaining to decay slowly, thereby tainting the air and rendering it unwhole- some. Those whose larve live in stagnant water, such as gnats (Culicide), feather-horned gnats (Chironomus, &c.), the soldier- flies (Stratiomyade), the rat-tailed flies (Helophilus), &e., &c., tend to prevent the water from becoming putrid, by devouring the de- cayed animal and vegetable matter it contains. The maggots of some flies (Mycetophile and various Muscade) live in musb- rooms, toadstools, and similar excrescences growing on trees ; those of others (Sargi, Xylophagide, Asilide, Thereve, Milesia, Xylote, Borbori, &c., &c.), in rotten wood and bark, thereby join- ing with the grubs of certain beetles to hasten the removal of these dead and useless substances, and make room for new and more vigorous vegetation. Some of these wood-eating insecis, with others, when transformed to flies, (Aselide [Plate I. Fie. 4, Asilus zstuans], Ehagionide, Dolichopide, and Xylophagide,) prey on other insects. Some (Syrphide), though not predaceous them- 3 18 INTRODUCTION. selves in the winged state, deposit their eggs among plant-lice, upon the blood of which their young afterwards subsi-t. Many (Conopide, excluding Stomoxys, Tachine, Ocyptere, Phore, &.) lay their eggs on caterpillars, and on various other larvee, within the bodies of which the maggots hatched from these eggs live till they destroy their victims. And finally others (Anthracide and Volucelle) drop their eggs in the nests of insects, whose offspring are starved to death, by being robbed of their food by the off spring of these cuckoo-flies. Besides performing their various appointed tasks in the economy of nature, flies, and other insects, subserve another highly important purpose, for which an all-wise Providence has designed them, namely, that of furnishing food to numerous other animals. Not to mention the various kinds of insect-eating quadrupeds, such as bats, moles, and the like, many birds live partly or entirely on insects. The finest song-birds, nightingales and thrushes, feast with the highest relish on maggots of all kinds, as well as on flies and other insects, while the warblers, vireo, and especially the fly-catchers and swallows, devour these two-winged insects in great numbers. The seven foregoing orders constitute very natural groups, relatively of nearly equal importance, and sufficiently distinct from each other, but connected at different points by various resemblances. It is impossible to show the mutual relations of these orders, when they are arranged in a continuous se- ries, but these can be better expressed and understood by grouping the orders together in a cluster, so that each order shall come in contact with several others. Besides these seven orders, there are several smaller groups, which some naturalists have thought proper to raise to the rank of independent orders. Upon the principal of these a few remarks will now be made. The little order Srrepstprera of Kirby, or Rurprprera of Latreille, consists of certain minute insects, which undergo their transformations within the bodies of bees and wasps. One of them, the Xenos Peckit, was discovered by Professor Peck in the common brown wasp (Polistes Juscata) of this DIFFICULTIES IN ARRANGEMENT. 1h country. The larva is maggot-like, and lives between the rings of the back of the wasp; the pupa resembles that of some flies, and is cased in the dried skin of the larva. The females never acquire wings, and never leave the bodies of the bees or wasps into which they penetrate while young. The males, in the adult state, have a pair of short, narrow, and twisted members, instead of fore-wings, and two very large hind-wings, folded lengthwise like a fan. The mouth is provided with a pair of slender, sharp-pointed jaws, better adapted for piercing than for biting. It is very difficult to determine the proper place of these insects in a natural ar- rangement. Latreille puts them between the Lepidoptera and Diptera, but thinks them most nearly allied to some of the Hymenoptera.! The flea tribe (Pulicide) was placed among the bugs, or Hemiptera, by Fabricius. It constitutes the order Arrera of Leach, Srpuonarrera of Latreille, and APHANIPTERA of Kirby. Fleas are destitute of wings, in the place whereof there are four little scales, pressed closely to the sides of their bodies ; their mouth is fitted for suction, and provided with several lancet-like pieces for making punctures; they undergo a complete transformation ; their larvee are worm- like and without feet; and their pupz have the legs free. These insects, of which there are many different kinds, are intermediate in their characteristics between the Hemiptera and the Diptera, and seem to connect more closcly these two orders. The earwigs (Forficulade), of which also there are many kinds, were placed by Linnzus in the order Coleoptera, but most naturalists now include them among the Orthoptera ; indeed, they seem to be related to both orders, but most [1 Systematic authors now consider the order of Strepsiptera as simply a fam- ily, though a very aberrant one, of Coleoptera. It is placed after the Rhipipho- rid, under the name Stylopide, from its principal genus, Stylops, which is par- asitic in certain genera of bees; a species of this genus has been discovered in Nova Scotia, and will probably be found hereafter in New England. — Lrc.] 20 INTRODUCTION. closely to the Orthoptera, with which they agree in their partial transformations, and active pups. They form the little order Dermaprera of Leach, or Evpiexoprera of Westwood. The spider-flies, bird-flies, sheep-tick, &c. (Hippoboscade), which, with Latreille and others, I have retained among the Diptera, form the order Homatorrera of Leach, and the English entomologists. The May-flies, or case-flies (Phryganeade), have been separated from the Neuroptera; and constitute the order Tricnoprera of Kirby. Latreille and most of the natu- ralists of the continent of Europe still retain them in Neuroptera, to which they seem properly to belong. The Thrips tribe consists of minute insects more closely allied to Hemiptera than to any other order, but resembling in some respects the Orthoptera also. It forms the little order Tuysanorrera of Haliday ; but I propose to leave it, as Latreille has done, among the Hemiptera. The English entomologists separate from Hemiptera the cicadas or harvest-flies, lantern-flies, frog-hoppers, plant-lice, bark-lice, Ge., under the name of Homoprrra ; but these insects seem too nearly to resemble the true Hemiptera to warrant the separation. Burmeister, a Prussian naturalist, has subdivided the Neu- roptera into the orders Nruroprers and Dicryoroprera, the latter to include the species which undergo only a partial transformation. If Hemiptera is to be subdivided, as above mentioned, then this division of Neuroptera will be justifiable also. Objections have often been raised against the study of natural history, and many persons have been discouraged from attempting it, on account of the formidable array of scientific names and terms which it presents to the beginner ; and some men of mean and contracted minds have made themselves merry at the expense of naturalists, and have sought to bring the writings of the latter into contempt, be- ADVANTAGE OF TECHNICAL NAMES. se], cause of the scientific language and names they were obliged to employ. Entomology, or the science that treats of insects, abounds in such names more than any other branch of natu- ral history; for the different kinds of insects very far out- number the species in every class of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. It is owing to this excessive number of species, and to the small size and unobtrusive character of many insects, that comparatively very few have received any common names, either in our own, or in other modern tongues ; and hence most of those that have been described in works of natural history are known only by their scientific names. The latter have the advantage over other names in being intelligible to all well-educated persons in all parts of the world; while the common names of animals and plants in our own and other modern languages are very limited in their application, and moreover are often misapplied. For example, the name weevil is given, in this country, to at least six different kinds of insects, two of which are moths, two are flies, and two are beetles. Moreover, since nearly four thousand species of weevils have actually been scientifi- cally named and described, when mention is made of ‘the weevil,” it may well be a subject of doubt to which of these four thousand species the speaker or writer intends to refer ; whereas, if the scientific name of the species in question were made known, this doubt would at once be removed. To give each of these weevils a short, appropriate, significant, and purely English name, would be very difficult, if not impos- sible, and there would be great danger of overburdening the memory with such a number of names ; but, by means of the ingenious and simple method of nomenclature invented by Linnzeus, these weevils are all arranged under three hundred and fifty-five generical, or surnames, requiring in addition only a small number of different words, like christian names, to indicate the various species or kinds. There is oftentimes a great convenience in the use of single collective terms for groups of ammals and plants, whereby the necessity for enu- 22 INTRODUCTION. merating all the individual contents or the characteristics of these groups is avoided. ‘Thus the single word Ruminantia stands for camels, lamas, giraffes, deer, antelopes, goats, sheep, and kine, or for all the hoofed quadrupeds which ruminate or chew the cud, and have no front teeth in the upper jaw ; Lepidoptera includes all the various kinds of butterflies, hawk- moths, and millers or moths, or insects having wings covered with branny scales, and a spiral tongue instead of jaws, and whose young appear in the torm of caterpillars. It would be difficult to find or invent any single English words which would be at once so convenicnt and so expressive. This, therefore, is an additional reason why scientific names ought to be preferred to all others, at least in works of natural his- tory, where it is highly important that the objects described should have names that are short, significant in themselves, and not liable to be mistaken or misapplied. There is no art, profession, trade, or occupation, which can ‘be taught or learned without the use of technical words or phrases belonging to each, and which, to the inexperienced and untaught, are as unintelligible as the terms of science. It is not at all more difficult to learn and remember the latter than the former, when the attention has been properly given to the subject. The seaman, the farmer, and the mechanic soon become familiar with the names and phrases peculiar to their several callings, uncouth, and without apparent signifi- cation, as many of them are. So, too, the terms of’ science lose their forbidding and mysterious appearance and sound by the frequency of their recurrence, and finally become as harmonious to the ear, as they are clear and definite in their application. gal sc. CHAPTER II. COLEOPTERA. BEETLES. — SCARAB&IANS. — GROUND-BEETLES. — TREE-BEETLES. — Cock- CHAFERS OR May-BrETLEeS. — FLOWER-BEETLES. — STAG-BEETLES. — Bu- PRESTIANS, OR SAW-HORNED Borers. — SPRING-BEETLES. —TIMBER-BEETLES. — WEEVILS. — CYLINDRICAL BARK-BEETLES. — CAPRICORN-BEETLES, Ol Lonce-HORNED Borers. — LEAF-BEETLES. — CRIOCERIANS. — LYAF-MINING Beer.es. — Torrorse-BrEerLes. — CHRYSOMELIANS. — CANTHARIDES. HE wings of beetles are covered and concealed by a pair of -horny cases or shells, meeting im a straight line on the top of the back, and usually having a little triangular or semicircular piece, called the scutel, wedged between their bases. Hence the order to which these insects belong is called Cotzoprera, a word signifying wings m a sheath. Beetles* are biting-insects, and are provided with two pairs of jaws moving sidewise. Their young are grubs, and -un- dergo a complete transformation in coming to maturity. At the head of this order Linnzus placed a group of insects, to which he gave the name of Scarabaus. It includes the largest and most robust animals of the bectle kind, many of them remarkable for the singularity of their shape, and the formidable horn-like prominences with which they are furnished, — together with others, which, though they do not present the same imposing appearance, require to be noticed, on account of the injury sustained by vegeta- tion from their attacks. An immense number of Scarab:v- ians (ScaRaBaip#), as they may be called, are now known, differing greatly from each other, not only in structure, but * Beetle, in old English, befl, bytl, or bitel, means a biter, or insect that bites. et COLEOPTERA. in their habits in the larva and adult states. They are all easily distinguished by their short movable horns, or anten- ne, ending with a knob, composed of three or more leaf-like pieces, which open like the petals of a flower-bud. Another feature that they possess in common is the projecting ridge (clypeus) of the forehead, which extends more or less over the face, like the visor or brim of a cap, and beneath the sides of this visor the antenne are implanted. Moreover, the legs of these beetles, particularly the first pair, are fitted for digging, being deeply notched or furnished with several strong teeth on the outer edges ; and the feet are five-jointed. This very extensive family of insects is subdivided into sev- eral smaller groups, each composed of beetles distinguished by various peculiarities of structure and habits. Some live mostly upon or beneath the surface of the earth, and were, therefore, called ground-beetles by De Geer; some, in their winged state, are found on trees, the leaves of which they devour, — they are the tree-beetles of the same author; and others, during the same period of their lives, frequent flowers, and are called flower-bzetles. The ground-beetles, including the earth-borers ( Geotrupide), and dung-beetles ( Copridide and Aphodiade), which, in all their states, are found in excre- ment, the skin-beetles ( Zreyide), which inhabit dried animal substances, and the gigantic Hercules-beetles (Dynastide), which live in rotten wood or beneath old dung-heaps, must be passed over without further comment. The other groups contain insects that are very injurious to vegetation, and therefore require to be more particularly noticed. One of the most common, and the most beautiful of the tree-beetles of this country, is the Aresdla lanigera2 or woolly Areoda, sometimes also called the goldsmith-beetle (Plate II. Fig. 20). It is about nine tenths of an inch in length, broad oval im shape, of a lemon-yellow color above, glittering [? Areoda lanigera, now called Cotalpa lanigera; the genus Cotalpa, established by Burmeister, differs from the true Areoda by not having the last joint of the tarsi armed beneath with an angular projection. — Lxc.] THE GOLDSMITH AND GRAPE-VINE BEETLES. 25 like burnished gold on the top of the head and thorax; the under-side of the body is copper-colored, and thickly cov- ered with whitish wool; and the legs are brownish yellow, or brassy, shaded with green. These fine beetles begin to appear in Massachusetts about the middle of May, and con- tinue generally till the twentieth of June. In the morning and evening twilight they come forth from their retreats, and fly about with a humming and rustling sound among the branches of trees, the tender leaves of which they de- vour. Pear-trees are particularly subject to their attacks, but the elm, hickory, poplar, oak, and probably also other kinds of trees, are frequented and injured by them. During the middle of the day they remain at rest upon the trees, clinging to the under-sides of the leaves, and endeavor to conceal themselves by drawing two or three leaves together, and holding them in this position with their long unequal claws. In some seasons they occur in profusion, and then may be obtained in great quantities by shaking the young trees on which they are lodged in the daytime, as they do not attempt to fly when thus disturbed, but fall at once to the ground. The larve of these insects are not known; prob- ably they live in the ground upon the roots of plants. The group to which the goldsmith-beetle belongs may be called Rutilians (RuTmip2), from Rutela, or more correctly Rutila, signifying shining, the name of the principal genus included in it. The Rutilians connect the ground-beetles with the tree- beetles of the following group, having the short and robust legs of the former, with the leaf-eating habits of the latter. The spotted Pelidnota, Pelidnota punc- Fig. 9. tata (Fig. 9), is also arranged among the Rutilians. This large beetle is found on the cultivated and wild grape-vine, some- times in great sbundance, during the months of July and August. It is of an oblong oval shape, and about an inch long. The wing-covers are tile-colored, 4 26 COLEOPTERA. or dull brownish-yellow, with three distinct black dots on each ; the thorax is darker and slightly bronzed, with a black dot on each side; the body beneath, and the legs, are of a deep bronzed green color. These beetles fly by day; but may also be seen at the same time on the leaves ot the grape, which are their only food. They sometimes prove very inju- rious to the vine. The only method of destroying them is to pick them off by hand and crush them under foot. The larvee live in rotten wood, such as the stumps and roots of dead trees, and do not differ essentially from those of other Searabzeians. Among the tree-beetles, those commonly called dors, chaf- crs, May-bugs, and rose-bugs, are the most interesting to the farmer and gardener, on account of their extensive ravages, both in the winged and larva states. They were included by Fabricius in the genus Melolontha, a word used by the ancient Greeks to distinguish the same kind of insects, which were supposed by them to be produced from or with the flowers of apple-trees, as the name itself implies. These beetles, together with many others, for which no common names exist in our language, are now united in one family called Meto- LONTHAD, or Melolonthians. The following are the genera] characters of these insects. The body is oblong oval, con- vex, and generally of a brownish color ; the antenn are nine or more commonly ten jointed, the knob is much longer in the males than in the females, and consists generally of threy leaf-like pieces, sometimes of a greater number, which open and shut like the leaves of a book ; the visor is short and wide ; the upper jaws are furnished at the base on the inner side with an oval space, crossed hy ridges, like a millstone, for grinding ; the thorax is transversely square, or nearly so ; the wing-cases do not cover the whole of the body, the hinder extremity of which is exposed , the lees are rather long, the first pair armed externally with two or three teeth ; and the claws are notched beneath, or are split at the end like the nib of a pen. The powerful and horny jaws are admirably HABITS OF THE COCKCHAFER. 27 fitted for cutting and grinding the leaves of plants, upon which these beetles subsist ; their notched or double claws support them securely on the foliage; and their strong and Jagged fore-legs, being formed for digging in the ground, point out the place of their transformations. The habits and transformations of the common cockchafer of Europe have been carefully observed, and will serve to exemplity those of the other insects of this family, which, as far as they are known, seem to be nearly the same. This insect devours the leaves of trees and shrubs. Its duration in the perfect state is very short, each individual living only about a week, and the species entirely disappearing in the course of a month. After the sexes have paired, the males perish, and the females enter the earth to the depth of six inches or more, making their way by means of the strong teeth which arm the fore-legs; here they deposit their eggs, amounting, according to some writers, to nearly one’ hundred, or, as others assert, to two hundred from each female, which are abandoned by the parent, who generally ascends again to the surface, and perishes in a short time. From the eggs are hatched, in the space of fourteen days, little whitish grubs, each provided with six legs near the head, and a mouth furnished with strong jaws. When in a state of rest, these grubs usually curl themselves in the shape of a crescent. They subsist on the tender roots of various plants, committing ravages among these vegetable substances, on some occasions of the most deplorable kind, so as totally to disappoint the best-founded hopes of the husbandman. During the summer they live under the thin coat of vegeta- ble mould near the surface, but, as winter approaches, they descend below the reach of frost, and remain torpid until the succeeding spring, at which time they change their skins, and reascend to the surface for food. At the close of their third summer (or, as some say, of the fourth or fifth) they cease eating, and penetrate about two feet deep into the earth ; there, by its motions from side to side, each grub forms an 28 COLEOPTERA. oval cavity, which is lined by some glutinous substance thrown from its mouth. In this cavity it is changed to a pupa by casting off its skin. In this state, the legs, antenn:e, and wing-cases of the future beetle are visible through the transparent skin which envelops them, but appear of a yel- lowish-white color; and thus it remains until the month of February, when the thin film which encloses the body is rent, and three months afterwards the perfected beetle digs its way to the surface, from which it finally emerges during the night. According to Kirby and Spence, the ‘grubs of the cockchafer sometimes destroy whole acres of grass by feeding on its roots. They undermine the richest meadows, and so loosen the turf that it will roll up as if cut by a turfing spade. They do not confine themselves to grass, but eat the roots of wheat, of other grains, and also those of young trees. About seventy years ago, a farmer near Norwich, in England, suffered much by them, and, with his man, gathered eighty bushels of the beetles. In the year 1785 many provinces in France were so ravaged by them, that a premium was offered by govern- ment for the best mode of destroying them. The Society of Arts in London, during many years, held forth a premium for the best account of this insect, and the means of check- ing its ravages, but without having produced one successful claimant. In their winged state, these beetles, with several other species, act as conspicuous a part in injuring the trees as the grubs do in destroying the herbage. During the month of May they come forth from the ground, whence they have received the name of May-bugs, or May-beetles. They pass the greater part of the day upon trees, clinging to the under- sides of the leaves, in a state of repose. As soon as evening approaches, they begin to buzz about among the branches, and continue on the wing till towards midnight. In their droning flight they move very irregularly, darting hither and thither with an uncertain aim, hitting against objects in their way with a force that often causes them to fall to the ground. FOOD OF ANIMALS AND BIRDS. 29 They frequently enter houses in the night, apparently attract- ed, as well as dazzled and bewildered, by the lights. Their vagaries, in which, without having the power to harm, they seem to threaten an attack, have caused them to be called dors, — that is, darers ; while their seeming blindness and stupidity have become proverbial, in the expressions, “ blind as a beetle,” and ‘+ beetle-headed.” Besides the leaves of fruit-trees, they devour those of various forest-trees and shrubs, with an avidity not much less than that of the locust, so that, in certain seasons, and in particular districts, they become an oppressive scourge, and the source of much misery to the inhabitants. Mouffet relates that, in the year 1574, such a number of them fell into the river Severn as to stop the wheels of the water-mills ; and, in the Philosophical Transactions, it is stated, that in the year 1688 they filled the hedges and trees of Galway, in such infinite numbers as to cling to each other like bees when swarming; and, when on the wing, darkened the air, annoyed travellers, and produced a sound like distant drums. In a short time the leaves of all the trees, for some miles round, were so totally consumed by them, that at midsummer the country wore the aspect of the depth of winter. Another chafer, Anomala vitis F. is sometimes exceedingly injurious to the vine. It prevails in certain provinces of France, where it strips the vines of their leaves, and also devours those of the willow, poplar, and fruit-trees. The animals and birds appointed to check the ravages of these insects are, according to Latreille, the badger, weasel, marten, bats, rats, the common dung-hill fowl, and the goat- sucker or night-hawk. To this list may be added the com- mon crow, which devours not only the perfect insects, but their larvae, for which purpose it is often observed to follow the plough. In “ Anderson’s Recreations” it is stated, that “a cautious observer, having found a nest of five young jays, remarked that each of these birds, while yet very young, consumed at least fifteen of these full-sized grubs in one day, 30 COLEOPTERA. and of course would require many more of a smaller size. Say that, on an average of sizes, they consumed twenty apiece, these for the five make one hundred. Each of the parents consume say fifty ; so that the pair and family devour two hundred every day. This, in three months, amounts to twenty thousand in one season. But as the grub continues in that state four seasons, this single pair, with their family alone, without reckoning their descendants after the first year, would destroy eighty thousand grubs. Let us suppose that the half, namely, forty thousand, are females, and it is known that they usually lay about two hundred eggs each, it will appear, that no less than eight millions have been destroyed, or prevented from being hatched, by the labors of a single family of jays. It is by reasoning in this way, that we learn to know of what importance it is to attend to the economy of nature, and to be cautious how we derange it by our short-sighted and futile operations.” Our own country abounds with insect-eating beasts and birds, and without doubt the more than abundant Melolonthe form a portion of their nourishment. We have several Melolonthians whose injuries in the perfect and grub state approach to those of the Eu- ropean cockchafer. Phyllophaga* quereina of Knoch, the May-beetle, as it is generally called here, is our common species. (Fig. 10.) It is of a chestnut-brown color, smooth, but finely punctured, that is, covered with little impressed dots, as if pricked with the point of a needle; each wing-case has two or Fig. 10. * A genus proposed by me in 1826. It signifies leaf-eater. Dejean subse- quently called this genus Ancylonycha8 [? The genus Phyllophaga was indeed proposed by Dr. Harris, but was not accompanied by any description; it must therefore yield to the name Lachnosterna of Hope, described in 1887. Burmeister has improperly adopted for the genus the name given by Dejean, but which was not sanctioned by a description until 1845. It is a very numerous genus, and many of the species resemble each other very closely. — Lrc.] . DESTRUCTION OF THE MAY-BEETLE. ol three slightly elevated longitudinal lines ; the breast is clothed with yellowish down. The knob of its antennz contains only three leaf-like joints. Its average length is nine tenths of an inch. In its perfect state it feeds on the leaves of trees, particularly on those of the cherry-tree. It flies with a hum- ming noise in the night, from the middle of May to the end of June, and frequently enters houses, attracted by the light. In the course of the spring, these beetles are often thrown from the earth by the spade and plough, in various states of maturity, some being soft and nearly white, their supera- bundant juices not having evaporated, while others exhibit the true color and texture of the perfect insect. The grubs de- vour the roots of grass and of other plants, and in many places the turf may be turned up like a carpet in consequence of the destruction of the roots. The grub* is a white worm with a brownish head, and, when fully grown, is nearly as thick as the little finger. It is eaten greedily by crows and fowls. The beetles are devoured by the skunk, whose bene- ficial foraging is detected in our gardens by its abundant ex- crement filled with the wing-cases of these insects. A writer in the ‘““ New York Evening Post” says, that the beetles, which frequently commit serious ravages on fruit- trees, may be effectually exterminated by shaking them from the trees every evening. In this way two pailfuls of beetles were collected on the first experiment; the number caught regularly decreased until the fifth evening, when only two beetles were to be found. The best time, however, for shak- ing trees on which the May-beetles are lodged, is in the morning, when the insects do not attempt to fly. They are most easily collected in a cloth spread under the trees to re- ceive them when they fall, after which they should be thrown into boiling water to kill them, and may then be given as food to swine. * There is a grub, somewhat resembling this, which is frequently found under old manure-heaps, and is commonly called muck-worm. It differs, however, in some respects, from that of the May-beetle, or dor-bug, and is transformed to a dung-beetle called Scarabeus relictus by Mr. Say. 32 COLEOPTERA. There is an undescribed kind of Phyllophaga, or leaf-eater, called, in my Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts,* fra- terna, because it is nearly akin to the quercina, in general appearance. It differs from the latter, however, in being smaller, and more slender; the punctures on its thorax and wing-covers are not so distinct, and the three elevated lines on the latter are hardly visible. It measures thirteen twentieths of an inch in length. This beetle may be seen in the latter part of June and the beginning of July. Its habits are similar to those of the more abundant May-beetle or dor bug. Another common Phyllophaga has been described by Knoch and Say, under the name of hirticula (Fig. 11), meaning a little hairy. It is of a bay- brown color, the punctures on the thorax are iarger and more distinct than in the quercina, and on each wing-cover are three longitudinal rows of short, yellowish hairs. It measures about seven tenths of an inch in length. Its time of appearance is in June and July. In some parts of Massachusetts the Phyl- Fig 12. lophaga Georgicana (Fig. 12) of Gyllenhal, or Georgian leaf-eater, takes the place of the quercina. It is extremely common, during May and June, in Cambridge, where the other species is rarely seen. It is of a bay- brown color, entirely covered on the upper side with very short, yellowish gray hairs, and measures seven tenths of an inch, or more, in length. Fig. 11. * In order to save unnecessary repetitions, it may be well to state, that the Catalogue above named, to which frequent reference will be made in the course of this treatise, was drawn up by me, and was published in Professor Hitchcock's Report on the Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, and Zodlogy of Massachusetts, and that two editions of it appeared with the Report, the first in 1838, and the sec- ond, with numerous additions, in 1835. POLYPHYLLA VARIOLOSA. 33 Phyllophaga pilosicollis (Fig. 13) of Knoch, or the hairy- necked leaf-eater, is a small chafer, of an ochre-yellow color, with a very hairy tho- rax. It is often thrown out of the ground by the spade, early in the spring; but it does not voluntarily come forth till the middle of May. It measures half an inch in length. Hentz’s Melolontha variolosa* (Fig. 14), or scarred Melolontha, differs essentially from the foregoing beetles in the structure of its antennze, the knob of which consists of seven narrow, strap-shaped ochre-yellow leaves, which are excessively long in the males. This fine insect is of a light brown color, with irregular whitish blotches, like sears, on the thorax and wing-covers. It measures nine tenths of an inch, or more, in length. It occurs abundantly, in the month of July, at Martha’s Vineyard, and in some other places near the coast ; but is rare in other parts of Massachusetts. The foregoing Melolonthians are found in gardens, nur- series, and orchards, where they are more or less injurious to the fruit-trees, in proportion to their numbers in different seasons. They also devour the leaves of various forest-trees, such as the elm, maple, and oak. Omaloplia® vespertina (Plate IL. Fig. 14) of Gyllenhal, and sericea of Illiger, attack the leaves of the sweetbrier, or sweet- leaved rose, on which they may be found in profusion in the evening, about the last of June. They somewhat resemble the May-beetles in form, but are proportionally shorter and Fig. 13, [4 Melolontha variolosa. This insect belongs to the genus Polyphylla, proposed by Dr. Harris, and now adopted by all entomologists. — Lec.] [5 Omaloplia. The species here mentioned, with all the other allied American species, belong rather to Serica of M’Leay, than to true Omaloplia, which is thus far confined to the other continent. — Lrc.] 5 34 COLEOPTERA. thicker, and much smaller in size. The first of them, the vespertine or evening Omaloplia, is bay-brown; the wing- covers are marked with many longitudinal shallow furrows, which, with the thorax, are thickly punctured. This beetle varies in length from three to four tenths of an inch. Oma- loplia sericea, the silky Omaloplia, closely resembles the pre- ceding in everything but its color, which is a very deep chestnut-brown, iridescent or changeable like satin, and re- flecting the colors of the rainbow. All these Melolonthians are nocturnal insects, never ap- pearing, except by accident, in the day, during which they remain under shelter of the foliage of trees and shrubs, or concealed in the grass. Others are truly day-fliers, commit- ting their ravages by the light of the sun, and are conse- quently exposed to observation. One of our diurnal Melolonthians is supposed by many nat- Fig. 16. uralists to be the Anomala varians (Fig. 15) of Fabricius ; and it agrees very well with this writer’s description of the lucicola; but Professor Germar thinks it to be an unde- scribed species, and proposes to name it ca- lebs. It resembles the vine-chafer of Europe in its habits, and is found in the months of June and July on the cultivated and wild grape-vines, the leaves of which it devours. During the same period, these chafers may be seen in still greater numbers on various kinds of sumach, which they often completely despoil of their leaves. They are of a broad oval shape, and very variable in color. The head and thorax of the male are greenish black, margined with dull ochre or tile-red, and thickly punctured ; the wing-covers are clay-yellow, irregu- larly furrowed, and punctured in the furrows ; the legs are pale red, brown, or black. The thorax of the female is clay- yellow, or tile-red, sometimes with two oblique blackish spots on the top, and sometimes almost entirely black ; the wing- covers resemble those of the male; the legs are clay-yellow, THE COMMON ROSE-CHAFER. 35 or light red. The males are sometimes entirely black, and this variety seems to be the beetle called atrata, by Fabricius. The males measure nearly, and the females rather more than seven twentieths of an inch in length. In the year 1825, these insects appeared on the grape-vines in a garden in this vicinity ; they have since established themselves on the spot, and have so much multiplied in subsequent years as to prove exceedingly hurtful to the vines. In many other gardens they have also appeared, having probably found the leaves of the cultivated grape-vine more to their taste than their natu- ral food. Should these beetles increase in numbers, they will be found as difficult to check and extirpate as the destructive vine-chafers of Europe. The rose-chafer, or rose-bug, as it is more commonly and incorrectly called, is also a diurnal insect. It is the Melolontha subspinosa (Fig. 16) of Fabricius, by whom it was first described, and belongs to the modern genus Macrodactylus of Latreille. Common as this insect is in the vicinity of Boston, it is, or was a few years ago, unknown in the northern and western parts of Massachusetts, in New Hampshire, and in Maine. It may, therefore, be well to give a brief description of it. This beetle measures seven twentieths of an inch in length. Its body is slender, tapers before and behind, and is entirely covered with very short and close ashen-yellow down ; the thorax is long and narrow, angularly widened in the middle of each side, which suggested the name subspi- nosa, or somewhat spined; the legs are slender, and of a pale red color; the joints of the feet are tipped with black, and are very long, which caused Latreille to call the genus Macrodactylus, that is, long toe, or long foot. The natural history of the rose-chafer, one of the greatest scourges with which our gardens and nurseries have heen afflicted, was for a long time involved in mystery, but is at last fully cleared up.* The prevalence of this insect on the * See my Essay in the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal, Fig. 16. 36 COLEOPTERA. rose, and its annual appearance coinciding with the blossom- ing of that flower, have gained for it the popular name by which it is here known. For some time after they were first noticed, rose-bugs appeared to be confined to their favorite, the blossoms of the rose; but within forty years they have prodigiously increased in number, have attacked at random various kinds of plants in swarms, and have become notorious for their extensive and deplorable ravages. The grape-vine in particular, the cherry, plum, and apple trees, have annu- ally suffered by their depredations ; many other fruit-trees and shrubs, garden vegetables and corn, and even the trees of the forest and the grass of the fields, have been laid under contribution by these indiscriminate feeders, by whom leaves, flowers, and fruits are alike consumed. The unexpected arrival of these insects in swarms, at their first coming, and their sudden disappearance at the close of their career, are remarkable facts in their history. They come, forth from the ground during the second week in June, or about the time of the blossoming of the damask rose, and remain from thirty to forty days. At the end of this period the males become exhausted, fall to the ground and perish, while the females enter the earth, lay their eggs, return to the surface, and, after lingering a few days, die also. The eggs laid by each female are about thirty in number, and are deposited from one to four inches beneath the sur- face of the soil; they are nearly globular, whitish, and about one thirtieth of an inch in diameter, and are hatched twenty days after they are laid. The young larve begin to feed on such tender roots as are within their reach. Like other grubs of the Scarabeians, when not eating they lie upon the side, with the body curved, so that the head and tail Vol. X. p. 8, reprinted in the New England Farmer, Vol. VI. p. 18, &c.; my Dis- course before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, p. 31, 8vo, Cambridge, 1882; Dr. Green’s communication on this insect in the New England Farmer, Vol. VI. pp. 41, 49, &c.; my Report on Insects Injurious to Vegetation, in Massa- chusetts House Document, No. 72, April, 1838, p.70; and a communication in the New England Farmer, Vol. IX. p. 1. THE COMMON ROSE-CHAFER. 37 are nearly in contact ; they move with difficulty on a level surface, and are continually falling over on one side or the other. They attain their full size in the autumn, being then nearly three quarters of an inch long, and about an eighth of an inch in diameter. They are of a yellowish-white color, with a tinge of blue towards the hinder extremity, which is thick, and obtuse or rounded ; a few short hairs are scattered on the surface of the body; there are six short legs, namely, a pair to each of the first three rings behind the head, and the latter is covered with a horny shell of a pale rust color. In October they descend below the reach of frost, and pass the winter in a torpid state. In the spring they approach towards the surface, and each one forms for itself a little cell of an oval shape, by turning round a great many times, so as to compress the earth and render the inside of the cavity hard and smooth. Within this cell the grub is transformed to a pupa, during the month of May, by casting off its skin, which is pushed downwards in folds from the head to the tail. The pupa has somewhat the form of the per- fected beetle ; but it is of a yellowish-white color, and its short stump-like wings, its antennz, and its legs are folded upon the breast; and its whole body is enclosed in a thin film, that wraps each part separately. During the month of June this filmy skin is rent, the included beetle withdraws from its body and its limbs, bursts open its earthen cell, and digs its way to the surface of the ground. Thus the various changes, from the egg to the full development of the per- fected beetle, are completed within the space of one year. Such being the metamorphoses and habits of these insects, it is evident that we cannot attack them in the egg, the grub, or the pupa state; the enemy in these stages is beyond our reach, and is subject to the control only of the natural but unknown means appointed by the Author of Nature to keep the insect tribes in check. When they have issued from their subterranean retreats, and have congregated upon our vines, trees, and other vegetable productions, in the complete . 38 COLEOPTERA. enjoyment of their propensities, we must unite our efforts to seize and crush the invaders. They must indeed be crushed, scalded, or burned, to deprive them of life, for they are not affected by any of the applications usually found destructive to other insects. Experience has proved the utility of gather- ing them by hand, or of shaking them or brushing them from the plants into tin vessels containing a little water. They should be collected daily during the period of their visitation, and should be committed to the flames or killed by scalding water. The late John Lowell, Esq., states,* that in 1823 he discovered, on a solitary apple-tree, the rose-bugs “in vast numbers, such as could not be described, and would not be believed if they were described, or, at least, none but an ocular witness could conceive of their numbers. Destruction by hand was out of the question,” in this case. He put sheets under the tree, and shook them down, and burned them. Dr. Green, of Mansfield, whose investigations have thrown much light on the history of this insect, proposes protecting plants with millinet, and says that in this way only did he succeed in securing his grape-vines from depredation. His remarks also show the utility of gathering them. ‘ Eighty- six of these spoilers,’ says he, “were known to infest a single rose-bud, and were crushed with one grasp of the hand.” Suppose, as was probably the case, that one half of them were females; by this destruction, eight hundred eggs, at least, were prevented from becoming matured. During the time of their prevalence, rose-bugs are some- times found in immense numbers on the flowers of the com- mon white-weed, or ox-eye daisy ( Chrysanthemum leucanthe- mum), a worthless plant, which has come to us from Europe, and has been suffered to overrun our pastures and encroach on our mowing-lands. In certain cases it may become expe- dient rapidly to mow down the infested white-weed in dry * Massachusetts Agricultural Repository, Vol. IX. p. 145. THE FLOWER-BEETLES. 39 pastures, and consume it, with the sluggish rose-buds, on the spot. Our insect-eating birds undoubtedly devour many of these insects, and deserve to be cherished and protected for their services. Rose-bugs are also eaten greedily by domesticated fowls; and when they become exhausted and fall to the ground, or when they are about to lay their eggs, they are destroyed by moles, insects, and other animals, which lie in wait to seize them. Dr. Green informs us, that a species of dragon-fly, or devil’s-needle, devours them. He also says that an insect, which he calls the enemy of the cut-worm, probably the larva of a Carabus or predaceous ground-beetle, preys on the grubs of the common dor-bug. In France the golden ground-beetle ( Carabus auratus) devours the female dor or chafer at the moment when she is about to deposit her eggs. I have taken one specimen of this fine ground-beetle in Massachusetts, and we have several other kinds, equally predaceous, which probably contribute to check the increase of our native Melolonthians. Very few of the flower-beetles are decidedly injurious to vegetation. ‘Some of them are said to eat leaves; but the greater number live on the pollen and the honey of flowers, or upon the sap that oozes from the wounds of plants. In the infant or grub state, most of them eat only the crumbled substance of decayed roots and stumps; a few live in the wounds of trees, and by their depredations prevent them from healing, and accelerate the decay of the trunk. The flower-beetles belong chiefly to a group called Crro- NIAD#, or Cetonians. They are easily distinguished from the other Scarabeians by their lower jaws, which are generally soft on the inside, and are often provided with a flat brush of hairs, that serves to collect the pollen and juices on which they subsist. Their upper jaws have no grinding plate on the inside. Their antenne consist of ten joints, the last three of which form a three-leaved oval knob. The head is often square, with a large and wide visor, overhanging and entirely 40 COLEOPTERA. concealing the upper lip. The thorax is either rounded, some- what square, or triangular. The wing-cases do not cover the end of the body. The fore legs are deeply notched on the outer edge; and the claws are equal and entire. These beetles are generally of an oblong oval form, somewhat flat- tened above, and often brilliantly colored and highly polished, sometimes also covered with hairs. Most of the bright- colored kinds are day-fliers; those of dark and plain tints are generally nocturnal beetles. Some of them are of im- mense size, and have been styled the princes of the beetle tribes ; such are the Incas of South America, and the Goliah beetle (Hegemon Groliatus) of Guinea, the latter being more than four inches long, two inches broad, and thick and heavy in proportion. Two American Cetonians must suffice as examples in this group. The first is the Indian Cetonia, Cetonia Inda* (Fig. 17), one of our earliest visitors in the spring, making its appearance towards the end of April or the beginning of May, when it may sometimes be seen in considerable numbers around the borders of woods, and in dry, open fields, fly- ing just above the grass with a loud humming sound, like a humble-bee, for which perhaps it might at first sight be mis- taken. Like other insects of the same genus, it has a broad body, very obtuse behind, with a triangular thorax, and a little wedge-shaped piece on each side between the hinder angles of the thorax and the shoulders of the wing-covers ; the latter, taken together, form an oblong square, but are somewhat notched or widely scalloped on the middle of the outer edges. The head and thorax of this beetle are dark copper-brown, or almost black, and thickly covered with short greenish-yellow hairs; the wing-cases are light yellowish- * Scarabeus Indus of Linnzeus, Cetonia barbata of Say.§ [§ Cetonia Inda. The old genus Cetonia has been divided recently into many genera, some of which have again been merged together by later investigators; our species belong to the one called Euryomia, as enlarged by Lacordaire. —Lrc.] THE AMERICAN CETONIANS. 41 brown, but changeable, with pearly and metallic tints, and spattered with numerous irregular black spots ; the under- side of the body, which is very hairy, is of a black color, with the edges of the rings and the legs dull red. It measures about six tenths of an inch in length. During the summer months the Indian Cetonia is not seen ; but about the middle of September a new brood comes forth, the beetles appearing fresh and bright, as though they had just completed their last transformation. At this time they may be found on the flowers of the golden-rod, eating the pollen, and also in great numbers on corn-stalks, and on the trunks of the locust-tree, feeding upon the sweet sap of these plants. Fortunate would it be for us if they fed on these only ; but their love of sweets leads them to attack our finest peaches, which, as soon as ripe, they begin to devour, and in a very few hours entirely spoil. I have taken a dozen of them from a single peach, into which they had burrowed so that nothing but the naked tips of their hind-body could be seen; and not a ripe peach remained unbitten by them on the tree. When touched, they leave a strong and disagreeable scent upon the fingers. On the approach of cold weather they disappear, but I have not been able to ascertain what becomes of them at this time, and only conjecture that they get into some warm and sheltered spot, where they pass the winter in a torpid state, and in the spring issue from their retreats, and finish their career by depositing their eggs for another brood. Those that are seen in the spring want the freshness of the autumnal beetles, a circumstance that favors my conjecture. Their hovering over and occasionally dropping upon the surface of the ground, is probably for the purpose of selecting a suitable place to enter the earth and lay their eggs. Hence I suppose that their larvee or grubs may live on the roots of herbaceous plants. The other Cetonian beetle to be described is the Osmo- derma scaber,* or rough Osmoderma (Fig. 18). It is a large * Trichius scaber, Palisot de Beauvois; Gymnodus scaber, Kirby. 6 42 COLEOPTERA. insect, with a broad, oval, and flattened body ; the thorax is nearly round, but wider than long; there sare no wedge-shaped pieces be- tween the corners of the thorax and the shoulders of the wing-cases, and the outer edges of the latter are en- tire. It is of a purplish-black color, with a coppery lustre ; the head is punctured, concave or hollowed on the top, with the edge of the broad visor turned up in the males; nearly flat, and with the edge of the visor not raised in the females ; the wing-cases are so thickly and deeply and irregularly punctured as to appear almost as rough as shagreen; the under-side of the body is smooth and without hairs ; and the legs are short and stout. In addition to the differences between the sexes above described, it may be mentioned that the females are generally much larger than the males, and often want the coppery polish of the latter. They measure from eight tenths of an inch to one inch and one tenth in length. They are nocturnal insects, and conceal themselves during the day in the crevices and hollows of trees, where they feed upon the sap that flows from the bark. They have the odor of Russia leather, and give this out so powerfully that their presence can be detected, by the scent alone, at the distance of two or three yards from the place of their retreat. This strong smell suggested the name Osmoderma, that is, scented skin, given to these beetles by the French naturalists. They scem particularly fond of the juices of cherry and apple trees, in the hollows of which I have often discovered them. Their larve live in the hollows of these same trees, feeding upon the diseased wood, and causing it more rapidly to de- cay. They are whitish fleshy grubs, with a reddish hard- shelled head, and closely resemble the grubs of the common dor-beetle. In the autumn each one makes an oval cell or pod, of fragments of wood, strongly cemented with a kind Fig. 18. THE LUCANIAN BEETLES. 43 ‘of glue ; it goes through its transformation within this cell, and comes forth in the beetle form in the month of July. We have another scented beetle, equal in size to the pre- ceding, of a deep mahogany-brown color, perfectly smooth, and highly polished, and the male has a deep pit before the middle of the thorax. This species of Osmoderma is called eremicola* (Fig. 19), a name that cannot be rendered literally into Eng- lish by any single word ; it signifies wil- derness-inhabitant, for which might be substituted hermit. I believe that this in- sect lives in forest-trees, but the larva is unknown to me. The family Lucantpa, or Lucanians, so named from the Linnean genus Lucanvus, must be placed next to the Scara- beians in a natural arrangement. This family includes the insects called stag-beetles, horn-bugs, and flying-bulls, names that they have obtained from the great size and peculiar form of their upper jaws, which are sometimes curved like the horns of cattle, and sometimes branched like the antlers of a stag. In these beetles the body is hard, oblong, rounded behind, and slightly convex; the head is large and broad, especially in the males ; the thorax is short, and as wide as the abdomen; the antenne are rather long, elbowed or bent in the middle, and composed of ten joints, the last three or four of which are broad, leaf-like, and project on the inside, giving to this part of the antennz a resemblance to the end of a key; the upper jaws are usually much longer in the males than in the. females, but even those of the latter ex- tend considerably beyond the mouth ; each of the under jaws is provided with a long hairy pencil or brush, which can be seen projecting beyond. the mouth between the feelers; and the under lip has two shorter pencils of the same kind; the Fig. 19. * Cetonia eremicola of Knoch. 44 COLEOPTERA fore legs are oftentimes longer than the others, with the outer edge of the shanks notched into teeth; the feet are five- jointed, and the nails are entire and equal. These beetles fly abroad during the night, and frequently enter houses at that time, somewhat to the alarm of the occupants ; but they are not venomous, and never attempt to bite without provo- cation. They pass the day on the trunks of trees, and live upon the sap, for procuring which the brushes of their jaws and lip seem to be designed. They are said also occasionally to bite and seize caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects, for the purpose of sucking out their juices. They lay their eggs in crevices of the bark of trees, especially near the roots, where they may sometimes be seen thus employed. The larvee hatched from these eggs resemble the grubs of the Scarabeeians in color and form, but they are smoother, or not so much wrinkled. The grubs of the large kinds are said to be six years in coming to their growth, living all this time in the trunks and roots of trees, boring into the solid wood, and reducing it to a substance resembling very coarse sawdust; and the injury thus caused by them is frequently very considerable. When they have arrived at their full size, they enclose themselves in egg-shaped pods, composed of gnawed particles of wood and bark stuck to- gether and lined with a kind of glue; within these pods they are transformed to pup, of a yellowish-white color, having the body and all the limbs of the future beetle encased in a whitish film, which being thrown off in due time, the insects appear in the beetle form, burst the walls of their prison, crawl thrdugh the passages the larvee had gnawed, and come forth on the outside of the trees. The largest of these beetles in the New England States was first described by Linneus, under the name of Lucanus Capreolus * (Fig. 20), signifying the young roebuck ; but here it is called the horn-bug. Its color is a deep mahogany- * Lucanus Dama of Fabricius. THE SERRICORN BEETLES. 45 brown ; the surface is smooth and polished ; the upper jaws of the male are long, curved like a sickle, and furnished internally beyond the middle with a little tooth; those of the female are much shorter, and also toothed ; the head of the male is broad and smooth, that of the other sex nar- rower and rough with punctures. The body of this beetle measures from one inch to one inch and a quarter, exclusive of the jaws. The time- of its appearance is in July and the beginning of Au- gust. The grubs live in the trunks and roots of various kinds of trees, but particularly in those of old apple-trees, willows, and oaks. All the foregoing beetles have, by some naturalists, been gathered into a single tribe, called lamelli- corn or leaf-horned beetles, on account of the leaflike joints wherewith the end of their antenne is provided. The beetles next to be described have been brought to- gether into one great tribe, named serricorn or saw-horned beetles, because the tips of the joints of their antenne usually project more or less on the inside, somewhat like the teeth of a saw. The beetles belonging to the family Burrestipa, or the Buprestians, have antennz of this kind. The Bupres- tis of the ancients, as its name signifies in Greek, was a poi- sonous insect, which, being swallowed with grass by grazing cattle, produced a violent inflammation, and such a degree of swelling as to cause the cattle to burst. Linnaeus, how- ever, unfortunately applied this name to the insects of the above-mentioned family, none of which are poisonous to ani- mals, and are rarely, if ever, found upon the grass. It is in allusion to the original signification of the word Buprestis, that popular English writers on natural history sometimes give the name of burncow to the harmless Buprestians ; while Fig 20. 46 COLEOPTERA. the French, with greater propriety, call them richards, on account of the rich and brilliant colors wherewith many of them are adorned. The Buprestians, then, according to the Linnzan application, or rather misapplication, of the name, are hard-shelled beetles, often brilliantly colored, of an ellip- tical or oblong oval form, obtuse before, tapering behind, and broader than thick, so that, when cut in two transversely, the section is oval. The head is sunk to the eyes in the fore part of the thorax ; and the antennz are rather short, and notched on one side like the teeth of a saw. The thorax is broadest behind, and usually fits very closely to the shoulders of the wing-covers. The legs are rather short, and the feet are formed for standing firmly, rather than for rapid motion; the soles being composed of four rather wide joints, covered with little spongy cushions beneath, and terminated by a fifth joint, which is armed with two claws. Most beetles, as already stated, have a little triangular piece, called the scutel, wedged between the bases of the wing-covers and the hinder part of the thorax, commonly of a triangular or semicircular form, and in the greater number of coleopterous insects quite conspicu- ous; in the Buprestians,- however, the scutel is generally very small, and sometimes hardly perceptible. These beetles are frequently seen on the trunks and limbs of trees basking in the sun. They walk slowly, and, at the approach of danger, fold up their legs and antennz and fall to the ground. Being furnished with ample wings, their flight is swift, and attended with a whizzing noise. They keep concealed in the night, and are in motion only during the day. The larve are wood-eaters or borers. Our forests and orchards are more or less subject to their attacks, especially after the trees have passed their prime. The _transforma- tions of these insects take place in the trunks and limbs of trees. The larve that are known to me have a close resemblance to each other; a general idea of them can be formed from a description of that which attacks the pig-nut hickory (Fig. 21). It is of a yellowish-white color, very FOREST-TREE BORERS. 47 long, narrow, and depressed in form, but abruptly widened near the anterior extremity. The head is brownish, small, and sunk in the fore part of the first segment ; the upper jaws are provided with three teeth, and are of a black color; and the antenne are very short. The segment which receives the head is short and transverse; next to it is a large oval seg- ment, broader than long, and depressed or flattened ices above and beneath. Behind this, the segments are Buprestis. very much narrowed, and become gradually longer; but are still flattened, to the last, which is terminated by a rounded tubercle or wart. There are no legs, nor any apparatus which can serve as such, except two small warts on the under-side of the second segment from the thorax. ‘The motion of the grub appears to be effected by the alternate contractions and elongations of the segments, aided, perhaps, by the tubercu- lar extremity of the body, and by its jaws, with which it takes hold of the sides of its burrow, and thus draws itself along. These grubs are found under the bark and in the solid wood of trees, and sometimes in great numbers. They frequently rest with the body bent sidewise, so that the head and tail approach each other. This posture those found under bark usually assume. They appear to pass several years in the larva state. The pupa bears a near resemblance to the per- fect insect, but is entirely white, until near the time of its last transformation. Its situation is immediately under the bark, the head being directed outwards, so that, when the pupa-coat is cast off, the beetle has merely a thin covering of bark to perforate, before making its escape from the tree. The form of this perforation is oval, as is also a transverse section of the burrow, that shape being best adapted to the form, motions, and egress of the insect. Some of these beetles are known to eat leaves and flowers, and of this nature is probably the food of all of them. The injury they may thus commit is not very apparent, and can- not bear any comparison with the extensive ravages of their 43 COLEOPTERA. larvee. The solid trunks andi limbs of sound and vigorous trees are often bored through in various directions by these insects, which, during a long-continued life, derive their only nourishment from the woody fragments they devour. Pines and firs seem particularly subject to their attacks, but other forest-trees do not escape, and even fruit-trees are frequently injured by these borers. The means to be used for destroy- ing them are similar to those employed against other borers, and will be explained in a subsequent part of this essay. It may not be amiss, however, here to remark, that woodpeckers are much more successful in discovering the retreats of these borers, and in dragging out the defenceless culprits from their burrows, than the most skilful gardener or nurseryman. The largest of these beetles in this part of the United States is the Buprestis (Chalcophora) Vir- gimica (Fig. 22) of Drury, or Virginian Buprestis. It is of an oblong oval form, brassy, or copper-colored ; sometimes almost black, with hardly any metallic reflections. The upper side of the body is roughly punc- tured; the top of the head is deeply in- dented ; on the thorax there are three pol- ished black elevated lines ; on each wing-cover are two small square impressed spots, a long elevated smooth black line near the outer, and another near the inner margin, with sev- eral short lines of the same kind between them; the under- side of the body is sparingly covered with short whitish down. It measures from eight tenths of an inch to one inch or more in length. This beetle appears towards the end of May, and through the month of June, on pine-trees and on fences. In the larva state it bores into the trunks of the different kinds of pines, and is oftentimes very injurious to these trees. The wild cherry-tree (Prunus serotina), and also the garden cherry and peach trees, suffer severely from the at- tacks of borers, which are transformed to the beetles called Buprestis (Dicerca) divaricata by Mr. Say, because the wing- Fig. 22. THE BUPRESTIANS. 49 covers divaricate or spread apart a little at the tips. (Plate II. Fig. 7.) These beetles are copper-colored, sometimes brassy above, and thickly covered with little punctures ; the thorax is slightly furrowed in the middle; the wing-covers are marked with numerous fine irregular impressed lines and small oblong square elevated black spots ; they taper very much behind, and the long and narrow tips are blunt-pointed ; the middle of the breast is furrowed; and the males have a little tooth on the under-side of the shanks of the inter- mediate legs. They measure from seven to nine tenths of an inch. These beetles may be found sunning themselves upon the limbs of cherry and peach trees during the months of June, July, and August. The borer of the hickory has already been described. It is transformed to a beetle which appears to be gig. 93, the Buprestis (Dicerca) lurida* (Fig. 25) of Fabricius. It is of a lurid or dull brassy color above, bright copper beneath, and thickly punc- tured all over; there are numerous irregular impressed lines, and several narrow elevated black spots on the wing-covers, the tip ofeach of which ends with two little points. It measures from about six to eight tenths of an inch in Jencth. This kind of Buprestis appears during the greater part of the summer on the trunks and limbs of the hickory. Buprestis (Chrysobothris) dentipes + (Fig. 24) of Germar, so named from the little tooth on the under-side gig. 94, of the thick fore legs, inhabits the trunks of oak- trees. It completes its transformations and comes out of the trees between the end of May and the first of July. It is oblong, oval, and flattened, of a bronzed brownish or purplish-black color above, copper-colored beneath, and rough like shagreen with * Buprestis obscura, F., found in the Middle and Southern States, closely reseim- bles the lurida. + Buprestis characteristica, Harris. N. F. Farmer, Vol. VII. p. 2- 7 50 COLEOPTERA. numerous punctures ; the thorax is not so wide as the hinder part of the body, its hinder margin is hollowed on both sides to receive the rounded base of each wing-cover, and there are two smooth elevated lines on the middle; on each wing- cover there are three irregular smooth clevated lines, which are divided and interrupted by large thickly punctured im- pressed spots, two of which are oblique; the tips are round- ed. Length from one half to six tenths of an inch. Buprestis (Chrysobothris) femorata (Fig. 25) of Fabricius has the first pair of thighs toothed beneath, like the preceding, which it resembles also in its form and general appearance. It is of a greenish-black color above, with a brassy polish, which is very distinct in the two large transverse impressed spots on each wing-cover ; and the thorax has no smooth elevated lines on it. It measures from four tenths to above half of an inch in length. Its time of appearance is from the end of May to the middle of July, during which it may often be seen, in the middle of the day, resting upon or flying round the trunks of white-oak trees, and recently cut timber of the same kind of wood. I have repeatedly taken it upon and under the bark of peach-trees also. The grubs or larvee bore into the trunks of these trees. The Buprestis (Chrysobothris) fulvoguttata* (Fig. 26), or Fig 26. tawny-spotted Buprestis, first described by me in the eighth volume of the “ New England Farm- er,” is proportionally shorter and more convex than the two fordgoing species. It is black and bronzed above, and brassy beneath ; the thorax is covered with very fine wavy transverse lines, and is some- Fig. 25. * Mr. Kirby has re-described and figured this insect under the name of Buprestis ( Trachypteris) Drummondi, in the fourth volume of the “Fauna Boreali-Ameri- cana.’ 7 [? Buprestis ( Chrysobothris) fulroguttata does not belong to Chryscbothris but to Melanophila, Esch. The anterior thighs are not armned with a tooth, and the base of the thorax is truncate. — Lrc.] THE SPRING-BEETLES. 51 times copper-colored ; the wing-covers are thickly punctured ; and on each there are three small tawny yellow spots, with sometimes an additional one by the side of the first spot; the tips are rounded, and the fore legs are not toothed. It varies very much in size, measuring from about three to four tenths of an inch in length. I have taken this insect from the trunks of the white pine in the month of June, and have seen others that were found in the Oregon Territory. Professor Hentz has described a small and broad beetle having the form of the above, under the name of Buprestis (Chrysobothris) Harrisii. (Plate II. Fig.2.) It is entirely of a brilliant blue-green color, except the sides of the thorax, and the thighs, which in the male are copper-colored. It meas- ures a little more than three tenths of an inch in length. The larve of this species inhabit the small limbs of the white pine, and young sapling trees of the same kind, upon which I have repeatedly captured the beetles about the middle of June. These seven species form but a very small part of the Bu- prestians inhabiting Massachusetts and the other New Eng land States. My knowledge of the habits of the others is not sufficiently perfect to render it worth while to insert descrip- tions of them here. The concealed situation of the grubs of these beetles, in the trunks and limbs of trees, renders it very difficult to discover and dislodge them. When trees are found to be very much infested by them, and are going to decay in consequence of the ravages of these borers, it will be better to cut them down, and burn them immediately, rather than to suffer them to stand until the borers have completed their transformations and made their escape. Closely related to the Buprestians are the Elaters, or spring-beetles, (ELATERIDA, ) which are well known by the faculty they have of throwing themselves upwards with a jerk, when laid on their backs. On the under-side of the breast, between the bases of the first pair of legs, there is a short blunt spine, the point of which is usually concealed in 52 COLEOPTERA. a corresponding cavity behind it. When the insect, by any accident, falls upon its back, its legs are so short, and its back is so convex, that it is unable to turn itself over. It then folds its legs close to its body, bends back the head and thorax, and thus unsheathes its breast-spine ; then, by suddenly straightening its body, the point of the spine is made to strike with force upon the edge of the sheath, which gives it the power of a spring, and reacts on the body of the insect, so as to throw it perpendicularly into the air. When it again falls, if it does not come down upon its feet, it repeats its ex- ertions until its object is effected. In these beetles the body is of a hard consistence, and is usually rather narrow and tapering behind. The head is sunk to the eyes in the fore part of the thorax; the antenne are of moderate length, and more or less notched on the inside like a saw. The thorax is as broad at the base as the wing-covers; it is usually rounded before, and the hinder angles are sharp and promi- nent. The scutel is of moderate size. The legs are rather short and slender, and the.feet are five-jointed. The larve or grubs of the Elaters live upon wood and roots, and are often very injurious to vegetation. Some are confined to old or decaying trees, others devour the roots of herbaceous plants. In England they are called wire-worms, from their slenderness and uncommon hard- ness. They are not to be confounded with the American wire-worm, a species of Judus, which is not a true insect, but belongs to the class Myriapops, a name derived from the great number of feet with which most of the animals included in it are furnished ; whereas the English wire-vorm has only six feet. The European wire-worm is said to live, in its feeding or larva state, not less than five years; during the greater part of which time it is supported by devouring the roots of wheat, rye, oats, and grass, annually causing a large diminution of the produce, and sometimes destroying whole crops. It is said to be particularly injurious in gar- dens recently converted from pasture lands. We have THE SPRING-BEETLES. 53 several grubs allied to this destructive insect, which are quite common in land newly broken up; but fortunately, ‘as yet, their ravages are inconsiderable. We may expect these to increase in proportion as we disturb them and de- prive them of their usual articles of food, while we continue also to persecute and destroy their natural enemies, the birds, and may then be obliged to resort to the ingenious method ‘adopted by European farmers and gardeners for alluring and capturing these grubs. This method consists in strew- ing sliced potatoes or turnips in rows through the garden or field; women and boys are employed to examine the slices every morning, and collect the insects which readily come to feed upon the bait. Some of these destructive insects, which I have found in the ground among the roots of plants, were long, slender, worm-like grubs, closely resembling the com- mon meal-worm; they were nearly cylindrical, with a hard and smooth skin, of a buff or brownish-yellow color, the head and tail only being a little darker; each of the first three rings was provided with a pair of short legs ; the hind- most ring was longer than the preceding one, was pointed at the end, and had a little pit on each side of the extremity ; beneath this part there was a short retractile wart, or prop- leg, serving to support the extremity of the body, and prevent it from trailing on the ground. Other grubs of Elaters differ from the foregoing in being proportionally broader, not cy- lindrical, but somewhat flattened, with a deep notch at the extremity of the last ring, the sides of which are beset with little teeth. Such grubs are mostly wood-eaters, devouring the woody parts of roots, or living under the bark and in the trunks of old trees. After their last transformation, Elaters or spring-beetles make their appearance upon trees and fences, and some are found on flowers. They creep slowly, and generally fall to the ground on being touched. They fly both by day and night. Their food, in the beetle state, appears to be chiefly derived from flowers; but some devour the tender leaves of plants. 54 COLEOPTERA. The largest of our spring-beetles is the Hlater (Alaus) oculatus of Linnzeus (Fig. 27). It is of a black color ; the thorax is oblong- square, and nearly one third the length of the whole body, covered above with a whitish powder, and with a large oval velvet-black spot, like an eye, on each side of the middle, from which the in- sect derives its name, oculatus, or eyed ; the wing-covers are marked with slen- der longitudinal impressed lines, and are sprinkled with numerous white dots ; the under-side of the body, and the legs, are covered with a white mealy powder. This large beetle measures from one inch and a quarter to one inch and three quarters in length. It is found on trees, fences, and the sides of buildings, in June and July. It undergoes its transformations in the trunks of trees. I have found many of them in old apple-trees, together with their larvae, which eat the wood, and from which I subsequently obtained the insects in the beetle state. These larve are reddish-yellow grubs, proportionally much broader than the other kinds, and very much flattened. One of them, which was found fully grown early in April, measured two inches and a half in length, and nearly four tenths of an inch across the mid- dle of the body, and was not much narrowed at either ex- tremity. The head was broad, brownish, and rough above ; the upper jaws or nippers were very strong, curved, and pointed; the eyes were small and two in number, one being placed at the base of each of the short antennz; the last segment of the body was blackish, rough with little sharp- pointed warts, with a decp semicircular notch at the end, and furnished around the sides with little teeth, the two hindmost of which were long, forked, and curved upwards like hooks; under this segment was a large retractile fleshy prop-foot, armed behind with little claws, and around the THE SPRING-BEETLES. 55 sides with short spines; the true legs were six, a pair to cach of the first three rings; and were tipped with a single claw. Soon after this grub was found, it cast its skin and became a pupa, and in due time the latter was transformed to a beetle. ; later (Pyrophorus) noctilucus, the night-shining Elater, is the celebrated cueuio or fire-beetle of the West Indies, from whence it is frequently brought alive to this country. It resembles the preceding insect somewhat in form, and is an inch or more in length. It gives out a strong light from two transparent eye-like spots on the thorax, and from the segments of its body beneath. It eats the pulpy substance of the sugar-cane, and its grub is said to be very injurious to this plant, by devouring its roots. ‘The next two common Elaters, together with several other species, are distinguished by their claws, which resemble lit- tle combs, being furnished with a row of fine teeth along the under-side. The thorax is short and rounded before, and the body tapers behind. They are found under the bark of trees, where they pass the winter, having completed their transformations in the previous autumn. Their grubs live in wood. The first of these beetles is the ash-colored Elater, Hatz (Melanotus) cinc- reus of Weber (Fig. 28). It is about six tenths of an inch long, and is dark brown, but covered with short gray hairs, which give it an ashen hue; the thorax is convex, and the wing-covers are marked with lines of punctures, resembling stitches. It is found on fences, the trunks of trees, and in paths, in April and May. Elater (Melanotus) communis of Schinherr, is, as its name implies, an exceedingly common and abundant species. It closely resembles the preceding, but is smaller, seldom ex- ceeding half an inch in length; it is also rather lighter colored ; the thorax is proportionally a little longer, not so convex, and has a slender longitudinal furrow in the middle. Fig. 28. 56 COLEOPTERA. This Elater appears in the same places as the cinereus in April, May, and June; and the recently transformed beetles can also be found in the autumn under the bark of trees, where they pass the winter. Another kind of spring-beetle, which absolutely swarms in paths and among the grass during the warmest and brightest days in April awd May, is the Elater (Ludius) appressifrons of Say. Its specific name probably refers to the front of the head or visor being pressed downwards over the lip. The body is slender and alaiadt cylindrical, of a deep chestnut- ‘brown color, rendered gray, however, by the numerous short yellowish hairs with which it is covered; the thorax is of moderate length, not much narrowed before, convex above, with very Jong and sharp-pointed hinder angles, and in cer- tain lights has a brassy hue ; the wing-covers are finely punc- tured, and have very slender impressed longitudinal lines upon them ; the claws are not toothed beneath. This beetle usually measures from four to five tenths of an inch in length ; but the females frequently greatly exceed these di- mensions, and, being much more robust, with a more convex thorax, were supposed by Mr. Say to belong to a different species, named by him brevicornis, the short-horned. The larvee are not yet known to me; but I have strong reasons for thinking that they live in the ground, upon the roots of the perennial grasses and other herbaceous plants. Although above sixty different kinds of spring-beetles are Fig. £9. now known to inhabit Massachusetts, I shall \ add to the foregoing a description of only one more species. ‘This is the Elater (Agriotes) obesus® of Say (Fig. 29). It is a short and thick beetle, as the specific name implies ; its real color is a dark brown, but it is covered with dirty yellowish-gray hairs, which on the wing- covers are arranged in longitudinal stripes ; the head and [8 Flater (Agriotes) obvsus. I am inclined to believe this species to be the /Ja- ler mancus, Say, and not his £. obesus, which is now entirely unknown. — Lxc.] THE .TIMBER-BEETLES. 57 thorax are thickly punctured, and the wing-covers are punc- tured in rows. Its length is about three tenths of an inch. This beetle closely. resembles one of the kinds which, in the grub state, is called the wire-worm in Europe, and pos- sibly it may be the same. This circumstance should put us on our guard against its depredations. It is found in April, May, and June, among the roots of grass, on the under-side of boards and rails on the ground, and sometimes also on fences. 7 The utility of a knowledge of the natural history of in- sects in the practical arts of life was never more strikingly and triumphantly proved than by Linneus himself, who, while giving to natural science its Janguage and its laws, neglected no opportunity.to point out its economical advan- tages.* On one occasion this great naturalist was consulted by the King of Sweden upon the cause of the decay and destruction of the ship-timber in the royal dock-yards, and, having traced it to the depredations of insects, and ascer- tained the history of the depredators, by directing the timber to be sunk under water during the season when these insects made their appearance in the winged state, and were busied in laying their eggs, he effectually secured it from future attacks. The name of these insects is Lymeaylon navale, the naval .timber-destroyer. They have since increased to an alarming extent in some of the dock-yards of France, and in one of them, at least, have become very injurious, wholly in consequence of the neglect of seasonable advice given by a naval officer, who was also an entomologist, and pointed out the source of the injury, together with the remedy to be applied. * See the Preface to Smith's “Introduction to Botany,” and Pulteney’s “ View of the Writings of Linnzus,” for several examples, one of which it may not be amiss to mention here. Linnaeus was the first to point out the advantages to be derived from employing the Arundo arenaria, or beach-grass, in fixing the sands of the shore, and thereby preventing the encroachments of the sea, The Dutch have long availed themselves of his suggestion, and its utility has been tested to some extent in Massachusetts. 8 58 COLEOPTERA. These destructive insects belong to a family called Ly- MEXYLIDEZ, which may be rendered timber-beetles. They cannot be far removed from the Buprestians and the spring- beetles in a natural arrangement. From the latter, however, the insects of this small group are distinguished by having the head broad before, narrowed behind, and not sunk into the thorax; they have not the breast-spine of the Elaters, and their legs are close together, and not separated from each other by a broad breast-bone as in the Buprestians ; and the hip-joints are long, and not sunk into the breast. In the principal insects of this family the antennz are short, and, from the third joint, flattened, widened, and saw-toothed on the inside; and the jaw-feelers of the males have a singu- lar fringed piece attached to them. The body is long, nar- row, nearly cylindrical, and not so firm and hard as in the Elaters. The feet are five-jointed, long, and slender. The larve of Lymexylon and Hylecetus are very odd- looking, long, and slender grubs. The head is small; the first ring is very much hunched; and on the top of the last ring there is a fleshy appendage, resembling a leaf in Ly- mexylon, and like a straight horn in Hylecetus. They have six short legs near the head. These grubs inhabit oak-trees, and make long cylindrical burrows in the solid wood. They are also found in some other kinds of trees. Only a few native insects of this family are known to me, and these fortunately seem to be rare in New England. I shall describe only two of them. The first was obtained by beating the limbs ot some forest-tree. It may be called Lymexrylon sericeum (Fig. 30), the silky timber-beetle. It is of a chestnut-brown color above, and covered with very short shining yellowish hairs, which give it a silky lustre. The head is bowed down beneath the fore part of the thorax; the eyes are very large, and almost meet above and below; the antenne are brownish red, widened and compressed from the fourth to the last Fiz. 30. THE WEEVILS. 59 joint inclusive ; the thorax is longer than wide, rounded be- fore, convex above, and deeply indented on each side of the base ; the wing-covers are convex, gradually taper behind, and do not cover the tip of the abdomen; the under-side of the body, and the legs, are brownish red. Its length is from four to six tenths of an inch. This insect was unknown to Mr. Say, and does not seem to have been described before. The generical name Hylecetus, given to some insects of this family, means a sleeper in the woods, or one who makes his bed in the forest. We have one hitherto undescribed species, which may be called Hylecwtus Americanus, the American timber-beetle. Its head, thorax, abdomen, and legs are light brownish red; the wing-covers, except at the base, where they are also red, and the breast, between the middle and hindmost legs, are black. The head is not bowed down under the fore part of the thorax; the eyes are small and black, and on the middle of the forehead there is one small reddish eyelet, a character unusual among beetles, very few of which have eyelets; the antenne resemble those of Lymexylon sericewm, but are shorter; the thorax is nearly square, but wider than long; and on each wing-cover there are three slightly elevated longitudinal lines or ribs. This beetle is about four tenths of an inch long. It appears on the wing in July. The foregoing beetles, though differing much in form and habits, possess one character in common; namely, their feet are five-jointed. Those that follow have four-jointed feet. In this great section of Coleopterous insects are arranged the Weevil tribe, the Capricorn beetles or long-horned bor- ers, and various kinds of leaf-eating beetles, all of which are exceedingly injurious to vegetation. So great is the extent of the Weevil tribe,* and so imper- fectly known is the history of a large part of our native * See page 21. 60 COLEOPTERA. species, that I shall be obliged to confine myself to an ac- count of a few only of the most remarkable weevils, and principally those that have become most known for their depredations. Mr. Kollar’s excellent ‘‘ Treatise on Insects injurious to Gardeners, Foresters, and Farmers,” contains an account of several kinds of weevils that are unknown in this country ; and indeed but few resembling them have hitherto been discovered here. Should future observations lead to the detection in our gardens and orchards of any like those which in Europe attack the vine, the plum, the apple, the pear, and the leaves and stems of fruit-trees, the work of Mr. Kollar may be consulted with great advantage. Weevils, in the winged state, are hard-shelled beetles, and are distinguished from other insects by having the fore part of the head prolonged into a broad muzzle or a longer and more slender snout, in the end of which the opening of the mouth and the small horny jaws are placed. The flies and moths produced from certain young insects, called weevils by mistake, do not possess these characters, and their larvee or young differ essentially from those of the true weevils. The latter belong to a group called RuyNncHopHorip», lit- erally, snout-bearers. These beetles are mostly of small size. Their antenne are usually knobbed at the end, and are situated on the muzzle or snout, on each side of which there is generally a short groove to receive the base of the antenne when the latter are turned backwards. Their feelers are very: small, and, in most kinds, are concealed within the mouth. The abdomen is often of an oval form, and wider than the thorax. The legs are short, not fitted for run- ning or digging, and the soles of the feet are short and flattened. These beetles are often very hurtful to plants, by boring into the leaves, bark, buds, fruit, and seeds, and feeding upon the soft substance therein contained. They are diurnal insects, and love to come out of their retreats and enjoy the sunshine. Some of them fly well; but others have no wings, or only very short ones, under the wing- THE PEA-WEEVIL. 61 cases, and are therefore unable to fly. They walk slowly, and being of a timid nature, and without the means of de- fence, when alarmed they turn back their antenne under the snout, fold up their legs, and. fall from the plants on which they live. They make use of their snouts not only in feeding, but in boring holes, into which they afterwards drop their eggs. _The young of these snout-beetles are mostly short fleshy grubs, of a whitish color, and without legs. The covering of their heads is a hard shell, and the rings of their bodies are very convex or hunched, by both of which characters they are easily distinguished from the maggots of flies. Their jaws are. strong and horny, and with them they gnaw those parts of plants which serve for their food. It is in the grub state that weevils are most injurious to vegetation. Some of them bore into and spoil fruits, grain, and seeds; some attack the leaves and stems of plants, causing them to swell and become cankered ; while others penetrate into the solid wood, interrupt the course of the sap, and occasion the branch above the seat of attack to wither and die. Most of these grubs are transformed within the vegetable sub- stances upon which they have lived; some, however, when fully grown, go into the ground, where they are changed to pupee, and afterwards to beetles. In the spring of the year, we often find among seed- peas. many that have holes in them; and, if the peas have not been exposed to the light and air, we see a little in- sect peeping out of each of these holes, and waiting appar- ently for an opportunity to come forth and make its escape. If we turn out the creature from its cell, we perceive it to be a small oval beetle, rather more than one tenth of an inch long, of a rusty black color, with a white spot on the hinder part of the thorax, four or five white dots behind the middle of each wing-cover, and a white spot shaped like the letter T on the exposed extremity of the body. This little insect is the Bruchus Pisi of Linneus (Fig. 31), the 62 COLEOPTERA. pea-Bruchus, or pea-weevil, but is better known in America by the incorrect name of pea-bug. The original meaning of the word Bruchus is a devourer, and the insects to which it is applied well deserve this name, for, in the larva state, they devour the in- terior of seeds, often leaving but little more than the hull untouched. They belong to a family of the great weevil tribe called Brucuip#, and are distin- guished from other weevils by the following characters. The body is oval, and slightly convex; the head is bent down- wards, so that the broad muzzle, when the insects are not eating, rests upon the breast; the antenne are short, straight, and saw-toothed within, and are inserted close to a deep notch in each of the eyes; the feelers, though very small, are visible; the wing-cases do not cover the end of the ab- domen ; and the hindmost thighs are very thick, and often notched or toothed on the under-side, as is the case in the pea-weevil. The habits of the Bruchians and their larve are similar to those of the pea-weevil, which remain to be described. It may be well, however, to state here, that these beetles frequent the leguminous or pod-bearing plants, such as the pea, Gleditschia, Robinia, Mimosa, Cassia, &c., during and immediately after the flowering season ; they wound the skin of the tender pods of these plants, and lay their eggs singly in the wounds. Each of the little maggot-like grubs hatched therefrom perforates the pod and enters a seed, the pulp of which suffices for its food till fully grown. Few persons while indulging in the luxury of early green peas are aware how many insects they unconsciously swal- low. When the pods are carefully examined, small discol- ored spots may be seen within them, each one corresponding to a similar spot on the opposite pea. If this spot in the pea be opened, a minute whitish grub, destitute of feet, will be found therein. It is the weevil in its larva form, which lives upon the marrow of the pea, and arrives at its full size by the time that the pea becomes dry. This larva or Fig. 81. a THE PEA-WEEVIL. 63 grub then bores a round hole from the hollow in the centre of the pea quite to the hull, but leaves the latter, and gen- erally the germ of the future sprout, untouched. Hence these buggy peas, as they are called by seedsmen and gar- deners, will frequently sprout and grow when planted. The grub is changed to a pupa within its hole in the pea in the autumn, and before the spring casts its skin again, becomes a beetle, and gnaws a hole through the thin hull in order to make its escape into the air, which frequently does not hap- pen before the peas are planted for an early crop. After the pea-vines have flowered, and while the pods are young and tender, and the peas within them are just beginning to swell, the beetles gather upon them, and deposit their tiny eggs singly in the punctures or wounds which they make upon the surface of the pods. This is done mostly during the night, or in cloudy weather. The grubs, as soon as they are hatched, penetrate the pod and bury themselves in the opposite peas; and the holes through which they pass into the seeds are so fine as hardly to be perceived, and are soon closed. Sometimes every pea in a pod will be found to contain a weevil-grub; and so great has been the injury to the crop, in some parts of the country, that the inhabitants have been obliged to give up the cultivation of this vegetable.* These insects diminish the weight of the peas in which they lodge nearly one half, and their leavings are fit only for the food of swine. This occasions a great loss where peas are raised for feeding stock or for family use, as they are in many places. Those persons who eat whole peas in the winter after they are raised, run the risk of eating the weevils also; but if the peas are kept till they are a year old, the insects will entirely leave them. The pea-weevil is supposed to be a native of the United States. It seems to have been first noticed in Pennsylvania, * See Kalm’s Travels, (Svo, Warrington, 1770,) Vol. I. p. 178. + See the “ Boston Cultivator” for July 1, 1848, fur an interesting account of the habits of these insects, by Mr. S. Deane. 64 COLEOPTERA. many years ago, and has gradually spread from thence to New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. It is yet rare in New Hampshire, and I believe has not appeared in the eastern parts of Maine. It is unknown in the North of Europe, as we learn from the interesting account given of it by Kalm, the Swedish tray- eller, who tells us of the fear with which he was ‘filled on finding some of these weevils in a parcel of peas which he had carried home from America, having in view the whole damage which his beloved country would have suffered, if only two or three of these noxious insects had escaped lim. They are now common in the South of Europe and in Eng- land, whither they may have been carried from this country. As the cultivated pea was not originally a native of Amer- ica, it would be interesting to ascertain what plants the pea- weevil formerly inhabited. That it should have preferred the prolific exotic pea to any of our indigenous and less productive pulse, is not a matter of surprise, analogous facts being of common occurrence ; but that, for so many years, a rational method for checking its ravages should not have been practised, is somewhat remarkable. An exceedingly simple one is recommended by Deane, but to be successful it should be universally adopted. It consists merely in keeping seed- peas in tight vessels over one year before planting them. Latreille and others recommend putting them, just before they are to be planted, into hot water for a minute or two, by which means the weevils will be killed, and the sprouting of the peas will be quickened. The insect is limited to a certain period for depositing its eggs ; late-sown peas there- fore escape its attacks. The late Colonel Pickering observed that those sown in Pennsylvania as late as the 20th of May were entirely free from weevils ; and Colonel W orthington, of Rensselaer County, New York, who sowed his peas on the 10th of June, six years in succession, nover found an insect in them during that period. The crow black-bird is said to devour great numbers of THE ATTELABIANS. 