QL

B 3 575 5bD

GIFT OF

BIOLOGY
UfiRARY

i

PLATE I

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SEVEN PRINCIPAL ORDERS OF INSECTS

!\

LI

PLATE I.

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SEVEN PRINCIPAL ORDERS OF INSECTS.

1. Orthoptera — Hippiscus rugosus.

2. Diptera — Exoprosopa caliptera.

3. Hemiptera — Rasahus biguttatus.

4. Lepidoptera — Papilio turnus.

5. Coleoptera — Buprestis.

6. Hymenoptera — Vespa germanica.

7. Neuroptera — Polystcechotes punctatus.

All natural size.

STATE. HORTICULTURAL COMMISSION

LLLWOOD COOPE.R, Commissioner

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE

Compiled for the Use of County Horticultural
Commissioners and Fruit-Growers

BY

JOHN I5AAC

W. W. SHANNON

5ACRAMLNTO

- - - SUPERINTENDENT STATE PRINTING
1906

*\w

" v»

CALIFORNIA STATE. COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE..

ELLWOOD COOPER Commissioner Santa Barbara

JOHN ISAAC Secretary ....San Francisco

ED. M. EHRHORN Deputy. ..,.. Mountain View

E. K. CARNES Assistant., ..Riverside

O. E. BREMNER Assistant _.' Santa Rosa

CHAS. T. PAINE Assistant Redlands

FREDRICK K. MASKEW ...Assistant Long Beach

GERTRUDE BIRD ..Stenographer ...Sacramento

OFFICE:

ROOM 41, STATE CAPITOL, SACRAMENTO.
BRANCH OFFICE, ROOM 11, FERRY BUILDING, SAN FRANCISCO.

CONTENTS.

Page

SYSTEM IX XATTRE 7 --.- 5

CLASSIFICATION 9

THE STRUCTURE OF [NSECtS 13

THE TRANSFORMATION OF INSECTS 26

THE ORDERS OF INSECTS—

ORTHOPTERA. ^Grasshoppers, Cricket*. Cockroaches, etc-.) 29

HEMIPTERA. (Plant-bugs, Aphids. Scale-bugs, etc.) 38

NEUROPTERA. (Dragon-flies. Lace-winged flies, etc.) 59

LEPIDOPTERA. (Butterflies and Moths) 65

D1PTERA. « Two-winged Hies of all kinds) 83

COLEOPTERA. (Beetles of all kinds) _ 96

HYMENOPTERA. (Bees. \Va.-i-s. Ants, etc.) 108

330603

ACKNOWLEDGMENT*

To P. Blakiston's Sons & Co., Philadelphia, we are indebted for the
use of the cuts numbered below, which appeared in the excellent work
by Professor J. W. Folsom, entitled "Entomology, with Special Refer-
ence to its Biological and Economic Aspects": Cuts numbered Fig. 1,
2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24,
25, 26, .27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 41, 56, 57, 59, 60, 68, 80,
84, 87, 110.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE

Arranged for Horticultural Commissioners, Fruit-Growers, and Farmers*

BY JOHN ISAAC.

Some simple work, which shall present, in plain, every-day language,
information about the insect world, has long been desired by our County
Horticultural Commissioners and fruit-growers. As a rule, these men
are not scientific entomologists, nor do they need be, but, at the same
time, it is necessary that they should know something of insects and
their modes of living, and be able to distinguish between insect friends
and enemies, in order that they may protect the one and destroy the
other.

It is much to be able to tell to what order an insect belongs, more to
know to what family in that order it belongs, and this is as far as the
average commissioner or orchardist can hope to go; to go farther and
trace it to genera and species is the work of the trained entomologist,
and is a life work alone for any man.

It is the desire of the writer to place such knowledge before his
readers, in the simplest manner, divested as far as possible of all scien-
tific and technical terms. Those who desire more can acquire it from
the scientific text-books. We do not offer this as a scientific disserta-
tion on entomology, nor as giving, by any means, all that is known of
that science, but simply as an introduction to every-day men of the
more general facts which they should know in the pursuit of their call-
ing for the benefit of their constituents.

\

SYSTEM IN NATURE.

Success in any pursuit depends upon system, and this is essentially
true of the study of any branch of natural history. As we gaze around
us upon the material world, we behold a conglomerate mass of life that
may astonish, or even oppress, us with its multitudinous forms, but
until we can take each individual object and trace it down to its proper
place in the order of nature, it has no meaning for us. To accomplish
this, the natural sciences, — geology, botany, biology,— have been estab-
lished, and these again have been subdivided, until every object can be
assigned to its proper place and its life and peculiarities known and
described. There is no field in which subdivision has been called out.

t V' t CCUMFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

iiij'the natural sciences; as a result, We have a perfect system
of classification, which enables us to recognize and study with the
greatest ease any natural object which comes under our observation.

The earth naturally is divided into three great kingdoms — the min-
eral, the vegetable, and the animal. The mineral is the first and the
oldest. Without it, neither of the others could exist. In fact, the
vegetable and animal kingdoms may be considered as subordinate to
the mineral and springing from it, for the material part of all vegetable
and animal is mineral, and so soon as the vital element has departed,
they restore to the mineral what they have borrowed from it. The
vegetable kingdom comes next in order, for there could be no animal
life until there was abundant vegetable life to support it.

Our business now is only with the animal kingdom, and with only
one branch, though a very important branch, of that. This kingdom
has been divided into two subkingdoms, known as the Vertebrata
and the Invertebrata. The Vertebrata include all animals having a

FIG. 1. Diagram to express the fundamental structure of an Arthropod.
a, antenna; al, alimentary canal ; b, brain; d, dorsal vessel ; ex, exo-
skeleton; I, limb; n, nerve chain ; s, subesophageal ganglion. (After
Schmeil.)

backbone, as mammals, birds, fishes, and reptiles. The Invertebrata
cover all that class of animals which have no backbone, or vertebra,
and this is by far the larger and more important branch of the animal
kingdom, as it includes a vastly greater number of forms and is more
numerous in its individuals than is the other.

The Invertebrata have been divided into eight branches, as follows:

Protozoa, which includes the lowest forms of animal life. These are
single-celled animals, many or most of them exceedingly minute, or even
microscopic in size, and without definite shape. In most cases repro-
duction is effected by subdivision.

Poriferata, which are animals a stage higher in their development,
and including sponges and kindred forms.

Ccelenterata, in which we find the jelly-fishes and corals.

Echinodermata, which includes the sea-eggs or sea-urchins and the
star-fishes.

Vermes, which covers the various forms of worms, leeches, and their
kindred.

Molluscoidea. This is confined to two groups of aquatic animals, the
Brachipoda and Polyzoa. The first of these was formerly placed in the

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE SYSTEM IX NATURE, i

Mollusca, and the latter in the Zoophytes, but they were found to be
more nearly related to each other than to the branches in which they
had been included and the Molluscoidea was erected for them.

M <.>llv sea embraces what is commonly known as shell-fish, while the
land forms are represented by snails and slugs.

Arthropoda. This is the branch in which we are especially inter-
ested. It is separated into two divisions: the Tracheata and Branchiata.
The Tracheata are aerial animals, which derive their oxygen from the
air by tracheaB or tubes. This division includes insects, myriapods,
centipedes, thousand-legged worms, etc., and the Arachnida (spiders,
scorpions, etc.). The Branchiata are aquatic animals, which breathe
through branchia?, or gills, or sometimes through the whole surface of
the body. There is but one class under this division, the Crustacea,
including crabs, lobsters, shrimps, etc. The common sow-bug is a land
form of this branch.

Having now reached our subject, and traced the insect group down
to its proper place, we will proceed to deal with this, class by itself.
The following diagram will present to the reader the position of the
class In*ecta in its relation with creation:

MINERAL.

j

NATURAL KINGDOM. ' VEGETABLE

( VERTEBRATA.

Protozoa.

ANIMAL. <J Poriferata.

Coelenterata.

T i Echinodermata.

I INVERTEBRATA. J. _.

I Vermes.

Arthropoda.

Molluscoidea.

Mollusca.

The branch Arthropoda may be presented in tabular form, as fol-
lows :

( TRACHEATA f Class 1. Insecta.

(Breathing by tracheae) •{' Class 2. Myriapoda.

ARTHROPODA

I Class 3. Arachnida.
BRAXCHIATA r

(Breathing by branchia?) \ Class 4. Crustacea.

Conspicuous examples of the Crustacea are lobsters, crawfish, crabs,
shrimps, etc., while the terrestrial forms are represented by the sow-
bugs, which are so common in damp locations, and which are frequently
mistaken by young entomologists for members of the Myriapoda.

Class 1, Insect a, is the only one with which we have any immediate
concern, although it is necessary to understand something of the other
air-breathing classes, which are so nearlv related to the insects, and

s

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OP HORTICULTURE.

among which we find forms beneficial or injurious to our fields and
orchards.

The Crustacea are of little interest to us, except as members of the
Arthropoda. The members of this class are chiefly aquatic, and are

grouped with the insects because the
general structure is the same.

The distinguishing feature of the
Arthropoda is that the bodies are seg-
mented; that is, they are composed of
a series of rings fitted into each other
or articulated. In some classifications
this class is designated as the Articu-
lata, and is made to include the Vermes,
or worms, which are also segmented.
The latter, however, properly belong
in a class by themselves, and the Arthro-
poda may be stated to include all
segmented or ringed animals with legs.
It is by far the most important of all the subkingdoms, and includes a
larger number of species than all the others combined. The Crustacea
fit the description above and are naturally included in the same sub-
kingdom with the insects.

The Myriapoda come more directly under our view. They are land
animals and, in some cases, are very injurious to crops. The centi-

FIG. 2. A diplopod (Spirobolas marginalus)
Natural size.

FIG. 3. A centipede (Scolopendra heros). About two thirds the maximum length.

pedes and millipedes are included in this class. Some of these are very
minute and others attain great size. One of the smaller of the centi-
pedes sometimes appears in vast numbers in damp locations and does
great damage to young plants.

The Arachnida include the whole of the spider family. They are
distinguished from insects by the fact that their members generally
have eight legs, while insects have but six. They pass through no

KNTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE CLASSIFICATION.

9

metamorphosis, the young resembling the matured members in every-
thing except size, and they have no antennae. Some of our greatest
orchard pests are found in this group, among them being the red spider

FIG. 4. A scorpion (Buth «*). Natural size.

and various mites; the ticks, which so trouble our poultry and live
stock, also belong to this class, as do the phytopti, which infest our
pear trees and grapevines. The disease
known as the "itch" among men is also
caused by a member of this family, called
the itch mite. Some of the mites, during
the larval or undeveloped stage, have
six legs, acquiring their entire comple-
ment of eight only when fully developed,
and the phytopti have but four legs at
any period of their existence. These,
however, are exceptions to the rule —
that members of this class have eight
legs. It will be observed from the above
that some of our most troublesome pests
are found in this class, but there are also
some that are beneficial. In fact, very
many of the spiders, which are generally
predaceous, perform a beneficial work in
keeping down injurious species.

FIG. 5. Six-spotted mite (Tetranychus
macuiata). a, insect, much enlarged ;
b, tarsus ; c, rostrum and palpus, still
more enlarged ; rf, tip of palpus, still
more enlarged.

CLASSIFICATION.