65 the beetles in the spring; and the Baltimore oriole or hang- bird splits open the green pods for the sake of the grubs con- tained in the peas, thereby contributing greatly to prevent the increase of these noxious insects. The instinct that en- ables this beautiful bird to detect the lurking grub, concealed, as the latter is, within the pod and the hull of the pea, is worthy our highest admiration ; and the goodness of Provi- dence, which has endowed it with this faculty, is still further shown in the economy of the insects also, which, through His prospective care, are not only limited in the season of their depredations, but are instinctively taught to spare the germs of the peas, thereby securing a succession of crops for our benefit and that of their own progeny. The Attelabians (ATTELABID2£) are distinguished from the Bruchians by the form and greater length of the head, which is a little inclined, and ends with a snout, sometimes short and thick, and sometimes long, slender, and curved. The eyes also are round and entire, and the antennz are usually implanted near the middle of the snout. The larve re- semble those of most of the snout-beetles, being short, thick, whitish grubs, with horny heads, the rings of the body very much hunched, and deprived of legs, the place of which is supplied by fleshy warts along the under-side of the body. Some of the European insects of this family are known to be very injurious to the leaves, fruits, and seeds of plants. The different kinds of Attelabus are said to roll up the edges of leaves, thereby forming little nests, of the shape and ’ size of thimbles, to contain their eggs, and to shelter their young, which afterwards devour the leaves. Fig. 82. The larve and habits of our native species are unknown tome. The most common one here is the Attelabus analis of Weber (Fig. | 32), or the red-tailed Attelabus. It is one y quarter of an inch long from the tip of the thick snout to the end of the body. The head, which is nearly cylindrical, the antenne, legs, and 9 Be 66 COLEOPTERA. middle of the breast, are deep blue-black ; the thorax, wing- covers, and abdomen are dull red; the wing-covers, taken together, are nearly square, and are punctured in rows. This beetle is found on the leaves of oak-trees in June and July. The two-spotted Attelabus, Attelabus bipustulatus of Fabri- cius, (Plate II. Fig. 6,) is also found on oak-leaves during the same season as the preceding. It is of a deep blue-black color, with a square dull red spot on the shoulders of each wing-cover. It measures rather more than one eighth of an inch in length. Two or three beetles of this family are very hurtful to the vine, in Europe, by nibbling the midrib of the leaves, so that the latter may be rolled up to form a retreat for their young. They also puncture the buds and the tender fruit of this and of other plants. In consequence of the damage caused by them and by their larve, whole vineyards are sometimes stripped of their leaves, and fruit-trees are despoiled of their foliage and fruits. These insects belong to the genus Ryn- chites, a name given to them in allusion to their snouts. I have not seen any of them on vines or fruit-trees in this country. The largest one found here is the Rynchites bicolor of Fabricius, or two-colored Rynchites. This insect is met with in June, July, and August, on cultivated and wild rose-bushes, sometimes in considerable numbers. That they injure these plants is highly probable, but the nature and extent of the injury is not certainly known. The whole of the upper side of this beetle is red, except the rather long and slender snout, which, together with the antennx, legs, and under-side of the body, is black; it is thickly covered with small punctures, and is slightly downy, and there are rows of larger punctures on the wing-covers. It _ measures one fifth of an inch from the eyes to the tip of the abdomen. The grubs of many kinds of Apion destroy the seeds of plants. In Europe they do much mischief to clover in this THE BRENTHIANS. 67 way. ‘They receive the above name from the shape of the beetles, which resembles that of a pear. Say’s Apion, Apion Sayi * of Schénherr (Fig. 33), is a minute black species, not more than one tenth of an inch long, exclusive of the slender, sharp-pointed snout. Its grubs live in the pods of the common wild-indigo bush, Baptisia tinctoria, devouring the seeds. A smaller kind, somewhat like it, inhabits the pods and eats the seeds of the locust-tree, or Robinia pseudacacia. Naturalists place here a little group of snout-beetles, called BrentHip£, or Brenthians, which differ entirely in their forms from the other weevils, both in the beetle and grub state. They have a long, narrow, and cylindrical body. The snout projects from the head in a straight line with the body, and varies in shape according to the sex of the insect, and even in individuals of the same sex. In the males it is broad and flat, sometimes as long as the thorax, sometimes much shorter, and it is widened at the tip, where are situated two strong nippers or upper jaws ; in the females it is long, very slender, and not enlarged at the extremity, and the nippers are not visible to the naked eye. The feelers are too small to be seen. The antennz are short, straight, slightly thickened towards the tip, and implanted before the prominent eyes, on the middle of the snout in the males, and at the base of it in the females. The legs are short, the first pair being the largest, and the hindmost unusually distant from the middle pair. These insects live under the bark and in the trunks of trees, but very little has been published respecting their habits ; and the only description of their larvee that has hitherto appeared is con- tained in my first Report on the Insects of Massachusetts, printed in the year 1838, in the seventy-second number of the ‘Documents of the House of Representatives.” The only beetle of this family known in the New England Fig. 33. * Apion rostrum, Say. 68 COLEOPTERA. States is the Brenthus (Arrhenodes) septemtrionis * of Herbst (Fig. 34), the Northern Brenthus, so named because most Fig. 84. of the other species are tropical insects. It is of a mahogany-brown color ; the wing-cases are somewhat darker, ornamented with nar- row tawny-yellow spots, and marked with deep furrows, the sides of which are punctured ; the thorax is nearly egg-shaped, broadest behind the middle, and highly polished. The com- mon length of this insect, including the snout, is six tenths of an inch; but much larger as well as smaller specimens frequently occur. The Northern Brenthus inhabits the white oak, on the trunks and under the bark of which it may be found in June and July, having then completed its trans- formations. The female, when about to lay her eges, punc- tures the bark with her slender snout, and drops an egg in each hole thus made. The grub, as soon as it is hatched, bores into the solid wood, forming a cylindrical passage, which it keeps clear by pushing its castings out of the orifice of the hole, as fast as they accumulate. These castings or chips are like very fine sawdust; and the holes made by the insects are easily discovered by the dust around them. When fully grown, the grub measures rather more than an inch in length, and not quite one tenth of an inch in thick- ness. It is nearly cylindrical, being only a little flattened on the under-side, and is of a whitish color, except the last segment, which is dark chestnut-brown. Each of the first three segments is provided with a pair of legs, and there is a fleshy prop-leg under the hinder extremity of the body. The last segment is of a horny consistence, and is obliquely hollowed at the end, so as to form a kind of gouge or scoop, the edges of which are furnished with little notches or teeth. It is by means of this singular scoop that the grub shovels the minute grains of the wood out of its burrow. The pupa * A mistake undoubtedly for septemtrionalis. It is the Brenthus mazillosus of Olivier and Schénherr. THE CURCULIONIANS. bY is met with in the burrow formed by the larva. It is of a yellowish-white color; the head is bent under the thorax, and the snout rests on the breast between the folded legs and wings; the back is furnished with transverse rows of little thorns or sharp teeth, and there are two larger thorns at the extremity of the body. These minute thorns probably enable the pupa to move towards the mouth of its burrow when it is about to be transformed, and may serve also to keep its body steady during its exertions in casting off its pupa skin. These insects are most abundant in trees that have been cut down for timber or fuel, which are generally attacked during the first summer after they are felled ; it has also been ascertained that living trees do not always escape, but those that are in full vigor are rarely perforated by grubs of this kind. The credit of discovering the habits and transformations of the Northern Brenthus is due to the Rev. L. W. Leonard, of Dublin, New Hampshire, who has favored me with specimens in all their forms. This insect is now known to inhabit nearly all the States in the Union. I am inclined to think that the Brenthians ought to be placed at the end of the weevil tribe; but I have not ventured to alter the arrangement generally adopted. The rest of the weevils are short and thick beetles, differ- ing from all the preceding in their antennee, which are bent or elbowed near the middle, the first joint being much longer than the rest. Their feelers are not perceptible. They be- long to the family CurcuLion1p, so called from the princi- ‘pal genus, Curculio, a name given by the Romans to the corn- weevil. The Curculionians vary in the form, length, and direction of their snouts. Those belonging to the old genus Curculio have short and thick snouts, at the extremity of which, and near to the sides of the mouth, the antennz are implanted ; those to which the name of Rhynchenus was for- merly applied have longer and more slender snouts, usually bearing the antennz on or just behind the middle ; and the third great genus, called Calandra, contains long-snouted 70 COLEOPTERA. beetles, whose antennz are fixed just before the eyes at the base of the snout. Curculio (Pandeleteius) hilaris of Herbst (Fig. 35), which we may call the gray-sided Curculio, is a little pale-brown beetle, variegated with gray upon the sides. Its snout is short, broad, and slightly furrowed in the middle ; there are three blackish stripes on the thorax, between which are two of a light gray color ; the wing-covers have a broad stripe of light gray on the outer side, edged within by a slender blackish line, and sending two short oblique branches almost across each wing-cover ; and the fore-legs are much larger than the others. The length of this beetle varies from one eighth to one fifth of an inch. The larva lives in the trunks of the white oak, on which the beetles may be found about the last of May and the beginning of June. The Pales weevil, Curculio (Hylobius) Pales of Herbst (Fig. 36), is a beetle of a deep chestnut-brown color, having a line and a few dots of a yellow- ish-white color on the thorax, and many small yellowish-white spots sprinkled over the wing- covers. All the thighs are toothed beneath, and the snout is slender, cylindrical, inclined, and nearly as long as the thorax. On account of the length of the snout this insect has been placed in the genus Rhyncheenus by some nat- uralists ; but the antennz are implanted before the middle of the snout, and not far from the sides of the mouth. This beetle measures from two to three eighths of an inch in length, exclusive of the snout. It may be found in great abundance, in May and June, on board-fences, the sides of new wooden buildings, and on the trunks of pine-trees. I have discovered them, in considerable numbers, under the bark of the pitch-pine. The larvae, which do not mate- rially differ from those of other weevils, inhabit these and Fig. 35. Fig. 36. THE PALES WEEVIL. 71 probably other kinds of pines, doing sometimes immense injury to them. Wilson, the ornithologist, describes the depredations of these insects, in his account * of the ivory- billed woodpecker, in the following words: “Would it be believed that the larve of an insect, or fly, no larger than a grain of rice, should silently, and in one season, destroy some thousand acres of pine-trees, many of them from two to three feet in diameter and a hundred and fifty feet high! Yet whoever passes along the high road from George- town to Charleston, in South Carolina, about twenty miles from the former place, can have striking and melancholy proofs of the fact. In some places the whole woods, as far as you can see around you, are dead, stripped of the bark, their wintry-looking arms and bare trunks bleaching in the sun, and tumbling in ruins before every blast, presenting a frightful picture of desolation. Until some effectual prevent- ive or more complete remedy can be devised against these insects, and their larvee, I would humbly suggest the pro- priety of protecting, and receiving with proper feelings of gratitude, the services of this and the whole tribe of wood- peckers, letting the odium of guilt fall to its proper owners.” Some years ago Mr. Nuttall kindly procured for me, near the place above mentioned, specimens of the destructive in- sects referred to by Wilson. They were of three kinds. Those in greatest abundance were the Pales weevil. One of the others was a larger, darker-colored weevil, without white spots on it, and named Hylobius picivorus by Ger- mar and Schénherr, or the pitch-eating weevil; it is sel- dom found in Massachusetts. The third was the white-pine weevil, to be next described. It is said that these beetles puncture the buds and the tender bark of the small branches, and feed upon the juice, and that the young shoots are often so much injured by them as to die and break off at the wounded part. But it is in the larva state that they are found to be most hurtful to the pines. The larve live under * American Ornithology, Vol. IV. p. 21. 72 COLEOPTERA. the bark, devouring its soft inner surface, and the tender, newly formed wood. When they abound, as they do in some of our pine forests, they separate large pieces of bark from the wood beneath, in consequence of which the part perishes, and the tree itself soon languishes and dies. The white-pine weevil, Rhynchenus (Pissodes) MStrobi* of Professor Peck (Fig. 37), unites with the two preceding insects in destroying the pines of this country, as above de- scribed. But it employs also another mode of attack on the white pine, of which an interesting account is given by the late Professor Peck, the first describer of the insect, in the fourth volume of the “* Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal,” ac- companied by figures of the insect. The lofty stature of the white pine, and the straightness of its trunk, depend, as Pro- fessor Peck has remarked, upon the constant health of its leading shoot, for a long succession of years ; and if this shoot be destroyed, the tree becomes stunted and deformed in its subsequent growth. This accident is not uncommon, and is caused by the ravages of the white-pine weevil. This beetle is oblong oval, rather slender, of a brownish color, thickly punctured, and variegated with small brown, rust-colored, and whitish scales. There are two white dots on the thorax; the scutel is white; and on the wing-covers, which are punctured in rows, there is a whitish transverse band behind the middle. The snout is longer than the thorax, slender, and a very little inclined. The length of this insect, exclusive of its snout, varies from one fifth to three tenths of an inch. ' Its eggs are deposited on the lead- ing shoot of the pine, probably immediately under the outer bark. The larvee, hatched therefrom, bore into the shoot in various directions, and probably remain in the wood more than one year. When the feeding state is passed, but before Fig 37. * Pissodes nemorensis of Germar. THE WHITE-PINE WEEVIL. 73 the insect is changed to a pupa, it gnaws a passage from the inside quite to the bark, which, however, remaining un- touched, serves to shelter the little borers from the weather. After they have changed to beetles, they have only to cut away the outer bark to make their escape. They begin to come out early in September, and continue to leave the wood through that month and a part of October. The shoot at this time will be found pierced with small round holes on all sides ; sometimes thirty or forty may be counted on one shoot. Professor Peck has observed that an unlimited in- crease is not permitted to this destructive insect; and that if it were, our forests would not produce a single mast. One of the means appointed to restrain the increase of the white- pine weevil is a species of ichneumon-fly, endued with sa- gacity to discover the retreat of the larva, the body of which it stings, and therein deposits an egg. From the latter a grub is hatched, which devours the larva of the weevil, and is subsequently transformed to a four-winged fly, in the habita- tion prepared for it. The most effectual remedy against the increase of these weevils is to cut off the shoot in August, or as soon as it is perceived to be dead, and commit it, with its inhabitants, to the fire. Such is the substance of Professor Peck’s history of this insect ; to which may be added, that the beetles are found in great numbers, in April and May, on fences, buildings, and pine-trees ; that they probably secrete themselves during the winter in the crevices of the bark, or about the roots of the trees, and deposit their eggs in the spring; or they may not usually leave the trees before spring. Perhaps the method used for decoying the pine-eating bee- tles in Europe may be practised here with advantage. It consists in sticking some newly-cut branches of pine-trees in the ground, in an open place, during the season when the insects are about to lay their eggs. In a few hours these branches will be covered with the beetles, which may be shaken into a cloth and burned. 10 74 COLEOPTERA. There are some of the long-snouted weevils which inhabit nuts of various kinds. Hence they are called nut-weevils, and belong chiefly to the modern genus Balaninus, a name that signifies living or being in a nut. The common nut- weevil of Europe lays her eggs in the hazelnut and filbert, having previously bored a hole for that purpose with her long and slender snout, while the fruit is young and tender, and dropping only one egg in each nut thus pricked. A little grub is soon hatched from the egg, and begins immedi- ately to devour the soft kernel. Notwithstanding this, the nut continues to increase in size, and, by the time that it is ripe and ready to fall, its little inhabitant also comes to its growth, gnaws a round hole in the shell, through which it afterwards makes its escape, and burrows in the ground. Here it remains unchanged through the winter, and in the following summer, having completed its transformations, it comes out of the ground a beetle. In this country weevil-grubs are very common in hazel- nuts, chestnuts, and acorns; but I have not hitherto been able to rear any of them to the beetle state. The most common of the nut-wee- vils known to me appears to be the Rhyn- chenus (Balaninus) nasicus of Say (Fig. 38), the long-snouted nut-weevil. Its form is oval, and its ground color dark brown ; but it is clothed with very short rust-yellow flattened hairs, which more or less conceal its original color, and are disposed in spots on its wing-covers. The snout is brown and polished, longer than the whole body, as slender as a bristle, of equal thickness from one to the other, and slightly curved; it bears the long elbowed antenne, which are as fine as a hair, just behind the middle. This beetle measures nearly three tenths of an inch in length, exclusive of the snout. Specimens have been found paired upon the hazel- nut-tree in July, at which time probably the eggs -are laid. Fig. 38. THE CURCULIO, OR PLUM-WEEVIL. 75 Others appear in September and October, and must pass the winter concealed in some secure place. From its size and resemblance to the nut-weevil of Europe, this is supposed to be the species which attacks the hazelnut here. It is now well known that the falling of unripe plums is caused by little whitish grubs, which bore into the fruit. The loss occasioned by insects of this kind is frequently very great; and in some of our gardens and orchards the crop of plums is often entirely ruined by the depredations of the grubs, which have been ascertained to be the larve or young of a small beetle of the weevil tribe, called Rhynchenus (Conotrache- lus) Nenuphar,* (Figs. 39 and 40,) the Nenuphar or plum-weevil. This wee- vil, or curculio, as it is often called, is a little rough, dark-brown, or blackish beetle, looking like a dried bud when it is shaken from the trees, which resem- blance is increased by its habit of drawing up its legs and bending its snout close to the lower side of its body, and remaining for a time without motion, and seemingly lifeless. It is from three twentieths to one fifth of an inch long, ex- clusive of the curved snout, which is rather longer than the thorax, and is bent under the breast, between the fore legs, when at rest. Its color is a dark brown, variegated with spots of white, ochre-yellow, and black. The thorax is un- even; the wing-covers have several short ridges upon them, those on the middle of the back forming two considerable humps, of a black color, behind which there is a wide band of ochre-yellow and white. Each of the thighs has two little teeth on the under-side. I have found these beetles as early as the 30th of March, and as late as the 10th of June, and at various intermediate times, according with the for- Fig. 39. Fig. 40. * First described by Herbst, in 1797, under the name of Curculio Nenuphar ; Fabricius redescribed it under that of Rkynchenus Argula; and Dejean has named it Conotrachelus variegatus 76 COLEOPTERA. wardness or backwardness of vegetation in the spring, and have frequently caught them flying in the middle of the day. They begin to sting the plums as soon as the fruit is set, and continue their operations to the middle of July, or, as some say, till the first of August. In doing this, the beetle first makes a small crescent-shaped incision, with its snout, in the skin of the plum, and then, turning round, inserts an egg in the wound. From one plum it goes to another, until its store of eggs is exhausted; so that, where these beetles abound, not a plum will escape being stung. Very rarely is there more than one incision made in the same fruit ; and the weevil lays only a single egg therein. The insect hatched from this egg is a little whitish grub, desti- tute of feet, and very much like a maggot in appearance, except that it has a distinct, rounded, light-brown head. It immediately burrows obliquely into the fruit, and finally pene- trates to the stone. The irritation, arising from the wounds and from the gnawings of the grubs, causes the young fruit to become gummy, diseased, and finally to drop before it is ripe. Meanwhile, the grub comes to its growth, and, im- mediately after the falling of the fruit, quits the latter and burrows in the ground. This may occur at various times between the middle of June and of August; and, in about three weeks afterwards, the insect completes its transforma- tions, and comes out of the ground in the beetle form. The earliest account of the habits of the plum weevil, that T have seen, was written by Dr. James Tilton, of Wilming- ton, Delaware. It will be found, under the article Fruit, in Dr. James Mease’s edition of Willich’s “ Domestic Encyclo- pedia,” published at Philadelphia in 1803. The same ac- count has been reprinted in the “ Georgic Papers for 1809” of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, and in other works. According to Dr. Tilton, this insect attacks not only nectarines, plums, apricots, and cherries, but also peaches, apples, pears, and quinces, the truth of which has been abun- dantly confirmed by later writers. I have myself ascertained THE CURCULIO, OR PLUM-WEEVIL. TT that the cherry-worm, so called, which is very common in this fruit when gathered from the tree, produces, at maturity, the same curculio as that of the plum; but, unlike the latter, it rarely causes the stung cherry to drop prematurely to the ground. The late Dr. Joel Burnett, of Southborough, the author of two interesting articles on the plum-weevil,* sent to me, in the summer of 1839, some specimens of the in- sect, in the chrysalis state, which were raised from the small grubs in apples; and, since that time, I have seen the same grubs in apples, pears, and quinces, in this vicinity. They are not to be mistaken for the more common apple-worms, from which they are easily distinguished by their inferior size, and by their want of feet. In 1831, Mr. Thomas Say, in a note on the plum-weevil, stated that it “depredates on the plum and peach and other stone-fruits ;” and that his ‘kinsman, the late excellent William Bartram, informed him it also destroys the English walnut in this country.” + Observers do not agree concerning some points in the economy of this insect, such as the time required for it to complete its transformations, the condition and place wherein it passes the winter, and the agency of the curculio in pro- ducing the warts or excrescences on plum and cherry trees. The average time passed by the insect in the ground, during the summer, has appeared to me to be about three weeks ; but the transformation may be accelerated or retarded by temperature and situation. It has also been my impression that the late broods remained in the ground all winter, and that from them are produced the beetles which sting the fruit in the following spring. Dr. Burnett’s observations coincide with this opinion. According to him, the insect “ under- goes transformation in about fifteen or twenty days, in the month of June or fore part of July ; but all the larvae, (as * New England Farmer, Vol. XVIIL p. 304, March 11, 1840; and Hovey’s Mag- azine of Horticulture, Vol. IX. p. 281, August, 1848, reprinted in the New England Farmer, Vol. XXII. p. 49, August 16, 1848, and in the Transactions of the Massa- chusetts Horticultural Society, for 1848-1846, p. 18. + Descriptions of Curculionites, p. 19 (Svo, New Harmony, 1831). 73 COLEOPTERA. far as he had observed,) that go into the earth as late as the 20th of July, do not ascend that season, but remain there in the pupa stage until next spring.” Dr. Tilton, in his account of the curculio, stated that ‘it remains in the earth, in the form of a grub, during the winter, ready to be metamorphosed into a beetle as the spring advances.” According to M. H. Simpson, Esq., of Saxonville, the larvee, or grubs, ‘ go through their chrysalis state in three weeks after going into the ground, and remain in a torpid state through the season, unless the earth is disturbed.” * Dr. E. Sanborn, of Andover, has come to entirely different conclusions, from a series of experiments made upon these insects. It is his opinion that they do not remain in the ground, during the winter, either in the grub or in the beetle state ; but that, under all conditions of place and temperature, ‘in about six weeks ” after they have en- tered the earth ‘“ they return to the surface perfectly finished, winged, and equipped for the work of destruction” ; and that, ‘“‘as neither the curculio nor its grub burrows in the ground during the winter, the common practice of guarding against its ravages, by various operations in the soil, rests upon a false theory, and is productive of no valuable results.”+ Ii these conclusions be correct, these insects must pass the win- ter above ground, in the beetle state, and the place of their concealment, during this season, remains to be discovered. In July, 1818, Professor W. D. Peck obtained, from the warty excrescences of the cherry-tree, the same insects that he “ had long known to occasion the fall of peaches, apricots, and plums, before they had acquired half their growth”; and, not aware that this species had already received a scien- tific name, he called it Rhynchenus Cerasi, the cherry-weevil. His account of it, with a figure, may be seen in the fifth volume of the “ Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and * Hovey’s Magazine, Vol. XVI. p. 257, June, 1850. t See Dr. Sanborn’s interesting communications on the Plum Curculio, in the Boston Cultivator, for May 19, 1849, and July 13, 1850, and in the Puritan Re- corder for May 2, and the Cambridge Chronicle for May 30, 1850. CURCULIO FOUND IN WARTS. 719 Journal.” The grubs, found by Professor Peck in the tumors of the cherry-tree, went into the ground on the 6th of July, and on the 30th of the same month, or twenty-four days from their leaving the bark, the perfect insects began to rise, and were soon ready to deposit their eggs. The plum, still more than the cherry tree, is subject to a disease of the small limbs, that shows itself in the form of large . irregular warts, of a black color. Professor Peck referred this disease, as well as that of the cherry-tree, to the agency of insects, but was uncertain whether to attribute it to his cherry-weevil “or to another species of the same genus.” It was his opinion, that ‘the seat of the disease is in the bark. The sap is diverted from its regular course, and is absorbed entirely by the bark, which is very much increased in thick- ness ; the cuticle bursts, the swelling becomes irregular, and is formed into black lumps, with a cracked, uneven, granu- lated surface. The wood, besides being deprived of its nutri- ment, is very much compressed, and the branch above the tumor perishes.” Dr. Burnett rejected the idea of the insect origin of this disease, which he considered as a kind of fungus, arising in the alburnum, from an obstruction of the vessels, and bursting through the bark, which became involved in the disease. These tumors appear to me to begin between the bark and wood. They are at first soft, cellular, and full of sap; but finally become hard and woody. But whether caused by vitiated sap, as Dr. Burnett supposed, or by the irritating punctures of insects, which is the prevailing opin- ion, or whatever be their origin and seat, they form an appropriate bed for the growth of numerous little parasitical plants or fungi, to which botanists give the name of Spheria morbosa. ‘These plants are the minute black granules that cover the surface of the wart, and give to it its black color. When fully matured, they are filled with a gelatinous fluid, and have a little pit or depression on their summit. They come to their growth, discharge their volatile seed, and die in the course of a single summer; and with them perishes 80 : COLEOPTERA. the tumor whence they sprung. It is worthy of remark, that they are sure to appear on these warts in due time, and that they are never found on any other part of the tree. Insects are often found in the warts of the plum-tree, as well as in those of the cherry-tree. The larve of a minute Cynips, or gall-fly, are said to inhabit them,* but have never fallen under my observation. The naked caterpillars of a minute moth are very common in the warts of the plum- tree, in which also are sometimes found other insects, among them little grubs from which genuine plum-weevils have been raised. This is a very interesting fact in the economy of the plum-weevil. It may be questioned, however, whether it be a mere mistake of instinct that leads the curculio to lay its eggs in the warts of the plum-tree, or a special pro- vision of a wise Providence to secure thereby a succession of the species in unfruitful seasons. The following, among other remedies that have been sug- gested, may be found useful in checking the ravages of the plum-weevil. Let the trees be briskly shaken or suddenly jarred every morning and evening during the time that the insects appear in the beetle form, and are engaged in laying their eggs. When thus disturbed, they contract their legs and fall; and, as they do not immediately attempt to fly or crawl away, they may be caught in a sheet spread under the tree, from which they should be gathered into a large wide-mouthed bottle, or other tight vessel, and be thrown into the fire. Keeping the fruit covered with a coat of whitewash, which is to be applied with a syringe as often as necessary, has been much recommended of late to repel the attacks of the curculio. A little glue, added to the whitewash, causes it to stick better and last longer. We may succeed by this remedy in securing a crop of plums; but as we cannot apply it to cherries and apples, they will be sure to suffer more than ever, and hence no check will * Schweinitz, Synopsis Fungorum ; in Transactions of the American Philo- sophical Society, Philadelphia, New Series, Vol. IV. p. 204. THE POTATO-WEEVIL. 81 be given to the increase of the weevil. All the fallen fruit should be immediately gathered and thrown into a tight vessel, and after it is boiled or steamed to kill the en- closed grubs, it may be given as food to swine. Many of the grubs will be found in the bottom of the vessel in which the fallen fruit has been deposited. Not one of these should be allowed to escape to the ground, but they should all be killed before they have time to complete their trans- formations. The diseased excrescences on the trees should be cut out, and, as they often contain insects, they should be burnt. If the wounds are washed with strong brine, the formation of new warts will be checked. The moose plum-tree (Prunus Americana) seems to be free from warts, even when growing in the immediate vicinity of diseased for- eign trees. It would, therefore, be the best of stocks for budding or ingrafting upon. It can be easily raised from the stone, and grows rapidly, but does not attain a great size. Among the many insects that have been charged with being the cause of the wide-spread pestilence, commonly , called the potato-rot, there is a kind of weevil that lives in the stalk of the potato. The history of this little insect was first made known by Miss Margaretta H. Morris, of Ger- mantown, Pennsylvania. In August, 1849, her attention was called to this subject by Mr. Wilkinson, the principal of the Mount Airy Agricultural Institute, “‘ who discovered small grubs in the potato-vines on his farm, and naturally feared injurious consequences.” On the 28th rig. 41. -of the same month and year, Miss Morris sent to me some specimens of the insects in a piece of the potato-stalk, wherein they underwent their transformations. They proved to be the beetles described by Mr. Say under the name of Bari- dius trinotatus (Fig. 41), so called from their having three black dots on their backs. This kind of beetle is about three twentieths of an inch long. Its body is covered with short whitish hairs, which give to it a gray appearance. 11 82 COLEOPTERA. One of the black dots is on the scutel, and the others are on the hinder angles of the thorax ; and by these it can be readily distinguished from other species. According to Miss Morris, it lays its eggs singly on the plant at the base of a leaf. The grubs burrow into and consume the inner sub- stance of the stalk, proceeding downwards towards the root. In many fields in the neighborhood of Germantown every stem was found to be infested by these insects, causing the premature decay of the vines, and giving to them the appear- ance of having been scalded. The insects undergo all their transformations in the stalks. Their pupa state lasts from fourteen to twenty days, and they take the beetle form dur- ing the last of August and beginning of September. These insects, though common enough in the Middle States, I have never found in New England, in the course of thirty years of observation, and have failed to discover them here since my attention was called to their depredations by Miss Morris. That they may become very injurious to the potato crop where they abound, will be readily admitted ; but, as they do not occur in all places, either here or in Europe, where the potato-rot has prevailed, they cannot be justly said to produce this disease.* The most pernicious of the Rhynchophorians, or snout- beetles, are the insects properly called grain-weevils, belong- ing to the old genus Calandra. These insects must not be confounded with the still more destructive larve of the corn- moth (Tinea granella), which also attacks stored grain, nor with the orange-colored maggots of the wheat-fly ( Cecitdomyia Tritic’), which are found in the ears of growing wheat. Al- ‘though the grain-weevils are not actually injurious to vege- tation, yet as the name properly belonging to them has often been misapplied in this country, thereby creating no little confusion, some remarks upon them may tend to prevent future mistakes. * See my communication on this insect, &c., in the New England Farmer, for June 22, 1850, Vol. II. p. 204. GRAIN-WEEVILS. 83 The true grain-weevil or wheat-weevil of Europe, Calan- dra (Sttophilus) granaria, or Curculio granarius of Linnzeus, in its perfected state is a slender beetle of a pitchy-red color, about one eighth of.an inch long, with a slender snout slightly bent downwards, a coarsely punctured and very long thorax, constituting almost one half the length of the whole body, and wing-covers that are furrowed and do not entirely cover the tip of the abdomen. This little insect, both in the beetle and grub state, devours stored wheat and other grains, and often commits much havoc in granaries and brewhouses. Its powers of multiplication are very great, for it is stated that a single pair of these destroyers may produce above six thousand descendants in one year. The female deposits her eggs upon the wheat after it is housed, and the young grubs hatched therefrom immediately burrow into the wheat, each individual occupying alone a single grain, the substance of which it devours, so as often to leave nothing but the hull; and this destruction goes on within while no external ap- pearance leads to its discovery, and the loss of weight is the only evidence of the mischief that has been done to the grain. In due time the grubs undergo their transformations, and come out of the hulls, in the beetle state, to lay their egos for another brood. These insects are effectually de- stroyed by kiln-drying the wheat; and grain that is kept cool, well ventilated, and is frequently moved, is said to be exempt from attack. Rice is attacked by an insect closely resembling the wheat- weevil, from which, however, it is distinguished by having two large red spots on each wing-cover; it is also some- what smaller, measuring only about one tenth of an inch in length, exclusive of the snout. This beetle, the Calan- dra (Sitophilus) Oryzce,* or rice-weevil (Plate II. Fig. 8), is not entirely confined to rice, but depredates upon wheat, and also on Indian corn. In the Southern States it is called the black weevil, to distinguish it from other insects that in- * Curculio Oryze of Linneus. 84 COLEOPTERA. fest grain. I am not aware that these weevils attack wheat in New England; but I have seen stored Southern corn swarming with them; and, should they multiply and extend in this section of the country, they will become a source of serious injury to one of the most valuable of our staple productions. It is said that this weevil lays its eggs on the rice in the fields, as soon as the grain begins to swell. If this indeed be true, we have very little to fear from it here, our Indian corn being so well protected by the husks that it would probably escape from any injury, if attacked. On the contrary, if the insects multiply in stored grain, then our utmost care will be necessary to prevent them from infesting our own garners. The parent beetle bores a hole into the grain, and drops therein a single egg, going from one grain to another till all her eggs are laid. She then dies, leaving, however, the rice well seeded for a future harvest of weevil-grubs. In due time the eggs are hatched, the grubs live securely and unseen in the centre of the rice, devouring a considerable portion of its substance, and when fully grown they gnaw a little hole through the end of the grain, artfully stopping it up again with particles of rice-flour, and then are changed to pupe. This usually occurs during the winter; and in the following spring the insects are transformed to beetles, and come out of the grain. By winnowing and sifting the rice in the spring, the beetles can be separated, and then should be gathered immediately and destroyed. The sudden change of the temperature that generally occurs in the early part of May, brings out great numbers of insects from their winter quarters, to enjoy the sunshine and the ardent heat which are congenial to their natures. While a continued hum is heard, among the branches of the trees, from thousands of bees and flies, drawn thither by the fragrance of the bursting buds and the tender foliage, and the very ground beneath our feet seems teeming with insect life, swarms of little beetles of various kinds come THE BARK-BEETLES. 85 forth to try their wings, and, with an uncertain and heavy flight, launch into the air. Among these beetles there are many of a dull red or fox color, nearly cylindrical in form, tapering a very little before, obtusely rounded at both ex- tremities, and about one quarter of an inch in length. They are seen slowly creeping upon the sides of wooden buildings, resting on the tops of fences, or wheeling about in the air, and every now and then suddenly alighting on some tree or wall, or dropping to the ground. If we go to an old pine-tree we may discover from whence they have come, and what they have been about during the past period of their lives. Here they will be found creeping out of thou- sands of small round holes which they have made through the bark for their escape. Upon raising a piece of the bark, already loosened by the undermining of these insects, we find it pierced with holes in every direction, and even the surface of the wood will be seen to have been gnawed by these little miners. After enjoying themselves abroad for a few days, they pair, and begin to lay their eggs. The pitch- pine is most generally chosen by them for this purpose, but they also attack other kinds of pines. They gnaw little holes here and there through the rough bark of the trunk and limbs, drop their eggs therein, and, after this labor is finished, they become exhausted and die. In the autumn the grubs hatched from these eggs will be found fully grown. They have a short, thick, nearly cylindrical body, wrinkled on the back, are somewhat curved, and of a yellowish-white color, with a horny darker-colored head, and are destitute of feet. They devour the soft inner substance of the bark, boring through it in various directions for this purpose, and, when they have come to their full size, they gnaw a passage to the surface for their escape after they have completed their transformations. These take place deep in their burrows late in the autumn, at which time the insects may be found, in various states of maturity, within the bark. Their depreda- tions interrupt the descent of the sap, and prevent the forma- 86 COLEOPTERA. tion of new wood ; the bark becomes loosened from the wood, to a greater or less extent, and the tree languishes and prema- Fig. 2. turely decays. The name of this insect is Hylur- gus terebrans,* the boring Hylurgus (Fig. 42) ; the x generical name signifying a carpenter, or worker in wood. It belongs to the family Scoryrrps, includ- ing various kinds of destructive insects, which may be called cylindrical bark-beetles. The insects of this family may be recognized by the following characters. The body is nearly cylindrical, obtuse before and behind, and generally of some shade of brown. The head is rounded, sunk pretty deeply in the fore part of the thorax, and does not end with a snout; the antennz are short, more or less crooked or curved in the middle, and end with an oval knob; the feelers are very short. The thorax is rather long, and as broad as the following part of the body. The wing-covers are frequently cut off obliquely, or hollowed at the hinder extremity. The legs are short and strong, with little teeth on the outer edge or extremity of the shanks, and the feet are not wide and spongy beneath. Though these cylindrical bark-beetles are of small size, they multiply very fast, and where they abound are produc- tive of much mischief, particularly in forests, which are often greatly injured by their larvae, and the wood is rendered unfit for the purposes of art. In the year 1780, an insect of this family made its appearance in the pine-trees of one of the mining districts of Germany, where it increased so rapidly that in three years afterwards whole forests had disappeared beneath its ravages, and an end was nearly put to the working of the extensive mines in this range of country, for the want of fuel to carry on the operations. Pines and firs are the most subject to their attacks, but there are some kinds which infest other trees. The premature decay of the elm in some parts of Europe is occasioned by the ravages of the Scolytus destructor, of which an interesting * Scolytus terebrans of Olivier. THE BARK-BEETLES. 87 account was written in 1824, by Mr. Macleay. An abstract of his paper may be found in the fifth volume of the “ New England Farmer.” * The larve or grubs of these bark- beetles resemble those of the Hylurgus terebrans, or pine bark- beetle already described. Like the grubs of the weevils, they are short and thick, and destitute of legs. The red cedar is inhabited by a very small bark-beetle, named by Mr. Say Hylurgus dentatus, the toothed Hylurgus. It is nearly one tenth of an inch in length, and of a dark- brown color; the wing-cases are rough with little grains, which become more elevated towards the hinder part, and are arranged in longitudinal rows, with little furrows between them. The tooth-like appearance of these little elevations suggested the name given to this species. The female bores a cylindrical passage beneath the bark of the cedar, dropping her eggs at short intervals as she goes along, and dies at the end of her burrow when her eggs are all laid. The grubs hatched from these proceed in feeding nearly at right angles, forming on each side numerous parallel furrows, smaller than the central tube of the female. They complete their trans- formations in October, and eat their way through the bark, which will then be seen to be perforated with thousands of little round holes, through which the beetles have escaped. Under the bark of the pitch-pine I have found, in com- pany with the pine bark-beetle, a more slender bark-beetle, of a dark chestnut-brown color, clothed with a few short yel- lowish hairs, with a long, almost egg-shaped thorax, which is very rough before, and short wing-covers, deeply punctured in rows, hollowed out at the tip like a gouge, and beset around the outer edge of the hollow with six little teeth on each side. This beetle measures one fifth of an inch, or rather more, in length. It arrives at maturity in the autumn, but does not come out of the bark till the following spring, at which time it lays its eggs. It is the Tomzcus eresus, or excavated Tomicus; the specific name, signifying eaten out * Page 169. 88 COLEOPTERA. or excavated, was given to it by Mr. Say on account of the hollowed and bitten appearance of the end of its wing-covers. Its grubs eat zigzag and wavy passages, parallel to each other, between the bark and the wood. They are much less com- mon in the New England than in the Middle and Southern States, where they abound in the yellow pines. Another bark-beetle is found here, closely resembling the preceding, from which it differs chiefly in the inferiority of its size, being but three twentieths of an inch in length, and in having only three or four teeth at the outer extremity of each wing-cover. It is the Tomicus Pini of Mr. Say (Fig. 43). The grubs of this insect are very injurious to pine-trees. I have found them under the bark of the white and pitch pine, and they have also been discovered in the larch. The beetles appear during the month of August. There is another small bark-beetle, the Zomzcus liminaris® of my Catalogue, which has been found, in great numbers, by Miss Morris, under the bark of peach-trees, affected with the disease called the yellows, and hence supposed by her to be connected with this malady.* I have found it under the bark of a diseased elm; but have nothing more to offer, from my own observations, concerning its history, except that it completes its transformation in August and September. It is of a dark-brown color; the thorax is punctured, and the wing-covers are marked with deeply punctured furrows, and are beset with short hairs. It does not average one tenth of an inch in length. The pear-tree in New England has been found to be subject to a peculiar malady, which shows itself during mid- summer by the sudden withering of the leaves and fruit, and the discoloration of the bark of one or more of the limbs, Fig. 438. [9 This species differs from the others known in this country by having the last three joints of the antenne dilated laterally, forming a lamellate club like that of the Scarabeide; it therefore belongs to the genus Phloiotribus. — LEc.] * See Miss Morris on the Yellows, in Downing's Horticulturist, Vol. IV. p. 502. THE BLIGHT-BEETLE. 89 followed by the immediate death of the part affected. This kind of blight, as it has been called, being oftenest confined to a single branch, or to the extremity of a branch, seems to be a local affection only. It ends with the death of the branch, down to a certain point, but does not extend below the seat of attack, and does not affect the health of other parts of the tree. In June, 1816, the Hon. John Lowell, of Roxbury, discovered a minute insect in one of the affected limbs of a pear-tree; afterwards, he repeatedly detected the same insects in blasted limbs, and his discoveries have been confirmed by Mr. Henry Wheeler and the late Dr. Oliver Fiske, of Worcester, and by many other persons. Mr. Low- ell submitted the limb and the insect contained therein to the examination of Professor Peck, who gave an account and figure of the latter, in the fourth volume of the “ Massa- chusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal.” From this account, and from the subsequent communica- tion by Mr. Lowell, in the fifth volume of the “ New Eng- land Farmer,” it appears that the grub or larva of the insect eats its way inward through the alburnum or sap-wood into the hardest part of the wood, beginning at the root of a bud, behind which probably the egg was deposited, following the course of the eye of the bud towards the pith, around which it passes, and part of which it also consumes ; thus forming, after penetrating through the alburnum, a circular burrow or passage in the heart-wood, contiguous to the pith which it surrounds. By this means the central vessels, or those which convey the ascending sap, are divided, and the circula- tion is cut off. This takes place when the increasing heat of the atmosphere, producing a greater transpiration from the leaves, renders a large and continued flow of sap necessary to supply the evaporation. For the want of this, or from some other unexplained cause, the whole of the limb above the seat of the insect’s operations suddenly withers, and perishes during the intense heat of midsummer. The larva is changed to a pupa, and subsequently to a little beetle, in 12 90 COLEOPTERA. the bottom of its burrow, makes its escape from the tree in the latter part of June, or beginning of July, and probably deposits its eggs before August has passed. This insect, which may be called the blight-beetle, from the injury it occasions, attacks also apple, apricot, and plum trees, though less frequently than pear-trees. In the latter part of May, 1848, a piece,of the blighted limb of an apple-tree was sent to me for examination. It was twenty-eight inches in length, and three quarters of an inch in diameter at the lower end. Its surface bore the marks of twenty buds, thirteen of which were perforated by the insects; and from the burrows within I took twelve of the blight-beetles in a living and perfect condition, the thirteenth insect having previously been cut out. On the 9th of July, 1844, the Hon. M. P. Wilder sent to me a piece of a branch from a plum-tree, which contained, within the space of one foot, four nests or branching burrows, in each of which several insects in the grub and chrysalis state were found, and also one that had completed its transformations. Soon afterwards I caught one of the blight-beetles on a plum-tree, probably about to lay her eggs. In the followmg month of August, I received a blighted branch of an apricot-tree, one inch in diameter at the largest end, and containing, within the short distance of six inches, seven or eight perfect blight-beetles, each in a separate burrow, and vestiges of other burrows that had been destroyed in cutting the branch.* This little beetle, which is only one tenth of an inch in length, was named Scolytus Pyri, the pear-tree Scolytus, by Professor Peck. It is of a deep brown color, with the antenne and legs of the color of iron-rust. The thorax is short, very convex, rounded and rough before ;.the wing- covers are minutely punctured in rows, and slop2 off very suddenly and obliquely behind; the shanks are widened and flattened towards the end, beset with a few little teeth * See my communications on these insects in the Massachusetts Ploughman for June 17, 1843. Also Downing’s Horticulturist for February, 1848, Vol. II. p. 365. THE BOSTRICHIANS. - 91 externally, and end with a short hook; and the joints of the feet are slender and entire. This insect cannot be retained in the genus Scolytus, as defined by modern nat- uralists, but is to be placed in the genus Zomicus. The minuteness of the insect, the difficulty attending the discov- ery of the precise seat of its operations before it has left the tree, and the small size of the aperture through which it makes its escape from the limb, are probably the reasons why it has eluded the researches of those persons who disbelieve in its existence as the cause of the blasting of the limbs of the pear-tree. It is to be sought for at or near the lowest part of the diseased limbs, and in the immediate vicinity of the buds situated about that part. The remedy, suggested by Mr. Lowell and Professor Peck, to prevent other limbs and trees from being subsequently attacked in the same way, consists in cutting off the blasted limb below the seat of injury, and burning it before the perfect insect has made its escape. It will therefore be necessary carefully to examine our pear- trees daily, during the month of June, and watch for the first indication of disease, or the remedy may be applied too late to prevent the dispersion of the insects among other trees. There are some other beetles, much like the preceding in form, whose grubs bore into the solid wood of trees. They were formerly included among the cylindrical bark-beetles, but have been separated from them recently, and now form the family Bosrricuip#, or Bostrichians. Some of these beetles are of large size, measuring more than an inch in length, and, in the tropical regions where they are found, must prove very injurious to the trees they inhabit. The body in these beetles is hard and cylindrical, and generally of a black color. The thorax is bulging before, and the head is sunk and almost concealed under the projecting fore part of it. The antennz are of moderate length, and end with three large joints, which are saw-toothed internally. The larvae are mostly wood-eaters, and are whitish fleshy grubs, wrinkled on the back, furnished with six legs, and 92 ; COLEOPTERA. resemble in form the grubs of some of the small Scara- beeians. The shagbark or walnut tree is sometimes infested by the grubs of the red-shouldered Apate, or Apate basillaris of Say, an insect of this family. The grubs bore diametrically through the trunks of the walnut to the very heart, and undergo their transformations in the bottom of their bur- rows. Several trees have fallen under my observation which have been entirely killed by these insects. The beetles are of a deep black color, and are punctured all over. The thorax is very convex and rough before; the wing-covers are not excavated at the tip, but they slope downwards very suddenly behind, as if obliquely cut off, the outer edge of the cut portion is armed with three little teeth on each wing- cover, and on the base or shoulders there is a large red spot. This insect measures one fifth of an inch or more in length. The most powerful and destructive of the wood-eating insects are the grubs of the long-horned or Capricorn-beetles (CERAMBYCID), called borers by way of distinction. There are many kinds of borers which do not belong to this tribe. Some of them have already been described, and others will be mentioned under the orders to which they belong. Those now under consideration differ much from each other in their habits. Some live altogether in the trunks of trees, others in the limbs; some devour the wood, others the pith; some are found only in shrubs, some in the stems of herbaceous plants, and others are confined to roots. Certain kinds are limited to plants of one species, others live indiscriminately upon several plants of one natural family; but the same kind of borer is not known to inhabit plants differing essen- tially from each other in their natural characters. As might be expected from these circumstances, the beetles produced from these borers are of many different kinds. Nearly one hundred species have been found in Massachusetts, and probably many more remain to be discovered. The Capricorn-beetles agree in the following respects. THE CAPRICORN-BEETLES. , 93 The antennz are long and tapering, and generally curved like the horns of a goat, which is the origin of the name above given to these beetles. The body is oblong, approach- ing to a cylindrical form, a little flattened above, and taper- ing somewhat behind. ‘The head is short, and armed with powerful jaws. The thorax is either square, barrel-shaped, or narrowed before; and is not so wide behind as the wing- covers. The legs are long; the thighs thickened in the middle; the feet four-jointed, not formed for rapid motion, but for standing securely, being broad and cushioned beneath, with the third joint deeply notched. Most of these beetles remain upon trees and shrubs during the daytime, but fly abroad at night. Some of them, however, fly by day, and may be found on flowers, feeding on the pollen and the blossoms. When annoyed or taken into the hands, they make a squeaking sound by rubbing the joints of the thorax and abdomen together. The females are generally larger and more robust than the males, and have rather shorter antenne. Moreover, they are provided with a jointed tube at the end of the body, capable of being extended or drawn in like the joints of a telescope, by means of which they convey their eggs into the holes and chinks of the bark of plants. The larve hatched from these eggs are long, whitish, fleshy grubs, with the transverse incisions of the body very deeply marked, so that the rings are very convex or hunched both above and below. The body tapers a little behind, and is blunt-pointed. The head is much smaller than the’ first ring, slightly bent downwards, of a horny consistence, and is provided with short but very powerful jaws, by means whereof the insect can bore, as with a centre-bit, a cylindri- cal passage through the most solid wood. Some of these borers have six very small legs, namely, one pair under each of the first three rings ; but most of them want even these short and imperfect limbs, and move through their bur- rows by alternate extension and contraction of their bodies, 94. COLEOPTERA. on each or on most of the rings of which, both above and below, there is an oval space covered with little elevations, somewhat like the teeth of a fine rasp; and these little oval rasps, which are designed to aid the grubs in their motions, fully make up to them the want of proper feet. Some of these borers always keep one end of their burrows open, out of which, from time to time, they cast their chips, resembling coarse sawdust; others, as fast as they proceed, fill up the passages behind them with their castings, well known here by the name of powder-post. These borers live from one year to three or perhaps more years before they come to their growth. They undergo their transfor- mations at the furthest extremity of their burrows, many of them previously gnawing a passage through the wood to the inside of the bark, for their future escape. The pupa is at first soft and whitish, and it exhibits all the parts of the future beetle under a filmy veil which inwraps every limb. The wings and legs are folded upon the breast, the long antennz are turned back against the sides of the body, and then bent forwards between the legs. When the beetle has thrown, off its pupa-skin, it gnaws away the thin coat of bark that covers the mouth of its burrow, and comes out of its dark and confined retreat, to breathe the fresh air, and to enjoy for the first time the pleasure of sight, and the use of the legs and wings with which it is provided. The Capricorn-beetles have been divided into three fami- lies, corresponding with the genera Prionus, Cerambyz, and Leptura of Linneus. Those belonging to the first family are generally of a brown color, have flattened and saw- toothed or beaded antennz of a moderate length, project- ing jaws, and kidney-shaped eyes. Those in the second have eyes of the same shape, more slender or much longer antenne, and smaller jaws; and are often variegated in their colors. The beetles belonging to the third family are readily distinguished by their eyes, which are round and prominent. These three families are divided into many | THE PRIONIANS. 95 smaller groups and genera, the peculiarities of which cannot be particularly pointed out in a work of this kind. The Prionians, or Prionrp#, derive their name from a Greek word signifying a saw, which has been applied to them either because the antenne, in most of these beetles, consists of flattened joints, projecting internally somewhat like the teeth of a saw, or on account of their upper jaws, which sometimes are very long and toothed within. It is said that some of the beetles thus armed can saw off large limbs by seizing them between their jaws, and flying or whirling sidewise round the enclosed limb, till it is completely divided. The largest insects of the Capricorn tribe belong to this family, some of the tropical species measuring five or six inches in length, and one inch and a half or two inches in breadth. Their larve are broader and more flattened than the grubs of the other Capricorn-beetles, and are provided with six very short legs. When about to be transformed, they collect a quantity of their chips around them, and make therewith an oval pod or cocoon, to enclose themselves. Our largest species is the broad-necked Prionus (Fig. 44), Prionus laticollis* of Drury, its Fig. 44. first describer. It is of a long % oval shape and of a pitchy-black color. The jaws, though short, are very thick and strong ; the an- tennz are stout and saw-toothed in the male, and more slender in the other sex ; the thorax is short and wide, and armed on the lat- eral edges with three teeth; the wing-covers have three slightly elevated lines on each of them, and are rough with a multitude of large punctures, which run to- gether irregularly. It measures from one inch and one * Prionus brevicornis of Fabricius. 96 COLEOPTERA. eighth to one inch and three quarters in length; the females being always much larger than the males. The grubs of this beetle, when fully grown, are as thick as a man’s thumb. They live in the trunks and roots of the balm of gilead, Lombardy poplar, and probably in those of other kinds of poplar also. The beetles may frequently be seen upon, or flying round, the trunks of these trees in the month of July, even in the daytime, though the other kinds of Prionus generally fly only by night. The one-colored Prionus, Prionus unicolor* of Drury Fig. 45. (Fig. 45), inhabits pine-trees. ~~~ Its body is long, narrow, and flattened, of a light bay-brown color, with the head and an- tenne darker. The thorax is very short, and armed on each side with three sharp teeth ; the wing-covers are nearly of equal breadth throughout, and have three slightly ele- vated ribs on each of them. This beetle measures from one inch and one quarter to one inch and a half in length, and about three or four tenths of an inch in breadth. It flies by night, and frequently enters houses in the evening, from the middle of July to September. The second family of the Capricorn-beetles may be allowed to retain the scientific name, CeRamBycip#, of the tribe to which it belongs. The Cerambycians have not the very prominent jaws of the Prionians; their eyes are always kidney-shaped or notched for the reception of the first joint of the antenne, which are not saw-toothed, but generally * P. cylindricus of Fabricius. [1° This species was very properly separated by Serville as a distinct genus Orthosoma. — LEC. ] THE BANDED STENOCORUS. 9T slender and tapering, sometimes of moderate length, some- times excessively long, especially in the males; the thorax is longer and more convex than in the preceding family, not thin-edged, but often rounded at the sides. Some of these beetles, distinguished by their narrow wing- covers, which are notched or armed with two little thorns at the tip, and by the great length of their antennz, belong to the genus Stenocorus, a name signifying narrow or straitened. One of them, which is Fig. 46. rare here, inhabits the hickory, in its larva state forming long galleries in the trunk of this tree in the direction of the fibres of the wood. This beetle is the Stenocorus (Ceras- phorus) cinctus,* or band- ed Stenocorus (Fig 46). It is of a hazel color, with a tint of gray, arising from the short hairs with which it is covered ; there is an oblique ochre-yellow band across each wing-cover ; and a short spine or thorn on the middle of each side of the thorax. The antennz of the males are more than twice the length of the body, which measures from three quarters of an inch to one inch and one quarter in length. The ground beneath black and white oaks is often ob- served to be strewn with small branches, neatly severed from these trees as if cut off with a saw. Upon splitting open the cut end of a branch, in the autumn or winter after it has fallen, it will be found to be perforated to the extent of six or eight inches in the course of the pith, and a slender grub,. the author of the mischief, will be discovered therein. In * Cerambyz cinctus, Drury; Stenocorus garganicus, Fabricius. 15 98 COLEOPTERA. the spring this grub is transformed to a pupa, and in June or July it is changed to a beetle, and comes out of the branch. Fig. 47. The history of this insect was first made public by Professor Peck,* who called it > the oak-pruner, or Stenocorus (Elaphidion) putator (Fig 47). In its adult state it is a slender long-horned beetle, of a dull brown color, sprinkled with gray spots, composed of very short close hairs; the antennz are longer than the body in the males, and equal to it in length in the other sex, and the third and fourth joints are tipped with a small spine or thorn; the thorax is barrel- shaped, and not spined at the sides; and the scutel is yellow- ’ Fig. 48. ish-white. It varies in length from four and a half to six tenths of an inch. It lays its eggs in July. Each egg is placed close to the axilla or joint of a leaf-stalk or of a small twig, near the extremity of a branch. The grub (Fig 48) hatched from it penetrates at that spot to the pith, and then continues its course towards the body of the tree, devouring the pith, and there- hy forming a cylindrical burrow, several inches in length, in the centre of the branch. Having reached its full size, which it does towards the end of the summer, it divides the branch at the lower end of its burrow (Fig 49, pupa), by gnawing away the wood transversely from within, leaving only the ring of bark untouched. It then retires backwards, stops up the end of its hole, near the transverse section, with fibres of the wood, and awaits the fall of the branch, which is usually broken off and pre- cipitated to the ground by the autumnal winds. * Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal, Vol. V., with a plate. [11 This species was previously described by Fabricius as Stenocorus villosus, which specific name must therefore be pre-erved. —Lrc ] THE CAPRICORN-BEETLES. 99 The leaves of the oak are rarely shed before the branch falls, and thus serve to break the shock. Branches of five or six feet in length and an inch in diameter are thus severed by these insects, a kind of pruning that must be injurious to the trees, and should be guarded against if possible. By collecting the fallen branches in the autumn, and burning them before the spring, we prevent development of the beetles, while we derive some benefit from the branches as fuel. It is somewhat remarkable that, while the pine and fir tribes rarely suffer to any extent from the depredations of caterpillars and other leaf-eating insects, the resinous odor of these trees, offensive as it is to such insects, does not prevent many kinds of borers from burrowing into and de- stroying their trunks. Several of the Capricorn-beetles, while in the grub state, live only in pine and fir trees, or in timber of these kinds of wood. They belong chiefly to the genus Callidium, a name of unknown or obscure origin. Their antenne are of moderate length; they have a somewhat flattened body; the head nods forward, as in Stenocorus ; the thorax is broad, nearly circular, and somewhat flattened or indented above; and the thighs are very slender next to the body, but remarkably thick beyond the middle. The larve are of moderate length, more flattened than the grubs of the other Capricorn-beetles, have a very broad and horny head, small but powerful jaws, and are provided with six extremely small legs. They undermine the bark, and per- forate the wood in various directions, often doing immense injury to the trees, and to new buildings, in the lumber composing which they may happen to be concealed. Their burrows are wide and not cylindrical, are very winding, and are filled up with a kind of compact sawdust as fast as the insects advance. The larva state is said to continue two years, during which period the insects cast their skins several times. The sides of the body in the pupa are thin-edged, and finely notched, and the tail is forked. 100 , COLEOPTERA. One of the most common kinds of Callidium found here is a flattish, rusty-black beetle, with some downy whitish spots across the middle of the wing-covers; the thorax is nearly circular, is covered with fine whitish down, and has two elevated polished black points upon it; and the wing- covers are very coarsely punctured. It measures from four tenths to three quarters of an inch in length. This insect is the Callidium bajulus (Plate II. Fig. 12); the second name, meaning a porter, was given to it by Linnzeus, on account of the whitish patch which it bears on its back. It inhabits fir, spruce, and hemlock wood and lumber, and may often be seen on wooden buildings and fences in July and August. We are informed by Kirby and Spence, that the grubs sometimes greatly injure the wood-work of houses in Lon- don, piercing the rafters of the roofs in every direction, and, when arrived at maturity, even penetrating through sheets of lead which covered the place of their exit. One piece of lead, only eight inches long and four broad, contained twelve oval holes made by these insects, and fragments of the lead were found in their stomachs. As this insect is now com- mon in the maritime parts of the United States, it was probably first brought to this country by vessels from Eu- rope. The violet Callidium, Callidium violaceum,* ¥ (Plate II. Fig. 11,) is of a Prussian blue or violet color ; the thorax is transversely oval, and downy, and sometimes has a greenish tinge; and the wing-covers ‘are rough with thick irregular punctures. Its length varies from four to six tenths of an inch. It may be found in great abundance on piles of pine wood, from the middle of May to the first of June; and the larvee and pups are often met with in splitting the wood. They live mostly just under the bark, where their broad and winding tracks may be traced by the hardened sawdust with * Cerambyz violaceus of Linnus. [12 Our species is considered different from the European Callidium violaceum, under the name C. antennatum, Newman. — Lrc.] THE CAPRICORN-BEETLES. 101 which they are crowded. Just before they are about to be transformed, they bore into the solid wood to the depth of several inches. They are said to be very injurious to the sapling pines in Maine. Professor Peck supposed this species of Callidium to have been introduced into Europe in timber exported from this country, as it is found in most parts of that continent that have been much connected with North America by navigation. Thus Europe and America seem to have interchanged the porter and violet Callidium, which, by means of shipping, have now become common to the two continents. From the regularity of its form, and the noble size it attains, the sugar-maple is accounted one of the most beau- tiful of our forest-trees, and is esteemed as one of the most valuable, on account of its many useful properties. This fine tree suffers much from the attacks of borers, which in some cases produce its entire destruction. We are indebted to the Rev. L. W. Leonard, of Dublin, N. H., for the first account of the habits and transformations of these borers. In the summer of 1828, his attention was called to some young maples, in Keene, which were in a languishing condi- tion. He discovered the insect in its beetle state under the loosened bark of one of the trees, and traced the recent track of the larva three inches into the solid wood. In the course of a few years, these trees, upon the cultivation of which much care had been bestowed, were nearly destroyed by the borers. The failure, from the same cause, of sev- eral other attempts to raise the sugar-maple, has since come to my knowledge. The insects are changed to beetles, and come out of the trunks of the trees in July. In the vicinity of Boston, specimens have been repeatedly taken, which were undoubtedly brought here in maple logs from Maine. The beetle was first described in 1824, in the Ap- pendix to Keating’s “‘ Narrative of Long’s Expedition,” by Mr. Say, who called it Clytus speciosus ; that is, the beauti- ful Clytus. (Plate II. Fig. 15.) It was afterwards inserted, 102 COLEOPTERA. and accurately represented by the pencil of Lesueur, in Say’s “« American Entomology,” and, more recently, a description and figure of it have appeared in Griffith’s translation of Cuvier’s “ Animal Kingdom,” under the name of Clytus Hayir. The beautiful Clytus, like the other beetles of the genus to which it belongs, is distinguished from a Callidium by its more convex form, its more nearly globular thorax, which is neither flattened nor indented, and by its more slender thighs. The head is yellow, with the antenne and the eyes reddish black; the thorax is black, with two transverse yellow spots on each side ; the wing-covers, for about two thirds of their length, are black, the remaining third is yellow, and they are ornamented with bands and spots arranged in the following manner: a yellow spot on each shoulder, a broad yellow curved band or arch, of which the yellow scutel forms the key-stone, on the base of the wing- covers, behind this a zigzag yellow band forming the letter W, across the middle another yellow band arching back- wards, and on the yellow tip a curved band and a spot of a black color; the legs are yellow; and the under side of the body is reddish yellow, variegated with brown. It is the largest known species of Clytus, being from nine to eleven tenths of an inch in length, and three or four tenths in breadth. It lays its eggs on the trunk of the maple in July and August. The grubs burrow into the bark as soon as they are hatched, and are thus protected during the winter. In the spring they penetrate deeper, and form, in the course of the summer, long and winding galleries in the wood, up and down the trunk. Jn order to check their devastations, they should be sought for in the spring, when they will readily be detected by the sawdust that they cast out of their burrows ; and, by a judicious use of a knife and stiff wire, they may be cut out or destroyed before they have gone deeply into the wood. Many kinds of Clytus frequent flowers, for the sake of the THE PAINTED CLYTUS. 103 pollen, which they devour. During the month of Septem- ber, the painted Clytus, Clytus pictus,* (Plate II. Fig. 10,) is often seen in abundance, feeding by day upon the blossoms of the golden-rod. If the trunks of our common locust-tree, Robinia pseudacacia, are examined at this time, a still greater number of these beetles will be found upon them, and most often paired. The habits of this insect seem to have been known, as long ago as the year 1771, to Dr. John Reinhold Foster, who then described it under the name of Leptura Robinice, the latter being derived from the tree which it inhabits. Drury, however, had previously described and figured it, under the specific name here adopted, which, having the priority, in point of time, over all the others that have been subsequently imposed, must be retained. This Capricorn-beetle has the form of the beautiful maple Clytus. It is velvet-black, and ornamented with transverse yellow bands, of which there are three on the head, four on the thorax, and six on the wing-covers, the tips of which are also edged with yellow. The first and second bands on each wing-cover are nearly straight; the third band forms a V, or, united with the opposite one, a W, as in the speciosus ; the fourth is also angled, and runs upwards on the inner margin of the wing-cover towards the scutel; the fifth is broken or interrupted by a longitudinal elevated line; and the sixth is arched, and consists of three little spots. The antenne are dark brown; and the legs are rust-red. These insects vary from six tenths to three quarters of an inch in length. In the month of September these beetles gather on the locust-trees, where they may be seen glittering in the sun- beams with their gorgeous livery of black velvet and gold, coursing up and down the trunks in pursuit of their mates, or to drive away their rivals, and stopping every now and then to salute those they meet with a rapid bowing of the shoulders, accompanied by a creaking sound, indicative of * Lentura picta, Drury; Clytus flexuosus, Fabricius. 1 preta, , YeUs 9 104 COLEOPTERA. recognition or defiance. Having paired, the female, attend- ed by her partner, creeps over the bark, searching the crevices with her antennz, and dropping therein her snow- white eggs, in clusters of seven or eight together, and at intervals of five or six minutes, till her whole stock is safely stored. The eggs are soon hatched, and the grubs immcdi- ately burrow into the bark, devouring the soft inner sub- stance that suffices for their nourishment till the approach of winter, during which they remain at rest in a torpid state. In the spring they bore through the sap-wood, more or less deeply into the trunk, the general course of their winding and irregular passages being in an upward direction from the place of their entrance. For a time they cast their chips out of their holes as fast as they are made, but after a while the passage becomes clogged and the burrow more or less filled with the coarse and fibrous fragments of wood, to get rid of which the grubs are often obliged to open new holes through the bark. The seat of their operations is known by the oozing of the sap and the dropping of the sawdust from the holes. The bark around the part attacked begins to swell, and in a few years the trunks and limbs will become disfigured and weakened by large porous tumors, caused by the efforts of the trees to repair the injuries they have suffered. According to the observations of General H. A. 8. Dearborn, who has given an excellent account* of this insect, the grubs attain their full size by the 20th of July, soon become pupe, and are changed to beetles and leave the trees carly in September. Thus the existence of this species is limited to one year. Whitewashing, and covering the trunks of the trees with grafting composition, may prevent the female from deposit- ing her eggs upon them ; but this practice cannot be carried to any great extent in plantations or large nurseries of the trees. Perhaps it will be useful to head down young trees to the ground, with the view of destroying the grubs con- * Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal, Vol. VI. p. 272. THE TICKLER. 105 tained in them, as well as to promote a more vigorous growth. Much evil might be prevented by employing chil- dren to collect the beetles while in the act of providing for the continuation of their kind. A common black bottle, con- taining a little water, would be a suitable vessel to receive the beetles as fast as they were gathered, and should be emptied into the fire in order to destroy the insects. The gathering should be begun as soon as the beetles first appear, and should be continued as long as any are found on the trees, and furthermore should be made a general business for several years in succession. I have no doubt, should this be done, that, by devoting one hour every day to this object, we may, in the course of a few years, rid ourselves of this destructive insect. The largest Capricorn-beetle, of the Cerambycian family, found in New England, .is the Lamia (Monohammus titillator) of Fabricius (Fig. 50), or the tickler, so named probably on Fig. 50. account of the habit which it has, in common with most of the Capricorn-beetles, of gently touching now and then the surface on which it walks with the tips of its long anten- nx. Three or four of these beetles may sometimes be seen 14 106 COLEOPTERA. together in June and July, on logs or on the trunks of trees in the woods, the males paying their court to the females, or contending with their rivals, waving their antenne, and showing the eagerness of the contest or pursuit by their rapid creaking sounds. The head of the Lamias is vertical or perpendicular ; the antenne of the males are much longer than the body, and taper to the end; the thorax is cylindrical before and behind, and is armed on the middle of each side with a very large pointed wart or tubercle; the tips of the wing-covers are rounded ; and the fore legs are longer than the rest, with -broad hairy soles in the males. The titillator is of a brownish color, variegated or mottled with spots of gray, and the wing-covers, which are coarsely punctured, have also several small tufted black spots upon them ; the middle legs are armed with a small tooth on the upper edge; the antennze of the male are twice as long as the body, and those of the other sex equal the body in length, which measures from one inch and one eighth to one inch and one quarter. What kind of tree the grub of this insect inhabits is unknown to me. Trees of the poplar tribe, both in Europe and America, are subject to the attacks of certain kinds of borers, differing essentially from all the foregoing when arrived at maturity. They belong to the genus Saperda. In the beetle state the head is vertical, the antennz are about the length of the body in both sexes, the thorax is cylindrical, smooth, and unarmed at the sides, and the fore legs are shorter than the others. Our largest kind is the Saperda calcarata of Say (Plate II. Fig. 21), or the spurred Saperda, so named because the tips of the wing-covers end with a little sharp point or spur. It is covered all over with a short and close nap, which gives it a fine blue-gray color, it is finely punc- tured with brown, there are four ochre-yellow lines on the head, and three on the top of the thorax, the scutel is also ochre-yellow, and there are several irregular lines and spots THE TWO-STRIPED SAPERDA. 107 of the same color on the wing-covers. It is from one inch to an inch and a quarter in length. This beetle closely resembles the European Saperda carcharias, which inhabits the poplar ; and the grubs of our native species, with those of the broad-necked Prionus, have almost entirely destroyed the Lombardy poplar in this vicinity. They live also in ‘the trunks of our American poplars. They are of a yellowish- white color, except the upper part of the first segment, which is dark buff. When fully grown they measure nearly two inches in length. The body is very thick, rather larger before than behind, and consists of twelve segments separated from each other by deep transverse furrows. ‘The first segment is broad, and slopes obliquely downwards to the head ; the second is very narrow ; on the upper and under sides of each of the following segments, from the third to the tenth inclusive, there is a transverse oval space, rendered rough like a rasp by minute projections. These rasps serve instead of legs, which are entirely wanting. The beetles may be found on the trunks and branches of the various kinds of poplars, in August and September ; they fly by night, and sometimes enter the open windows of houses in the evening. The borers of the apple-tree have become notorious, through- out the New England and Middle States, for their extensive ravages. They are the larve of a beetle called Saperda bivittata* by Mr. Say, the two-striped, or the brown and white striped Saperda (Plate II. Fig. 16); the upper side of its body being marked with two longitudinal white stripes between three of a light-brown color, while the face, the an- tenn, the under side of the body, and the legs are white. This beetle varies in length from a little more than one half to three quarters of an inch. It comes forth from the trunks of the trees, in its perfected state, early in June, making its escape in the night, during which time only it uses its ample wings in going from tree to tree in search * Saperda candida? Fabricius. 103 COLEOPTERA. of companions and food. In the daytime it keeps at rest among the leaves of the plants which it devours. The trees and shrubs principally attacked by this borer are the apple-tree, the quince, mountain ash, hawthorn and other thorn bushes, the June-berry or shad-bush, and other kinds of Amelanchier and Aronia. Our native thorns and Aronias are its natural food; for I have discovered the larve in the stems of these shrubs, and have repeatedly found the beetles upon them, eating the leaves, in June and July. It is in these months that the eggs are deposited, being laid upon the bark near the root, during the night. The larve hatched therefrom are fleshy whitish grubs, nearly cylindrical, and tapering a little from the first ring to the end of the body. (Plate II. Fig. 17.) The head is small, horny, and brown ; the first ring is much larger than the others, the next two are very short, and, with the first, are covered with punctures and very minute hairs; the following rings, to the tenth inclusive, are each furnished, on the upper and under side, with two fleshy warts situated close together, and destitute of the little rasp-like teeth, that are usually found on the grubs of the other Capricorn-beetles ; the eleventh and twelfth rings are very short; no appearance of legs can be seen, even with a magnifying glass of high power. The grub, with its strong jaws, cuts a cylindrical passage through the bark, and pushes its castings backwards out of the hole from time to time, while it bores upwards into the wood. The larva state continues two or three years, during which the borer will be found to have penetrated eight or ten inches upwards in the trunk of the tree, its burrow at the end approaching to, and being covered only by, the bark. Here its transformation takes place. The pupa does not differ much fram other pupe of beetles; but it has a trans- verse row of minute prickles on each of the rings of the back, and several at the tip of the abdomen. These prob- ably assist the insect in its movements, when casting off its pupa-skin. The final change occurs about the first of June, THE COATED SAPERDA. 109 soon after which, the beetle gnaws through the bark that covers the end of its burrow, and comes out of its place of confinement in the night. Notwithstanding the pains that have been taken by some persons to destroy and exterminate these pernicious borers, they continue to reappear in our orchards and nurseries every season. The reasons of this are to be found in the habits of the insects, and in individual carelessness. Many orchards suffer deplorably from the want of proper attention; the trees are permitted to remain, year after year, without any pains being taken to destroy the numerous and various insects that infest them; old orchards, especially, are neg- lected, and not only the rugged trunks of the trees, but even a forest of unpruned suckers around them, are left to the undisturbed possession and perpetual inheritance of the Saperda. On the means that have been used to destroy this borer, a few remarks only need to be made; for it is evident that they can be fully successful only when generally adopted. Killing it by a wire thrust into the holes it has made, is one of the oldest, safest, and most successful methods. Cutting out the grub, with a knife or gouge, is the most common practice ; but it is feared that these tools have sometimes been used without sufficient caution. A third method, which has more than once been suggested, consists in plugging the holes with soft wood. If a little camphor be previously inserted, this practice promises to be more effectual; but experiments are wanting to confirm its expediency. The coated Saperda, or Saperda vestita (Plate II. Fig. 19), described by Mr. Say in the Appendix to Keating’s Narrative of Major Long’s Expedition, resembles the foregoing species in form. It measures from six to eight tenths of an inch in length ; it is entirely covered with a close greenish-yellow down or nap, and has two or three small black dots near the middle of each wing-cover. Mr. Say discovered it near the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, and states that it is 110 COLEOPTERA. also sometimes found in Pennsylvania; but he does not appear to have known anything of its history. It is also found in Massachusetts, but has been rarely seen until within a few years. One of my specimens was taken in Milton about twenty years ago, and several others were taken in Cambridge, during the summers of 1843 and 1844, upon the European lindens, from the trunks and branches of which they had just come forth. A knowledge of the habits of this insect might have led to its more frequent discovery. One of the lindens above named was a noble and venerable tree, with a trunk measuring eight feet and five inches in circumference, three feet from the ground. A strip of the bark, two feet wide at the bottom, and extending to the top of the trunk, had been destroyed, and the exposed surface of the wood was pierced and grooved with countless numbers of holes, wherein the borers had been bred, and whence swarms of the beetles must have issued in past times. Some of the large limbs and a portion of the top of the tree had fallen, apparently in consequence of the ravages of these insects; and it is a matter of surprise that this fine linden should have withstood and outlived the attacks of such a host of miners and sappers. The lindens of Philadelphia have suffered much more severely from these borers. Dr. Paul Swift, in a letter written in May, 1844, gave to me the following interesting account of them. ‘ The trees in Washington and Inde- pendence Squares were first observed to have been attacked about seven years ago. Within two years, it has been found necessary to cut down forty-seven European lindens in the former square alone, where there now remain only a few American lindens, and these a good deal eaten.” ‘ Many of the beetles were found upon the small branches and leaves on the 28th day of May, and it is said that they come out as early as the first of the month, and continue to make their way through the bark of the trunk and large branches during the whole of the warm season. They immediately fly THE SAPERDA TRIDENTATA. 111 into the top of the tree, and there feed upon the epidermis of the tender twigs, and the petioles of the leaves, often wholly denuding the latter, and causing the leaves to fall. They deposit their eggs, two or three in a place, upon the trunk and branches, especially about the forks, making slight incis- ions or punctures, for their reception, with their strong jaws. As many as ninety eggs have been taken from a single beetle. The grubs, hatched from these eggs, undermine the bark to the extent of six or eight inches, in sinuous channels, or penetrate the solid wood an equal distance. It is supposed that three years are required to mature the insect. Various expedients have been tried to arrest their course, but without effect. A stream, thrown into the tops of the trees from the hydrant, is often used with good success to dislodge other insects ; but the borer-beetles, when thus disturbed, take wing and hover over the trees till all is quiet, and then alight and go to work again. The trunks and branches of some of the trees have been washed over with various preparations without benefit. Boring the trunk near the ground, and putting in sulphur and other drugs, and plugging, have been tried with as little effect.” This beetle I have taken in Massachusetts only in June, mostly between the Ist and 17th, and none after the 20th day of the month. The grub closely resembles that of the apple-tree borer. Figures of the insect, in all its stages, may be seen in the tenth volume of. Hovey’s Magazine, page 330. ; There is another destructive Saperda, whose history re- mains to be written. It is the Saperda tridentata (Plate I. Fig. 13), so named by Olivier on account of the tridentate or three-toothed red border of its wing-covers. This beetle is of a dark brown color, with a tint of gray, owing to a thin coating of very short down. It is ornamented with a curved line behind the eyes, two stripes on the thorax, and a three-toothed or three-branched stripe on the outer edge of each wing-cover, of a rusty red color. There are also 112 COLEOPTERA. six black dots on the thorax, two above, and two on the sides ; and each of the angles between the branches and the lateral stripes of the wing-covers is marked with a blackish spot. The two hinder branches are oblique, and extend nearly or quite to the suture; the anterior branch is short and hooked. Its average length is about half an inch; but it varies from four to six tenths of an inch. The males are smaller than the females, but have longer antennz. This pretty beetle has been long known to me, but its habits were not ascertained till the year 1847. On the 19th of June, in that year, Theophilus Parsons, Esq. sent me some fragments of bark and insects which were taken by Mr. J. Richardson from the decaying elms on Boston Com- mon; and, among the insects, I recognized a pair of these beetles in a living state. My curiosity was immediately excited to learn something more concerning these beetles and their connection with the trees, but was not satisfied by a partial examination made in the course of the summer. It was not till the following winter, that an opportunity was afforded for a thorough search, with the permission of the Mayor, the Hon. Josiah Quincy, Jun., and with the help of the Superintendent of the Common. The trees were found to have suftered terribly from the ravages of these insects. Several of them had already been cut down, as past recovery; others were in a dying state, and nearly all of them were more or less affected with disease or premature decay. Their bark was perforated, to the height of thirty feet from the ground, with numerous holes, through which insects had escaped; and large pieces had become so loose, by the undermining of the grubs, as to yield to slight efforts, and come off in flakes. The inner bark was filled with the burrows of the grubs, great numbers of which, in “various stages of growth, together with some in the pupa state, were found therein; and even the surface of the wood, in many cases, was furrowed with their irregular tracks. Very rarely did they seem to have penetrated far into the THE SAPERDA TRIDENTATA. 