In order to place properly an insect or
other natural object, a system of classi-
fication is necessary. As stated before, we have three great kingdoms-
All objects have distinguishing characteristics which place them nat-
urally in one or the other of these, and we know at a glance to which

10 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

they belong. Everything that lives, breathes, walks, flies, or swims,
everything with fur, feathers, or scales, we know belongs to the
animal kingdom. But among animals there are great dissimilarities.
As stated, one great portion has an articulated backbone or vertebra?
and another, and more important class, has none; so our great animal
kingdom branches off into two forks, and these are known as subking-
doms. It is still easy to tell to which of these an animal belongs, for
every child can tell at a glance whether it has a backbone or not. So
far our task is easy, but there are great points of difference, even among
backbone and non-backbone animals. The snake, the bird, and the
horse all have backbones and, therefore, all belong to the subkingdom
Vertebrata, but they have little else in common, so the Vertebrata are
again divided into four classes — mammalia, birds, reptiles, and fishes.
Each of these again is divided and subdivided according to well-marked
peculiarities common to the whole group, until we get down to the
species and the individual. This has been explained in the preceding
pages, where we have followed the insect down to its place in the
animal kingdom, through the Invertebrata, Arthropoda, and Tracheata.
So by means of the following stages we can trace an insect down to its
natural place:

Kingdom,

Subkingdom,

Branch,

Class,

Order,

Family,

Genus,

Species,

Individual.

To illustrate, we will take our common swallow-tailed butterfly, and
work it down to its final place:

Kingdom = Animal.

Subkingdom = Invertebrata.

Branch = Arthropoda.

Class = Hexapoda.

Order = Lepidoptera.

Genus = Papilio.

Species = Rutulus.

All of the species Rutulus are alike. Where there are slight vari-
ations, these are not fixed, but found only in the individuals. With
different members of the genus Papilio, however, there are very distinct
differences, yet all have a general similarity, enough to group them in
one genus, so all the members of the genus Papilio have characters in

KXTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE CLASSIFICATION. 11

common with all other butterflies and are grouped with them in the
order Lepidoptera.

Really, the first four of these stages concern us but little. We all
know to what kingdom an animal belongs, equally to what subkingdom.
Neither the branch nor the class will bother us much, although the
knowledge of very many people stops at this and they confound many
of the other members of the Arthropoda with the class Hexapoda, and
regard spiders, centipedes, scorpions, and, in fact, all things that creep
or crawl, and are not beasts, birds, reptiles, or fishes, with insects. It
is after we have decided that the object of our interest is an insect that
the trouble begins. It is sometimes very difficult to decide to what
order it belongs. It is much to know this, and much more to know the
family. Beyond this point it is unnecessary for the average entomologist
to go. In the case of our more common insects, however, it is well to
be able to recognize them by. their generic and specific names, and with
an acquaintance with the family to which they belong, they can readily
be traced to their species.

It is sometimes necessary to enter into closer subdivisions, and, to
this end, a higher and a lower section is provided, designated by the
prefix super or sub, as simper-family and sw6-family, classing them
above or below the regular family as their characteristics seem to
indicate.

Dismissing the greater and more general divisions, we now come to
the orders, and here we are met with confusion. It would seem as
though science, or at least scientists', instead of making matters clear,
as they should, take a delight in confusing. A student no sooner gets
the system of nomenclature of a science firmly fixed in his memory, or
the classification properly versed in his mind, than some new authority
steps forward, and,- in order to keep up with the times, the student
has to unlearn all and learn over asjain.

There are several groups or orders of insects, ranging from seven to
thirty-four, according to the authority. The commonly accepted num-
ber of orders has been seven. Westwood gives us thirteen, ComstoQk
makes it nineteen, and Kellogg, the latest authority, gives us nineteen,
but makes changes in Comstock's names and arrangement. The differ-
ences are in the minor groups or species.

There are six wTell-defmed orders: Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Cole-
optera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera. Then there is the
seventh, the Neuroptera. Now it is an easy matter to assign an insect
to any one of the six when it belongs there, but there are numbers of
insects w^hich do not clearly belong to any one of these, and the order
Neuroptera has furnished a dumping-ground for most of them. When
the entomologist found an insect which he could not clearly locate, he
called it a Neuropteron, and let it go at that. This will answer as well,

12 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

for the purpose of our readers, probably, as any, as the more minute
divisions, while undoubtedly correct, are more confusing and less suit-
able for the non-professional. So we will take the seven orders, as
follows:

Orthoptera: The straight- winged; as grasshoppers, crickets,
cockroaches, etc.

Hemiptera: The half-winged; as plant bugs, aphids, scale bugs, etc.

Cpleoptera: The sheath-winged; as beetles of all kinds.

Diptera: The two- winged; as two- winged flies of all kinds.

Hymenoptera: The membrane-winged; as bees, wasps, ants, etc.

Lepidoptera: The scale- winged; as butterflies and moths.

Neuroptera: The nerve-winged. This order includes all the
rest; as dragon-flies, lace-winged flies, etc.

The more minute division, according to Comstock, includes the fol-
lowing, which have principally been removed from the last-named
order and erected into separate orders:

Thysanura: The bristle-tails, spring-tails, fish-moths, etc.
Ephemerida: Mayflies.
Odonata: Dragon-flies.
Plecoptera: Stone-flies.
Isopoda: Termites or white ants.
Corrodentia: Book lice.
J Malophaga: Bird lice.
Dermaptera: Earwigs.
Physopoda: Thrips.
Mecaptera: Scorpion-flies.
Trichoptera: Caddice-flies.
Syphonaptera: Fleas.

These' minor orders are not of much interest to the average man,
so it will not be out of place to consider them in their connection with
the other orders which contain the great bulk of insects important to
us, from either their beneficial or their destructive standpoint.

We have now some idea of the manner in which insects are divided
into various classes, and it is necessary that we should learn the dis-
tinguishing features of them, in order that we may know to which of
the various orders and families they belong. This we shall endeavor
to make plain; but first it is -necessary to know what an insect is, and
something of the peculiarities which separate it from the other branches
of the animal world. After considering this, we shall take up the
principal orders and point out wherein they differ one from the other.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — STRUCTURE OF INSECTS. 13

THE STRUCTURE OF INSECTS.

The external structure of insects is termed the exo-skeleton. In the
Vertebrata, the bony framework of the body is internal and supports
the muscular and nervous systems, which are attached to the outside
of the osseous or bony system. With the insects, the reverse is the
case. Here the skeleton is a hard, horny crust, composed largely of a
substance called chitine, and it is situated on the outer surface, all the
muscles and other organs of the body being attached to the inside,
instead of the outside, of the skeleton. It is really a many-jointed
tube, varying in size in different species, and composed of thirteen
rings, most of them so articulated as to be movable at the will of the
insect. Of these, the first composes the head, and is the most distinct.
Three are fused together in the. thorax, and, in most species, appear as
one, there being no well-defined mark between the segments, which are
immovably joined to each other. In the last section of the body the
rings are loosely articulated and freely movable, being joined together
with a yielding membrane, allowing the insect the widest freedom of
movement. It must not be supposed, however, that these rings, or seg-
ments, are composed of one solid, unyielding piece, and that their only
motion is at the joints. Each ring is composed of many plates, more
or less movable, to accommodate the needs of the insect and to allow
the movement of its various organs of locomotion, flight, etc. This
outer integument, or case, varies very greatly in density in different
insects; in some it is very thin, and easily crushed, while in others it is
excessively hard. In some of the beetles, for instance, the wing covers
are so hard that it is difficult to force a pin through them.

An insect is divided into three sections: the head, the thorax, and the
abdomen. The upper portion, or back, is known as the dorsal surface,
or dorsum; the under side is the ventral surface, or venter; while the
sides are designated as the lateral surface, or pleurites. The upper and
under surfaces of the thorax are sometimes designated respectively as
the notum and sternum.

There are very many minor subdivisions into which the different
sections of the body are separated, but it is not necessary in this
treatise to name or enumerate them, nor for the young entomologist to
learn them. If our readers desire to go deeper into the subject, the
scientific text-books will give them an account of the more minute sub-
divisions and their various uses. It is enough for us to get a general
idea of our subject, and we shall therefore have to proceed at once to
investigate the three principal divisions, their attachments and various
organs.

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

THE HEAD.

In insects, as in the higher animals, the head includes most of the
sensory organs — the eyes, the antennae, and the mouth parts, contain-
ing the organs of taste, and, in some species at least, the organs of smell
also. The different portions of the head are: The epicranium, which is

mp

FIG. 6. Skull of a grasshopper (Melanoplus differentiates), a, antenna ;
c, clypeus ; e, compound eye ; /, front ; g , gena ; I, labrum ; lp, labial
palpus; mp, maxillary palpus ; o, ocelli ; oc, occiput; pg, post-gena;
v, vertex.

the upper or dorsal portion of the skull; the face, or front or frons
above which is the vertex or forehead. The clypeus is in the lower por-
tion of the face, and is the part to which the upper lip or labrum is
attached. The cheeks are known as gense, and in some species these

fit!! m

/ X

FIG. 7. Ocelli and compound eyes oi a fly (Phormia regina). A, male; B, female.

are double, and we have post-gense. On the under side of the head is
the gula, to which the lower lip or labium is attached. The external
top of the head, in contact with the prothorax, is the occiput. The
principal organs of the head are the eyes, the mouth, and the antennas.

Eyes. — In the perfect insect there is a pair of compound eyes.
These are usually very prominent and highly faceted. In some insects?

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE STRUCTURE OF INSECTS.

15

as the dragon-fly, the house-fly, and others, they form the greater part
of the head. The eye of an insect is immovable, fast in its socket. It
is hemispherical or. curvilinear in form, and covered with facets or flat
surfaces. They are called compound eyes, and are of many colors — blue,
black, emerald green, or deep golden, as in the lace-winged fly. Really,

FIG. 8. Agglomerate eyes of a
male coccid, Leachia fusci-
penni.* (After Signoret.)

FIG. 9. Facets of a com
pound eye of
plns. Highly magnified.

each facet is a separate eye, hexagonal in

shape, with a cornea, lens, pigment-coating, •' llll

and nervous filament. The facets face in w/%

every direction and enable the insect to see FIG. 10. Portion of compound eye

-j i • I •j.'u j.i_ '£ XL of fly (Caliiphora vomitoria), radi-

on all sides with greater ease than if they ai section e cornea- i iris pig-
were single lensed and movable. In SOme ment; », nerve fibers; nc, nerve

cases these facets are very numerous, the eye «'£ ygX£SJ" '' tr

of a small beetle, the Mordella, having over

25,000, the common swallow-tailed butterfly, the Papilio, having 17,000,

the dragon-fly 12,000, the house-fly 4,000, while the eyes of some ants

are limited to 50. Besides these compound eyes, most insects have two

or three simple eyes,
known as ocelli or
stemmata. These
are usually arranged
in triangular form
(thus .*.), and are
round and convex
in shape. These ex-
tra eyes are not pres-
ent in all insects,
nor are their exact
functions known.

They are possessed of great refractive power and are supposed to be of

use in the examination of near-by objects.

Mouth. — The mouth is a very complicated piece of mechanism,
and is furnished with various organs, enabling the insect to take its
nourishment as its habits require. There are two general classes of

FIG. 11. Ocelli and compound eyes of the honey-bee (Api
mellifera). A, queen; B, drone. (After Cheshire.)

.16

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

FIG. 12. Mouth parts of a cockroach (/*<•/* unjttcra pennsylvanica). A, labruin :
B, mandible; C, hypopharynx; D, maxilla; E, labium; c, cardo; g (of maxilla),
galea; g (of labium), glossa; I, lacinia; Ip, labial palpus; m, mentum; mp, max-
illary palpus; p, paraglossa ; pf, palpifer; pg, palpiger; s, stipes; sm, submen-
tum. B, D, and E are in ventral aspect.

insects, distinguished from each other by their mouth parts, the one
having biting or gnawing organs, and known as mandibulate insects.

Beetles, grasshoppers, locusts, etc., belong to
this class. In the other, the mouth parts are
fitted for sucking only, and the insects acquire
their nourishment by inserting their beaks
into plants or animals and absorbing the
juices by suction. These are known as haus-
tellate insects, and in this class we find many
of the greatest pests of the farmer and fruit-
grower, among them the plant lice, or aphids,
scale bugs, etc. In their perfect state, moths
and butterflies derive their nourishment by
suction, sipping the nectar from flowers with
the long, thread-like tube which forms the
mouth. Really, the haustellate mouth is a
form of the mandibulate, modified to suit the
habits of its possessor.