1138 wood itself; but their operations were mostly confined to the inner layers of the bark, which thereby became loosened from the wood beneath. The grubs rarely exceed three quarters of an inch in length. ‘They have no feet, and they resemble the larve of other species of Saperda, except in being rather more flattened. They appear to complete their transforma- tions in the third year of their existence. The beetles probably leave their holes in the bark during the month of June and in the beginning of July; for, in the course of thirty years, I have repeatedly taken them at various dates, from the 5th of June to the 10th of July. It is evident, from the nature and extent of their depreda- tions, that these insects have alarmingly hastened the decay of the elm-trees on Boston Mall and Common, and that they now threaten their entire destruction. Other causes, how- ever, have probably contributed to the same end. It will be remembered that these trees have greatly suffered, in past times, from the ravages of canker-worms. Moreover, the impenetrable state of the surface-soil, the exhausted condition of the subsoil, and the deprivation of all benefit from the decomposition of accumulated leaves, which, in a state of nature, the trees would have enjoyed, but which a regard for neatness has industriously removed, have doubtless had no small influence in diminishing the vigor of the trees, and thus made them fall unresistingly a prey to insect-devourers. The plan of this work precludes a more full consideration of these and other topics connected with the growth and decay of these trees; and I can only add, that it may be prudent to cut down and burn all that are much infested by the borers. The tall blackberry, 2ubus villosus, is sometimes cultivated among us for the sake of its fruit, which richly repays the care thus bestowed upon it. It does not seem to be known that this plant ‘and its near relation, the raspberry, suffer from borers that live in the pith of the stems. These borers differ somewhat from the preceding, being cylindrical in the 15 114 COLEOPTERA. middle, and thickened a little at each end. The head is proportionally larger than in the other borers ; the first three rings of the body are short, the second being the widest, and each of them is provided beneath with a pair of minute sharp-pointed warts or imperfect legs; the remaining rings are smooth, and without tubercles or rasps; the last three are rather thicker than those which immediately precede them, and the twelfth ring is very obtusely rounded at the end. The beetles from these borers are very slender, and of a cylindrical form, and their antennz are of moderate length and do not taper much towards the end. The species which attacks the blackberry appears to be the Saperda ( Oberea) tripunctata of Fabricius (Fig. 51). It is of a deep black color, except the fore part of the breast and the top of the tho- rax, which are rusty yellow, and there are two black elevated dots on the middle of the thorax, and a third dot on the hinder edge close to the scutel ; the wing-covers are coarsely punctured, in rows on the top, and irregularly on the sides and tips, each of which is slightly notched and ends with two little points. The two black dots on the middle of the thorax are sometimes wanting. This beetle varies from three tenths to half an inch in length. It finishes its transformations towards the end of July, and lays its eggs early in August, one by one, on the stems of the blackberry and raspberry, near a leaf or small twig. The grubs burrow directly into the pith, which they consume as they proceed, so that the stem, for the distance of several inches, is completely deprived of its pith, and consequently withers and dies before the end of the summer. In Europe one of these slender Saperdas attacks the hazel-bush, and another the twigs of the pear-tree, in the same way. The Lepturians, or Lepruraps, constitute the third fam- ily of the Capricorn-beetles. In most of them the body is narrowed behind, which is the origin of the name applied Fig. 51. THE LEPTURIANS. 115 to them, signifying really narrow tail. They differ from the other Capricorn-beetles in the form of their eyes, which are not deeply notched, but are either oval or rounded and prom- inent, and the antennz are more distant from them, and are implanted near the middle of the forehead. Moreover, the head is not deeply sunk in the fore part of the thorax, but is connected with it by a narrowed neck. The thorax varies somewhat in shape, but is generally narrowed before and widened behind. The Lepturians are often gayly colored, and fly about by day, visiting flowers for the sake of the pollen and tender leaves, which they eat. Their grubs live in the trunks and stumps of trees, are rather broad and somewhat flattened, and are mostly furnished with six ex- tremely short legs. The largest and finest of these beetles in New England is the Desmocerus palliatus,* (Plate II. Fig. 18,) which appears on the flowers and leaves of the common elder towards the end of June and until the middle of July. It is of a deep violet or Prussian-blue color, sometimes glossed with green, and nearly one half of the fore part of the wing-covers is orange-yellow, suggesting the idea of a short cloak of this color thrown over.the shoulders, which the name palliatus, that is, cloaked, was designed to express. ‘The head is nar- row. The thorax has nearly the form of a cone cut off at the top, being narrow before and wide behind ; it is somewhat uneven, and has a little sharp projecting point on each side of the base. The antennz have the third and the three fol- lowing joints abruptly thickened at the extremity, giving them the knotty appearance indicated by the generical name Desmocerus, which signifies knotty horn. The larve live in the lower part of the stems of the elder, and devour the pith; they have hitherto escaped my researches, but I have found the beetles in the burrows made by them. The bark of the pitch-pine is often extensively loosened by the grubs of Lepturians at work beneath it, in consequence * Cerambyzx palliatus of Forster; Stenocorus cyaneus, Fabricius. 116 COLEOPTERA. of which it falls off in large flakes, and the tree perishes. These grubs live between the bark and the wood, often in great numbers together, and, when they are about to become pup, each one surrounds itself with an oval ring of woody fibres, within which it undergoes its transformations. The beetle is matured before winter, but does not leave the tree until spring. It is the ribbed Rhagium, or Rhagium lineatum,* (Fig. 52,) so named be- cause it has three elevated longitudinal lines or ribs on each wing-cover ; and it measures from four and a half to seven tenths of an inch in length. The head and thorax are gray, striped with black, and thickly punctured; the anten- nz are about as long as the two forenamed parts of the body together ; the thorax is narrow, cylindrical before and behind, and swelled out in the middle by a large pointed wart or tubercle on each side; the wing-covers are wide at the shoulders, gradually taper behind, and are slightly convex above; they are coarsely punctured between the smooth ele- vated lines, and are variegated with reddish ash-color and black, the latter forming two irregular transverse bands ; the under side of the body, and the legs, are variegated with dull red, gray, and black. The gray portions on this beetle are occasioned by very short hairs, forming a close kind of nap, which is easily rubbed off. The Buprestians and the Capricorn-beetles seem evidently allied in their habits, both being borers during the greater part of their lives, and living in the trunks and limbs of trees, to which they are more or less injurious in proportion to their numbers. Some of the beetles in these two groups resemble each other closely in their forms and habits. The resem- blance between the slender cylindrical Saperdas and some of the cylindrical Buprestians belonging to the genus Agrilus, is indeed very remarkable, and cannot fail to strike a common observer. Their larva also are not only very similar in Fig. 52. * Stenocorus lineatus of Olivier. THE LEAF-BEETLES. 117 their forms, but they have the same habits; living in the centre of stems, and devouring the pith. The insects that have passed under considération in the foregoing part of this treatise spend by far the greater por- tion of their lives, namely, that wherein they are larve only, in obscurity, buried in the ground, or concealed within the roots, the’ stems, or the seeds of plants, where they perform their appointed tasks unnoticed and unknown. Thus the work of destruction goes secretly and silently on, till it be comes manifest by its melancholy consequences ; and too late we discover the hidden foes that have disappointed the hopes of the husbandman, and ruined those spontaneous produc- tions of the soil that constitute so important a source of our comfort and prosperity. There still remain several groups of beetles to be described, consisting almost entirely of insects that spend the whole, or | the principal part, of their lives upon the leaves of plants, and which, as they derive their nourishment, both in the larva and adult states, from leaves alone, may be called leaf- beetles, or, as they have recently been named, phyllophagous, that is, leaf-eating insects. When, as in certain seasons, they appear in considerable numbers, they do not a little injury to vegetation, and, being generally exposed to view on the leaves that they devour, they soon attract attention. But the power possessed by most plants of renewing their foli- age, enables them soon to recover from the attacks of these devourers ; and the injury sustained, unless often repeated, is rarely attended by the ruinous consequences that follow the hidden and unsuspected ravages of those insects that sap vegetation in its most vital parts. Moreover, the leaf-eaters are more within our reach, and it is not so difficult to destroy them, and protect plants from their depredations. The leaf- beetles are generally distinguished by the want of a snout, by their short legs and broad cushioned feet, and their antenne of moderate length, often thickened a little towards the end, or not distinctly tapering. Some of them have an oblong 118 COLEOPTERA. body and a narrow or cylindrical thorax, and resemble very much some of the Lepturians, with which Linnzus included them. Others, and indeed the greater number, have the body oval, broad, and often very convex. The oblong leat-beetles, called Criocerians (CRIOCERIDIDE), have some resemblance to the Capricorn-beetles. They are distinguished by the following characters. The eyes are ‘prominent and nearly round; the antenne are of moderate length, composed of short, nearly cylindrical or beaded joints, and are implanted before the eyes; the thorax is narrow and almost cylindrical or square ; the wing-covers, taken together, form an oblong square, rounded behind, and much wider than the thorax; and the thighs of the hind legs are often thickened in the middle. The threc-lined leaf-beetle, Crioceris trilineata of Olivier,® (Fig. 53,) will serve to exemplify the habits of the greater part of the insects of this family. This beetle is about one quarter of an inch long, of a rusty buff or nankin-yellow color, with two black dots on the thorax, and three black stripes on the back, namely, one on the outer side of each wing-cover, and one in the middle on the inner edges of the same; the antenne (except the first joint), the outside of the shins, and the feet are dusky. The thorax is abruptly narrowed or pinched in on the middle of each side. When held between the fingers, these insects make a creak- ing sound like the Capricorn-beetles. They appear early in June on the leaves of the potato-vines, having at that time recently come out of the ground, where they pass the winter in the pupa state. Within a few years, these insects have excited some attention, on account of their prevalence in some parts of the country, and from a mistaken notion that they were the cause of the potato-rot. They eat the leaves Fig 3. fe Py a [18 The genus Crioceris as now restricted contains only species indigenous to the other continent, although one of them, C. asparagi, has been recently introduced from Europe, and is found abundantly near Brooklyn, New York. The species above mentioned belongs to Lema. — Lxc.] THE LEAF-BEETLES. 119 of the potato, gnawing large and irregular holes through them; and, in the course of a few days, begin to lay their oblong oval golden-yellow eggs, which are glued to the leaves, in parcels of six or eight together. The grubs, which are hatched in about a fortnight afterwards, are of a dirty yellowish or ashen-white color, with a darker-colored head, and two dark spots on the top of the first wing. They are rather short, approaching to a cylindrical form, but thickest in the middle, and have six legs, arranged in pairs beneath the first three rings. After making a hearty meal upon the leaves of the potato, they cover themselves with their own filth. The vent is situated on the upper side of the last ring, so that their dung falls upon their backs, and, by motions of the body, is pushed forwards, as fast as it ac- cumulates, towards the head, until the whole of the back is entirely coated with it. This covering shelters their soft and tender bodies from the heat of the sun, and probably serves to secure them from the attacks of their enemies. When it becomes too heavy or too dry, it is thrown off, but re- placed again by a fresh coat in the course of a few hours. In eating, the grubs move backwards, never devouring the portion of the leaf immediately before the head, but that which lies under it. Their numbers are sometimes very great, and the leaves are then covered and nearly consumed by these filthy insects. When about fifteen days old, they throw off their loads, creep down the plant, and bury them- selves in the ground. Here each one forms for itself a little cell of earth, cemented and varnished within by a gummy fluid discharged from its mouth, and when this is done, it changes to a pupa. In about a fortnight more the insect throws off its pupa skin, breaks open its earthen cell, and crawls out of the ground. The beetles come out towards the end of July or early in August, and lay their eggs for a second brood of grubs. The latter come to their growth and go into the ground in the autumn, and remain there in the pupa form during the winter. 120 COLEOPTERA. The only method that occurs to me, by means of which we may get rid of them, when they are so numerous as to be seriously injurious to plants, is to brush them from the leaves into shallow vessels containing a little salt and water or vinegar. _ The habits of the Hispas, little leaf-beetles, forming the family Hispapx, were first made known by me in the year 1835, in the “ Boston Journal of Natural History,” * where a detailed account of them, with descriptions of three native species, and figures of the larvee and pup, may be found. The upper side of the beetles is generally rough, as the generical name implies. The larve burrow under the skin of the leaves of plants, and eat the pulpy substance within, so that the skin, over and under the place of their opera- tions, turns brown and dries, and has somewhat of a blistered ‘appearance, and within these blistered spots the larve or grubs, the pups, or the beetles may often be found. The eggs of these insects are little rough blackish grains, and are glued to the surface of the leaves, sometimes singly, and sometimes in clusters of four or five together. The grubs of our common species are about one fifth of an inch in length, when fully grown. The body is oblong, flattened, rather broader before than behind, soft, and of a whitish color, except the head and the top of the first ring, which are brown, or blackish, and of a horny consistence. It has a pair of legs to each of the first three rings; the other rings are provided with small fleshy warts at the sides, and transverse rows of little rasp-like points above and beneath. The pupa state lasts only about one week, soon after which the beetles come out of their burrows. The leaves of the apple-tree are inhabited by some of these little mining insects, which in the beetle state are probably the Hispa roseat of Weber, or the rosy Hispa (Fig. 54). They are of a deep or tawny reddish-yellow color above, marked with little deep red lines and spots. ‘The head is * Vol I. p. 141. { Hispa quadrata, Fabricius; H. marginata, Say. THE ROSY HISPA. 121 small; the antenne are short, thickened towards the end, and of a black color; the thorax is narrow Fig. 64. before and wide behind, rough above, striped with deep red on each side; the wing-covers taken together form an oblong square ; there are three smooth longitudinal lines or ribs on each of them, spotted with blood-red, and the spaces between these lines are deeply punc- tured in double rows; the under side of the body is black, and the legs are short and reddish. They measure about one fifth of an inch in length. These beetles may be found on the leaves of the apple-tree, and very abundantly on those of the shad-bush CAmelanchier ovalis), and choke-berry (Pyrus arbutifolia), during the latter part of May and the beginning of June. In the middle of June, another kind of Hispa may be found pairing and laying eggs on the leaves of the locust- tree. The grubs appear during the month of July, and are transformed to bectles in August. They measure nearly ‘one quarter of an inch in length, are of a tawny yellow color, with a black longitudinal line on the middle of the back, partly on one and partly on the other wing-cover, the inner edges of which meet together and form what is called the suture; whence this species was named Hispa suturalis by Fabricius ; the head, antennze, body beneath, and legs are black ; and the wing-covers are not so square behind as in the rosy Hispa. The tortoise-beetles, as they are familiarly called from their shape, are leaf-eating insects, belonging to the family Cassipap#. ‘This name, derived from a word signifying a helmet, is applied to them because the fore part of the semicircular thorax generally projects over the head like the front of a helmet. In these beetles the body is broad oval or rounded, flat beneath, and slightly convex above. The antennz are short, slightly thickened at the end, and inserted close together on the crown of the head. The latter is small, 16 122 COLEOPTERA. and concealed under, or deeply sunk into, the thorax. The legs are very short, and hardly seen from above. These insects are often gayly colored or spotted, which increases their resemblance to a tortoise; they creep slowly, and fly by day. Their larve and pupe resemble those of the following species in most respects. Cassida aurichalcea (Plate I. Fig. 5), so named by Fabri- cius on account of the brilliant brassy or golden Justre it assumes, is found during most of the summer months on the leaves of the bitter-sweet (Solanum duleamara), and in great abundance on various kinds of Convolvulus, such as our large-flowered Convolvulus sepium, the morning-glory, and the sweet-potato vine. The leaves of these plants are eaten both by the beetles and their young. The former begin to appear during the months of May and June, having probably survived the winter in some place of shelter and concealment, and their larve in a week or two afterwards. The larvee are broad oval, flattened, dark-colored grubs (Fig. 55), with a kind of fringe, composed of stiff prickles, around the thin edges of the body, and a long forked tail. This fork serves to hold the excrement when voided; and a mass of it half as large as the body of the insect is often thus accumulated. The tail, with the loaded fork, is turned over the back, and thus protects the insect from the sun, and probably also from its enemies. The first broods of larve arrive at their growth and change to pupe early in July, fixing themselves firmly by the hinder part of their bodies to the leaves, when this change is about to take place. The pupa remains fastened to the cast-skin of the larva. It is broad oval, fringed at the sides, and around the fore part of the broad thorax, with large prickles. Soon afterwards the beetles come forth, and lay their eggs for a second brood of grubs, which, in turn, are changed to bectles in the course of the autumn. In June, 1824, the late Mr. John Lowell sent me THE CHRYSOMELIANS. 123 specimens of this little beetle, which he found to be injurious to the sweet-potato vine, by eating large holes through the leaves. This beetle is very broad oval in shape, and about one fifth of an inch in length. When living, it has the power of changing its hues, at one time appearing only of a dull yellow color, and at other times shining with the splendor of polished brass or gold, tinged sometimes also with the variable tints of pearl. The body of the insect is blackish beneath, and the legs are dull yellow. It loses its brilliancy after death. The wing-covers, the parts which ex- hibit the change of color, are lined beneath with an orange- colored paint, which seems to be filled with little vessels ; and these are probably the source of the changeable bril- liancy of the insect. The Chrysomelians (CHRYSOMELAD®) compose an exten- sive tribe of leaf-eating beetles, formerly included in the old genus Chrysomela. The meaning of this word is golden beetle, and many of the insects to which it was applied by Linneeus are of brilliant and metallic colors. They differ, however, so much in their essential characters, their forms, and their habits, that they are now very properly distributed into four separate groups or families. The first of these, called GaLERucADs, or Galerucians, consists mostly of dull- colored beetles; having an oblong oval, slightly convex body ; a short, and rather narrow, and uneven thorax ; slender antenne, more than half the length of the body, and im- planted close together on the forehead ; slender legs, which are nearly equal in size; and claws split at the end. They fly mostly by day, and are by nature either very timid or very cunning, for, when we attempt to take hold of them, they draw up their legs, and fall to the ground. They sometimes do great injury to plants, eating large holes in the leaves, or consuming entirely those that are young and tender. The larve are rather short cylindrical grubs, generally of a black- ish color, and are provided with six legs. They live and feed together in swarms, and sometimes appear in very great 124 COLEOPTERA. numbers on the leaves of plants, committing ravages, at these times, as extensive as those of the most destructive caterpil- lars. ‘This was the case in 1837 at Sevres, in France, and in 1838 and 1839 in Baltimore and its vicinity, where the elm-trees were entirely stripped of their leaves during mid- summer by swarms of the larve of Galeruca Calmariensis ; and, in the latter place, after the trees had begun to revive, and were clothed with fresh leaves, they were again attacked by new broods of these noxious grubs. These insects, which were undoubtedly introduced into America with the Euro- pean elm, are as yet unknown in the New England States. The eggs of the Galerucians are generally laid in little clusters or rows along the veins of the leaves, and those of the elm Galeruca are of a yellow color. The pupa state of some species occurs on the leaves, of others in the ground ; and some of the larve live also in the ground on the roots of plants. One of the most common kinds is the Galeruca vittata,* or striped Galeruca, (Plate II. Fig. 3,) generally known here by the names of striped bug, and cucumber-beetle. This destructive insect is of a light-yellow color above, with a black head, and a broad black stripe on each wing-cover, the inner edge or suture of which is also black, forming a third narrower stripe down the middle of the back; the abdomen, the greater part of the fore legs, and the knees and fect of the other legs, are black. Jt is rather less than one fifth of an inch long. Early in the spring it devours the tender leaves of various plants. I have found it often on those of our Aronias, Ainelanchier botryapium and ovalis, and Pyrus arbutifolia, towards the end of April. It makes its first appearance, on cucumber, squash, and melon vines, about the last of May and first of June, or as soon as the leaves begin to expand; and, as several broods are produced in the course of the summer, it may be found at various times on these plants, till the latter are destroyed by frost. Great * Crioceris vittata of Fabricius. THE CUCUMBER-BEETLE. 125 numbers of these little beetles may be obtained in the autumn from the flowers of squash and pumpkin vines, the pollen and germs of which they are very fond of. They get into the blossoms as soon as the latter are opened, and are often caught there by the twisting and closing of the top of the flower ; and, when they want to make their escape, they are obliged to gnaw a hole through the side of their temporary prison. The females lay their eggs in the ground, and the larve probably feed on the roots of plants, but they have hitherto escaped my researches. Various means have been suggested and tried to prevent the ravages of these striped cucumber-beetles, which have become notorious throughout the country for their attacks upon the leaves of the cucumber and squash. Dr. B. 8S. Barton, of Philadelphia, recommended sprinkling the vines with a mixture of tobacco and red pepper, which he stated to be attended with great benefit. Watering the vines with a solution of one ounce of Glauber’s salts in a quart of water, or with tobacco-water, an infusion of elder, of walnut-leaves, or of hops, has been highly recommended. Mr. Gourgas, of Weston, has found no application so useful as ground plaster of Paris ; and a writer in the “‘ American Farmer ”’ extols the use of charcoal dust. Deane recommended sifting powdered soot upon the plants when they are wet with the morning dew, and others have advised sulphur and Scotch snuff to be applied in the same way. As these insects fly by night, as well as by day, and are attracted by lights, burning splinters of pine knots or of staves of tar-barrels, stuck into the ground during the night, around the plants, have been found useful in destroying these beetles. The most effectual pre- servative, both against these insects and the equally destruc- tive black flea-beetles which infest the vines in the spring, consists in covering the young vines with millinet stretched over small wooden frames. Mr. Levi Bartlett, of Warner, N. H., has described a method for making these frames expeditiously and economically, and his directions may be 126 COLEOPTERA. found in the second volume of the “ New England Farmer,” * and in Fessenden’s ‘* New American Gardener,” ¢ under the article Cucumber. The cucumber flea-beetle above mentioned, a little, black, jumping insect, well known for the injury done by it, in the spring, to young cucumber plants, belongs to another family of the Chrysomelian tribe, called Hatricapa. The following are the chief peculiarities of the beetles of this family. The body is oval and very convex above; the thorax is short, nearly or quite as wide as the wing-covers behind, and nar- rowed before; the head is pretty broad; the antennz are slender, about half the length of the body, and are implanted nearly on the middle of the forehead; the hindmost thighs are very thick, being formed for leaping; hence these insects have been called flea-beetles, and the scientific name Haltica, derived from a word signifying to leap, has been applied to them. The surface of the body is smooth, generally polished, and often prettily or brilliantly colored. The claws are very thick at one end, are deeply notched towards the other, and terminate with a long curved and sharp point, which enables the insect to lay hold firmly upon the leaves of the plants on which they live. These beetles eat the leaves of vegetables, preferrmg especially plants of the cabbage, turnip, mustard, cress, radish, and horse-radish kind, or those which, in botanical language, are called cruciferous plants, to which they are often exceedingly injurious. The turnip-fly, or more properly turnip flea-beetle, is one of these Halticas, which lays waste the turnip-fields in Europe, devouring the seed-leaves of the plants as soon as they appear above the ground, and continuing their ravages upon new crops throughout the summer. Another small flea- beetle is often very injurious to the grape-vines in Europe, and a larger species attacks the same plant in this country. The flea-beetles conceal themselves during the winter, in dry places, under stones, in tufts of withered grass and moss, * Page 305. t Sixth edition, p. 91. THE FLEA-BEETLES. 127 5 and in chinks of walls. They lay their eggs in the spring, upon the leaves of the plants: upon which they feed. The larve, or young, of the smaller kinds burrow into the leaves, and eat the soft pulpy substance under the skin, forming therein little winding passages, in which they finally com- plete their transformations. Hence the plants suffer as much from the depredations of the larvae, as from those of the beetles, a fact that has too often been overlooked. The larve of the larger kinds are said to live exposed upon the surface of the leaves which they devour, till they have come to their growth, and to go into the ground, where they are changed to pups, and soon afterwards to beetles. The mining larve, the only kinds which are known to me from personal examination, are little slender grubs, tapering to- wards each end, and provided with six legs. They arrive at maturity, turn to pup, and then to beetles in a few weeks. Hence there is a constant succession of these in- sects, in their various states, throughout the summer. The history of the greater part of our Halticas or flea-beetles is still unknown ; I shall, therefore, only add, to the foregoing general remarks, descriptions of two or three common spe- cies, and suggest such remedies as seem to be useful in protecting plants from their ravages. The most destructive species in this vicinity is that which attacks the cucumber plant as soon as the latter appears above the ground, eating the seed-leaves, and thereby de- stroying the plant immediately. Supposing this to be an undescribed insect, I formerly named it Haltica Cucumeris, the cucumber flea-beetle (Fig. 56); but Mr. Say subsequently informed me that it was the pubescens of Illiger, so named because it is very slightly pubescent or downy. Count Dejean, who gave to it the specific name of fuscula, considered it as distinct from the pubescens ; and it differs from the descriptions of the latter in the color of its thighs, and in never having the tips and shoulders of the wing-covers yel- Fig. 56. 128 COLEOPTERA. lowish ; so that it may still bear the name given to it in my Catalogue. It is only one sixteenth of an inch long, of a black color, with clay-yellow antenne and legs, except the hindmost thighs, which are brown. The upper side of the body is covered with punctures, which are arranged in rows on the wing-cases; and there is a deep transverse furrow across the hinder part of the thorax. During the summer, these pernicious flea-beetles may be found, not only on cu- cumber-vines, but on various other plants having fleshy and succulent leaves, such as beans, beets, the tomato, and the potato. They injure all these plants, more or less, according to their numbers, by nibbling little holes in the leaves with their teeth; the functions of the leaves being thereby im- paired in proportion to the extent of surface and amount of substance destroyed. The edges of the bitten parts become brown and dry by exposure to the air, and assume a rusty appearance. Since the prevalence of the disease commonly called the potato-rot, attention has been particularly directed to various insects that live upon the potato-plant; and, as these flea-beetles have been found upon it in great numbers, in some parts of the country, they have been charged with being the cause of the disease. The same charge has also been made against several other kinds of insects, some of which will be described in the course of this work. In my own opinion, the origin, extension, and continued reappear- ance of this wide-spread pestilence are not due to the depre- dations of insects of any kind. Mr. Phanuel Flanders, of Lowell, where the flea-beetles have appeared in unusual numbers, showed to me, in August, 1851, some potato-leaves that were completely riddled’ with holes by them, so that but little more than the ribs and veins remained un- touched. He thinks that their ravages may be prevented by watering the leaves with a solution of lime, a remedy long ago employed in England, with signal benefit, in pre- serving the turnip crop from the attacks of the turnip flea- beetle. THE GRAPE-VINE FLEA-BEETLE. 129 The wavy-striped flea-beetle, Haltica striolata* (Fig. 57), may be seen in great abundance on the horse-rad- gig. 57. ish, various kinds of cresses, and on the mustard and turnip, early in May, and indeed at other times throughout the summer. It is very injurious to young plants, destroying their seed-leaves as soon as the latter expand. Should it multiply to any extent, it may in time become as great a pest as tho European turnip flea-beetle, which it closely resembles in its appearance, and in all its habits. Though rather larger than the cucumber flea-beetle, and of a longer oval shape, it is considerably less than one tenth of an inch in length. It is of a polished black color, with a broad wavy buff-colored stripe on each wing-cover, and the knees and feet are reddish yellow. Specimens are sometimes found having two buff- yellow spots on each wing-cover instead of the wavy stripe. These were not known by Fabricius to be merely varieties of the strtolata, and accordingly he described them as distinct, under the name of bipustulata,t the two-spotted. - The steel-blue flea-beetle, Haltica chalybea of Illiger, (Fig. 58, and Plate II. Fig. 5,) or the grape-vine flea-beetle, as it might be called on account of its habits, is found in almost all parts of the United States, on wild and cultivated grape- vines, the buds and leaves of which it destroys. Though it has received the specific name of chalybea, meaning steel-blue, it is exceedingly variable in its color, specimens being often seen on the same vine of a dark purple, violet, Prussian blue, greenish blue, and deep green color. The most common tint of the upper side is a glossy, deep, greenish blue; the under side is dark green; and the antenne and feet are dull black. The body is oblong-oval, and the hinder part of the thorax is marked with a transverse furrow. It measures rather more than three twentieths of an inch in length. In this part of the tH * Crioceris strioluta, Fabricius. t Crioceris bipustulata, Fabricius. 17 130 COLEOPTERA. country these beetles begin tc come out of their winter quarters towards the end of April, and continue to appear till the latter part of May. Soon after their first appearance they pair, and probably lay their eggs on the leaves of the vine, and perhaps on other plants also. A second brood of the beetles is found on the grape-vines towards the end of July. I have not had an opportunity to trace the history of these insects any further, and consequently their larve are unknown tome. Mr. David Thomas has given an interest- ing account of their habits and ravages in the twenty-sixth volume of Silliman’s “ American Journal of Science and Arts.” These brilliant insects were observed ‘by him, in the spring of 1831, in Cayuga County, N. Y., creeping on the vines, and destroying the buds, by eating out the central succulent parts. Some had burrowed even half their length into the buds. When disturbed, they jump rather than fly, and remain where they fall for a time without motion. During the same season these beetles appeared in unusu- ally great numbers in New Haven, Conn., and its vicinity, and the injury done by them was ‘wholly unexampled.” “Some vines were entirely despoiled of their fruit buds, so as to be rendered, for that season, barren.” Mr. Thomas found the vine-leaves were infested, in the years 1830 and 1831, by “small chestnut-colored smooth worms,” and sus- pecting these to be the larve of the beetle (which he called Chrysomela vitivora), he fed them in a tumbler, containing some moist earth, until they were fully grown, when they buried themselves in the earth. ‘ After a fortnight or so,” some of the beetles were found in the tumbler. Hence there is no doubt that the former were the larve of the beetles, and that they undergo their transformations in the ground. A good description of the larve, and a more full account of their habits, seasons, and changes, are still wanted. In England, where the ravages of the turnip flea-beetle have attracted great attention, and have caused many and various experiments to be tried with a view of checking THE CHRYSOMELIANS. 131 them, it is thought that “the careful and systematic use of lime will obviate, in a great degree, the danger which has been experienced” from this insect. From this and other statements in favor of the use of lime, there is good reason to hope that it will effectually protect plants from the various kinds of flea-beetles, if dusted over them, when wet with dew, in proper season. Watering plants with alka- line solutions, it is said, will kill the insects without injurmg the plants. The solution may be made by dissolving one pound of hard soap in twelve gallons of the soap-suds left after washing. This mixture should be applied twice a day with a water-pot. Kdllar very highly recommends watering or wetting the leaves of plants with an infusion or tea of wormwood, which prevents the flea-beetles from touching them. Perhaps a decoction of walnut-leaves might be equal- ly serviceable. Great numbers of the beetles may be caught by the skilful use of a deep bag-net of muslin, which should be swept over the plants infested by the beetles, after which the latter may be easily destroyed. This net cannot be used with safety to catch the insects on very young plants, on account of the risk of bruising or breaking their tender leaves. The Chrysomelians, CurysoMELaDs, properly so called, form the third family of the tribe to which I have given the same name, because these insects hold the chief place in it, in respect to size, beauty, variety, and numbers. These leat- beetles are mostly broad oval, sometimes nearly hemispherical, in their form, or very convex above and flat beneath. The head is rather wide, and not concealed under the thorax. The latter is short, and broad behind. The antenne are about half the length of the body, and slightly thickened towards the end, and arise from the sides of the head, be- tween the eyes and the corners of the mouth; being much further apart than those of the Galerucians and flea-beetles. _ The legs are rather short, nearly equal in length, and the hindmost thighs are not thicker than the others, and are not 132 COLEOPTERA. fitted for leaping. The colors of these beetles are often rich and brilliant, among which blue and green, highly polished, and with a golden or metallic lustre, are the most common tints. The larve are soft-bodied, short, thick, and slug- shaped grubs, with six legs before, and a prop-leg behind. They live exposed on the leaves of plants, which they eat, and to which most of them fasten themselves by the tail, when about to be transformed. Some, however, go into the ground when about to change to pupe. Many of these insects, both in the larva and beetle state, have been found to be very injurious to vegetation in other countries; but I am not aware that any of them have proved seriously injuri- ous to cultivated or other valuable plants in this country. There are some, it is true, which may hereafter increase so as to give us much trouble, unless effectual means are taken to protect and cherish their natural enemies, the birds. The largest species in New England inhabits the common milk-weed, or silk-weed (Aselepias Syriaca), upon which it may be found, in some or all of its states, from the middle of June till September. Its head, thorax, body beneath, an- tenn, and legs are deep blue, and its wing-covers orange, with three large black spots upon them, namely, one on the shoulder, and another on the tip of each, and the third across the base of both wing-covers. Hence it was named Chry- somela trimaculata by Fabricius, or the three-spotted Chry- somela (Plate I. Fig. 9). It is nearly three eighths of an inch long, and almost hemispherical. Its larvee and pupe are orange-colored, spotted with black, and pass through their transformations on the leaves of the Asclepias. The most elegant of our Chrysomelians is the Chrysomela Fig.59. scalaris of Leconte, literally the ladder Chryso- mela (Fig. 59). It is about three tenths of an inch long, and of a narrower and more regularly oval shape than the preceding. The head, tho- rax, and under side of its body are dark green, the wing-covers silvery white, ornamented with small green THE BLUE-WINGED CHRYSOMELA. 133 spots on the sides, and a broad jagged stripe along the suture or inner edges ; the antennz and legs are rust-red, and the wings are rose-colored. It is a most beautiful object when flying, with its silvery wing-covers, embossed with green, raised up, and its rose-red wings spread out beneath them. These beetles inhabit the lime or linden ( Tilia Americana), and the elm, upon which they may be found in April, May, and June, and a second brood of them in September and October. They pass the winter in holes, and under leaves and moss. The trees on which they live are sometimes a good deal injured by them and by their larve (Fig. 60). The latter are hatched from eggs laid by the beetles on the leaves in the spring, and come to @ Fig. 60. their growth towards the end of June. They are then about six tenths of an inch long, of a white color, with a black line along the top of the back, and a row of small square black spots on each side of the body; the head is horny and of an ochre-yellow color. Like the grubs of the preceding species, these are short, and very thick, the back arching upwards very much in the middle. I believe that they go into the ground to turn to pupe. Should they become so numerous as seriously to injure the lime and elm trees, it may be found useful to throw decoctions of tobacco or of walnut-leaves on the trees by means of a garden or fire engine, a method which has been employed with good effect for the destruction of the larve of Galeruca Cal- mariensis. The most common leaf-beetle of the family under consid- eration is the blue-winged Chrysomela, or Wig. 61. Chrysomela ceruleipennis of Say (Fig. 61), an insect hardly distinct from the European Chrysomela Polygoni, and like the latter it lives in great numbers on the common knot- grass (Polygonum aviculare), which it com- pletely strips of its leaves two or three times in the course of the summer. This little 134 COLEOPTERA. beetle is about three twentieths of an inch long. Its head, wing-covers, and body beneath are dark blue ; its thorax and legs are dull orange-red ; the upper side of its abdomen is also orange-colored ; and the antenna and feet are blackish. The females have a very odd appearance before they have laid their eggs, their abdomen being enormously swelled out like a large orange-colored ball, which makes it very difficult for them to move about. I have found these insects on the knot-grass in every month from April to September inclusive. The larve eat the leaves of the same plant. Having described the largest, the most elegant, and the most common of our Chrysomelians, I must omit all the rest, except the most splendid, which was called Humolpus auratus by Fabricius, that is, the gilded Eumolpus (Plate II. Fig. 1). It is of a brilliant golden green color above, and of a deep purplish green below; the legs are also purple-green ; but the feet and the antenne are blackish. The thorax is narrower behind than the wing-covers, and the rest of the body is more oblong oval than in the foregoing Chrysome- lians. It is about three eighths of an inch long. This splen- did beetle may be found in considerable numbers on the leaves of the dog’s-bane (Apocynum Androsemifolium), which it devours, during the months of July and August. The larvee are unknown to me. The fourth family of the leaf-eating Chrysomelians consists of the Cryptocephalians (CRYPTOCEPHALID£), so named from the principal genus Cryptocephalus, a word signifying con- cealed head. These insects somewhat resemble the beetles of the preceding family ; but they are of a more cylindrical form, and the head is bent down, and nearly concealed in the fore part of the thorax. Their larve are short, cylindrical, whit- ish grubs, which eat the leaves of plants. Each one makes for itself a little cylindrical or egg-shaped case, of a substance sometimes resembling clay, and sometimes like horn, with an opening at one end, within which the grub lives, putting out its head and fore legs when it wishes to eat or to move. THE CANTHARIDES. 135 When it is fully grown, it stops up the open end of its case, and changes to a pupa, and afterwards to a beetle within it, and then gnaws a hole through the case, in order to escape. As none of these insects have been observed to do much injury to plants in this country, I shall state nothing more respecting them, than that Clythra dominicana inhabits the sumach, C. quadriguttata® oak-trees, Chlamys gibbosa low whortleberry bushes, Cryptocephalus luridus the wild indigo- bush, and most of the other species may be found on different kinds of oaks. Although the blistering beetles, or Cantharides (CaNTHA- RIDIDZ), have been enumerated among the insects directly beneficial to man, on account of the important use made of them in medical practice, yet it must be admitted that they are often very injurious to vegetation. The green Canthar- ides, or Spanish flies, as they are commonly called, are found in the South of Europe, and particularly in Spain and Italy, where they are collected in great quantities for exportation. In these countries they sometimes appear in immense swarms, on the privet, lilac, and ash; so that the limbs of these plants bend under their weight, and are entirely stripped of their foliage by these leaf-eating beetles. In like manner our native Cantharides devour the leaves of plants, and some- times prove very destructive to them. The Cantharides are distinguished from all the preceding insects by their feet, the hindmost pair of which have only four joints, while the first and middle pairs are five-jointed. In this respect they agree with many other beetles, such as clocks or darkling beetles, meal-beetles, some of the mush- room-beetles, flat bark-beetles, and the like, with which they form a large and distinct section of Coleopterous insects. [14 Clythra ( Coscinoptera) domini: —Lec.] [15 Clythra (Babia) quadriguttata. — Lec.] 136 COLEOPTERA. The following are the most striking peculiarities of the fam- ily to which the blistering beetles belong. ‘The head is broad and nearly heart-shaped, and it is joined to the thorax by a narrow neck. The antenne are rather long and tapering, sometimes knotted in the middle, particularly in the males. The thorax varies in form, but is generally much narrower than the wing-covers. The latter are soft and flexible, more or less bent down at the sides of the body, usually long and narrow, sometimes short and overlapping on their inner edges. The legs are long and slender ; the soles of the feet are not broad, and are not cushioned beneath ; and the claws are split to the bottom, or double, so that there appear to be four claws to each foot. The body is quite soft, and when handled, a yellowish fluid, of a disagreeable smell, comes out of the joints. These beetles are timid insects, and when alarmed they draw up their legs and feign themselves dead. Nearly all of them have the power of raising blisters when applied to the skin, and they retain it even when dead and perfectly dry. It is chiefly this property that renders them valuable to physicians. Four of our native Cantharides have been thus successfully employed, and are found to be as pow- erful in their effects as the imported species. For further particulars relative to their use, the reader is referred to my account of them published in 1824, in the first volume of “The Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts,” and in the thirteenth volume of “The New England Medical and Surgical Journal.” , Occasionally potato-vines are very much infested by two or three kinds of Cantharides, swarms of which attack and destroy the leaves during midsummer. One of these kinds has thereby obtained the name of the potato-fly. It is the Cantharis vittata,* or striped Cantharis. It is of a dull tawny yellow or light yellowish-red color above, with two * Lytta vittata, Fabricius.16 - [16 The name Lyta is now adopted by most entomologists in preference to that of Cantharis for these insects. — LEc.] THE MARGINED CANTHARIS. 137 black spots on the head, and two black stripes on the thorax and on each of the wing-covers. The under side of the body, the legs, and the antennz are black, and covered with a grayish down. Its length is from five to six tenths of an. inch. In this and the three following species the thorax is very much narrowed before, and the wing-covers are long and narrow, and cover the whole of the back. The striped Cantharis is comparatively rare in New England; but in the Middle and Western States it often appears in great numbers, and does much mischief in potato-fields and gardens, eating up, not only the leaves of the potato, but those of many other vegetables. It is one of the insects to which the production of the potato-rot has been ascribed. The habits of this kind of Cantharis are similar to those of the following species. There is a large blistering beetle which is very common on the virgin’s bower (Clematis Virginiana), a trailing plant, which grows wild in the fields, and is cultivated for covering arbors. I have sometimes seen this plant completely stripped of its leaves by these insects, during the month of August. They are very shy, and when disturbed fall immediately from the leaves, and attempt to conceal themselves among the grass. They most commonly resort to the low branches of the Clematis, or those that trail upon the ground, and more rarely attack the upper parts of the vine. They also eat the leaves of various kinds of Ranunculus or buttercups, and, in the Middle and Southern States, those of Clematis viorna and erispa. ‘This beetle is the Cantharis marginata of Olivier, or margined Cantharis (Fig. 62). It measures six or seven tenths of an inch in length. Its head and thorax are thickly covered with short gray down, and have a black spot on the upper side of each; the wing-covers are black, with a very narrow gray edging ; and the under side of the body and the legs are also gray. The most destructive kind of Cantharis found in Massa- 18 138 COLEOPTERA. chusetts is of a more slender form than the preccding, and measures only from five and a half to six tenths of an inch in length. Its antenne and feet are black, and all the rest of its body is ashen gray, being thickly covered with a very short down of that color. Hence it is called Cantharis cine- rea,*7 or the ash-colored Cantharis (Fig. 63). When the insect is rubbed, the ash-colored substance comes off, leaving the surface black. It begins to appear in gardens about the 20th of June, and is very fond of the leaves of the English bean, which it sometimes entirely destroys. It is also occasionally found in considerable numbers on potato-vines ; and in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it has repeatedly appeared in great profusion upon hedges of the honey-locust, which have been entirely stripped of foliage by these voracious insects. They are also found on the wild indigo-weed. In the night, and in rainy weather, they descend from the plants, and burrow in the ground, or under leaves and tufts of grass. Thither also they retire for shelter during the heat of the day, being most actively engaged in eating in the morning and evening. About the Ist of August they go into the ground and lay their eggs, and these are hatched in the course of one month. The larve are slender, somewhat flattened grubs, of. a yel- lowish color, banded with black, with a small reddish head, and six legs. These grubs are very active in their motions, and appear to live upon fine roots in the ground ; but I have not been able to keep them till they arrived at maturity, and therefore know nothing further of their history. About the middle of August, and during the rest of this and the following month, a jet-black Cantharis may be seen on potato-vines, and also on the blossoms and leaves of vari- Fig. (3. * Lytta cinerea, Fabricius. {17 As this specific name was previously applied by Forster to the species men- tioned on the previous page as Cuntharis or Lytta marginata, and has priority over that name, I have changed the name of the present species to Lytta Fabricii. — LeEc.] THE BLACK CANTHARIS. 139 ous kinds of golden-rod, particularly the tall golden-rod (Solidago altissima), which seems to be its favorite food. In some places it is as plentiful in potato-fields as the striped and the margined Cantharis, and by its serious ravages has often excited attention. These three kinds, in fact, are often confounded under the common name of potato-flies; and it is still more remarkable, that they are collected for medical use, and are sold in our shops by the name of Cantharis vittata, without a suspicion of their being distinct from each other. The black Cantharis, or Cantharis atra- ta* (Fig. 64), is totally black, without bands or spots, and measures from four tenths to half of an inch in length. I have repeatedly taken these insects, in considerable quantities, by brushing or shaking them from the potato-vines into a broad tin pan, from which they were emptied into a covered pail containing a little water, which, by wetting their wings, prevented their flying out when the pail was uncovered. The same method may be employed for taking the other kinds of Cantharides, when they become troublesome and destructive from their numbers; or they may be caught by gently sweeping the plants they frequent with a deep muslin bag-net. They should be killed by throwing them into scalding water, for one or two minutes, after which they may be spread out on sheets of paper to dry, and may be made profitable by selling them to the apothecaries for medical use. There are some blistering beetles, belonging to another genus, which seem deserving of a passing notice, not on account of any great injury committed by them, but be- cause they can be used in medicine like the foregoing, and are considered by some naturalists as forming one of the links connecting the orders Coleoptera and Orthoptera. These insects belong to the genus Meloe, so named, it is supposed, because they are of a black, or deep blue-black Fig. 64. * Lytta atrata, Fabricius. 140 COLEOPTERA. color. They are called oil-beetles in England, on account of the yellowish liquid which oozes from their joints in large drops when they are handled. Their head is large, heart- shaped, and bent down, as in the other blistering beetles. Their thorax is narrowed behind, and very small in pro- portion to the rest of the body. The latter is egg-shaped, pointed behind, and so enormously large that it drags on the ground when the beetle attempts to walk. The wings are wanting, and of course these insects are unable to fly, although they have a pair of very short oval wing-covers, which overlap on their inner edges, and do not cover more than one third of the abdomen. These beetles eat the leaves of various kinds of buttercups. Our common species is the Meloe angusticollis of Say, or narrow-necked oil-beetle. (Fig. 65 repre- sents the female, and the antenna of the male at her left.) It is of a dark indigo- blue color; the thorax is very narrow, and the antenne of the male are curiously twisted and knotted in the middle. It measures from eight tenths of an inch to one inch in length. It is very common on buttercups in the autumn, and I have also found it eating the leaves of potato- vines. The foregoing insects are but a small number of those, belonging to the order Coleoptera, which are injurious to vegetation. ‘Those only have been selected that are the most remarkable for their ravages, or would best serve to illustrate the families and genera to which they belong. The orders Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera remain to be treated in the same way, in carrying out the plan upon which this treatise has been begun, and to which it is limited. CHAPTER III. ORTHOPTERA. EarRwics. — CoCKROACHES. — MANTEsS, OR SOOTHSAYERS. — WALKING-LEAVES. — Watkinc-Sticks, or Srecrres.— Mo.e-Cricker.—FieLtp Crickets. — CLIMBING CRICKET. — WINGLESS (Oricker. — GrassuorrEns. — Kary-pip. — Locusts. ‘ HE destructive insects popularly known in this country by the name of grasshoppers, but which in our version of the Bible, and in other works in the English language, are called locusts, have, from a period of very high antiquity, attracted the attention of mankind by their extensive and lamentable ravages. It should here be remarked,..that in America the name of locust is very improperly given to the ‘Cicada of the ancients, or the harvest-fly of English writers, some kinds of which will be the subject of future remark in this treatise. The name of locust will here be restricted to certain kinds of grasshoppers; while the popularly named locust, which, according to common belief, appears only once in seventeen years, must drop this name, and take the more correct one of Cicada or harvest-fly. The very frequent misapplication of names, by persons unacquainted with nat- ural history, is one of the greatest obstacles to the progress of science, and shows how necessary it is that things should be called by their right names, if the observations communicated respecting them are to be of any service. Every intelligent farmer is capable of becoming a good obsérver, and of making valuable discoveries in natural history ; 3. but if he be ignorant of the proper names of the objects examined, or if he give to them -names which previously have been applied by other persons to entirely different objects, He will fail to make the 142 ORTHOPTERA. result of his observations intelligible and useful to the com- munity. The insects which I here call locusts, together with other grasshoppers, earwigs, crickets, spectres or walking-sticks, and walking-leaves, soothsayers, cockroaches, &c., belong to an order called OrrHorTera, literally straight wings ; for their wings, when not in use, are folded lengthwise in narrow plaits like a fan, and are laid straight along the top or sides of the back. They are also covered by a pair of thicker wing-like members, which, in the locusts and grasshoppers, are long and narrow, and lie lengthwise on the sides of the body, sloping outwards on each side like the roof of a house; in the cockroaches, these upper wings or wing-covers are broader, almost oval, and lie horizontally on the top of the back, overlapping on their inner edges; and in the crickets, the wing-covers, when closed, are placed like those of cock- roaches, but have a narrow outer border, which is folded perpendicularly downwards so as to cover the sides of the body also. All the Orthopterous insects are provided with transverse- ly movable jaws, more or less like those of beetles, but they do not undergo a complete transformation in coming to ma- turity. The young, in fact, often present a close resemblance to the adult insects in form, and differ from them chiefly in wanting wings. They move about and feed precisely like their parents, but change their skins repeatedly before they come to their full size. The second stage in the progress of the Orthopterous insects to maturity is not, like that of beetles, a state of inactivity and rest,-in which the insect loses the grub-like or larva form which it had when hatched from the egg, and becomes a pupa or chrysalis, more nearly resem- bling the form of a beetle, but soft, whitish, and with its un- developed wings and limbs incased in a thin transparent skin which impedes all motion. On the contrary, the Orthoptera in the pupa state do not differ from the young and from the old insects, except in having the rudiments of wings and DIVISIONS. 143 wing-covers projecting, like little scales, from the back near the thorax. These pupe are active and voracious, and in- crease greatly in size, which is not the case with the insects that are subject to a complete transformation, for such never eat or grow in the pupa state. When fully grown, they cast off their skins for the sixth or last time, and then appear in the adult or perfect state, fully provided with all their mem- bers, with the exception of a few kinds which remain wingless throughout their whole lives. The slight changes to which the Orthoptera are subject consist of nothing more than a successive series of moultings, during which their wings are gradually developed. These changes may receive the name of imperfect or incomplete transformation, in contradistinc- tion to the far greater changes exhibited by those insects which pass through a complete transformation in their pro- gress to maturity. Cockroaches are general feeders, and nothing comes amiss to them, whether of vegetable or animal nature; the Mantes or soothsayers are predaceous and carnivorous, devouring weaker insects, and even those of their own kind occasion- ally; but by far the greater part of the Orthopterous insects subsist on vegetable food, grass, flowers, fruits, the leaves, and even the bark of trees; whence it follows, in connection with their considerable size, their great voracity, and the immense troops or swarms in which they too often appear, that they are capable of doing great injury to vegetation. The Orthoptera may be divided into four large groups : — 1. Runners ( Orthoptera cursoria*), including earwigs and cockroaches, with all the legs fitted for rapid motion ; 2. GRASPERS ( Orthoptera raptoria), such as the Mantes, or soothsayers, with the shanks of the fore legs capable of being doubled upon the under side of the thigh, which, moreover, is armed with teeth, and thus forms an instrument for seizing and holding their prey ; * These are the four divisions proposed by Mr. Westwood in his “ Introduc- tion,’ who, however, applies to them their Latin names only. 144 ORTHOPTERA. 3. WaLKERS (Orthoptera ambulatoria), like the spectres or walking-sticks, having weak and slender legs, which do not admit of rapid motion ; and 4, Jumpers ( Orthoptera saltatoria), such as crickets, grass- hoppers, and locusts, in which the thighs of the hind legs are much larger than the others, and are filled and moved with powerful muscles, which enable these insects to leap with facility. I. RUNNERS. (Orthoptera Cursoria.) In English works on gardening, earwigs are reckoned among obnoxious insects, various remedies are suggested to banish them from the garden, and even traps and other devices are described for capturing and destroying them. They have a rather long and somewhat flattened body, which is armed at the hinder end with a pair of slender sharp-pointed blades, opening and shutting horizontally like scissors, or like a pair of nippers, which suggested the name of Forficula, literally little nippers, applied to them by scien- tific writers. Although no well authenticated instances are on record of their entering the human ear, yet, during the daytime, they creep into all kinds of crevices for the sake of concealment, and come out to feed chiefly by night. It is common with English gardeners to hang up, among the flowers and fruit-trees subject to their attacks, pieces of hol- low reeds, lobster claws, and the like, which offer enticing places of retreat for these insects on the approach of daylight, and by means thereof great numbers of them are obtained in the morning. The little creeping animal, with numerous legs, commonly but erroneously called earwig in America, is not an insect; but of the true earwig we have several species, though they are by no means common, and certainly never appear in such numbers as to prove seriously injurious to vegetation. Nevertheless, it seemed well to give to this kind of insect a passing notice in its proper place among the Orthoptera, were it only for its notoriety in other countries. COCKROACHES. 145 Of cockroaches (Blatta) we have also several kinds; those which are indigenous I believe are found exclusively in woods, under stones and leaves, while the others, and particu- larly the Oriental cockroach (Blatta ori- entalis), (Fig. 65,) which is supposed to have originated in Asia, whence it has spread to Europe, and thence to Amer- ica, and has multiplied and become estab- lished in most of our maritime commercial towns, are domestic species, and are found in houses, under kitchen hearths, about ovens, and in dark and warm closets, whence they issue at night, and prowl about in search of food. But, as these disgusting and ill-smelling insects con- fine themselves to our dwellings, and do not visit our gar- dens and fields, they will require no further remarks than the mention of a method which has sometimes been found useful in destroying them. Mix together a table-spoonftl of red-lead and of Indian meal with molasses enough to make a thick batter, and place the mixture at night on a plate or piece of board in the closets or on the hearths frequented by the cockroaches. They will eat it and be- come poisoned thereby. The dose is to be repeated for several nights in succession. Dr. F. H. Horner* recom- mends the following preparation to destroy cockroaches. Mix one teaspoonful of powdered arsenic with a table- spoonful of mashed potato, and crumble one third of it, every night, at bedtime, about the kitchen hearth, or where the insects will find and devour it. As both of these prep- arations are very poisonous, great care should be taken in the use of them, and of any portions that may be left by the insects. Fig. 66. * Downing’s Horticulturist, Vol. II. p. 343 (Jan. 1848). 19 146 ORTHOPTERA. II. GRASPERS. (Orthoptera raptoria.) These, which consist of the Mantes, called praying mantes and soothsayers, from their singular attitudes and motions, and camel-crickets, from the great length of the neck, are chiefly tropical insects, though some of them are occasionally found in this country. Moreover, they are exclusively pre- daceous insects, seizing, with their singular fore legs, cater- pillars, and other weaker insects, which they devour. They are, therefore, to be enumerated among the insects that are beneficial to mankind, by keeping in check those that subsist on vegetable food. III. WALKERS. (Orthoptera ambulatoria.) To this division belong various insects, mostly found in warm climates, and displaying the most extraordinary forms. Some of them are furnished with wings, which, by their shape, and the branching veins with which they are covered, exactly represent leaves, either green, or dry and withered ; such are the walking-leaves, as they are called (Phyllium pulchrifolium, siccifolium, &e.). Others are wingless, of a long and cylindrical shape, resembling a stick with the bark on it, while the slender legs, standing out on each side, give to these insects almost precisely the appearance of a little branching twig, whence is derived the name of walking-sticks, generally applied to them. The South American Bacteria arumatia, rubispinosa, and phyllina, and two species of Dia- pheromera?1 described and figured in Say’s ‘“ American Entomology,” under the names of Spectrum femoratum (Fig. 67, male) and divittatum, are of the latter description. These insects are very sluggish and inactive, are found among trees [1 Two species of Phasma are noticed. The first is Bacunculus femoratus, Say, which has also received the name of Bacunculus Sayi, Burm., and under which name it is best known to European authors. The latter was long ago figured by Stoll, in his great work upon the Orthoptera, and his name preoccupied that of Say and should be retained for it; it is Amisomorpha Buprestoides. The former has been found in most of the States east of the Mississippi, while the latter is peculiar to Florida and some of the Southern States. — UHLER ] THE WALKING-STICK. 147 and bushes, on which they often remain motionless for a long time, or walk slowly over the leaves and young shoots, which Fig. 67. are their appropriate food. The American species are not so numerous, and have not proved so injurious as particu- larly to attract attention. i143 ORTHOPTERA. IV. JUMPERS. (Orthoptera saltatoria.) These are by far the most abundant and prolific, and the most destructive of the Orthopterous insects. They were all included by Linnzus in his great genus Gryllus, in separate divisions, however, three of which correspond to the families Achetadee,* Grylliade,t and Locustiade,t in my “ Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts,” and may retain the synony- mous English names of Crickets, Grasshoppers, and Locusts. These three families may thus be distinguished from each other. 1. Crickets (AcuETAD#®) ; with the wing-covers horizon- tal, and furnished with a narrow, deflexed outer border ; antennz long and tapering; feet three-jointed (except Cican- thus, which has four joints to the hind feet) ; two tapering, downy bristles at the end of the body, between which, in most of the females, there is a long spear-pointed piercer. 2. Grasshoppers (GRYLLIDA) ; with the wing-covers slop- ing downwards at the sides of the body, or roofed, and not bordered ; antennz long and tapering ; feet with four joints ; end of the body, in the females, with a projecting sword or sabre-shaped piercer. 3. Locusts (Locustap#) ; with the wing-covers roofed, and not bordered ; antennz rather short, and in general not tapering at the end; feet with only three joints ; female with- out a projecting piercer. 1. Crickets. (Achetade.) There may sometimes be seen in moist and soft ground, particularly around ponds, little ridges or hills of loose fresh earth, smaller than those which are formed by moles. They cover little burrows, that usually terminate beneath a stone or clod of turf. These burrows are made and inhabited by mole-crickets, which are among the most extraordinary of the cricket kind. The common mole-cricket of this country * Gryllus Acheta, Linneus. t Gryllus Tettigonia, L. t Gryllus Locusta, L. THE COMMON MOLE-CRICKET. 149 (Fig. 68) is, when fully grown, about one inch and a quarter in length, of a light bay or fawn color, and covered with a very short and vel- vet-like down. The wing-covers are not half the length of the abdomen, and the wings are also short, their tips, when folded, extending only about one eiglith of an inch beyond the wing-covers. The fore legs are admirably adapted for digging, being very short, broad, and strong; and the shanks, which are excessively broad, flat, and three-sided, have the lower side divided by deep notches into four finger-like projections, that ‘give to this part very much the appearance and the power of the hand of a mole. From this similarity in structure, and from its burrowing habits, this insect receives its scientific name of Gryllotalpa, derived from Gryllus, the ancient name of the cricket, and Tulpa, a mole; and our common species has the additional name of brevipennis,* or short-winged, to distinguish it from the European species, which has much longer wings. Mole- crickets avoid the light of*day, and are active chiefly during the night. They live on the tender roots of plants, and in Europe, where they infest moist gardens and meadows, they often do great injury by burrowing under the turf, and cutting off the roots of the grass, and by undermining and destroying, in this way, sometimes whole beds of cabbages, beans, and flowers. In the West Indies, extensive ravages have been committed in the plantations of the sugar-cane by another species, Gryllotalpa didactyla, which has only two Fig. 68. * Serville, “ Orthoptéres,” p. 808.2 [2 It was previously described by Burmeister, under the name G. borealis, and ‘this name must be applied to it and retained. It was known to Catesby, who figures it in his ‘‘ Natural History of Carolina.” — UHLER.] 150 ORTHOPTERA. finger-like projections on the shin. The mole-cricket of Eu- rope lays from two to three hundred eggs, and the young do not come to maturity till the third year; circumstances both contributing greatly to increase the ravages of these insects. It is observed, that, in proportion as cultivation is extended, destructive insects multiply, and their depredations become more serious. We may, therefore, in process of time, find mole-crickets in this country quite as much a pest as they are in Europe, although their depredations have hitherto been limited to so small an extent as not to have attracted much notice. Should it hereafter become necessary to employ means for checking them, poisoning might be tried, such as placing, in the vicinity of their burrows, grated carrots or potatoes mixed with arsenic. It is well known that swine will eat almost all kinds of insects, and that they are very sagacious in rooting them out of the ground. They might, therefore, be employed with advantage to destroy these and other noxious insects, if other means should fail. We have no house-crickets in America ;* our species in- habit gardens and fields, and enter our houses only by acci- dent. Crickets are, in great measure, nocturnal and solitary insects, concealing themselves by day, and coming from their retreats to seek their food and their mates by night. There are some species, however, which differ greatly from the others in their social habits. These are not unfrequently seen during the daytime in great numbers in paths, and by the roadside; but the other kinds rarely expose themselves to the light of day, and their music is heard only at night. With crickets, as with grasshoppers, locusts, and harvest- flies, the males only are musical; for the females are not provided with the instruments from which the sounds emitted (8 This language may apply to the particular district in which Dr. Harris made his observations, but it would be gratuitous to say that we have no house-crickets in America, for nothing is better known to the country-people of Maryland than the ‘cricket on the hearth,’ and in some sections of the West they are also well known to inhabit the chimney-places and first-floor apartments of the dwellings. — UHLER.] : HABITS OF THE CRICKETS. 151 by these different insects are produced. In the male cricket these make a part of the wing-covers, the horizontal and over- lapping portion of which, near the thorax, is convex, and marked with large, strong, and irregularly curved veins. When the cricket shrills, (we cannot say sings, for he has no vocal organs,) he raises the wing-covers a little, and shuffles them together lengthwise, so that the projecting veins of one are made to grate against those of the other. The English name cricket, and the French eri-ceri, are evi- dently derived from the creaking sounds of these insects. Mr. White of Selborne says that “the shrilling of the field- cricket, though sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously de- lights some hearers, filling their minds with a train of summer ideas of everything that is rural, verdurous, and joyous” ; sentiments in which few persons, if any, in America will participate ; for with us the creaking of crickets does not begin till summer is gone, and the continued and monotonous sounds, which they keep up during the whole night, so long as autumn lasts, are both wearisome and sad. Where crickets abound, they do great injury to vegetation, eating ‘the most tender parts of plants, and even devouring roots and fruits, whenever they can get them. Melons, squashes, and even potatoes, are often eaten by them, and the quantity of grass that they destroy must be great, from the immense numbers of these insects which are sometimes seen in our meadows and fields. They may be poisoned in the same way as mole-crickets. Crickets are not entirely confined to a vegetable diet; they devour other insects whenever they can meet with and can overpower them. ‘They deposit their egos, which are numerous, in the ground, making holes for their reception, with their long, spear-pointed piercers. The eggs are laid in the autumn, and do not appear to be hatched till the ensuing summer. The old insects for the most part, die on the approach of cold weather; but a few survive the winter, by sheltering themselves under stones, or in holes secure from the access of water. 152 ORTHOPTERA. The scientific name of the genus that includes the cricket is Acheta, and our common species is the Acheta abbreviata (Fig. 69), so named from the shortness of its wings, which do not extend beyond the wing- covers. It is about three quarters of an inch in length, of a black color, with a brownish tinge at the base of the wing-covers, and a pale line on each side above the deflexed border. The pale line is most distinct in the female, and is oftentimes entirely wanting in the male. We have another species with very short or abortive wings; it is entirely of a black color, and measures six tenths of an inch in length from the head to the end of the body. It may be called Acheta nigra,‘ the black cricket. A third species, differing from these two in being entirely destitute of wings, and in having the wing-covers proportion- ally much shorter, and the last joint of the feelers (palpt) almost twice the length of the preceding joint, is furthermore distinguished from them by its greatly inferior size, and its different coloring. It measures from three to above four tenths of an inch in length, and varies in color from dusky brown to rusty black, the wing-covers and hindmost thighs being always somewhat lighter. In the brownish-colored varieties three longitudinal black lines are distinctly visible on the top of the head, and a black line on each side of the thorax, which is continued along the sides of the wing- covers to their tips. This black line on the wing-covers is never wanting, even in the darkest varieties. The hindmost thighs have, on the outside, three rows of short oblique black lines, presenting somewhat of a twilled appearance. Fig. 69. [4 It is A. Pennsylvanica, Burm. Priority of nomenclature requires this name to be retained. — UHLER.] : THE CLIMBING CRICKETS. 153 This is one of the social species, which, associated together in great swarms, and feeding in common, fre- quent our meadows and road-sides, and, so far from avoiding the light of day, seem to be quite as fond of it as others are of darkness. It may be called Acheta vittata,* (Fig. 70,) the striped cricket. These kinds of crickets live upon the ground, and among the grass and low herbage ; but there is another kind which inhabits the stems and branches of shrubs and trees, concealing itself during the daytime among the leaves, or in the flowers of these plants. Some Isabella grape-vines, which were trained against one side of my house, were much resorted to by these delicate and noisy little crickets. The males begin to be heard about the middle of August, and do not leave us until after the middle of September. Their shrilling is excessively loud, and is produced, like that of other crickets, by the rubbing of one wing-cover against the other; but they generally raise their wing-covers much higher than other crickets do while they are playing. These wing-covers, in the males, are also very large, and as long as the wings; they are exceedingly thin, and perfectly transparent, and have the horizontal -portion divided into four unequal parts by three oblique raised lines, two of which are parallel and form an angle with the anterior line. The antennz and legs are both very long and slender, the hinder thighs being much smaller in pro- portion than those of other crickets, and the hindmost feet have four instead of three joints. The two bristle-formed appendages at the end of the body are as long as the piercer, and the latter is only about half the length of the body, while, in the ground-crickets, the piercer is usually as long as the body, or longer. These insects have, therefore, been sep- arated from the other crickets, under the generical name of (Ecanthus, a word which means inhabiting flowers. They Fig. 70. * It belongs to M. Serville’s new genus Nemobius. 20 154 ORTHOPTERA. may be called climbing crickets, from their habit of mounting upon plants and dwelling among the leaves and flowers. According to M. Salvi,* the female makes several perfora- tions in the tender stems of plants, and in each perforation thrusts two eggs quite to the pith. The eggs are hatched about midsummer, and the young immediately issue from their nests and conceal themselves among the thickest foliage of the plant. When arrived at maturity the males begin their nocturnal serenade at the approach of twilight, and continue it with little or no intermission till the dawn of day. Should one of these little musicians get admission to the chamber, his incessant and loud shrilling will effectually banish sleep. Of three species which in- habit the United States, one only is found in Massachusetts. It is the Geanthus ni- veus (Fig. 71), or white climbing cricket. The male is ivory-white, with the up- per side of the first jot of the antenna, and the head between the eyes, of an ochre-yellow color ; there is a minute black dot on the under sides of the first’ and second joints of the antenne ; and in some individuals the extremities of the feet, and the under sides of the hindmost thighs are ochre-yellow. The body is, about half an inch long, exclusive of the wing-covers. The female (Fig. 72) is usually rather longer, but the wing- Fig. 71. Fig. 72. covers are much narrower than those of the male, and there is a great diversity of coloring in this sex; the body being sometimes almost white, or pale greenish-yellow, or dusky, and blackish beneath. There are three dusky stripes on the head and thorax, and the legs, antenne, and piercer are more or less dusky or blackish. The wing-covers and wings are yellowish-white, * Memorie intorno le Locuste grillajole Svo, Verona, 1750. THE GRASSHOPPERS. 155 sometimes with a tinge of green, and the wings are rather longer than the covers. Some of these insects have been sent to me by a gentleman who found them piercing and laying eggs in the branches of a peach-tree. Another cor- respondent, who is interested in the tobacco culture in Con- necticut, informed me that they injured the plant by eating holes in the leaves. 2. GrassHopPErs. ((ryllide.) Grasshoppers, properly so called, as before stated, are those jumping orthopterous insects which have four joints to all their feet, long bristle-formed antenne, and in which the females are provided with a piercer, flattened at the sides, and somewhat resembling a sword or cimeter in shape. The wing-covers slope downwards at the sides of the body, and overlap only a little on the top of the back near the thorax. This overlapping portion, which forms a long triangle, is traversed, in the males, by strong projecting veins, between which, in many of them, are membranous spaces as transpar- ent as glass. The sounds emitted by the males, and varying according to the species, are produced by the friction of these overlapping portions together. In Massachusetts there is one kind of grasshopper which forms a remarkable exception to the other native insects of this family; and, as it does not seem to have been named or described by any author, although by no means an un- common insect, it may receive a passing notice here. It is found only under stones and rubbish in woods, has a short thick body, and remarkably stout hind thighs, like a cricket, but is entirely destitute of wing-covers and wings, even when arrived at maturity. It belongs to M. Serville’s genus Pha- langopsis, and I propose to call it Phalangopsis maculata,* * Gryllus maculatus, Harris. Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts.5 [§ According to the authority of Erichson, it was previously described with the name Phalangopsis lapidicola, Burm — UHLER.] 156 ORTHOPTERA. (Fig. 73,) the spotted wingless cricket. Its body is of a pale yellowish-brown color, darker on the back, which is covered with little light-colored spots, and the outside of the hindmost thighs is marked with numerous short oblique lines, dis- posed in parallel rows, like those on the thighs of Acheta vittata. It varies in length from one half to more than three quarters of an inch, exclusive of the piercer and legs. The body is smooth and shining, and the back is arched. Most grasshoppers are of a green color, and are furnished with wings and wing-covers, the latter frequently resembling the leaves of trees and shrubs, upon which, indeed, many of these insects pass the greater part of their lives. Their leaf- like form and green color evidently seem to have been de- signed for their better concealment. They are nocturnal insects, or at least more active by night than by day. When taken between the fingers, they emit from their mouths a considerable quantity of dark-colored fluid, as do also the locusts or diurnal grasshoppers. They devour the leaves of plants, and lead a solitary life, or at least do not associate and migrate from place to place in great swarms, like some of the crickets and the locusts. There is a remarkable differ- ence in their habits, which does not appear to have been described hitherto. Some of these grasshoppers live upon grass and other herbaceous or low plants in fields and mead- ows. The piercer of the females is often straight, or only slightly curved. They commit their eggs to the earth, thrust- ing them into holes made therein with the piercer. They lay a large number of eggs at a time, and cover them with a kind of varnish, which, when dry, forms a thin film that com- pletely encloses them. These eggs are elongated, and nearly of an ellipsoidal-form. Other green Grylli live upon trees and shrubs. Their wing-covers and wings are broader, and Fig. 73. THE KATY-DID. 157 their piercer is shorter and often more curved, than in the foregoing kinds. They do not lay their eggs in the ground, but deposit them upon branches and twigs, in regular rows. My attention was first directed to the eggs of the tree-grylli by Mr. F. C. Hill, late of Philadelphia. Some of these grasshoppers have the front of the head obtuse, and others have it conical, or prolonged to a point between the antenne. Among the former is the insect which, from its peculiar note, is called the katy-did. Its body is of a pale green color, the wing-covers and wings being somewhat darker. Its thorax is rough like shagreen, and has somewhat the form of a saddle, being curved down- wards on each side, and rounded and slightly elevated behind, and is marked by two slightly transverse furrows. The wings are rather shorter than the wing-covers, and the latter are very large, oval, and concave, and enclose the body with- in their concavity, meeting at the edges above and below, somewhat like the two sides or valves of a pea-pod. The veins are large, very distinct, and netted like those of some leaves, and there is one vein of larger size running along the middle of each wing-cover, and simulating the midrib of a leaf. The musical organs of the male consist of a pair of taborets. They are formed by a thin and transparent mem- brane stretched in a strong half-oval frame in the triangular overlapping portion of each wing-cover. During the daytime these insects are silent, and conceal themselves among the leaves of trees; but at night they quit their lurking-places, and the joyous males begin the tell-tale call with which they enliven their silent mates. This proceeds from the friction of the taboret frames against each other when the wing-covers are opened and shut, and consists of two or three distinct notes almost exactly resembling articulated sounds, and cor- responding with the number of times that the wing-covers are opened and shut; and the notes are repeated at intervals of a few minutes, for hours together. The mechanism of the taborets, and the concavity of the wing-covers, reverberate 158 ORTHOPTERA. and increase the sound to such a degree, that it may be heard in the stillness of the night, at the distance of a quarter of a mile. At the approach of twilight the katy-did mounts to the upper branches of the tree in which he lives, and, as soon as the shades of evening prevail, begins his noisy babble, while rival notes issue from the neighboring trees, and the groves resound with the call of “katy-did, she-did” the live- long night. Of this insect I have met with no scientific description except my own, which was published in 1831 in the eighth volume of the ‘ Encyclopedia Americana,” page 42. Itis the Platyphyllum* concavum, + (Fig. T4,) and measures, from the head to the end of the wing-covers, rather more than one inch and a half, the body alone being one inch in length. The piercer is broad, later- ally compressed, and curved like a cimeter; and there are, in both sexes, two little thorn-like projections from the middle of the breast be- tween the fore legs. The katy-did is found in the per- fect state during the months of September and October, at which time the female lays her egos. These are slate-colored, and are rather more than Fig. 74. * Platyphyllum means broad-wing. + Can this be the Locusta perspicillata of Fabricius ? 6 [§ This is Cyrtophyllus perspicillatus, Burm. = Locusta perspicillata, Fab. Dr. Harris’s generic name has priority over that of Burmeister, and hence this insect must be called Platyphyllum perspicillatum, Fab. The insect called katy-did in the Southern States is entirely different from this one, although its habit of sitting upon the trees and issuing this shrill note has induced some persons to mistake it for the true one from New England. The Southern katy-did belongs to the genus Phylloptera, and from the ovipositor being shaped somewhat like that of Locusta curvicauda, De Geer, Dr. Harris supposed it to be that species. — UHLER.] THE OBLONG LEAF-WING. 159 one eighth of an inch in length. They resemble tiny oval bivalve shells in shape. The insect lays them in two con- tiguous rows along the surface of a twig, the bark of which is previously shaved off or made rough with her piercer. Each row consists of eight or nine eggs, placed somewhat obliquely, and overlapping each other a little, and they are fastened to the twig with a gummiy substance. In hatching, the egg splits open at one end, and the young insect creeps through the cleft. I am indebted to Miss Morris for specimens of these eggs. We have another broad-winged green grasshopper, differ- ing from the katy-did, in having the wing-covers narrower, flat and not concave, and shorter than the wings, the thorax smooth, flat above, and abruptly bent downwards at a right angle on each side, and the breast without any projecting spines in the middle. The piercer has the same form as’that of the katy-did. The musical organ of the left wing-cover, which is the uppermost, is not transparent, but is green and opaque, and is traversed by a strong curved vein; that of the right wing-cover is semi-transparent in the middle. This insect is the Phylloptera oblongifolia,* (Fig. 75,) or ob- Fig. 75. long leaf-winged grasshopper. Its body measures about an inch in length, and from the head to the tips of the wings, from an inch and three quarters to three inches. It is found in its perfect state during the months of September and October, upon trees, and, when it flies, makes a whizzing noise somewhat. like that of a weaver’s shuttle. The notes * Locusta oblongifolia of De Geer, a different species from the laurifolia of Lin- nus, with which it has been confounded by many naturalists. 160 ORTHOPTERA. of the male, though grating, are comparatively feeble. The females lay their eggs in the autumn on the twigs of trees and shrubs, in double rows, of seven or eight eggs in each row. These eggs, in form, size, and color, and in their arrangement on the twig, strikingly resemble those of the katy-did. The Rev. Thomas Hill, of Waltham, had the kindness to procure some of them for me from Philadelphia. A third species, also of a green color, with still narrower wing-covers, which are of almost equal width from one end to the other, but are rounded at the tips, and are shorter than the wings, has the head, thorax, musical organs, and breast like those of the preceding species, but the piercer is Fig. 76. Ll a 7 & much shorter, and very much more crooked, being bent vertically upwards from near its base. The male has a long tapering projection from the under side of the extremity of THE MEADOW GRASSHOPPERS. 161 the body, curved upwards like the piercer of the female.’ This grasshopper belongs to the genus Phanerortera, so named, probably, because the wings are visible beyond the tips of the wing-covers ; and, as it does not appear to have been described before, I propose to call it angustifolia,* (Fig. 76,) the narrow-leaved. It measures from the fore- head to the end of the abdomen about three quarters of an inch, and to the tips of the wings from an inch and a half to an inch and three quarters. Its habits appear to be the same as those of the oblongifolia. It comes to maturity some time in the latter part of August or the beginning of September. From the middle till the end of summer, the grass in our meadows and moist fields is filled with myriads of little grass- hoppers, of different ages, and of a light green color, with a brown stripe on the top of the head, extending to the tip of the little smooth and blunt projection between the antenna, and a broader brown stripe bounded on each side by deeper brown on the top of the thorax. The antenna, knees, and shanks are green, faintly tinted with brown, and the feet are dusky. When come to maturity, they measure three quar- ters of an inch or more, from the forehead to the end of the body, or one inch to the ends of the wing-covers. The latter are abruptly narrowed in the middle, and taper thence to the tip, which, however, is rounded, and extends as far back as the wings. The color of the wing-covers is green, but they are faintly tinged with brown on the overlapping portion, and have the delicacy and semi-transparency of the * T formerly mistook this insect for the Locusta curvicruda of De Geer, which is found in the Middle and Southern States, but not in Massachusetts, is a larger species, with wing-covers broadest in the middle, and different organs in the male, and belongs to the genus Phylloptera.7 {7 This is the true curvicauda ; it was.figured by Drury as P. myrtifolia, but he unfortunately confounded it with a species somewhat resembling it from South America, which has caused some authors to refer his figure to the one described by Linneeus; but that is a different insect, belonging to the genus Phylloptera. The synonymy of this species is, Phaneroptera curvicauda, De Geer = P. myrtifolia, Drury = P. septentrionalis, Serv. = P. angustifolia, Harris. —UHLER ] 21 162 ORTHOPTERA. skin of an onion. The shrilling organs in the males consist of a transparent glassy spot, bounded and traversed by strong veins, in the middle of the overlapping portion of each wing- cover, which part is proportionally much larger and longer than in the other grasshoppers; but the transparent spot is rather smaller on the left than on the right wing-cover. The male is furthermore distinguished by having two small black spots or short dashes, one behind the other, on each wing- cover, on the outside of the transparent spot. The wings are green on their front margins, transparent, and reflecting a faint pink color behind. The piercer of the female is cimeter-shaped, being curved, and pointed at the end, and is about three tenths of an inch long. The hindmost thighs, in both sexes, are smooth and not spinous beneath; there are two little spines in the middle of the breast; and the anten- nz are very long and slender, and extend, when turned back, considerably beyond the end of the hind legs. During the evening, and even at other times in shady places, the males make a sharp clicking noise, somewhat like that pro- duced by snapping the point of a pen against the thumb-nail, but much louder. This kind of grasshopper very much resembles the Locusta agilis of De Geer, which is found in Pennsylvania and the Southern States, but does not inhabit Massachusetts, and is distinguished from our species by having the wings nearly one tenth of an inch longer than the wing- covers, the antennz excessively long (two inches or more), and the piercer not quite so much curved as in our species, besides other differences which it is unnecessary Fig. 77. to record here. As our species does not appear to have been named, or described by any previous writer, I propose to call it Orchelimum vulgare (Fig. 77), the com- mon meadow-grasshopper, the gencrical name signifying literally, I dance in the meadow. THE SWORD-BEARER. 163 With this species another one is also found, bearing a con- siderable resemblance to it in color and form, but measuring only four or five tenths of an inch from the head to the end of the body, or from seven to eight tenths to the tips of the wings, which are a little longer than the wing-covers. The latter are narrow and taper to the end, which is rounded, but the overlapping portion is not so large as in the common species, and the male has not the two black spots on each wing-cover. The upper part of the abdomen is brown, with the edges of the segments greenish-yellow, and the piercer, which is nearly three tenths of an inch long, is brown and nearly straight. This little insect comes very near to Lo- custa fasciata of De Geer, who, however, makes no mention of the broad brown stripe on the head and thorax. I therefore presume that our species is not the Fig. 78. same, and propose to call it Orcheli- mum gracile (Fig. 78), the slender meadow-grasshopper. M. Serville, by whom this genus was instituted, has described three species, two of which are stated to be North Amer- ican, and the remaining one is probably also from this coun- try; but his descriptions do not answer for either of our species. Both of these kinds of meadow-grasshoppers are eaten greedily by fowls of all kinds. One more grasshopper remains to be described. It is distinguished from all the preceding species by having the head conical, and extending to a blunt point between the eyes. It belongs to the genus Conocephalus, a word express- ive of the conical form of the head, and, in my Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts, bears the specific name of ensiger (Fig. 79, male), the sword-bearer, from the long, straight, sword-shaped piercer of the female. It measures an inch or more from the point of the head to the end of the body, and from one inch and three quarters to two inches to the end of the wing-covers. It is pale green, with 164 ORTHOPTERA. the head whitish, or only faintly tinted with green, and the legs and abdomen are pale brownish-green. A little tooth Fig. 79. projects downwards from the under side of the conical part of the head, which extends between the antennz, and imme- diately before this little tooth is a black line bent backwards on each side like the letter U. The hindmost thighs have five or six exceedingly minute spines on the inner ridge of the under side. The shrilling organ of the male on the left wing-cover is green and opaque, but that on the right has a space in the middle that is transparent like glass. The piercer of the female is above an inch long, very slightly bent near the body, and is perfectly straight from thence to the tip, which ends in a point. The color of this grasshop- per is very apt to change after death to a dirty brown. It comes very near to the dissimilis described by M. Serville, but appears to be a different species.* * In the collection belonging to the Boston Society of Natural History, there is an insect which I suppose to be the Conocephalus dissimilis of Serville. It was taken in North Carolina by Professor Hentz. The conical projection of the head is shorter and more obtuse than in the ensiger, the sides of the thorax are brown- ish, the hindmost thighs have a double row of black dots on the under side, and the spines on this part are more numerous and rather larger. Professor Hentz has sent to me from Alabama another species distinct from both of these, about the same in length, but considerably broader. The conical part of the head between the eyes is broader, flattened above, and, as well as the thorax, rough like shagreen. There is a projecting tubercle beneath, but the curved black line is wanting, and the tip of the cone has a minute point abruptly bent downwards, and forming a hook. The sides of the thorax are bent down suddenly so as to make an angular ridge on each side of the middle. The wing-covers are dotted with black around their edges, and have also an irregular row of larger and more distinct spots along THE LOCUSTS. 165 3. Locusts. (Locustade.) The various insects included under the name of locusts nearly all agree in having their wing-covers rather long and narrow, and placed obliquely along the sides of the body, meeting, and even overlapping for a short distance, at their upper edges, which together form a ridge on the back like a sloping roof. Their antennz are much shorter than those of most grasshoppers, and do not taper towards the end, but are nearly of equal thickness at both extremities. Their feet have really only three joints; but as the under side of the first joint is marked by one or two cross lines, the feet, when seen only from below, seem to be four or five jointed. The females have not a long projecting piercer, like the crickets and grasshoppers, but the extremity of their body is provided with four short, wedge-like pieces, placed in pairs above and below, and opening and shutting opposite to each other, thus forming an instrument like a pair of nippers, only with four short blades instead of two. When one of these insects is about to lay her eggs, she drives these little wedges into the earth ; these, being then opened and withdrawn, enlarge the orifice ; upon which the insect inserts them again, and drives them down deeper than before, and repeats the operation above described until she has formed a perforation large and deep enough to admit nearly the whole of her abdomen. The males, though capable of producing sounds, have not the cymbals and tabors of the crickets and grasshoppers ; their instruments may rather be likened to violins, their hind legs being the bows, and the projecting veins of their wing- covers the strings. But besides these, they have on each side of the body, in the first segment of the abdomen, just above and a little behind the thighs, a deep cavity, closed by a thin piece of skin stretched tightly across it. These proba- the middle. The hindmost thighs have a double row of strong spines beneath, and the piercer is straight and only about six tenths of an inch long. This insect may be called Conocephalus uncinatus, from the hook on the tip of the head. 166 ORTHOPTERA. bly act in some measure to mcrease the reverberation of the sound, like the cavity of a violin. When a locust begins to play, he bends the shank of one hind leg beneath the thigh, where it is lodged in a furrow designed to receive it, and then draws the leg briskly up and down several times against the projecting lateral edge and veins of the wing-cover. He does not play both fiddles together, but alternately, for a little time, first upon one, and then on the other, standing meanwhile upon the four anterior legs and the hind leg which is not otherwise employed. It is stated that, in Spain, people of fashion keep these insects, which they call grillo, in cages, for the sake of their music. Locusts leap much better than grasshoppers, for the thighs of their hind legs, though shorter, are much thicker, and consequently more muscular within. The back part of the shanks of these legs, from a little below the knee to the end, is armed with strong sharp spines, arranged in two rows. These may serve as means of defence, but the lower ones also help to fix the legs firmly against the ground when the insect is going to leap. The power of flight in locusts is, in general, much greater than that of grasshoppers ; for the wing-covers, being narrow, do not, like the much wider ones of grass- hoppers, so much impede their passage through the air; while their wings, which are ample, except in a few species, and when expanded together form half of a circle, have very Strong joints, and are moved by very powerful muscles within the chest. From the shoulders of the wings several stout ribs or veins pass towards the hinder margin, spreading apart, when the wings are opened, like the sticks of a fan, and are connected and strengthened by little crossing veins, which form a kind of network. The same structure exists in the wings of grasshoppers, but in them the longitudinal ribs are not so strong, and the network is much more delicate. Hence the flight of grasshoppers is short and unsteady, while that of locusts is longer and better sustained. Many locusts, when they fly, make a loud whizzing noise, the source of which does THE LOCUSTS. 167 not seem to be understood. Those of our native locusts, whose flight is the most noisy, are the coral-winged, the yellow- winged, and the broad-winged species. But as these are comparatively small insects, and never assemble in such great swarms as the much larger migrating locusts of Asia and Africa, the noise of their flight bears no comparison to that of the latter. When a large number of these take flight together, it is said that the noise is like the rushing of a whirlwind; and hence we read, of the symbolical locusts of the Apocalypse, that the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle; * and of others, that their coming is like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains, or the crackling of stubble when overrun and consumed by a flame of fire. The East seems to have suffered severely at various times from the irruptions of immense swarms of locusts, darkening the sky during their passage, stripping the surface of the earth, where they alight, of all vestiges of vegetation, and thus reducing, in an inconceivably short time, the most fertile regions to barren wastes. The ground over which they have passed presents the appearance of having been scorched by fire ; and hence the name of locust, which is derived from the Latin,t and means a burnt place, is highly expressive of the desolation occasioned by their ravages. Famine and pesti- lence have sometimes followed their appearance, as we find recorded by various writers. In the Scriptures § frequent mention is made of the destructive powers of locusts, and these accounts are fully confirmed by the testimony of numer- ous travellers in Asia and Africa, some of whom have been eyewitnesses of the devastations of these insects. Among * Revelation ix. 9. + Joel ii. 5. f{ Locus and ustus. § For an explanation of the various passages in which allusion is made to lo- custs, and for much interesting matter relating to the history of these insects, as contained in the Bible and elucidated by the accounts of historians and travellers, the reader is referred to the article Locust in the learned and instructive work of my father, entitled, “The Natural History of the Bible, by Thaddeus Mason Har- ris,’ 8vo, Boston, 1820. 168 ORTHOPTERA. the later accounts, that contained in Olivier’s ‘‘ Travels ” does not seem to have been quoted by English writers. The following is a free translation of the passage. Olivier, at the time of writing it, was in Syria. ‘ After a burning south wind had prevailed fur some time, there came, from the interior of Arabia and from the southern parts of Persia, clouds of locusts, whose ravages in these countries are as grievous and as sudden as the destruction occasioned in Europe by the most severe hail-storm. Of these my com- panion, M. Brugiéres, and myself were twice witnesses. It is difficult to describe the effect produced on us by the sight of the whole atmosphere filled, on all sides, to a vast height, with a countless multitude of these insects, which flew along with a slow and even motion, and with a noise like the dash- ing of a shower of rain. The heavens were darkened by them, and the light of the sun was sensibly diminished. In a moment the roofs of the houses, the streets, and all the fields were completely covered with these insects, and in two days they almost entirely devoured the foliage of every plant. Fortunately, however, they continued but a short time, and seemed to have emigrated only for the purpose of providing for a continuation of their kind. In fact, nearly all of them which we saw on the next day were paired, and in a day or two afterwards the ground was covered with their dead bodies.” * These were not the still more celebrated and destructive migratory locusts (Locusta migratoria), but con- sisted of the species called Acrydium peregrinum. Although the ravages of locusts in America are not fol- lowed by such serious consequences as in the Eastern con- tinent, yet they are sufficiently formidable to have attracted attention, and not unfrequently have these insects laid waste considerable tracts, and occasioned no little loss to the cul- tivator of the soil. Our salt-marshes, which are accounted among the most productive and valuable of our natural meadows, are frequented by great numbers of the small red- * Olivier, Voyage dans I'Empire Ottoman, l’Egypte et la Perse, Tom. I. p. 424. THE RED-LEGGED LOCUSTS. 169 legged species (Acrydium femur-rubrum), (Fig. 80, p. 174,) intermingled occasionally with some larger kinds. These, in certain seasons, almost entirely consume the grass of these marshes, from whence they then take their course to the up- lands, devouring, in their way, grass, corn, and vegetables, till checked by the early frosts, or by the close of the nat- ural term of their existence. When a scanty crop of hay has been gathered from the grounds which these puny pests have ravaged, it becomes so tainted with the putrescent bodies of the dead locusts contained in it, that it is rejected by horses and cattle. In this country locusts are not dis- tinguished from grasshoppers, and are generally, though in- correctly, comprehended under the same name, or under that of flying grasshoppers. They are, however, if we make allowance for their inferior size, quite as voracious and in- jurious to vegetation during the young or larva and pupa states, when they are not provided with wings, as they are when fully grown. In our newspapers I have sometimes seen accounts of the devastations of grasshoppers, which could only be applicable to some of our locusts. At various times they have appeared in great abundance in different parts of New England. It is stated that, in Maine, “during dry seasons, they often appear in great mul- titudes, and are the greedy destroyers of the half-parched herbage.” “In 1749 and 1754 they were very numerous and voracious ; no vegetables escaped these greedy troops ; they even devoured the potato tops; and in 1743 and 1756 they covered the whole country and threatened to devour everything green. Indeed, so great was the alarm they oc- casioned among the people, that days of fasting and prayer were appointed,” * on account of the threatened calamity. The southern and western parts of New Hampshire, the northern and eastern parts of Massachusetts, and the south- ern part of Vermont, have been overrun by swarms of these * See Williamson’s History of Maine, Vol. I. pp. 102, 108, and compare with p. 172 of the same work. 22 170 ORTHOPTERA. miscalled grasshoppers, and have suffered more or less from their depredations. Among the various accounts which I have seen, the follow- ing, extracted from the Travels of the late President Dwight,* seems to be the most full and circumstantial. ‘+ Bennington (Vermont), and its neighborhood, have for some time past been infested by grasshoppers (locusts) of a kind with which I had before been wholly unacquainted. At least, their his- tory, as given by respectable persons, is in a great measure novel. They appear at different periods, in different years ; but the time of their continuance seems to be the same. This year (1798) they came four weeks earlier than in 1797, and disappeared four weeks sooner. As I had no opportunity of examining them, I cannot describe their form or their size. Their favorite food is clover and maize. Of the latter they devour the part which is called the silk, the immediate means of fecundating the ear, and thus prevent the kernel from coming to perfection. But their voracity extends to almost every vegetable ; even to the tobacco plant and the burdock. Nor are they confined to vegetables alone. The garments of laborers, hung up in the field while they are at work, these insects destroy in a few hours; and with the same voracity they devour the loose particles which the saw leaves upon the surface of pine boards, and which, when separated, are termed sawdust. The appearance of a board fence, from which the particles had been eaten in this manner, and which I saw, was novel and singular; and seemed the result, not of the operations of the plane, but of attrition. At times, particularly a little before their disappearance, they collect in clouds, rise high in the atmosphere, and take extensive flights, of which neither the cause nor the direction has hitherto been discovered. I was authentically informed that some persons, employed in raising the steeple of the church in Williamstown, were, while standing near the vane, coy- ered by them, and saw, at the same time, vast swarms of * Travels in New England and New York, by Timothy Dwight, Vol. II. p. 403. THE LOCUSTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 171 them flying far above their heads. It is to be observed, however, that they customarily return, and perish on the very grounds which they have ravaged.” Through the kind- ness of the Rev. L. W. Leonard, of Dublin, New Hampshire, I have been favored with specimens of the destructive locusts which occasionally appear in that part of New England, and which, most probably, are of the same species as the insects mentioned by President Dwight. They prove to be the little red-legged locusts, whose ravages on our salt-marshes I have already recorded. In the summer of 1838, the vicinity of Baltimore, Mary- land, was infested by insects of this kind ; and I was in- formed by a young gentleman from that place, then a student in Harvard College, that they were so thick and destructive in the garden and grounds of his father, that the negroes were employed to drive them from the garden with rods ; and in this way they were repeatedly whipped out of the grounds, leaping and flying before the extended line of cas- tigators like a flock of fowls. Some of these insects were brought to me by the same gentleman, on his return to the University, at the end of the summer vacation, and they turned out to be specimens of the red-legged locusts already mentioned. It is not to be supposed that these are the only depreda- tory locusts in this country. Massachusetts alone produces a large number of species, some of which have never been described ; and the habits of many of them have not been fully investigated. The difficulty which I have met with in ascertaining, from mere verbal reports, or from the accounts that occasionally appear in our public prints, the scientific names of the noxious insects which are the subjects of such remarks, and the impossibility, without this knowledge of their names, of fixing upon the true culprits, has induced me to draw up, in this treatise, brief descriptions of all our locusts, as a guide to other persons in their investigations. All the locusts of Massachusetts that are known to me 172 ORTHOPTERA. may be included in three large groups or genera; viz. Aery- dium (of Geoffroy and Latreille), Locusta ( Gryllus Locusta of Linneus), and Tetrix (of Latreille). These three genera may be distinguished from each other by the following characters.* 1. Aerydium. The thorax (prothorax of Kirby) and the wing-covers of ordinary dimensions ; a projecting spme in the middle of the breast; and a little projecting cushion between the nails of all the feet. 2. Locusta. The thorax, and usually the wing-covers also, of ordinary dimensions ; no projecting spine in the middle of the breast ; cushions between the nails of the feet. 3. Tetrix. The thorax (prothorar) greatly prolonged, tapering to a point behind, and covering the whole of the back to the extremity of the abdomen; wing-covers exceed- ingly minute, consisting only of a little scale on each side of the body; fore part of the breast forming a projection, like a cravat or stock, to receive the lower part of the head; no spine in the middle of the breast; no cushions between thie nails. * T have not considered it necessary to give, in addition to these, the characters that distinguish them from the other genera of American locusts, which are not found in Massachusetts, but add the characteristics of these genera in this note. Opsomala. Body slender and cylindrical; head long and conical, extending with an obtuse point between the antenne; eyes oblong oval and oblique; anten- nz short, flattened, and more or less enlarged toward the base, and tapering toward the point; a pointed tubercle between the fore legs on the breast; wing- covers narrow and pointed; face sloping down toward the breast, and forming an acute angle with the top of the head. Truaalis. Body rather thicker; head shorter, but ending in a blunt cone be- tween the antenna; eyes oval and oblique; antenne short, flattened, enlarged near the base, and tapering to a point; no tubercle between the fore legs; wing- covers wider and not so pointed; face sloping toward the breast, and forming an angle of forty-five degrees with the top of the head; thorax flat above, and marked with three longitudinal elevated lines. Xiphicera. Robust; head not conical, but with a projection between the an- tenn; face vertical; antenna rather short, flattened more or less, and tapering at the end; a spine between the fore legs on the breast; wing-covers about as long as the abdomen, obtuse or notched at the end; thorax with three elevated crested lines, which are frequently notched. Romalea, Very thick and short; head obtuse; face vertical; antennz short, of equal thickness to the end, seventeen or eighteen jointed; thorax with «a some- THE SPINE-BREASTED LOCUSTS. 173 I. Acrypium. Spine-breasted Locusts. This word, which is nearly the same as one of the Greek names of a locust, has been variously applied by different entomologists. I have followed Latreille and Serville in con- fining it to those locusts which have a projecting spine or tubercle in the middle of the fore part of the breast between the fore legs. To this genus belong the following native species. 1. Acrydium alutaceum. Leather-colored Locust. Dirty brownish yellow; a paler yellow stripe on the top of the head and thorax; a slightly elevated longitudinal line on the top of the thorax; wing-covers semi-transparent, with irregular brownish spots ; wings transparent, uncolored, netted with dirty yellow ; abdomen with transverse rows of minute blackish dots; hindmost thighs whitish within and without, the white portion bounded by a row of minute distant black dots, and crossed, herring-bone fashion, by numerous brown lines; hindmost shanks reddish, with yellowish-white spines, which are tipped with black. Length, to the end of the ab- domen, 12? inch; the wing-covers expand over 8 inches. This insect was brought to me, from Martha’s Vineyard, by Mr. Robert: Treat Paine. It bears a close resemblance in form to Aecrydium Americanum of De Geer,’ a much larger and more showy Southern species. 2. Acrydium flavo-vitiatum.’ Yellow-striped Locust. Dull green or olive-colored, with a yellowish line on each side from the forehead to the tips of the wing-covers ; hind- what elevated crest; a spine between the fore legs on the breast; wing-covers and wings much shorter than the abdomen. The first two of these genera seem to connect the cone-headed grasshoppers with the locust family, while the last two approach nearer to the genus Acrydium; many foreign genera, however, are interposed between them. [8 This reference to De Geer is incorrect, no such species being found in his works; it may refer to Drury. Illustrations I. pl. 49, f. 2. — UHLER.] [9 This insect was previously described by Say, who calls it A. bivittatus. The difference between the species, as found in New England and that of the 174 ORTHOPTERA. most shanks and feet blood-red, the spines tipped with black ; wings transparent, faintly tinged with pale green, and netted with greenish-brown lines. The abdomen of the male is very obtuse and curves upwards at the end, and is furnished, on each side of the tip, with a rather large oblong square appendage, which has a little projecting angle in the middle of the lower side. Length, to tip of the abdomen, from 1 inch to 14; expands from 1} inch to 2 inches. This and the following species probably belong to the subgenus Oxya of Serville. The yellow-striped locust is one of our most common insects. It is readily known by its color, and by the two yellowish lines on the thorax, extend- ing, when the insect acquires wings, along the inner margin of the wing-covers. It is very troublesome in gardens, climbing upon the stems of beans, peas, and flowers, devour- ing the leaves and petals, and defiling them with its excre- ment. The young begin to appear in June, and they come to their growth and acquire their wings by the first of Au- gust. When about to moult, like other locusts, they cling to the stem of some plant, till the skin bursts and the insect withdraws its body and legs from it, and leaves the cast-skin still fastened to the plant. 3. Acrydium femur-rubrum.° Red-legged Locust. (Fig. 80.) Grizzled witli dirty olive and brown; a black spot extend- ing from the eyes along the sides of the thorax; an oblique yellow line on each side of the body be- neath the wings; a row of dusky brown spots along the middle of the wing-covers ; and the hindmost shanks and feet blood-red, with black spines. The wings Fig. 80. western sections of the Union, consists only in the color of the legs and greater depth of tint upon the thorax, &c. In the latter, the synonymy stands as follows: A. ( Caloptenus) bivittatus, Say = A. ( Caloptenus) femoratus, Burm. = A. Milberti, Serv. = A flavo-vittatum, Harris. — UNLER.] [10 This is also a Caloptenus. — UHLER.] THE LOCUSTS PROPER. 175 are transparent, with a very pale greenish-yellow tint next to the body, and are netted with brown lines. The hind- most thighs have two large spots, on the upper side, and the extremity, black; but are red below, and yellow on the in- side. The appendages at the tip of the body in the male are of a long triangular form. Length from 3} inch to 1 inch; exp. 14 to 1} inch. The red-legged locust was first described by De Geer from specimens sent to him from Pennsylvania, and I have re- tained the scientific name which he gave to it. It is the Gryllus (Locusta) erythropus of Gmelin, and the Aerydium Ffemorale of Olivier. It appears to be very generally diffused throughout the United States, and sometimes so greatly abounds in certain places as to be productive of great injury to vegetation. I have already described its prevalence on our salt-marshes ; and it seems to constitute those large mi- grating swarms whose flight has been observed and recorded in various parts of this country. It comes to maturity with us by the latter part of July; some broods, however, a little earlier, and others later. It is most plentiful and destructive during the months of August and September, and does not disappear till some time in October. Il. Locusta. Locusts Proper. With the English entomologists, I apply the name Locusta to that genus which includes the celebrated migrating locust, or Gryllus Locusta migratoria of Linneus. By the older French entomologists the insects contained in it were united to the genus Aerydium; but Latreille afterwards separated them from Aerydium under the generical name of Cdipoda (which means swelled leg), and he is followed in this by Serville, the latest writer on the Orthoptera. In the in- sects of this genus the breast is not armed with a blunt spine or tubercle, a character which distinguishes the genus Acrydium from it. In other respects these two genera are much alike. 176 ORTHOPTERA. 1. Locusta Carolina.*™ Carolina Locust. (Plate III. Fig. 3.) Pale yellowish brown, with small dusky spots; wings black, with a broad yellow hind margin, which is covered with dusky spots at the tip. Length from 1 to 14 inch; exp. 2 to above 34 inches. A more detailed description of this large, common, and well-known species is unnecessary. The Carolina locust is found in abundance by the road-side, from the middle to the end of summer. It generally makes use of its large and handsome wings in moving from place to place. It is fre- quently found in company with the red-legged locust in the vicinity of salt-marshes, but it generally prefers warm and dry situations. Pairing takes place with this species in the months of September and October, immediately after which the female prepares to lay her eggs. These are deposited at the bottom of a cylindrical hole in the ground, made in the manner already described, and are not hatched till the fol- lowing spring. The abdomen of the female admits of being greatly extended in length; hence she frequently deposits her eggs at the depth of nearly two inches beneath the sur- face of the soil. 2. Locusta corallina. Coral-winged Locust. Light brown ; spotted with dark brown on the wing-cov- ers; wings light vermilion or coral-red, with an external dusky border, which is wide and paler at the tip, narrowed and darker behind; hind shanks yellow with black-tipped spines. Length 1 to 14 inch; exp. 24 to 24 inches. This species closely resembles the Acridium tuberculatum of Palisot de Beauvois, which seems to be the (Edipoda dis- coidea of Serville, found in the Southern States, of a much larger size than the coral-winged locust, and having the wings of a much deeper and duller red color, and the black- * Gryllus Locusta Carolinus, Linnseus. (11 LZ. Carolina must be referred to Edipoda. — UNLER.] THE ¥ELLOW-WINGED LOCUST. 177 ish border not so much narrowed behind. It cannot be mistaken for the fenestralis, which M. Serville describes as having the antenne nearly as long as the body, whereas in this species they are not half that length. The coral-winged locust is the first that makes its appearance with wings in the spring, being found flying about in warm and dry pastures as early as the middle of April or the first of May, and is rendered very conspicuous by its bright-colored wings, and the loud noise which it makes in flying. It probably passes the winter in the pupa state, and undergoes its last transfor- mation in the spring; but its history is not yet fully known to me, and this opinion is the result only of conjecture. 3. Locusta sulphurea.* Yellow-winged Locust. (Plate I. Fig. 6.) Dusky brown ; thorax slightly keeled in the middle ; wing- covers ash-colored at their extremities, more or less distinctly spotted with brown; wings deep yellow next to the body, dusky at tip, the yellow portion bounded beyond the middle by a broad dusky brown band, which curves and is prolonged on the hind margin, but does not reach the angle next to the extremity of the body; hindmost thighs blackish at the end, and with two black and two whitish bands on the inside; hindmost shanks and their spines black, with a broad whitish ring just below the knees. Length .%; to 14 inch; exp. 12 to 24 inches. This insect agrees tolerably well with the brief description given by Fabricius of his Gryllus sulphureus, except that the wings are not sulphur-yellow, but of a deeper tint. It is also described and figured by Palisot de Beauvois under the name of Acridium sulphureum. It is a rare species in this vicinity. T have taken it, though sparingly, in its perfect state, in May and in September. The elevated ridge on the top of the thorax is higher than in any other species found in Massachu- setts. [12 L. sulphurea must be referred to @dipoda. — UHLER.] 23 178 ORTHOPTERA. 4, Locusta Maritima.’ Maritime Lecust. Ash-gray ; face variegated with white ; wing-covers sprin- kled with minute brownish spots, and semi-transparent at tip ; wings transparent, faintly tinted with yellow next the body, uncolored at tip, with a series of irregular blackish spots forming a curved band across the middle; hindmost shanks and feet pale yellow, with the extreme points of the spines black. Length $ to 1} inch; exp. 115 inch to 22 inches. This species comes very near to Mr. Kirby’s description of the Locusta leucostoma; but is evidently distinct from it, and does not appear to have been described before. I have received it from Sandwich, and have found it in great abun- dance among the coarse grass which grows near the edges of our sandy beaches, but have never seen it except in the immediate vicinity of the sea. It comes to maturity and lays its eggs about the middle of August or a little later. 5. Locusta equalis™ Barren-ground Locust. Ash-gray, mottled with dusky brown and white; wing- covers semi-transparent at tip, with numerous dusky spots which run together so as to form three transverse bands ; wings light yellow on their basal half, transparent with dusky veins and a few spots at the tip, with an intermediate broad black band, which, curving and becoming narrower on the hind margin, is continued to the inner angle of the wing; hindmost shanks coral-red, with a broad white ring below the knees, and the spines tipped with black. Length 1} inch; exp. 2} inches. Mr. Say, to whom I sent a specimen of this handsome locust, informed me that it was his Gryllus equalis, probably intended for equalis. It is found, during the months of July (18 L. maritima must be referred to Gdipoda. — URLER.]} (14 L. equalis and latipennis are merely to be separated as races of one species, and cannot remain as separate species. They must be referred to the genus (Edipoda. — UHLER.] THE MARBLED LOCUST. 179 and August, on dry barren hills and on sandy plains, upon the scanty herbage intermingled with the reindeer moss. 6. Locusta latipennis.4 Broad-winged Locust. Ash-colored, mottled with black and gray; wing-covers semi-transparent beyond the middle, with numerous blackish spots which run together at the base, and form a band across the middle ; wings broad, light yellow on the basal half, the remainder dusky but partially transparent, with black net- work, and deep black at tip, and an intermediate irregular band, formed by a contiguous series of black spots, reaching only to the hind margin, but not continued towards the inner angle; hindmost shanks pale yellow, with a black ring below the knees, a broader one at the extremity, and a blackish spot behind the upper part of the shank. Length 3% inch; exp. 175 inch. It is possible that this may be a variety of the preceding species, from which it differs especially in the form and width of the wings and in the colors of the hindmost shanks. It is found in the same places, and at the same time, as the barren-ground locust. 7. Locusta marmorata.’ Marbled Locust. (Fig. 81.) Ash-colored, variegated with pale yellow and black ; thorax suddenly narrowed before the mid- Fig. 81. dle, and the slightly elevated longi- tudinal line on the top is cut through in the middle by a transverse fissure ; wing-covers marbled with large whit- ish and black spots, and semi-transparent at the end; wings light yellow on the half next to the body, transparent near the end, with two black spots on the tip, and a broad inter- mediate black band, which, narrowed and curving inwards on the hind margin, nearly reaches the inner angle; hind- most thighs pale yellow, black at the extremity, and nearly [15 LL. marmorata must be referred to Gidipoda. — Uner.] 180 ORTHOPTERA. surrounded by two broad black bands ; hind shanks coral-red, with a black ring immediately below the knee, and followed by a white ring, black at the lower extremity also, with the tips of the spines black. In some individuals there is an additional black ring below the white one on the shanks. Length from 75 to above 3% inch; exp. 1;5 to 13% inch. The marbled locust, which is one of our prettiest species, is found in the open places contiguous to or within pitch-pine woods, flying over the scanty grass and reindeer moss which not unfrequently grow in these situations. It is marked on the wings somewhat like the barren-ground locust, but is invariably smaller, with the thorax much more contracted before the middle. It appears, in the perfect state, from the middle of July to the middle of October. 8. Locusta eucerata.® Long-horned Locust. Ash-colored, variegated with gray and dark brown ; anten- nz nearly as long as the body, and with flattened joints ; thorax very much pinched or compressed laterally before the middle, with a slightly elevated longitudinal line, which is interrupted by two notches; wing-covers and wings long and narrow; the former variegated with dusky spots, and semi-transparent at tip ; wings next to the body yellow, sometimes pale, sometimes deep and almost orange-colored, at other times uncolored and semi-transparent ; with a broad black band across the middle, which is narrowed and pro- longed on the hinder margin, and extends quite to the inner angle; beyond the band the wings are transparent, with the tips black or covered with blackish spots; hindmost shanks whitish, with a black ring at each end, a broad one of the same color just above the middle, and the spines tipped with black. Length } inch to 7 inch; exp. 1,3, inch to more than 14 inch. The wings of this species are very variable in color at the base. The fenestralis described by M. Serville has the base [16 L. eucerata must be referred to Gdipoda. — UHLER.] THE DUSKY LOCUST. 181 of the wings vermilion-red, but in other respects it approaches to this species. The long-horned locust is found oftentimes in company with the marbled species, and also near sea- beaches with the maritime locust, from the last of July to the middle of October. 9. Locusta nebulosa.” Clouded Locust. Dusky brown; thorax with a slender keel-like elevation, which is cut across in the middle by a transverse fissure ; wing-covers pale, clouded, and spotted with brown; wings transparent, dusky at tip, with a dark brown line on the front margin; hindmost shanks brown, with darker spines, and a broad whitish ring below the knees. Length from 38, inch to more than 1,2; inch; exp. from 1} inch to more than 2 inches. A very common species, and easily known by its clouded wing-covers and colorless wings. It abounds in pastures, and even in corn-fields and gardens, during the months of September and October, at which time it is furnished with wings and may often be seen paired or busied in laying eggs. It does not appear to have been described before. The three following locusts differ from the preceding in having the antennz shorter than the thorax, and slightly thickened towards the end, and the face somewhat oblique, the mouth being nearer the breast than in our other species of Locusta; and they seem to constitute a distinct group or sub-genus, which may receive the name of T'ragocephala,® or goat-headed. locusts. 10. Locusta (Tragocephala) infuscata. Dusky Locust. Dusky brown; thorax with a slender keel-like elevation ; wing-covers faintly spotted with brown; wings transparent, pale greenish yellow next to the body, with a large dusky (27 L. nebulosa must be referred to Gidipoda. — Unter.] [18 Tragocephala is synonymous with Gomphocerus, and L infuscata, L. viridi- fasciata, and L. radiata must be referred to it. — UHLER.] 182 ORTHOPTERA. cloud near the middle of the hind margin, and a black line on the front margin; hind thighs pale, with two large black spots on the inside; hind shanks brown, with darker spines, and a broad whitish ring below the knees. Length ? inch; exp. above 13 inch. This somewhat resembles the clouded locust, from which, however, it is easily distinguished by its much shorter anten- nz and the dusky cloud on the hinder margin of the wings. I have captured it in pastures, in the perfect state, from the middle of May to near the end of July. I believe that it has never been described before. 11. Locusta (Tragocephala) viridi-fasciata. Green-striped Locust. (Plate IIL Fig. 2.) Green; thorax keeled above; wing-covers with a broad green stripe on the outer margin extending from the base beyond the middle and including two small dusky spots on the edge, the remainder dusky but semi-transparent at the end ; wings transparent, very pale greenish yellow next to the body, with a large dusky cloud near the middle of the hind margin, and a black line on the front margin; antenna, fore and middle legs reddish; hind thighs green, with two black spots in the furrow beneath; hind shanks blue-gray, with a broad whitish ring below the knees, and the spines whitish, tipped with black. Length about 1 inch; exp. from more than 1} to nearly 2 inches. This insect is the Aerydium viridi-fasciatum of De Geer, who was the first describer of it, the Gryllus Virginianus of Fabricius, the Gryllus Locusta chrysomelas of Gmelin, the Acrydium marginatum of Olivier, and the Acridium hemipte- rum of Palisot de Beauvois. It is remarkable that a species so strongly marked as this is should have been so profusely named. Palisot de Beauvois seems to have selected the most appropriate name for it; for the green portion of the wing- covers is thick and opaque, and the dusky portion thin and semi-transparent, as in the wing-covers of Hemipterous in- THE RADIATED LOCUST. 183 sects. It is very common in pastures and mowing lands from the first of June to the middle of August, being found in various states of maturity throughout this period. The young also appear still earlier, and are readily known by their green color, and large compressed thorax, which is arched and crested or keeled above, and by their very short and flattened antenne. These locusts are sometimes very troublesome in gardens, living upon the leaves of vegetables and flowers, and attacking the buds and half-expanded petals. The larve or young survive the winter, sheltered among the roots of grass and under leaves. 12. Locusta (Tragocephala) radiata. Radiated Locust. Rust-brown ; thorax keeled above; wing-covers entirely brown, but semi-transparent at the end; wings transparent, with brown network, and the principal longitudinal veins black ; they are very faintly tinted with green next to the body, have a large dusky cloud near the middle of the hind margin, and a brown streak on the front margin ; hind shanks reddish brown, a little paler below the knees, and the spines tipped with black. Length about 1 inch; exp. from 1? to 2 inches. This species is now for the first time described. It seems to be rare. I captured one specimen in Cambridge on the 1st of July, and have received another from Dr. D. 8. C. H. Smith of Sutton, Massachusetts. It is found in North Caro- lina as early as the month of May in the perfect state. The following species have the face still more oblique than the foregoing, but the antenn are much longer, particularly in the males, in which they nearly equal the body in length, and are not enlarged towards the end. The eyes are oval and oblique, and there is a deep hollow before each of them for the reception of the first joint of the antenne. The thorax is not crested or keeled, but is flattened above, with three slender threadlike elevated lines, and the hind margin is very nearly transverse, or not much (if at all) angulated 184 ORTHOPTERA. behind. The wing-covers and wings are extremely short. The hind legs are long and slender. I propose therefore to separate these species from the other locusts under a sub- genus by the name of Chloéaltis, derived from the Greek, and signifying a grasshopper. 13. Locusta (Chloéaltis) conspersa. Sprinkled Locust. Light bay, sprinkled with black spots; a black line on the head behind each eye, extending on each side of the thorax on the lateral elevated line; wing-covers oblong-oval, pale yellowish brown, with numerous small darker brown spots ; wings about three twentieths of an inch long, transparent, with dusky lines at the tip; hind shanks pale red, with the spines black at the end. Length nearly 3% inch. This may be merely a variety of the following species, though very differently colored. 14. Locusta (Chloéaltts) abortiva. Abortive Locust. Brown ; wing-covers with dark brown veins and confluent spots, covering two thirds of the abdomen; wings three twentieths of an inch long, transparent, with dusky lines at the tip; hind margin of the thorax straight; hind shanks coral-red, whitish just below the knees, the spines tipped with black. Length nearly 3% inch. This and the preceding locust have much the appearance of pup or young insects; nevertheless I believe that their wings and wing-covers never become larger, and Mr. Leon- ard informs me that they are found paired. I have captured the abortive locust in pastures near the end of July. 15. Locusta (Chloéaltis) curtipennis. Short-winged Locust. (Plate III. Fig. 1.) Olive-gray above, variegated with dark gray and black; legs and body beneath yellow; a broad black line extends from behind each eye on the sides of the thorax; wing-cov- THE GROUSE-LOCUSTS. 185 ers, in the male, as long as the abdomen, in the female, covering two thirds of the abdomen; wings rather shorter than the wing-covers, transparent, and faintly tinged with yellow ; hinder knees black; spines on the hind shanks tipped with black. Length from } to more than 38; inch; exp. from 7 to nearly 1 inch. The flight of the short-winged locust is noiseless and short, but it leaps well. Great numbers of these insects are found in our low meadows, in the perfect state, from the first of August till the middle of October. They are easily distin- guished from other locusts by their short and narrow wings, by the yellow color of the body beneath, and by the yellow legs and black knees. III. Terrrx. CrouseTocust The Greeks applied the name of Tetrix to some kind of grouse, probably the heath-cock of Europe, and Latreille adopted it for a genus of locusts in which, perhaps, he fan- cied some resemblance to the bird in question. Linnzus placed these locusts in a division of his genus Gryllus, which. he called Bulla, a name that ought to have been retained for them. The principal distinguishing characters of the genus have already been given, and I will only add that the body is broadest. between the middle legs, narrows gradually to a point behind, and very abruptly to the head, which is much smaller than in the other locusts. The wings are large, forming nearly the quadrant of a circle, thin and delicate, and scalloped on the edge; when not in use they are folded beneath the projecting thorax. The four boring appendages of the females are notched on their edges with fine teeth, like asaw. Latreille and Serville have stated that the antennz consist of only thirteen or fourteen joints; but some of our native species have twenty-two joints in the antennz. Upon this variation I would arrange those now to be described in two groups. 24 186 ORTHOPTERA. I. Antenne 14-jointed ; eyes very prominent, with a project- ing ridge between them, formed by a horizontal extension of the flat top of the head; thorax prolonged beyond the extremity of the body. 1. Tetrix ornata. Ornamented Grouse-locust. Dark ash-colored ; a large white patch between four black spots on the top of the thorax ; a white spot on the top of the hind thighs; thorax nearly or quite as long as the wings. Length 34 to 3% inch to the apex of the thorax. This species varies in wanting the white spot on the top of the thorax sometimes. It was first described by Mr. Say, under the name of Aecrydium ornatum.* 2. Tetrix dorsalis. Red-spotted Grouse-locust. Rusty black, with ochre-yellow spots on the sides and legs, and a large rusty-red spot on the top of the thorax; wings extending beyond the apex of the thorax. Length 3 inch. 3. Tetrix quadrimaculata. Four-spotted Grouse-locust. Ash-colored or dark gray above, variegated with black ; four velvet-black spots on the top of the thorax; wings projecting beyond the extremity of the thorax. Length from zy to 35 of an inch. : This is a shorter and thicker species than the ornamented grouse-locust. It is not uncommon in pastures from the first of May to the first of June. 4. Tetrix bilineata. Two-lined Grouse-locust. Ash-colored ; thorax paler, with a narrow angular whitish line, on each side, extending from the head beyond the mid- dle; the angular portion including a long blackish patch on each side ; wings, in the male, rather shorter than the tho- rax, in the female longer. Length from 3% to more than ;9, inch. * American Entomology, Vol. I. Plate 5. THE GROUSE-LOCUSTS. 187 5. Tetrix sordida. Sordid Grouse-locust. Yellowish ash-colored ; thorax with minute elevated black points ; wings, in both sexes, rather longer than the thorax. Length from 3% inch to nearly 3 inch. I have taken this species both in May and September, and have received a specimen from Dr. D. 8. C. H. Smith, of Sutton, Massachusetts. Il. Antenne 22-jointed ; eyes hardly prominent, top of the head not horizontal between them, but curving towards the front, with a very slightly projecting ridge; wings smaller than in those of the preceding group. 6. Tetrix lateralis. Black-sided Grouse-locust. Pale brown; sides of the body blackish ; thorax yellowish clay-colored, shorter than the wings, but longer than the body ; wing-covers with a small white spot at the tips; male with the face and the edges of the lateral margins of the tho- rax yellow. Length from 3 to 58 of an inch. This species was first described by Mr. Say under the name of Acrydium laterale.* I have taken it from the mid- dle of April to the middle of May. It varies in being darker above sometimes. 7. Tetrix parvipennis. (Fig. 82.) Small-winged Grouse-locust. Dark brown; sides blackish; thorax clay-colored or pale brown, about as long as the body; wing-covers with a small white spot at the tips; wings much shorter than the thorax ; male with the face and the edges of the lateral margins of the thorax yellow. Length from Js to more than 3% inch. This species is much shorter and thicker than the Tetrix lateralis. I have taken it in April and May, in the perfect state, and have found the pup near the end of July. * American Entomology, Vol. I. Plate 5. [19 Color and style of marking is of very little value in separating the species of Tetrix, and the species described by Dr. Harris are probably all referable to the two species of Say. — UHLER.] 188 ORTHOPTERA. The habits of the grouse-locusts are said to be absolutely the same as those of other locusts. They seem, however, to be more fond of heat, being generally found in grassy places, on banks, by the sides of the road, and even on the naked sands, exposed to the full influence of the sun throughout the day. They are extremely agile, and consequently very diffi- cult to capture, for they leap to an astonishing distance, con- sidering their small size, being moreover aided in this motion by their ample wings. The young, which are deprived of wings, are generally found about midsummer, and are readily distinguished by the thorax, which is somewhat like a re- versed boat, being furnished with a longitudinal ridge or keel from one end to the other. These little locusts are analogous to the insects belonging to the genus Membracis in the order Hemiptera, which also are distinguished by a very large thorax covering the whole of the upper side of the body, small wing-covers, and have the faculty of making great leaps. Indeed, these two kinds of insects very naturally connect the orders Orthoptera and Hemiptera together. After so much space has been devoted to an account of the ravages of grasshoppers and locusts, and to the descriptions of the insects themselves, perhaps it may be expected that the means of checking and destroying them should be fully ex- plained. The naturalist, however, seldom has it in his power to put in practice the various remedies which his knowledge or experience may suggest. His proper province consists in examining the living objects about him with regard to their structure, their scientific arrangement, and their economy or history. In doing this, he opens to others the way to a suc- cessful course of experiments, the trial of which he is gener- ally obliged to leave to those who are more favorably situated for their performance. In the South of France the people make a business, at certain seasons of the year, of collecting locusts and their eggs, the latter being turned out of the ground in little masses cemented and covered with a sort of gum in which they are REMEDIES. 189 enveloped by the insects. Rewards are offered and paid for: their collection, half a franc being given for a kilogramme (about 2 Ib. 34 oz. avoirdupois) of the insects, and a quarter of a frane for the same weight of their eggs. At this rate twenty thousand francs were paid in Marseilles, and twenty- five thousand in Arles, in the year 1613; in 1824, five thou- sand five hundred and forty-two, and in 1825, six thousand two hundred francs were paid in Marseilles. It is stated that an active boy can collect from six to seven kilogrammes (or from 13]b. 30z. 13.22dr. to 15]b. Toz. 2.09dr.) of eggs in one day. The locusts are taken by means of a piece of stout cloth, carried by four persons, two of whom draw it rapidly along, so that the edge may sweep over the surface of the soil, and the two others hold up the cloth behind at an angle of forty-five degrees.* This contrivance seems to oper- ate somewhat like a horse-rake, in gathering the insects into winrows or heaps, from which they are speedily transferred to large sacks. A somewhat similar plan has been successfully tried in this country, as appears by an account extracted from the “ Portsmouth Journal,’ and published in the “ New Eng- land Farmer.” } It is there stated that, in July, 1826, Mr. Arnold Thompson, of Epsom, New Hampshire, caught, in one evening, between the hours of eight and twelve, in his own and his neighbor’s grain-fields, five bushels and three pecks of grasshoppers, or more properly locusts. ‘* His mode of catching them was by attaching two sheets together, and fastening them to a pole, which was used as the front part of the drag. The pole extended beyond the width of the sheets, so as to admit persons at both sides to draw it forward. At the sides of the drag, braces extended from the pole to raise the back part considerably from the ground, so that the grasshoppers could not escape. After running the drag about a dozen rods with rapidity, the braces were taken out, and * See Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, Vol. II. pp. 486 - 4&9. t Vol. V. p. 5. . 190 ORTHOPTERA. the sheets doubled over; the grasshoppers were then swept from each end towards the centre of the sheet, where was left an opening to the mouth of a bag which held about half a bushel; when deposited and tied up, the drag was again opened and ready to proceed. When this bag was filled so as to become burdensome (their weight is about the same as that of the same measure of corn), the bag was opened into a larger one, and the grasshoppers received into a new deposit. The drag can be used only in the evening, when the grass- hoppers are perched on the top of the grain. His manner of destroying them was by dipping the large bags into a kettle of boiling water. When boiled, they had a reddish appear- ance, and made a fine feast for the farmer’s hogs.” When these insects are very prevalent on our salt-marshes, it will be advisable to mow the grass early, so as to secure a crop before it has suffered much loss. The time for doing this will be determined by data furnished in the foregoing pages, where it will be seen that the most destructive species come to maturity during the latter part of July. If, then, the marshes are mowed about the first of July, the locusts, being at that time small and not provided with wings, will be unable to migrate, and will consequently perish on the ground for the want of food, while a tolerable crop of hay will be secured, and the marshes will suffer less from the insects during the following summer. This, like all other preventive measures, must be generally adopted, in order to prove effectual; for it will avail a farmer but little to take preventive measures on his own land, if his neighbors, who are equally exposed and interested, neglect to do the same. Among the natural means which seem to be appointed to keep these insects in check, violent winds and storms may be mentioned, which sometimes sweep them off in great swarms, and cast them into the sea. Vast numbers are drowned by the high tides that frequently inundate our marshes. They are subject to be attacked by certain thread- NATURAL ENEMIES. 191 like brown or blackish worms (Filaria), resembling in ap- pearance those called horse-hair eels (Gordius). I have taken three or four of these animals out of the body of a single locust. They are also much infested by little red mites, belonging apparently to the genus Ocypete; these so much weaken the insects, by sucking the juices from their bodies, as to hasten their death. Ten or a dozen of these mites will frequently be found pertinaciously adhering to the body of a locust, beneath its wing-covers and wings. A kind of sand-wasp preys upon grasshoppers, and provisions her nest with them. Many birds devour them, particularly our domestic fowls, which eat great numbers of grasshoppers, lo- custs, and even crickets. Young turkeys, if allowed to go at large during the summer, derive nearly the whole of their subsistence from these insects. CHAPTER IV. HEMIPTERA. Bues. — Squasn-Buc. — Cuincu-Buc. — PLant-Bucs. — HARVEST-FLIEs — TreE-Horrers. — LrEAr-Hoprers. — VinE-Horpper. — BrEAN-Horrer. — Turips. — PLANT-LicE,— AMERICAN BLIGHT.— ENEMIES OF PLANT-LICE. — Bark-Lice. HE word bug seems originally to have been used for any frightful object, whether real or imaginary, whose appearance was to be feared at night. It was applied in the same sense as bugbear, and also as a term of contempt for something disagreeable or hateful. In later times it became, with the common people, a general name for insects, which, being little known, were viewed with dislike or terror. At present, however, we can say, with L’Estrange, though “we have a horror for uncouth monsters, upon experience all these bugs grow familiar and easy to us.” We would except from this remark those domestic nocturnal species to which the name is now applied by way of pre-eminence ; the real, by an easy transition in the use of language, having assumed the name of the imaginary objects of terror and disgust by night. Entomologists now use the word bug for various kinds of insects, all, like the bed-bug, having the mouth provided with a slender beak, which, when not in use, is bent under the body, and lies upon the breast between the legs. This instrument consists of a horny sheath, containing, in a groove along its upper surface, three stiff bristles as sharp as needles. Bugs have no jaws, but live by sucking the juices of animals and plants, which they obtain by piercing them with their BUGS. 193 beaks. Although the domestic kinds above mentioned are without wing-covers and wings, yet most bugs have both, and, with the former, belong to an order called Hemiptera, literally half-wings, on account of the peculiar construction of their wing-covers, the hinder half of which is thin and filmy like the wings, while the fore part is thick and opaque. There are, however, other insects provided with the same kind of beak, but having the wing-covers sometimes entirely transparent, and sometimes more or less opaque, and these, by most entomologists, are also classed among Hemipte- rous insects, because they come much nearer to them than to any other insects, in structure and habits. Bugs, like other insects, undergo three changes, but they retain nearly the same form in all their stages ; for the only transformation to which they are subject, from the young to the adult state, is occasioned by the gradual development of their wing-covers and wings, and the growth of their bodies, which make it necessary for them repeatedly to throw off their skins, to allow of their increase in size. Young, half-grown, and mature, all live in the same way, and all are equally active. The young come forth from the egg without wing-covers and wings, which begin to appear in the form of little scales on the top of their backs as they grow older, and increase in size with each successive moulting of the skin, till they are fully developed in the full-grown insect. The Hemiptera are divided into two groups, distinguished by the following characters. 1. Bues, or Troe Hemirrera, (Hemiptera lena) in which the wing-covers are thick and opaque at the base, but thin and more or less transparent and wing-like at the tips, are laid horizontally on the top of the back, and cross each other obliquely at the end, so that the thin part of one wing- cover overlaps the same part of the other; the wings are also horizontal, and are not plaited ; the head is more or less hori- zontal, and the beak issues from the fore part of it, and is abruptly bent backwards beneath the under side of the head 25 194 HEMIPTERA. and the breast. Some of the insects belonging to this division live on animal, and others on vegetable juices. 2. Harvest-Fiies, Puant-tice, and BarK-ticr, (Hemipte- ra homoptera,) in which the wing-covers are, as the scientific name implies, of one texture throughout, and are either en- tirely thin and transparent, like wings, or somewhat thicker and opaque; they are not horizontal, and do not cross each other at their extremities, but, together with the wings, are more or less inclined at the sides of the body, like the wing- covers of locusts ; the face is either vertical, or slopes oblique- ly under the body, so that the beak issues from the under side of the head close to the breast. All the insects in- cluded in this division live on vegetable juices. I. BUGS. (Hemiptera heteroptera.) The hemipterous insects belonging to this division are vari- ous kinds of bugs, properly so called, such as squash-bugs, bed-bugs, fruit-bugs, water-bugs, water-boatmen, and many others, for which there are no common names in our lan- guage. In my Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts, the scientific names of ninety-five native species are given ; but, as the mere description of these insects, unaccompanied by any details respecting their economy and habits, would not interest the majority of readers, and as I am not suf- ficiently prepared to furnish these details at present, I shall confine my remarks to two or three species only. The common squash-bug, Coreus tristis (Fig. 83), so well known for the injurious effects of its punctures on the leaves of squashes, is one of the most remarkable of these insects. It was first described by De Geer, who gave it the specific name of tristis, from its sober color, which Gmelin unwar- rantably changed to mestus, having, however, the same meaning. Fabricius called it Coreus rugator, the latter word signifying one who wrinkles, which was probably Fig. 83. THE COMMON SQUASH-BUG. 195 applied to this insect because its punctures cause the leaves of the squash to become wrinkled. Mr. Say, not being aware that this insect had already been three times named and de- scribed, re-described it under the name of Coreus ordinatus. Of these four names, however, that of tristis, being the first, is the only one which it can retain. Coreus, its generical name, was altered by Fabricius from Coris, a word used by the Greeks for some kind of bug. About the last of October squash-bugs desert the plants upon which they have lived during the summer, and conceal themselves in crevices of walls and fences, and other places of security, where they pass the winter in a torpid state. On the return of warm weather, they issue from their winter quarters, and when the vines of the squash have put forth a few rough leaves, the bugs meet beneath their shelter, pair, and immediately afterwards begin to lay their eggs. This usually happens about the last of June or beginning of July, at which time, by carefully examining the vines, we shall find the insects on the ground or on the stems of the vines, close to the ground, from which they are hardly to be distinguished on account of their dusky color. This is the place where they generally remain during the daytime, apparently to es- -eape observation; but at night they leave the ground, get beneath the leaves, and lay their eggs in little patches, fasten- ing them with a gummy substance to the under sides of the leaves. The eggs are round, and flattened on two sides, and are soon hatched. The young bugs are proportionally shorter and more rounded than the perfect insects, are of a pale ash- color, and have quite large antenna, the joints of which are somewhat flattened. As they grow older and increase in size, after moulting their skins a few times, they become more oval in form, and the under side of their bodies gradually acquires a dull ochre-yellow color. They live together at first in little swarms or families beneath the leaves upon which they were hatched, and which, in consequence of the numerous punc- tures of the insects, and the quantity of sap imbibed by them, 196 HEMIPTERA. soon wither, and eventually become brown, dry, and wrin- kled; when the insects leave them for fresh leaves, which they exhaust in the same way. As the eggs are not all laid at one time, so the bugs are hatched in successive broods, and consequently will be found in various stages of growth through the summer. They, however, attain their full size, pass through their last transformation, and appear in their perfect state, or furnished with wing-covers and wings, dur- ing the months of September and October. In this last state the squash-bug measures six tenths of an inch in length. It is of a rusty black color above, and of a dirty ochre-yellow color beneath, and the sharp lateral edges of the abdomen, which project beyond the closed wing-covers, are spotted with ochre-yellow. The thin overlapping portion of the wing-cov- ers is black ; the wings are transparent, but are dusky at their tips; and the upper side of the abdomen, upon which the wings rest when not in use, is of a deep black color, and vel- vety appearance. The ground-color of this insect is really ochre-yellow, and the rusty black hue of the head, thorax, thick part of the wing-covers, and legs, is occasioned by numerous black punc- tures, that, on the head, are arranged in two broad black longitudinal lines, between which, as well as on the margin of the thorax, the yellow is distinctly to be seen. On the back part of the head of this bug, and rather behind the eyes, are two little glassy elevated spots, which are called eyelets, and which are supposed to enable the insect to see distant objects above it, while the larger eyes at the sides of the head are for nearer objects around it. Eyelets are also to be found in grasshoppers, locusts, and many other insects. In some of our species of Coreus there is a little thorn at the base of the antennz, the legs are also thorny on the under side, and the hindmost thighs are much thicker than the others; but none of these characters are found in squash-bugs.* When han- dled, and still more when crushed, the latter give out an odor * They appear to belong to the genus Gonocerus of Burmeister. THE CHINCH-BUG. 197 precisely similar to that of an over-ripe pear, but far too pow- erful to be agreeable. In order to prevent the ravages of these insects, they should be sought and killed when they are about to lay their eggs; and if any escape our observation at this time, their eggs may be easily found and crushed. With this view the squash-vines must be visited daily, during the early part of their growth, and must be carefully examined for the bugs and their eggs. A very short time spent in this way every day, in the proper season, will save a great deal of vexation and disappointment afterwards. If this precaution be neglect- ed or deferred till the vines have begun to spread, it will be exceedingly difficult to exterminate the insects, on account of their numbers; and if at this time dry weather should pre- vail, the vines will suffer so much from the bugs and drought together, as to produce but little if any fruit. Whatever con- tributes to bring forward the plants rapidly, and to promote the vigor and luxuriance of their foliage, renders them less liable to suffer by the exhausting punctures of the young bugs. Water drained from a cow-yard, and similar prepara- tions, have, with this intent, been applied with benefit. The wheat-fields and corn-fields of the South and West often suffer severely from the depredations of certain minute bugs, long known there by the name of chinch-bugs, which fortunately have not yet been observed in New England.* It is not improbable, however, that they may spread in this direction, and attack our growing grain and other crops. In anticipation of such a sad event, and to gratify a curiosity that has been expressed concerning these offensive insects, I venture to offer a few remarks upon them. Attention seems early to have been directed to them. They are mentioned in the eleventh volume of Young’s “ Annals of Agriculture,” published, I believe, about 1788. From this work Messrs. Kirby and Spence probably obtained the following account, * While this sheet is passing through the press, I have to record the discovery of one of these bugs in my own garden, on the 17th of June, 1852. 198 HEMIPTERA. contained in the first volume of their interesting ‘“ Introduc- tion to Entomology.” ‘ America suffers in its wheat and maize from the attack of an insect, which, for what reason I know not, is called the chinch-bug fly. It appears to be apterous, and is said in scent and color to resemble the bed- bug. They travel in immense columns from field to field, like locusts, destroying everything as they proceed; but their injuries are confined to the States south of the 40th degree of north latitude. From this account,” add Kirby and Spence, “the depredator here noticed should belong to the tribe Geocorise, Latr.; but it seems very difficult to conceive how an insect that lives by suction, and has no mandibles, could destroy these plants so totally.” I have ascertained, from an examination of living speci- mens, that the chinch-bug is the Lygeus Leucopterus (Fig. 84), or white-winged Lygzeus, described by Mr. Say, in December, 1831, in a rare little pamphlet on the “ Heteropterous He- miptera of North America.” It appears, moreover, to belong to the modern genus Ehyparochromus. In its perfect state it is not apterous, but is provided with wings, and then measures about three twentieths of an inch in length. It is readily distinguished by its white wing-covers, upon each of which there is a short central line and a large marginal oval spot of a black color. The rest of the body is black and downy, except the beak, the legs, the antennz at base, and the hinder edge of the thorax, which are reddish yellow, and the fore part of the thorax, which has a grayish lustre. The young and wingless indi- viduals are at first bright red, changing with age to brown and black, and are always marked with a white band across the back. It is a mistake that these insects are confined to the States south of the 40th degree; for I have been favored with them by Professor Lathrop, of Beloit College, Wiscon- sin, and by Dr. Le Baron, of Geneva, Illinois. The latter Fig. 84. THE PLANT-BUGS. 199 gentleman had no difficulty in obtaining a sufficient number without going out of his own garden. The eggs of the chinch-bug are laid in the ground, in which the young have been found, in great abundance, at the depth of an inch or more. They make their appearance on wheat about the middle of June, and may be seen in their various stages of growth on all kinds of grain, on corn, and on herds-grass, during the whole summer. Some of them continue alive through the winter in their places of concealment. A very good account of these destructive bugs, with an enlarged figure, will be found in the “ Prairie Farmer,” for December, 1845. In the same publication, for September, 1850, there is an excellent description of the chinch-bug, by Dr. Le Baron, who, not being aware that it had been previously named by Mr. Say, called it Rhyparochromus devastator. During the summer of 1838, and particularly in the early part of the season, which, it will be recollected, was very dry, our gardens and fields swarmed with immense numbers of little bugs, that attacked almost all kinds of herbaceous plants. My attention was first drawn to them in conse- quence of the injury sustained by a few dahlias, marigolds, asters, and balsams, with which I had stocked a little border around my house. In the garden of my friends the Messrs. Hovey, at Cambridge Port, I observed, about the same time, that these insects were committing sad havoc, and was in- formed that various means had been tried to destroy or expel them without effect. On visiting my potato-patch shortly afterwards, I found the insects there also in great numbers on the vines; and, from information worthy of credit, am inclined to believe that these insects contributed, quite as much as the dry weather of that season, to diminish the produce of the potato-fields in this vicinity. They principally attacked the buds, terminal shoots, and most succulent growing parts of these and other herbaceous plants, puncturing them with their beaks, drawing off the sap, and, from the effects sub- sequently visible, apparently poisoning the parts attacked, 200 HEMIPTERA. These shortly afterwards withered, turned black, and in a few days dried up; or curled, and remained permanently stunted in their growth. Early in the morning the bugs would be found buried among the little expanding leaves of the grow- ing extremities of the plants, at which time it was not very ditficult to catch them ; but, after being warmed by the sun, they became exceedingly active, and, on the approach of the fingers, would loose their hold, and either drop suddenly or fly away. Sometimes, too, when on the stem of a plant, they would dodge round to the other side, and thus elude our grasp. In July, 1851, some of these insects were sent to me by a gentleman, who brought them from St. Johns- bury, Vt., where they were confidently believed to be the cause of the potato-rot. This kind of bug is the Phytocoris lineolaris! (Fig. 85), a variety of which was first described and figured by Palisot de Beauvois, under the specific name above given, and was doubtingly referred by him to the genus Coreus; and it was subsequently described by Mr. Say, who called it Capsus oblineatus. All the insects belonging to the genus Phyto- coris* (which means plant-bug) are found on plants, and subsist on their juices, which they obtain by suction through their sharp beaks. They are easily distinguished from other bugs by the following characters. Eyelets wanting; antennz four-jointed, with the first and second joints much thicker than the last two, which are very slender and threadlike; the head short and triangular; the body oval, flattened, and soft ; the thorax in the form of a broad triangle, with the tip of the anterior angle cut off, and the broadest side applied to the base of the wing-covers; the latter, when folded, cover the whole of the abdomen, and their thin portions have only one [1 Dr. Harris misquotes Beauvois for this Phytocoris; the name applied by that author is P. linearis, not lineolaris. — UHLER.] * This new genus, or sub-genus, was instituted by Fallén, and is not noticed by Latreille and Laporte. It differs ftom Capsus chiefly in having a smaller head, and the thorax wider behind, and narrower before, than in the latter genus. THE LITTLE-LINED PLANT-BUG. 201 or two little veins; the legs are slender, and the shanks are bristled with little pomts. There are, in Massachusetts, a good many species belonging to this genus; but, in my Cata- logue of the insects of this Commonwealth, they are included among the species of Capsus, which, indeed, they closely re- semble. The Phytocoris lineolaris (Fig. 85), or little- lined plant-bug, measures one fifth of an inch, or rather more, in length. It is an exceed- ingly variable species. The males are gen- erally much darker than the females, being very deep livid brown or almost black above. The head is yellowish, with three narrow longitudinal reddish stripes ; the first joint of the antenne, the terminal half of the sec- ond, and the last two joints are blackish; the beak is more than one third the whole length of the body, when folded beneath the breast, extends to the middle pair of legs, and is of a yellowish color, ringed with black ; the thorax, or that part of the body that comes immediately behind the head, is thickly covered with punctures, has a yellow margin, and five longitudinal yellow lines upon it, which often disappear on the back part; the scutel, or escutcheon, a small triangular piece behind the thorax, and interposed between the bases of the wing-covers, is also margined with yellow, and has a yellow spot upon it in the form of the letter V, which is often imper- fect, so that only three small yellow spots are visible in the place of the three extremities of the letter; the thick part of the wing-covers is brown, with the outer edge and the longi- tudinal veins sometimes pale or yellowish, and behind this thick part there is a large yellowish spot, on the posterior tip of which is a small black point ; the thin or membranous part of the wing-covers is shaded with dusky clouds; the under -side of the body is marked with a yellowish line or a longitu- dinal series of yellow spots on each side of the middle; the legs are dirty brownish yellow, the thighs blackish at base, and with two black rings near the tip, and the extremities of 26 Fig. 85. , 202 HEMIPTERA. the feet are blackish. The females are most often of a pale olive-green, or of a dirty greenish-yellow color; the thorax spotted and more or less distinctly striped with black, and the thick part of the wing-covers also variegated with dusky or brownish lines and clouds. In both sexes, however, the yel- low V, or the three spots on the thorax, and the large yellow spot tipped with black on the wing-covers, are conspicuous characters, which readily afford the means of identifying the species. I have taken this insect in the spring, as early as the 20th of April, and in the autumn, as late as the middle of October ; from which I infer that it passes the winter in the perfect state in some place of security. It is most abundant during the months of June and July. Specimens have been sent to me from Maine, New York, North Carolina, and Alabama, and Mr. Say records its occurrence in Pennsyl- vania, Indiana, the Northwest Territory, and Missouri. It seems, therefore, to be very generally diffused throughout the Union. The history of this species is yet imperfect. We know not where and when the eggs are laid; the young have not been observed ; and the insects, during the early periods of their existence, have escaped notice, and are only known to us after they have completed their final transformations. It is possible that further information upon the history of these in- sects may afford some aid in devising proper remedies against their ravages. Upon a limited scale, as on plants growing in our gardens, may be tried the effect of sprinkling them with alkaline solutions, such as strong soap-suds, or potash-water, or with decoctions of tobacco and of walnut-leaves, or of dusting the plants with air-slacked lime or sulphur. But in field husbandry such applications would be impracticable. I am inclined to believe that nothing will prove so effectual as thorough irrigation, or copious and frequent showers of rain, which will bring forward the plants with such rapidity, that they will soon become so strong and vigorous as to withstand the attacks of these little bugs. The great increase of these HARVEST-FLIES. 203 and other noxious insects may fairly be attributed to the exterminating war which has wantonly been waged upon our insect-eating birds, and we may expect the evil to in- crease unless these little friends of the farmer are protected, or left undisturbed to multiply, and follow their natural habits. Meanwhile, some advantage may be derived from encouraging the breed of our domestic fowls. A flock of young chickens or turkeys, if suffered to go at large in a garden, while the mother is confined within their sight and hearing, under a suitable crate or cage, will devour great numbers of destructive insects; and our farmers should be urged to pay more attention than heretofore to the rearing of chickens, young turkeys, and ducks, with a view to the benefits to be derived from their destruction of insects. II. HARVEST-FLIES, &c. (Hemiptera Homopt.ru.) By many entomologists this division is raised to the rank of a separate order, under the name of Homoprrra ; but the insects arranged in it are, as already stated, much more like the true Hemiprera, or bugs, than they are to the in- sects in any other order, which shows the propriety of keeping these two divisions together, and that separately they hold only a subordinate importance compared with other orders. The insects belonging to this division are divided by nat- uralists into three large groups, or tribes. 1. Harvest-flies, or Cicadians (CicapaD) ; having short antennz, which are awl-shaped or tipped with a little bris- tle; wings and wing-covers, in both sexes, inclined at the sides of the body ; three joints to their feet; firm and hard skins ; and in which the females have a piercer, lodged in a furrow beneath the extremity of the body. 2. Plant-lice (ApHipID2) ; having antenne longer than the head, and threadlike or tapering from the root to the end; wing-covers and wings frequently wanting in the females ; feet two-jointed ; the body very soft, generally fur- nished with two little tubercles at the end ; no piercer in the " females. 204 HEMIPTERA. 3. Bark-lice (Coccrp#) ; having threadlike or tapering antenne, longer than the head; the males alone provided with wings, which lie horizontally on the top of the back ; no beak in this sex; females wingless, but furnished with beaks ; the feet with only one joint, terminated by a single claw ; skins tolerably firm and hard; two slender threads at the extremity of the body , no piercer in the females. 1. Harvest-Fiies. (Ctcadade.) The most remarkable insects in this group are those to which naturalists now apply the name of Cicada. They are readily distinguished by their broad heads, the large and very convex eyes on each side, and the three eyelets on the crown ; by the transparent and veined wing-covers and wings ; and by the elevation on the back part of the thorax in the form of the letter X. The males have a peculiar organization, which enables them to emit an excessively loud buzzing kind of sound, which, in some species, may be heard at the distance of a mile; and the females are furnished with a curiously contrived piercer, for perforating the limbs of trees, in which they place their eggs. Without attempting a detailed description of the complicated mechanism of these parts, which could only be made intelligible by means of figures, I shall merely give a brief and general account of them, which may suffice for the present occasion. The musical instruments of the male consist of a pair of kettle- drums, one on each side of the body, and these, in the seventeen-year Cicada (or locust as it is generally but im- properly called in America), are plainly to be seen just behind the wings. These drums are formed of convex pieces of parchment, gathered into numerous fine plaits, and, in the species above named, are lodged in cavities on the sides of the body behind the thorax. They are not played upon with sticks, but by muscles or cords fastened to the inside of the drums. When these muscles contract and relax, which they do with great rapidity, the drum-heads THE HARVEST-FLIES. 205 are alternately tightened and loosened, recovering their nat- ural convexity by their own elasticity. The effect of this rapid alternate tension and relaxation is the production of a rattling sound, like that caused by a succession of quick pressures upon a slightly convex and elastic piece of tin plate. Certain cavities within the body of the insect, which may be seen on raising two large valves beneath the belly, and which are separated from each other by thin partitions having the transparency and brilliancy of mica, or of thin and highly polished glass, tend to increase the vibrations of the sounds, and add greatly to their intensity. In most of our. species of Cicada the drums are not visible on the out- side of the body, but are covered by convex triangular pieces on each side of the first ring behind the thorax, which must be cut away in order to expose them. On raising the large valves of the belly, however, there is seen, close to each side of the body, a little opening, like a pocket, in which the drum is lodged, and from which the sound issues when the insect opens the valves. The hinder extremity of the body of the female is conical, and the under side has a longitudinal channel for the reception of the piercer, which is furthermore protected by four short grooved pieces fixed in the sides of the channel. The piercer itself consists of three parts in close contact with each other ; namely, two outer ones grooved on the inside and enlarged at the tips, which externally are beset with small teeth like a saw, and a central, spear-pointed borer, which plays between the other two. Thus this instrument has the power and does the work both of an awl and of a double-edged saw, or rather of two key-hole saws cutting opposite to each other. No species of Cicada possesses the power of leaping. The legs are rather short, and the anterior thighs are armed beneath with two stout spines. The duration of life in winged insects is comparatively very short, seldom exceeding two or three weeks in extent, and in many is limited to the same number of days or hours. 206 HEMIPTERA. To increase and multiply is their principal business in this period of their existence, if not the only one, and the natural term of their life ends when this is accomplished. In their previous states, however, they often pass a much longer time, the length of which depends, in great measure, upon the nature and abundance of their food. Thus maggots, which subsist upon decaying animal or vegetable matter, come more quickly to their growth than caterpillars and other insects which devour living plants; the former are appointed to remove an offensive nuisance, and do their work quickly ; the latter have a longer time assigned to them, corresponding in some degree to the progress or continuance of vegetation. The facilities afforded for obtaining food influence the dura- tion of life; hence those grubs that live in the solid trunks of perennial trees, which they are obliged to perforate in order to obtain nourishment, are longer lived than those that devour the tender parts of leaves and fruits, which last only for a season, and require no laborious efforts to be prepared for food. The harvest-flies continue only a few weeks after their final transformation, and their only nourishment consists of vegetable juices, which they obtain by piercing the bark and leaves of plants with their beaks ; and during this period they lay their eggs, and then perish. They are, however, amply compensated for the shortness of their life in the winged state by the length of their previous existence, during which they are wingless and grub-like in form, and live under ground, where they obtain their food only by much labor in perforating the soil among the roots of plants, the juices of which they imbibe by suction. To mect the diffi- culties of their situation and the precarious supply of their food, for which they have to grope in the dark in their subterranean retreats, a remarkable longevity is assigned to them; and one species has obtained the name of Cicada septendecim, on account of its life being protracted to the period of seventeen years. This insect has been observed in the southeastern parts of THE CICADA SEPTENDECIM. 207 Massachusetts, and in the valley of the Connecticut River, as far north at least as Hadley; but does not seem to have ex- tended to other parts of the State. The earliest account that we have of it is contained in Morton’s ‘ Memorial,” wherein it is stated that “there was a numerous company of flies, which were like for bigness unto wasps or bumblebees,” which appeared in Plymouth in the spring of 1633. ‘ They came out of little holes in the ground, and did eat up the green things, and made such a constant yelling noise as made the woods ring of them, and ready to deafen the hearers.” Judge Davis, in the Appendix to his edition of Secretary Morton’s ** Memorial,” states that these insects appeared in Plymouth, Sandwich, and Falmouth, in the year 1804; but, if the exact period of seventeen years had been observed, they should have returned in 1803. Circumstances may occasionally retard or accelerate their progress to maturity, but the usual interval is certainly seventeen years, accord- ing to the observations and testimony of many persons of undoubted veracity. Their occurrence in large swarms at long intervals, like that of the migratory locusts of the East, probably suggested the name of locusts, which has commonly been applied to them in this country. The following extract from a letter * from the late Rev. Ezra Shaw Goodwin, of Sandwich, contains some interesting particulars which this gentleman had the kindness to communicate to me. “T have not been unmindful of what you said to me re- specting the locust insects, nor of the promise I made you with respect to them. They appeared in this town in the year 1821, in the middle of June. Their last previous ap- pearance was in 1804, and their last, previous to that, was in 1787. I ascertained these periods from the statements of individuals, who remembered that it was locust-year when this or that event occurred; as, when this one was married, or that one’s eldest son was born; events, the date of which the husband or the parent would not be very likely * Dated October 19, 1882. 208 HEMIPTERA. to forget. The remembrance of all, though fixed by differ- ent events, concurred in establishing the same years for the appearance of the locusts. “T first took notice of them in 1821, on the 17th of June, from their noise. They appeared chiefly in the forests, or in thickets of forest-trees, principally oak. Their nearest distance from my dwelling cannot be far from a mile; yet, at a still hour, their music was distinctly heard there. On going to visit them, I found the oak-trees and bushes swarm- ing with them in a winged state. They came up out of the ground a creeping insect. Very soon after they had ar- rived on the surface of the earth, the skin, or rather the shell of the insect, burst upon the back, and the winged insect came forth, leaving the skin or shell upon the earth, in a perfect form, and uninjured, saving at the rupture on the back; showing an entire withdrawing of the living ani- mal, as much so as does the snake’s skin after he has left it. Thus these skins lay in immense numbers under the trees, entirely empty, and perfect in shape. The winged insects did not, so far as I could ascertain, eat anything. Motion and propagation appeared to be the whole object of their existence. They continued about four or five weeks, and then died.” Previous to this event “the females laid their eggs in the tender parts of oak branches, near the extremi- ties, making a longitudinal furrow, and depositing rows of eggs therein (Fig. 86). They then sawed the branch partly off below the eggs, so that the wind could twist off the extreme part containing the eggs, and let it fall to the ground. In this way they injured the trees extensively. The forest had a gloomy appearance from the number of these extremities partially twisted off, and hanging, with their dead leaves, ready to fall. In a few weeks they were nearly all separated from the trees, and carried their vital burdens to the earth, which was, certainly, well seeded for a harvest in 1838. I know of no other damage which they did. .....I believe the locusts appear in different places, in THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR CICADA. 