In the biting insects (Mandibulates) the
mouth is composed of six different parts.
First, the mandibles, a pair of horny curved jaws, often serrated, or
supplied with sharp, saw-like teeth. Secondly, a second pair of jaws
located beneath the mandibles, and generally of four parts and arranged

FIG. 13. Labium of Harpalus
caliginosus, ventral aspect.
g, united glossse, termed the
glossa; m, mentum ; p, palpus ;
pg, palpiger ; pr, paraglossa ;
sm, submentum. The median
portion of the labium beyond
the mentum is termed the
ligula.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — STRUCTURE OF INSECTS.

17

for masticating the food torn off by the mandibles. These organs are
known as the maxillae. To these are usually attached one or two pairs
of jointed organs, called palpi, or feelers. One pair of these is attached
to the lower jaw or maxilla, and are termed the maxillary palpi, and
the others are attached to the lower lip, and are designated the labial
palpi. Their office seems to be somewhat like that of the tongue in

E BCD

FIG. 14. Various forms of mandibles. A, Melanoplus ; B, Cicindela; C, Apis;
D, Onthophagns; E, Chrysopa; F-I, soldier termites. (After Hagen.)

the higher animals. Third, an upper lip, or labrum, attached to the
lower portion of the head; and, fourth, the lower lip, or labium, with
its attached palpi. The labium is usually composed of two or more
parts, the mentum or chin, which is a broad, horny plate, varying in
size in different species, and the ligula, or tongue, which lies on its
inner surface. This is usually a membranous or fleshy organ, some-
times supported by a horny plate when it
projects beyond the mentum.

Antennas. — The antennae are organs found
in all insects, and are situated near the com-
pound eyes and usually between them. These
organs vary greatly in different insects and
frequently even in the two sexes of one species.
In some cases they are mere knobs, as in the
ladybirds; in others they are much longer
than the entire insect. They are sometimes
feathered; sometimes branched, knobbed, or
composed of a series of spherical joints joined
together like a string of beads. In some cases
they connect by a number of plates, and,
throughout the whole class, they vary in
structure almost as much as the species them-
selves differ one from the other. What the
object of these organs is, has not been defin-
itely determined. They are commonly called feelers, and certainly
appear to possess a tactile sense. They may, in some cases, be organs of
hearing, and sometimes seem to have auditory qualities. Experiments

2-E

FIG. 15. Head of butterfly
(Vanessa), p, labial palpus;
a, antennae ; I, proboscis.

18

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

have shown that in some] cases they are organs of smell. In fact,
they may be any or all of^rthese, or, as has been suggested, they may
be the organs of a sense in insects of which we have no knowledge.
Practically, there is but one sense, that of feeling. What we know as
sight, hearing, taste, and smell are but different forms of feeling, and
are caused by vibrations which convey to our special organs certain

S

K

FIG. 16. Various rnis of antennae. A, filiform, Euscltistus; B, setaceous, Platemis;
C, moniliform, Catogenus; D, geniculate, Bombus; f, flagellum; p, pedicel; s, scape;
E, irregular, Phormia; a, arista; F, setaceous, Galerita; G, clavate, Anosia; H, pecti-
nate, male, Ptilodactyla; I, lamellate, Lachnosterna: J, capitate, Megalodacne; .
K, irregular, Dinentus.

sensations, which we^designate by different names, but which depend
for their reception upon the sensory nerves, and we therefore feel sound,
color, flavor, and odors. The antennae of insects are especially adapted
to receive and convey the various forms of vibration, and it is not im-
probable that they may serve the purposes for which several organs are
required in the higher forms of life. Let this be as it may, it is certain
that the antennae of insects are among the most important of their
organs. They may be used also for the conveyance of information, as
we know that ants and other insects on meeting will communicate to
each other by means of their antennae, and we know also that many
insects, especially social insects, have the means of conveying informa-
tion to each other.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — STRUCTURE OF INSECTS.

19

It is necessary that some knowledge should be had of the different
forms of antennae, as these are all classified, and are sometimes used in
the description of families. In the beetles, for instance, we have the
Clavicornia, club horns; Serricornia, saw horns; Lamellicornia,thin plate
horns, etc. So in order to

describe the different -^^ "^ an

forms of antennae, they
have been classified as
follows (see Fig. 16):

Setaceous: Bristle-like.

Filiform: Thread-like.

Moniliform: Necklace-
like.

Serrate: Saw-like.

Pectinate: Comb-like.

Clavate: Club-shaped.

Capitate: Ending in a
head or knob.

Lamellate: Plates.

Geniculate: Jointed or
kneed.

Besides these general
terms others are used in
describing the antennae;
as, plumose, or feathered;
and "irregular," which
includes many forms not
included in the above list.

THE THORAX AND ITS
APPENDAGES.

The foregoing will give FIG. IT. Ventral aspect of a carabid beetle (Galeriia Janus).

the Student a general idea I, prosternum ; 2,proepisternum; 3, proepimeron ; 4, coxal

. , , , , . . cavity: 5, inflexed side of pronotum; 6, mesosternum ;

me head and its various 7, mesoepisternum; 8, mesoepimeron ; 9, mesasternum ;

-Organs, the eyes the 10' antecoxal Piece ; n> metaepisternum; 12, metaepime-

iU J .L-U ron ' 13> inflexed side of elytron ; a, sternum of an abdomi-

niOUtri, and the antennae, nal segment; an, antenna; c, coxa; /, femur; lp, labial

and we will nOW proceed PalPus' »M*. mandible; mp, maxillary palpus; t, tro-

. , chanter; tb, tibia: ts, tarsus.

to consider the next im-
portant division of the body, the thorax. This is composed of three
segments immediately back of the head. These segments are named
pro-, meso- and metathorax. The first, or the one connecting with the
head, being the prothorax, the middle section the mesothorax, and the
last, the one connecting with the abdomen, being the metathorax.
These segments appear to be solid rings, but really they are composed

"73

20

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

of several hexagonal plates, capable of motion and to which the various
appendages are articulated. Each of these segments bears one pair of
legs, but only the meso- and metathorax bear wings, and either or both
pairs of wings may be wanting; as in the flies there is but one pair,
and in many insects none.

Legs. — In most adult insects and many larvae, each of the three
thoracic segments bears one pair of legs, composed of several parts.
That joint immediately attached to the body is known
as the coxa, the next as the trochanter, femur, tibia, and
tarsus, the latter corresponding to the foot in the higher

C Sc, Sc2Ri

tb

M4

IstA

Cu2

3dA 2dA

FIG. 19. Hypothetical type of venation. A, anal vein; C, costa; Cu,
cubitus; M, media; R, radius; Sc, subcosta. (After Comstock and
Needham.)

animals. The legs are modified in many ways to meet
the requirements of the insect, and are adapted to run-
ning, leaping, swimming, burrowing, or grasping their

.cl

FIG. 18. Leg of a
beetle (Caloso-
ma calidurn). c,
coxa; cl, claws;
/, femur ;s, spur;
£M5, tarsal seg-
ments; tb, tibia;
tr, trochanter.

ist A

FIG. 20. Wing of a fly (Rhyphus). A, anal vein ; C, costa ; Cu, cubitus ;
M, media; R, radius; Sc, subcosta. (After Comstock and Needham.)

prey, according to the habits of the species. The tarsus is composed
of several parts or segments, usually five, the last one generally being
provided With one or two claws.

Wings. — There are usually two pairs of wings, and these are borne
on the last two segments of the thorax — the mesothorax and the meta-
thorax. As above stated, either one or both pairs may be absent, but
when so they are usually represented by rudimentary pads or other
organs. In the order Diptera, or two-winged flies, a pair of small
hooked or knobbed organs, known as halteres, or poisers, represent

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— STRUCTURE OF INSECTS.

21

R3

R4

2dA

them. In earwigs and beetles the first pair of wings are represented by
a hard, horny wing covering, known as the elytra. The upper wings
are designated as superiors, anteriors or primaries, and the hinder wings
as posteriors or secondaries.
Commonly they are known as
fore and hind wings, which is
good enough for practical use.
The wings of an insect may
be compared to a boy's kite,
in which a light membrane
is tightly stretched over a
tough framework. In the

insect we find a Strong frame- FIG. 21. Wings of a butterfly U/iosm). A, anal vein;
work Of horny tubes, termed C.costa; Cu.cubitus; M, media; R, radius. Sc.sub-
J costa. (After Comstock and Needham.)

veins or nerves, with a tough,

membranous film on either side. The arrangement of these veins is
called the venation or neuration, and is exceedingly variable, so much
so that expert entomologists can tell to what order or family, and
often to what species, an insect belongs by the arrangement of its

wing veins. The
spaces between
the veins are
termed cells.
With all this
variation, how-
ever, in all wings
there are certain
well - marked
veins, common
to all, and these
have all been
named and num-
bered. The prin-
cipal veins are
known as the
costa, subcosta,
radius, cubitus,
media, and anal.
These are found
in some form
in all wings.

Insect wings vary not only in form, but also greatly in color and
texture, and among them, especially in the butterflies, moths, and
beetles, we find the most exquisite expression of color, form, and
arrangement in nature.

FIG. 22. Ovipositor of Locimtd. A. lateral aspect; B, ventral aspect:
C, transverse section; c. cerci; d, dorsal valve; i, inner valve:
v, ventral valve. The numbers refer to abdominal segments.
(After Kolbe and Dewitz.)

22

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

THE ABDOMEN.

This is the third and last portion of the
body, and is generally composed of nine seg-
ments. The number, however, varies greatly,
and in the cuckoo-flies there are but three or
four to be seen. The principal organs of the
abdomen are those of respiration, digestion r
and reproduction. The latter varies greatly
in different species, especially in the female,
in some cases being elongated into a long tube,
the ovipositor; in some being supplemented
with a sting; in others being supplied with
sawing or piercing organs; all of which serve
for the proper deposition of the egg in its
future food supply, which instinct forces the
mother insect to select.

As stated above, the abdomen is composed
of nine segments, but these are not always
distinct. It is usually considered as com-
posed of two parts, the abdomen and post-
abdomen, the latter being composed of the
three terminal segments. In the abdomen
proper, we never find articulated appendages, with perhaps the single
exception of a small beetle, the Spiractha eurymedusa. On the post-

<*,

FIG. 23. Reproductive system
of queen honey-bee, a, acces-
sory sac of vagina; b, bulb of
stinging apparatus; c, colle-
terial, or cement, gland; o,
ovary; od, oviduct; p, poison
glands; pr, poison reservoir;
r, receptaculum seminis; re,
rectum; v, vagina. (After
Leuckart.)

FIG. 24. Diagrammatic cross-section of the thorax of an insect, a, alimentary
canal; d, dorsal vessel; g, ganglion; s, spiracle; w, wing; 1, dorsal tracheal
branch; 2, visceral branch; 3, ventral branch.

abdominal segments, such appendages are frequently found; as the
honey tubes of the aphids, the forceps of the earwigs, and the thick
bristles of the cockroaches.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— STRUCTURE OF INSECTS.

23

THE INTERNAL ORGANS.

Having now given a short account of the external organs of insects,
we will glance at their internal organs, which comprise a digestive, cir-
culatory, respiratory, and nervous system.

gc o

FIG. 25. Alimentary tract of a grasshopper (Melanoplus differential!*), c, colon ;
cr, crop; gc, gc, gastric caeca ; i, ileum; m, mid intestine, or stomach; mt, Mal-
pighian, or kidney, tubes; o, esophagus; p, pharynx; r, rectum ; .«, salivary
gland of left side.