209 different years, and understand that the locust-year, in some places not far distant, is different from their year in this town.” This letter was ac- companied by specimens of the insects, in their various states, obtained and preserved by Mr. Goodwin. > The writer of an ar- ticle in the ‘ Boston Magazine” for Novem- ber, 1784, observes that Mr. Morton must have been mistaken as to these insects, in saying that they eat up the green things, which from the structure of their mouths we now know could not have been the case. This writer also records the appearance of these insects in 1784, and the place of his residence, in which this occurred, is believed to have been in the County of Bristol; which coincides with the remark made by Mr. Goodwin, that in different places they appear in different years. This remark is furthermore con- firmed by the observations of various persons* who have rae Ft I * Among the authorities which I have consulted upon the history of the seven- teen-year Cicada, may be mentioned the Rev. Andrew Sandel, of Philadelphia, an abstract of whose account is given in the 4th vol. of Mitchill and Miller’s “Medical Repository,” p. 71; the “ Columbian Magazine,” Vol. I, pages 86 and 108; Mr. Moses Bartram’s account in Dodsley’s ‘ Annual Register’ for 1767, p 103; Dr. McMurtrie, in the 8th vol. of the “Encyclopedia Americana,” p. 43; Dr. S. P. Hildreth’s interesting account in the 10th vol. of Silliman’s “ American Journal of Science,” p. 327; and a pamphlet entitled “ Notes on the Locusta,” &e., with which I have been favored by the author, Professor Nathaniel Potter, 27 210 HEMIPTERA. published accounts of the occurrence of these insects in the Middle, Southern, and Western States, where, at regular in- tervals of seventeen years, varying according to the locality, they are seen even in greater abundance than in Massachwu- setts. The following dates and places of their ascent are given in Professor Potter’s “‘ Notes on the Locusta decem Septima” (Cicada septendecim): Maryland, 1749, 1766, 1783, 1800, 1817, 1834; South Carolina and Georgia, 1817, 1834; Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1826; Louisiana, 1829; Gallipolis, Ohio, 1821, and Muskmgum, 1829; west- ern parts of Pennsylvania, 1832; Fall River, Massachusetts, 1834. To these may be added from other sources, Penn- sylvania, 1715, 1766, 1783, 1800, 1817; * Marietta, Ohio, 1795, 1812; Plymouth, 1633, 1804; Sandwich, 1787, 1804, 1821; Hadley, 1818; Westfield, 1835; North Haven, Conn., 1724, 1741, 1758, 1792, 1809, 1826, 1843; Genesee Coun- ty, New York, 1832; Martha’s Vineyard, 1833. From information derived from various sources it appears that this species is widely spread over the country, with the exception only of the northern parts of New England; and that it may be seen in some portion of the United States almost every year } and, although certain disturbing causes may occasionally accelerate or retard the return of individuals, or even of an entire swarm, in any one place, yet the lineal descendants of one particular family or swarm will ordina- rily come forth only once in seventeen years, while those of other swarms may appear, after equally regular intervals, in the intervening period, in other places. of Baltimore. This last work is exclusively devoted to the history of this insect, and has afforded me much valuable information. From these various sources I have selected the principal facts which follow. Mr. Collins’s “ Observations on the Cicada of North America,” published in the “ Philosophical Transactions” of London, Vol. LIV. p. 65, with a plate, probably refer to the seventeen-year Cica- da, but the insects figured are not the same, and seem to be the Cicada pruinosa of Mr. Say. * A writer in the “United States Gazette’ records the appearance of these insects in great numbers in Germantown, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of Jay, at four successive periods. THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR CICADA. 211 . The seventeen-year Cicada (Cicada septendecim of Lin- nus), (Plate III. Fig. 7,) in the winged state, is of a black color, with transparent wings and wing-covers, the thick anterior edge and larger veins of which are orange-red, and near the tips of the latter there is a dusky zigzag line in the form of the letter W; the eyes when living are also red; the rings of the body are edged with dull orange ; and the legs are of the same color. The wings expand from 23 to 3} inches. In those parts of Massachusetts which are subject to the visitation of this Cicada, it may be seen in forests of oak about the middle of June. Here such immense numbers are sometimes congregated, as to bend and even break down the limbs of the trees by their weight, and the woods re- sound with the din of their discordant drums from morning to evening. After pairing, the females proceed to prepare a nest for the reception of their eggs. They select, for this purpose, branches of a moderate size, which they clasp on both sides with their legs, and then, bending down the piercer at an angle of about forty-five degrees, they repeatedly thrust it obliquely into the bark and wood in the direction of the fibres, at the same time putting in motion the lateral saws, and in this way detach little splinters of the wood at one end, so as to form a kind of fibrous lid or cover to the perforation. The hole is bored obliquely to the pith, and is gradually enlarged by a repetition of the same operation, till a longitudinal fissure is formed of sufficient extent to receive from ten to twenty eggs. The side-pieces of the piercer serve as a groove to convey the eggs into the nest, where they are deposited in pairs, side by side, but separated from each other by a portion of woody fibre, and they are implanted into the limb somewhat obliquely, so that one end points upwards. When two eggs have been thus placed, the insect withdraws the piercer for a moment, and then inserts it again and drops two more eggs in a line with the first, and repeats the operation till she has filled the fissure 212 HEMIPTERA. from one end to the other, upon which she removes to a little distance, and begins to make another nest to contain two more rows of eggs. She is about fifteen minutes in preparing a single nest and filling it with eggs; but it is not unusual for her to make fifteen or twenty fissures in the same limb; and one observer counted fifty nests extending along in a line, each containing fifteen or twenty eggs in two rows, and all of them apparently the work of one in- sect.* After one limb is thus sufficiently stocked, the Cicada goes to another, and passes from limb to limb and from tree to tree, till her store, which consists of four or five hundred eggs, is exhausted. At length she becomes so weak by her incessant labors to provide for a succession of her kind, as to falter and fall in attempting to fly, and soon dies. Although the Cicadas abound most upon the oak, they resort occasionally to other forest-trees, and even to shrubs, when impelled by the necessity for depositing their eggs, and not unfrequently commit them to fruit-trees, when the latter are in their vicinity. Indeed there seem to be no trees or shrubs that are exempted from their attacks, except those of the pine and fir tribes, and of these even the white cedar is sometimes invaded by them. The punctured limbs languish and die soon after the eggs which are placed in them are hatched; they are broken by the winds or by their own weight, and either remain hanging by the bark alone, or fall with their withered foliage to the ground. In this way orchards have suffered severely in consequence of the in- jurious punctures of these insects. The eggs are one twelfth of an inch long, and one six- teenth of an inch through the middle, but taper at each end to an obtuse point, and are of a pearl-white color. The shell is so thin and delicate that the form of the included insect can be seen before the egg is hatched, which occurs, according to Dr. Potter, in fifty-two days after it is laid, but * See also my communication in Downing’s Horticulturist, Vol. IIL p. 278, Dec., 1848. THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR CICADA. 213 ‘Miss Morris says in forty-two days, and other persons say in fourteen days. The young insect when it bursts the shell is one sixteenth of an inch long, and is of a yellowish-white color, except the eyes and the claws of the fore legs, which are reddish; and it is covered with little hairs. In form it is somewhat grub- like, being longer in proportion than the parent insect, and is furnished with six legs, the first pair of which are very large, shaped almost like lobster-claws, and armed with strong spines beneath. On the shoulders are little prominences in the place of wings; and under the breast is a long beak for suction. These little creatures when liberated from the shell are very lively, and their movements are nearly as quick as those of ants. After a few moments their instincts prompt them to get to the ground, but in order to reach it they do not descend the body of the tree, neither do they cast off themselves precipitately ; but, running to the side of the limb, they deliberately loosen their hold, and fall to the earth. It seems, then, that they are not borne to the ground in the egg state by the limbs in which their nests are contained, but spontaneously make the perilous descent, immediately after they are hatched, without any clew, like that of the canker- worm, to carry them in safety through the air and break the force of their fall. The instinct which impels them thus fearlessly to precipitate themselves from the trees, from heights of which they can have formed no conception, with- out any expericnce or knowledge of the result of their adven- turous leap, is still more remarkable than that which carries the gosling to the water as soon as it is hatched. In those actions that are the result of foresight, of memory, or of experience, animals are controlled by their own reason, as in those to which they are led by the use of their ordinary senses, or by the indulgence of their common appetites, they may be said to be governed by the laws of their organization ; but in such as arise from special and extraordinary instincts, we see the most striking proofs of that creative wisdom 214 HEMIPTERA. which has implanted in them an unerring guide, where rea- son, the senses, and the appetites would fail to direct them. The manner of the young Cicadas’ descent, so different from that of other insects, and seeming to require a special in- stinct to this end, would be considered incredible, perhaps, if it had not been ascertained and repeatedly confirmed by persons who have witnessed the proceeding. On reaching the ground the insects immediately bury themselves in the soil, burrowing by means of their broad and strong fore feet, which, like those of the mole, are admirably adapted for dig- ging. Jn their descent into the earth they seem to follow the Fig. 87. roots of plants, and are subsequently found attached to those which are most tender and succulent, perforating them with their beaks, and thus imbibing the vegetable juices which constitute their sole nourishment. (Fig. 87.) Miss Margaretta H. Morris, who attributes the decline of the pear-tree and the failure of its fruits to depredations of the young Cicadas on its roots, has given interesting accounts of her observations upon these insects. On removing the earth from ‘“‘a pear-tree that had been declining for years, without any apparent cause,” she “found the larve of the Cicada in countless numbers clinging to the roots of the tree, with their suckers piercing the bark, and so deep and firmly placed, that they remained hanging for half an hour after being removed from the earth. From a root a yard long, THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR CICADA. 215 and about an inch in diameter, she gathered twenty-three larvee ; they were of various sizes, from a quarter of an inch to an inch in length. They were on all the roots that grew deeper than six inches below the surface. The roots were unhealthy, and bore the appearance of external injury from small punctures. On removing the outer coat of bark, this appearance increased, leaving no doubt as to the cause of the disease.”’ * The grubs do not appear ordinarily to descend very deeply into the ground, but remain where roots are most abundant ; and it is probable that the accounts of their having been dis- covered ten or twelve feet from the top of the ground have been founded on some mistake, or the occurrence of the insects at such a depth may have been the result of accident. The only alteration to which the insects are subject, during the long period of their subterranean confinement, is an increase of size, and the more complete development of the four small scale-like prominences on their backs, which rep- resent and actually contain their future wings. As the time of their transformation approaches, they grad- ually ascend towards the surface, making in their progress cylindrical passages, oftentimes very circuitous, and seldom exactly perpendicular, the sides of which, according to Dr. Potter, are firmly cemented and varnished so as to be water- proof. These burrows are about five eighths of an inch in diameter, are filled below with earthy matter removed by the insect in its progress, and can be traced by the color and compactness of their contents to the depth of from one to two feet, according to the nature of the soil; but the upper por- tion to the extent of six or eight inches is empty, and serves as a habitation for the insect till the period for its exit arrives. Here it remains during several days, ascending to the top of the hole in fine weather for the benefit of the warmth and the air, and occasionally peeping forth, apparently to recon- * Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Nov. and Dec., 1846; and Downing’s Horticulturist, Vol. II. p. 16, July, 1847. 216 HEMIPTERA. noitre, but descending again on the occurrence of cold or wet weather. During their temporary residence in these burrows near the surface, the Cicada grubs, or more properly pupe, for such they are to be considered at this period, though they still retain something of a grub-like form, acquire strength for further efforts by exposure to the light and air, and seem then only to wait for a favorable moment to issue from their sub- terranean retreats. When at length this arrives, they issue from the ground in great numbers in the night, crawl up the trunks of trees, or upon any other object in their vicinity to which they can fasten themselves securely by their claws. After having rested awhile, they prepare to cast off their skins, which, in the mean time, have become dry and of an amber color. By repeated exertions, a longitudinal rent is made in the skin of the back, and through this the included Cicada pushes its head and body, and withdraws its wings and limbs from their separate cases, and, crawling to a little distance, it leaves its empty pupa-skin, apparently entire, still fastened to the tree. At first the wing-covers and wings are very small and opaque, but, being perfectly soft and flexible, they soon stretch out to their full dimensions, and in the course of a few hours the superfluous moisture of the body evaporates, and the insect becomes strong enough to fly. During several successive nights the pup continue to issue from the earth; above fifteen hundred have been found to arise beneath a single apple-tree, and in some places the whole surface of the soil, by their successive operations, has appeared as full of holes as a honeycomb. In Alabama the species under consideration leaves the ground in February and March, in Maryland and Pennsylvania in May, but in Massachusetts it does not come forth till near the middle of June. Within about a fortnight after their final transforma- tion they begin to lay their eggs, and in the space of six weeks the whole generation becomes extinct. Fortunately these insects are appointed to return only at THE DOG-DAY HARVEST-FLY. 217 periods so distant that vegetation often has time to recover from the injury inflicted by them; but were they to appear at shorter intervals, our forest and fruit trees would soon be entirely destroyed by them. They are moreover subject to many accidents, and have many enemies, which contribute to diminish their numbers. Their eggs are eaten by birds; the young, when they first issue from the shell, are preyed upon by ants, which mount the trees to feed upon them, or destroy them when they are about to enter the ground. Blackbirds eat them when turned up by the plough in fields, and hogs are excessively fond of them, and, when suffered to go at large in the woods, root them up, and devour immense numbers just before the arrival of the period of their final transformation, when they are lodged immediatély under the surface of the soil. It is stated that many perish in the egg state, by the rapid growth of the bark and wood, which closes the perforations and buries the eggs before they have hatched ; and many, without doubt, are killed by their peril- ous descent from the trees. There are several other harvest-flies in the United States, the males of which are musical; but their drums are con- cealed within little cavities in the sides of the first abdominal ring. One of these is found in Massachusetts, and, though it never appears in such great numbers as the preceding species, it is more common or more generally met with throughout the State. It may be called the dog-day harvest-fly, or Cicada canicularis (Fig. 88), from the circumstance of its in- variably appearing with the beginning of dog-days. During many years in succession, with only one or two exceptions, I have heard this insect, on the 25th of July, for the first time in the season, drumming in the trees, on some part of the day between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon. It is true that all do not muster on the same day; for at first they are few in number, and scattered at great distances from each other ; new-comers, however, are added from day to day, till, in a short time, almost every 28 218 HEMIPTERA. tree seems to have its musician, and the rolling of their- drums may be heard in every direction. This circumstance, however, does not render it any the less remarkable that the first of the band should keep their appointed time with such extreme regularity. The dog-day harvest-fly measures about one inch and six tenths from the front to the tips of the wing-covers, which, when spread, expand about three inches. Its body is black on the upper side; the under side of the head, the breast, and the sides of the belly are covered with a white substance resembling flour; the top of the head and the thorax are ornamented with olive-green lines and char- acters, one of which, in the shape of the letter W, is very conspicuous ; the legs, and the front edge and principal veins of the wing-covers and of the wings are also green, and there is a dusky zigzag spot on the little cross-veins near the tip of the wing-covers ; and the valves beneath the body of the males are wider than long. This species has heretofore been mistaken for the Cicada pruinosa, or frosted harvest-fly, described by Mr. Say, which is found in the Middle States, measures two inches to the tips of the wing-covers, has a white spot each side of the base of the abdomen, a second on the middle of the sides, and a third near to the tip, and has the valves of the males longer than wide.* Iam not aware * The form and proportions of the abdominal valves have decided me to sepa- rate the canicularis from Mr. Say’s pruinosa, although, with the exception of their difference in size, they present no other constant characters which will invariably THE HARVEST-FLIES. 219 that the females of the dog-day harvest-fly prefer to lay their eggs in one rather than in another kind of tree; for I have taken the pupx emerging from the ground beneath cherry, maple, and elm trees, and it is probable that they could not have travelled far from the trees upon which, when young, they were hatched, and upon the trunks of which they finally leave their vacant shells. These have much the same form and appearance as the pupa-shells of the seventeen-year har- vest-fly, but are considerably larger. Some individuals of this species continue with us as late as the end of September. As they are not very numerous, the injury sustained by the trees from their punctures is comparatively small. The other harvest-flies of this country have only two eye- lets, and are not furnished with musical instruments; but they enjoy the faculty of leaping, which the Cicadas do not. This faculty does not, as in the grasshoppers and other leap- ing insects, result from an enlargement of their hindmost thighs, which do not differ much in thickness from the others; but is owing to the length of their hindmost shanks, or to the bristles and spines with which these parts are clothed and tipped. These spines serve to fix the hind legs securely to the surface, and, when the insect suddenly unbends its legs, its body is launched forward in the air. Some of these harvest-flies, when assisted by their wings, will leap to the distance of five or six feet, which is more than two hundred and fifty times their own length ; in the serve to distinguish them from each other.2 In my collection are four more na- tive species of Cicada; namely, the auletes of Germar, our largest species, from North Carolina; a second species, apparently undescribed, about equal to this in magnitude, from Long Island, New York; the tibicen of Linnzeus, also from New York, and quite common even within the city; and the hieroglyphica of Say, which, I believe, was captured in Florida, and was presented to me by Mr. Ed- ward Doubleday. A specimen of the tibicen, or some other large species, has been taken in Massachusetts, but I have not the individual to refer to at this time. (2 This is nothing more than a local variety of C. pruinosa, Say; there is no persistency in the form and length of the abdominal valves, and the coloration and extent of pruinoseness upon the insect depend upon various contingencies to which it is liable. — UHLER.] 220 HEMIPTERA. same proportion, ‘‘a man of ordinary stature should be able at once to vault through the air to the distance of a quarter of a mile.” Some of these leaping harvest-flies have the face nearly vertical, and the thorax very large, tapering to a point behind, covering the whole of the upper side of the body, and overtopping even the head, which is not visible from above. These belong chiefly to the genus Membracis, to which allusion has already been made; and, as they are found mostly on the limbs of trees and shrubs, they may receive the name of tree-hoppers.* In others the face slopes downwards towards the breast, the thorax is of moderate size, and does not extend much, if at all, beyond the base of the wing-covers, and does not conceal the head when viewed from above. Some of the insects, with this small- sized thorax, are familiarly called, in English works, cuckoo- spit, and frog-hoppers, and to others may be applied the name of leaf-hoppers, because they live mostly on the leaves of plants. The thorax differs very much in shape in different kinds of tree-hoppers (MemBracipip#), and the variations of this part are productive of many odd forms among these insects, and particularly in foreign species. Among the species in- habiting Massachusetts, there are some in which the thorax forms a thin and high arched crest over the body, as in Membracis camelus of Fabricius, and the vaw of my Cata- logue? To these the name of Membracis, which means sharp-edged, is most applicable. In other species (JZ emar- ginata and sinuata of Fabricius, and concava of Say*) the crest of the thorax is deeply notched on the top. In others the whole of the thorax is not elevated longitudinally in the middle, but only in some part; thus JL Ampelopsidis® has an oblong square crest on the middle of the thorax; M. bi- * Mr. Rennie, in the “ Library of Entertaining Knowledge,” has misapplied this name to the Cicadas, which do not leap. (% Both belong to the genus Smilia, Amyot.— Uner.] [4 AL emarginata, sinuata, and concava belong to Entilia, Amyot. —UHLER. J [5 .. ampelopsidis belongs to Telamona, Fitch. — Unter ] THE TREE-HOPPERS. 221 maculata of Fabricius and univittata® of my Catalogue have a thin horn-like projection, blunt, however, at the end, ex- tending obliquely forwards and upwards from the fore part of the thorax; and M. binotata and latipes’ of Say have a similarly situated horn, narrower however, and curved, so as to give to the insects, when viewed sidewise, the shape of a bird; and, lastly, in M. bubalus of Fabricius, diceros of Say, and tawrina® of my Catalogue, the ridge of the tho- rax, viewed from above, has somewhat the shape of the letter T, becoming broad at the fore part, and extending outwards on each side like a pair of short thick horns, which gave rise to the foregoing specific names, meaning buffalo, two-horned, and kine-like. The habits of some of the tree-hoppers are presumed to be much the same as those of the musical harvest-flies, for they are found on the limbs of trees, where they deposit their egos, only during the adult state, and probably pass the early period of their existence in the ground. Others, however, are known to live and undergo all their changes on the stems of plants. Among the former is our largest native species, the two-spotted tree-hopper, or Mem- gig. g9, bracis bimaculata* of Fabricius (Fig. 89), which may be found in great abundance on the limbs of the locust-tree (Robinia pseudacacia) during. the months of September and October. These, as well as other tree-hoppers, show. but little activity when undis- turbed, remaining without motion for hours together on the limbs of the trees; but on the approach of the fingers, they leap vigorously, and, spreading their wings at the same time, * Fabricius describes the male only under this name; the female:is his Mem- bracis acuminata. This species belongs to Professor Germar’s new genus, Hemi- ptycha.9 [6 ML. bi: lata and univittata belong to Thelia, Amyot. — UHLER.] [7 IM. binotata and latipes belong to Euchenopa, Amyot. — UHLER.] [8 M. bubalus, diceros, and taurina belong to: Ceresa, Amyot. — UHLER.] [9 It might be added, that this genus is now restricted to Membracis punctata, Fab., and a few allied species. — UnuER.] 222 HEMIPTERA. fly to another limb and settle there, in the same position as before. ‘They never sit across the limbs, but always in the direction of their length, with the head or forepart of the body towards the extremity of the branches. On account of their peculiar form, which is that of a thick cone with a very oblique direction, their dark color, and their fixed pos- ture while perching, they would readily be mistaken for the thorns of the tree, a circumstance undoubtedly intended for their preservation. Other instances have been mentioned displaying proofs of equal wisdom in the formation of insects. Thus, in the leaf-insects, grasshoppers, and walking-sticks, which live in trees, the latter exactly simulating a little twig in appearance, and the others having the form and color of leaves, their resemblance to the objects among which they have been destined to live has doubtless been given to them with the express design of screening them from their enemies of the feathered race. Many other examples of the same kind might be mentioned, did time and the limits of my subject warrant; but these alone suffice to show that special provision has been wisely made in the construction of cer- tain defenceless animals with a view to secure them from observation. Surely insects, the most despised of God’s creation, are not unworthy our study, since they are objects of His care and subjects of a special providence. But to return to our locust tree-hopper, which remains to be described ;——it measures about half an inch from the tip of the horn to the end of the body; the male is black- ish above, with a long yellow spot on each side of the back ; and the female is ash-colored, and without spots. While on the trees, these insects, though perfectly still, are not unem- ployed; but puncture the bark with their sharp and slender beaks, and imbibe the sap for nourishment. The female also appears to commit her eggs to the protection of the tree, being furnished with a piercer beneath the extremity of her body, with which to make suitable perforations in the branches. As I have never seen the young on these trees, THE TREE-HOPPERS. 223 I presume that, as soon as they are hatched, they make their way to the ground, and remain under the surface of the soil, sucking the sap from the roots of plants, until they are about to enter upon their last period of existence, when they crawl up the trunks of the trees, throw off their coats, and appear in the perfect or winged state. From the great numbers of these tree-hoppers which exist in certain seasons, the locust-trees undoubtedly suffer much, not only in conse- quence of the quantity of sap abstracted from their branches, but from the numerous punctures made by the insects in obtaining it and in laying their eggs. The oak-tree is attacked by another species, the white- lined tree-hopper (MZ. univittata), which may be found upon it during the month of July. It is about four tenths of an inch in length ; the thorax is brown, has a short obtuse horn extending obliquely upwards from its fore part, and there is a white line on the back, extending from the top of the horn to the hinder extremity. The common creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia) is inhabit- ed by a tree-hopper, which has an oblong square and thin elevation or crest on the middle of the thorax. Its body is usually of a reddish ash-color, and the thorax is ornamented with three reddish-brown bands, one of which is above the head and extends transversely between the lateral projecting angles of the thorax, the second is a short and oblique line on each side of the front part of the crest, and the third is also oblique, and begins on the outer edge of the thorax, and passes obliquely forwards on each side to the top of the hind part of the crest. This species may be called Membracis Ampelopsidis * (Figs. 90 and 91), from the plant on which it is found in the perfect state. The young appear to live in the earth till they are fully grown and have acquired the rudiments of wing-covers and wings, or have become pupz, Fig. 90. Fig. 91. * It is the Membracis Cissi of my Catalogue. 224 HEMIPTERA. after which they are seen ascending the stems of the creeper, on which they change their skins for the last time. This occurs from the middle to the end of June. There is a little tree-hopper, which is found during the months of July and August on the wax-work, or Celastrus scandens, accompanied usually by its young. When fully grown, it is nearly three tenths of an inch in length, including the horn of the thorax; is of a dusky brown color, with two yellowish spots on the ridge of the back; and the first four shanks are exceedingly broad and flat. It is the two-spot- ted tree-hopper, or Membracis binotata of Say. When seen sidewise it presents a profile much like that of a bird, the head and neck of which are represented by the curved projecting horn of the thorax; and a group of these little tree-hoppers, of various sizes, clustered together on a stem of the wax-work, may be likened to a flock of old and young partridges. They appear to pass through all their transformations on the plant, are fond of society, and sit close together, with their heads all in the same direction. Tree-hoppers are often surrounded by ants, for the sake of their castings, and for the sap which oozes from the punc- tures made by the former, of which the ants are very fond. Those kinds that live on the stems of plants from the time when they are hatched till they are fully grown, are very closely attended by ants; and as from their constant suck- ing the young become often wet, their careful attendants, the ants, find regular employment in wiping them clean and dry with their antennz and tongues. The remaining Homopterous insects have a thorax of moderate size, not tapering to a point behind, and not cov- ering the whole body as in the preceding species. Their heads are visible from above, and the face slopes downwards towards the breast. Here may be arranged the singular insects called frog- hoppers (CERcopipIpD#£), which pass their whole lives on plants, on the stems of which their eggs are laid in the THE. LEAF-HOPPERS. 225 autumn. The following summer they are hatched, and the young immediately perforate the bark with their beaks, and begin to imbibe the sap. They take in such quantities of this, that it oozes out of their bodies continually, in the form of little bubbles, which soon completely cover up the insects. They thus remain entirely buried and concealed in large masses of foam, until they have completed their final trans- formation, on which account the names of cuckoo-spittle, frog-spittle, and frog-hoppers have been applied to them. We have several species of these frog-hoppers in Massacliu- setts, and the spittle, with which they are shcltered from the sun and air, may be seen in great abundance, during the summer, on the stems of our alders and willows. In the perfect state they are not thus protected, but are found on the plants, in the latter part of summer, fully grown and preparing to lay their eggs. In this state they possess the power of leaping in a still more remarkabl®@ degree than the tree-hoppers ; and, for this purpose, the tips of their hind shanks are surrounded with little spines, and the first two joints of their feet have a similar coronet of spines at their extremities. Their thorax narrows a little behind, and projects somewhat between the bases of the wing-covers ; their bodies are rather short, and their wing-covers are al- most horizontal and quite broad across the middle, which, with the shortness of their legs, gives them a squat appear- ance.* The Jeaf-hoppers (TerricontaD&) leap almost as well as the spittle-insects just mentioned; but their hind legs are longer, are not surrounded with coronets of short spines, but are three-sided, and generally fringed on two of their edges * The following species are found in Massachusetts, namely: Cercopis ignipecta of my Catalogue, and the parallela, quadrangularis, and obtusa, of Say. The last three belong to Germar’s genus Aphrophora,t which means spume-bearer. Cercopis, which may be translated impostor, was applied by the Greeks to a small Cicada. + [Clastoptera proteus, an insect of this class which does great injury to the cran- berry crop in some parts of Massachusetts, but of whose habits very little has been ascertained, is figured on Plate III. Fig. 6. — Ep ] 29 226 HEMIPTERA. with numerous long and slender spines, which contribute, like the coronets of the frog-hoppers, to fix. their shanks firmly when they are about to leap. The leaf-hoppers have been divided, by Professor Germar and other entomologists, into many genera, according to the structure of their legs, the situation of the eyelets, and the form of the head; but we may retain them, without inconvenience, in the genus Tettigonia, proposed for them by Geoffroy, or rather adopted from the ancient Greeks, who gave this name to the small kinds of harvest-flies, calling the larger ones Tettix. The Tettigonians, or leaf-hoppers, have the head and tho- rax somewhat like those of frog-hoppers, but their bodies are, in general, proportionally longer, not so broad across the middle, and not so much flattened. The head, as seen from above, is broad, and either crescent-shaped, semicir- cular, or even extended forwards in the form of a triangle; its upper side is more or less flattened, and the face slopes downwards towards the breast at an acute angle with the top of the head. The thorax is wider than long, with the front margin curving forwards, the hind margin transverse, or not extended between the wing-covers, which space is filled by a pretty large triangular scutel or escutcheon. The wing-covers are generally opaque, rather long and narrow, and more or less inclined at the sides of the body, not flat however, but moulded somewhat to the form of the body, and the wings are rather shorter and broader, not netted like those of the tree-hoppers, but strengthened by a few longitudinal veins. The eyes, which are distant from each other, and placed at the sides of the head, are pretty large, but flattish, and not globular as in the Cicadas; and the eyelets, which are rarely wanting, vary in their situation, being sometimes on the top and sometimes below the front edge of the head. Notwithstanding the small size of most of these insects, they are deserving our attention on account of their beauty, delicacy, and surprising agility, as well as for the injury sustained by vegetation from them. THE VINE-HOPPERS. 227 It is stated by the late Mr. Fessenden, in the “ New American Gardener,” that some persons in this country have entirely ‘abandoned their grape-vines”’ in consequence of the depredations of a small insect, which, for many years, was supposed to be the vine-fretter of Europe. It is not, however, the same insect, but is a leaf-hopper, and was first described by me in the year 1831, in the eighth volume of the ‘Encyclopedia Americana,” * under the name of Tettigonia Vitis (Plate III. Fig. 5). In its perfect state it measures one tenth of an inch in length. It is of a pale yellow or straw color; there are two little red lines on the head ; the back part of the thorax, the scutel, the base of the wing-covers, and a broad band across their middle, are scarlet; the tips of the wing-covers are blackish, and there are some little red lines between the broad band and the tips. The head is crescent-shaped above, and the eyelets are situated just below the ridge of the front. The vine-hoppers, as they may be called, inhabit the for- eign and the native grape-vines, on the under surface of the leaves of which they may be found during the greater part of the summer; for they pass through all their changes on the vines. They make their first appearance on the leaves in June, when they are very small and not provided with wings, being then in the larva state. During most of the time they remain perfectly quiet, with their beaks thrust into the leaves, from which they derive their nourishment by suction. If disturbed, however, they leap from one leaf to another with great agility. As they increase in size they have occasion frequently to change their skins, and great numbers of their empty cast-skins, of a white color, will be found, throughout the summer, adhering to the under sides of the leaves and upon the ground beneath the vines. When arrived at maturity, which generally occurs during the month of August, they are still more agile than before, making use of their delicate wings as well as their legs in * Article Locust, p. 43. 228 HEMIPTERA. their motions from place to place ; and when the leaves are agitated, they leap and fly from them in swarms, but soon alight and begin again their destructive operations. The infested leaves at length become yellow, sickly, and prematurely dry, and give to the vine at midsummer the aspect it naturally assumes on the approach of winter. But this is not the only injury arising from the exhausting punc- tures of the vine-hoppers. In consequence of the interrup- tion of the important functions of the leaves, the plant itself lancuishes, the stem does not increase in size, very little new wood is formed, or, in the language of the gardeners, the canes do not ripen well, the fruit is stunted and mildews, and, if the evil be allowed to go on unchecked, in a few years the vines become exhausted, barren, and worthless. In the autumn the vine-hoppers desert the vines, and retire for shelter during the coming winter beneath fallen leaves and among the decayed tufts and roots of grass, where they remain till the following spring, when they emerge from their winter-quarters, and in due time deposit their eggs upon the leaves of the vine, and then perish. As the vine-hoppers are much more hardy and more vivacious than the European vine-fretters or plant-lice, the applications that have proved destructive to the latter are by no means so efficacious with the former. Fumigations with tobacco, beneath a movable tent placed over the trel- lises, answer the purpose completely.* They require fre- quent repetition, and considerable care is necessary to pre- vent the escape and insure the destruction of the insects; circumstances which render the discovery of some more expeditious method an object to those whose vineyards are extensive. There is another little leaf-hopper that has been mistaken for a vine-fretter or Thrips, though never found upon the grape-vine. It lives upon the leaves of rose-bushes, and is * See Fessenden’s “ New American Gardener,” p. 299, for a description of the tent and of the process of fumigation. THE BEAN LEAF-HOPPER. 229 very injurious to them. In its perfect state it is rather less than three twentieths of an inch long. Its body is yellowish white, its wing-covers and wings are white and transparent, and its eyes, claws, and piercer brown. The male has two recurved appendages at the tip of its hind body. It may be called Tettigonia Rose.* Swarms of these insects may be found, in various stages of growth, on the leaves of the rose-bush, through the greater part of summer, and even in winter upon housed plants. Their numerous cast skins may be seen adhering to the lower side of the leaves. They pair and lay their eggs about the middle of June, and they probably live through the winter in the perfect state, con- cealed under fallen leaves and rubbish on the surface of the ground. Fumigations with tobacco, and the application of a solution of whale-oil soap in water with a syringe, are the best means for destroying these leaf-hoppers. I have found that the Windsor bean, a variety of the Vicia Faba of Linnzus, is subject to the attacks of a species of leaf-hopper, particularly during dry seasons, and when cultivated in light soils. In the early part of summer the insects are so small and so light-colored that they easily escape observation, and it is not till the beginning of July, when the beans are usually large enough to be gathered for the table, that the ravages of the insects lead to their discovery. A large proportion of the pods will then be found to be rough, and covered with little dark-colored dots or scars, and many of them seem to be unusually spongy and not well filled. On opening these spongy pods, we find that the beans have not grown to their proper size, and if they are left on the plant they cease to enlarge. At the same time the leaves, pods, and stalks are more or less in- fested with little leaf-hoppers, not fully grown, and unpro- vided with wings. Usually between the end of July and * This insect may be the Cicada Rose of Linnzeus, or Jassus Rose of Fabricius. It belongs to Dr. Fitch’s genus Empoa, as also does Tettigonia Fabe. The Tetti- gonia Vitis is an Erythroneura of the same author. 230 HEMIPTERA. the middle of August the insects come to their growth and acquire their wings ; but the mischief at this time is finished, and the plants have suffered so much that all prospect of a second crop of beans, from new shoots produced after the old stems are cut down, is frustrated. These leaf-hoppers have the same agility in their motions, and apparently the same habits, as the vine-hoppers ; but in the perfect state they are longer, more slender, and much more delicate. They are of a pale green color; the wing- covers and wings are transparent and colorless; and the last joint of the hind feet is bluish. The head, as seen from above, is crescent-shaped, and the two eyelets are sit- uated on its front edge. The male has two long recurved feathery threads at the extremity of the body. The length of this species is rather more than one tenth, but less than three twentieths of an inch. It may be called Tettigonia Fabe. Probably it passes the winter in the same way as the vine-hopper. 2, Puant-Lice. (Aphidide.) The Aphidians, in which group we include the insects commonly known by the name of plant-lice, differ remarka- bly from all the foregoing in their appearance, their forma- tion, and their manner of increase. Their bodies are very soft, and usually more or less oval. The females are often without wing-covers and wings; and the former, when they exist, do not differ in texture from the wings, but are usually much larger and more useful in flight. We may therefore cease to call these parts wing-covers, in all the remaining insects of this order, and apply to them the name of upper wings. Some of the Aphidians have the power of leaping, like the leaf-hoppers, from which, however, they differ in having very large and transparent upper wings, which cover the sides of the body like a very steep roof; and their antenne are pretty jong and threadlike, and are tipped with two short bristles THE LEAPING PLANT-LICE. 231 at the end. Both sexes, when arrived at maturity, are winged, and some of the females are provided with a kind of awl at the end of the body, very different, however, from the piercers of the foregoing insects. With this they prick the leaves, in which they deposit their eggs, and the wounds thus made sometimes produce little excrescences or swellings on the plant. These leaping plant-lice belong to a genus called Psylla, which was the Greek name for a small jump- ing insect. They are by no means so prolific as the other plant-lice, for ordinarily they produce only one brood in the year. They live in groups, composed of about a dozen individuals each, upon the stems and leaves of plants, the juices of which they imbibe through their tubular beaks. The young are often covered with a substance resembling fine cotton arranged in flakes. This is the case with some which are found on the alder and birch in the spring of the year. Within a few years, a kind of Psylla, before unknown here, has appeared upon pear-trees in the western parts of Connecticut and of Massachusetts, particularly in the valley of the Housatonic, and in the adjoining counties of Dutchess and Columbia in New York. It was first made known to me, in December, 1848, by Dr. Ovid Plumb, of Salisbury, Connecticut, and it is the subject of a communication in the “ American Agriculturist,” for January, 1849. Since that time, Dr. Plumb has favored me with additional observa- tions, and an account of his experiments, with various rem- edies, and towards the end of July, 1851, a brief visit to Salisbury gave me an opportunity of seeing the insects in a living condition, and in the midst of their operations upon the trees. This Psylla, or jumping plant-louse, is one of the kinds whose young are naked, or not covered with a coat of cotton. In some of its forms it is found on pear-trees during most of the time from May to October ; and probably two if not more broods are produced in the course of the summer. 232 HEMIPTERA. It was first observed by Dr. Plumb in the spring of 1833, on some imported pear-trees, which had been set the year before. These trees, in the autumn after they were planted, wore an unhealthy aspect, and had patches of a blackish rust upon their branches. During the second summer, these trees died; and other trees, upon which the same rusty matter was found, proved to be infested with the same insects. Like the aphides, or plant-lice, these insects live by suc- tion. By means of their suckers, which come from the lower side of the head near the breast, they puncture the bark of the twigs and small branches, and imbibe the sap. They soon gorge themselves to such a degree, that the fluid issues constantly from their bodies in drops, is thrown over the surface of the twigs, and, mingled with their more solid castings, defiles the bark, and gives it the blackish color above noticed. Swarms of flies and ants upon the trees are a sure indication of the presence of these sap-suckers, being attracted by the sweetish fluid thrown out by them. Young trees suffer excessively by the attacks of these in- sects, nor do old trees escape without injury from them. In consequence apparently of their ravages alone, Dr. Plumb lost several hundred pear-trees from 1834 to 1838 inclusive ; his trees have continued to suffer, to some extent, from this cause, since that time; and he informs me that the same destructive depredations have been observed in all the ad- jJacent region. On the 23d of July, I saw these insects on the trees, some already provided with wings, and others advancing towards maturity. The young ones were of a dull orange-yellow color. They were short, and were ob- tuse behind, and had little wing-scales on the sides of their bodies. The perfect, or winged individuals, were about one tenth of an inch long from the forehead to the tips of the closed wings. The front of the head was notched in the middle. The eyes were large and prominent. The head and thorax were brownish orange, and the hind body green- THE PEAR-TREE PSYLLA. 933 ish. Their four ample wings were colorless and transparent, and were marked with a few dark veins. The body of the female is pointed at the end, and inclines to a reddish hue. The pear-tree, in Europe, is subject to the attacks of a similar insect, called Psylla Pyri, the pear-tree Psylla. The European species is said to vary in color at different ages, and in different seasons of the year, being of a dull crimson color, shaded with black in the spring, when it comes forth to lay its eggs. Not having seen any of our pear-tree Psylle in their spring dress, I cannot say whether they agree with those of Europe in being of the same crim- son color at this season of the year. As, however, they do correspond very nearly in other respects to the descriptions given of the European species, and have precisely the same destructive habits, and as they were first detected upon imported pear-trees, I apprehend that they were introduced from abroad, and that they will prove to be the same species as the European Psylla Pyri. The following particulars, abridged from Kollar’s ‘* Trea- tise,” if confirmed by future observations, will serve to complete the history of the American insect. The European pear-tree Psylla comes forth from its winter retreat, pro- vided with wings, as soon as the buds of fruit-trees begin to expand. After pairing, the female lays her eggs in great numbers near each other on the young leaves and blossoms, or on the newly-formed fruit and shoots. The eggs are oblong, yellowish, and look somewhat like grains of pollen. The young insects hatched therefrom resemble wingless plant- lice, and are of a dark yellow color. They change their skins and color repeatedly, and acquire wing-scales, or rudi- mentary wings. They then fix themselves to the bark in rows, and remain sucking the sap till their last change ap- proaches, at which time they disperse among the leaves, cast off their skins, and appear in the winged form. When considerable numbers attack a pear-tree, the latter 30 234 HEMIPTERA. soon assumes an unhealthy appearance, its growth is checked, its leaves and shoots curl up, and the tree dies by degrees, if not freed from its troublesome guests. Kollar recommends brushing off the insects, when young, with a brush of hog’s bristles, and crushing under foot those that fall; and also advises to search for the winged females in the spring, and destroy them by hand. Such a process would be altogether too tedious and uncertain here. I would therefore suggest the expediency of washing the twigs with a brush dipped in a mixture of strong soap-suds and flour of sulphur. If this be done before the buds expand, the latter will not be injured thereby, while the application will be likely to deter the insects from laying their eggs on the tree. A weaker application of the same, or the common solution of whale-oil soap, may suffice to kill the young insects after they have fastened themselves upon the bark. If the latter be thrown upon the trees with a syringe, it will destroy the insects on the leaves also. Others, both sexes of which are also winged, have long and slender bodies, very narrow wings, which are fringed with fine hairs, and lie flatly on the back when not in use. They are exceedingly active in all their motions, and seem to leap rather than fly. They live on leaves, flowers, in buds, and even in the crevices of thé bark of plants, but are so small that they readily escape notice, the largest being not more than one tenth of an inch in length. These minute and slender insects belong to the genus Thrips. Their punctures appear to poison plants, and often produce deformities in the leaves and blossoms. The peach-tree sometimes suffers severely from their attacks, as well as from those of the true plant-lice; and they are found be- neath the leaves, in little hollows caused by their irritating punctures. The same applications that are employed for the destruc- tion of plant-lice may be used with advantage upon plants infested with the Thrips. Mrs. N. G. 8. Gage, formerly of THE PLANT-LICE. 235 Concord, N. H., to whom I am indebted for much valuable information respecting the wheat-fly, or Cecidomyia Tritict, has discovered another pernicious insect in the ears of grow- ing wheat. It seems to agree with the accounts of the Thrips cerealium, which sometimes infests wheat, in Europe, to a great extent. This insect, in its larva state, is smaller than the wheat maggot, is orange-colored, and is provided with six legs, two antenne, and a short beak, and is very nimble in its motions. It is supposed to suck out the juices of the seed, thus causing the latter to shrink, and become what the English farmers call pungled. This little pest may proba- bly be destroyed by giving the grain a thorough coating of slacked lime. Aphides, or plant-lice, as they are usually called, are among the most extraordinary of insects. They are found upon almost all parts of plants, the roots, stems, young shoots, buds, and leaves, and there is scarcely a plant which does not harbor one or two kinds peculiar to itself. They are, moreover, exceedingly prolific, for Réaumur has proved that one individual, in five generations, may become the progenitor of nearly six thousand millions of descendants. It often happens, that the succulent extremities and stems of plants will, in an incredibly short space of time, become completely coated with a living mass of these little lice. These are usually wingless, consisting of the young and of the females only; for winged individuals appear only at particular seasons, usually in the autumn, but sometimes in the spring, and these are small males and larger females. After pairing, the latter lay their eggs upon or near the leaf-buds of the plant upon which they live, and, together with the males, soon afterwards perish.. The genus to which plant-lice belong is called Aphis, (Plate III. Fig. 4, Aphis mali,) from a Greek word which signifies to exhaust. The following are the principal char- acters by which they may be distinguished from other insects. Their bodies are short, oval, and soft, and are furnished at 236 HEMIPTERA. the hinder extremity with two little tubes, knobs, or pores, from which exude almost constantly minute drops of a fluid as sweet as honey; their heads are small, their beaks are. very long and tubular, their eyes are globular, but they have not eyelets, their antenne are long, and usually taper to- wards the extremity, and their legs are also long and very slender, and there are only two joints to their feet. Their upper are nearly twice as large as the lower wings, are much longer than the body, are gradually widened towards the extremity, and nearly triangular; they are almost ver- tical when at rest, and cover the body above like a very sharp-ridged roof. The winged plant-lice provide for a succession of their race by stocking the plants with eggs in the autumn, as before stated. These are hatched in due time in the spring, and the young lice immediately begin to pump up sap from the tender leaves and shoots, increase rapidly in size, and in a short time come to maturity. In this state, it is found that the brood, without a single exception, consists wholly of females, which are wingless, but are in a condition imme- diately to continue their kind. Their young, however, are not hatched from eggs, but are produced alive, and each female may be the mother of fifteen or twenty young lice in the course of a single day. The plant-lice of this second generation are also wingless females, which grow up and have their young in due time; and thus brood after brood is produced, even to the seventh generation or more, with- out the appearance or intervention, throughout the whole season, of a single male. This extraordinary kind of prop- agation ends in the autumn with the birth of a brood of males and females, which in due time acquire wings and pair; eggs are then laid by these females, and with the death of these winged individuals, which soon follows, the race becomes extinct for the season. Plant-lice seem to love society, and often herd together in dense masses, each one remaining fixed to the plant by 1 THE PLANT-LICE. 237 means of its long tubular beak; and they rarely change their places till they have exhausted the part first attacked. The attitudes and manners of these little creatures are ex- ceedingly amusing. When disturbed, like restive horses, they begin to kick and sprawl in the most ludicrous manner. They may be seen, at times, suspended by their beaks alone, and throwing up their legs as if in a high frolic, but too much engaged in sucking to withdraw their beaks. As they take in great quantities of sap, they would soon become gorged if they did not get rid of the superabundant fluid through the two little tubes or pores. at the extremity of their: bodies. When one of them gets running-over full, it seems to communicate its uneasy sensations, by a kind of animal magnetism, to the whole flock, upon which they all, with one accord, jerk upwards their bodies, and eject a shower of the honeyed fluid. The leaves and bark of plants much infested by these insects are often completely sprinkled over with drops of this sticky fluid, which, on drying, become dark colored, and greatly disfigure the foliage. This appear- ance has been denominated honey-dew ; but there is another somewhat similar production observable on plants, after very dry weather, which has received the same name, and consists of an extravasation or oozing of the sap from the leaves. We are often apprised of the presence of plant-lice or plants growing in the open air by the ants ascending and descending the stems. By observing the motions of the latter, we soon ascertain that the sweet fluid discharged by the lice is the occasion of these visits. The stems swarm with slim and hungry ants running upwards, and others lazily descending with their bellies swelled almost to bursting. When arrived in the immediate vicinity of the plant-lice, they greedily wipe up the sweet fluid which has distilled from them, and when this fails, they station themselves among the lice, and catch the drops as they fall. The lice do not seem in the least annoyed by the ants, but live on the best possible terms with them; and, on the 238 HEMIPTERA. other hand, the ants, though unsparing of other insects weaker than themselves, upon which they frequently prey, treat the plant-lice with the utmost gentleness, caressing them with their antenne, and apparently inviting them to give out the fluid by patting their sides. Nor are the lice inattentive to these solicitations, when in a state to gratify the ants, for whose sake they not only seem to shorten the periods of the discharge, but actually yield the fluid when thus pressed. A single louse has been known to give it drop by drop successively to a number of ants, that were waiting anxiously to receive it. When the plant-lice cast their skins, the ants instantly remove the latter, nor will they allow any dirt or rubbish to remain upon or about them. They even protect them from their enemies, and run about them in the hot sunshine to drive away the little ichneumon flies that are forever hovering near to deposit their eggs in the bodies of the lice. Plant-lice differ very much in form, color, clothing, and in the length of the honey-tubes. Some have these tubes quite long, as the rose-louse, Aphis Rose, which is green, and has a little conical projection or stylet, as it is called, at the extremity of the body, between the two honey-tubes. The cabbage-louse, Aphis Brassice, has also long honey- tubes, but its body is covered with a whitish mealy substance. This species is very abundant on the under side of cabbage- leaves in the month of August. The largest species known to me is found in clusters beneath the limbs of the pig-nut hickory ( Carya poreina), in all stages of growth, from the first to the middle of July. It is the Aphis * Caryce of my Catalogue. Its body, in the winged state, measures one quarter of an inch to the end of the abdomen, and above four tenths of an inch to the tips of the upper wings, which expand rather more than seven tenths of an inch. It has no terminal stylet, and the honey- tubes are very short. Its body is covered with a bluish-white * It probably belongs to the genus Lachnus of Iliger, or Cinara of Curtis. THE SUBTERRANEAN PLANT-LICE. 239 substance like the bloom of a plum, with four rows of little transverse black spots on the back; the top of the thorax and the veins of the wings are black, as are also the shanks, the feet, and the antenne, which are clothed with black hairs; the thighs are reddish brown. This species sucks the sap from the limbs, and not from the leaves, of the hickory. There i: another large species, living in the same way on the under side of the branches of various kinds of willows, and clustered together in great numbers. About the first of October they are found in the winged state. The body measures one tenth of an inch in length, and the wings expand about four tenths. The stylet is wanting; the body is black and without spots; the wings are transparent, but their veins, the short honey-tubercles, the third joint of the antenne, and the legs, are tawny yellow. This species cannot be identical with the willow-louse, Aphis Salicis of Linneus, which has a spotted body; and therefore I pro- ' pose to call it Aphis Salicti, the plant-louse of willow groves. ' When crushed, it communicates a stain of a red- dish or deep orange color. Some plant-lice live in the ground, and derive their nour- ishment ‘from the roots of plants. We annually lose many of our herbaceous plants, if cultivated in a light soil, from the exhausting attacks of these subterranean lice. Upon pulling up China asters, which seem to be perishing from no visible cause, I have found hundreds of little lice, of a white color, closely clustered together on the roots. I could never discover any of them that were winged, and therefore conclude from this circumstance, as well as from their pecu- liar situation, that they never acquire wings. Whether these are of the same species as the Aphis radicum of Europe, I cannot ascertain, as no sufficient description of the latter [1° The name Salicti was long ago appropriated by Schrank to a very different species of Aphis, inhabiting Europe. This name must therefore fall as a synonyme to some other which may be applied to it It might be called Aphis Salicicola. — UHLER.] 240 HEMIPTERA. has ever come to my notice! These little lice are attended by ants, which generally make their nests near the roots of the plants, so as to have their milch kine, as the plant-lice have been called, within their own habitations ; and in con- sequence of the combined operations of the lice and the ants, the plants wither and prematurely perish. When these subterranean lice are disturbed, the attendant ants are thrown into the greatest confusion and alarm ; they carefully take up the lice which have fallen from the roots, and convey them in their jaws into the deep recesses of their nests; and here the lice still contrive to live upon the fragments of the roots left in the soil. It is stated* that the ants bestow the same care and attention upon the root-lice as upon their own offspring, that they defend them from the attacks of other insects, and carry them about in their mouths to change their pas- ture; and that they pay particular attention to the eges of the lice, frequently moistening them with their tongues, and in fine weather bringing them to the surface of the nest to give them the advantage of the sun. On the other hand, the sweet fluid supplied in abundance by these lice forms the chief nutriment both of the ants and their young, which is sufficient to account for their solicitude and care for their valuable herds. The peach-tree suffers very much from the attacks of plant-lice, which live under the leaves, causing them by their punctures to become thickened, to curl or form hol- lows beneath, and corresponding crispy and reddish swell- ings above, and finally to perish and drop off prematurely. Whether our insect is the same as the European Aphis of [11 It is very probable that the Aphis infesting China asters is the same with the radicis of Europe. Many foreign species of plant-lice have become naturalized in this country, and we may thus expect to find most, if not all, of the commoner European species infesting our vegetation. The Aphis (Tram) radicis of Europe corresponds with our own in color, and, as supposed by Dr. Harris, winged speci- mens have never been discovered. — UHLER ] * See Kirby and Spence’s Introduction to Entomology, Vol. II. pp. 91, 92. THE DOWNY PLANT-LICE. 241 the peach-tree (Aphis Persicee of Sulzer) I cannot determine, for the want of a proper description of the latter. The injuries occasioned by plant-lice are much greater than would at first be expected from the small size and extreme weakness of the insects; but these make up by their numbers what they want in strength individually, and thus become formidable enemies to vegetation. By their punctures, and the quantity of sap which they draw from the leaves, the functions of these important organs are de- ranged or interrupted, the food of the plant, which is there elaborated to nourish the stem and mature the fruit, is with- drawn, before it can reach its proper destination, or is con- taminated and left in a state unfitted to supply the wants of vegetation. Plants are differently affected by these insects. Some wither and cease to grow, their leaves and stems put on a sickly appearance, and soon die from exhaustion. Others, though not killed, are greatly impeded in their growth, and their tender parts, which are attacked, become stunted, curled, or warped. The punctures of these lice seem to poison some plants, and affect others in a most singular manner, producing warts or swellings, which are sometimes solid and some- times hollow, and contain in their interior a swarm of lice, the descendants of a single individual, whose punctures were the original cause of the tumor. I have seen reddish tumors of this kind, as big as a pigeon’s egg, growing upon leaves, to which they were attached by a slender neck, and con- taining thousands of small lice in their interior. Naturalists call these tumors galls, because they seem to be formed in the same way as the oak-galls which are used in the making of ink. The lice which inhabit or. produce them generally differ from the others, in having shorter antenne, being without honey-tubes, and in frequently being clothed with a kind of white down, which, however, disappears when the insects become winged. 31 242 HEMIPTERA. These downy plant-lice are now placed in the genus Erio- soma, which means woolly body, and the most destructive species belonging to it was first described, under the name of Aphis lanigera, by Mr. Hausmann,* in the year 1801, as infesting the apple-trees in Germany. It seems that it had been noticed in England as early as the year 1787, and has since acquired there the name of American blight, from the erroneous supposition that it had been imported from this country. It was known, however, to the French gardeners ¢ for a long time previous to both of the above dates, and, according to Mr. Rennie, + is found in the or- chards about Harfleur in Normandy, and is very destructive to the apple-trees in the department of Calvados. There is now good reason to believe that the miscalled American blight is not indigenous to this country, and that it has been introduced here with fruit-trees from Europe. Some persons, indeed, have supposed that it was not to be found here at all, but the late Mr. Buel has stated§ that it existed on his apple-trees, and I have once or twice seen it on apple-trees in Massachusetts, where, however, it still appears to be rare, and consequently I have not been able to examine the insects sufficiently myself. The best account that I have seen of them is contained in Knapp’s “ Journal of a Naturalist,” from which, and from Hausmann’s de- scription, the following observations are chiefly extracted. The eggs of the woolly apple-tree louse are so small as not to be distinguished without a microscope, and are en- veloped in a cotton-like substance furnished by the body of the insect. They are deposited in the crotches of the branches and in the chinks of the bark at or near the sur- face of the ground, especially if there are suckers springing from the same place. The young, when first hatched, are covered with a very short and fine down, and appear in * Tiliger’s Magazin, Vol. I. p. 440. t Insect Miscellanies, p. 180. { Salisbury’s Hints on Orchards, p. 39. § New England Farmer, Vol. VIL. p. 169; Vol. IX. p. 178. THE APPLE-TREE LOUSE. 248 the spring of the year like little specks of mould on the trees (Fig. 92). As the season advances, and the insect increases in size, its downy coat be- comes more distinct, and grows in length daily. This down is very easily removed, adheres to the fingers when it is touched, and seems to issue from all the pores of the skin of the abdomen. When fully grown, the insects of the first brood are one tenth of an inch in length, and, when the down is rubbed off, the head, antenne, suck- er, and shins are found to be of a blackish color, and the abdomen honey-yellow. The young are produced alive during the summer, are buried in masses of the down, and derive their nourishment from the sap of the bark and of the alburnum or young wood immediately under the bark. The adult insects never acquire wings, at least such is the testimony both of Hausmann and Knapp, and are des- titute of honey-tubes, but from time to time emit drops of a sticky fluid from the extremity of the body. These insects, though destitute of wings, are conveyed from tree to tree by means of their long down, which is so plentiful and so light, as easily to be wafted by the winds of autumn, and thus the evil will gradually spread throughout an extensive orchard. The numerous punctures of these lice produce on the tender shoots a cellular appearance, and wherever a colony of them is established, warts or excrescences arise on the bark; the limbs thus attacked become sickly, the leaves turn yellow and drop off; and, as the infection spreads from limb to limb, the whole tree becomes diseased, and eventually perishes. In Gloucestershire, England, so many apple-trees were destroyed by these lice in the year 1810, that it was feared the making of cider must be abandoned. In the North of England the apple-trees are greatly injured, and some annu- ally destroyed by them, and in the year 1826 they abounded Fig. 92. we y 244 HEMIPTERA. there in such incredible luxuriance, that many trees seemed, at a short distance, as if they had been whitewashed. Mr. Knapp thinks that remedies can prove efficacious in removing this evil only upon a small scale, and that when the injury has existed for some time, and extended its influ- ence over the parts of a large tree, it will take its course, and the tree will die. He says that he has removed this blight from young trees, and from recently attacked places in those more advanced, by painting over every node or infected part of the tree with a composition consisting of three ounces of melted resin mixed with the same quantity of fish-oil, which is to be put on while warm, with a painter’s brush. Sir Joseph Banks succeeded in extirpating the in- sects from his own trees by removing all the old and rugged bark, and scrubbing the trunk and branches with a hard brush. The application of the spirits of tar, of spirits of turpentine, of oil, urine, and of soft soap, has been recom- mended. Mr. Buel found that oil sufficed to drive the insects from the trunks and branches, but that it could not be applied to the roots, where numbers of the insects har- bored. The following treatment I am inclined to think will prove as successful as any which has heretofore been recommended. Scrape off all the rough bark of the infected trees, and make them perfectly clean and smooth early in the spring; then rub the trunk and limbs with a stiff brush wet with a solution of potash as hereafter recommended for the destruc- tion of bark-lice; after which remove the sods and earth around the bottom of the trunk, and with the scraper, brush, and alkaline liquor, cleanse that part as far as the roots can conveniently be uncovered. The earth and sods should immediately be carried away, fresh loam should be placed around the roots, and all cracks and wounds should be filled with grafting cement or clay mortar. Small limbs and extremities of branches, if infected, and beyond reach of the applications, should be cut off and burned. REMEDIES. 245 There are several other species of Hriosoma or downy lice in this State, inhabiting various forest and ornamental trees, some of which may also have been introduced from abroad. The descriptions of foreign plant-lice are mostly so brief and imperfect, that it is impossible to ascertain from them which of our species are identical with those of Europe; I shall therefore omit any further account of these insects, and close this part of the subject with a few remarks on the remedies to be employed for their destruction generally, and some notice of the natural enemies of plant-lice. Solutions of soap, or a mixture of soapsuds and tobacco- water, used warm and applied with a watering-pot or with a garden engine, may be employed for the destruction of these insects. It is said that hot water may also be employed for the same purpose with safety and success. The water, tobacco-tea, or suds should be thrown upon the plants with considerable force, and if they are of the cabbage or lettuce kind, or other plants whose leaves are to be used as food, they should subsequently be drenched thoroughly with pure water. Professor Lindley recommends syringing plants, as often as necessary to remove the lice, with a solution of half, an ounce of strong carbonate of ammonia in one quart of water, which has the merit of being clean as well as effectual. Lice on the extremities of branches may be killed by bend- ing over the branches and holding them for several minutes in warm and strong soapsuds, or in a solution of whale-oil soap. Against the depredations of the plant-lice that sometimes infest potato-fields, dusting the plants with lime has been found a good remedy. Lice multiply much faster, and are more injurious to plants, in a dry than in a wet atmosphere ; hence in green-houses, attention should be paid to keep the air sufficiently moist; and the lice are readily killed by fumi- gations with tobacco or with sulphur. To destroy subterra- nean lice on the roots of plants, I have found that watering with salt water was useful, if the plants were hardy; but 246 HEMIPTERA. tender herbaceous plants cannot be treated in this way, but may sometimes be revived, when suffering from these hidden foes, by free and frequent watering with soapsuds. Plant-lice would undoubtedly be much more abundant and destructive, if they were not kept in check by certain re- doubtable enemies of the insect kind, which seem expressly created to diminish their numbers. These lice-destroyers are of three sorts. The first are the young or larve of the hemispherical beetles familiarly known by the name of lady- birds, and scientifically by that of Coccinella. These little beetles are generally yellow or red, with black spots, or, black, with white, red, or yellow spots ; there are many kinds of them, and they are very common and plentiful insects, and are generally diffused among plants. They live, both in the perfect and young state, upon plant-lice, and hence their services are very considerable. Their young are small flattened grubs (Fig. 93) of a bluish or blue-black color, spotted usually with red or yel- low, and furnished with six legs near the fore part of the body. They are hatched from little yellow eggs, laid in clusters among the plant- lice, so that they find themselves at once within reach of their prey, which, from their superior strength, they are enabled to seize and slaughter in great numbers. In July, 1848, a friend sent to me a whole brood of lady-bird grubs, which, being found upon potato-vines, were thought by some of his neighbors to be the cause of the rot. In a few weeks the grubs were transformed to beetles, about as big as half a pea, and having nine black dots on their dull orange-colored wing- shells. Hence they derive their name of ey Coccinella novemnotata, (Fig. 94, pupa and imago, and Plate II. Fig. 4,) the nine-dot- AG ted Coccinella. It need hardly be added, that these little insects were wholly innocent of all offence to the plants, upon which, when infested with Fig. 93. - Fig. 94. PLANT-LICE DESTROYERS. 247 the common potato plant-lice, they may always be found. It is amusing, however, that both of these kinds of insects should have been charged with the same fault, one having no more to do with producing the disease than the other. There are some lady-birds, of a very small size, and black- ish color, sparingly clothed with short hairs, and sometimes with a yellow spot at the end of the wing-covers, whose young are clothed with short tufts or flakes of the most delicate white down. These insects belong to the genus Scymnus, which means a lion’s whelp, and they well merit such a name, for their young, in proportion to their size, are as sanguinary and ferocious as the most savage beasts of prey. I have often seen one of these little tufted animals preying upon plant-lice, catching and devouring, with the greatest ease, lice nearly as large as its own body, one after another, in rapid succession, without apparently satiating its hunger or diminishing its activity. The second kind of plant-lice destroyers are the young of the golden-eyed lace-winged fly, Chrysopa perla™ (Plate III. Fig. 8). This fly is of a pale green color, and has four wings, resembling delicate lace, and eyes of the brilliancy of polished gold, as its generical name implies; but notwith- standing its delicacy and beauty, it is extremely disgusting from the offensive odor that it exhales. It suspends its eggs, by threads, in clusters beneath the leaves where plant-lice abound. The young, or larva, (Plate III. Fig. 9; Fig. 10, cocoon,) is a rather long and slender grub, provided with a pair of large curved and sharp teeth (jaws), moving later- ally, and each perforated with a hole, through which it sucks the juices of its victims. The havoc it makes is astonishing ; for one minute is all the time it requires to kill the largest plant-louse, and suck out the fluid contents of its body. The last of the enemies of plant-lice are the maggots or [12 Chrysopa perla is not found in this country; probably C. euryptera, Burm., or some other species common to New England, will be found destructive of these pernicious plant-lice. — UHLER. ] 248 HEMIPTERA. young of various two-winged flies belonging to the genus Syrphus. Many of these flies are black, with yellow bands on their bodies. I have often seen them hovering over small trees and other plants, depositing their eggs, which they do on the wing, like the bot-fly, curving their tails beneath the leaves, and fixing here and there an egg, wherever plant-lice are discovered. Others lay their eggs near the buds of trees, where the young may find their appropriate nourishment as soon as they are hatched. The young are maggots, which are thick and blunt behind, tapering and pointed before; their mouths are armed with a triple-pointed dart, with which they pierce their prey, elevate it above their heads, and feast upon its juices at leisure. Though these maggots are totally blind, they are enabled to discover their victims without much groping about, in con- sequence of the provident care of the parent flies, which leave their eggs in the very midst of the sluggish lice. Mr. Kirby says, that, on examining his currant-bushes, which but a week before were infested by myriads of aphides, not one was to be found; but beneath each leaf were three or four full-fed maggots, surrounded by heaps of the slain, the trophies of their successful warfare. He also says that he has found it very easy to clear a plant or small tree of lice, by placing upon it several larve of Coccinella or Syrphi. 8. Barx-Lice. (Coccide.) The celebrated scarlet in grain, which has been employed in Asia and the South of Europe, from the earliest ages, as a coloring material, was known to the Romans by the name of Coccus, derived from a similar Greek word, and was, for a long time, supposed to be a vegetable production, or grain, as indeed its name implies. At length it was ascertained that this valuable dye was an insect, and others agreeing with it in habits, and some also in properties, hav- ing been discovered, Linnzus retained them all under the same name. Hence in the genus Coccus are included, not BARK-LICE. 249 only the Zhola of the Pheenicians and Jews, the Kermes of the Arabians, or the Coccus of the Greeks and Romans, but the scarlet grain of Poland, and the still more valuable Cochenille of Mexico, together with various kinds of bark- lice, agreeing with the former in habits and structure. These insects vary very much in form; some of them are oval and slightly convex scales, and others have the shape of a muscle; some are quite convex, and either formed like a boat turned bottom upwards, or are kidney-shaped, or globular. They live mostly on the bark of the stems of plants ; some, however, are habitually found upon leaves, and some on roots. In the early state, the head is completely withdrawn beneath the shell of the body and concealed, the beak or sucker seems to issue from the breast, and the legs are very short and not visible from above. The females undergo only a partial transformation, or rather scarcely any other change than that of an increase in size, which in some species, indeed, is enormous, compared with the previous condition of the insect; but the males pass through a complete transformation before arriving at the perfect or winged state. In both sexes we find threadlike or tapering antenne, longer than the head, but much shorter than those of plant-lice, and feet consisting of only one joint, terminated by a single claw. The mature female retains the beak or sucker, but does not acquire wings; the male on the con- trary has two wings, but the beak disappears. In both there are two slender threads at the extremity of the body, very short in some females, usually quite long in the males, which moreover are provided with a stylet at the tip of the abdomen, which is recurved beneath the body. The following account * contains a summary of nearly all that is known respecting the history and habits of these insects. Early in the spring the bark-lice are found appar- ently torpid, situated longitudinally in regard to the branch, * Tt was drawn up by me in the year 1828, and published in the seventh vol- ume of the ‘“ New England Farmer,” pp. 186, 187. 32 250 HEMIPTERA. the head upwards, and sticking by their flattened inferior surface closely to the bark. On attempting to remove them they are generally crushed, and there issues from the body a dark-colored fluid. By pricking them with a pin, they can be made to quit their hold, as I have often seen in the common species, Coccus Hesperidum, infesting the myrtle. A little later the body is more swelled, and, on carefully raising it with a knife, numerous oblong eggs will be dis- covered beneath it, and the insect appears dried up and dead, and only its outer skin remains, which forms a convex cover to its future progeny. Under this protecting shield the young are hatched, and, on the approach of warm weath- er, make their escape at the lower end of the shield, which is either slightly elevated or notched at this part. They then move with considerable activity, and disperse them- selves over the young shoots or leaves. The shape of the young Coccus is much like that of its parent, but the body is of a paler color and more thin and flattened. Its six short legs and its slender beak are visible under a magnifier. Some are covered with a mealy powder, as the Coceus Cacti, or cochenille of commerce, and the Coceus Adonidum, or mealy bug of our greenhouses. Others are hairy or woolly ; but most of them are naked and dark- colored. These young lice insert their beaks into the bark or leaves, and draw from the cellular substance the sap that nourishes them. Réaumur observed the ground quite moist under peach- trees infested with bark-lice, which was caused by the drip- ping of the sap from the numerous punctures made by these insects. While they continue their exhausting suction of sap, they increase in size, and during this time are in what is called the larva state. When this is completed, the in- sects will be found to be of different magnitudes, some much larger than the others, and they then prepare for a change that is about to ensue in their mode of life, by emitting from the under side of their bodies numerous little white downy BARK-LICE. 251 threads, which are fastened, in a radiated manner, around their bodies, to the bark, and serve to confine them securely in their places. After becoming thus fixed they remain apparently inanimate; but under these lifeless scales the transformation of the insect is conducted ; with this remark- able difference, that in a few days the large ones contrive to break up and throw off, in four or five flakes, their outer scaly coats, and reappear in a very similar form to that which they before had; the smaller ones, on the contrary, continue under their outer skins, which serve instead of co- coons, and from which they seem to shrink and detach them- selves, and then become perfect pupa, the rudiments of wings, antenna, feet, &c. being discoverable on raising the shells. If we follow the progress of these small lice, which are to produce the males, we shall see, in process of time, a pair of threads and the tips of the wings protruding beneath the shell at its lower elevated part, and through this little fissure the perfect insect at length backs out. After the larger lice have become fixed, and have thrown off their outer coats, they enter upon the pupa or chrysalis state, which continues for a longer or shorter period, according to the species. But when they have become mature, they do not leave the skins or shells covering their bodies, which continue flexible for atime. These larger insects are the females, and are des-. tined to remain immovable, and never change their place after they have once become stationary. The male is ex- ceedingly small in comparison to the female, and is provided with only two wings, which are usually very large, and lie flatly on the top of the body. After the insects have paired, the body of the female increases in size, or becomes quite convex, for a time, and ever afterwards remains without alteration ; but serves to shelter the eggs which are to give birth to her future off- spring. These eggs, when matured, pass under the body of the mother, and the latter by degrees shrinks more and 252 HEMIPTERA. more, till nothing is left but the dry outer convex skin, and the insect perishes on the spot. Sometimes the insect’s body is not large enough to cover all her eggs, in which case she beds them in a considerable quantity of the down that issues from the under or hinder part of her body (Fig. 95). There are several broods of some species in the year; of the bark-louse of the apple-tree at least two are produced in one season. It is probable that the insects of the second or last brood pair in the au- tumn, after which the males die, but the females survive the winter, and lay their eggs in the following spring. Young apple-trees, and the extremities of the limbs of older trees, are very much subject to the attacks of a small species of bark-louse. The limbs and smooth parts of the trunks are sometimes completely covered with these insects, and present a very singularly wrinkled and rough appearance from the bodies which are crowded closely together. In the winter these insects are torpid, and ap- parently dead. They measure about one tenth of an inch in length, are of an oblong oval shape, gradually decreasing to a point at one end, and are of a brownish color very near to that of the bark of the tree. These insects resemble in shape one which was described by Réaumur* in 1738, who found it on the elm in France, and Geoffroy named the insect Coc- cus arborum linearis, while Gmelin called it conchiformis (Fig. 96). This, or one much like it, is very abundant upon apple-trees in England, as we learn from Dr. Shaw+t and Mr. Fig. 95. Fig. 96. * Mémoires, Vol. IV. p. 69, plate 5, figs. 5, 6, 7. t General Zodlogy, Vol. VI. Part I. p. 196. BARK-LICE. 253 Kirby ; * and Mr. Rennie + states that he found it in great plenty on currant-bushes. It is highly probable that we have received this insect from Europe, but it is somewhat doubtful whether our apple- tree bark-louse be identical with the species found by Réau- mur on the elm; and the doubt seems to be justified by the difference in the trees and in the habits of the insects, our species being gregarious, and that of the elm nearly solitary. It is true that on some of our indigenous forest-trees bark- lice of nearly the same form and appearance have been ob- served; but it is by no means clear that they are of the same species as those on the apple-tree. The first account that we have of the occurrence of bark-lice on apple-trees, in this country, is a communication by Mr. Enoch Perley, of Bridgeton, Maine, written in 1794, and published among the early papers of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society.t These insects have now become extremely common, and infest our nurseries and young trees to a very great extent. In the spring the eggs are readily to be seen on raising the little muscle-shaped scales beneath which they are concealed. These eggs are of a white color, and in shape nearly like those of snakes. Every shell contains from thirty to forty of them, imbedded in a small quantity of whitish friable down. They begin to hatch about the 25th of May, and finish about the 10th of June, according to Mr. Perley. The young, on their first appearance, are nearly white, very minute, and nearly oval in form. In about ten days they become stationary, and early in June throw out a quantity of bluish-white down, soon after which their transformations are completed, and the females become fertile, and deposit their eggs. These, it seems, are hatched in the course of the summer, and the young come to their growth and pro- vide for a new brood before the ensuing winter. Among the natural means which are provided to check the imcrease of these bark-lice are birds, many of which, * Introduction to Entomology, Vol. I. p. 201. t Insect Transformations, p. 92. t See Papers for 1796, p 32. 254 HEMIPTERA. especially those of the genera Parus and Regulus, contain- ing the chickadee and our wrens, devour great quantities of these lice. I have also found that these insects are preyed upon by internal parasites, minute ichneumon-flies, and the holes (which are as small as if made with a fine needle), through which these little insects come forth, may be seen on the backs of a great many of the lice which have been destroyed by their intestine foes. The best application for the destruction of the lice is a wash made of two parts of soft soap and eight of water, with which is to be mixed lime enough to bring it to the consistence of thick whitewash. This is to be put upon the trunks and limbs of the trees with a brush, and as high as practicable, so as to cover the whole surface, and fill all the cracks in the bark. The proper time for washing over the trees is in the early part of June, when the insects are young and tender. These insects may also be killed by using in the same way a solution of two pounds of potash in seven quarts of water, or a pickle consisting of a quart of com- mon salt in two gallons of water. There has been found on the apple and pear tree another kind of bark-louse, which differs from the foregoing in many important particulars, and approaches nearest to a species inhabiting the aspen in Sweden, of which a description has been given by Dalman in the “ Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stockholm,” * for the year 1825, under the name of Coccus cryptogamus. This species is of the kind in which the body of the female is not large enough to cover her eggs, for the protection whereof another provision is made, consisting, in this species, of a kind of membranous shell, of the color and consistence almost of paper. In the autumn and throughout the winter, these insects are seen in a dormant state, and of two different forms and sizes on the bark of the trees. The larger ones measure less than a tenth of an inch in length, and have the form of a common oyster-shell, * Kongl. Vetenskaps Academ Nya Handlingar. BARK-LICE. 255 being broad at the hinder extremity, but tapering towards the other, which is surmounted by a little oval brownish scale. The small ones, which are not much more than half the length of the others, are of a very long oval shape, or almost four-sided, with the ends rounded; and one extrem- ity is covered by a minute oval dark-colored scale. These little shell-like bodies are clustered together in great num- bers, are of a white color and membranous texture, and serve as cocoons to shelter the insects while they are under- going their transformations. The large ones are the pupa- cases or cocoons of the female, beneath which the eggs are laid; and the small ones are the cases of the males, and differ from those of the females not only in size and shape, but also in being of a purer white color, and in having an elevated ridge passing down the middle. The minute oval dark-colored scales on one of the ends of these white cases are the skins of the lice while they were in the young or larva state, and the white shells are probably formed in the _ same way as the down which exudes from the bodies of other bark-lice, but which in these assumes a regular shape, vary- ing according to the sex, and becoming membranous after itis formed. Not having seen these insects in a living state, I have not been able to trace their progress, and must there- fore refer to Dalman’s memoir above mentioned, for such particulars as tend to illustrate the remaining history of this species. The body of the female insect, which is covered and con- cealed by the outer case above described, is minute, of an oval form, wrinkled at the sides, flattened above, and of a reddish color. By means of her beak, which is constantly thrust into the bark, she imbibes the sap, by which she is nourished ; she undergoes no change, and never emerges from her habitation. The male becomes a chrysalis or pupa, and about the middle of July completes its transformations, makes its escape from its case, which it leaves at the hinder extremity, and the wings with which it is provided are re- versed over its head during the operation, and are the last 256 HEMIPTERA. to be extricated. The perfect male is nearly as minute as a point, but a powerful magnifier shows its body to be divided into segments, and endued with all the important parts and functions of a living animal. To the unassisted eye, says Dalman, it appears only as a red atom, but it is furnished with a pair of long whitish wings, long antenne or horns, six legs with their respective joints, and two bristles terminating the tail. This minute insect perforates the middle of the case covering the female, and thus celebrates its nuptials with its invisible partner. The latter subsequently deposits her eggs and dies. In due time the young are hatched and leave the case, under which they were fostered, by a little crevice at its hinder part. These young lice, which I have seen, are very small, of a pale yellowish brown color, and of an oval shape, very flat, and appearing like minute scales. They move about for a while, at length become stationary, increase in size, and in due time the whitish shells are produced, and the included insects pass from the larva to the pupa state. The means for destroying these insects are the same as those recom- mended for the extermination of the previous species. Many years ago, when on a visit from home, I observed on a fine native grape-vine, that was trained against the side of a house, great numbers of reddish-brown bark-lice, of a globular form, and about half as large as a small pea, arranged in lines on the stems. An opportunity for further examination of this species did not occur till the summer of 1839, when I was led to the discovery of a few of these lice on my Isabella grape-vines, by seeing the ants ascending and descending the stems. Upon careful search I discoy- ered the lice, which were nearly of the color of the bark of the vine, partly imbedded in a little crevice of the bark, and arranged one behind another in a line. They drew great quantities of sap, as was apparent by their exudations, by which the ants were attracted. Further observations were arrested by a fire which consumed the house and the vines that were trained to it. FADE. Vs ws RAVEECEERE vor! ye, eo = | Dougal se. CHAPTER V. LEPIDOPTERA. CATERPILLARS. — BUTTERFLIES. — Skippers. — HAwK-Mortns. — EGERIANS OR BoriInG- CATERPILLARS. — ; GLAUCOPIDIANS. — Morus. — Spinners. — Lirno- sans. — TrGeR-Morus. — Ermine-Morus. — TussocK;Mo" THS. — LACKEy- Morus. — Larpet-Morus. — SATURNIANS. — CERATOCAMPLANS. — CARPENTER- Morus — Psycuians. — NoropontTians. — OwL-Motus. — Cut-Worms. — GKoMETERS, on SPAN-WorMs, AND Canker-Worms. — DeLta-Morus. — Lear-RoLtLers — Bup-Morss.— Frurt-Morus.— BEE-Morus.— Corn-Morus. — CLotuEs-Motus. — FEATHER-WINGED Morus. + HERE are perhaps no insects which are so commonly and so universally destructive as caterpillars; they are inferior only to locusts in voracity, and equal or exceed them in their powers of increase, and in general are far more widely spread over vegetation. Caterpillars are the young of butterflies and of: moths; and of these, five hundred spe- cies, which are natives of Massachusetts, are already known to me, and probably there are at least as many more kinds to be discovered within the limits of this Commonwealth.! As each female usually lays from two hundred to five hun- dred eggs, one thousand different kinds of butterflies and moths will produce, on an average, three hundred thousand caterpillars ; if one half of this number, when arrived at {1 The number of species in the United States may fairly be estimated at 3,500, or even more. My Catalogue, published by the Smithsonian Institute, contains the names of nearly 1,800 already described by various authors, exclusive of Microlepidoptera, which is a numerous faimily of itself, and comparatively little progress has as yet been made in the discovery of our indigenous species gen- erally. The latest_ and most complete work on Gérman and Swiss Lepidoptera (Die Schmetter: linge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, von H. v. Heinemann, Brunswick, 1859) gives 1,387 species, exclusive of Microlepidoptera, in those two countries alone, and we can confidently reckon on finding over three times that number in the United States. — Morris ] 33 258 LEPIDOPTERA. maturity, are females, they will give forty-five millions of caterpillars in the second, and six thousand seven hundred and fifty millions in the third generation. These data suffice to show that the actual number of these insects, existing at any one time, must be far beyond the limits of calculation. The greater part of caterpillars subsist on vegetable food, and especially on the leaves of plants; hence their injuries to vegetation are immense, and are too often forced -upon our notice. Some devour the solid wood of trees, some live only in the pith of plants, and some confine themselves to grains and seeds. Certain species attack our woollens and furs, thereby doing us much injury; even leather, meat, wax, flour, and lard afford nourishment to particular kinds of caterpillars. Caterpillars vary greatly in form and appearance, but, in general, their bodies are more or less cylindrical, and composed of twelve rings or segments, with a shelly head, and from ten to sixteen legs. The first three pairs of legs are covered with a shelly skin, are jointed and tapering, and are armed at the end with a little claw; the other legs are thick and fleshy, without joints, but elastic or contractile, and are generally surrounded at the extremity by numerous minute hooks. There are six very small eyes? on each side of the head, two short antenne, and strong jaws or nippers, placed at the sides of the mouth, so as to open and shut sidewise. In the middle of the lower lip is a little conical tube, from which the insects spin the silken threads that are used by them in making their nests and their co- coons, and in various other purposes of their economy. Two long and slender bags, in the interior of their bodies, and ending in the spinning tube, contain the matter of the silk. This is a sticky fluid, and it flows from the spinner in a fine stream, which hardens into a thread so soon as it comes [? Though Dr. Harvis mentions the “eyes” of caterpillars, yet be it under- stood, he does not assert that they see. It is very doubtful whether they have the faculty of vision. — Morris.] CATERPILLARS. 259 to the air. Some caterpillars make but very little silk ; others, such as the silk-worm and the apple-tree caterpillar, produce it in great abundance. Some caterpillars herd together in great numbers, and pass the early period of their existence in society ; and of these there are species which unite in their labors, and con- struct tents serving as a common habitation in which they live, or to which they retire occasionally for shelter. Others pass their lives in solitude, either exposed to the light and air, or sheltered in leaves folded over their bodies, or form for themselves silken sheaths, which are either fixed or portable. Some make their abodes in the stems of plants, or mine in the pulpy substance of leaves; and others con- ceal themselves in the ground, from which they issue only when in search of food. Caterpillars usually change their skins about four times before they come to their growth. At length they leave off eating entirely, and prepare for their first transformation. Most of them, at this period, spin around their bodies a sort of shroud or cocoon, into which some interweave the hairs of their own bodies, and some employ, in the same way, leaves, bits of wood, or even grains of earth. Other cater- pillars suspend themselves, in various ways, by silken threads, without enclosing their bodies in cocoons ; and again, there are others which merely enter the earth to undergo their transformations. When the caterpillar has thus prepared itself for the ap- proaching change, by repeated exertions and struggles it bursts open the skin on the top of its back, withdraws the fore part of its body, and works the skin backwards till the hinder extremity is extricated. It then no longer appears in the caterpillar form, but has become a pupa or chrysalis, shorter than the caterpillar, and at first sight apparently without a head or limbs. On close examination, however, there may be found traces of a head, tongue, antenne, wings, and legs, closely pressed to the body, to which these parts 260 LEPIDOPTERA. are cemented by a kind of varnish. Some chrysalids are angular, or furnished with little protuberances ; but most of them are smooth, rounded at one end, and tapering at the other extremity. While in the pupa state these insects take no food, and remain perfectly at rest, or only move the hinder extremity of the body when touched. After a while, however, the chrysalis begins to swell and contract, till the skin is rent over the back, and from the fissure there issues the head, antenne, and body of a butterfly or moth. When it first emerges from its pupa-skin the in- sect is soft, moist, and weak, and its wings are small and shrivelled ; soon, however, the wings stretch out to their full dimensions, the superfluous moisture of the body passes off, and the limbs acquire their proper firmness and elas- ticity. The conversion of a caterpillar to a moth or butterfly is a transformation of the most complete kind. The form of the body is altered, some of the legs disappear, the others and the antennz become much longer than before, and four wings are acquired. Moreover, the mouth and digestive organs undergo a total change; for the insect, after its final transformation, is no longer fitted to subsist upon the same gross aliment as it did in the caterpillar state; its pow- erful jaws have disappeared, and instead thereof we find a slender tongue, by means of which liquid nourishment. is conveyed to the mouth of the insect, and its stomach be- comes capable of digesting only water and the honeyed juice of flowers. Ceasing to increase in size, and destined to live but a short time after their final transformation, butterflies and moths spend this brief period of their existence in flitting from flower to flower and regaling themselves with their sweets, or in slaking their thirst with dew or with the water left standing in puddles after showers, in pairing with their mates, and in laying their eggs; after which they die a natural death, or fall a prey to their numerous enemies. CLASSIFICATION. 261 These insects belong to an order called LEPIDporTeEra, which means scaly wings; for the mealy powder with which their wings are covered, when seen under a powerful micro- scope, is found to consist of little scales, lapping over each other like the scales of fishes, and implanted into the skin of the wings by short stems. The body of these insects is also more or less covered with the same kind of scales, together with hair or down in some species. The tongue consists of two tubular threads placed side by side, and thus forming an instrument for suction, which, when not in use, is rolled up spirally beneath the head, and is more or less covered and concealed on each side by a little scaly or hairy jointed feeler. The shoulders or wing-joints of the fore wings are covered, on each side, by a small triangular piece, forming a kind of epaulctte, or shoulder-cover ; and between the head and the thorax is a narrow piece, clothed with scales or hairs sloping backwards, which may be called the collar. The wings have a few branching veins,’ generally forming one or two large meshes on the middle. The legs are six in number, though only four are used in walking by some butterflies, in which the first pair are very short and are folded like a tippet on the breast ; and the feet are five- jointed, and are terminated, each, by a pair of claws. Tt would be difficult, and indeed impossible, to arrange the Lepidopterous insects according to their forms, appear- ance, and habits, in the caterpillar state, because the cater- pillars of many of them are as yet unknown; and therefore it is found expedient to classify them mostly according to the characters furnished by them in the winged state. We may first divide the Lepidoptera into three great sections, called butterflies, hawk-moths, and moths, corre- [8 The systematists of the present day determine genera, and even species, by the peculiar and various modifications of these veins. The main veins are called nervures, the branches nervules, and the whole system Pterology. The French and the Germans differ as to the names of the distinct veins, so that, unless a student knows to which of the schools a describer belongs, he would be apt to be misled. — Mornris.] 262 LEPIDOPTERA. sponding to the genera Papilio, Sphinx, and Phalcena of Linneeus.* The Burrerrires (Papiliones) have threadlike antenne, which are knobbed at the end; the fore wings in some, and all the wings in the greater number, are elevated perpen- dicularly, and turned back to back, when at rest ; they have generally two little spurs on the hind legs ; and they fly by day only. The Hawk-Morus (Sphinges) generally have the an- tenn thickened in the middle, and tapering at each end, and most often hooked at the tip; the wings are narrow in proportion to their length, and are confined together by a bristle or bunch of stiff hairs on the shoulder of each hind wing, which is retained by a corresponding hook on the under side of each fore wing; all the wings, when at rest, are more or less inclined like a roof, the upper ones cover- ing the lower wings; there are two pairs of spurs on the hind legs. A few fly by day, but the greater number in the morning and evening twilight. In the Morus (Phalene) the antenne are neither knobbed at the end nor thickened in the middle, but taper from the base to the extremity, and are either naked, like a bristle, or are feathered on each side; the wings are confined to- gether by bristles and hooks, the first pair covering the hind wings, and are more or less sloping when at rest ; and there are two pairs of spurs to the hind legs. These insects fly mostly by night. I. BUTTERFLIES. (Papiliones.) Besides the characters already given, which distinguish this section of the Lepidoptera, it may be stated that their [4 Modern writers divide them into two great divisions: 1st, Rhopalocera, with filiform antenne, terminating in a club or knob, from pdzaXop, club, and képas, horn; and 2d, Heterocera, with antennz of variable form, sometimes prismatic, linear, pectinated, plumose, &c., &c., from €repos, variable, and xépas, horn. — Morats.] BUTTERFLIES. 263 caterpillars always have sixteen legs; namely, two, which are tapering, jointed, and scaly, to each of the first three seg- ments behind the head, and a pair of thick fleshy legs, with- out joints, to all the remaining segments, except the fourth, fifth, tenth, and eleventh. The butterflies are divisible into two tribes ; namely, the true butterflies, which carry all their wings upright when at rest; and the skippers, which have only the fore wings upright, the hind wings being nearly horizontal when at rest. 1. BUTTERFLIES. In these insects all the wings are erect when at rest, and the antenne are knobbed, but never hooked, at the end. Their caterpillars have a head of moderate size, suspend themselves by the tail when about to transform, and are not enclosed in cocoons. Some of these butterflies have the six legs all equally fitted for walking; their caterpillars are more or less cylindrical, and secure themselves by a trans- verse band, as well as by the tail, previously to their trans- formation to chrysalids ; and the latter are angular. All these characters exist in the following species. In the month of June there may be found on the leaves of the parsley and carrot certain caterpillars, (Plate IV. Fig. 6,) more commonly called parsley-worms, which are somewhat swelled towards the fore part of the body, but taper a little behind. When first hatched they are less than one tenth of an inch in length, are of a black color, with a broad white band across the middle, and another on the tail; and the back is studded with little black projecting points. After they have increased in size, and have cast their coats, it is found that the white band covers only the sixth and seventh segments, that the black projecting points spring from spots of an orange color, and on the lower part of the sides is a row of white spots, two more spots of the same color on the top of the first segment, and one larger 264 LEPIDOPTERA. spot on the tail. These caterpillars alter in color and ap- pearance with each successive moulting, and before they are half grown the projecting points and the white band and spots entirely disappear, the skin becomes perfectly smooth, and of a delicate apple-green color, rather paler at the sides of the body and whitish beneath, and on each segment there is a transverse band consisting of black and yellow spots alternately arranged. When touched, they thrust forth, from a slit in the first segment of the body, just behind the head, a pair of soft orange-colored horns, growing together at the bottom, and somewhat like the letter Y in form. The horns are scent-organs, and give out a strong and disagreeable smell, perceptible at some distance, and seem to be designed to defend the caterpillars from the annoying attacks of flies and ichneumons. These caterpil- lars usually come to their full size between the 10th and 20th of July, and then measure about one inch and a half in length. After this they leave off eating, desert the plants, and each one seeks some sheltered spot, such as the side of a building or fence, or the trunk of a tree, where it prepares for its transformation. It first spins a little web or tuft of silk against the surface whereon it is resting, and entangles the hooks of its hindmost feet in it, so as to fix them securely to the spot; it then proceeds to make a loop or girth of many silken threads bent into the form of the letter U, the ends of which are fastened to the surface on which it rests on each side of the middle of its body ; and under this, when finished, it passes its head, and gradually works the loop over its back, so as to support the body, and prevent it from falling downwards. Though it generally prefers a vertical surface on which to fasten itself in an upright posture, it sometimes selects the under side of a limb or of a project- ing ledge, where it hangs suspended, nearly horizontally, by its feet and the loop. Within twenty-four hours after it has taken its station, the caterpillar casts off its caterpillar-skin and becomes a chrysalis, or pupa, (Plate IV. Fig. 7,) of a THE ASTERIAS BUTTERFLY. 265 pale green, ochre-yellow, or ash-gray color, with two short car-like projections above the head, just below which, on the upper part of the back, is a little prominence like a pug- nose. The chrysalis hangs in the same way as the cater- pillar, and remains in this state from nine to fifteen days, according to the temperature of the atmosphere, cold and wet weather having a tendency to prolong the period. When this is terminated, the skin of the chrysalis bursts open, and a butterfly issues from it, clings to the empty shell till its crumpled and drooping wings have extended to their full dimensions, and have become dried, upon which it flies away in pursuit of companions and food. This butterfly is the Papilio Asterias® of Cramer. (Plate IV. Fig. 4.) It is of a black color, with a double row of yellow dots on the back ; a broad band, composed of yellow spots, across the wings, and a row of yellow spots near the hind margin ; the hind wings are tailed, and have seven blue spots between the yellow band and the outer row of yellow spots, and, near their hinder angle, an eye-like spot of an orange color with a black centre ; and the spots of the under side are tawny orange. The female (Plate IV. Fig. 5) differs from the male, above described, in having only a few small and distinct yellow spots on the upper side of the wings. The wings of this butterfly expand from three and a half to four inches. During the month of July the Asterias butterflies may be seen in great abundance upon flowers, and particularly on those of the sweet-scented Phlox. They lay their eggs, in this and the following month, on various umbellate plants, placing them singly on different parts of the leaves and stems. I have found the caterpillars on the parsley, carrot, parsnip, celery, anise, dill, caraway, and fennel of our gar- dens, as well as on the conium, cicuta, sium, and other native plants of the same natural family, which originally [5 The synonymes of P. Asterias are P. Troilus Smith Abbot, I. pl.1; P. Ajax Clerck, Icon., t. 88; P. polyxenes Fab. — Mornis.] 34 266 : LEPIDOPTERA. constituted the appropriate food of these insects, before the exotic species furnished them with a greater variety and abundance. Their injury to these cultivated plants is by no means inconsiderable ; they not only eat the leaves, but are par- ticularly fond of the blossoms and young seeds. I have taken twenty caterpillars on one plant of parsley, which was going to seed. The eggs laid in July and August are hatched soon afterwards, and the caterpillars come to their growth towards the end of September, or the beginning of October ; they then suspend themselves, become chrysalids, in which state they remain during the winter, and are not transformed to butterflies till the last of May or the begin- ning of June in the following year. I know of no method so effectual for destroying these caterpillars as gathering them by hand and crushing them. An expert person will readily detect them by their ravages on the plants which they inhabit; and a few minutes de- voted, every day or two, to a careful search in the garden, during the season of their depredations, will suffice to re- move them entirely. There is another butterfly which bears a close resemblance to the female of the Asterias butterfly, and is nearly of the same size; but the blue spots on the hind wings are much larger, and cover nearly one third of the surface ; the yel- low spots around the margin are larger and paler; the eye- like spot near the hind angle has not a black centre, and there is a large orange-colored spot near the middle of the front margin of the same wings. This species is the Troilus butterfly, or Papilio Troilus of Linneus. The caterpillar is entirely different from that of the As- terias butterfly. It lives on the leaves of the sassafras-tree, upon the upper surface of which it spins a little web, and folds over the sides of the leaf so as to form a furrow or case, in which it resides. The fore part of its body is large and swollen, and it tapers thence to the tail. When first THE TROILUS BUTTERFLY. 267 hatched it is slate-colored above, with a black spot like an eye on each side of the third segment, below and behind which is a large and long white spot, and the top of the eleventh segment is white. After changing its skin, it be- comes of a pale brownish olive color, the white spots dis- appear, and on the top of the back we find two rows of minute blue dots. When fourteen or fifteen days old it changes its skin and its colors again, the back becoming pea- green, with blue dots, the sides yellowish, and the head, belly, and legs pink; there is a transverse black line on the top of the first segment, and there are two large orange- colored spots on the fourth segment, and two of the same color, with a black centre, on the third segment. The cat- erpillar retains these colors from ten to sixteen days, increas- ing greatly in size during this period, and finally attains to the length of two inches or more. It comes to its full growth when about four weeks old, and then eats no longer, but, deserting its leafy habitation, it seeks a suitable place in which to undergo its transformation, previously to which it casts off its green coat, and appears in one of an ochre-yellow color. It then suspends itself in the same way as the cat- erpillar of the Asterias butterfly, and within two or three days after its last change of skin it moults again, and be- comes a chrysalis. The chrysalis is generally of a pale wood-color, smoother than that of the preceding species, and with rather longer and sharper ear-like projections. The chrysalids, which are pro- duced from caterpillars hatched in August and September, remain unchanged through the winter, and are not trans- formed to butterflies till the middle of the following June. It is possible that these butterflies may lay their eggs so early as to produce a brood of caterpillars in the summer, and these may come to their growth, and pass through their transfor- mations, before September ; but I have only found the cater- pillars towards the end of summer. I once discovered them on the leaves of the lilac, on which they appeared to thrive quite as well as on the sassafras. 268 LEPIDOPTERA. One more butterfly is found in Massachusetts, resembling the preceding in its larva state and in its habits. It is our largest species, expanding from four and a half to five inches. The prevailing color of the wings is yellow, with a broad black margin, on which is a row of yellow spots ; the fore Fig. 97. wings have four short black bands extending from their front edge, and the hind wings are tailed, and are ornamented with an orange-red spot near the hind angle. It is the Papilio Turnus of Linneus (Fig. 97).* The caterpillar of the Turnus butterfly (Fig. 98) lives upon the leaves of apple and wild-cherry trees, folding them up in the same way as does that of the Troilus butterfly, which, moreover, Fig. 98. [* In this figure, and others which follow, the under side of the wing, detached from the body of the insect, is represented, as well as the upper side, which in this figure is on the left, and connected with the body. — Ep.] THE WHITE BUTTERFLY. 269 it resembles in form. When fully grown, it measures from two to two and a half inches in length; it is of a green color above, with little blue dots in rows, a yellow eye-spot with a black centre on each side of the third segment, a yellow and black band across the fourth segment, and the head, belly, and legs are pink. It suspends itself and becomes a chrysalis about the first of August, and is not changed to a butterfly till the month of June in the following summer. Great numbers of these butterflies are sometimes seen around puddles of water left by rain in New Hampshire, where this species is much more common and abundant than in Massa- chusetts. The caterpillars of the three foregoing species are the only ones in Massachusetts which are provided with forked scent-organs, capable of being withdrawn and _ concealed within the first segment of the body. All which follow are destitute of this means of defence. In Europe there are several kinds of caterpillars which live exclusively on the cruciferous or oleraceous plants, such as the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radish, turnip, and mustard, and oftentimes do considerable injury to them. The prevailing color of these caterpillars is green, and that of the butterflies produced from them, white. They belong to a genus called Pontia; in which the hind wings are not scalloped nor tailed, but are rounded and entire on the edges, and are grooved on the inner edge to receive the abdomen; the feelers are rather slender, but project beyond the head; and the antenne have a short flattened knob; their caterpillars are nearly cylindrical, taper a very little towards each end, and are sparingly clothed with short down, which requires a microscope to be distinctly seen; they suspend themselves by the tail and a transverse loop; and their chrysalids are angular at the sides, and pointed at both ends. In the northern and western parts of Massachusetts there is a white butterfly, which, in all its states, agrees with the 270 LEPIDOPTERA. foregoing characters. It is the Pontia oleracea® (Fig. 99), potherb Pontia, or white butterfly, and was first de- scribed by me in the year 1829, in the seventh vol- ume of the “ New England Farmer.” * About the last of May, and the beginning of June, it is seen flutter- ing over cabbage, radish, and turnip beds, and patches of mustard, for the purpose of depositing its eggs. These are fastened to the under sides of the leaves, and but seldom more than three or four are left upon one leaf. The eggs are yellowish, nearly pear- shaped, longitudinally ribbed, and are one fifteenth of an inch in length. They are hatched in a week or ten days after they are laid, and the caterpillars produced from them attain their full size when three weeks old, and then measure about one inch and a half in length. Being of a pale green color, they are not readily distinguished from the ribs of the leaves beneath which they live. They do not devour the leaf at its edge, but begin indiscriminately upon any part of its under side, through which they eat irregular holes. When they have completed the feeding stage, they quit the plants, and retire beneath palings, or the edges of stones, or into the interstices of walls, where they spin a little tuft of silk, entangle the hooks of their hindmost feet in it, and then proceed to form a loop to sustain the fore part of the body in a horizontal or vertical position. Bending its head on one side, the caterpillar fastens to the surface, beneath the middle of its body, a silken thread, which it carries across Fig. 99. [® Pontia oleracea belongs to the genus Pieris Schrk. (Morris's Catalogue). The P. casta of Kirby, in Faun. Bor., IV. 288, is only w variety of Harris's P. oleracea; and Kirby's casta is the cruciferarum of Boisd. Spec. Gen., I. 519.— Morris.] * Page 402. For a figure of it, see “Lake Superior,” by Agassiz and Cabot, pl. 7, fig. 1. THE WHITE BUTTERFLY. 271 its back and secures on the other side, and repeats this operation till the united threads have formed a band or loop of sufficient strength. On the next day it casts off the caterpillar skin, and becomes a chrysalis. This is sometimes of a pale green, and sometimes of a white color, regularly and finely dotted with black; the sides of the body are angular, the head is surmounted by a conical tubercle, and over the fore part of the body, corresponding to the thorax of the included butterfly, is a thin projection, having in profile some resemblance to a Roman nose. The chrysalis state lasts eleven days, at the expiration of which the insect comes forth a butterfly. The wings are white, but dusky next to the body; the tips of the upper ones are yellowish beneath, with dusky veins; the under side of the hinder wings is straw-colored, with broad dusky veins, and the angles next to the body are deep yellow; the back is black, and the antenne are blackish, with narrow white rings, and ochre-yellow at the tips. The wings ex- pand about two inches. I have seen these butterflies in great abundance during the latter part of July and the beginning of August, in pairs, or laying their eggs for a second brood of caterpillars. The chrysalids produced from this autumnal brood survive the winter, and the butterflies are not disclosed from them till May or June. In gardens or fields infested by the cater- pillars, boards, placed horizontally an inch or two above the surface of the soil, will be resorted to by them when they are about to change to chrysalids, and here it will be easy to find, collect, and destroy them, either in the caterpillar or chrysalis state. The butterflies also may easily be taken by a large and deep bag-net of muslin, attached to a handle of five or six feet in length; for they fly low and lazily, especially when busy in laying their eggs. In Europe the caterpillars of the white butterflies are eaten by the larger titmouse (Parus major), and probably our own titmouse or chickadee, with other insect-eating birds, will be found equally useful, if properly protected. 272 LEPIDOPTERA. Twice a year our pastures and road-sides are enlivened by great numbers of the small yellow Philodice butterfly (Colias Philodice of Go- ner cm, dart). (Fig. 100, male; , SS Fig. 101, female.) They begin to appear towards the end of April, are common throughout the month of May, after which no more are seen till near the end of July, when a new brood begins to come forth, and some of them continue till late in the autumn. Their wings are yellow, with a black hind border, which in the fe- males is quite broad on the fore wings, and spotted with yellow ; the fringes of the wings, the antennz, and the shanks are red ; the fore wings have a small narrow black spot on both sides near the mid- dle; the hind wings have a round orange-colored spot in the middle of the upper side, which on the under side is replaced by a large and a small silvery spot close together, and surrounded by a rust-colored ring. The males are generally smaller than the females. The caterpillars live upon clover, medicago, and lucerne, and I have occasionally found them on pea-vines. They are green, slightly downy, paler or yellowish at the sides, and grow to the length of about one inch and a half. They suspend themselves to the stems of plants by the tail and a trans- verse loop, in the same way as the preceding species. The chrysalis (Fig. 102) is straw-colored, not angulated at the sides, with a slight prominence over the thorax, and the anterior extremity ends in a short and blunt point. The genus Colias, to which the Philodice butterfly belongs, is THE LYCENIANS. 273 distinguished by the following characters. Six legs formed for walking; short antenne, gradually thickened towards the end; wings entire, hinder ones rounded, with a gutter on their inner edge to receive the abdomen, and the central mesh closed behind by an an- gular yein; caterpillars cylindrical, smooth or downy; not striped on the top of the back ; suspending themselves by the tail and a loop round the body ; chrysalids somewhat gibbous or bulging, not angulated at the sides, and conical at the upper ex- tremity. We have several kinds of small six-footed butterflies, some of which are found, during the greater part of the summer, in the fields and around the edges of woods, flying low and frequently alighting, and oftentimes collected together in little swarms on the flowers of the clover, mint, and other sweet- scented plants. Their caterpillars secure themselves by the hind feet and a loop, when about to transform; but they are very short and almost oval, flat below and more or less convex above, with a small head, which is concealed under the first ring; and the feet, which are sixteen in number, are so short, that these caterpillars in moving seem to glide rather than creep. ‘The chrysalids (Fig. 103) are Fig. 103. short and thick, with the under side flat, the upper G2 side very convex, and both extremities rounded or obtuse. They belong to a little group which may be called Lycenians (Lycanap#), from the principal genus included in it. The most common of these butterflies has generally been mistaken for the European Lycena Phileas, but I am con- vinced that it is distinct, and propose to call it the American copper butterfly, Lycena Americana (Fig. 104). The fore wings on the upper side are coppery red, with about eight small square black spots, and the hind margin broadly bor-. 35 Fig. 102 274 LEPIDOPTERA. dered with dusky brown; hind wings with a few small black spots on the middle, and a broad cop- pery-red band on the hind margin. The wings expand from 174 to 14 inch. This butterfly is found through- out the summer fluttering on the grass and other low plants. The caterpillar is long, oval, and slightly convex above, and of a greenish color; it probably lives, like the Phileas, on the leaves of dock and sorrel. The chrysalis, which is usually suspended under a stone, is light yellowish-brown, and spot- ted with black dots. The Epixanthe butterfly, Lycena Epixanthe (Boisduval), resembles the preceding in form and size, but is of a dusky brown color above, with a few black spots on the middle of the wings, and a narrow, wavy band, or a few contiguous spots of an orange color on the hinder margin of the pos- terior wings. This species is rather rare. The wings in both these butterflies are entire, or not notched or tailed, and the knobs of their antenne are short, thick, and nearly oval. There are others with the hind wings also entire and rounded, but the knobs of the antenn are longer and not near so thick, and their caterpillars are shorter and very convex above. These characters exist in the beautiful azure-blue butterfly, Polyommatus Pseudargiolus (Boisd.), (Fig. 105, male, Fig. 106, var. profile,) which measures Fig. 105. Fig. 106. from 17; to 14 inch across the wings. These in the male are light blue on the upper side, with the lustre of satin; the fore wings of the female have a broad blackish outer margin, and on that of the hind wings is a row of small blackish spots; all the wings on the under side are pearl-gray, with little blackish spots ; the fringes of the wings are white. Fig 104. THE COMYNTAS BUTTERFLY. Q75 The blue Lucia butterfly (Polyommatus Lucia of Kirby) greatly resembles the preceding, but the black border of the fore wings in the female is not so broad, the fringes of the wings are spotted with black, and all the wings on the under side are dusky gray, with larger blackish spots, and a broad blackish border behind. Mr. Kirby has described only the male of this butterfly, in the fourth volume of the Fauna Boreali-Americana. It is found in April and May. The Comyntas butterfly (Polyommatus Comyntas of Go- dart) is readily distinguished from the foregoing by having a little thread-like tail on the edge of the hind wings. The wings in the males are violet bluc, and in the females black- ish glossed with blue on the upper side, with whitish fringes ; there are several blackish spots around the hind margins, and on the hind wings near the posterior margin two cres- cents of a deep orange-color. The under sides of all the wings are gray, with black spots encircled with white, and each of the two orange-colored crescents of the hind wings encloses a deep black spot encircled with silvery blue. The wings expand about one inch. This butterfly is found in dry woods and pastures in July and August, and the cater- pillars live on the leaves of the Lespedeza, which grows in those places. They are oval, convex, and downy, of a pale green color with three darker green lines, the sides of the body reddish, and the head black. The chrysalis, which is usually fastened to a leaf, is at first pale green, but becomes brownish afterwards; it is sparingly clothed with whitish hairs, and there are three rows of black dots on the back. The chrysalis state lasts from nine to eleven days. We have several more of these small butterflies with thread-like tails on their hind wings, but they differ from all the preceding species in having the knobs of the antenne longer and nearly cylindrical, the eyes covered with a very fine down, and an oval opaque spot on the fore wings, near the front margin in the males. They belong to the genus Thecla. Their caterpillars are longer and flatter than those 276 LEPIDOPTERA. in the genus Polyommatus, and they usually live on trees. One of our largest kinds is the Falacer butterfly ( Thecla Falacer of Godart). Its wings expand from 1y5 inch to 14; inch, are dark brown on the upper side, with two slender tails, one of which is very short, on each of the hind wings; and on the hind margin of the same wings is an orange-colored spot, larger and more conspicuous in the females than in the other sex; the under side of the wings is lighter brown; and on each wing near the middle is a dark-brown spot margined within and without with white, and beyond the middle there are two rows of spots of the same color, bordered on one side only with white; besides these spots, there are on the hind wings near the margin three or four orange-colored crescents, the inner one of which is separated from the others by a large blue spot. This insect is found among bushes in July and August. The caterpil- lar is said to live upon various kinds of hawthorns. The streaked Thecla (Thecla strigosa) has a long anda short tail on each of the hind wings, and is of a dark-brown color without spots on the upper side; the wings beneath are ornamented with wavy transverse white streaks, and near the hind margin of the posterior wings is a row of deep orange-colored crescents, with a large blue spot near the hindmost angle. It measures one inch and one tenth across the wings. I took it on Blue Hill on the 1st of August. In the markings of the under side of the wings it nearly resem- bles Thecla Liparops. The heads of the common hop are frequently eaten by the little green and downy caterpillars of a very pretty butterfly, which has been mistaken for the Thecla Favonius, figured in Mr. Abbot’s “‘ Natural History of the Insects of Georgia”’; but it differs from it in so many respects, that I do not hesitate to give it another name, and will therefore call it the hop-vine Thecla, Thecla Humuli’* (Plate IV. Fig. 3). [7 7. Humuli is the T. medinus of Hiibner. — Morris.] * M. Boisduval has figured and described this species under the name of Thecla Favonius, in his “ Histoire des Lépidoptéres de I’ Amérique Septentrionale.”’ THE AUBURN THECLA. 277 The wings on the upper side are dusky brown, with a tint of blue-gray, and, in the males, there is an oval darker spot near the front edge; the hind wings have two short, thread-like tails, the inner one the longest, and tipped with white; along the hind margin of these same wings is a row of little pale blue spots, interrupted by a large orange-red crescent enclosing a small black spot, the wings beneath are slate-gray, with two wavy streaks of brown edged on one side with white, and on the hind wings an orange- colored spot near the hind angle, and a larger spot of the same color enclosing a black dot just before the tails. It expands one inch and one tenth. The last of these butterflies with two tails to each of the hind wings, does not seem to have been described, unless it is to be referred to the Simaethis of Drury, the Damon of Cramer, or the Smilacis of Boisduval, with the descriptions of which it does not fully agree. I propose, therefore, to call it the Auburn Thecla (Thecla Auburniana), from a favorite spot near Cambridge, formerly known by the name of Sweet Auburn, where I have repeatedly taken it before the place was converted to a cemetery. As in the preceding species, the outermost of the tails is very short, and often nothing remains of it but a little tooth on the edge of the wing. It varies considerably in color; the females are generally deep brown above, but sometimes the wings are rust-colored or tawny in the middle, as they always are in the males; the oval opaque spot which characterizes the latter sex is ochre- yellow. Upon the under side the wings in both sexes are green, the anterior pair tinged with brown from the middle to the inner edge; externally, next to the fringe, they are all margined by a narrow wavy white line, bordered inter- nally with brown ; this line on the fore wings does not reach the inner margin; on the hind wings it consists of six spots arranged in a zigzag manner, and the last spot next to the inner margin is remote from the rest ; besides these there are on the same wings three more white spots bordered with 278 LEPIDOPTERA. brown between the zigzag band and the base ; and between the same band and the margin three black spots, behind the middle one of which is a rust-red spot with a black centre. The wings expand from 1; to 1,5 inch. This pretty species is found on the mouse-ear (Gnaphalium plantagineum) in May, and on the flowers of the spearmint in August. Some kinds of Thecla have the hind edges of the wings notched, but not tailed. This is the case with the Niphon Fig. 107. butterfly (Zhecla Miphon of Hiib- ner), (Fig. 107,) which has been taken at Sweet Auburn early in May. As in the Auburn butterfly, the wings are deep brown above, with a far we rusty space on each ; the eines on their edges are while: and the teeth ie them are rounded and of a black color; on the under side the wings are light brown, with dark brown wavy and zigzag lines, two of which are bordered on one side with white. The wings expand 14 inch. The Mopsus butterfly ( Thecla Mopsus of Hiibner) differs from all the foregoing in having the hind wings entire and not tailed; but the inner angle projects a little, as it does in some species of Lycena. In form, and in the color and arrangement of the spots on the under side of the wings, it approaches to the Phlwas and Americana; but in these speeies the eyes are not downy, and the males have not the oval opaque spot near the front margin of the anterior wings. The Mopsus butterfly is dark brown above, with a row of seven or eight deep orange-colored spots near the margin of the hind wings, larger and much more conspicuous on the under than on the upper side. The wings beneath are light brown, with a row of deep orange or vermilion-colored spots near the hind margins of all the wings, an inner and more irregular row of small black spots encircled with white on the same, and two more similar spots close together on the middle of the hind wings. It expands 1,4 incl My only FOUR-FOOTED BUTTERFLIES. 279 specimen of this fine butterfly was taken at Sandwich, by Mr. John Bethune. Some butterflies have the first pair of legs so much shorter than the oth- ers that they cannot be used in walk- ing, and are folded on the breast like a tippet. Their caterpillars, when about to transform, do not make a loop to support the fore part of the body, but suspend them- selves vertically by the hindmost feet. As they all secure themselves pretty much in the same way, it may be proper to explain the process. Having finished eating, the caterpil- lar wanders about till it has discovered a suitable situation in which to pass through its transformations. This may be the under side of a branch or of a leaf, or any other hor- izontal object beneath which it can find sufficient room for its future operations. Here it spins a web or tuft of silk, fastening it securely to the surface beneath which it is resting, entangles the hooks of its hindmost feet among the threads, and then contracts its body and lets itself drop so as to hang suspended by the hind feet alone, the head and fore part of the body being curved upwards in the form of a hook. After some hours, the skin over the bent part of the body is rent, the fore part of the chrysalis protrudes from the fissure, and, by a wrig- gling kind of motion, the caterpillar-skin is slipped back- wards till only the extremity of the chrysalis remains attached to it. The chrysalis has now to release itself entirely from the caterpillar-skin, which is gathered in folds around its tail, and to make itself fast to the silken tuft by the minute hooks with which the hinder extremity is provided. Not having the assistance of a transverse loop to support its body while it disengages its tail, the attempt would seem perilous in the extreme, if not impossible. Without having witnessed the operation, we should suppose that the insect would inevitably fall, while endeavoring to accomplish its object. But, al- Thecla Augusta. 280 LEPIDOPTERA. though unprovided with ordinary limbs, it is not left without the means to extricate itself’ from its present difficulty. The hinder and tapering part of the chrysalis consists of several rings or segments, so joined together as to be capable of moving from side to side upon each other; and these supply to it the place of hands. By bending together two of these rings near the middle of the body, the chrysalis seizes, in the crevice between them, a portion of the empty caterpillar-skin, and clings to it so as to support itself while it withdraws its tail from the remainder of the skin. It is now wholly out of the skin, to which it hangs sus- pended by nipping together the rings of its body; but, as the chrysalis is much shorter than the caterpillar, it is yet at some distance from the tuft of silk, to which it must climb before it can fix in it the hooks of its hinder extremity. To do this, it extends the rings of its body as far apart as possible, then, bending together two of them above those by which it is suspended, it catches hold of the skin higher up, at the same time letting go below, and, by repeating this process with different rings in succession, it at length reaches the tuft of silk, entangles its hooks among the threads, and then hangs suspended without further risk of falling. It next contrives to dislodge the cast caterpillar-skin by whirl- ing itself around repeatedly, till the old skin is finally loos- ened from its attachment and falls to the ground. The whole of this operation, difficult as it may seem, is performed in the space of a very few minutes, and rarely does the in- sect fail to accomplish it successfully and safely. We may see the whole process in the caterpillars of the Archippus butterfly (Danais Archippus of Fabricius), which lives on the common silk-weed or milk-weed (Asclepias Syriaca) in June and July. This caterpillar is cylindrical, with a pair of thread-like black horns on the top of the second segment, and a shorter pair on the eleventh segment, and its body is marked with alternate transverse bands of yellow, black, and white. It comes to its growth in about THE ARCHIPPUS BUTTERFLY. 281 fourteen days, during which it changes its skin three times, and finally attains to the length of nearly two inches. The chrysalis is about an inch long, but very thick, nearly cylin- drical in the middle, and rounded at each end, with a very slender black point, by which it is suspended. Its skin is exceedingly thin and delicate, of a light green color, and ornamented with golden spots and a transverse stripe of black and gold. The chrysalis state lasts ten or twelve days, at the expiration of which the butterfly comes forth. The Archippus butterfly is very common on flowers, particularly on low lands, from the middle of July to the first of Sep- tember. The wings on the upper side are tawny orange, on the under side deep nankin-yellow ; they are surrounded by a black border spotted with white ; the veins are black, and there are several yellow and white spots on the black tips of the fore wings. The males are distinguished by an elevated black spot contiguous to one of the veins near the middle of the hind wings. This butterfly measures across the wings from 32 to 4$ inches. The antenne in the genus Danais have a long and curved knob; the head and thorax are spotted with white ; the males have an elevated spot near the middle of the hind wings, which in both sexes are rounded, and never tailed or indented. The caterpillars are furnished with projecting thread-like horns in pairs, and the chrysalids are short and thick, somewhat oval, and are ornamented with golden spots. The other characters of the genus are the same as those of the division to which it belongs. We have another four-footed butterfly which closely re- sembles the Archippus in color and markings, but differs from it entirely in the chrysalis and caterpillar state. It is the Disippe butterfly (Mymphalis Disippe* of Godart). (Fig. 109.) It is of a tawny yellow above, and of a paler yellow beneath, the wings are surrounded by a broad black border spotted with white, the veins are black, there is a triangular patch spotted with white near the tips of the fore wings, and * This is the Aisippus of Fabricius, but not of Linnzus. 36 282 LEPIDOPTERA. on the hind wings a curved black band. It expands from three to three and a half inches. The caterpillar lives on the poplar and willow; it is of a pale brown color, more or less variegated with white on the sides, and sometimes with green on the back; the head is notched on the top; there is a hump on the second segment, from which proceed two Fig. 109. slender blackish horns, barbed on all sides with little points ; the third, fourth, and fifth segments are also somewhat humped above, and on the tenth and eleventh are short tu- bercles. It suspends itself by the hind feet, before chang- ing to a chrysalis. The latter is angular, and tapers towards the tail; it is of a pale brown or ashen-gray color, with the sides of the back and the extremity of the body whitish ; and there is a thin almost circular projection standing verti- cally on its edge on the middle of the back. The butterfly appears in September, and lays its eges for a second brood of caterpillars, which are transformed to chrysalids in the autumn, and remain without further change till the following spring, when they are changed to butterflies. The genus Nymphalis* is readily distinguished by the following characters. Four-footed butterflies, with a long straight and slender knob to the antenne, the edges of the * The name Limenitis, under which I formerly included our species, is now appropriated by Dr. Boisduval to certain butterflies of the eastern continent, such as the Camilla, &c. THE EPHESTION BUTTERFLY. 283 wings, particularly of the hinder ones, scalloped but not tailed, the inner margin grooved so as to receive and conceal the abdomen below, no closed mesh in the middle of the wings, and no elevated spot on them in the males ; cater- pillars and chrysalids in form like those of the Disippe, and suspended only by the hindmost extremity. The caterpillar of the Ephestion butterfly (Mymphalis Ephestion of Stoll) is of a brownish color, more or less varie- gated with white on the sides, and with green above, and, like that of the Disippe, has two long barbed brown horns on the second segment. I have found it on the scrub-oak (Quercus idicifolia) in June, but Mr. Abbot says it lives on the whortleberry-bush and the cherry-tree. The chrysalis is not: to be distinguished from that of the Disippe in form and color, and the butterfly leaves it eleven days after the insect has changed from a caterpillar. This butterfly is found about the middle of June; I have seen it again in September, though rarely, and the caterpillars of the last brood remain in the chrysalis state throughout the winter, and are changed to butterflies in the months of April and May following. This butterfly is of a blue-black color, finely glossed with blue on the hinder part of the wings, the scalloped edges of which are white, and the hind margins bordered with three black lines; near the tips of the fore wings are two or three white spots, and just within the border a row of orange-colored spots; these spots are more distinct on the under side of the fore wings, which are more or less tinged with brown, and have near the body two large orange-colored spots; on the under side of the hind wings is a row of seven orange-colored spots inside of the hind border, and three more of the same color near the shoulders of the wings. It expands from 3 to 33 inches. The Arthemis butterfly (Mymphalis Arthemis of Drury) (Plate I. Fig. 7) is very rare in Massachusetts, but more common in the hilly parts of New Hampshire. It is smaller than the preceding, measuring from 23 to 8 inches, 284 LEPIDOPTERA. resembles it a good deal in form and general color, but is readily distinguished from it, and from all the other American butterflies, by the broad white arched band on the wings, which, beginning just beyond the middle of the front edge of the fore wings, curves backwards, crossing both wings, and ends on the inner edge of the hind wings. The male differs from the female in having a row of orange-col- ored spots on the upper side of the hind wings next to the border, as well as on the under side. The caterpillar and chrysalis of this species are unknown to me. , The caterpillars of many of the four-footed butterflies are spiny, or have their backs armed with numerous projecting points; these, in some, are short and soft, and beset all around with very small stiff hairs, in others they are long, hard, and sharp prickles, which generally are furnished with little stiff branches. The butterflies have the knobs of the antenne short and broad; the feelers are rather long, and placed close together, at the base at least; the inner margin of the hind wings is folded downwards, and grooved for the reception of the body; the central mesh of these wings is not closed behind; and the nails of the four hind feet are divided so as to appear double. This group may be called Vanessians (VANEsSADZ), and contains the genera Argyn- nis, Melitea, Cynthia, and Vanessa. In Argynnis the wings are never angulated or toothed, and the hind ones are generally ornamented with silvery or pearly spots beneath; the feelers spread apart at their points; the caterpillars have a round head, and are furnished with branched spines on all their segments, two of those on the first segment being usually longer than the rest, and directed forwards ; chrysalids somewhat angular, arched, rather thick at both ends, with the head squared or very slightly notched, without a prominent nose-like projection on the thorax, and on the back are two rows of projecting points, which are usually golden-colored. Most of the caterpillars in this genus are observed to live on various kinds of violets, and THE aARGYNNIS BUTTERFLIES. 285 on these plants we may expect to find the caterpillars of our native species, which as yet are mostly unknown, in the months of May, June, and July. Argynnis Idalia, Drury. Idalia Butterfly. (Fig. 110.) Fore wings deep tawny orange, spotted with black, and with a broad black hind border, around which, in the fe- males, is a row of white spots; hind wings blue-black above, Fig. 11. with two rows of spots behind, both of which in the female are cream-colored, but in the males the spots of the outer row are deep tawny orange; all the wings on the under side have a row of pearly-white crescents within the black border ; and on the hind wings, which are brown, are seven- teen more pearly-white spots; the fringes of all the wings are spotted with white. Expands from 3% to 3% inches or more. This large and fine butterfly is found in meadows in the latter part of July and beginning of August. Argynnis Aphrodite, Fabricius. Aphrodite Butterfly. (Fig. 111.) Wings tawny-yellow in the males, ochre-yellow in the females, in both brownish next to the body, with a black line near the hinder margins, within which Js a row of black crescents, and within the latter is a row of round black 286 LEPIDOPTERA. spots; the rest of the surface is more or less covered with large irrecular black spots; beneath the tips of the fore wings are seven or eight silvery spots, and on the under Fig. 11L side of the hind wings are above twenty large silvery-white spots, six of which are near the base, and the rest are arranged in three curved rows. Expands from 2% to 84 inches. Very common on flowers in low grounds in the latter part of July and the beginning of August. Argynnis Myrina, Cramer. Myrina Butterfly. (Fig. 112.) Wings tawny, bordered with black above, with a row of Fig. 112. black crescents adjoining the border, and another of round black spots at a distance from it; the remainder of the sur- face from the base to the mid- dle with irregular black spots; = under side of the hind wings variegated with brown, with a few ochre-yellow spaces inter- reset, and above twenty silvery-white spots arranged in four rows ; between the two outer rows is a series of black dots, and between the two inner rows a single black dot encir- cled with silvery white. Expands from 13 to 1,% inch. THE MELITEZA BUTTERFLIES. 287 The wings and the feelers of this and the following species are proportionally more elongated than in the Idalia and Aphrodite butterflies. The Myrina begins to appear about the last of May, and may be found till the end of June; it reappears again in August and September. Argynnis Bellona, Fabricius. Bellona Butterfly. (Figs. 113, 114.) Wings tawny above, with two rows of black spots around the hind margins, at a distance from which is a row of round spots of the same color; from the base to beyond the middle Fig. 113. Tig. 11d. the wings are covered with blackish spots, running’ together more or less, as in the preceding specics; tips of the fore wings beneath, and under side of the hind wings, brownish, and glossed with purplish white on the posterior half of the latter, which are variegated with dark brown lines and spots. Expands from 12 to 1,% inch. Very closely resembles the Myrina in form and color of the upper surface of the wings, but is easily distinguished from it by the want of the silvery spots beneath. It is found on flowers in the latter part of July. The butterflies of the genus Melitea agree in most re- spects with those of Argynnis, except that the under side of the hind wings is usually checkered with various colors, but not ornamented with silvery or pearly spots. Their cater- pillars are very different, being covered with blunt tubercles beset with very short stiff bristles, and most of them live on various kinds of plantain. The chrysalids are of the same 288 LEPIDOPTERA. form as those of Argynnis, and spotted with black or brown, but are not ornamented with golden spots. Melhtea Phaeton, Drury. Phaeton Butterfly. (Fig. 115.) Wings black, with a row of orange-red crescents around the hind margin, within which are from two to four rows of cream-col- ored spots; on the fore wings, behind the middle of the front margin, are two paren spots, and sometimes another of the same color on the middle of the hind wings. All the wings are black beneath, and spotted in the same way as on the upper side, with the addition of several large orange-red and pale yellow spots between the middle and the base; the abdomen has three rows of cream-colored dots on the top. Expands from 2 to 2% inches or more. This species is rare in Massachusetts ; it appears in low grounds in June. The wings are elongated, as in Argynnis Myrina, but the feelers are short. Fig. 115. Melitea Ismeria? Boisduval. Ismeria Butterfly. Wings tawny above, blotched with blackish narrow spots at the base, the fore wings blackish on the hind margins and tips; the hind wings veined and edged with black, with a row of black crescents near the hind border, next to which is a row of round black dots; body covered with white down beneath ; under side of the wings ochre-yellow, with a row of pale yellow crescents edged with black near the hind margin ; the rest of the surface of the fore wings variegated with small black and large yellowish spots; next to the external row of crescents of the hind wings is a row of yellowish dots encircled with black, across the middle a THE PHAROS BUTTERFLY. 289 broad pale yellow band traversed and edged with wavy black lines, which with the black veins divide it into a series of checkers ; on the shoulders of these wings a long pale yellow spot surrounded with black, behind which are three square ones of the same colors, contiguous by their sides, and behind these two more joining each other by their angles. Expands 13 inch. I think it possible that this species may be distinct from the Jsmeria, which is known to me only by Dr. Boisduval’s figure.* The wings are short and broad, and the feelers longer and more slender at their tips than in the Phaeton. In the markings of the under side of its hind wings it ap- proaches to the Maturna, Cynthia, and Ossianus of Europe. The only specimen which I have scen was sent to me by Dr. D. S. C. H. Smith of Sutton. Melitea Pharos, Drury. Pharos Butterfly. (Fig. 116, male. Fig. 117, female.) Wings short and broad, tawny-orange above, with a broad black hind border, on which is a row of narrow tawny cres- cents, and before these a row of round black spots, much Fig. 116. Fig. 117. more distinct on the hind than on the fore wings ; the rest of the wings, from the middle to the base, is marked with narrow black spots, running together like network ; and on the fore wings is a large black spot, extending nearly half across the wing; the under side of the fore wings is tawny, variegated with black and brown, with a buff-colored * Hist. des Lépidopt. de l’ Amérique Septent., pl. 46. 37 290 LEPIDOPTERA. spot at tip, and a crescent-shaped one of the same color on the middle of the hind margin; under side of the hind wings pale ochre-yellow or buff, variegated with brown lines and spots, with a very large brown spot on the hinder mar- gin, on the middle of which is a whitish crescent, and be- fore this a row of blackish dots. Expands from 1,3; to 14 inch. The chrysalis is about half an inch long, brown and sprin- kled with white dots before, and reddish brown with black dots behind, and three rows of minute points on the back; the anterior extremity is square and the top of the thorax arched, with three little points disposed in a triangle. The butterfly comes out about the first of June. This little and very common butterfly varies considerably in the depth and quantity of its dark markings. It is found on flowers in June, July, and August. The genus Cynthia was proposed by Fabricius to contain certain butterflies which some entomologists now place in Vanessa. Taken, however, in a more limited sense than was originally intended, it may be retained for some of the species which differ from the others in the form and coloring of the wings, in the habits of the caterpillars, and in the shape of the chrysalids. As thus restricted, the genus Cynthia is distinguished by the wings of the butterflies included in it being more or less scalloped on the edges, but not indented or tailed, and not marked with metallic charac- ters beneath; their feelers are much longer than the head, are tapering, curve upwards and are contiguous to their extremity, giving the head of the insect, when viewed side- ways, somewhat the form of the bows of a ship. The caterpillars are armed with branched spines, about equal in length on all the segments except the first and last, on which they are often wanting, and the head is heart-shaped, with little elevated points or short spines on the top. They are solitary, and conceal themselves under a web, or within a THE THISTLE BUTTERFLY. 291 folded leaf, and suspend themselves by the hind feet alone when about to transform. The chrysalids are angular on the sides, with two or three rows of sharp tubercles on the back, the anterior extremity is nearly square, or hardly notched, and there is a short and thick prominence on the top of the thorax. The tubercles, and oftentimes the greater part of the surface of the chrysalis, have the color and lustre of burnished gold; from which originated the name chrysa- lis, derived from the Greek name for gold, now, however, applied to other insects in their second stage of transforma- tion, which are not golden-colored. Cynthia Cardut. Thistle Butterfly. (Fig. 118.) Wings tawny above, with a tinge of rose-red, spotted with black and white; hind wings marbled beneath, with a Fig. 118. triangular white spot in the middle, and a row of five eye- like spots near the hind margin. Expands 24 to 23 inches or more. The caterpillars of this butterfly are found on. thistles, particularly the spear-thistle ( Cnicus lanceolatus) and cotton- thistle ( Onopordon acanthium), on the leaves of the sun- flower, hollyhock, burdock, and other rough-leaved plants, in June and July. Though there may be several on the same plant, they keep at some distance from each other. Each one spins for itself a thin web on the surface of the leaf, usually near the edge, to which it is also fastened, so as to 292 LEPIDOPTERA. draw over a part of the leaf, and thus form a little tent beneath which the caterpillar lives. It devours the skin and pulpy substance of the leaf, without touching the under skin; and, when it has exhausted the part under its tent, it removes to another place, and makes a larger habitation as before. Very young caterpillars, which are distinguished by their darker color as well as their inferior size from the older ones, cover themselves with a very small portion of the leaf, and are principally protected by means of the silken tent. The full-grown caterpillar is about one inch and a half long. Its head is black, its feet reddish, its body striped with black and yellow interrupted lines, with about seven branched spines, of a white color tipped with black, on each segment except the first, those on the fore part of the body being more obscure than the rest. These caterpillars fre- quently suspend themselves to the plants on which they live, and they seldom wander far in search of a place wherein to prepare for transformation. The chrysalis varies in color, being most often brown, with golden or brassy spots on the sides and back, sometimes entirely golden, and sometimes white with a silvery lustre. The chrysalis state lasts from eleven to fourteen days. The butterflies appear from the middle to the end of July, and are found on the flowers of thistles and other plants. I have also found them early in May, and as late as the month of August. Cynthia Huntera, Fab. Hunter's Butterfly. (Fig. 119.) Wings tawny above, variegated and spotted with black and white; hind wings marbled and streaked beneath, with two large eye-like spots near the hind margin. Expands from 24 to 24 inches. The caterpillars are found on the same plants as those of the thistle butterfly, and particularly on the burdock and cotton-thistle in June and July. Mr. Abbot says that they live on a species of everlasting (Gnaphalium polycephalum) also. They, as well as the chrysalids, are very much like THE LAVINIA BUTTERFLY. 293 those of the preceding species. The butterflies appear in August and September. Fig. 119. Cynthia Lavinia,* Fab. Lavinia Butterfly. Wings dark brown above, each with a large and a small eye-like spot on both sides; the fore wings with two orange- red spots near the middle of the front margin, and a large whitish band enclosing the hinder eye-like spots ; hind wings with a reddish band near the hind margin. Expands from 2 to 23 inches. The caterpillar is said to be blackish and dotted with white, with the belly and legs tawny, and two white lines on each side, the uppermost one of which is spotted with tawny orange ; the spines (of which there are two short ones on the head, besides those on the body) are black and branched. According to Mr. Abbot, it lives on the Canada snap-dragon (Antirrhinum Canadense), and remains in the chrysalis state sixteen days. ‘The chrysalis resembles in form that. of the two preceding species, but is said to be destitute of metal- lic spots. I took one of these butterflies in a meadow in Milton, on the 19th of August, 1827, and have never met with it since in this State. It is very common in the Southi- ern States throughout the whole of the summer. * Dr. Boisduval has described this insect under the specific name of Cenia. 294 LEPIDOPTERA. Cynthia Atalanta, L. Atalanta Butterfly. (Fig. 120.) ‘Wings black above, spotted with white near the tips of the first pair, on which is also an orange-red band across the middle ; hind wings with a marginal orange-red band, Fig 120. on which is a row of black dots, the two nearest to the hind angle having a pale blue centre. Expands from 2} to 8 inches. The Atalanta butterfly was probably introduced into America from Europe with the common nettle, which it in- habits. It deposits its eggs in May upon the youngest and smallest leaves of this plant, being cautious to drop only one upon a single leaf. The young caterpillar is guarded against injury from the poisonous prickles of the leaf by the numerous branching spines with which it is covered, and which, being longer than the prickles, prevent its body from coming in contact with the latter. The head is coy- ered with a tough shell, which sufficiently protects this part, while its strong and horny jaws are adapted for cutting. and chewing the leaves and their prickles with impunity. As soon as the caterpillar is hatched, it spins a little web to cover itself, securing the threads all around to the edges of the leaf, so as to bend upwards the sides and form a kind of trough, in which it remains concealed. One end of the cavity is open, and through this the caterpillar thrusts THE ATALANTA BUTTERFLY. 295 its head while eating. It begins with the extremity of the folded leaf, and eats downwards, and, as it gradually consumes its habitation, it retreats backwards, till at last, having, as it were, eaten itself out of house and home, it is forced to abandon its imperfect shelter, and con- struct a new one. This is better than the first; for the insect has become larger and stronger, and withal more skilful from experience. The sides of the larger leaf selected for its new habitation are drawn together by silken threads, so that the edges of the leaf meet closely and form a light and commodious cavity, which securely shelters and com- pletely conceals the included caterpillar. This in time is eaten like the first, and another is formed in like manner. At length the caterpillar, having eaten up and constructed several dwellings in succession, and changed its skin three or four times, comes to its full size, leaves off eating, and seeks a suitable place in which to undergo its transformations. The young caterpillars are almost black ; the full-grown ones measure about one inch and a half, are generally of a brown color more or less dotted with white, with a black head, rough: with elevated white points, with white branching spines on the back, and on each side there is a row of yellow crescents. The chrysalis is gray, with a whitish bloom upon it like that on a plum, and the little pointed tubercles on its back are gold-colored. The chrysalis state continues about ten days, or longer if the weather be cool and wet. The butterflies from the first brood appear in July, and from the second in September. In the butterflies belonging to the genus Vanessa, the wings are. jagged or tailed on the hind edges. The under side of the hind wings, in many, is marked with a golden or silvery character in the middle; the feelers are long, curv- ing, and contiguous, and form a kind of projecting beak. The head of the chrysalis is deeply notched or furnished with two ear-like prominences; the sides are very angular ; on the middle of the thorax there is a thin projection, in 296 LEPIDOPTERA. profile somewhat like a Roman nose; and on the back are two rows of very sharp tubercles of a golden color. The caterpillars are cylindrical, and armed with branching spines ; they live in company, at least during the early period of their existence, and do not conceal themselves under a web or within a folded leaf. Vanessa Antiopa, L. Antiopa Butterfly.8 (Fig. 121.) Wings purplish brown above, with a broad buff-yellow margin, near the inner edge of which there is a row of pale blue spots. Expands from 3 to 84 inches. This butterfly passes the winter in some sheltcred place in a partially torpid state. I have found it in mid-winter Fig. 121. sticking to the rafters of a barn, and in the crevices of walls and stone-heaps, huddled together in great numbers, with the wings doubled together above the back, and apparently benumbed and lifeless; but it soon recovers its activity on being exposed to warmth. It comes out of its winter quar- [8 This is one of the few butterflies common to this country and Europe, and has probably been introduced here. — Morxis.]} THE ANTIOPA BUTTERFLY. 297 ters very early in spring, often before the snow has entirely left the ground, but with ragged and faded wings; and may be seen sporting in warm and sheltered spots in the begin- ning of March, and through the months of April and May. Wilson, in his beautiful linés on the blue-bird, alludes to its early coming in the spring, “When first the lone butterfly flits on the wing.” The caterpillars (Fig. 122) of the Antiopa butterfly live together in great numbers on the poplar, willow, and elm, on which the first broods may be found early in June. They are black, minutely dotted with white, ae with a row of eight dark brick-red site on the top of the back. The head i is black and rough with projecting points ; the spines, of which there are six or seven on each segment except the first, are black, stiff, and branched, and the inter- mediate legs are reddish. When fully grown they measure an inch and three quarters in length, and appear very for- midable with their thorny armature, which is doubtless in- tended to defend them from their enemies. It was formerly supposed that they were venomous, and capable of inflicting dangerous wounds ; and within my remembrance many per- sons were so much alarmed on this account as to cut down all the poplar-trees around their dwellings. This alarm was unfounded ; for, although there are some caterpillars that have the power of inflicting venomous wounds with their spines and hairs, this is not the case with those of the An- tiopa butterfly. The only injury which can be laid to their charge is that of despoiling of their foliage some of our most ornamental trees, and this is enough to induce us to take all proper measures for exterminating the insects, short of destroying the trees that they infest. I have sometimes seen them in such profusion on the willow and elm, that the limbs bent under their weight, and the long leafless branches, 38 Fig. 122. 298 LEPIDOPTERA. which they had stripped and deserted, gave sufficient proof of the voracity of these caterpillars. The chrysalis (Fig. 123) is of a dark brown color, with large tawny spots Fig. 123. around the pointed tubercles on the back. The butterflies come forth in eleven or twelve days after the insects have entered upon the chrysalis state, and this occurs in the beginning of July. A second brood of caterpillars is produced in August, and they pass through all their changes before winter. Vanessa J Album. The White J Butterfly. Wings pale tawny red above, each with a white spot be-- tween two black ones near the outer angle on the front margin ; the fore wings with a larger black spot on the mid- dle of the front edge, and five smaller roundish black spots near the middle of the wings; hind wings with a silvery- white character somewhat in the shape of the letter J in the middle of the under side. . Expands from 24 to 3 inches. The caterpillar and chrysalis of this butterfly are un- known to me. The butterfly probably survives the winter like the Antiopa, for it has been observed late in the autumn, and again early in the ensuing spring, sometimes in great numbers ; but it is very inconstant in its appearance. It is more common in New Hampshire than in Massachusetts. Vanessa Interrogationis, F. Semicolon Butterfly.2 (Fig. 124.) Wings on the upper side tawny orange, with brown spots running together on the hinder part, and with black spots in the middle; hind wings in the male most often black above, except at the base, and sometimes of this color in the other sex also; the edges and the tails glossed with reddish white ; under side of the wings in some rust-red, in others marbled with light and dark brown, glossed with reddish white, and [9 Vanessa Interrogationis belongs to the genus Grapta, Kirby. — Mornris.] THE SEMICOLON BUTTERFLY. 299 with a pale gold-colored semicolon on the middle of the hinder pair. Expands from 24 to 2% inches, or more. The paly-gold character beneath the hind wings has much more nearly the shape of a semicolon than of a note of interrogation ;* for which reason I have called this the semi- colon butterfly, instead of translating the specific name. It first appears in May, and again in August and September, and is frequently seen on the wing, in warm and sunny places, till the middle of October. The caterpillars live on the American elm and lime trees, and also on the hop-vine, Fig. 124. and on the latter they sometimes abound to such a degree as totally to destroy the produce of the plant. In the latter part of August the hop-vine caterpillars come to their full growth, and suspend themselves beneath the leaves and stems of the plant, and change to chrysalids. This fact affords a favorable opportunity for destroying the insects in this their stationary and helpless stage, at some loss, however, of the produce of the vines, which, when the insects have become chrysalids, should be cut down, stripped of the fruit that is sufficiently ripened, and then burnt. There is prob-: [* This butterfly received its name from the Greek note of interrogation, which is identical with our semicolon. — Ep ] 300 LEPIDOPTERA. ably an early brood of caterpillars in June or July, but I have not seen any on the hop-vine before August ; the former are therefore confined to the elm and other plants, in all probability. The caterpillar is brownish, variegated with pale yellow, or pale yellow variegated with brown, with a yel- lowish line on each side of the body; the head is rust-red, with two blackish branched spines on the top; and the spines of the body are pale yellow or brownish and tipped with black. The chrysalis is ashen brown, with the head deeply notched, and surmounted by two conical ears, a long and thin nose-like prominence on the thorax, and eight silvery spots on the back. The chrysalis state usually lasts from eleven to fourteen days; but the later broods are more tardy in their transformations, the butterfly sometimes not appearing in less than twenty-six days after the change to the chrysalis. Great numbers of the chrysalids are annually destroyed by little maggots within them, which, in due time, are trans- formed to tiny four-winged flies (Pteromalus Vanesse), which make their escape by eating little holes through the sides of the chrysalis. They are ever on the watch to lay their ecgs on the caterpillars of this butterfly, and are so small as easily to avoid being wounded by the branching spines of their victims. Vanessa Comma. Comma Butterfly. (Plate IV. Fig. 1.) Upper siae tawny orange; fore wings bordered behind and spotted with black; hind wings shaded behind with dark brown, with two black spots on the middle, and three more in a transverse line from the front edge, and a row of bright orange-colored spots before the hind margin; hind edges of the wings powdered with reddish white; under side marbled with light and dark brown, the hinder wings with a silvery comma in the middle. Expands from 2 to 23 inches. This butterfly very closely resembles the white C (C [10 V. Comma belongs to the genus Grapta Kirby. — Mornits.] THE PROGNE BUTTERFLY. 801 album) of Europe, for which it has probably been mistaken. On a close and careful comparison of several specimens of both together, I am satisfied that the American Comma is a distinct species, and the hinder edges of the wings, which are not so deeply indented, will at once serve to distinguish it. - I have therefore now named and described it for the first time. The caterpillar lives upon the hop, and, as nearly as I can recollect, has a general resemblance to that of the semicolon butterfly. The chrysalis (Plate IV. Fig. 2, chrysalis from which the butterfly has escaped) is brownish gray, or white variegated with pale brown, and ornamented with golden spots; there are two conical ear-like projections on the top of the head, and the prominence on the thorax is shorter and thicker than that of the semicolon butterfly, and more like a parrot’s beak in shape. The butterflies appear first in the beginning of May; I have obtained them from the chrysa- lids in the middle of July, and on the first of September. Vanessa Progne,* Fab. Progne Butterfly. Upper side tawny orange; fore wings bordered and spot- ted with black; hind wings blackish on the posterior half, with two black spots before the middle, and a row of small orange-colored spots before the hind margin; tails and pos- terior edges of the wings powdered with reddish white ; under side gray, with fine blackish streaks, and an angular silvery character somewhat in the form of the letter L on the middle of the hind wings. Expands from 1§ to 23 inches. This butterfly appears in August, and probably also at other times. Though very much like the preceding in general appearance, it is readily distinguished from it by the darker color of the hind wings and the angular shape of the silvery character on their under side. This character is very * Mr. Kirby, whose work on the insects of North America abounds in mistakes, has redescribed this old and well-known species under the name of Vanessa C. argenteum. 302 LEPIDOPTERA. slender, and is sometimes entirely wanting. I have raised the Progne and Comma butterflies from caterpillars which were so much alike, that I am not certain to which of them the following description belongs. These caterpillars were found on the American elm in August; they were pale yellow, with a reddish-colored head, white “branching spines tipped with black, and a row of four rusty spots on each side of the body. They were suspended on the 21st and 22d of August, changed to chrysalids within twenty-four hours, and were transformed to butterflies sixteen days afterwards. At another time, a Progne butterfly was obtained from a caterpillar, which I neglected to describe, on the 18th of August, the chrysalis state having continued only eleven days. The chrysalis is brownish gray, with silvery spots on the back, a short, thick, and rounded nose-like prominence on the thorax, and two conical double-pointed horns or ears on the head, the outer points very short, and the inner ones longer and curving inwards. Vanessa Milberti,* Godart. Milbert’s Butterfly. (Fig. 125.) Black above, with a broad orange-red band near the hinder margin of all the wings, behind which on the hind wings is a row of pale blue crescents ; fore wings with a small white spot near the tips, and two orange-red spots near the middle of the front edge ; under side deep brown, with a pale band near the extremity of the wings, and no metallic characters on the hinder pair. Expands from 24 to 28 inches. This showy butterfly is rare in the vicinity of Boston, but * This is the Vanessa furcillata of Mr. Say; but Godart’s name has the priority in point of time. THE HIPPARCHIANS. 303 abundant in the northwestern part of the State and in New Hampshire. It appears in May, and again in July and Au- gust. The caterpillars live together on the common nettle. They vary in color, some being much darker than others ; generally, however, they are pale brown, minutely dotted with yellowish white, with a dark brown longitudinal line on the top of the back, a whitish one on each side just above the feet, and above this a row of brown spots; the head is small, black, and rough, with little black and white tuber- cles; the spines are blackish, short, and with very small branches or lateral bristles. It measures when fully grown an inch and a quarter’ or more in length, the chrysalis is pale brown with golden spots, the top of the head widely but not deeply notched, and the nose-like prominence very small. The last of the four-footed butterflies remaining to be de- scribed may be called Hipparchians (Hipparchiade). The wings of the butterflies belonging to this group are entire, with the veins of the first pair swelled at their origin, and the central mesh of the second pair closed behind. Their caterpillars are not spiny, and are of a green color, spindle- shaped, or cylindrical, tapering at both ends, with the hinder extremity notched or terminating in two conical points, and the head is either rounded or notched above. They live extlusively on various kinds of grasses, for the most part concealing themselves during the day among the stubble, and suspend themselves by the ‘hindmost feet alone when about to transform. The chrysalis is either oblong and somewhat angular at the sides, with the head notched and two rows of pointed tubercles on the back, or short and rounded, with the head obtuse; but never ornamented with metallic spots. The small size and uniformly green color of the caterpillars of our native species, and the obscurity in which they gener- ally live, render it very difficult to discover them; and hence they rarely pass under our observation. This being 304 LEPIDOPTERA. the case, and not having much to communicate respecting the habits of individual species, I shall confine my further remarks to a description of the insects in their final state, when they are exposed to view, and attract our notice by their neat and modest coloring, and their graceful and gentle motions. They are mostly found in thickets and woods, and more rarely in places more open and exposed. Hipparchia semidea, Say. The Mountain Butterfly. (Fig. 126.) Wings dusky brown above, thin, delicate, and almost transparent, in the male paler, and with more of an ochre-yellow tint; fringes black, barred with ochre- yellow, and a row of faint ochre-yellow spots near the hind margin of the second pair; the under side of these wings and of the tips of the fore wings is mar- bled with black and white, a portion of the white forming an irregular band beyond the middle of the hind wings. Expands 1,8; inch to 2 inches. This butterfly has hitherto been taken only on the summit of the White Mountains of New Hampshire in June and July. It was observed in great abundance flying about on the top of Mount Washington on the 29th of July last. It has also been seen on the Monadnoc Mountain, and will probably be discovered on the tops of the high mountains in our own State, if looked for at the proper season. It closely resembles the Fortunatus of Lapland, with which I have compared it, and find it to be specifically distinct. Mr. Say was the first describer of it, and it is well figured in his American Entomology. Dr. Boisduval has since re-described and figured it under the name of Chionabas Also.* Fig. 126. * Teones Lépidopt. Nouv., I. p. 197, Pl. 40, fig. 1, 2, and Lépidopt. Amer., I. p. 222. € BOISDUVAL’S BUTTERFLY. 305 Hipparchia Alope, Fab. Alope Butterfly. (Fig. 127.) Dark brown ; fore wings with a broad ochre-yellow band beyond the middle, enclosing two round black spots, with a sky-blue centre ; hind wings notched behind, with from one to three eye-like spots of a black color, with a blue centre on the upper side, and four or five of the same kind, but of unequal size, beneath ; the under side of the wings is -pale brown, with numerous dark brown streaks. The eye-spots on the hind wings are sometimes wanting in the males. | Expands from 2 to 2! inches. In the Southern States individuals are found measuring three inches. \ The Alope butterfly is found from the first of July to the middle of September in open woods and in orchards. The caterpillar is pale green with dark green stripes; the head is round, and the tail ends in a short fork. The chrysalis is elongated, roundish at the sides, with the head notched. Fig. 127. Hipparchia Boisduvallit. Boisduval’s Butterfly. (Fig. 128.) Pale yellowish-brown ; the fore wings upon both sides have four eye-like, blackish spots, with a white centre, and the hind wings have six, the external spot re- mote from the others, and the two next to the hind angle very small and close together. In some indi- viduals the white centre is wanting in some of the eye-spots on the upper side of the wings. Fig. 128. 39 306 ite LEPIDOPTERA. Expands 2 inches or more. This butterfly is figured in Dr. Boisduval’s Histoire des Lépidoptéres de Amérique, under the name of Satyrus Canthus ; but as it does not agree with the descriptions of the Canthus of Linnzeus and of Fabricius, in both of which there are no eye-spots on the upper side of the wings, I have thought it entitled to a new name, and am happy to dedicate it to one of the most accomplished entomologists now living. This delicate butterfly delights in open and elevated situa- tions, and is found in July on the sides of the highest hills, and in the mountain meadows of the northwestern parts of this State. Hipparchia Eurytris, Fab. Eurytris Butterfly. (Fig. 130.) Dark brown above, paler beneath, with two longitudinal dusky stripes; on the upper side of the wings are two black eye-spots, enclosed in an ochre-yellow ring, with two lead-colored dots in the centre of each spot; on the hind wings there is another smaller spot, with a lead-col- ored centre, near the hinder angle ; all these spots are found on the under side of the wings, and between them are in- terposed the same number of small lead-colored spots. Expands 1 inch and 6 or 7 tenths. Fig. 129. This butterfly is found in June and July among bushes and in the paths of woods, seeking the shade rather than the sunshine. The caterpil- lar resembles that of the Alope butterfly, but the Tippachis Nephi chrysalis is shorter, with the head obtuse. Fig. 189. THE SKIPPERS. 307 2, SKIPPERs. (Hesperiade.) The butterflies of this tribe frequent grassy places, and low bushes and thickets, flying but a short distance at a time, ‘with a jerking motion, whence they are called skippers by English writers. When they alight, they usually keep the hind wings extended horizontally, and the fore wings some- what raised, but spreading a little, and not entirely closed, as in other butterflies; some of them, however, have all the wings spread open when at rest, and there are others in -which they are all elevated. Notwithstanding this difference in the position of the wings, the Hesperians all have certain -characters in common, by which they are readily distin- guished from other butterflies. Their bodies are short and thick, with a large head, and very prominent eyes; the feelers are short, almost square at the end, and thickly clothed with hairs, which give them a clumsy appearance ; the antennz are short, situated at a considerable distance from each other, and in most of these insects with the knob at the end either curved like a hook, or ending with a lit- tle point bent to one side; the legs are six in number, and the four hinder shanks are armed with two pairs of spurs. ‘Their caterpillars are somewhat spindle-shaped, cylindrical ‘in the middle, and tapering at each extremity, without spines, and generally naked or merely downy, with a very large head and asmall neck. They are solitary in their habits, and many of them conceal themselves within folded leaves, like the caterpillars of the thistle and nettle butterflies ( Cyn- thia Cardut and Atalanta), and undergo their transforma- tions within an envelope of leaves or of fragments of stubble gathered together with silken threads. Their chrysalids are generally conical or tapering at one end, and rounded, or more rarely pointed, at the other, never angular or orna- mented with golden spots, but most often covered with a bluish-white powder or bloom. They are mostly fastened by the tail and a few transverse threads, within some folded 808 LEPIDOPTERA. leaves, which are connected together by a loose internal web of threads, forming a kind of imperfect cocoon. Heteropterus marginatus. Bordered Skipper. (Fig. 131.) Fore wings tawny yellow above, shaded with brown be- hind, and with an indistinct brownish streak in the middle; beneath, brown, with the front and hind margin broadly bordered with tawny yellow; hind wings tawny yellow, with a broad brownish outer margin above, and without a bor- der beneath ; antennz and legs ringed with black and white ; body slender, longer than the hind wings, which are hori- zontal in repose, and the fore wings raised and spread a little. Expands about § of an inch. This pretty species does not appear to have been described before. The chrysalis from which it was obtained, on the 20th of July, is rather long, nearly cylindrical, but tapering at the hinder extremity, and with an obtusely rounded head. It is reddish ash-colored, minutely sprinkled with brown dots. Iam not sure that this skipper belongs to the genus Heteropterus, but have placed it in this genus on account of the antennz, which are not hooked at the end, but ter- minate much like those of the genus Polyommatus. Fig. 131. In the greater number of our skippers the antenne are curved or hooked at the end. This is the case in the kinds belonging to the genus 7’hanaos, which have the knobs of | the antennz long, tapering, and curved, the body thick, and shorter than the wings; the latter are generally spread in repose, and the fringes are of one uniform color, or not spotted. The males are distinguished by having the middle of the front edge of the fore wings doubled back on the upper. surface. . THE BRIZO SKIPPER. 309 i Thanaos Juvenalis, Fab. Juvenal’s Skipper. Smoky brown on both sides ; fore wings variegated above with gray, with transverse rows of dusky spots, and six or seven small semi-transparent white spots near the tips ; six of these spots are disposed in a transverse row, but the two hindmost are separated from the others by a considerable interval, and the seventh spot, which is sometimes wanting, is placed nearer the middle of the wing; hind wings with a row of blackish spots near the hind margin. Expands 1,5 inch. There is a local variety of this skipper, that is much more common in Massachusetts than the preceding, of inferior size, seldom expanding more than 1; inch,-in which the white spots are smaller, and the seventh is wanting near the middle of the fore wing. This skipper is found in meadows in May, and again in August. The caterpillar lives on various pea-blossomed plants, such as the Glycine, or groundnut, the Lathyrus, or vetchling, &c. It is green, with pale stripes, and a heart-shaped brown head. The chrysalis is rather long and tapering, according to Mr. Ab- bot of a green color, and is enclosed in a cocoon of leaves and threads; in my specimens pale yellowish brown, with a few minute hairs on the body, and with the tongue-case prominent and projecting beyond the middle of the breast ; and the cocoon was composed of stubble. Mr. Abbot in- forms us that in summer the skipper leaves the chrysalis in nine days; but the autumnal brood continues in the chrysalis state throughout the winter. Thanaos Brizo. Brizo Skipper. (Fig. 132.) Dark brown; fore wings almost black on the upper side, and variegated with gray externally; near their hind mar- gin is a row of gray dots, within which is a transverse band, composed of another row of oval gray. spots, between two slender black zigzag lines, and across the middle is another band of the same kind; on the hind wings are two wavy 310 LEPIDOPTERA. rows of ochre-yellow dots near the hind margin; all the wings beneath have two rows of dots of the same color behind. Expands from 1/5 to 145 inch. This skipper* has not been described before, but is figured in Dr. Boisduval’s work under the name above given. It is found in the same places and at the same times as the pre- ceding species, to which also it bears a close resemblance in the caterpillar and chrysalis states, and lives on the same kind of plants. Fig 132. In the skippers which Dr. Boisduval arranges under the name of Hudamus, the knobs of the antennz are very long, gradually taper to a point, and are suddenly bent like a hook in the middle; the front edge of the fore wings, in the males, is doubled over; the hind wings are often tailed, or are furnished with a little projection on the hinder angle ; the fringes are spotted ; and all the wings are raised when at rest. Eudamus Tityrus, Fab. Tityrus Skipper. (Plate V. Fig. 1.) Wings brown; first pair with a transverse semi-transparent band across the middle, and a few spots towards the tip, of a honey-yellow color; hind wings with a short rounded tail on the hind angles, and a broad silvery band across the middle of the under side. Expands from 2 to 24 inches. This large and beautiful insect makes its appearance, from the middle of June till after the beginning of July, upon sweet-scented flowers, which it visits during the middle of the day. Its flight is vigorous and rapid, and its strength is * It is figured in Abbot's Insects of Georgia as one of the sexes, or a variety, of the Juvennlis ; but the sexes of both of these species are known to me. [14 Ludamus Tityrus belongs to the genus Goniloba Doubleday. — Morrts.] THE TITYRUS SKIPPER. 