The digest ire organs consist, as in the higher animals, of a contin-
uous tube, somewhat longer than the body, varying in form with differ-
ent insects, from a simple tube in
the Thysanura, to a complicated
system in the higher orders. It
is usually supplied with a crop,
gizzard, stomach, and necessary
assimilative organs. The diges-
tive tube is divided into three
parts : the large intestine, the
small intestine, and the rectum.

FIG. 26. Digestive system of a beetle (Carabus).
a, anal gland ; c (of fore gut), crop ; c (of hind
gut), colon, merging into rectum; d, evacu-
ating duct of anal gland; g, gastric caeca:
i, ileum; m, mid intestine; mt, Malpighian
tubes ; o, esophagus ; p, proventriculus ; r, res-
ervoir. (After Kolbe.)

FIG. 27. Diagram to indicate the course
of blood in the nymph of a dragon-fly
(Epitheca). a, aorta; h, heart; the ar-
rows show direction taken by currents
of blood. (After Kolbe.)

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The circulation of insects is as yet im-
perfectly understood. The blood is cold,
and, except for a slight yellowish tint, is
colorless. There is no system of closed
blood vessels, as in the higher animals,
but the blood is forced through the body
cavities by an organ which represents
the heart. This organ is a delicate tube,
located in the upper surface of the body,
and is usually called the dorsal vessel.
This represents the heart, and ordinarily
consists of eight sections, or sacs, which
open into each other and which, by con-
tracting, drive the blood forward to the
region of the head, where it escapes into
the body cavity. No system of arteries
or veins has been traced. In its course
through the body, the blood becomes
oxygenated by contact with the respir-
atory organs, which penetrate into all
parts of the body. (See Fig. 27.)

The respiratory system consists of a
vast number of tubes or trachea^, which
have their openings to the outer air
along the sides of the insect. These air
tubes are known as spiracles or stigmata.
They are usually placed on each side
of every segment, excepting the head,
and communicate with a main tracheal
trunk which extends along the sides of the body. One of these trunks
is situated on each side and from these the trachea branch off in all

FIG. 28. Tracheal system of an insect,
a, antenna; 6, brain; I, leg; n, nerve
cord ; p, palpus ; s, spiracle ; st, spiracu-
lar, or stigmatal, branch ; t, main tra-
cheal trunk; v, ventral branch ; rs, vis-
ceral branch. (After Kolbe.)

Trachea opened. Trachea closed.

FIG." 29. Apparatus for closing the spiracular trachea in a beetle (////-
CCWMS). b, bow; bd, band; c, external cuticula; /, lever; m, muscle;
s, spiracle; t, trachea. (After Judeich and Nitsche).

directions until the whole body is permeated with these delicate air
tubes and thoroughly aerated.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— STRUCTURE OF INSECTS.

/.

25

b-.

The nervous system of insects consists of two
thread-like cords running the length of the
body, connecting which
are nerve centers, or gang-
lia. From these centers,
or ganglia, nerve threads
branch and reach all parts
of the body, governing the
sense and motion of the
insect. In the lower forms
of life the brain is a mere
nerve thread running
through the body. As we
advance from the lower
to the higher, we discover
small swellings or lumps
along this thread. These
are the ganglia, and each
one forms a separate little
brain, all connected with
the main thread. Still
further, we find, branch-
ing off from these ganglia,
other threads, and we have
a nervous system. In the
higher animals, the bulb
in the head is much the
larger and dominates all
the rest, and we know it
as the brain, and the rest

as the nervous system. In the higher animals
there are two sets of nerves, one known as the

matically represented, a, an-
tennal nerve: 6, brain, /,
frontal ganglion ; /, I, paired
lateral ganglia; ?H, nerves to
upper mouth parts; o, optic
nerve; r, recurrent nerve;
«, nerve to salivary glands;
st, stomachic ganglion. (After
Kolbe.)

FIG. 30. Central nervous
system of a thysanuran
(Machili*). The thoracic
and abdominal ganglia
are numbered in succes-
sion, a, antennal nerve ;
6, brain; e, compound
eye; I, labial nerve; m,
mandibular nerve; mx,
maxillary nejve;o, esoph-
agus; ol, optic lobe; ?,
subesophageal ganglion ;
sy, sympathetic nerve.'
(After Oudemans.)

A

FIG. 32. Successive stages in the concentration of the central
nervous system of Diptera. A, Chironomus: B, Empis;
C, Tabanus : D, Sarcophaga. (After Brandt.)

26

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

sensory nerves, or those with which we feel and which convey impres-
sions to the brain, and the motor nerves, or those which receive im-
pressions from the brain. The one set enables us to feel, the other to
act. With the lower insects the brain and nervous system are very
simple, but in the higher orders it becomes more complicated, and is
evidence of the possession of much intelligent force.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF INSECTS.

One of the most peculiar and wonderful of natural phenomena is the
transformation or metamorphosis of insects — a process which, -were it
not so common and going on under our observation every day, would
be unbelievable. If we did not know of it, and some traveler should tell
us that in a distant country he had seen animals that in one stage of
their existence were repulsive worms, and then became mummified,

D V E ~ V

FIG. 38. Eggs of various insects. A, butterfly, Polygonia interrogationis; B, house-fly,
Musca domestica; C, chalcid, Bruchophagus funebHs; D, butterfly, Papilio troilus;
E, midge, Cecidomyia trifotii: F, hemipteron, Triphleps insidiosus; G, hemipteron,
Podisus spinosus; H, fly, Drosophila ampelophila. Greatly magnified.

losing all semblance to themselves, being practically dead for some
time, and then broke forth from their mummy cases into the most
beautiful and brilliant creatures imaginable, far exceeding any other
animal in their beauty, we should regard him as drawing upon a very
vivid imagination and relating things that were utterly impossible.
Yet it is all true, and it is so common that it all passes under our eyes
without a thought on our part of the wonder of it.

The insect passes through four stages: the egg, the larva, the pupa,
and the imago. The egg is the germ, the beginning, the contained
potentiality, which, under proper conditions, brings forth the new
being. The second stage, the larva, is the growing period. In this the
insect eats, increases in size, sheds its skin, or molts, several times,
until it has stored up sufficient tissue for the final stage. But there is
an intermediate stage, one of remarkable change, in which the insect
ceases to be a mere eating, growing thing, and is transformed into its
perfect shape. This is the pupal form. At last the final change takes
place, and we have the new being in all its perfection.

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE — TRANSFORMATION OF INSECTS. 2<

It may be set down as an axiom that all the beauties of the animal
and vegetable kingdoms are for the purpose of sexual attraction, the
whole object of them being the continuation of the species. Plants
are plain and uninteresting until they attain their growth and put
forth their blossoms, and these blossoms, with their gorgeous hues and
beautiful forms, are for the sole purpose of attracting the insects, the
little go-betweens in the love-making of the plants, which carry the
fructifying pollen from one to the other and make possible a future
crop of plants, flowers, and seeds, and so it goes on forever.

It is so in the metamorphoses of insects. At the last it has ceased
to be a gourmand. In many cases, its voracious appetite ceased with
its larval life and it lives by sipping the nectar of the plants. It has
now acquired its full sexual strength, its full sexual beauty, and its

FIG. 34. Caterpillar of Phlegethontius scxta. Natural size.

great object in life now is to be attractive to the other sex. For this
purpose the bright colors are developed in some, peculiar markings in
others — strange shapes, rapid flight, strength, or other characteristics,
having for their one object the continuance of the species. This accom-
plished, their life cycle has closed and they pass, like the rest of us,
from this stage forever.

Metamorphoses are not similar in all the orders. In some of the
orders we have what is known as "direct/7 or incomplete, metamor-
phosis; in this case there is no passive stage, and in many cases the
change from the larval to the perfect form is hardly noticeable. In
others, the larvae, or nymphs, as they are called, molt several times,
and, at the last, where they are winged at all, the wings develop and
the insect becomes perfect, or enters upon the imago stage. Among
insects of this class we have the bugs, or Hemiptera, the grasshoppers,
crickets, cockroaches, and other members of the order Orthoptera.
These insects passing through the direct metamorphosis are classed
together under the name of Holometabola.

28

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OP HORTICULTURE.

The other group, which have an "indirect" or complete metamor-
phosis, are grouped together as Heterametabola. In these, the insects
pass through the regular stages: the egg, the growing larva, the pupa,
and the perfect insect or imago.

FIG. 3f>. Six successive instars of tin- squash-bug (Anasa trixti*).

In the pupal stage of most insects having an indirect or complete
metamorphosis, there is a strong approach to suspended animation, for
while the pupa will sometimes squirm, when touched, it usually
remains in perfect rest until the great change has been accomplished.

B

FIG. 36. Papilio troilus. A, larva ; B, larva suspended for pupation ;
C, chrysalis. Natural size.

In those insects which have a direct metamorphosis, the insect in its
transition stage is spoken of as a nymph.

The changing insect in other cases is known as a pupa, although in
the case of butterflies it is often referred to as a chrysalis.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— ORDERS OF INSECTS. 29

The change is one of the most wonderful operations in nature. It is
as if the original larva had been entirely destroyed and an animaFof
an entirely new species had appeared. With its pupa integument, it
has lost all the organs characteristic of the larval stage, and an entire
new set have been provided. It now possesses six true legs, wings suited
for rapid flight, compound eyes, antennae, a more perfect nervous sys-
tem, while, in the case of many insects, the sharp, gnawing jaws of the
larva, which were adapted to cutting leaves or boring into wood, have
been replaced with long, delicate tubes suited to absorbing the nectar
of flowers. The very instincts of the insect are changed, and the life
habits of the larva and the imago are as different as their outward
appearance.

THE ORDERS OF INSECTS.

We have now given an outline of the structure and peculiarities of
insects as a whole, and have reached a point where we can segregate
them into groups or orders, which is necessary for closer study. As
stated before, there are seven principal orders of insects — Orthoptera,
Hemiptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepi-
doptera. There are, as we said, several minor orders, but the above
classification will answer our purpose and we will consider them in the
order named.

Order ORTHOPTERA.

Orthoptera means straight-winged, and alludes to the fact that the
hinder wings, when folded, lie perfectly straight down the back of the
insect without any folds. The anterior wings are of little, if any, serv-
ice in flight, serving principally as a covering for the large posterior
wings, which, when spread, are semicircular in shape, and open and
close like a fan. They are of large size, and the principal veins radiate,
like the sticks of a fan, from the center. Not all members of this order
are winged, however, many of them being apterous, or wingless.

The head is usually large and very prominent, and the antennae
either short, stout, and few-pointed, as in the locust, or very long and
slender, as in the katydid. The head bears one pair of large compound
eyes and usually two or three ocelli or simple eyes, and the mouth parts
are suited for gnawing or biting.

The Orthoptera have a direct or incomplete metamorphosis. The
young, when hatched, very much resemble the mature insect, and in
the first or larval stage are wingless. They pass through several molts

30 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

when the wingpads appear, and they are now known as nymphs. At
the last molt the wings are fully developed, and the insect is perfect.

They are voracious in all their stages, and while we find a beneficial
member of the order in the mantis, we also find in it many of our most
destructive insects, the grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, cockroaches, etc.
Our readers are fully alive to the devastation wrought by one of the
families of this order — the locusts — as California, and the whole Pacific
Coast, frequently suffer severely from their depredations. With, per-
haps, the exception of the Cicada, or seventeen-year locust, which, by
the way, is not a locust, but a "bug," as explained elsewhere, we find in
this order the only " singing" insects, and the song of the cricket on
the hearth and the katydid in the trees has given most people a kindly
feeling for these destructive insects, not felt toward others.