311 so great that it cannot be captured without danger of its being greatly defaced in its struggles to escape. The females lay their eggs, singly, on the leaves of the common locust- tree (Robinia pseudacacia), and on those of the viscid locust (Robinia viscosa), which is much cultivated here as an ornamental tree. The caterpillars are hatched in July, and when quite small conceal themselves under a fold of the edge of a leaf, which is bent over their bodies and secured by means of silken threads. When they become larger they attach two or more leaves together, so as to form a kind of cocoon or leafy case to shelter them from the weather, and to screen them from the prying eyes of birds. The full- grown caterpillar (Fig. 183), which Fig. 133. attains to the length of about two TT RET inches, is of a pale ee color, trans- f ol ta 62, versely streaked with darker green, i with a red neck, a very large head roughened with minute tubercles, slightly indented or furrowed above, and of a dull red color, with a large yellow spot on each side of the mouth. Although there may be and often are many of these caterpillars on the same tree and branch, yet they all live separately within their own cases. One end of the leafy case is left open, and from this the insect comes forth to feed. They eat only, or mostly, in the night, and keep themselves closely concealed by day. These caterpillars are very clean- ly in their habits, and make no dirt in their habitations, but throw it out with a sudden jerk, so that it shall fall at a consider- able distance. They frequently transform to chrysalids within the same leaves which have served them for a habitation, but more often quit the trees and construct in some secure place a cocoon (Fig. 134) of leaves or fragments of stubble, the interior of which is lined with a loose web Fig. 134. 312 LEPIDOPTERA. of silk. They remain in their cocoons without further change throughout the winter, and are transformed to but- terflies in the following summer. The viscid locust-tree is sometimes almost completely stripped of its leaves by these insects, or presents only here and there the brown and withered remains of foliage, which has served as a tempo- rary shelter to the caterpillars. Eudamus Bathyllus, Smith. Bathyllus Skipper. (Fig. 135.) In Massachusetts we have what I suppose to be only a local variety of the Bathyllus skipper, differing from South- ern specimens in the inferior size of the white spots on the fore wings, the less prominent hind angle of the hind wings, and the darker color of the fringes. It is of a dark brown color; on the fore wings is a row of small white spots across the middle, and another shorter row of only three or four contiguous spots between the first and the tip; the wings beneath are light brown, shaded at the base with dark brown; the hinder pair with a slightly prominent posterior angle, and two dark brown transverse bands. Expands from 1} to 1,5 inch. This species is found on flowers in June and July; in the Southern States it appears also in March and April. The caterpillar is very similar to that of the Tityrus skipper, and is found on various kinds of Glycine, Hedysarum, &c., in May and June. Fig. 185. The rest of our skippers belong to the old genus Hesperia of Fabricius, which, as now restricted by the French ento- mologists, very nearly coincides with Pamphila of the Eng- lish writers. The American species are quite numerous, and moreover vary a good deal; which, with the difference existing between the sexes, renders it quite difficult to deter- e ‘ THE HESPERIANS. 313 mine and characterize them. In the distribution of the Hésperians, by far the largest portion of the family or group seems to have been assigned to the Western Continent; and it is probable that New England, or perhaps Massachusetts alone, contains a larger number of species than the whole of Europe. The insects of this group recede in many striking characters, and in their general habits, from the true butter- flies, and seem to form the connecting link between the latter and the sphinges or hawk-moths. Those belonging to the genus Hesperia delight in cool and shady places, and most commonly appear on the wing towards the evening, which led Fabricius to give them a generic name indicative of this circumstance. Their antenne are considerably shorter than in those included in Thanaos and Eudamus, and the knob at the end, which is thick and oblong oval, terminates suddenly in a little point directed to one side. The upper wings are raised and the lower are expanded when at rest; and the fringes are not spotted. The body is thick, and about as long as the hind wings. Most of the males are distinguished by an oblique black dash near the middle of the fore wings. The caterpillar lives chiefly on low herbaceous plants. The chrysalis (Fig. 136) is described as being conical, with a pointed head, and a long tongue-case, "s 1% folded on the breast, but not confined at the point. The transformation takes place in a slight cocoon of stubble or grass, connected by a few threads within. These skippers frequent meadows, and other grassy and somewhat shady places, during the middle and latter part of summer. They are of smaller size than the preceding Hesperians, and are much more common and abundant. Their flight, though short and intermitting, is exceedingly swift, and they possess a great deal of muscular strength. Hesperia Hobomok. Wobomok Skipper. (Fig. 187.) Dark brown above; on each of the wings a large tawny- 40 e 314 LEPIDOPTERA. yellow spot occupying the greater part of the middle, four or five minute spots of the same color near the tips of the fore wings, on which is also a short brownish line at the outer extremity of the central mesh ; under side of the fore wings similar to the upper, but paler ; hind wings brown beneath, with a yellow spot near the shoulder, and a very broad deep yellow band, which does not attain the inner margin, and has a tooth-like projection extending towards the hinder edge. The male has not the usual distinguishing oblique dash on the fore wings, which differ from those of the female only in the greater size of the tawny portion, which extends to the front margin. Expands from 13% to 1/5 inch. This skipper comes very near to the Otho of Smith and Abbot (which is not the same as the Otho of Boisduval), and also approaches closely to a species that is figured in Dr. Boisduval’s work under the name of Zabulon; but does not sufficiently agree with either of them, and, in the belief that it has not been described before, I have given it the name of one of our celebrated Indian chiefs. It is found in June and July. Fig. 137. Hesperia Leonardus. Leonard’s Skipper. (Fig. 138.) Dark brown above ; fore wings of the male tawny yellow on the front margin from the base to beyond the middle ; behind this tawny portion is a short black line, and be- hind the latter a row of con- tiguous tawny spots, extend- ing from the middle of the inner edge towards the tip ; the spots at this extremity small and separated from the oth- Fig. 138. PECK’S SKIPPER. 815 ers ; fore wings in the female without the tawny front edge and black line ; hind wings, in both sexes, with a central, curved, tawny-yellow band; wings beneath bright red- brown ; the first pair blackish from the middle to the inner edge, and spotted as on the upper side; hind wings with a yellow dot in the middle, and a curved row of seven bright yellow spots behind it. Expands from 135 to 14 inch. This very distinct and strongly marked skipper does not seem to have been described before. For a specimen of the male I am indebted to the Rev. L. W. Leonard, to whom I have dedicated the species. The females I have taken in the beginning of September. Hesperia Sassacus. Sassacus Skipper. Dark brown above; all the wings with a tawny-yellow spot occupying the greater part of the middle of each, and with two or three little detached spots of the same color near the extremity of the first pair; beneath ochre-yellow, with small pale yellow spots near the tip, corresponding to those on the upper side of the fore wings ; and on the hind wings seven small, square, pale yellow spots, namely, one before the middle and the others in pairs behind it. Expands 14 inch. Of this skipper I have seen only the female, which was taken in Cambridge in the month of June. Its upper side is very much like that of the Hobomok skipper, but it differs from it in the color and markings of the under side, and seems not to have been described before. I have therefore given it, as a new species, the name of an Indian warrior. Hesperia Peckius, Kirby. Peck’s Skipper. (Fig. 139.) Dark brown above ; fore wings with a row of contiguous tawny-yellow spots, extending from the middle of the incr margin towards the tip, where the spots are more distant, and a tawny line from the base to the middle, behind which, 816 LEPIDOPTERA. in the male, is a short, curved, deep black line; hind wings with an indented tawny band, or row of unequal spots, behind the middle, which, in the male, are very indistinct ; beneath, light brown ; fore wings marked with bright yellow spots ; hind wings with a very large, irreg- ular, bright yellow spot, covering nearly the whole under surface, and almost divided in two near the middle. Expands from 1yy to 14% inch. This skipper was named by Mr. Kirby in honor of the late Professor Peck of Cambridge, and is figured and de- seribed in the fourth volume of the “ Fauna Boreali Ameri- cana.” The upper surface of the female resembles that of the same sex of the Phyleus of Drury or Vitellius of Fabricius ; but the under side is different. It is found on flowers in meadows in the latter part of July and in August. Hesperia Cernes? Boisduval. Cernes? Skipper. Dark brown above, fore wings of the male with a large brassy-yellow spot, extending from the front edge beyond the middle, and an oblique wavy black line; hind wings with a brassy gloss; under side of the fore wings tawny yellow before, dusky behind, with a pale yellow oblique spot near the middle, and two or three minute spots of the same color near the front margin; hind wings dusky ochre-yellow be- neath, with a transverse row of four small paler yellow almost obsolete spots; head and body glossed with green above, yellowish white beneath. Expands 13% inch. In one individual from the Southern States there are two or three minute yellow dots on the fore wings between the oblique line and the tip. I think it probable that this may be the species figured, but not described, by Dr. Boisduval, under the above name. It is found in the latter part of July, but seems to be rare, and the female is unknown to me. THE AHATON SKIPPER. 317 Hesperia Metacomet. Metacomet Skipper. Dark brown, slightly glossed with greenish yellow above, the male with a short, oblique black line on the middle of the fore wings, on both sides of which, in the female, are two yellowish dots on the middle, and two more near the front margin and tip; hind wings beneath with a transverse row of four very faint yellowish dots, which, however, are often wanting. Expands 1,3; inch. It resembles the preceding in some respects, but is of a uniform dark color above, and is probably a distinct species. It appears in July. Metacomet was the Indian name of the celebrated King Philip. Hesperia Ahaton. Ahaton Skipper. (Fig. 140.) Dark brown above ; fore wings in the male tawny before the middle from the base nearly to Pig. M40. the tip, the tawny portion ending ex- ternally in three minute wedge-shaped spots ; on the middle an oblique vel- vet-black line, near the outer extrem- ity of which are two or three small tawny spots ; under side spotted as above ; hind wings with- out spot above ; of a greenish or dusky yellow tinge below, with a transverse curved row of four minute yellowish dots, which are often very faint or entirely wanting. In the fe- male there is a tawny dash along the front margin of the fore wings, and the oblique black line is wanting, but the other spots are larger and more distinct. Expands from 1 inch to 154. The markings on the fore wings somewhat resemble those of H. Leonardus, but in other respects it is different, and is much inferior in size. It was captured many years ago in Milton, and I have given it the name of an Indian from that vicinity. 818 LEPIDOPTERA. Hesperia Wamsutta. Wamsutta Skipper. (Fig. 141.) Dark brown above; fore wings with a broken row of small tawny spots towards the tip, and in the males a large tawny patch covering the whole of the fore part of the wihgs Fig. 141. “from the base to the middle, and an oblique curved black line behind it; hind wings with a small tawny dot before the middle, and’ an indented tawny band, or row: ‘of contiguous unequal spots; under side of the fore wings light brown, and with larger’ yellow spots than on the other side, hind wings light brown, with two large irregular bright yellow spots connected in the middle and covering nearly the whole surface. : Expands from ;%; of an inch to nearly an inch. This species hardly differs from’ Peck’s skipper, except in being uniformly smaller. It is a very common kind, and is found in meadows in the latter part of summer, particularly through the month of August. Wamsutta, whose name I have given it, was the oldest son of the Sachem Massasoit. : There are a few more skippers in my collection, which were taken in Massachusetts, but some of them are not suffi- ciently perfect to be described, and of the others I have only one sex. Il. HAWK-MOTHS.. (Sphinges*) Linneus was Jed to give the name of Sphinx to the insects. in his second group of the Lepidoptera, from a fancied resemblance that some of their caterpillars, when at rest, have to the Sphinx of the Egyptians. The: attitude of these caterpillars is indeed very remarkable. Supporting themselves by their four or six hind legs, they elevate the * See page 262. PLATE V. HAWK-MOTHS. $19 fore part of the body, and remain immovably fixed in this posture for hours together. In the winged state, the true Sphinges are known by the name of humming-bird moths, from the sound which they make in flying, and hawk-moths, from their habit of hovering in the air while taking their food. These humming-bird cr hawk moths may be seen during the morning and evening twilight, flying with great swiftness from flower to flower. Their wings are long, narrow, and pointed, and are moved by powerful muscles, to accommodate which their bodies are very thick and ro- bust. Their tongues, when uncoiled, are, for the most part, excessively long, and with them they extract the honey from the blossoms of the honeysuckle and other tubular flowers, while on the wing. Other Sphinges fly during the daytime only, and in the brightest sunshine. Then it is that our large clear-winged Sesize-make their appearance among the flowers, and. regale themselves with their sweets. The fragrant Phlox is their especial favorite. From their size and form and fan-like tails, from their brilliant colors, and the manner in which they take their food, poised upon rapidly vibrating wings above the blossoms, they might readily be mistaken for humming-birds. The Aégerians are also diurnal in their habits. Their flight is swift, but not prolonged, and they usually alight while feeding. In form and color they so much resemble bees and wasps as hardly to be distinguished from them. The Smerinthi are heavy and sluggish in their motions. They fly only during the night, and apparently, in the winged state, take no food, for their tongues are very short, and indeed almost invisible. The Glaucopidians, or Sphinges with feathered antenne, fly mostly by day, and alight to take their food, like many moths, which some of them resemble in form, and in their transformations. The caterpillars of the Sphinges have six- teen legs, placed in pairs beneath the first, second, third, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and last segments of the body ; all of them, except the Agerians and Glaucopidians, have 320 LEPIDOPTERA. either a kind of horn or a tubercle on the top of the last segment, and, when at rest, sit with the fore part of the body elevated. . Having devoted a large portion of this treatise to a de- scription of the spinning-moths, my observations on the other insects of this order must be brief, and confined to a few species, which are more particularly obnoxious on account of their devastations in the caterpillar state. Those persons who are curious to know more about the Sphinges than can be included in this essay, are referred to my descriptive catalogue of these insects, contained in the thirty-sixth volume of Professor Silliman’s “ Journal of Science.” # Every farmer’s boy knows the potato-worm, as it is com- monly called; a large green caterpillar (Fig. 142), with a kind of thorn upon the tail, and oblique whitish stripes on the sides of the body. This insect, which devours the leaves of the potato, often to the great injury of the plant, grows to the thickness of the fore-finger, and the length of three inches or more. It attains its full size from the middle of August to the first of September, then crawls down the stem of the plant and buries itself in the ground. Here, in a few days, it throws off its caterpillar-skin, and becomes a chrysa- lis (Fig. 143), of a bright brown color, with a long and slender tongue-case, bent over from the head so as to touch the breast only at the end, and somewhat resembling the handle of a pitcher. It remains in the ground through the winter, below the reach of frost, and in the following sum- mer the chrysalis-skin bursts open, a large moth crawls out of it, comes to the surface of the ground, and, mounting upon some neighboring plant, waits till the approach of evening invites it to expand its untried wings and fly in search of food. This large insect has generally been con- [12 A more complete monograph of the Sphinges has been lately published in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1859, Art. V., p: 97, by Dr. Brackinridge Clemens, of Easton, Penn. —Morris.]. 321 THE FIVE-SPOTTED SPHINX. 3822 ' LEPIDOPTERA. Fig. 145. founded with the Carolina Sphinx (Sphinx Carolina of Lin- neus, Fig. 145, Fig. 146, larva, Fig. 147, pupa), which it Fig. 146. closely resembles. It measures across the wings about five inches ; is of a gray color, variegated with blackish lines and bands; and on each side of the body there are five round, orange-colored spots encircled with black. Hence it is called by Eng- lish entomologists Sphinx quinguemaculatus (Fig. 144), the five-spotted Sphinx. Its tongue can be unrolled to the THE FOUR-HORNED CERATOMIA. 823 length of five or six inches, but, when not in use, is coiled like a watch-spring, and is almost entirely concealed be- tween two large and thick feelers, under the head. Among the numerous insects that infest our noble elms, the largest is a kind of Sphinx, which, from the four short horns on the fore part of the back, I have named Ceratomia* quadricornis (Fig. 148), or four-horned Ceratomia. On Fig. 143. some trees these Sphinges exist in great numbers, and their ravages then become very obvious; while a few, though capable of doing considerable injury, may escape notice among the thick foliage which constitutes their food, or will only be betrayed by the copious and regularly formed pellets of excrement beneath the trees. They are very abundant during the months of July and August on the large elms which surround the northern and eastern sides of the Com- mon in Boston; and towards the end of August, when they descend from the trees for the purpose of going into the ground, they may often be seen crawling in the Mall in considerable numbers. These caterpillars (Fig. 149), at this period of their existence, are about three inches and a * Ceratomia, derived from the Greek, means having horns on the shoulders, a peculiarity which I have not observed in any other Sphinx. 324 LEPIDOPTERA. half in length, are of a pale green color, with seven oblique white lines on each side of the body, and a row of little notches, like saw-teeth, on the back. The four short horns Fig. 149. on their shoulders are also notched, and, like most other Sphinges, they have a long and stiff spine on the hinder extremity of the body. They enter the earth to become chrysalids, and pass the winter, and come forth in the winged state in the month of June following, at which time the moths may often be found on the trunks of trees, or on fences in the vicinity. In this state their wings expand nearly five inches, are of a light brown color, variegated with dark brown and white, and the hinder part of the body is marked with five longitudinal dark brown lines. A young friend of mine, in Boston, once captured on the trunks of the trees a large number of these moths during a morning’s walk in the Mall, although obliged to be on the alert to escape from the guardians of the Common, whose duty it was to prevent the grass from being trodden down. Nearly all of these speciriens were females, ready to deposit their eggs, with which their large bodies were completely filled. On being taken they made scarcely any efforts to escape, and were safely carried away. It would not be difficult, by such means, very considerably to reduce the number of these destructive insects; in addition to which it might be expedient, during the proper season, for our city authorities to employ persons to gather and kill every morning the cat- erpillars which may be found in those public walks where they abound. From the genus Sphinx | have separated another group GRAPE-VINE SPHINGES. 825 to which I have given the name of Philampelus,* from the circumstance that the larve or caterpillars live upon the grape-vine. When young they have along and slender tail recurved over the back like that of a dog; but this, after one or two changes of the skin, disappears, and nothing remains of it but a smooth, eye-like, raised spot on the top of the last segment of the body. Some of these caterpillars are pale green and others are brown, and the sides of their body are ornamented by six cream-colored spots, of a broad oval shape, in the species which produces the Satellitia of Linneus; narrow oval and scalloped, in that which is trans- formed to the species called Achemon (Fig. 150) by Drury.¥ Fig. 150. They have the power of withdrawing the head and the first three segments of the body within the fourth segment, which gives them a short and blunt appearance when at rest. As they attain to the length of three inches or more, and are thick in proportion, they consume great quantities of leaves ; and the long leafless branches of the vine too often afford evidence of their voracity. They also devour the leaves of the common creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia), which, with those of our indigenous vines, were their only food till the introduction and increased cultivation of foreign vines afforded them an additional supply. They come to their growth during the month of August, enter the earth to transform, and appear in the winged or moth state the following summer, in June and July. The Satellitia Hawk- moth (Plate V. Fig. 2) expands from four. to five inches, * The literal signification of this word is, I love the vine. [38 P. achemon is Sphinx crantor Cramer and Hiibner. — Morris.] 326 LEPIDOPTERA. and is of a light olive color, variegated with patches of dark- er olive. The Achemon (Plate V. Fig. 3; Fig. 151, pupa) expands from three to four inches, is of a reddish ash- color, with two triangular patches of deep brown on the thorax, and two square ones on each fore wing; the hind wings are pink, with a deeper red spot near the middle, and a broad ash-colored border behind. The grape-vine suffers still more severely from the rav- ages of another kind of Sphinx caterpillars, smaller in size than the preceding, and like them solitary in their habits, but more numerous, and, not content with eating the leaves alone, in their progress from leaf to leaf down the stem, they stop at every cluster of fruit, and, either from stupidity or disappointment, nip off the stalks of the half-grown grapes, and allow them to fall to the ground untasted. I have gathered urider a single vine above a quart of unripe grapes thus detached during one night by these caterpillars. They are naked and fleshy, like those of the Achemon and Satellitia, and are generally of a pale green color (sometimes, however, brown), with a row of orange-colored spots on the top of the back, six or seven oblique darker green or brown lines on each side, and a short spine or horn on the hinder extremity. The head is very small, and, with the fore part of the body, is somewhat retractile, but not so completely as in the two preceding species. The fourth and fifth segments being very large and swollen, while the three anterior segments taper abruptly to the head, the fore part of the body presents a resemblance to the head and snout of a hog. This suggested the generical name of Chero- campa, or hog-caterpillar, which has been applied to some of these insects. (Fig. 152, caterpillar covered with cocoons of a parasitic Hymenopterous insect ; Fig. 153, the parasite, natural size and magnified.) Fig. 151. THE APPLE-TREE SMERINTHUS. 327 The species under consideration is found on the vine and the creeper in July and August; when fully grown, it de- scends to the ground, conceals itself under fallen leaves, Fig. 152. Fig. 153. which it draws together by a few threads so as to form a kind of cocoon, or covers itself with grains of earth and rubbish in the same way, and under this imperfect cover it changes to a pupa or chrysalis (Fig. 154), and finally appears in the winged state in the month of July of the following year. The moth, to which Sir James Edward Smith gave the name of Pampinatriz “ (Plate V. Fig. 4), from its living on the shoots of the vine, expands from two and a half to three inches, is of an olive-gray color, except the hind wings, which are rust-colored, and the fore wings and shoulder- covers are traversed with olive-green bands. Among the Sphinges of Massachusetts may be mentioned those belonging to the genus Smerinthus, whose tongue is very short and scarcely visible, and whose fore wings are generally scalloped on the outer edge. Their caterpillars are rough or granulated, with a stout thorn on the tail, and a triangular head, the apex of the triangle corresponding to the crown. The blind-eyed Smerinthus (8. exewcata, Fig. 155) is fawn-colored, clouded with brown, except the hind wings, which are rose-colored in the middle, and ornamented with an eye-like black spot having a pale blue centre. The caterpillar lives on the apple-tree, but is not Fig. 154. [14 C. pampinatriz is Sphinn myron Cramer, and Sphinx cnotus Hiibner. — Morris. ] 4 328. LEPIDOPTERA. common. enough to prove seriously injurious. The same observation will apply to that of the chocolate brown-eyed Sphinx (Sm erinthus myops), which lives on the wild-cherry- Fig. 155. tree, and to the walnut Sphinx (Smerinthus Juglandis), which lives on the black walnut and butternut. The latter species is destitute of eye-like spots on the hind wings. Of those belonging to the genus Sphinx proper, that which bears the specific name drupiferarum inhabits the hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) and the plum-tree ; Sphinx Kalmie inhabits the broad-leaved laurel (Kalmia latifolia) ; the caterpillar of the Gordius is found on the apple-tree; that of the great ash-colored Sphinx GS. cinerea) on the lilac ; Hyleus on the black alder (Prinos glaber, &c.) and whortleberry ; and the curiously checkered caterpillar of Sphinx coniferarum on pines. Of the hog-caterpillars, those of Cheerocampa cherilus and versicolor may be found on swamp pinks (Azalea viscosa and nudiflora). The cater- pillar of the white-lined morning Sphinx (Deilephila lineata) feeds upon purslane and turnip leaves; and that of Deile- phila Chamenerii on the willow-herb (Epilobium angusti- folium). The clear-winged Sphinges, Sesia pelasgus™ (Fig. 156) and difinis, are distinguished by their transparent wings and their fan-shaped tails. They hover over flowers, [5 S. pelasgus is S. thisbe Fab. = S. cimbiciformis i aa ruficaudis Kirby. — Morris.] THE EGERIANS. 329 like humming-birds, Fig. 153. during the daytime, in the months of July and August. Their caterpillars bear a general resemblance to those of the genus Sphinx, and, as far as they are known, seem to possess the same habits. The AQgerians (/EcERIAD#) constitute. a very distinct group among Sphinges. They are easily recognized, in the perfected or winged state, by their resemblance to bees, hornets, or wasps, by their narrow wings, which are mostly transparent, and by the tufts or brush at the end of the body, which they have the power of spreading out like a fan at pleasure. They fly only in the daytime, and frequently alight to bask in’ the sunshine. Their habits, in the cater- pillar state, aré entirely different from those of the other Sphinges; the latter living exposed upon ‘plants whose leaves they devour, while the ‘caterpillars of ‘the /Zgerians are concealed within the stems or roots of plants, and derive their nourishment from the wood and pith. Hence they are commonly called borers, a name, however, which is equally applicable to the larvae or young of many insects of other orders. The caterpillars of the gerians are whitish, soft, and slightly downy. Like those of other Sphinges they have sixteen feet, but they are destitute of a thorn or prominence on the last segment of the body. When they have come to their full size, they enclose themselves in he ee oblong oval cocoons (Fig. 157), made of ¢ fragments of wood or bark cemented by a gummy matter, and within these are trans- formed to chrysalids. The latter are of a shining bay color, 42 330 LEPIDOPTERA. and the edges of the abdominal segments are armed with transverse rows of short teeth. By means of these little teeth, the chrysalis, just before it is about to be transformed to a winged insect, works its way out of the cocoon, and partly through the hole, in the stem or root, which the caterpillar had previously made; and the shell of the chrys- alis (Fig. 158) is left half emerging from the orifice, after the moth has escaped from it. The ash-tree suffers very much from the attacks of borers of this kind, which perforate the bark and sap-wood of the trunk from the roots upwards, and are also found in all the branches of any considerable size. The trees thus infested soon show symptoms of disease, in the death of branches near the summit; and, when the insects become numerous, the trees no longer increase in size and height, and premature decay and death ensue. These borers as- sume the chrysalis form in the month of June, and the chrysalids may be seen projecting half-way from the round holes in the bark of the tree in this and the following month, during which time their final transformation is ef- fected, and they burst open and escape from the shells of the chrysalis in the winged or moth state. Under this form this insect was described, in my paper in Professor Silliman’s “ Journal of Science,” by the name of Trochi- lium * denudatum;.as the habits of the larva are now ascertained, we may call it the ash-tree TZrochilium. Its general color is brown; the edges of the collar and of the abdominal rings, the shins, the feet, and the under side of the antenne are yellowish. The hind wings are transparent; the fore wings are opaque and brown, varie- gated with rust-red ; they have a transparent space near the tips, and expand about an inch and a half. * The word Trochilium is derived from Trochilus, the scientific name of the humming-bird genus; and these insects are sometimes called humming-bird moths. THE PEACH-TREE BORER. 331 During the month of August, the squash and other cucurbitaceous vines are frequently found to die suddenly down to the root. The cause of this premature death is a little borer (Fig. 159, larva), which be- gins its operations near the ground, per- forates the stem, and devours the interior. ; It afterwards enters the soil, forms a cocoon (Fig. 160, cocoon containing chrysalis) of a gummy substance covered with particles of earth, changes to a chrysalis, and comes forth the next summer a winged insect. This is conspicuous for its orausecesowed body, sane with black, and its hind legs fringed with long orange-colored and black hairs. The hind wings only are transparent, and the fore wings expand from one inch to one inch and a half. It deposits its eggs on the vines close to the roots, and may be seen flying about the plants from the 10th of July till the middle of August. This insect, which may be called the squash-vine Adgeria, was first described by me in the year 1828, under the name of Hygeria’ Cucurbite (Plate V. Fig. 8), the trivial name indicating the tribe of plants on which the caterpillar feeds.* The pernicious borer (Fig. 161, larva) which, during many years past, has proved very destructive to peach-trees throughout. the United States, is a species of Algeria, named ezttiosa (Plate V. Fig. 6, male), or the destructive, by Mr. Say, who first scientifically described it in the third volume of the “Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,” and subsequently gave a representation and account of it in his “* American En- Fig. 160. Fig. 161. FER [16 The genus ASgeria Fab. is now rejected by the best authorities, and all the species are put under Trochilium Scopoli, which has the priority by thirty years. — Morris.] * See New England Farmer, Vol. VIII. p. 88; my Discourse before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in 1832, p. 26; and Silliman’s Journal, Vol. XXXVI. p. 3810. 332 LEPIDOPTERA. tomology.” In the fifth volume of the ‘“ New England Farmer” I have given the history of this insect, have men- tioned the principal authors who have noticed it, and rec- ommended preventive measures, which have been found effectual in protecting the peach-tree from its most serious attacks. The eggs, from which these borers are hatched, are deposited, in the course of the summer, upon the trunk of the tree near the root; the borers penetrate the bark, and devour the inner bark and sap-wood. The seat of their operations is known by the castings and gum which issue from the holes in the tree. When these borers are nearly one year old, they make their cocoons either under the bark of the trunk or of the root, or in the earth and gum contiguous to the base of the trees; soon afterwards they are transformed to chrysalids (Fig. 162), (Plate V. Fig. 7, chrysalis from which the moth has escaped,) and finally come forth in the winged state, and lay the eggs for another generation of borers. The last transformation takes place from June to October, most frequently, however, during the month of July, in the State of Massachusetts. Here, although there are several broods produced by a succession of hatches, there is but one rotation of metamorphoses consummated within a year. Hence borers, of all sizes, will be found in the trees throughout the year, although it seems to be necessary that all of them, whether more or less advanced, should pass through one winter before they appear in the winged state. Under its last form, this insect is a slender, dark-blue, four-winged moth, having a slight resemblance to a wasp or ichneumon-fly, to which it is sometimes likened. The two sexes differ greatly from each other, so much so as to have caused them to be mistaken for two distinct species. The male (Plate V. Fig. 6), which is much smaller than the female, has all the wings transparent, but bordered Fig. 162. THE PEACH-TREE BORER. 333 and veined with steel-blue, which is the general color of the body in both sexes; the palpi or feelers, the edges of the collar, of the shoulder-covers, of the rings of the abdomen, and of the brush on the tail, are pale yellow, and there are two rings of the same yellow color on the shins. It expands about one inch. The fore wings of the female are blue, and opaque, the hind wings transparent, and bordered and veined like those of the male, and the middle of the abdomen is encircled by a broad orange- colored belt. It expands an inch and a half, or more. This insect does not confine its attacks to the peach-tree. I have repeatedly obtained both sexes from borers inhabit- ing the excrescences which are found on the trunks and limbs of the cherry-tree; and, moreover, I have frequently taken them in connection on the trunks of cherry and of peach trees. They sometimes deposit their eggs in the crotches of the branches of the peach-tree, where the borers will subsequently be found; but the injury sustained by their operations in such parts bears no comparison to that resulting from their attacks at the base of the tree, which they too often completely girdle, and thus cause its prema- ture decay and death. The following plan, which was recommended by me in the year 1826, and has been tried with complete success by several persons in this vicinity, will effectually protect the neck, or most vital part of the tree, from injury. Re- move the earth around the base of the tree, crush and destroy the cocoons and borers which may be found in it, and under the bark, cover the wounded parts with the common clay composition, and surround the trunk with a strip of sheathing-paper cight or nine inches wide, which should extend two inches below the level of the soil, and be secured with strings of matting above. Fresh mortar should then be placed around the root, so as to confine the paper and prevent access beneath it, and the remaining cavity may be filled with new or unexhausted loam. This a 334 LEPIDOPTERA. operation should be performed in the spring, or during the month of June. In the winter the strings may be removed, and in the following spring the trees should again be exam- ined for any borers that may have escaped search before, and the protecting applications should be renewed. In Europe there is a species of Hgeria, named by Lin- neus tipuliformis, which has long been known to inhabit the stems of the currant-bush. ‘his, or an insect closely resembling it, is far too common in America, in the culti- vated currant, with which it may have been introduced from Europe. The caterpillars are produced from eggs laid sin- gly, near the buds; when hatched, they penetrate the stem to the pith, which they devour, and thus form a burrow of several inches in length in the interior of the stem. As the borer increases in size, it enlarges the hole com- municating with its burrow, to admit of the more ready passage of its castings, and to afford it the means of escape when it is transformed to a moth. The inferior size of the fruit affords an indication of the operations of the borers; and the perforated stems frequently break off at the part affected, or, if of sufficient size still to support the weight of the foliage and fruit, they soon become sickly, and finally die. In some gardens, nearly every currant-bush has been attacked by these borers; and instances are known to me wherein all attempts to raise currant-bushes from cuttings have been baflled, during the second or third year of the growth of the plants, by the ravages of these insects. They complete their transformations, and appear in the moth state, about the middle of June. The moth is of a blue-black color; its wings are trans- parent, but veined and fringed with black, and across the tips of the anterior pair there is a broad band, which is more or less tinged with copper-color; the under side of the feelers, the collar, the edges of the shoulder-covers, and three very narrow rings on the abdomen, are golden THE PEAR-TREE BORER. 885 yellow. The wings expand three quarters of an inch, or a little more. Some years ago, it was ascertained that a species of ALigeria inhabited the pear-tree in this State; and it is said that considerable injury has resulted from it. An infested tree may be known by the castings thrown out of the small perforations made by the borers, which live under the bark of the trunk, and subsist chiefly upon the inner bark. They make their cocoons under the bark, and change to chrysalids in the latter part of summer. The winged insects appear in the autumn, having, like others of this kind, left their chrysalis-skins projecting from the orifice of the holes which they had previously made. In its winged form, this A®geria is very much like that which inhabits the currant-bush; but it is a smaller species. It was described by me in the year 1830, under the name of “Higeria Pyri (Plate V. Fig. 5), the pear-tree /Egeria ; and my account of it will be found on the second page of the ninth volume of the “New England Farmer.” Its wings expand rather more than half an inch; are transparent, but veined, bordered, and fringed with purplis) black, and across the tips of the fore wings is a broad dark band glossed with coppery tints; the prevailing color of the upper side of the body is purple-black ; but most of the under side is golden yellow, as are the edges of the collar, of the shoulder-covers, and of the fan-shaped brush on the tail, and there is a broad yellow band across the middle of the abdomen, preceded by two narrow bands of the same color. There are several more insects * belonging to this group in Massachusetts, one of which lives in the stems of the lilac, and another inhabits those of the wild currant, Libes floridum. The winged male of the latter species is remarka- ble for the very long, slender, and cylindrical tuft or pencil at the extremity of the body. Of the rest, there is nothing particularly worthy of note. * See Silliman’s Journal, Vol. XXXVI. pp. 309 to 313. ‘336 LEPIDOPTERA. The Glaucopidians,* so named from the glaucous or bluish- green color of some of the species, are distinguished from the other Sphinges by their antenna, which, in the males at least, and sometimes in both sexes, are feathered, or furnished on each side with little slender branches, parallel to cach other like the teeth of a comb. In scientific works such antennze are called pectinated, from pecten, the Latin ‘for comb. The caterpillars of the Glaucopidians have sixteen feet, are slender, and cylindrical, with a few hairs scattered generally over the surface of the body, or arranged in little tufts arising from minute warts, and are without a horn on the hinder extremity. They devour the leaves of plants, and make for themselves cocoons of coarse silk, in which they undergo their transformations. The chrysa- lids are oblong oval, rounded at one end, tapering at the other, and are not provided with transverse rows of teeth on the surface of the body. In the caterpillar and winged states, in the nature of their transformations, and in their habits, these insects approach very closely to the Phalene, or moths, forming the third division of Lepidopterous in- sects, among which they are arranged by some naturalists. There are not many of them in Massachusetts, and only one species requires to be noticed here. This is the Procris Americana (Fig. 163), a small moth of a blue-black color, with a saffron- colored collar, and a notched tuft on the extremity of the body. The wings, which are very narrow, expand nearly one inch. This little insect is the American representative of the Procris vitis or ampelophaga of Europe, which, in the caterpillar state, sometimes proves very injurious to the grape-vine. The habits of our spe- cies are exactly the same; but have been overlooked, or Fig. 163. * See additional observations on page 819. {+ For the other species see Silliman’s Journal, Vol. XXXVI. pp. 315 to 319. THE GLAUCOPIDIANS.. 337 very rarely observed, in this vicinity. The caterpillars are gregarious, that is, considerable numbers of them live and teed together, collected side by side on the same leaf, and only disperse when they are about to make their co- coons. They are of a yellow color, with a transverse row of black velvety tufts on each ring, and a few con- spicuous hairs on each extremity of the body. They are hatched from eggs, which are laid in clusters of twenty or more together on the lower sides of the leaves of the grape- vine and creeper; and they come to their growth from the middle to the end of August. They then measure six tenths or rather more than one half of an inch in length. Their feet are sixteen in number, and rather short, and their mo- tions are sluggish. When touched, they curl their bodies sidewise and fall to the ground, or, more rarely, hang sus- pended from the leaves by a silken thread. When young, they eat only portions of the surface of the leaf; but as they grow older, they devour all but the stalk and principal veins, and, passing from leaf to leaf, thus strip whole branches of their foliage. When numerous, they do much damage to the vines and fruit, by stripping off the leaves in midsum- mer, when most needed. I have found them in Massachu- setts on the grape-vine and on the common creeper, or Ampe- lopsis quinquefolia, and conjecture that the latter constitutes their natural food. About the year 1830, Professor Hentz found them in swarms upon cultivated grape-vines at Chapel Hill, in North Carolina; and constant care was required to check their ravages there, during several successive years. Several broods appeared there in the course of the summer; but hitherto, only one annual brood has been observed in Massachusetts, although two or more broods may occasion- ally be produced. When about to make their cocoons, the caterpillars leave the vines, and retire to some sheltered spot. They then enclose themselves, each in a very thin, but tough, oblong oval cocoon, and soon afterwards are 43 338 LEPIDOPTERA. transformed to shining brown chrysalids. Early in July, and in the middle of the day, I have seen the moths flying about grape-vines and creepers, at which time, also, they pair and lay their eggs. A more ful! account of this insect, illustrated by figures, will be found in Hovey’s Magazine, for June, 1844. IIL. MOTHS. (Phalene.)* The third great section of the Lepidoptera, which Lin- neus named Phalena, includes a vast number of insects, sometimes called millers, or night-butterflies, but more fre- quently moths. The latter term, thus applied, comprehends not only those domestic moths which, in the young or caterpillar state, devour cloth, but all other insects belong- ing to the order Lepidoptera which cannot be arranged among the butterflies and hawk-moths. These insects vary greatly in size, color, and structure. Some of them, particularly those with gilded wings, are very minute; while the Atlas-moth of China (Attacus atlas), when its wings are expanded, covers a space meas- uring nearly nine inches by five and a half; and the owl- moth (Erebus Strix) has wings which, though not so broad, expand eleven inches. Some female moths are destitute of wings, or have but very small ones, wholly unfitted for flight; and there are species whose wings are longitu- dinally cleft into several narrow rays, resembling feathers. The stalk of the antennze of moths generally tapers from the base to the end. These parts sometimes resemble simple or naked bristles, and sometimes they are plumed on each side of the stalk, like feathers. There is often a good deal of difference in the antenna, according to the sex; feathered or pectinated antennae being generally nar- rower in the females than in the males; and there are some moths the males of which have feathered antenne, * See page 320. MOTHS. 339 while those of the other sex are not feathered at all, or only furnished with very short projections, like teeth, at the sides. Most moths have a sucking-tube, commonly called the tongue, consisting of two hollow and tapering threads, united side by side, and when not in use rolled up in a spiral form; but in many this member is very short, and its two threads are not united; and in some it is en- tirely wanting, or is reduced to a mere point. Two palpi or feelers are found in most moths. They grow from the lower lip, generally curve upwards, and cover the face on each side of the tongue. Some have, besides these, another pair, which adhere to the roots of the tongue. Many moths are said to have no feelers; these parts being in them very small, and invisible to the naked eye. The caterpillars of these insects differ more from each other than the moths. In general they are of a cylindrical shape, and are provided with sixteen legs; there are many, however, which have only ten, twelve, or fourteen legs ; and in a few the legs are so very short as hardly to be visible, so that these caterpillars seem to glide along in the manner of slugs. Some caterpillars are naked, and others: are clothed with hairs or bristles, and the hairs are either uniformly distributed, or grow in tufts. Sometimes the surface of the body is even and smooth; sometimes it is covered with little warts or tubercles; or it is beset with prickles and spines, which not unfrequently are compound or branched. Many caterpillars, previous to their transformation, en- close themselves in cocoons, composed entirely of silk, or of silk interwoven with hairs stripped from their own bodies, or with fragments of other substances within their reach. Some go into the ground, where they are transformed without the additional protection of a cocoon; others change to chrysalids in the interior of the stems, roots, leaves, or fruits of plants. The chrysalids of moths are generally of an elongated oval shape, rounded at one end, and tapering 340 LEPIDOPTERA. n almost to a point at the other; and they are destitute of the angular elevations which are found on the chrysalids of butterflies. These brief remarks, which are necessarily of a very general nature, and comprise but a few of the principal differences observable in these insects, must suffice for the present occasion. Linnzeus divided the Moths into eight groups; namely, Attaci, Bombyces, Noctue, Geometree, Tortrices, Pyralides, Tinee, and Alucite ; and these (with the exception of the Attaci, which are to be divided between the Bombyces and Noctue) have been recognized as well-marked groups, and have been adopted by some of the best entomologists * who succeeded him. 1. Sprnners. (Bombyces.) The Bompsyces, so called: from Bombyx, the ancient name of the silk-worm, are mostly thick-bodied moths, with anten- nz in the greater number feathered or pectinated, at least in the males, the tongue and feelers very short or entirely wanting, the thorax woolly, but not crested, or very rarely, and the fore legs often very hairy. Their caterpillars have sixteen legs, are generally spinners, and, with few excep- tions, make cocoons within which they are transformed. This tribe has been subdivided into a number of lesser groups or families ; but naturalists are not at all agreed upon the manner in which these should be arranged. We might place at the head of the tribe those large moths, whose Sphinx-like caterpillars are naked and warty, and which, in the winged state, are ornamented with eye-like spots like the Smerinthi; or we might place first in the series the moths whose caterpillars are wood-eaters, with the habits * It is hardly necessary to say that among these are Denis and Schiffermiiller, the authors of the celebrated’ Vienna Catalogue, besides Latreille, Leach, Ste- phens, and others, whose classifications of the Moths, how much soever varied, enlarged, or improved, are essentially based on the arrangement proposed by Linnzus. : PLATE YI. Dougal sc. THE LITHOSIANS. 341 and transformations of the Agerians ; or we may begin with the smaller species, with hairy caterpillars, whose hab- its and transformations are like those of the Glaucopidians, and which resemble the latter closely in the winged state ; and thus the series, from Procris and other moth-like Sphinges to the true Moths, will be uninterrupted. The latter, on the whole, seems to be the most natural course, and it agrees with the arrangement of Dr. Boisduval, which I shall follow, with some slight changes only. Agreeably to this arrangement the first family of the Bom- byces will be the Lithosians (LirHostap#), so named from two Greek words,* meaning a stone, and to live; for the caterpillars of many of these insects live in stony places, and devour the lichens growing on rocks. (Such also are the habits of Glaucopis Pholus (Fig. 164), one of the Glaucopid- ians.) On this account they are not properly subjects for notice in this essay; but as some of the larger species are grass-eaters, are conspicuous for their beauty, and naturally conduct to another family particularly obnoxious to the cultivators of the soil, it may be interesting to point out their distinguish- ing traits. The Lithosians are slender-bodied moths, mostly of small size, whose rather narrow upper or fore wings, when at rest, generally lie flatly on the top of the back, crossing or overlapping each other on their inner margins, and entirely covering the under wings, which are folded longi- tudinally, and, as it were, moulded around the body ; more rarely the wings slope a little at the sides, and cover the back like a low roof. The antenne are rather long, and pristle-formed ; sometimes naked in both sexes, more often slightly feathered with a double row of short hairs beneath, Fig. 164. * This is the derivation given by M. Godart, Hist. Nat. Lépidopt. de France, Vol. V. p. 10. 342 LEPIDOPTERA. in the males. The tongue and one pair of feelers are very distinct and of moderate length. The back is smooth, neither woolly nor crested, but thickly covered with short and close feather-like scales. The wings of many of the Lithosians are prettily spotted, and they frequently fly in the daytime like the Glaucopidians. Their caterpillars are sparingly clothed with hairs, growing in little clusters from minute warts on the surface of the body. They enclose themselves in thin oblong cocoons of silk interwoven with their own hairs. The rings of their chrysalids are gen- erally so closely joined as not to admit of motion. Of about a dozen kinds inhabiting Massachusetts, I shall describe only two. The first of these may be called Gno- phria vittata,*™ the striped Gnophria. It is of a deep scarlet color; its fore wings, which expand one inch and one eighth, have two broad stripes, and a short stripe between them at the tip, of a lead-color, and the hind wings have a very broad lead-colored border behind; the middle of the abdomen and the joints of the legs are also lead-colored. The caterpillar lives upon lichens, and may be found under loose stones in the fields in the Spring. It is dusky, and thinly covered with stiff, sharp, and barbed black bristles, which grow singly from small warts. Early in May it makes its cocoon, which is very thin and silky; and twenty days afterwards is transformed to a moth. By far the most elegant species is the Deiopeia bella (Plate VI. Fig. 3), the beautiful Deiopeia. This moth has naked bristle-formed antenn; its fore wings are deep yellow, crossed by about six white bands, on each of which is a row of black dots; the hind wings are scarlet red, with an irregular border of black behind: the body is * This moth has all the essential characters of the European Gnophria rubri- collis, an insect closely resembling in its colors the Procris Americana. The name of the genus is derived from a Greek word signifying dusky, in allusion to the dark colors of the insects. [17 Gnophria vittata is Lithosia miniata Kirby. — Morrts.] THE ARCTIANS. 843 white, and the thorax is dotted with black. It expands from one inch and a half to one and three quarters. Its time of appearance here is from the middle of July till the beginning of September. The caterpillar is unknown to me; but Drury states that he was informed it was of the same color as the fore wings of the moth, (that is, yel- low and white dotted with black,) and that it feeds upon the blue lupines.* The European Deiopeia pulchella, which is very much like our species, feeds, in the caterpillar state, on the leaves of the mouse-ear, Myosotis arvensis and palus- tris; and it is probable that ours may be found on plants of the same kind here. Some of the large and richly colored Lithosians resemble, in many respects, the insects in the next family, called, by the English, tiger and ermine moths. The caterpillars of most of these tiger-moths are thickly covered with hairs, whence they have received the name of woolly bears, and the family, including them, that of Arcriapz, or Arctians, from the Greek word for bear. The Arctians, or tiger- moths, have shorter and thicker feelers than the Lithosians ; their tongue is also for the most part very short, not extending, when unrolled, much beyond the head; their antenne, with few exceptions, are doubly feathered on the under side; but the feathering is rather narrow, and is hardly visible in the females; their wings are not crossed on the top of the back,t but are roofed or slope downwards on each side of the body, when at rest; the thorax is thick, and the abdomen is short and plump, and generally orna- mented with rows of black spots. Their fore wings are often variegated with dark-colored spots on a light ground, or light-colored veins on a dark ground; and the hind wings are frequently red, orange, or yellow, spotted with black or blue. They fly only in the night. Their caterpil- * Drury’s Illustrations, Vol. I. p. 52, pl. 24, fig. 3. + To this character there is an exception in the Lophocampa tessellavis, the wings of which are closed like those of Lithusia quadra. 344 LEPIDOPTERA. lars are covered with coarse hairs, spreading out on all sides like the bristles of a bottle-brush, and growing in clusters or tufts from little warts regularly arranged in transverse rows on the surface of the body. They run very fast, and when handled roll themselves up almost into the shape of a ball. Many of them are very destruc- tive to vegetation, as, for example, the salt-marsh caterpil- lar, the yellow bear-caterpillar of our gardens, and the fall web-caterpillar. When about to transform, they creep into the chinks of walls and fences, or hide themselves under stones and fallen leaves, where they enclose themselves in rough oval cocoons, made of hairs plucked from their own bodies, interwoven with a few silken threads. The chrysalis is smooth, and not hairy, and its joints are movable. Some of the slender-bodied Arctians, with bristle-formed antennze, which are not distinctly feathered in either sex, and having the feclers slender, and the tongue longer than the others, come so near to the Lithosians that naturalists arrange them sometimes among the latter, and sometimes among the Arctians. They belong to Latreille’s genus Callimorpha* (meaning beautiful form), one species of which in- habits Massachusetts, and is called Cual- limorpha militaris (Fig. 165), the soldier- moth, in my Catalogue. Its fore wings expand about two inches, are white, al- most entirely bordered with brown, with an oblique band of the same color from the inner margin to the tip; and the Fig. 165. * The French naturalists, whom I have followed, include in this genus the Eu- ropean moths called Hera, Dominula, Donna, Jacobee, &c. Closely allied to the Hera, and still more so to the militaris, is a large and fine species, which inhabits the Southern States, and which I have named Callimorpha Carolina. It differs from the militaris in being larger, measuring across the wings two inches and a quarter, or more, and in having the hind wings of a deep Indian-yellow or ochre color, with one or two black spots near the hind margin; the abdomen also is ochre-yellow. It is possible that this may be the Clymene of Esper and Ochsen- heimer, or the Colona of Hiibner, whose works I have not seen. THE TIGER-MOTIis. 345 brown border on the front margin generally has two short angular projections extending backwards on the surface of the wing. The hind wings are white, and without spots. The body is white ; the head, collar, and thighs, buff-yellow; and a longitudinal brown stripe runs along the top of the back from the collar to the tail. This is a very variable moth ; the brown markings on the fore wings being some- times very much reduced in extent, and sometimes, on the contrary, they run together so much that the wings appear to be brown, with five large white spots. This latter variety is named Callimorpha Lecontet by Dr. Boisduval. The cat- erpillar is unknown to me. The caterpillars of the Calli- morphas are more sparingly clothed with hairs than the other Arctians; and they are generally dark-colored, with longitudinal yellow stripes. They feed on various herba- ceous and shrubby plants, and conceal themselves in the daytime under leaves or stones. Most of the other tiger and ermine moths of Massachusetts may be arranged under the general name of Arctia.* The first of them would probably be placed by Mr. Kirby in Cal- limorpha,t from which, however, they differ in their shorter and more robust antennz, always very distinctly feathered, at least in the males. They are distinguished from the rest by having two black spots on the collar, and three short black stripes on the thorax. The largest and most rare of these moths is the Arectia virgo, or virgin tiger-moth. On account of the peculiarly strong and disagreeable odor which it gives out, it might with greater propriety have been named the stinking tiger-moth. It is a very beautiful insect. Its * Chelonia of the French, Euprepia of the Germans (from a Greek word sig- nifying pre-eminent beauty), and subdivided, by the English entomologists, into many genera, founded on minute differences in the length of the joints of the feel- ers, &c., which it is unnecessary to regard in this treatise. ¢ Mr. Kirby’s Cullimorpha parthenice and virguncula closely resemble the first two or three species which follow. The European pudica, and probably also the Nemeophila plantaginis belong to the same group. See Fauna Boreali Americana, Vol. IV. pp. 304, 805, pl. 4, fig. 6. ? 44 e46 LEPIDOPTERA. fore wings expand from two inches to two and a half, are flesh-red, fading to reddish buff, and covered with many stripes and lance-shaped spots of black ; the hind wings are vermilion-red, with seven or eight large black blotches ; the under side of the body is, black, the upper side of the abdo- men vermilion-red, with a row of black spots close together along the top of the back. The caterpillar is brown, and pretty thickly covered with tufts of brown hairs. The moth appears here in the latter part of July and August. The Arge tiger-moth resembles the preceding, but is smaller, and not so highly colored, and the black markings on the fore wings are smaller, and separated from each other by wider spaces. Its general tint is a light flesh-color, fading to nankin ; the fore wings are marked with streaks and small triangular spots of black; the hind wings are generally deeper- colored than the fore wings, and have from five to seven or eight black spots of different sizes upon them; there are two black spots on the collar, and three on the thorax, as in the preceding species ; the abdomen is of the color of the hind wings, with a longitudinal row of black dots on the top, another on each side, and two rows of larger size beneath. The wings expand from one inch and three quarters to two inches. J have taken this moth from the 20th of May till the middle of July. The caterpillar appears here sometimes in large swarms in the month of October, having then become fully grown, measuring about one inch and a half in length, and being at this time in search of proper winter quarters wherein to make their cocoons. They are of a dark green- ish-gray color, but appear almost black from the black spots with which they are thickly covered; there are three longi- tudinal stripes of flesh-white on the back, and a row of kidney-shaped spots of the same color on each side of the body. The warts are dark gray, and each one produces a thin cluster of spreading blackish hairs. They eat the leaves of plantain and of other herbaceous plants, and it is stated * * Abbot's Insects of Georgia, p. 125, pl. 63. THE TIGER-MOTHS. 847 that théy sometimes make great devastation among young Indian corn in the Southern States. A much more abundant species in Massachusetts is that which has been called the harnessed moth, Arctia phalerata (Fig. 166) of my Catalogue. It makes its appearance from the end of May to the middle of August, and probably breeds throughout the whole summer. It is of a pale buff or nankin color; the hind wings next to the body, and the sides of the body, are reddish ; on the fore wings are two longitudinal black stripes and four triangular black spots, the latter placed near the tip; and these stripes and spots are arranged so that the buff-colored spaces be- tween them somewhat resemble horse-harness ; the hind wings have several black spots near the margin; there are two dots on the collar, three stripes on the thorax, and a stripe along the top of the back, of a black color; the under side of the body and the Jegs are also black. ‘The wings ex- pand from one inch and a half to one inch and three quar- ters. The caterpillar is not yet known tome. This moth, in many respects, resembles one called Phyllira* by Drury, rarely found here, but abundant in the Southern States ; the fore wings of which are black, with one longitudinal line, two transverse lines, and near the tip two zigzag lines forming a W, of a buff color. The feelers and tongue of the foregoing moths, though short, are longer than in the following species, which have these parts, as well as the head, smaller and more covered with hairs. Some of the latter may be said to occupy the centre or chief place among the Arctians, exceeding all the rest in the breadth of their wings, the thickness of their bodies, and the richness of their colors. Among these is the great American tiger-moth, Arctia Americana, an unde- Fig. 166. * More properly Philyra. 848 LEPIDOPTERA. scribed species, which some of the French entomologists * have supposed to be the same as the great tiger, Arctia Caja, of Europe. Of this fine insect I have a specimen, which was presented to me by Mr. Edward Doubleday, who obtained it, with several others, near Trenton Falls in New York. It has not yet been discovered in Massachusetts, but will proba- bly be found in the western part of the State. The fore wings of the Aretia Americana expand two inches and a half or more; they are of a brown color, with several spots and broad winding lines of white, dividing the brown surface into a number of large irregular blotches; the hind wings are ochre-yellow, with five or six round blue-black spots, three of them larger than the rest; the thorax is brown and woolly; the collar edged with white before, and with crimson behind; the outer edges of the shoulder-covers are white; the abdo- men is ochre-yellow, with four black spots on the middle of the back ; the thighs and fore legs are red, and the feet dark brown. This moth closely resembles the European Caja, and especially some of its varieties, from all of which, however, it is essentially distinguished by the white edging of the col- Jar and shoulder-covers, and the absence of black lines on the sides of the body. It is highly probable that specimens may oceur with orange-colored or red hind wings like the Caja, but I have not seen any such. The caterpillar of our species probably resembles that of the Caja, which is dark chestnut- brown or black, clothed with spreading bunches of hairs, of a foxy-red color on the fore part and sides of the body, and black on the back ; ; but the clusters of hairs, though thick, are not so close as to conceal the breathing holes, hich form a distinct row of pearly-white spots on each side of the body. These caterpillars eat the leaves of various kinds of gar- den plants without much discrimination, feeding together in considerable numbers on the same plant when young, but scattering as they grow older. * Godart. Lépidopt. de France, Tom. TV. p. 808. It is figured in the “Lake Superior” of Agassiz and Cabot, pl. 7, fig. 5. THE VIRGINIA ERMINE-MOTH. 849 The largest of the American Arctians is the Seribonia, or great white leopard-moth, which varies in expansion from two and a half to three and a half inches, the females being invariably much larger than the males. It is of a white color; the fore wings and thorax are ornamented with many small oval black rings, the hind wings are more or less spotted with black ; and the abdomen is yellow, with rows of large blue-black spots on the back and sides. The caterpillar, as represented by Mr. Abbot,* is the counterpart of that of the Hebe of Europe, being chestnut- brown with transverse red bands between the rings, and is clothed with clusters of dark brown hairs. It is said to eat the leaves of the wild sunflower and of various other plants. It has been confidently reported to me that the great leopard-moth has been seen in Brookline; but it must be very rare here, for I have never heard of its being taken in any part of New England. Specimens of this fine insect would be a very acceptable addition to any collection of such objects. Of all the hairy caterpillars frequenting our gardens, there are none so common and troublesome as that which I have called the yellow- bear (Fig. 167). Like most of its genus, it is a very general feeder, de- vouring almost all kinds of herbaceous plants with equal relish, from the broad- leaved plantain at the door-side, the peas, beans, and even the flowers of the garden, and the corn and coarse grasses of the fields, to the leaves of the vine, the currant, and the gooseberry, which it does not refuse when pressed by hunger. This kind of caterpillar varies very much in its colors; it is perhaps most often of a pale yellow or straw color, with a black line along each side of the body, and a transverse line * Insects of Georgia, p. 187, pl. 69. 350 LEPIDOPTERA. of the same color between each of the segments or rings, and it is covered with long pale yellow hairs. Others are often seen of a rusty or brownish yellow color, with the same black lines on the sides and between the rings, and they are clothed with foxy-red or light brown hairs. The head and ends of the feet are ochre-yellow, and the under side of the body is blackish in all the varieties. They are to be found of different ages and sizes from the first of June till October. When fully grown they are about two inches long, and then creep into some convenient place of shelter, make their co- coons, in which they remain in the chrysalis state during the winter, and are changed to moths in the months of May or June following. Some of the first broods of these caterpil- lars appear to come to their growth early in summer, and are transformed to moths by the end of July or the beginning of August, at which time I have repeatedly taken them in the winged state; but the greater part pass through their last change in June. The moth (Fig. 168) is fa- miliarly known by the name of the white mil- ler, and is often seen about houses. Its sci- entific name is Arctia Virginica,® and, as it nearly resembles the insects commonly called ermine-mothis * in England, we may give to it the name of the Virginia ermine-moth. It is white, with a black point on the middle of the fore wings, and two black dots on the hind wings, one on the middle and the other near the posterior angle, much more distinct on the under than on the upper side; there is a row of black dots on the top of the back, another on each side, and between these a longitudinal deep yellow stripe; the hips and thighs of the fore legs are also ochre-yellow. Fig. 168. [}8 Arctia Virginica belongs to the genus Spilosoma. — Morris.] * Tt is most like the Arctia Urtice, but is of a much purer white color. THE SALT-MARSH CATERPILLAR. B51 It expands from one inch and a half to two inches. Its eggs are of a golden-yellow color, and are laid in patches upon the leaves of plants. In some parts of France, and in Belgium, the people have been required by law to écheniller, or uncat- erpillar, their gardens and orchards, and have been punished by fine for the neglect of the duty. Although we have not yet become so prudent and public-spirited as to enact similar regulations, we might find it for our advantage to offer a bounty for the destruction of caterpillars; and though we should pay for them by the quart, as we do for berries, we should be gainers in the end, while the children whose idle hours were occupied in the picking of them would find this a profitable employment. The salt-marsh caterpillar (Fig. 169), an insect by far too well known on our seaboard, and now getting to be common in the interior of the State, whither it has probably been intro- duced, while under the chrysalis form, with the salt hay an- nually carried from the coast by our inland farmers, closely resembles the yellow bear in some of its varieties. The history of this insect forms the subject of a communication made by me to the Agricultural Society of Massachusetts, in the year 1823, and printed in the seventh volume of the “‘ Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal,” with figures representing the insect in its different stages. At various times and intervals since the beginning of the present century, and probably before it also, the salt marshes about Boston have been overrun and laid waste by swarms of cater- pillars. These appear towards the end of June, and grow rapidly from that time till the first of August. During this month they come to their full size, and begin to run, as the phrase is, or retreat from the marshes, and disperse through the adjacent uplands, often committing very extensive ravages 352 LEPIDOPTERA. in their progress. Corn-fields, gardens, and even the rank weeds by the way-side, afford them temporary nourishment while wandering in search of a place of security from the tide and weather. They conceal themselves in walls, under stones, in hay-stacks and mows, in wood-piles, and in any other places in their way, which will afford them the proper degree of shelter during the winter. Here they make their coarse hairy cocoons, and change to chrysalids, in which form they remain till the following summer, and are transformed to moths in the month of June. In those cases where, from any cause, the caterpillars, when arrived at maturity, have been unable to leave the marshes, they conceal themselves beneath the stubble, and there make their cocoons. Such, for the most part, is the course and duration of the lives of these insects in Massa- chusetts ; but in the Middle and Southern States two broods are brought to perfection annually, and even here some of them run through their course sooner, and produce a second brood of caterpillars in the same season ; for I have obtained the moths between the 15th and 20th of May, and again be- tween the 1st and the 10th of August. Those which were disclosed in May passed the winter in the chrysalis form, while the moths which appeared in August must have been produced from caterpillars that had come to their growth and gone through all their transformations during the same sum- mer. This, however, in Massachusetts, is not a common occurrence ; for by far the greater part of these insects appear at one time, and require a year to complete their several changes. The full-grown caterpillar measures one inch and three quarters or more in length. It is clothed with long hairs, which are sometimes black and sometimes brown on the back and fore part of the body, and of a lighter brown color on the sides. The hairs, like those of the other Arctians, grow in spreading clusters from warts, which are of a yellowish color in this species. The body, when stripped of the hairs, THE SALT-MARSH CATERPILLAR. 853 is yellow, shaded at the sides with black, and there is a blackish line extending along the top of the back. The breathing-holes are white, and very distinct even through the hairs. These caterpillars, when feeding on the marshes, are sometimes overtaken by the tide, and when escape be- comes impossible they roll themselves up in a circular form, as is common with others of the tribe, and abandon them- selves to their fate. The hairs on their bodies seem to have a repelling power, and prevent the water from wetting their skins, so that they float on the surface, and are often carried by the waves to distant places, where they are thrown on shore and left in winrows with the wash of the sea. After a little time, most of them recover from their half-drowned condition, and begin their depredations anew. In this way, these insects seem to have spread from the places where they first appeared to others at a considerable distance. From the marshes about Cambridge they were once, it is said, driven in great numbers by a high tide and strong wind upon Boston Neck, near to Roxbury line. Thence they seem to have migrated to the eastern side of the Neck, and, follow- ing the marshes to South Boston and Dorchester, they have spread in the course of time to those which border upon Neponset River and Quincy. How far they have extended north of Boston I have not been able to ascertain; but I believe that they are occasionally found on all the marshes of Chelsea, Saugus, and Lynn. Although these insects do not seem ever entirely to have disappeared from places where they have once established themselves, they do not prevail every year in the same overwhelming swarms; but their numbers are increased or lessened at irregular periods from causes which are not well understood. These caterpillars are produced from eggs, which are laid by the moths on the grass of the marshes about the middle of June, and are hatched in seven or eight days afterwards ; and the number of eggs deposited by a single female is, on an average, about eight hundred. The moths themselves vary 45 854 LEPIDOPTERA. in color. In the males (Plate VI. Fig. 9), the thorax and upper side of the fore wings are generally white, the latter spotted with black ; the hind wings and abdomen, except the tail, deep ochre-yellow, the former with a few black spots near the hind margin, and the abdomen with a row of six black spots on the top of the back, two rows on the sides, and one on the belly; the under side of all the wings and the thighs are deep yellow. It expands from one inch and seven eighths to two inches and a quarter. The female (Plate VI. Fig. 10) differs from the male either in having the hind wings white, instead of ochre-yellow, or in having all the wings ashen-gray with the usual black spots. It expands two in- ches and three eighths or more. Sometimes, though rarely, male moths occur with the fore wings ash-colored or dusky, Professor Peck called this moth pseuderminea, that is, false ermine, and this name was adopted by me in my communi- cation to the Agricultural Society. Professor Peck’s name, however, cannot be retained, inasmuch as the insect had been previously named and described. Drury, the first describer of the moth, called the male Caprotina, and the female Acrea,* supposing them to be different species ; but the latter name alone has been retained for this species by most naturalists. In order to lessen the ravages of the salt-marsh caterpil- lars, and to secure a fair crop of hay when these insects abound, the marshes should be mowed early in July, at which time the caterpillars are small and feeble, and, being unable to wander far, will die before the crop is gathered in. In defence of early mowing, it may be said that it is the only way by which the grass may be saved in those meadows where the caterpillars have multiplied to any exent ; and if the practice is followed generally, and continued during sey- eral years in succession, it will do much towards extermi- nating these destructive insects. By the practice of late mowing, where the caterpillars abound, a great loss in the crop will be sustained, immense * The proper orthography is Acrea. THE ISABELLA TIGER-MOTH. 355 numbers of caterpillars and grasshoppers will be left to grow to maturity and disperse upon the uplands, by which means the evil will go on increasing from year to year; or they will be brought in with the hay to perish in our barns and stacks, where their dead bodies will prove offensive to the cattle, and occasion a waste of fodder. To get rid of “the old fog” or stubble, which becomes much thicker and longer in conse- quence of early mowing, the marshes should be burnt over in March. The roots of the grass will not be injured by burn- ing the stubble, on the contrary they will be fertilized by the ashes ; while great numbers of young grasshoppers, cocoons of caterpillars, and various kinds of destructive insects, with their eggs, concealed in the stubble, will be destroyed by the fire. In the Province of New Brunswick, the benefit arising from burning the stubble has long been proved; and this practice is getting into favor here. During the autumn there may be seen in our gardens and fields, and even by the way-side, a kind of caterpillar (Fig. 170) whose peculiar appearance must frequently have excited at- tention. It is very thickly clothed with hairs, which are stiff, short, and perfectly even at the ends, like the bristles of a brush, as if they had all been shorn off with the shears to the same length. The hairs on the first four and last two rings are black; and those on the six intermediate rings of the body are tan-red. The head and body of the caterpillar are also black. When one of these insects is taken up, it immediately rolls itself into a ball, like a hedge-hog, and, owing to its form and to the elas- ticity of the diverging hairs with which it is covered, it read- ily slides from the fingers and hand of its captor. It eats the leaves of the clover, dandelion, narrow-leaved plantain, and of various other herbaceous plants, and on the approach of winter creeps under stones, rails, or boards on the ground, where it remains in a half-torpid state till spring. In April Fig. 170. "| i 856 LEPIDOPTERA. or May it makes an oval blackish cocoon, composed chiefly of the hairs of its body, and comes forth in the moth state in June or July. My specimens remained in the chrysalis form five weeks ; but Mr. Abbot* states that a caterpillar of this kind, which made its cocoon in Georgia on the 24th of June, was trans- formed to a moth on the 5th of July, having remained only eleven days in the chrysalis state. The moth is the Arctia Isabella, or Isabella tiger-moth, and it differs essentially from those which have been described in the antennze, which are not feathered, but are merely covered on the under side with a few fine and short hairs, and even these are found only in the males. Its color is a dull grayish tawny-yellow ; there are a few black dots on the wings, and the hinder pair are frequently tinged with orange-red ; on the top of the back is a row of about six black dots, and on each side of the body a similar row of dots. The wings expand from two inches to two inches and three eighths. The specific name, which was first given to this moth by Sir James Edward Smith, is expressive of its peculiar shade of yellow. We have a much smaller tiger-moth, with naked antennz like those of the Isabella. Its wings are so thinly covered with scales as to be almost transpar- ent. It has not yet been described, and it may be called the ruddle tiger- moth, Aretia rubricosa (Fig. 171). Its fore wings are reddish-brown, with a small black spot near the middle of each ; its hind wings are dusky, becoming blacker behind (more rarely red, with a broad blackish border be- hind), with two black dots near the middle, the inner margin next to the body, and the fringe, of a red color; the thorax is reddish-brown ; and the abdomen is cinnabar-red, with a row of black dots on the top, and another row on each side. It expands about one inch and one quarter. This moth is Fig. 171. * Insects of Georgia, p. 131, pl. 66 1HE FALL WEB-WORM. 857 rare; and it appears here in July and August. It closely resembles the ruby tiger-moth, Arctia fuliginosa, of Europe, the wings of which are not so transparent, and have two black dots on each of them, with a distinct row of larger black spots around the outer margin of the hind pair. The caterpillar of our moth is unknown to mc; it will probably be found to resemble that of the ruby tiger, which is black- ish, and thickly covered with reddish-brown or reddish-gray hairs. It eats the leaves of plantain, dock, and of various other herbaceous plants, grows to the length of one inch and three eighths, passes the winter concealed beneath stones, or in the crevices of walls, and makes its cocoon in the spring. The caterpillars of all the foregoing Arctians live almost entirely upon herbaceous plants; those which follow (with one exception only) devour the leaves of trees. Of the latter, the most common and destructive are the little caterpillars known by the name of fall web-worms, whose large webs, sometimes extending over entire branches with their leaves, may be seen on our native elms, and also on apple and other fruit trees, in the latter part of summer. The eggs, from which these caterpillars proceed, are laid by the parent moth in a cluster upon a leaf near the extremity of a branch; they are hatched from the last of June till the middle of August, some broods being early and others late, and the young cat- erpillars immediately begin to provide a shelter for them- selves by covering the upper side of the leaf with a web, which is the result of the united labors of the whole brood. They feed in company beneath this web, devouring only the upper skin and pulpy portion of the leaf, leaving the veins and lower skin of the leaf untouched. As they increase in size they enlarge their web, carrying it over the next lower leaves, all the upper and pulpy parts of which are eaten in the same way, and thus they continue to work downwards, till finally the web covers a large portion of the branch with its dry, brown, and filmy foliage, reduced to this unseemly condition by these little spoilers. These caterpillars (Plate 358 LEPIDOPTERA. VII. Fig. 12, young caterpillar), when fully grown, measure rather more than one inch in length; their bodies are more slender than those of the other Arctians, and are very thinly clothed with hairs of a grayish color, intermingled with a few which are black. The general color of the body is greenish yellow dotted with black; there is a broad blackish stripe along the top of the back, and a bright yellow stripe on each side. The warts, from which the thin bundles of spreading, silky hairs proceed, are black on the back, and rust-yellow or orange on the sides. The head and feet are black. I have not observed the exact length of time required by these insects to come to maturity ; but towards the end of August and during the month of September they leave the trees, disperse, and wander about, eating such plants as hap- pen to lie in their course, till they have found suitable places of shelter and concealment, where they make their thin and almost transparent cocoons (Plate VII. Fig. 10; Fig. 11, pu- pa), composed of a slight web of silk intermingled with a few hairs. They remain in the cocoons in the chrysalis state through the winter, and are transformed to moths in the months of June and July. These moths are white and without spots; the fore thighs are tawny yellow, and the feet blackish. Their wings expand from one inch and a quarter to one inch and three eighths. Their antenne and feelers do not differ essentially from those of the majority of the Arctians, the former in the males being doubly feathered beneath, and those of the females having two rows of minute teeth on the under side. This species was first described by me in the seventh volume of the New England Farmer, page 33, where I gave it the name of Arctia textor, the weay- er, from the well-known habits of its caterpillar. Should it be found expedient to remove it from the genus Aretia, I propose to call the genus which shall include it Hyphantria, a Greek name for weaver, and place in the same genus the many-spotted ermine-moth, Arctia punctatissima” of Sir J. [29 Arctia punctatissima is Spil cunea Drury. — Mortis ] THE MILK-WEED CATERPILLAR. 859 E. Smith, which is found in the Southern States, and agrees with our weaver in habits. From the foregoing account of the habits and transformations of the fall web-worm, or Hyphantria tector,” it is evident that the only time in which we can attempt to exterminate these destructive insects with any prospect of success is when they are young and just be- ginning to make their webs on the trees. So soon, then, as the webs begin to appear on the extremities of the branches, they should be stripped off, with the few leaves which they cover, and the caterpillars contained therein, at one grasp, and should be crushed under foot. There are many kinds of hairy caterpillars in Massachu- setts, differing remarkably from those of the other Arctians, and resembling in some respects those belonging to the next tribe, with which they appear to con- nect the true Arctians. The first of these are little party-colored tufted caterpillars (Fig. 172), which may be found in great plenty on the common milk- weed, Asclepias Syriaca, during the latter part of July and the whole of August. Although the plants on which these insects live are generally looked upon as weeds and cumber- ers of the soil, yet the insects themselves are deserving of notice, on account of their singularity, and the place that they fill in the order to which they belong. They keep to- gether in companies, side by side, beneath the leaves, their heads all turned towards the edge of the leaf while they are eating, and when at rest they arch up the fore part of the body and bend down the head, which is then completely con- cealed by long overhanging tufts of hairs, and if disturbed they jerk their heads and bodies in a very odd way. These harlequin caterpillars have sixteen legs, which, with the head, are black. Their bodies are black also, with a whitish line on each side, and are thickly covered with short tufts of hairs Fig. 172. [°° Hyphantria textor is Spilosoma textor. — Morris.] 