The Orthoptera are classed in six families, which Comstock describes
as follows:

The Running Orthoptera. — The body is oval when seen from above and is very flat;

the three pairs of legs are similar in form ; the insects run rapidly Blattidx

The Grasping Orthoptera. — The prothorax is very long and slender ; the first pair

of legs are very different from the others, and are fitted for grasping Mantidx

The Walking Orthoptera. — The body is very long and slender; the three pairs of legs
are similar in form, and are also very long and slender; the insects walk

slowly -. Phasmidx

The Jumping Orthoptera. — The hind legs are very much stouter or very much
longer., or both stouter and longer, than the middle pair, being fitted for
jumping. This group includes three families:

The Short-Horned Grasshoppers, or Locusts. — The antennae are shorter than
the body. The ovipositor of the female is short and composed of four

separate plates. The tarsi are three-jointed.. Acrididx

The Long-Horned Grasshoppers. — The antennae are very slender and longer
than the body. (This is also true of the crickets.) The ovipositor is

sword-shaped. The tarsi are four-jointed Locustidx

The Crickets. — The antennae, like those of the long-horned grasshoppers,
are very slender and longer than the body, except in the mole-crickets.
The ovipositor is spear-shaped when exerted. The tarsi are three-
jointed. Gryllidx

These families are sometimes grouped in two large sections: the Salta-
toria, or the leapers, in which the hind legs are much lengthened and
formed for jumping, as the crickets, grasshoppers, and locusts, and the
Cursoria, in which the legs are formed for running, as the cockroaches,
etc. The latter group includes the first mentioned three families, and
the first group the others.

Section CURSORIA.

Family Blattidse. At the head of the section Cursoria is placed the
Blattidae, or roaches. While few of them are known to California,
there are a thousand or more species in the world. Many of these live
in the fields and find shelter under sticks and stones. Some are wing-
less, and all are nocturnal and very fond of heat and moisture. It is on

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — ORTHOPTERA. 31

this account that they swarm in kitchens, around sinks, in pantries,
the holds of ships and steamers, and similar locations.

The female lays her eggs in a purse-like pouch, in a double row, which
she carries with her for some time before she deposits it. This mass
resembles a small, brown bean in shape. In some cases it is asserted
that the female remains with and cares for her young. The}' breed in
enormous quantities, and once introduced into a house will soon over-
run it, but on account of their nocturnal habits and timorous disposi-
tion, they may be present in quantities, yet remain unsuspected.
Going suddenly into the kitchen with a light will sometimes show them
by hundreds scampering off in all directions for a place of retreat.

Like most of our pests, the worst of the cockroaches is an introduced
species. They are omnivorous in diet and do much damage to books
and clothing, besides overrunning and devouring food in the pantry
and cupboards.

Insect powder freely dusted over books and similar articles will drive
them away, while powdered borax mixed with sugar, of which they are
very fond, will kill them in large numbers.

Family Mantidse (The Mantis). This family includes about twenty
species in our country, and is the one beneficial family of the order.
From its peculiar habit of holding its head erect, its fore legs raised, and
remaining motionless in this position for some time, the most con-
spicuous member of the family has been named " The Praying Mantis."
If a pun were permissible, it might be called " The Preying Mantis," for
its patience, devout attitude, and generally saintly appearance are
designed to throw other insects off their guard, which, when they come
within reach of the waiting, watchful mantis, are quickly grasped
between the fore legs, their juices sucked from their bodies, which are
then thrown aside, while the mantis again assumes its devotional
attitude and awaits a fresh victim.

All the species of Mantidse are carnivorous, but in securing their
prey they depend altogether upon their resemblance to twigs, leaves,
etc.. and wait for their victims to come within their reach, when* they
are quickly seized and devoured. The eggs are laid in masses, inclosed
in a soft silk-like substance, through which the young gnaw their
way as soon as hatched. These insects are cannibals, for if there is no
other food within easy reach the young will devour each other.

Family Phasmidse (Walking-sticks). This is a peculiar family, and
comprises within it some of the largest and most monstrous appearing
creatures of the insect world. They are strangely formed and depend
for their protection and their food upon their mimicry. Some of them
strongly resemble green twigs, others dry twigs, some the leaves of trees,
and so strong is the likeness that it is almost impossible to detect them

i

32 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

upon the tree where they are at rest. These insects are most numerous
in the tropics, where they sometimes attain a length of eight or ten
inches. All are vegetable feeders, and would become injurious were
they introduced and acclimated, but, being tropical, there is little
danger from this source.

Some members of the family are found in the Eastern states, through
the Mississippi Valley and in the South, but none have ever been
reported from California.

Section SALTATORIA.

Family Aerididse (The Locusts). This is a family in which we are
especially interested, as it includes the most destructive foes of the
farmers of the West. The members of this family are distinguished
from others of the order in having the antennae — composed of from six
to twenty-four joints — shorter than the body. It is from this fact that
they are sometimes called the short-horned grasshoppers.

The females lay their eggs, usually underground, but sometimes in
other locations, in an oval, bean-like mass. The number of eggs in
each mass varies from twenty or thirty to double that number. The
holes for the reception of the eggs are made by means of two pairs of
horny valves at the tip of the abdomen of the female. These open and
shut rapidly and are well adapted to execute this function. The female,
by pressing the tip of her abdomen forcibly against the soil, rapidly
opens and shuts these hard-pointed valves and soon pushes them into
the ground, thus drilling a hole. In a short time the entire and greatly
extended abdomen is inserted in the little curved and more or less
oblique cavity. The legs are hoisted above the back during the opera-
tion of drilling the hole, which requires more or less time, depending
entirely upon the character of the soil. As soon as the hole is finished,
it is filled with frothy and mucous material.

Professor Riley describes the method of egg-laying as follows: " By
repeatedly extracting and studying specimens in every stage of ovipo-
sition, we have been able to ascertain the exact method by which the
egg mass is formed. If we could manage to watch a female from the
time the bottom of her hole is moistened by the sebific fluid, we should
see the valves all brought together, when an egg would pass down the
oviduct along the ventral side, and, guided by a little finger-like style,
pass in between the horny valves, and issue at their tips amid the
mucous fluid already spoken of. Then follows a period of convulsions,
during which more mucous material is elaborated, until the whole end
of the body is bathed in it, when another egg passes down and is
placed in position. These alternate processes continue until the full
complement of eggs are in place, the number ranging from twenty to
thirty-five, but averaging about twenty-eight. The mucous matter

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — ORTHOPTER A.

33

binds all the eggs in a mass, and when the last is laid, the mother
•devotes some time to filling up the somewhat narrower neck of the
burrow with a compact and cellular mass of the same material, which,
.although light and easily penetrated, is more or less impervious to
water, and forms a very excellent protection. When fresh, the mass is
soft and moist, but it soon acquires a firm consistency."

The Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus) is the most dreaded
of any of our American species. This species finds an ideal breeding
place in the high plateaus of the Rocky Mountains, where tens of
thousands of square miles have been untouched by the plow for all the
ages. Here they breed undisturbed, and by countless millions, and
those who have never seen a flight of these insects can form no idea of
their numbers — or
perhaps, of their
quantity, for num-
bers is an inadequate
term. In their flight,
they will sometimes
swoop down upon a
fertile section and
in a short time dev-
astate hundreds of
square miles. Kan-
sas has suffered se-
verely from their
depredations, until
Kansas and locusts
have become con-
nected in the mind.
Yet these insects are
not indigenous to

Kansas, nor can they thrive there. Their natural habitat is the high
plateaus of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of from 2,000 to
10,000 feet. Here, when their food supply becomes short, a swarm
will sometimes rise in the air, and on their expanded wings may
be carried hundreds of miles on an air current until they alight in
a place far distant from their breeding grounds. Thus they reached
Kansas and did damage for several years. Each year their numbers
became fewer until they disappeared, Kansas and its climate not being
suited to them.

Swarms of Rocky Mountain locusts reach Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and
frequently eastern California; occasional small swarms pass over the
Sierra Nevada range, but on this side of the range they have never
been very numerous or in sufficient quantities to be serious.

3-E

FIG. 37. Rocky Mountain locust (Ifelanoplus spretus) ovipositing.
Females with abdomen inserted in the soil; egg-pod broken
open and lying on the surface; a few scattered eggs; section of
soil removed to show eggs being put in place, and egg-pod
sealed over.

34 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

There is, however, a close relation to this pest — Melanoplvs devas-
tator— with which California is too well acquainted. This is the locust
which appears in swarms each season in some parts of the* State, the
foothill regions of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin valleys .being
especially afflicted with their visitations. Fortunately their breeding
grounds are not so extensive, their swarms much smaller, and their
destructive powers vastly less than M. spretus. But they are bad
enough. From historic records, it is evident that this pest was much
worse in California in early days than at the present time, swarms of
them having been recorded even near San Francisco. This is natural,
as the insects breed in the wild, uncultivated land, and, as the country
becomes more densely settled and more intensely cultivated, their
breeding area is more and more circumscribed, their swarms reduced,
and their destructive area lessened. Their favorite breeding grounds
are now found on the warm slopes of the foothills, those having a
southwestern exposure being preferred. Here, where the soil is too thin
for agricultural purposes, and is left undisturbed, large swarms of
M. devastator breed and do great damage on the cultivated lands in the
vicinity. Fortunately, there are efficient parasites for these pests, and
they do not often appear in destructive numbers for two years in suc-
cession in the same place.

Grasshoppers in such localities usually make their appearance during
the latter part of May, and in the following months of June and July
cause their greatest destruction. After that, effects of disease, attacks
of natural enemies, and their extension over a wider area so reduce
their numbers in a given locality that their depredations are compara-
tively so small as to pass unnoticed.

Grasshoppers generally first appear in greatest numbers along the
edges of the foothills, which are their breeding ground, in isolated
swarms, often many miles apart. When first hatched, their powers of
destruction are not great; but with each molt their voraciousness
increases, and unless steps are promptly taken to combat them, or
unless attacked by their natural enemies in numbers, cultivated crops
in their path may be seriously injured or destroyed by them.

The grasshopper has many enemies. A tachina fly, about the size of
the common house-fly, and which it much resembles, is one of the most
abundant and most destructive to the hoppers. Birds also aid greatly
in their destruction. The common meadowlark is among the most
active destroyers of this insect. When grasshoppers are plentiful the
meadowlark does not eat the entire insect, but only the abdomen or a
portion of one, and this habit enables it to destroy a great number
every day. Blackbirds of all varieties are also great aids in destroying
them, but, unfortunately, the birds are breeding and taking care of
their young when the grasshoppers first appear, and as their nesting-

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — ORTHOPTER A. 35

places are close to water in the tules and the breeding grounds of the
grasshoppers are near the foothills, perhaps miles away, their services
are not so valuable in proportion to their numbers as those of the
meadowlark, whose home may be in the midst of the young grasshop-
pers or adjacent thereto. Later in the season, the blackbirds become
fearfully destructive of grasshoppers. Woodpeckers also for a time
cease their arboreal habits to prey upon the grasshoppers on the
ground. While the sparrowhawks, owls, sparrows, groundlarks, and,
in fact, all kinds of land birds, except the dove, give their welcome aid
in destroying the pests. It is said that skunks and gophers eat them,
as do also toads, frogs, and snakes.

Grasshoppers, like all insects that gather in large swarms, are subject
to contagious diseases, which spread rapidly and carry them off in large
numbers, often almost exterminating them. A fungous disease is' one
of the most fatal to grasshoppers in some countries.

But when grasshoppers become numerous and destructive, it is not
wise for farmers or horticulturists to await the action of natural causes,
for proximity to cultivated areas does not give the necessary time for
their action before great damage has been done. The farmer must,
therefore, be prepared to defend his crop. The best method to combat
the pest is to plow the land known to contain eggs, before the grasshop-
pers are hatched. When the young hoppers have appeared, they may
be plowed under and destroyed. Plowing should commence at the
outer boundary of the grasshopper section, and a number of plows
should be used at the same time, the plows following each other as
closely as possible. The grasshoppers are in this manner forced to the
center, where a black mass of struggling insects are crowded together.
But few of them will escape, for as one plow makes a furrow, which is
rapidly filled with grasshoppers, the following plow covers them under
and they are buried alive, few of them escaping.