360 LEPIDOPTERA. proceeding from little warts. Along the top of the back is a row of short black tufts, and on each side, from the fifth to the tenth ring inclusive, are alternate tufts of orange and of yellow hairs, curving upwards so as nearly to conceal the black tufts between them; below these, along the sides of the body, is a row of horizontal black tufts; on the first and second rings are four long pencil-like black tufts extending over the head, on each side of the third ring is a similar black pencil, and two, which are white, placed in the same manner on the sides of the fourth and of the tenth rings. About the last of August, and during the month of September, these caterpillars leave the milk-weed, disperse, conceal themselves, and make their cocoons (Fig. 173), which mostly consist of hairs. The chrysalis (Fig. 174) is short, almost egg-shaped, being quite blunt and rounded at the hind end, and is covered with lit- tle punctures like those on the head of a thimble, only much smaller. The chrysalids are transformed to moths between the middle of June and the beginning of July. These moths, though not so slender as the Callimorphas, are not so thick and robust as the Arctias, their antenne resemble those of the latter, but are rather longer, the feelers are also longer, and spread apart from each other, and the tongue is but little longer than the head, when unrolled. The wings are rather long, thin, and delicate, of a bluish-gray color, paler on the front edge, and without spots; the head, thorax, under side of the body, and the legs are also gray ; the neck is cream- colored ; the top of the abdomen bright Indian-yellow, with a row of black spots, and two rows on each side. It expands from one inch and three quarters to nearly two inches. This moth was figured and described many years ago by Drury, who named it Lyle. Though marked and colored like some of the Arctias (for example, the ductifera of Europe), it cannot with propriety be included in the same genus, and therefore I have proposed to call it Euchetes Eyle; the first Fig. 173. Fig. 174. THE HICKORY TUSSOCK-MOTH. 361 name, signifying fine-haired, or having a flowing mane, is given to it on account of the long tuft of hairs overhanging the fore part of the caterpillar like a mane. This moth, in some of its characters, approaches to the Lithosians, but seems, in others, too near to the Arctians to be removed from the latter tribe, and it is evidently, in the caterpillar state, nearly allied to the following insects, which are un- doubtedly Arctians, but lead apparently to the Liparians. If our Arctians are grouped in a circle, with the larger kinds, such as the great American tiger and leopard moths in the middle, and the others arranged around them, then will these species, which are here described last, be brought round to the Callimorphas, with which the series began, and thus a natural order of succession will be preserved. During the months of August and September there may be seen on the hickory, and frequently also on the elm and ash, troops of caterpillars (Plate VI. Fig. 1), covered with short spreading tufts of white hairs, with a row of eight black tufts on the back, and two long, slender, black pencils on the fourth and on the tenth ring. The tufts along the top of the back converge on each side, so as to form a kind of ridge or crest ; and the warts, from which these tufts proceed, are oblong-oval and transverse, while the other warts on the body are round. The hairs on the fore part of the body are much longer than the rest, and hang over the head; the others are short, as if sheared off, and spreading. The head, feet, and belly are black ; the upper side of the body is white, sprinkled with black dots, and with black transverse lines between the rings. These neat and pretty caterpillars, when young, feed in company on the leaves ; while not engaged in eating, they bend down the head and bring over it the long hairs on the fore part of the body; and, if disturbed or han- dled, they readily roll up like the other Arctians. When fully grown, they are nearly one inch and a half long. They leave the trees in the latter part of September, secrete them- selves under stones and in the chinks of walls, and make 4G 362 LEPIDOPTERA. their cocoons (Plate VI. Fig. 2), which are oval, thin, and hairy, like those of the other Arctians. The chrysalis is short, thick, and rather blunt, but not rounded at the hinder end, and not downy. The moths, which come out of the cocoons during the month of June, are of a very light ochre- yellow color; the fore wings are long, rather narrow, and almost pointed, are thickly and finely sprinkled with little brown dots, and have two oblique brownish streaks passing backwards from the front edge, with three rows of white semi-transparent spots parallel to the outer hind margin ; the hind wings are very thin, semi-transparent, and without spots ; and the shoulder-covers are edged within with light brown. They expand from one inch and seven eighths to two inches and a quarter or more. The wings are roofed when at rest; the antennz are long, with a double, narrow, feathery edging, in the males, and a double row of short, slender teeth on the under side, in the females; the feelers are longer than in the other Arctians, and not at all hairy; and the tongue is short, but spirally curled. This kind of moth does not appear to have been described before, and it cannot be placed in any of the modern genera belonging to the Arcti- ans ; for this reason I pro- pose to call it Lophocam- pa Carye (Fig. 175) ; the first name meaning crested caterpillar, and the second being the scientific name of the hickory, on which it lives. In England, the moths that come from caterpillars having long pencils and tufts on their backs are called tus- sock-moths ; we may name the one under consideration the hickory tussock-moth. In August and September I have seen on the black wal- nut, the butternut, the ash, and even on the oak, caterpillars exactly resembling the foregoing in shape, but differing in Fig. 175. [21 Lophocampa is Halesidota Walker. — Morrts.] THE CHECKERED TUSSOCK-MOTH. 363 color, being covered, when young, with brownish-yellow tufts, of a darker color on the ridge of the back, and having four long white and two black pencils extending over the head from the second ring, and two black pencils on the eleventh ring; when they are fully grown they are covered with ash-colored tufts, those on the ridge blackish ; the head is black, the body black or greenish black above, and whit- ish beneath, and the legs are rust-yellow. This is evidently a different species or kind from the hickory tussock, being differently colored, and having the two hindmost pencils placed on the eleventh, and not on the tenth ring. I have not yet succeeded in keeping these caterpillars alive until they had finished their transformations. In my collection are specimens of a moth closely resem- bling the hickory tussock in everything except size and color. It may be named Lophocampa maculata, the spotted tussock- moth. It is of a light ochre-yellow color, with large irregu- lar light brown spots on the fore wings, arranged almost in transverse bands. It expands nearly one inch and three quarters. The caterpillar, as far as I can judge from a shrivelled specimen, was covered with whitish tufts forming a crest on the back, in which were situated eight black tufts ; there was a black pencil on each side of the fourth and of the tenth ring, and a quantity of long white hairs overhanc- _ ing the head and the hinder extremity; the head was black ; but the color of the body cannot be ascertained. A fourth kind of Lophocampa, or crested caterpillar, re- mains to be described. It is very common, throughout the United States, on the buttonwood or sycamore, upon which it may be seen in great numbers in July and August. The tufts on these caterpillars are light yellow or straw- colored, the crest being very little darker; on the second and third rings are two orange-colored pencils, which are stretched over the head when the insect is at rest, and before these are several long tufts of white hairs; on each side of the third ring is a white pencil, and there are two 364 LEPIDOPTERA. pencils, of the same color, directed backwards, on the elev- enth ring. The body is yellowish white, with dusky warts, and the head is brownish yellow. These caterpillars leave the trees towards the end of August, and conceal themselves in crevices of fences, and under stones, and make their cocoons, which resemble those of the hickory tussock ; and from the middle of June to the end of July the moths come forth. These moths are faintly tinged with ochre-yellow ; their long, narrow, delicate, and semi-transparent wings lie almost flatly on the top of the back; the upper pair are checkered with dusky spots, arranged so as to form five irregular transverse bands; the hind edge of the collar, and the inner edges of the shoulder-covers, are greenish blue, and between the latter are two short and narrow deep yellow stripes ; the upper side of the abdomen and of the legs are deep ochre-yellow. The wings expand about two inches. The name of this beautiful and delicate moth is Lophocampa tessellaris, the checkered tussock-moth. It is figured and described in Smith and Abbot’s “ Insects of Georgia,” where, however, the caterpillar is not correctly represented. Mr. Abbot’s figure of the caterpillar has been copied in the illus- trations accompanying Cuvier’s last edition of the ‘ Régne Animal,” and is there referred to Latreille’s genus Sericaria. This includes, besides various other insects having no re- semblance to the foregoing, the true tussock caterpillars be- longing to the next group; but from these the caterpillars of all the kinds of Lophocampa differ essentially, in being much more hairy, in not having the warts on the sides of the first rig longer than the rest, and in being destitute of the little retractile vesicles on the top of the ninth and tenth rings ; moreover, their chrysalids are not covered with short hairs in clusters or ridges. On the other hand, they agree with the Arctians in being covered with warts and spreading bunches of hairs, in rolling up like a ball when handled, and in the form and structure of their cocoons. The position of the wings of the checkered tussock-moth, THE LIPARIANS. 865 when at rest, is almost exactly like that of some of the Lithosians ; but the other kinds of Lophocampa do not cross the inner edges of the wings; and the bodies of all of them are much thicker and more robust than those of the Lithosians. The third group or family of Bombyces may be called Liparians (Liparip=*). Of the moths bearing this name, the females have remarkably thick bodies, and are sometimes destitute of wings, while the males are generally slender, and have rather broad wings. Their feelers are very hairy, and for the most part are rather longer than those of the Arctians. Their tongues are very short, and invisible or concealed. Their antennz are short, and bent like a bow, and doubly feathered on the under side, the feathering of those of the males being very wide, and of the females mostly narrow. When at rest, these moths stretch out their hairy fore legs before their bodies, and keep their upper and lower wings together over their backs, sloping a very little at the sides, and covering the abdomen like a low or flattened roof. The females, even of those kinds that are provided with wings, are very sluggish and heavy in their motions, and seldom go far from their cocoons; the males frequently fly by day in search of their mates. The caterpillars of most of the Liparians are half naked, their thin hairs growing chiefly on the sides of their bodies; the warts which furnish them being only six or eight in number on each ring; and they have two little soft and reddish warts (one on the top of the ninth, and the other on the tenth ring), which can be drawn in and out at pleasure. Some of them have four or five short and thick tufts, cut off square at the ends, on the top of the back, two long and slender pencils of hairs extending forwards, like antenne, from the first ring, sometimes two * From Liparis, more properly Liparus, the name of a genus of moths belong- ing to this group. This name means fat or gross, and was probably assigned to the genus on account of the thickness of the bodies of some of these moths. t The Arctians have ten or more warts on each ring. 006 LEPIDOPTERA. more pencils on the fifth ring, and a single pencil on the top of the eleventh ring. The warts which produce these pencils are more prominent or longer than the rest. These caterpillars are called tussocks in England, from the tufts on their backs. They live upon trees and shrubs, and, when at rest, they bend down the head, and bring over it the long plume-like pencils of the first ring. Their cocoons are large, thin, and flattened, and consist of a soft kind of silk, intermixed with which are a few hairs. The chrysalids are covered with down or short hairs, and end at the tail with a long projecting point. In Europe there are many kinds of Liparians, some of them at times exceedingly injuri- ous to vegetation, their caterpillars devouring the leaves of fruit-trees, and not unfrequently extending their devastations to the hedges, and even to the corn and grass.* There do not appear to be many kinds in the United States, and they never swarm to the same extent as in Europe. During the months of July and August, there may be found on apple-trees and rose-bushes, and sometimes on other trees and shrubs, little slender caterpillars (Plate VII. Fig. 1), of a bright yellow color, sparingly clothed with long and fine yellow hairs on the sides of the body, and having four short and thick brush-like yellowish tufts on the back, that is on the fourth and three following rings, two long black plumes or pencils extending forwards from the first ring, and a single plume on the top of the cleventh ring. The head, and the two little retractile warts on the ninth and tenth rings, are coral-red; there is a narrow black or brownish stripe along the top of the back, and a wider dusky stripe on each side of the body. These pretty cater- pillars do not ordinarily herd together, but sometimes our * These destructive kinds are the caterpillars of the brown-tailed moth (Por- thesia auriflua), of the golden-tailed moth (Porthesia chrysorrhea), of the gypsy- moth (Hy pogymna dispar), and of the black arches-moth (Psilura monacha). The first of these abounded to such an extent in England, in the year 1782, thas prayers were ordered to be read in all the churches, to avert the destruction which was anticipated from them. THE WHITE-MARKED ORGYIA. 387 apple-trees are much infested by them, as was the case in the summer of 1828. In the summers of 1848, 1849, and 1850, they were very numerous on trees in Boston, both in private yards and on the common, where the horse-chestnuts, which seem ordinarily to escape the attacks of insects, were almost entirely stripped of their leaves by these insects. When they have done eating, they spin their cocoons on the “leaves, or on the branches or trunks of the trees, or on fences in the vicinity. The chrysalis is not only beset with little hairs or down, but has three oval clusters of branny scales on the back. In about eleven days after the change to the chrysalis is effected, the last transformation follows, and the insects come forth in the adult state, the females wingless, and the males with large ashen-gray wings, crossed by wavy darker bands on the upper pair, on which, moreover, is a ‘small black spot near the tip, and a minute white crescent near the outer hind angle. The body of the male is small and slender, with a row of little tufts along the back, and the wings expand one inch and three eighths. The females (Plate VII. Figs. 2 and 3) are of a lighter gray color than the males, their bodies are very thick, and of an oblong oval shape, and, though seemingly wingless, upon close examina- tion two little scales, or stinted winglets, can be discovered on each shoulder. These females lay their eggs upon the top of their cocoons (Plate VII. Fig. 5), and cover them with a large quantity of frothy matter, which on drying becomes white and brittle. Different broods of these insects appear at various times in the course of the summer, but the greater number come to maturity and lay their eggs in the latter part of August and the beginning of September, and these eggs are not hatched till the following summer. The name of this moth is Orgyia* leucostigma (Plate VII. * This name is derived from a word which signifies to stretch out the hands, and it is applied to this kind of moth on account of its resting with the fore legs extended. The Germans call these moths streckfiissige Spinner ; the French, pattes étendues; and the English, vaporer-moths; the latter probably because the males are seen flying about ostentatiously, or vaporing, by day, when most other moths keep concealed. ‘ 868 LEPIDOPTERA. Fig. 4, male), the white-marked Orgyia or tussock-moth. It is to the eggs of this insect that the late Mr. B. H. Ives, of Salem, alludes, in an article on ‘insects which infest trees and plants,” published in Hovey’s ‘¢ Gardener’s Maga- zine.” * Mr. Ives states, that, on passing through an apple orchard in February, he “perceived nearly all the trees speckled with occasional dead leaves, adhering so firmly to the branches as to require considerable force to dislodge them. Each leaf covered a small patch of from one to two hundred eggs, united together, as well as to the leaf, by a gummy and silken fibre, peculiar to the moth.” In March, he ‘visited the same orchard, and, as an experiment, cleared three trees, from which he took twenty-one bunches of eggs. The remainder of the trees he left untouched until the 10th of May, when he found the caterpillars were hatched from the egg, and had commenced their slow but sure ravages. He watched them from time to time, until many branches had been spoiled of their leaves, and in the autumn were entirely destitute of fruit, while the three trees which had been stripped of the eggs were flush with foliage, each limb, without exception, ripening its fruit.” -These pertinent re- marks point out the nature and extent of the evil, and sug- gest the proper remedy to be used against the ravages of these insects. In the New England States there is found a tussock or vaporer moth, seemingly the same as the Orgyia antiqua, the antique or rusty vaporer-moth of Europe, from whence possi- bly its eggs may have been brought with imported fruit-trees. The male moth is of a rust-brown color, the fore wings are crossed by two deeper brown wavy streaks, and have a white crescent near the hind angle. They expand about one inch and one eighth. The female is gray, and wingless, or with only two minute scales on each side in the place of wings, and exactly resembles in shape the female of the foregoing species. The caterpillar is yellow on the back, on which * Vol. I. p. 52. THE LASIOCAMPIANS. 3869 are four short square brush-like yellow tufts; the sides are dusky and spotted with red ; there are two long black pencils or plumes on the first ring, one on each side of the fifth ring, and one on the top of the eleventh ring; the head is black; and the retractile warts on the top of the ninth and tenth rings are red. These caterpillars live on various trees and shrubs, and are stated by Miss Dix, in Professor Silliman’s “ Journal of Science,” * to have been “ very destructive to the thorn hedges in Rhode Island,” “ appearing very early in summer, and not disappearing till late in November.” The cocoons resemble those of the white-marked vaporer ( Orgyia leucostigma), and the females, after they have come forth, never leave the outside of their cocoons, but lay their eggs upon them and die there. The next group may be called Lasiocampians (Lasiocam- PAD), after the principal genus} included in it, the name of which signifies hairy caterpillar. The Lasiocampians are woolly and very thick-bodied moths, distinguished by the want of the bristles and hooks that hold together the fore and hind wings of other moths, by the wide and turned-up fore edge of the hind wings, which projects beyond that of the fore wings when at rest, and by their caterpillars, which (with few exceptions) are not warty on the back, and are sparingly clothed with short, soft hairs, mostly placed along the sides of the body, and seldom distinctly arranged in spreading clusters or tufts. These moths fly only by night, and both sexes are winged. Their antennew generally bend downwards near the middle, and upwards at the points, are longer than those of the Liparians, but not so widely feath- ered in the males, and very narrowly feathered beneath in the females. The feelers of some are rather longer than common, and are thrust forward like a beak; but more * Vol. XIX. p. 62. t To Lasiocampa belong the European moths called Rubi, Trifolii, Quercus, Roboris, Dumeti, &c. I have not seen any insects like these in Massachusetts, and believe that such are seldom if ever to be found in the United States. 47 370° LEPIDOPTERA. often they,are very short and small. The tongue, for the most part, is invisible. Their wings cover the back like a steep roof ;.the under pair, being wider than common, are not entirely covered by the upper wings, but project beyond them at the sides of the body when closed. Their cater- pillars live on trees and shrubs, and some kinds herd together in considerable numbers or swarms ; they make their cocoons mostly or entirely of silk. The winged insect is assisted in its attempts to come forth, after its last change, by a reddish-colored liquid, which softens the end of its coccon, and which, as some say, is discharged from its own mouth, or, as others with greater probability assert, escapes from the inside of the chrysalis the moment that the included moth bursts the shell. To this group belong the caterpillars that swarm in the unpruned nurseries and neglected orchards of the slovenly and improvident husbandman, and hang their many-coated webs upon the wild cherry-trees that are suffered to spring up unchecked by the wayside and encroach upon the borders of our pastures and ficlds. The eggs, from which they are hatched, are placed around the ends of the branches, forming a wide kind of ring or bracelet, consisting of three or four hundred eggs, in the form of short cylinders standing on their ends close together, and covered with a thick coat of brownish water-proof varnish (Plate VII. Fig. 16).* The caterpillars come forth with the unfolding of the leaves of the apple and cherry tree, during the latter part of April or the beginning of May. The first signs of their activity appear in the formation of a little angular web or tent, some- what resembling a spider’s web, stretched between the forks of the branches a little below the cluster of eggs. Under the shelter of these tents, in making which they all work togeth- er, the caterpillars remain concealed at all times when not engaged in eating. In crawling from twig to twig and from * A good figure of a cluster of these eggs may be seen in the Boston Cultiva- tor, Vol. X. No. 10, for March 4, 1848. THE AMERICAN LACKEY-CATERPILLAR. 371 leaf to leaf, they spin from their mouths a slender silken thread, which is a clew to conduct them back to their tents ; and as they go forth and return in files, one after another, their pathways in time become well carpeted with silk, which serves to render their footing secure during their frequent and periodical journeys, in various directions, to and from their common habitation. As they increase in age and size, they enlarge their tent, surrounding it, from time to time, with new layers or webs, till at length it acquires a diam- eter of eight or ten inches. They come out together at certain stated hours to eat, and all retire at once when their regular meals are finished; during bad weather, however, they fast, and do not venture from their shelter. These caterpillars (Plate VII. Fig. 13) are of a kind called lackeys in England, and livrées in France, from the party-colored livery in which they appear. When fully grown, they measure about two inches in length. Their heads are black ; extending along the top of the back, from one end to the other, is a whitish line, on each side of which, on a yellow ground, are numerous short and fine crinkled black lines, that, lower down, become mingled together, and form a broad longitudinal black stripe, or rather a row of long black spots, one on each ring, in the middle of each of which is a small blue spot; below this is a narrow wavy yellow line, and lower still the sides are variegated with fine intermingled black and yellow lines, which are lost at last in the general dusky color of the under side of the body; on the top of the eleventh ring is a small blackish and hairy wart, and the whole body is very sparingly clothed with short and soft hairs, rather thicker and longer upon the sides than elsewhere. The foregoing description will serve to show that these insects are not the same as either the Neustria * * Neustria was the ancient name of Normandy, from whence this European species was first introduced into England. The Neustria caterpillar has a bluish head, on which, as also on the first ring, are two black dots; the back is tawny- red, with a central white and two black lines from one end to the other; the sides 372 LEPIDOPTERA. or the camp * lackey-caterpillars of Europe, for which they have been mistaken. From the first to the middle of June they begin to leave the trees upon which they have hitherto lived in company, separate from each other, wander about awhile, and finally get into some crevice or other place of shelter, and make their cocoons (Plate VII. Fig. 15). These are of a regular long oval form, composed ofa thin and very loosely woven web of silk, the meshes of which are filled with a thin paste, that on drying is changed to a yellow powder, like flour of sulphur in appearance. Some of the caterpillars, either from weakness or some other cause, do not leave their nests with the rest of the swarm, but make their cocoons there, and when the webs are opened these cocoons may be seen intermixed with a mass of blackish grains, like gunpowder, excreted by the caterpillars during their stay. From fourteen to seventeen days after the insect has made its cocoon and changed to a chrysalis, it bursts its chrysalis-skin, forces its way through the wet and softened end of its cocoon, and appears in the winged or miller form. Many of them, however, are unable to fin- ish their transformations by reason of weakness, especially those remaining in the webs. Most of these will be found to have been preyed upon by little maggots living upon the fat within their bodies, and finally changing to small four- winged ichneumon wasps, which in due time pierce a hole in the cocoons of their victims, and escape into the air. The moth (Plate VI. Fig. 14 male, Fig. 17 female) of our American lackey-caterpillar is of a rusty or reddish- brown color, more or less mingled with gray on the middle and base of the fore wings, which, besides, are crossed by are blue, with w narrow red stripe; on the top of the eleventh ring is a little blackish wart; and the belly is dusky. * The castrensis, or camp-caterpillar, has a narrow broken white line on the top of the back, separating two broad red stripes, which are dotted with black; the sides are blue, with two or three narrow red stripes; the head and first ring are not marked with black dots; there is no wart on the top of the eleventh ring; and the belly is white, marbled with black. THE AMERICAN LACKEY-CATERPILLAR. 873 two oblique, straight, dirty white lines. It expands from one inch and a quarter to one inch and a half, or a little more. This moth* closely resembles the castrensis, and still more the Weustria of Europe, from both of which, however, it is easily distinguished by the oblique lines on the fore wings, which are not wavy as in the foreign spe- cies. Moreover, the caterpillar is very different from both of the European lackeys ; and it does not seem probable that either of them, if introduced into this country, could have so wholly lost their original characters. Our insect belongs to the same genus, or kind, now called Clistocampa, or tent-caterpillar, from its habits; and I propose to distin- guish it furthermore from its near allies by the name of Americana, the American tent-caterpillar or lackey. The moths appear in great numbers in July, flying about and often entering houses by night. At this time they lay their eggs, selecting the wild cherry, in preference to all other trees, for this purpose, and, next to these, apple-trees, the extensive introduction and great increase of which, in this country, afford an abundant and tempting supply of food to the caterpillars, in the place of the native cherry-trees that formerly, it would seem, sufficed for their nourishment. These insects, because they are the most common and most abundant in all parts of our country, and have obtained such notoriety that in common language they are almost exclusively known among us by the name of the caterpil- lars, are the worst enemies of the orchard. Where proper attention has not been paid to the destruction of them, they prevail to such an extent as almost entirely to strip the apple and cherry trees of their foliage, by their attacks * A short but very accurate account of this insect may be found in the late Professor Peck’s “Natural History of the Canker-Worm,” printed at Boston, among the papers of the Massachusetts Society for promoting Agriculture, in the year 1796. Professor Peck seems to have been aware that it was not identical with the Neustria, but he forbore to give it another scientific name. It is figured, in its different forms, in Mr. Abbot's “ Natural History of the Insects of Georgia,” where it is named castrensis by Sir J. E. Smith, the editor of the work. 374 LEPIDOPTERA. continued during the seven weeks of their life in the cater- pillar form. ‘The trees, in those orchards and gardens where they have been suffered to breed for a succession of years, become prematurely old, in consequence of the efforts they are obliged to make to repair, at an unseasonable time, the loss of their foliage, and are rendered unfruitful, and con- sequently unprofitable. But this is not all; these pernicious insects spread in every direction, from the trees of the care- less and indolent to those of their more careful and indus- trious neighbors, whose labors are thereby greatly increased, and have to be followed up year after year, without any prospect of permanent relief. Many methods and receipts for the destruction of these insects have been published and recommended, but have failed to exterminate them, and indced have done but little to lessen their numbers, as, indeed, might be expected from the tenor of the foregoing remarks. In order to be com- pletely successful, they must be universally adopted. These means comprehend both the destruction of the eggs and of the caterpillars. The eggs are to be sought for in the win- ter and the early part of spring, when there are no leaves on the trees. They are easily discovered at this time, and may be removed with the thumb-nail and forefinger. Nur- series and the lower limbs of large trees may thus be entirely cleared of the clusters of eggs during a few visits made at the proper season. It is well known that the caterpillars come out to feed twice during the daytime, namely, in the forenoon and afternoon, and that they rarely leave their nests before nine in the morning, and return to them again at noon. During the early part of the season, while the nests are small, and the caterpillars young and tender, and at those hours when the insects are gathered together within their common habitation, they may be effectually destroyed by crushing them by hand in the nests. A brush, somewhat like a bottle-brush, fixed to a long handle, as recommended by the late Colonel Pickering, or, for the want thereof, a THE TENT-CATERPILLAR. SY 65) dried mullein head and its stalk fastened to a pole, will be useful to remove the nests, with the caterpillers contained therein, from those branches which are too high to be reached by hand. Instead of the brush, we may use, with nearly equal success, a small mop or sponge, dipped as often as necessary into a pailful of refuse soapsuds, strong whitewash, or cheap oil. The mop should be thrust into the nest and turned round a little, so as to wet the caterpillars with the liquid, which will kill every one that it touches. These means, to be effectual, should be employed during the proper hours, that is, early in the morning, at midday, or at night, and as soon in the spring as the caterpillars begin to make their nests ; and they should be repeated as often, at least, as once a week, till the insects leave the trees. Early attention and perseverance in the use of these remedies will, in time, save the farmer hundreds of dollars, and abundance of mortification and disappointment, besides rewarding him with the grateful sight of the verdant foliage, snowy blos- soms, and rich fruits of his orchard in their proper seasons. Another caterpillar, whose habits are similar to those of the preceding, is now and then met with in Massachusetts, upon oak and walnut trees, and more rarely still upon apple- trees and cherry-trees. According to Mr. Abbot, “it is sometimes so plentiful in Virginia as to strip the oak-trees bare”; and I may add, that it occasionally proves very in- jurious to orchards in Maine. It may be called Clhistocampa silvatica, the tent-caterpillar of the forest (Plate VII. Fig. 19). With us it comes to its full size from the 10th to the 20th of June, and then measures about two inches in length. There are a few short yellow hairs scattered over its body, particularly on the sides, where they are thickest. The general color of the whole body is light blue, clear on the back, and greenish at the sides; the head is blue, and without spots; there are two yellow spots, and four black dots on the top of the first ring; along the top of the back is a row of eleven oval white spots, beginning on the second 376 LEPIDOPTERA. ring, and two small elevated black and hairy dots on each ring, except the eleventh, which has only one of larger size ; on each side of the back is a reddish stripe bordered by slender black lines ; and lower down on each side is another stripe of a yellow color between two black lines; the under side of the body is blue-black. This kind of caterpillar lives in communities of three or four hundred individuals, under a common web or tent, which is made against the trunk or beneath some of the principal branches of the trees. When fully grown they leave the trees, get into places sheltered from rain, and make: their cocoons, which exactly resemble those of the apple-tree tent-caterpillars in form, size,. and materials. The moths (Plate VII. Fig. 18) appear in six- teen or twenty days afterwards. They are of a brownish yellow or nankin color ; the hind wings, except at base, are light rusty-brown; and on the fore wings are two oblique rust-brown and nearly straight parallel lines. A variety is sometimes found with a broad red-brown band across the fore wings, occupying the whole space which in other individ- uals intervenes between the oblique lines. The wings ex- pand from one inch and one quarter to one inch and three quarters. The great difference in the caterpillar will not permit us to refer this species to the Neustria of Europe, for which Sir J. E. Smith* mistook it, or to the castrensis, which it more closely resembles in its winged form. Most caterpillars are round, that is, cylindrical, or nearly so; but there are some belonging to this group that are very broad, slightly convex above, and perfectly flat beneath. They seem indeed to be much broader and more flattened than they really are, by reason of the hairs on their sides, which spread out so as nearly to conceal the feet, and form a kind of fringe along each side of the body. These hairs grow mostly from horizontal fleshy appendages or long warts, somewhat like legs, hanging from the sides of every ring; those on the first ring being much longer than the others, * See Abbot's “Insects of Georgia,” where it is figured. PLATE Vil THE AMERICAN LAPPET-MOTH. 377 which progressively decrease in size to the last. On the fore part of the body one or two velvet-like and highly col- ored bands may be seen when the caterpillar is in motion ; and on the top of the eleventh ring there is generally a long naked wart. When these singular caterpillars are not eat- ing, they remain at rest, stretched out on the limbs of trees, and they often so nearly resemble the bark in color as to escape observation. From the lappets, or leg-like appen- dages, hanging to their sides, they are called Jappet-caterpil- lars by English writers. Twice I have found, on the apple-tree, in the month of September, caterpillars of this kind, measuring, when fully grown, two inches and a half in length, and above half an inch in breadth, The upper side was gray, variegated with irregular white spots, and sprinkled all over with fine black dots ; on the fore part of the body there were two transverse velvet-like bands of a rich scarlet color, one on the hind part of the second, and the other on the third ring, and on each of these bands were three black dots ; the under side of the body was orange-colored, with a row of diamond-shaped black spots; the hairs on the sides were gray, and many of them were tipped with a white knob. The ‘caterpillar eats the leaves of the apple-tree, feeding only in the night, and remaining perfectly quiet during the day. The moth pro- duced from it was supposed by Sir J. E. Smith * to be the same as the European Ilicifolia, or holly-leaved lappet-moth, from which, however, it differs in so many respects that I shall ven- ture to give it another name. It belongs to the genus Gastropa- cha,” so called from the very thick bodies of the moths ; and the present species may be named Americana, the American lappet-moth (Fig. 176). Fig. 176. * See Abbot’s “Insects of Georgia,” p. 101, pl. 51. [22 Gastropacha Americana is G. occidentalis Walker. — Morris.] 48 378 LEPIDOPTERA. Were it not for its regular shape, it might, when at rest, very easily be mistaken for a dry, brown, and crumpled leaf. The feelers are somewhat prominent, like a short beak ; the edges of the under wings are very much notched, as are the hinder and inner edges of the fore wings, and these notches are white ; its general color is a red-brown ; behind the middle of each of the wings is a pale band, edged with zigzag dark brown lines, and there are also two or three short irregular brown lines running backwards from the front edge of the fore wings, besides a minute pale cres- cent, edged with dark brown, near the middle of the same. In the females the pale bands and dark lines are sometimes wanting, the wings being almost entirely of a red-brown color, It expands from one inch and a half to nearly two inches. Mr. Abbot, who has figured it, states that the caterpillar lives on the oak and the ash, that it spun itself up in May among the leaves in a gray-brown cocoon, in which the chrysalis was enveloped with a pale brown pow- der, and that the moth came out in February. My speci- mens, on the contrary, as above stated, were found on apple-trees, made their cocoons in the autumn, and ap- peared in the winged form in the early part of the following summer. The foregoing is the only American lappet-moth, with notched wings, which is known to me; but we have another much larger one, with en- tire wings. It is the Velleda (Fig. 177) of Stoll, so named after a celebrated: German female, Sommeoried by the ancient historian Tacitus. This moth has a very large, thick, and woolly body, and is of a white color, variegated or clouded with blue-gray. On the fore wings are two broad dark gray bands, inter- Fig. 177. THE VELLEDA LAPPET-MOTH. 3879 vening between three narrow wavy white bands, the latter being marked by an irregular gray line; the veins are white, prominent, and very distinct; the hind wings are gray, with a white hind border, on which are two inter- rupted gray lines, and across the middle there is a broad, faint, whitish band; on the top of the thorax is an oblong blackish spot, widening behind, and consisting of long black and pearl-colored erect scales, shaped somewhat like the handle of a spoon. There is a great disparity in the size of the sexes, the males measuring only from one inch and a half to one inch and three quarters across the wings, while the females expand from two and a quarter to two inches and three quarters or more. The caterpillar (Fig. 178, young caterpillar) of this fine moth I have never seen alive; but one was sent to me, in the autumn of 1828, by the late T. G. Fes- senden, Esq., who received it from Newburyport, from a correspondent, by whom it was found on the 5th of August, sticking so fast to the limb of an apple-tree, that at first it was mistaken for a cankered spot on the bark.* It was said to have measured two inches and a half in length, but when it came into my hands it had spun itself up in its cocoon. A caterpillar of the same kind, found also on an apple-tree, has been described by Miss Dix in Professor Silliman’s “Journal of Science.” + This observing lady states, that “when at rest the resemblance of its upper sur- face was so exact with the young bark of the branch on which it was fixed, that its presence might have escaped the most accurate investigation; and this deception was the more complete from the unusual shape of the caterpillar, which might be likened to the external third of a cylinder. The sides of the body were cloaked and fringed with hairs. * See “New England Farmer,” Vol. VII. p. 33. T Vol. XIX. pp. 62 and 63. 380 LEPIDOPTERA. It was of a pale sea-green color above, marked with ash, blended into white; and beneath of a brilliant orange, spotted with vivid black. When in motion its whole appearance was changed, it extended to the length of two inches, and two thirds of an inch in breadth, its colors brightened, and a transverse opening was disclosed on the back, two thirds of an inch from the head, of a most rich velvet-black color. It was sluggish and motionless during the day, and active only at night.” Mr. Abbot found the caterpillar of the Velleda lappet-moth on the willow-oak and on the persim- mon; and in his figure it is represented of a dark ashen- gray color, with a velvet-like black band across the upper part of the third ring.* The cocoon of the specimen sent to me by Mr. Fessenden resembled grocers’ soft brownish- gray paper in color and texture, with a very few blackish hairs interwoven with the silk of which it was made. It was an inch and a half long, and half an inch wide, bor- dered on all sides by a loose web, which made it seem of larger dimensions ; its shape was oval, convex above, and perfectly flat and very thin on the under side. The moth came forth from this cocoon on the 15th of September, or about forty days after the cocoon was spun. The Chinese silk-worm and its moth, Bombyx mort, the Bombyx of the mulberry, should follow these insects in a natural arrangement; for the former is slightly hairy when first hatched from the egg, and, though naked afterwards, it has, like the lappet-caterpillars, a long fleshy wart on the top of the eleventh ring. ‘The history of the silk-worm, how- ever, does not belong to the subject of this treatise. There are several kinds of caterpillars in the United States whose cocoons are wholly made of a very strong and durable silk, fully equal to that obtained in India from the tusseh and arrindy silk-worms. ‘These insects, together with some others, whose cocoons are much thinner, and consist more of gummy matter than of silk, belong to a family called * Insects of Georgia, p. 108, pl. 52. THE SATURNIANS. 881 Saturnians (Saturniap#£), from Saturnia, the name of a genus included in this group. The caterpillars are naked, are generally short, thick, and clumsy, cylindrical, but fre- quently hunched on the back of each ring, especially when at rest, and are furnished with a few warts, which are either bristled with little points or very short hairs, or are crowned with sharp and branching prickles. They live on trees or shrubby plants, the leaves of which they devour; some of them, when young, keep and feed together in swarms, but separate as they become older. When fully grown and ready to make their cocoons, some of them draw together a few leaves so as to form a hollow, within which they spin their cocoons; others fasten their cocoons to the stems or branches of plants, often in the most artful and ingenious manner; and a very few transform upon or just under the surface of the ground, where they cover themselves with leaves or grains of earth stuck together with a little gummy matter. The escape of the moth from its cocoon is rendered easy by the fluid which is thrown out and softens the threads. The chrysalis offers no striking peculiarities, being smooth, not hairy, and not provided with transverse notched ridges. This group contains some of the largest insects of the order ; moths distinguished by great extent and breadth of wings, thick and woolly bodies, and antenne which are widely feathered on both sides, from one end to the other, in the males at least, and often in both sexes. The tongue and feel- ers are extremely short and rarely visible. The wings are generally spread out when at rest, so as to display both pairs, and they are held cither horizontally, or more or less elevated above the body ; a very few, however, turn the fore wings back, so as to cover the hind wings and the body in repose. There are no bristles and hooks to keep the fore hind wings together. In the middle of each wing there is generally a conspicuous spot of a different color from the rest of the surface, often like the eye-spot on peacocks’ feathers, some- times with a transparent space like talc or isinglass in the 3882 LEPIDOPTERA. middle, and sometimes kidney-shaped and opaque. These moths commonly fly towards the close of the day, and in the evening twilight. Their eggs are very numerous, amount- ing to several hundreds from a single individual. Although the injuries committed by the caterpillars of the Saturnians are by no means very great, the magnitude and beauty of the moths render them very conspicuous and wor- thy of notice. The largest kinds belong to that division of the Bombyces called Attacus by Linneus. They are dis- tinguished from the rest of the Saturnians by having wide and flat antenne, like short oval feathers, in both sexes, and by the fleshy warts on the backs of their caterpillars, which are richly colored, and tipped with minute bristles. Pre- eminent above all our moths in queenly beauty is the Atta- cus Luna (Fig. 179), or Luna moth, its specific name being the same as that given by the Romans to the moon, poetically styled “ fair empress of the night.” The wings of this fine insect are of a delicate light-green color, and the hinder angle of the posterior wings is prolonged, so as to form a tail to each, of an inch and a half or more in length; there is a broad purple-brown stripe along the front edge of the fore wings, extending also across the thorax, and sending backwards a little branch to an eye-like spot near the middle of the wing ; these eye-spots, of which there is one on each of the wings, are transparent in the centre, and are encircled by rings of white, red, yellow, and black ; the hinder borders of the wings are more or less edged or scalloped with purple- brown ; the body is covered with a white kind of wool; the antenne are ochre-yellow; and the legs are purple-brown. The wings expand from four inches and three quarters to five inches and a half. The caterpillar of this moth lives on the walnut and hickory, on which it may be found, fully grown, towards the end of July and during the month of August. It is of a pale and very clear bluish-green color ; there is a yellow stripe on each side of the body, and the back is crossed, between the rings, by transverse lines of THE LUNA MOTH. 383 384 LEPIDOPTERA. the same yellow color; on each of the rings are about six minute pearl-colored warts, tinged with purple or rose-red, and furnishing a few little hairs; and at the extremity of the body are three brown spots, edged above with yellow. When this insect is at rest it is nearly as thick as a man’s thumb, its rings are hunched, and its body is shortened, not measur- ing, even when fully grown, above two inches in length ; but, in motion, it extends to the length of three inches or more. When about to make its cocoon, it draws together, with silken threads, two or three leaves of the tree, and within the hollow thus formed spins an oval and very close and strong cocoon (Fig. 180), about one inch and three quarters long, and immediately afterwards changes to a chrysalis. The co- coons fall from the trees in the autumn with the leaves in which they are enveloped; and the moths make their escape from them in June. A caterpillar, closely resembling that of the Luna moth, may be found on oaks, and sometimes also on elm and lime trees, in August and September. Its sides are not striped with yellow, and there are no transverse yellow bands on the back; the warts have a pearly lustre, more or less tinted with orange, rose-red, or purple, and between the two lower- most on the side of each ring is an oblique white line ; the head and the feet are brown; and the tail is bordered by a brown V-shaped line. These caterpillars, in repose, cling to the twigs of the trees, with their backs downwards, contract their bodies in length, and hunch up the rings even more than those of the Luna moth, which, when fully grown, they somewhat exceed in size. They make their cocoons upon the trees in the same manner, with an outer covering of leaves, which fall off in the autumn, bearing the enclosed tough oval cocoons to the ground, where they remain through Fig. 180. TUE ATTACUS CECROPIA. 385 the winter, and the moths come out in the month of June following. Notwithstanding the great similarity of the cater- pillar and its cocoon to those of the Luna, the moth is en- tirely different. Its hind wings are not tailed, but are cut off almost square at the corners. It is of a dull ochre-yel- low color, more or less clouded with black in the middle of the wings, on each of which there is a transparent eye-like spot, divided transversely by a slender line, and encircled by yellow and black rings; before and adjoining to the eye- spot of the hind wings is a large blue spot shading into black ; near the hinder margin of the wings is a dusky band, edged with reddish white behind; on the front margin of the fore wings is a gray stripe, which also crosses the fore part of the thorax; and near the base of the same wings are two short red lines, edged with white. It expands from five and a quarter to six inches. This moth, on account of its great size, is called Polyphemus (Fig. 181), the name of one of the giants in mythology. Attacus Cecropia* (Fig. 182) is a still larger insect, ex- panding from five inches and three quarters to six inches and a half. The hind wings are rounded, and not tailed. The ground-color of the wings is a grizzled dusky brown, with the hinder margins clay-colored ; near the middle of each of the wings there is an opaque kidney-shaped dull red spot, having a white centre and a narrow black edging; and be- yond the spot a wavy dull red band, bordered internally with white ; the fore wings, next to the shoulders, are dull red, with a curved white band; and near the tips of the same is an eye-like black spot, within a bluish-white cres- cent ; the upper side of the body and the legs are dull red ; the fore part of the thorax and the hinder edges of the rings of the abdomen are white; and the belly is checkered with red and white. This moth makes its appearance dur- ing the month of June. The caterpillar (Fig. 183) is * Cecropia was the ancient name of the city of Athens; its application, by Linnzus, to this moth is inexplicable. 49 PIDOPTERA. Le: ‘Ist “td THE ATTACUS CECROPIA. c noel 388 LEPIDOPTERA. found on apple, cherry, and plum trees, and on currant and barberry bushes in July and August. When young it is of a deep yellow color, with rows of minute black warts on its back. It comes to its full size by the first of September, Fig. 183. and then measures three inches or more in length, and is thicker than a man’s thumb. It is then entirely of a fine, clear, light green color; on the top of the second ring are two large globular coral-red warts, beset with about four- teen very short black bristles; the two warts on the top of the third ring are like those on the second, but rather larger ; on the top of the seven following rings there are two very long egg-shaped yellow warts, bristled at the end, and a single wart of larger size on the eleyenth ring; on each side of the body there are two longitudinal rows of long light blue warts, bristled at the end, and an additional short row, below them, along the first five rings. This cat- erpillar does not bear confinement well ; but it may be seen spinning its cocoon, early in September, on the twigs of the trees or bushes on which it lives. The cocoon (Fig. 184, Fig. 184. Fig. 185, pupa) is fastened longitudinally to the side of a twig. It is, on an average, three inches long, and one inch THE ATTACUS CECROPIA. 384) in diameter at the widest part. Its shape is an oblong oval, pointed at the upper end. It is double, the outer coat being wrinkled, and resembling strong brown paper in color and thick- ness ; when this tough outer coat is cut open, the inside will be seen to be lined with a quantity of loose, yellow-brown, strong silk, surrounding an inner oval cocoon, composed of the same kind of silk, and closely woven like that of the silk- worm. The insect remains in the chrysalis form through the winter. The moth, which comes forth in the following summer, would not be able to pierce the inner cocoon, were it not for the fluid provided for the purpose of’ softening the threads ; but it easily forces its way through the outer cocoon: at the small end, which is more loosely woven than else- where, and the threads of which converge again, by their own elasticity, so as almost entirely to close the opening after the insect has escaped. A few brown and curled leaves may frequently be seen hanging upon sassafras-trees during the winter, when all the other leaves have fallen off. If one of these leaves is examined, it will be found to be retained by a quantity of silken thread, which is wound or woolded round the twie to the distance of half an inch or more on each side of the leaf-stalk, and is thence carried downwards around the stalk to an oval cocoon, that is wrapped up by the sides of the leaf. The cocoon itself is about an inch long, of a regular oval shape, and is double, like that of the Cecropia cater- pillar; but the outer coat is not loose and wrinkled, and the space between the outer and inner coats is small, and does not contain much floss silk. So strong is the coating of silk that surrounds the leaf-stalk, and connects the cocoon with the branch, that it cannot be severed without great force ; and consequently the chrysalis swings securely within its leaf-covered hammock through all the storms of winter. Fig. 185. 390 LEPIDOPTERA. Cocoons of the same kind are sometimes found suspended to the twigs of the wild cherry-tree, the Azalea, or swamp- pink, and the Cephalanthus, or button-bush, but not so often as on the sassafras-tree. Two of them, hanging close together on one twig, were once brought to me, and a male and a female moth were produced from these twin cocoons in July, the usual time for these insects to leave their winter quarters. Drury called this kind of moth Promethea, a mistake probably for Prometheus,* the name of one of the Titans, all of whom were fabled to be of gigantic size. The color of Attacus Promethea differs according to the sex. The male (Fig. 186) is of a deep smoky brown color on the Fig. 186. upper side, and the female (Fig. 187) light reddish brown ; in both, the wings are crossed by a wavy whitish line near the middle, and have a wide clay-colored border, which is marked by a wavy reddish line; near the tips of the fore wings there is an eye-like black spot within a bluish-white crescent ; near the middle of each of the wings of the female there is an angular reddish-white spot, edged with black ; these angular spots are visible on the under ade of the wings * Atlas was the brother of Prometheus, and this name, it will be recollected, has been given to another of the Bormbyecs an immensely large moth from China. THE ATTACUS PROMETHEA. 391 of the male, but are rarely seen on their upper side; the hind wings in both are rounded and not tailed. These moths expand from three inches and three quarters to four inches and a quarter. The female deposits her eggs on the twigs of the trees, in little clusters of five or six together, and these are hatched towards the end of July or early in Au- gust. The caterpillars usually come to their full size by the beginning of September, and then measure two inches or more in length, when extended, and about half an inch in diameter. The body of the caterpillar is very plump, and but very little contracted on the back between the rings. It is of a clear and pale bluish-green color; the head, the Fig. 187. feet, and the tail are yellow; there are about eight warts on each of the rings; the two uppermost warts on the top of the second and of the third rings are almost cylindrical, much longer than the rest, and of a rich coral-red color , there is a long yellow wart on the top of the eleventh ring ; all the rest of the warts are very small, and of a deep bluc color. Before making its cocoon the caterpillar instinctively fastens to the branch the leaf that is to serve for a cover to its cocoon, so that it shall not fall off in the autumn, and then proceeds to spin on the upper side of the leaf, bending 392 LEPIDOPTERA. over the edges to form a hollow, within which its cocoon is concealed. The Luna, Folyphemus, Cecropia, and Promethea moths are the only native insects belonging to the genus Attacus which are known to me. Their large cocoons, consisting entirely of silk, the fibres of which far surpass those of the silk-worm in strength, might perhaps be employed in the formation of fabrics similar to those manufactured in India from the cocoons of the tusseh and arrindy silk-worms, the durability of which is such, that a garment of tusseh silk “js scarcely worn out in the lifetime of one person, but often descends from mother to daughter ; and even the cov- ers of palanquins made of it, though exposed to the influ- ence of the weather, last many years.” The method em- ployed by the inhabitants of India for unwinding the cocoons of their native silk-worms would probably apply equally well to those of our country, which have not yet, that I am aware of, been submitted to the same process. It is true that experiments, upon a very limited scale, have been made with the silk of the Cecropia, which has been carded and spun and woven into stockings, that are said to wash like linen. The Rev. Samuel Pullen was among the first to attempt to unwind the cocoons of the Cecropia moth, an account of which is contained in the ‘ Philosophical Trans- actions of the Royal Society of London,” for the year 1759.* Mr. Pullein ascertained that twenty threads of this silk twisted together would sustain nearly an ounce more jn weight chan the same number of common silk. Mr. Moses Bartram, of Philadelphia, in the year 1767, succeeded in brmging up the caterpillars from the eggs of the Cecropia moth, and obtained several cocoons from them.+ In the Paris ‘“ Journal des Debats,” of the 23d of July, 1840, is an account of the complete success of Mr. Audouin in * Vol. LI. p. 54. { See “ Transactions of the Americin Philosophical Society of Philadelphia,” Vol. I. p. 294. THE SATURNIA IO. 893 rearing the caterpillars of this or of some other American species of Attacus, the cocoons of which were sent to him from New Orleans. The Cecropia does not bear confine- ment well, and is not so good a subject for experiment as the Luna and Polyphemus, which are easily reared, and make their cocoons quite as well in the house as in the open air. The following circumstances seem particularly to rec- ommend these indigenous silk-worms to the attention of persons interested in the silk culture. Our native oak and nut trees afford an abundance of food for the caterpillars ; their cocoons are much heavier than those of the silk-worm, and will yield a greater quantity of silk ; and, as the insects remain unchanged in the chrysalis state from September to June, the cocoons may be kept for unwinding at any leisure time during the winter. By a careful search, after the falling of the leaves in the autumn, a sufficient number of cocoons may be found, under the oak and nut trees, with which to begin a course of experiments in breeding the in- sects, and in the manufacture of their silk. Two more moths, belonging to the family under consid- eration, are found in Massachusetts. They may be referred to the genus Saturnia,* and are distinguished from the fore- going by their antenne, which are widely feathered only in the males, the feathering being very narrow in the other sex; their caterpillars, moreover, are furnished with small warts crowned with long prickles or branching spines. None of the caterpillars described in the preceding pages are ven- omous ; all of them may be handled with impunity. This is not the case with the two following kinds, the prickles of which sting severely. The first of these begin to appear by the middle of June, and other broods continue to be hatched till the middle of July. These caterpillars (Fig. 188) live on the balsam poplar and * The surname of Juno, the daughter of Saturn. 50 394 LEPIDOPTERA. the elm, and, according to Mr. Abbot, on the dogwood or cornel, and the sassafras ; they feed well also on the leaves of clover and Indian corn. They are of a pea-green color, with a broad brown stripe edged below with white on each side of the body, beginning on the fourth ring and ending at the tail; they are covered with spreading clusters of green prickles, tipped with black, and of a uniform length ; each of these clusters consists of about thirty prickles branch- ing from a common centre, and there are six clusters on each of the rings except the last two, on which there are only five, and on the first four rings, on each of which there is an additional cluster low down on each side; the feet are brown, and there is a triangular brown spot on the under side of each ring, beginning with the fourth. The prickles are exceedingly sharp, sting very severely when the insect is handled, and produce the same kind of irrita- tion as those of the nettle. When young these caterpillars keep together in little swarms. They do not spin a common web, but, when not eating, they creep under a leaf, where they cluster side by side. In going from or returning to their place of shelter they move in regular files, like the processionary caterpillars (Lasiocampa processionea) of Eu- rope, a single caterpillar taking the lead, and followed closely by perhaps one or two in single file, after which come two, side by side, close upon the heels of these creep three more, the next rank consists of four, and so on, the ranks contin- ually widening behind, like a flock of wild geese on the wing, but in perfectly regular order. When about half grown they disperse, and each one shirks for himself. At the age of eight weeks they get to their full size, in the meanwhile moulting their skins four times, and finally meas- ure two inches and a half or more in length. At this age they leave off eating, crawl to the ground, and get under leaves or rubbish, which they draw round their bodies to form an outer covering, within which they make an irregular and thin cocoon (Fig. 189), of very gummy brown silk, THE SATURNIA 10. 895 that has almost the texture of thin parchment. As soon as their cocoons are finished, the Fig. 189. insects are changed to chrysalids (Fig. 190), in which form they re- main throughout the winter, and in the following summer, during the month of June, or beginning of July, they come out in the winged or moth state. The scientific name of these moths is Saturnia fo.* Un- like those of the genus Attacus, they sit with their wings closed, and covering the body like a low roof, the front edge of the under wings extending a little beyond that of the upper wings, and curving upwards. The two sexes differ both in color and size. The male: (Fig. 191), which is the smallest, is of a deep or Indian Fig. 191. yellow color; on its fore wings there are two oblique wavy lines towards the hind margin, a zigzag line near the base, and several spots so arranged on the middle as to form the letters A H, all of a purplish red color; the hind wings are broadly bordered with purplish red next to the body, and near the hinder margin there is a narrow curved band of the same color; within this band there is a curved black * Jo,a priestess of Juno, in Greece, afterwards became the wife of Osiris, the king of Egypt, and received divine honors under the name of Isis. 396 LEPIDOPTERA. line, and on the middle of the wing a large round blue spot, having a broad black border and a central white dash. The fore wings of the female (Fig. 192) are purple-brown, min- Fig. 192. gled with gray ; the zigzag and wavy lines across them are gray, and the lettered space in the middle is replaced by a brown spot surrounded by an irregular gray line; the hind wings resemble those of the male in color and mark- ings ; the thorax and legs are purple-brown ; and the abdo- men is ochre-yellow, with a narrow purple-red band on the edge of each ring. These moths expand from two inches and three quarters to three inches and a half. The other Saturnia, inhabiting Massachusctts, is the Maia* (Fig. 193) of Drury, or Proserpinat of Fabricius. The Fig. 193 moth probably rests with its wings closed, like the Jo moth, * Maia, in mythology, was one of the seven daughters of Atlas; they were placed in the heavens after death, and formed the constellation called Pleiades. + Proserpina was the wife of Pluto, the god of the infernal regions. THE SATURNIA MAIA. 397 the fore wings covering the other pair, the front edge of which seems formed to extend a little beyond that of the fore wings in this position. The wings are thin and almost transparent like crape; they are black, and both pairs are crossed by a broad yellow-white band, near the middle of which, on each wing, there is a kidney-shaped black spot having a central yellow-white crescent or curved line on it ; the thorax is covered with black hairs on the top, pale yel- low hairs on the fore part, and has two tufts of rust-red hairs behind; the abdomen is black, with a few yellowish hairs along the sides, and a patch of a rust-red color at the extremity, in the males. The wings expand from two inches and a half to three inches and one eighth. Saturnia Maia seems to be a very rare moth in Massachu- setts ; I have never met with it alive, but have seen several specimens which were taken in this State. The time of its appearance here is not known to me with certainty ; but, if I am rightly informed, it has been found in July and the beginning of August, flying by day on the borders of oak woods, or resting on the shrub oaks which cover the sides of some of our high hills. Of the caterpillar I have seen only one specimen, which was found, fully grown, on an oak, towards the end of September ; it was destroyed, however, before I had an opportunity of making a descrip- tion of it. Mr. Abbot * has figured two of the eaterpillars, which differ from each other in color and markings. They are nearly three inches long; the head and all the feet are red ; and on each of the rings there are six long branched prickles. One of these caterpillars is represented of a dusky brown color mingled with yellow, with yellow warts from which the prickles arise. The other is yellow, with red warts, and two black stripes along the back. Mr. Abbot states that these caterpillars, while small, feed together in company, but disperse as they grow large; they eat the leaves of various kinds of oaks; sting very sharply when * Insects of Georgia, p. 99, pl. 50. 398° LEPIDOPTERA. handled ; and that they go into the ground to transform ; but he dves not inform us whether they make cocoons. Probably their cocoons are like those of the Io moth, com- posed of a gummy membranaceous substance, covered either with leaves or with grains of earth. As far as I can ascertain, these six moths are the only Saturnians which have been discovered east of the Missis- sippi, and they are commonly met with throughout the United States.* The last of them, together with some for- eign species, such as the Tau moth of Europe, seem nat- urally to conduct to the next family, which I call Cerato- campians (CERATOCAMPAD#), after the name of the chief genus contained in it. This name, moreover, signifying horned caterpillar, serves to point out the principal pecu- liarity of the caterpillars in this group; they being armed * Mr. Audubon has figured two more, apparently sexes or varieties of one species, in the fourth volume of his magnificent “ Birds of America,” pl. 359; ‘but has not named or described them. He informs me that they were taken by Mr. Nuttall near the Rocky Mountains. Through the kindness of Mr. Edward Doubleday, of Epping, England, the present possessor of one of the very speci- mens from which Mr. Audubon’s drawing was made, an opportunity of exam- ining and describing this fine insect has been granted to me. Though differing somewhat from the other species of Saturnia, it approaches so near to the Afaia that I shall not venture to separate it from this genus, espe- cially as the caterpillar and its habits are unknown. It may be called Saturnia Hera: the latter (a generical name proposed for it by Mr. Doubleday) is the name given by the Greeks to Juno The specimen before me is w male. It resembles the JMaia in form and size, but the wings are not quite so thin, and are more opaque. The fore wings when the insect is resting probably cover the hind wings, the front edge of which appears to be formed to project a little beyond that of the fore wings. It is of a pale yellow color; on each of the wings there is a kidney-shaped black spot between two transverse wavy black bands; the outer margins are black; the veins from the external black band to the edge are marked with broad black lines; and there is a short black line at the base of the fore wings; the head, fore part of the thorax, and upper sides of the legs, are deep ochre-yellow; and the rings of the abdomen are transversely banded with black at the base, and with ochre-yellow on their hinder edges. The kidney-shaped spots on the fore wings have a very slender central yellow crescent, and those on the hind wings touch the external black band. The wings expand three inches. The other moth, figured on the same plate in Mr. Audubon’s work, which is probably the female of the preceding, apparently differs from it only in being of a deep Indian-yellow color, and in having the crescent in the middle of the kid- ney-shaped spots very distinct, whereas in the male it is almost obsolete. THE REGAL WALNUT-MOTH. 399 with thorny points, of whicli those on the second ring, and sometimes also those on the third, are long, curved, and resemble horns. These caterpillars eat the leaves of forest- trees, and go into the ground to undergo their transforma- tions without making cocoons. The rings of the chrysalis are surrounded by little notched ridges, the teeth of which, together with the strong prickles at the hinder end of the body, assist it in forcing its way upwards out of the earth, just as the moth is about to burst the skin of the clirysalis. The moths are very easily distinguished from all the fore- going by their antenne, which are short, and in the males are feathered on both sides for a little more than half the “length of the stalk, and are naked from thence to the tip ; while those of the females are threadlike, and neither feath- ered nor toothed. The feelers (except in Ceratocampa, in which they are very distinct) and the tongue are very small, and not ordinarily visible. There are no bristles and hooks to fasten together the wings, which, when at rest, are not spread, but are closed, the fore wings covering the hinder pair, and the front edge of the latter, in most cases, extends a little beyond that of the fore wings. These are some of the principal characters on which I have ventured to estab- lish this family, which is now, for the first time, pointed out as a peculiar group. I believe that it is exclusively Ameri- can. One of the largest and most rare, and withal the most magnificent of our moths, is the Ceratocampa regalis (Fig. 194), or regal walnut-moth. Its fore wings are olive-col- ored, adorned with several yellow spots, and veined with broad red lines; the hind wings are orange-red, with two large irregular yellow patches before, and a row of wedge- shaped olive-colored spots between the veins behind; the head is orange-red ; the thorax is yellow, with the edge of the collar, the shoulder-covers, and an angular spot on the top, orange-red; the upper side of the abdomen, and the legs, are also orange-red. Unlike the other moths of the 400 LEPIDOPTERA. same family, the feelers in this are distinct, cylindrical, and prominent, and the front edge of the lind wings does not seem to be formed to extend beyond that of the other pair when the wings are closed. It expands from five to six inches. In the year 1828, I found three of the eges of this fine insect on the black walnut on the 20th of July and the 4th of Auoust. They were just hatched at the time, and the caterpillars were near to them resting on a leaf. The position of these young insects was so peculiar as to attract attention, independently of the long branching spines with which the fore part of their body was armed. They were not stretched out in a straight line, neither were they hunched up like the caterpillars of the Luna and Polyphe- mus moths; but, when at rest, they bent the fore part of the body sideways, so that the head nearly touched the middle of the side, and their long horn-like spines were stretched forwards, in a slanting direction, over the head. When disturbed, they raised their heads and horns, and shook them from side to side in a menacing manner, These little caterpillars were nearly black; on each of the rings, except the last two, there were six straight yellow thorns or spines, which were furnished on all sides with little sharp points like short branches. Of these branched spines, two THE REGAL WALNUT-MOTH. 401 on the top of the first ring, and four on the second and the third rings, or ten in all, were very much longer than the rest, and were tipped with little knobs, ending in two points ; they were also movable, the insect having the power of drop- ping them almost horizontally over the head, and of raising them up again perpendicularly. On the eleventh ring there were seven spines, the middle one being long and knobbed like those on the fore part of the body; on the last ring there were eleven short and branched spines. After casting its skin two or three times, the caterpillar becomes lighter- colored, and gradually changes to green; the knobs on the long spines disappear, their little points or branches do not increase in size, and finally theseyspines become curved, turn- ing backwards at their points, and resemble horns. When fully grown, the caterpillar (Fig. 195) measures from four to Fig 195. five inches in length, and about three quarters of an inch in diameter. It is of a green color, and transversely banded across each of the rings with pale blue; there is a large blue- black spot on each side of the third ring; the head and legs are orange-colored ; the ten long horn-like spines on the fore part of the body are orange-colored, with the tips and the points surrounding them black; the other spines are short and black. Notwithstanding the great size, formidable appear- ance, and menacing motions of this insect, when handled it is perfectly harmless, and unable to sting or wound with its frightful horns. It lives solitary on walnut and hickory trees, the leaves of which it eats; crawls down and goes into the ground towards the end of summer, and changes to a chrysalis 51 402 LEPIDOPTERA. without previously making a cocoon. Unfortunately my caterpillars died before the time for their transformation arrived. The chrysalis is short and thick; obtuse behind, but terminated by two minute points ; and the transverse notched ridges or little teeth that are found on the chrysa- lids of the other insects belonging to the same family, are very small and hardly visible on this one. The insect re- mains in the ground through the winter, and the moth comes out’ in the following summer, during the month of June, if I am rightly informed. I have not been able to obtain one myself, and my description of the moth was made from a very fine specimen belonging to a friend, who received it from New Bedford. *#) Between the regal Ceratocampa and the smaller insects of this family belonging to the new genus Dryocampa should be placed a noble moth, which partakes, in some respects, of the characters of both; its horned caterpillar, particularly while young, when its horns are proportionally longer and more formidable in appearance than afterwards, resembles somewhat that of the Ceratocampa ; its chrysalis is exactly like that of a Dryocampa, and like the latter also, in the winged state, its feelers are minute, its hind wings project beyond the front edges of the fore wings when at rest, and its style of coloring is the same. In my Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts, I placed this moth, the dmperia- lis of Drury, in the genus Ceratocampa, from which, how- ever, it must be removed, on account of its very small feelers, and the position of its wings; and I now refer it, with some hesitation, to the genus Dryocampa, with which it agrees so well in the moth state, although its caterpillar differs a good deal from those of the other insects of the same genus. The imperial moth, Dryocampa imperialis (Fig. 196), has wings of a fine yellow color, thickly sprin- kled with purple-brown dots, with a large patch at the base, a small round spot near the middle, and a wavy band to- wards the hinder margin of each wing, of a light purple- THE IMPERIAL MOTH. 403 196. Vig. 404 LEPIDOPTERA. brown color; in the males there is another purple-brown spot, covering nearly the whole of the outer hind margin of the fore wings, and united to the band near that part; the body is yellow, shaded with purple-brown on the back, and with three spots of the same color on the thorax. It ex- pands from four inches and a half to more than five inches. In a variety of this moth, of which I have a colored drawing done by Mr. Abbot, the purple-brown color prevails so much as to cover the wings, with the exception only of a large triangular yellow spot contiguous to the front margin of each wing. This moth appears here from the 12th of June to the beginning of July, and then lays its eggs on the button- wood tree. The caterpillars (Fig. 197) may be found upon this tree, grown to their full size, between the 20th of August and the end of September, during which time they descend from the trees to go into the ground. They are then from three to four inches in length, and more than half an inch in diameter, and, for the most part, of a green color, slightly tinged with red on the back; but many of them become more or less tanned or swarthy, and are sometimes found entirely brown. There are a few very short hairs thinly scattered over the body ; the head and the legs are pale orange-colored; the oval spiracles, or breathing-holes, on the sides, are large and white, encircled with green; on each of the rings, except the first, there are six thorny knobs or hard and pointed warts of a yellow color, covered with short black prickles ; the two uppermost of these warts on the top of the second and of the third rings are a quarter of an inch or more in length, curved backwards like horns, and are of a deeper yellow color than the rest; the three triangu- lar pieces on the posterior extremity of the body are brown, with yellow margins, and are covered with raised orange- colored dots. The chrysalis, which is not contained in a cocoon, is about two inches long, of a dark chestnut-brown color, rough with little elevated points, particularly on the THE SENATORIAL DRYOCAMPA. 405 anterior extremity, ends behind with a long forked spine, and is surrounded, on each ring, with a notched ridge, the little teeth of which point towards the tail. Three of the grooves or incisions between the rings are very deep, thus allowing a great extent of motion to the joints, and these, with the notched ridges, and the long spine at the end of the body, enable the chrysalis to work its way upwards in the earth, above the surface of which it pushes the fore part of its body just before the moth makes its escape. Dryocampa, oak or forest caterpillar, is a name originally applied by me to certain insects, found sometimes in great numbers on oak-trees, which then suffer very severely from their ravages. Of these caterpillars there are several kinds, resembling each other in shape, and in the form and situation of the thorns with which they are armed, but differing in color, and in the moths produced from them. They live together in swarms, but do not make webs; their bodies are cylindrical, remarkably hard and stiff, naked or not hairy, and have, on each ring, about six short thorns, or sharp points, besides two on the top of the second ring, which are long, slender, and threadlike, but not flexible, and project in the manner of horns. The most common of these caterpillars (Fig. 198) in Massachusetts is black, with four narrow ochre-yellow stripes along the back, and two on each side. It is found in swarms of several hundreds together, on the limbs of the white and red oaks, during the month of August. The eggs from which they proceed are laid in large clusters on the under side of a leaf near the end of a branch. The caterpillars are hatched towards the end of July, but sometimes earlier, and at other times later. At first they eat only the youngest leaves at the end of the branches and twigs, and, as they grow larger and stronger, proceed downwards, devouring every leaf, to the midrib and foot-stalk, from one end of the branch to the other. They Fig. 198. 406 LEPIDOPTERA. have their regular times for eating and for rest, and when they have finished their meals, they cluster closely together along the twigs and branches. If disturbed, they raise the fore part of their bodies, and shake their heads to signify their displeasure. When fully grown they measure about two inches in length. Commonly in the early part of Sep- tember, they crawl down the trees and go into the ground, to the depth of four or five inches, where they are changed to chrysalids (Fig. 199). These re- semble the chrysalids of the imperial Dryocampa, but are much smaller, and like them they remain in the ground throughout the winter, and work their way up to the sur- face in the following summer. These chrysalids may often be seen sticking half-way out of the ground under oak-trees in the latter part of June and the beginning of July, at which time the moths burst them open and make their escape. Dry- ocampa senatoria (Fig. 200), the senatorial Dryo- campa, which is the name of this kind of moth, is of an ochre-yellow color; the wings are faintly tinged with purplish red, especially on the front and hind margins, and are crossed by a narrow purple-brown band behind the middle; the fore wings are sprinkled with blackish dots, and have a small round white spot near the middle. The male is much smaller than the female, its wings are thinner, and more tinged with dull purple-red. It expands about an inch and three quarters ; the female, two inches and a half, or more. Three more kinds of Dryocampa are found in Massachu- setts, but they are all rare in this State. The largest of Fig. 199. Fig. 200. THE CLEAR-WING DRYOCAMPA. 407 them is the stigma of Fabricius, or spotted-wing Dryocampa. It is of a reddish ochre or deep tawny yellow color; the fore wings are tinged with purplish red behind, are thickly sprinkled with blackish dots, have a small round white spot near the middle, and a narrow oblique purple-red band be- hind ; the hind wings have a narrow transverse purple band, behind which the border is sprinkled with a few black. dots. It expands from one inch and three quarters to two inches and three quarters. The caterpillar, which I have not seen, is figured in Mr Abbot’s work,* where it is colored yellow, with black thorns on its back. It is said to live on the oak, in swarms, while young, but 'these disperse as the insects grow large. The following resembles the senatorial Dryocampa ; but is rather smaller, and is a more delicate moth. The color of its body is ochre-yellow ; the fore wings of the male are purple-brown, with a large colorless transparent space on the middle, near which is a small round white spot, and towards the hinder margin a narrow oblique very faint dusky stripe ; the hind wings are purple-brown, almost transparent in the middle, and with a very faint transverse dusky stripe; the wings of the female are purplish red, blended with ochre- yellow, are almost transparent in the middle, and have the same white spots and faint bands as those of the male. It expands from one inch and three quarters to two inches and a quarter, or more, in some females. The distinguishing name, given by Sir J. E. Smith,t to this moth, is pellucida, and we may call it the pellucid or clear-wing Dryocampa. I have only once seen the caterpillar, which was found on an oak on the 25th of September. It was about the size of that of the senatorial Dryocampa, and resembled it in everything but color. Its head was rust-yellow, its body pea-green, shaded on the back and sides with red, longitudi- nally striped with very pale yellowish green, and armed with black thorns. * Insects of Georgia, p. 111, pl. 56. t Ibid., p. 115, pl. 58. 408 LEPIDOPTERA. The last of these insects is the rubicwnda (Fig. 201) of Fabricius, or rosy Dryocampa. This delicate and very rare moth is found in Massachusetts in July. Its fore wings are rose-colored, crossed by a broad pale-yellow band ; the hind wings are pale yel- low, with a short rosy band behind the middle; the body is yellow; the belly and legs are rose-colored. It expands rather more than one inch and three quarters. The caterpillar is unknown to me.* All the Moth caterpillars thus far described in this work live more or less exposed to view, and devour the leaves of plants ; but there are others that are concealed from observa- tion in stems and roots, which they pierce in various direc- tions, and devour only the wood and pith; their habits, in this respect, being exactly like those of the Xgerians among the Sphinges. These insects belong to a family of Bomby- ces, by some naturalists called ZevzErap#, and by others Heprrarip#, both names derived from insects included in the same group. The caterpillars of the Zeuzerians are white or reddish white, soft and naked, or slightly downy, with brown horny heads, a spot on the top of the fore part of the body which is also brown and hard, and sixteen legs. They make imperfect cocoons, sometimes of silk, and sometimes of morsels of wood or grains of earth fastened together by gummy silk. Their chrysalids, like those of the Cerato- Fig. 201. * Only one more North American Dryocampa is known tome. This moth was taken in North Carolina, and does not appear to have been described. It may be called Dryocampa bicolor, the two-colored, or gray and red, Dryocampa. The upper side of the fore wings and the under side of the hind wings are brownish gray, sprinkled with black dots, and with a small round white spot near the middle, and a narrow oblique dusky band behind it on the fore wings; the upper side of the hind wings and the under side of the fore wings, except. the front edge and hinder margin of the latter, are crimson-red, and the body is brownish gray. The male expands two inches anda quarter, The female and the caterpillar of this insect I have not seen. THE HOP-VINE HEPIOLUS. 409 campians, are provided with notched transverse ridges on the rings, by means of which they push themselves out of their holes when ready to be transformed. The moths differ a good deal from each other, although the appearance and habits of the caterpillars are so much alike. The antenne in some are thread-like, or made up of nearly cylindrical joints put together like a string of beads; in others they are more tapering, and doubly pectinated or toothed on the under side, at least in the males; and in Zeuzera, a kind of moth not hitherto found in this country, the antenne resem- ble those of the Ceratocampians, being half-feathered in the males, and not feathered in the females. The wings are rather long and narrow, and are strengthened by very nu- merous veins. The female is provided with a kind of tube at the end of the body, that can be drawn in and vat, by means of which she thrusts her eggs into the chinks of the bark or into the earth at the roots of plants. Of the root-eaters there is one kind which is very injurious to the hop-vine in Europe. It is called Hepiolus humuli, the hop-vine Hepiolus. The caterpillar is yellowish white ; the head, a spot on the top of the first and second rings, and the six fore legs are shining brown, and it is nearly naked, or has only a few short hairs scattered over its body. It lives in the roots of the hop, and, when about to transform, buries itself in the ground, and makes a long, cylindrical cocoon or case, composed of grains of earth held together by a loose silken web. The chrysalis has transverse rows of little teeth on the backs of the abdominal rings, and by means of them it finally works its way out of the cocoon and rises to the surface of the earth; this being done, the includ- ed moth bursts its chrysalis shell, and comes forth into the open air. In moths of this kind (genus Hepiolus) the an- tenn are very short, slender, almost thread-like, and not feathered or pectinated; the tongue is wanting or invisible ; and the feelers are excessively small, and concealed in a tuft of hairs. 52 410 LEPIDOPTERA. The hop-vine Hepiolus has not yet been detected in Mas- sachusetts ; but we have a much larger species, known to me only in the moth state, which is the reason of my hav- ing given the foregoing account of the preparatory stages of a European species. This moth does not appear to have been described. It is named in my Catalogue of the In- sects of Massachusetts, Hepiolus argenteo-maculatus (Fig. 202), the silver-spotted Hepiolus. Its body and wings are Fig. 202. rather long. It is of an ashen-gray color; the fore wings are variegated with dusky clouds and bands, and have a small triangular spot and a round dot of a silvery white color near their base; the hind wings are tinged with ochre-yellow towards the tip. It expands two inches and three quarters. A much larger specimen was found by Professor Agassiz near Lake Superior.* The locust-tree, Robinia pseudacacia, is preyed upon by three different kinds of wood-eaters or borers, whose un- checked ravages seem to threaten the entire destruction and extermination of this valuable tree within this part of the United States. One of these borers is a little reddish cater- pillar, whose operations are confined to the small branches and to very young trees, in the pith of which it lives; and by its irritation it causes the twig to swell around the part attacked. These swellings being spongy, and also perforated * See a figure of it in his ‘“‘ Lake Superior,” pl. 7, fig. 6. THE LOCUST-TREE BORERS. 411 by the caterpillar, are weaker than the rest of the stem, which therefore easily breaks off at these places. My at- tempts to complete the history of this insect have not been successful hitherto. The second kind of borer of the locust-tree is larger than the foregoing, is a grub, and not a caterpillar, which finally turns to the beetle named Clytus pictus, the paint- ed Clytus, already described on a preceding page of this work. The third of the wood-eaters to which the locust-tree is exposed, though less common than the others, and not so universally destructive to the tree as the painted Clytus, is a very much larger borer, and is occasionally productive of great injury, especially to full-grown and old trees, for which it appears to have a preference. It is a true caterpillar (Fig. 203), belonging to the tribe of moths under consideration, is reddish above, and white beneath, with the head and top of the first ring brown and shelly, and there are a few short hairs arising from minute warts thinly scattered over the surface of the body. When fully grown, it measures two inches and a half, or more, in length, and is nearly as thick as the end of the little finger. These caterpillars bore the tree in various directions, but for the most part obliquely upwards and downwards through the solid wood, enlarging the holes as they increase in size, and continuing them through the bark to the outside of the trunk. Before trans- forming, they line these passages with a web of silk, and, retirig to some distance from the orifice, they spin around their bodies a closer web, or cocoon, within which they assume the chrysalis form. The chrysalis (Fig. 204) meas- 412 LEPIDOPTERA. ures one inch and a half or two inches in length, is of an amber color, changing to brown on the fore part of the body ; and on the upper side of each abdominal ring are two trans- verse rows of tooth-like projec- tions. By the help of these, the insect, when ready for its last transformation, works its way to the mouth of its bur- row, where it remains while the chrysalis skin is rent, upon which it comes forth on the trunk of the tree a winged moth. In this its perfected state, it is of a gray color; the fore wings are thickly covered with dusky netted lines and irregular spots, the hind wings are more uniformly dusky, and the shoulder-covers are edged with black on the inside. It expands about three inches. The male, which is much smaller, and has been mistaken for another species, is much darker than the female, from which it differs also in having a large ochre-yellow spot on the hind wings, contiguous to their posterior margin. Professor Peck, who first made public the history of this insect,* named it Cossus Robinie, the Cossus of the locust-tree, scientifically called Robinia. It is supposed by Professor Peck to remain three years in the caterpillar state. ‘The moth comes forth about the mid- dle of July. The same insect, or one not to be distin- guished from it while a caterpillar, perforates the trunks of the red oak. Mr. Newman jf has recently given the name of Xyleutes, the carpenter, to the genus including this insect, instead of Cossus, which it formerly bore, because the latter, being the name of a species, ought not to have been applied to a genus. The European carpenter-moth, called Bombyx Cossus ${ by Linnezus, will now be the Xyleutes Cossus ; and our indigenous species will be the Xyleutes Robinie Fig. 204. — * See “Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal,” Vol. V., p. 67, with a plate. ¢ See ‘“ Entomological Magazine,” Vol. V., p. 129. $ Subsequently named Cossus ligniperda by Fabricius. THE LOCUST-TREE CARPENTER-MOTH. 413 (Fig. 205), or locust-tree carpenter-moth. The moths of this genus have thick and robust bodies, broad and thickly- veined wings, two very distinct feelers, and antennse, which are furnished on the under side, in both sexes, with a double set of short teeth, rather longer in the male than in the female. Their tongue is invisible. They give out a strong and peculiar smell, whence they are sometimes called goat- moths by English writers. Some caterpillars, which eat the leaves of plants, live in cases or long oval cocoons, open at both ends, and large enough for the insects to turn around within them, so as to go out of either end. They do not entirely leave these cases, even when moving from place to place, but cling to them on the inside with the legs of the hinder part of their bodies, while their heads and fore legs are thrust out. Thus in moving they creep with their six fore legs only, and drag along their cases after them as they go. These cases are made of silk within, and are covered on the outside with leaves, bits of straw, or little sticks. The caterpillars are nearly cylindrical, generally soft and whitish, except the head and upper part of the first three rings, which are brown and hard; they have sixteen legs; the first three pairs are long, strong, and armed with stout claws; the others are very short, consisting merely of slight wart-like elevations 414 LEPIDOPTERA. provided with numerous minute clinging hooks. When they are about to change their forms, their cases serve them in- stead of cocoons; they fasten them by silken threads to the plant on which they live, stop up the holes in them, and then throw off their caterpillar-skins. The chrysalids are remarkably blunt at the hinder extremity, and are provided with transverse rows of minute teeth on the back of the ab- dominal rings. The moths, of which there are several kinds produced by these case-bearing caterpillars, differ very much from each other; but, as they all agree in their habits and general appearance while in the caterpillar form, they are brought together in one family called PsycHapa, the Psy- chians, from Psyche, a genus belonging to it. The Germans give these insects a more characteristic name, that of Sack- triiger,* that is, sack-bearers, and Hiibner called them Cane- phorc, or basket-carriers, because the cases of some of them are made of little sticks somewhat like a wicker basket. The cases of the insects belonging to the European genus Psyche ave covered with small leaves, bits of grass or of sticks, placed lengthwise on them. The chrysalis of the male Psyche pushes itself half-way out of the case when about to set free the moth; the female, on the contrary, never leaves its cocoon, is not provided with wings, and its antennae and legs are very short. The male Psyche resembles somewhat the same sex of Orgyia, having pretty broad wings, and antennz that are doubly feathered on the under side; it has also a bristle and hook to hold the wings together. The cases of Oiketicus,f another and much larger kind of sack-bearer, inhabiting the West Indies and South America, are covered with pieces of leaves and of sticks arranged either longitudinally or transversely. The cases of some of the females measure four or five inches in lencth. Some which I received from Cuba were covered with little * See Germar’s “ Magazin der Entomologie,’” Vol. I. p. 19. + This name ought to be @ceticus. See Mr. Guilding’s description of the insect in the “ Transactions of the Linnwan Society,” Vol. XV. i MELSHEIMER’S SACK-BEARER. 4165 bits of sticks, about a quarter of an inch long, arranged transversely, and the cases were hung by a thick silken loop or ring to a twig; the lower end of these cases was filled with a large quantity of loose and very soft brownish floss- silk, which completely closed the orifice within. The male Oiketicus resembles a Zeuzera in the form and great length of its body, in the shape of its wings, and in its antenne, and in both the latter it resembles also the same sex of a Dryocampa, particularly in its antennz, which are feathered on both sides on the lower part of the stalk, and are bare at the other end. The female has neither wings, antenne, nor legs, and is said to remain always within its cocoon. Some years ago, a case or cocoon of an Oiketicus, which was found on Long Island, was presented to me. Jt was smaller than the West Indian specimens, measuring only an inch and a half without its loop, and was covered with a few little sticks longitudinally arranged. It contained a female chrysalis, with the remains of the caterpillar. In Philadelphia and the vicinity, cases of a similar kind are very common on many of the trees, particularly on the arbor-vite, larch, and hem- lock, which are often very much injured by the insects in- habiting them. These are there popularly called drop-worms and basket-worms. We have in Massachusetts another sack-bearer, which does not appear to have been described, and differs so much both from Psyche and Oiketicus, when arrived at maturity, as to induce me to give it another generical name. I there- fore call it Perophora Melsheimerti,* Melsheimer’s sack-bearer (Plate VI. Fig. 5).