The genus Melanoplus, to which both of the above described locusts
belong, is a very extensive one, including one hundred and twenty
species in the United States, and is the largest of all the Acridid genera.

The next most destructive, member of the subfamily Acridinae is the
CEdaleonotus enigma, which species is sometimes very numerous and
destructive.

Family Loeustidse. Dismissing the family Acrididse, which includes
the numerous and destructive locust genera, we come to the next
family, the Locustidse, to which, by the way, the locusts do not
belong. This includes the katydids, meadow grasshoppers, wingless
crickets, etc. Their common and peculiar characteristics are their very
long antenna, which, in many species, greatly exceed the length of the
body, and the prominent wings in many of those which have these

36 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

organs. In those species which ' have well-developed wings, the males
are provided with an elaborate musical apparatus, the use of which is
to call the females. The chirping made by these insects is familiar to
most people, to all who have spent a summer in the country, and the
short rasping sound made by one species (Cyrtophyllus concavus) has
given it the popular name of katydid, which its song is supposed to
resemble. In the different species, each has its own distinct note, and
entomologists who have made a special study of them can distinguish
each by its peculiar sound.

Comstock arranges the Locustidse in four general groups for facility
in studying, to which he gives the everyday names of:

1. The Meadow Grasshoppers, including the smaller and common
members of the family, which abound in meadows and moist places.

2. The Katydids, or tree crickets, generally bright green in color,
strongly resembling the foliage among which they live, and which
render night musical with their songs. One of the most common of
these in California is the angular-winged katydid (Microcentrum reti-
nervis). The eggs of the insect are laid in a double row along the edge
of a leaf, a twig, or other object, overlapping each other like a row of
shingles, and are often mistaken for scale insects.

3. The Cricket-like Grasshoppers, which are found under stones and
rubbish, especially in woods, and which are wingless.

4. The Shield-back Grasshopper, also wingless, dull colored, and
resembling crickets. This group is represented in California by the
Stenopelmatus irregularis, a large, clumsy creature, with a big head and
long antennae, which lives under stones and strongly resembles the
mole or Indian cricket.

Family Gryllidse (The Crickets). The members of this family of
jumping Orthoptera resemble the Locustidse, in that they have long,
slender, tapering antennae, but differ from them in having the wings
laid flat on the back, the forewings bent down on the sides. The
ovipositor in the female is long and pointed, while in the Locustidae it
is flat and sword-like. The males of this family are the greatest of all
insect musicians, and the sharp chirp, chirp, chirp of the cricket is well
known. The commonest and best known of these insects is the field
cricket, which appears in such quantities in our country towns on warm
summer nights, where they are attracted to the electric light and perish
by millions without apparently diminishing the next season's supply.
Every warm night in every summer brings them out in countless
swarms. It is this insect that we generally understand as being meant
when the cricket is alluded to, yet it is but one of a very numerous
family, comprising eight subfamilies, each containing several genera
and species. These, however, are classed into three distinct groups, a

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE — ORTHOPTERA.

37

classification ample for any but the most minute, scientific study.
These groups are:

1. Mole Crickets, heavy bodied, large-sized burrowing insects, fre-
quently brought to the surface in digging or plowing. This is among
the most peculiar of these insects. It is well named the " mole cricket/'
as in its general form and habits it resembles that animal. The front
legs are short, very stout, and furnished with strong, tibiae, well suited
for digging and much like the fore paws of the mole. These insects
live wholly un-
derground, and

feed upon the
tender roots of
plants, becom-
ing a very seri-
ous nuisance
where they are
numerous.

2. True Crick-
ets, which in-
clude the com-
mon house and
field crickets,
which visit us
in such hordes
in the summer
nights. The
eggs of these
insects are gen-
erally laid in the
fall, in light,
sandy soil, and
remain until

spring, when they hatch and the young begin to eat, grow, and molt,
until they attain their growth and their wings later in the summer,
when they become very much in evidence. They are serious pests,
being omnivorous feeders, and will devour anything in their way. If
they secure entrance to the house, which they often do, cotton and
woolen fabrics alike will be damaged by them. They are in no way
choice in the matter of diet and do not turn away from their own kind,
but will devour each other with avidity and a keen relish.

3. Tree Crickets, which are found on trees and shrubs, as a rule,
although they are sometimes found on grass and herbs. They are
delicate and rather small insects, as compared with other members of
the family. In laying her eggs the female cuts a groove in the tender
canes of raspberry and blackberry vines, or of fruit trees, and in these

B

FIG. :i8. Stridulating organs of .V7crocen(r«Mi laurifolinm. A, dorsal
aspect of file (st) when the tegrnina are closed ; B, ventral aspect
of left tegraen to show file : C, dorsal aspect of right tegmen to

show xcrapcr (s).

38

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

her eggs are deposited in a long row. Much damage is often done from
this cause, when the insect is numerous, as the twigs are likely to die
above the point of damage.

The Earwigs. — Until recently the earwigs were classed with the
Orthoptera, but a new order, Euplexoptera, has been erected for them.
These insects are readily recog-
nized by the forceps-like appen-
dages at the end of the body. These
organs are used in folding the wings
of the insect, which are snugly
tucked away under the wing covers
when at rest. They are vegetable-
feeders, and where numerous do
much damage. They are noctur-
nal in their habits and are not fre-
quently met with in the daytime.
In California the order is repre-
sented by Amsolabis, a black, wingless species, about three fourths of
an inch long, with short, heavy forceps.

FIG. 39. Full-
grown larva
of earwig
( Forflcula
auricularia).
Enlarged.

FIG. 40. Adult earwig (For-
ficula auricularia). En-
larged.

Order HEMIPTERA.

We now come to 'the order of most importance to the fruit-grower
and the farmer, for in this we find the greater number of enemies of
plant life; in fact, while there are some beneficial species in it, we may
say that it is the pest order of the insect world. In this we find the
entire group of scale bugs, the aphids or plant-lice, the phylloxera of
the grape, and woolly-aphis of the apple; it gives us those most detested
of all insects, bedbugs and lice. It is a bad order, but as there is no
such thing as unmixed evil or absolute good, so even this order, com-
posed as it is wholly of suckers, supplies us with some members that
work for our good. There are those which prey upon their kind; the
assassin-bugs as they are called, from the fact that they are predaceous
upon other insects and live by sucking the blood of their fellows.

The name Hemiptera means half-winged, and these insects are so
named from the fact that most of the members of this order have wing
covers that are partly thick and leathery, and partly thin and mem-
branous. While this name was given to the order at an early date, and
was tolerably applicable to it, still there were found to be a great many
insects which properly belonged here to which it was not applicable, as
their wings were not half-and-half, so the order has been divided into
two suborders, called Heteroptera, having diverse wings, and Homop-
tera, having similar wings, so an insect in this order is either Hemip-
tera homoptera, or Hemiptera heteroptera. There is still another group
belonging to this order, the members of which are wingless, which prey

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HEMIPTERA. 39

upon other animals, and protect themselves by hiding on the body of
their host, or crawling away in cracks and crevices, to issue in the night
when all is still and suck the blood of their victims. This group is
known as Parasita, and will need little further allusion, as it only
indirectly affects the orchardist and farmer.

The Hemiptera is one of the most numerous of all the orders. It
includes over five thousand known species in North America, and to it
belongs the one suborder which the entomologist recognizes as "bugs/'
To the lay mind all insects are bugs, but to the scientific mind the
term brings up a member of the order Hemiptera heteroptera; these
-are the true bugs.

Like the preceding order, the metamorphosis is direct or incomplete.
The young insect, as soon as hatched, strongly resembles the adult in
shape, and, in many cases, in coloring. It is wingless in its earlier
stages, and in some species always so, and passes through several molts
in attaining its adult form. The winged species acquire their perfect
wings after the last molt.

The members of this order are very diverse in form, size, and mark-
ings, and there is no order in which there is such disparity in the
appearance of the different families. We have within it the Cicada
and the mealy-bug, the giant water-bug, which is attracted to the elec-
tric light in such great numbers as to have acquired the name of
"electric-light bug," and the common scale-bug. In it we find giants
of the insect world, and species so minute as to require a strong glass
to make them visible. But all through, there is one characteristic
which is possessed in common by all, big and little alike — they are all
suckers, and live by imbibing the juices or blood of plants and animals.
They form the greater part of the Haustellates, or sucking insects, the
other half of the insect world being known as the Mandibulates, or
biters — a very respectable group compared with the one we are now
treating on. The mouth parts are formed for piercing and sucking, and
vary in length in different species. The sucking beak can readily be
seen by examining the insect, where it will be detected on the under
side, folded close to the body. In many species there is a groove into
which the beak fits snugly when not in use, and in these it is sometimes
difficult to detect it. This beak is really a compound instrument, and
is composed of four bristles inclosed in a jointed sheath. Two of these
bristles are supposed to represent the mandibles and two the maxillae
of the mandibulate insects, while the sheath takes the place of the
labium.

As stated, this order is divided into three suborders : 1. Parasita;
2. Homoptera; 3. Heteroptera.

Of the first of these, little more need be said. Nearly every animal
and most birds have a particular species of lice which prey upon them,
and people engaged in breeding animals and fowls are sometimes con-
fronted with a serious problem in getting rid of them. This is said to

40 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

be a degraded family, since they have through their degraded habits
lost their wings, and to a great extent powers of locomotion, being
wholly dependent upon the bodies of their hosts, to which they are
attached all their lives. They have, however, become highly special-
ized for this style of life, and are well adapted for it.

While on this subject we may state that the bird-lice are not true
lice, nor do they belong to the order now under consideration. With
the true lice, the mouth parts are made for suction — haustellate — and
they properly belong to the Hemiptera, the bird-lice and the book-lice
have biting mouth parts, and for these separate orders have been
erected, the biting bird-lice being classified as Mallophaga, and the book
lice as Corrodentia.

Suborder HETEROPTERA. (The True Bugs.)

The word Heteroptera means having diverse or different wings, and
included in this suborder are the' true bugs of the entomologist, for
while, as before stated, to the average person all insects are bugs, to
the entomologist the term means only members of this suborder.

The common squash-bug may be taken as the type of this group.
When winged, their wings differ from the suborder Homoptera in the
composition and position of the wing covers and in the direction of the
head. The insects in this suborder have the head horizontal, on a
plane with the body, the beak arising from the front. The wing
covers lie flat on the back, and are composed of three separate pieces:
corium, clavus, and membrane. These parts are modified in different
species in a great variety of ways.

The young of this suborder are known as nymph se, and after the third
molt show the rudiments of wings. The nymphse are sometimes quite
different in coloring to the mature insect. Some difficulty has been
experienced in arranging a perfect synopsis of this suborder, which has
been arranged in twenty-six families. They have been divided into two-
groups, the long-horned bugs and the short-horned bugs. About one
third of them live in the water, a large section near the water, and the
rest on land. They may therefore be classed as Aquatic, Amphibious,
and Terrestrial bugs. The following synopsis of families is arranged
by Comstock:

THE SHORT-HORNED BUGS. Bugs with short antennae, which are nearly or quite
concealed beneath the head.

BUGS THAT LIVE WITHIN WATER.

The Water-boatmen. Family Corisidee.

The Back-swimmers. Family Notonectidse.

The Water-Scorpions. Family Nepidse.

The Giant Water-bugs. Family Belostomidse.

The Creeping Water-bugs. Family Naucoridie.
BUGS THAT LIVE NEAR WATER.

The Toad-shaped Bugs. Family Galgulidse.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HEMIPTER A. 41

THE LONG-HORNED BUGS. Bugs with antennae at least as long as the head, and
prominent except in the Phymatidae, where they are concealed under the sides of
the prothorax.

THE SEMI-AQUATIC BUGS.

The Shore-bugs. Family Salididae.

The Broad-shouldered Water-striders. Family Veliidse.

The Water-striders. Family Hydrobatidse.

The Marsh-treaders. Family Limnobatidse.
THB LAND-BUGS.

The Land-bugs with four-jointed antennae.

The Thread-legged Bugs. Family Emesidae.

The Assassin-bugs. Family Reduviidae.

The Damsel-bugs. Family Nabidae.

The Ambush-bugs. Family Phymatidee.

The Flat-bugs. Family Aradidae.

The Lace-bugs. Family Tingitidae.

The Bedbug and the Flower-bugs. Family Acanthiidae.

The Leaf-bugs. Family Capsidae.

The Red-bug Family. Family Pyrrhocoridae.

The Chinch-bug Family. Family Lygaeidae.

The Stilt-bugs. Family Berytidae.

The Squash-bug Family. Family Coreidae.
The Land-bugs with Jive-jointed antennse.

The Stink-bug Family. Family Pentatomidse.

The Burrower-bugs. Family Cydnidse.

The Negro-bugs. Family Corimelsenidae.

The Shield-backed bugs. Family Scutelleridae.

Many of these are of little interest to us and can be dismissed with
a mere allusion.

Family Corisidae (Water-boatmen). These are smallish insects, less
than half an inch in length, and frequent pools, streams, and ponds.
They are surrounded by a film of air and look like a bubble in the
water, as they are seen usually on the bottoms. They are generally
distributed over the United States, and are predaceous on other water
insects. They have no economic importance with us, but in some parts
of Mexico they are so numerous in the ponds that aquatic plants upon
which they have deposited their eggs are gathered, dried, and beaten in
order that the eggs may be secured for food.

Family Notoneetidse (Back-swimmers). These are aquatic bugsr
their backs shaped like the bottom of a boat. They always swim on
their backs, hence the common name. Their hind legs are oar-shaped,
and they pass through the water with their aid with great rapidity.
They prey upon young fish, and probably are destructive in this respect.

Family Nepidse (Water-Scorpions). This is another of the aquatic
bugs, and derives its common name from the possession of a long
respiratory tube, at the end of the abdomen, which gives it a strong
resemblance to the land-scorpion. There are two distinct types of
these insects, one having an oval, flat, thin body, the other a linear and

42

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

cylindrical body. The latter strongly resembles a stick in the water,
where it is usually found in the dirt of the bottom. The family is
predaceous, and probably their peculiar form enables them to capture
their prey.

Family Belostomidae (Electric-light Bugs). In the hot summer
nights, a very large insect will be seen flying around the electric lights
in cities near watercourses or lakes. Many of these fall to the ground,
where they are crushed under the heel of the pedestrian. These have
become so noticeable since the introduction of electric lights that many
people believe that they have been produced by the electricity, and
their common name of "electric-light bugs" has been given them in
recent years. These belong to the family Belostomidse, which family

includes the giants of
the bug order. The com-
mon electric-light bug
in our California towns
will reach a length of
two inches and is the
Belostoma americanum,
while in the tropics and
in Mexico, specimens are
common three to four
inches in length. In
their larval form they
are wholly aquatic.
Their eggs are attached
to the stems of water
plants or other conven-
ient objects, and, as soon

as hatched, they commence their predatory career. They are exceedingly
destructive to young fish, the young of frogs and toads, and other
small game within their reach, which they capture by means of their
strong fore feet and leisurely suck the blood. This insect is very
numerous in Sacramento and in the valley where the great water areas
furnish it ideal breeding grounds, and on summer nights they may be
seen by thousands under the electric lights.

A peculiar member of this family is the genus Zaitha, in which the female
lays her eggs on the back of the male, and he is compelled to carry
them about and care for them until he is relieved of the load by their
hatching. The male resents this indignity, but the female compels him
to submit, and sometimes this is accomplished only after a struggle of
several hours. In spite of protests and struggles, however, his better
half always gets the best of the argument and he has to take care of
the babies. It was at one time thought that the female laid the eggs

FIG. 41. Electric-light bug (Belostoma americanum).
Natural size.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HEMIPTERA. 43

on her own back, but this belief was corrected by Miss Slater, who
made a study of this insect. In speaking of it, this lady says: "That
the male chafes under the burden is unmistakable; in fact, my sus-
picions as to the sex of the egg-carrier were first aroused by watching
one in an aquarium which was trying to free itself from its load of
eggs, an exhibition of a lack of maternal interest not to be expected in
a female carrying her own eggs. Generally the Zaithas are very active,
darting about with great rapidity; but an egg-bearer remains quietly
clinging to a leaf with the end of the abdomen just out of the water.
If attacked, he meekly receives the blows, seemingly preferring death,
which, in several cases, was the result, to the indignity of carrying and
caring for the eggs."

Family Naueoridse (Creeping Water-bugs). These are rather small,
flat-bodied, oval insects, predaceous in their habits, but not common on
this coast, and of no economic importance.

Family Galgulidse (Toad-shaped Bugs). These include a family of
predaceous bugs only found near the margins of streams, and which are
of no importance economically.

Family Salididae (Shore-bugs). These are small, soft, dark-colored
insects, with white or yellowish markings. Some are shiny black, but
none of any importance to us.

Family Veliidse (Broad-shouldered Water-striders). This is a small
family of peculiarly shaped insects. Their legs are formed for running
over the surface of water, but they can also travel on land with consid-
erable speed.

Family Hydrobatidse (Water-striders). The members of this family
are well known to all who have ever observed insects skimming along
over the surface of the water. Often they gather in large numbers, and,
when disturbed, dart, with lightning-like rapidity, in all directions.
They have no economic value, being neither good nor harmful.

Family Limnobatidse (Marsh-treaders). There is but a single species
of this family in the United States, and this is of no economic value.

Family Emesidse (Thread-legged Bugs). This is a small family of
very peculiar bugs. The body is long and slender and the middle and
hind legs very long and thread-like. The fore- legs are constructed for
grasping, and resemble those of the praying mantis. It frequents trees,
and is predaceous in its habits.

Family Reduviidse (Assassin-bugs). We now come to a family of
more interest to us, as in this are many of the most beneficial of the

44 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

bug family. The members of this family are all predaceous and vora-
cious. They usually' attack other insects and suck their juices, but the
higher animals are not free from their attacks, and the kissing-bug
belongs here. .They have a very powerful beak, and can inflict a pain-
ful wound, if not carefully handled. One of the members of this family
has a local reputation, and in the mountains it is known as the lumber-

FIG. 42. Wheel-bug (Prionidit* cristatnx). A, adult insect ; B, adult insect devouring a cater-
pillar; C, larva; D, larva; E, larva devouring a caterpillar ; F. egg cluster. All enlarged.

man's bedbug. It is sometimes known as the Big Bedbug, and is the
Conorhinus sanguisugvs.

A peculiar member of this family is Opsicaetus personatus, which, in
its younger form, covers itself with particles of dust, and is coated even
to the tips of its feet and antennae. It enters houses and is an inveter-
ate enemy of the bedbug, which it captures and sucks the blood from.
From this habit it is known as the u Masked bedbug hunter." This
mask is worn only during its immature stage; when fully developed it is
about half an inch in length, and is one of about fifty members of this
family known as kissing-bugs. It preys also upon flies and other
insects. It has a very sharp beak, which it uses in its defense.

Another of the kissing-bugs, which appeared in large numbers in

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HEM IPTERA. 45

•

California some years ago, is Melanolestes picipes. This insect is black,
and is commonly found hiding beneath stones and boards. It can
inflict a very painful wound.

The wheel-bug (Prionidits cristatus) is one of the most beneficial of the
bug class, as it preys upon leaf-eating caterpillars, and does not hesitate
to attack hairy worms, as the tussock-moths, fall web-worm, etc.

This is a large family, representing nine subfamilies and at least
fifty genera. They are usually long, rakish-looking insects, with promi-
nent, bulging eyes. The body color is generally dark-brown or black,
although some of the members are lighter colored and in some cases
beautifully marked. They have a three-jointed beak and are quick in
their motions. Altogether the members of this family Reduviidae or
assassin-bugs may be regarded as friends of the fruit-grower, florist,
and farmer, and should be protected, even at the expense of an occa-
sional puncture from their beak.

Family Nabidae (Damsel-bugs). This is a small family of preda-
ceous insects. They generally hide among the blossoms and foliage of
plants, where they prey upon small insects.

Family Phymatidse (Ambush-bugs). These insects are called ambush
bugs from their habit of concealing themselves and seizing their prey
unawares. The most striking feature of this insect is in the peculiar
form of the front legs, which are especially adapted for seizing and
holding their prey. While a small insect, it will seize and hold an
insect very much larger than itself, and will catch cabbage-worms, bees,
and even wasps, and devour them.

Family Aradidse (Flat-bugs). This family comprises the flattest of
all the bugs. Its members live under the bark of decaying trees and in
cracks where their flat bodies make it possible for them to creep.

Family Tingitidse (Lace-bugs). This is a family of very small but
very beautiful insects. Their common name is given on account of the
beautiful lace-like markings of the wing covers, which are reticulated in
a manner strongly resembling fine lace work. This insect is very com-
mon in California, where it attacks many plants and sometimes becomes
so numerous as to seriously interfere with the health of the plant
attacked.

Family Aeanthiidao (Bedbugs and Flower-bugs). The bedbug needs
no description here. It is too well known, and no insect is more thor-
oughly detested. But there is a very close relation to this pest, which
have wing covers fully developed and which are found on flowers and
in other locations. They are predaceous, and are known as the flower-
bugs.

46

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OP HORTICULTURE.

Family Capsidae (Leaf-bugs). This is the largest of any of the fam-
ilies of true bugs, including more than two hundred species in the
United States alone. Most of the members live upon leaves of plants,
but some of them are predaceous and prey upon other insects. In this
family we find the tarnished plant-bug, the four-lined leaf-bug, and
many other of our injurious species.

Family Pyrrhoeoridae ( Red-bugs). Insects belonging to this family
are usually large in size, stoutly built and marked with strongly con-
trasting colors, in which red and black are conspicuous. The cotton-
stainer is a member of this family, and has earned an unenviable
notoriety from its habit of puncturing and discoloring the opening
bolls of the cotton plant. This bug is a serious pest in Florida, where
it pierces the rind of oranges, causing decay to s.et in.

Family Lygseidse (Chinch-bugs). This is another large family, com-
prising nine subfamilies and a hundred and fifty species in the United
States. The chinch-bug is the representative of the
family, and probably the most destructive member
of it. This is a rather small bug, but its destruction
in the United States each year will run into many
millions of dollars. It has two broods a year, and
appears in enormous numbers, attacking the stems
of grain and grass. While we have this insect in
California, it has never been so destructive as in
the Mississippi Valley, due probably to the custom
which prevails here of burning over the stubble in
the grain fields after harvest, by which means these
insects are destroyed by millions and their increase
prevented. In this family, too, we find the false
chinch-bug, a very common insect here, and which somewhat resem-
bles the true chinch-bug, but is never so numerous or destructive.

Family Berytidse (Stilt-
bugs). This is a small fam-
ily of land bugs, in which the
legs, body, and antennae are
all very slender. They re-
semble the crane-fly in gen-
eral build, and are found in
the undergrowth of woods
and pastures.

FIG. 43. Chinch-hug
(Blissus leucopterus).
Enlarged.

FIG. 44. False chinch-bug (Nysius angustalus).
Enlarged.

Family Coreidse (Squash-bugs). This is another large family, and
is divided into many subfamilies and species. The family comprises
both carnivorous and vegetable-feeding forms, and in some cases

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HEM IPTER A.

47

the same species will attack both animals and plants. A common
species in our State is Leptocoris trivittatus, the box-elder bug.

Family Pentatomidse (Stink-bugs). Every one who has lived in the
country, and especially all our fruit-growers, is well acquainted with
the stink-bugs, whose popu-
lar name is perhaps more de-
scriptive than elegant. They
are broad, flat bugs, generally
rather large, and mostly dull
colored. Most of them are
vegetable feeders, although ct
the family contains some pre-
daceous species. One of the
worst species of this family
with us is the Harlequin cab-
bage-bug, which sometimes
appears in great numbers,
and does much damage to
growing plants.

Family Cydnidse (Burrow-
ing-bugs). These bugs have
a roundish, elliptical body,
usually black, or very dark in
color, and are found burrow-
ing in sandy places, under
sticks, stones, or near the roots or plants.

FIG. 45. Box-elder plant bug (Leptocoris Irivittatiis).
a, eggs, enlarged ; 6, c, d, different stages of imma-
ture bugs, all enlarged. (After Howard.)

Family Corimelsenidse (Negro-bugs). These are small, black insects,
and are sometimes found in quantity on blackberries, raspberries, and

FIG. 46. Harlequin cabbage-bug (Murgantia histrionica). a, larva; b, pupa; c, eggs,
natural size : d, eggs, enlarged; e, eggs, seen from above, enlarged ; /, adult insect;
g, adult insect, wings expanded.

strawberries. They do not confine themselves to these fruits, however.
as they sometimes attack potato vines and do much damage.

Family Seutellepidse (Shield-back bugs). This is not a numerous
family. They are plant-eating insects, and somewhat resemble the
negro-bugs in general appearance.

48 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

Suborder HOMOPTERA.

The name of this suborder is derived from two Greek words, homos,
the same, and pteron, a wing. Its members differ from those of the
other suborder in that the wings are of the same texture throughout,
there being no difference in the two pairs of wings. The wings when
at rest are usually sloping, like th'e roof of a house. They have no
neck, the head being closely attached to the thorax, and this connec-
tion is so close that in many species the beak seems to exude from the
thorax itself and to arise from between the fore legs. This suborder is
divided into nine families, which are given by Comstock, as follows:

The Cicadas. Family Cicadidse.
The Lantern-fly family. Family Fulgoridae.
The Spittle Insects. Family Cercopidae.
The Leaf-hoppers. Family Jassidse.
The Tree-hoppers. Family Membracidse.
The Jumping Plant-lice. Family Psyllida?.
The Plant-lice. Family Aphididse.
The Aleyrodes. Family Aleyrodidse.
The Scale-bugs. Family Coccidse.

In looking over this list, it will be noticed that here we have a great
part of the more injurious pests of the farmer and fruit-grower. In
fact, in the whole of this suborder there are not any that are not pests,
and many of them the worst of the insect enemies with which we have
to contend.

Professor Uhler, our authority in this order of insects, writes that
"this grand division of the order contains the greatest number of large
species, and the widest range of diversity in the forms of all stages.
Comparatively few are destitute of wings, except in one sex of the lowest
group; but some have these organs short and unfinished, and it is but
very rarely that we meet with one of this kind fully winged. This
division .is also remarkable for the blunt face and backward pressed
elements of the head and breast, thus carrying the rostrum far under-
neath. Both kinds of eyes are generally present; the compound ones
being generally large and prominent, while the single ones, ocelli, are
like little convex gems, placed between the larger eyes on the vertex or
front, but occasionally, as in Fulgoridse, on the sides of the cheeks,
between the latter and the antennse. There are usually two ocelli,
although in Cicadidse and most Psyllidse they are three in number and
are placed in front, forming a triangle. The antennas are usually
situated in the hollow between the eyes, and are composed of a few
expanded joints at the base, with a tapering, slender, bristle-shaped
termination. Exceptions occur in Psyllidae, AphididaB, and Coccidae,

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HEMIPTERA.

49

where these organs are commonly filiform and somewhat thickened at
the tip. There are two principal types of legs in this division, although
these are variously modified for particular modes of life, the one being
adapted for crawling, the other for leaping. The former have short
legs, generally stout; the latter have the hind legs long, often curved
and set with rows of stiff spines."

Family Cieadidse. This includes the harvest-flies, seventeen-year
locusts, etc. These insects are of large size, and are generally well
known. This family
lias a peculiarity
found in no other
member of the Hem-
iptera: the possession
of a musical appara-
tus. The song of the
cicada is well known,
and is produced by
special organs con-
sisting of two large
parchment sacs. The
surfaces are ribbed
and, when in action,
the air is forced
against these ribbed
surfaces, producing
sound vibrations and
forming the song. It-
is probable that this

'song" is used for the

FIG. 47. Periodical cicada (C. septendecim). a, pupa, ready to
change; 6. pupa skin from which the adult (c) has
emerged : e. eggs taken from the egg-punctures (d).

purpose of attracting

the female, as these organs are found in the male only. This fact was

known to the ancients and an old Greek, Xenarchos, says:

"Happy the cicadas' lives.
For they all have voiceless wives."

The females deposit their eggs in slits which they make in the twigs
of trees; these eggs hatch in about six weeks and the young drop to the
ground and bury themselves in the earth, where they are supposed to
attach themselves to the roots of trees and shrubs, and where they
remain until they reach their mature stage, when they force their way
from the earth and attach themselves to any convenient object. Here
the back of the pupa skin splits and the mature insect, fully winged,
creeps forth. It requires some little time for its wings to fully develop,
when the newly hatched cicada takes flight to start a new cycle.
4— E

50 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The most remarkable thing connected with this family is the length
of the larval stage of the two members, known as "Seventeen-year" and
"Thirteen-year" locusts. These broods have been watched and recorded
by entomologists, and, in one case, they are known to appear in seven-
teen and in the other in thirteen years. It is, therefore, supposed that
their larval, or growing, stage requires seventeen and thirteen years
respectively. This is a most remarkable thing in the insect world, as
most of these animals have lives of short duration, rarely covering a
longer period than a year or two, though this is exceeded in a few
instances. But a seventeen-year-old insect is a phenomenon that might
be doubted, were it not that the records have been accurately kept and
prove it.

Family Fulgoridse (Lantern-flies). In the tropics of South America,
members of this family attain great size and are phosphorescent, from
which fact we have their common name. The family is represented
with us by some small and insignificant species.

Family Cereopidse (Spittle-bugs, Frog-hoppers, etc.). Often during
the summer months one will notice masses of froth on shrubbery:
upon removing this, a small, soft-bodied insect will be discovered
beneath it. Sometimes there will be two or more of these insects under

one mass of froth. These are the
spittle-bugs, and the froth, which is
composed of the sap of the bush upon
which they are lodged and which is
pumped out by them, is their means
of protection. Clear this away a few
times and keep the insect clear of it,
FIG. 48. Frog-hopper or spittle insect (Aph- and it will dry up and die. At its last

rophorasv.). Slightly enlarged. mQ^ & ^^ gpace under ^ froth .&

formed, and the mature insect, no longer needing the moisture for its
safety, emerges a perfect frog-hopper, and wanders about the plant.

This is quite a large family, and includes a number of species. All
are injurious, where they appear in numbers, as they exist by sucking
the juices of the plants upon which they lodge.

Family Jassidse (Leaf-hoppers). This is a family of insects, gener-
ally small in size, but very destructive. In this family is Erythoneura
vitis, the grapevine leaf-hopper, which has a most unfavorable reputa-
tion in the raisin vineyards of this State, where it is commonly known
as " thrips," although it is not at all related to that insect. During the
summer season, they sometimes appear in the vineyards by millions,
and by sucking the juices of the vines through the leaves do immense
damage. These insects hibernate in the vineyards or vicinity, and

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE — HEMIPTERA.

51

FIG. 49. Buffalo tree-
hopper (Ceresa bv-
balus).

under leaves or rubbish, and the best preventive method to be applied
against them is to thoroughly clean the vineyard and its neighborhood
of all loose rubbish and burn it. By this means the next season's crop
of the pest can be greatly reduced.

They are very destructive in meadows, and it is stated that these
insects destroy from one fourth to one half of the grass that springs up
annually. They are more numerous than any other insect, except,
perhaps, the aphids.

Family MembraeidaB (Tree-hoppers). In this family we find some
of the most grotesque forms in the animal kingdom. This is the typical
family of the suborder Homoptera. Its members are
of every conceivable form, and are described by Prof.
Otto Lugger as " arched, compressed, depressed, hump-
backed, spindle-shaped, pointed at both ends, inflated,
hemispherical or conical, and besides this they are
furnished with an endless variety of superficial
attachments." They live principally on trees and
bushes, and all possess great leaping powers, hence
their common name. They are usually not sufficiently numerous to be
destructive and have therefore little economic value.

Family Psyllidse (Jumping Plant-lice). Members of this family
resemble the cicadas in general build, but are much smaller, being from
a sixth to an eighth of an inch in length. They differ from the aphids
in being of a more solid texture, with stouter legs, the
hinder pair being especially strong and fitted for
jumping. In their adult form, both sexes are winged.
A peculiarity in some of the species of
this family is the bifurcated antennae.
In these the feelers are split and end
in two bristle-like points. Some of
these species exude a honey-dew, and
in this respect approach the aphids.
The commonest and most destructive
member of this family is the pear-tree
Psylla (Psylla pyricola). This is a
very small insect, not over a sixteenth of an inch in length, but it
often occurs in such quantities as to do enormous damage to the pear
orchards.

Family Aphididse (Plant-lice). This family is closely akin to the
foregoing, and in some of its many species is known to nearly every
one; to all who have endeavored to grow flowers or vegetables, or who
have noticed trees at all. It is a very extensive family, and includes

FIG. 50. Pear-tree
Psylla) Psylla pyri-
cola). Enlarged.

FIG. 51. Larva of
Psylla pyricola.
Enlarged.

52

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

FIG. 52. Aphids or plant lice. Winged and wing-
less forms. 1 and 3 natural size. 2 and 4 greatly
enlarged.

many species, some of which attack most forms of vegetation. In this
family we have the phylloxera and the woolly-aphis, and many other
well-known forms, all exceedingly destructive to vegetation. The larg-
est species is about a quarter of an inch in length, and from this they
range down until it requires a good eye, sometimes assisted by a mag-
nifying glass, to see the smaller members. Some are subterranean,

living wholly underground; some
are aerial, living on the tops of
plants; while some are both, and
pass one stage of their existence
underground and another above.
Insects belonging to this fam-
ily are soft-bodied, gregarious,
and most numerous in the wing-
less form. They have absolutely
no means of defense, being de-
stroyed by thousands by every
change in the weather, blown to destruction by the winds and washed
off by the rains. They have more enemies among predaceous insects
than has any other family, being preyed upon in all stages by the lady-
birds, which devour them externally, and by Braconids, which devour
them from the inside. Many birds eat them, and, being utterly
defenseless, they are beset by enemies on every hand. Why, then,
are they not exterminated? For the reason that nature has made them
soj enormously prolific that
they are enabled to withstand
all the destructive forces
which are at work against
them, and still leave enough
for a new start, for if but a
single one is left, that is
enough to stock the country
with a new brood.

The aphis furnishes the
most interesting study in the

entomological world. It is a contradiction of all known laws
relation to propagation. The first brood, which appears very early in
the spring, as soon as there is sufficient plant life to sustain it, is hatched
from eggs which have been previously deposited in the crevices of the
bark. These are all females. They commence the active work of their
lives at once, and suck the plant juices and grow, casting their skin, as
they become too large for it, about four times, by which time they have
reached adult size and are ready to begin the second great object of
their life — that of propagation.

Woolly aphis of apple (Schizoneura lanigeroJ).
Enlarged.

Ill

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HEMIPTERA. Dd

These females give birth to new broods, all of which are still females,
and only females are born. This peculiar propagation is continued
throughout the summer. In the autumn, however, when the weather
grows colder, the last births are both male and female, and these last
born females only lay eggs, which remain dormant until the following
spring, when they hatch out females, and the same process continues
without end.

Some naturalists bold that if the conditions are right the aphis will
continue to give birth to females ^indefinitely without the presence of
males. Kyber records having had a rose aphis which produced young
for four years, and from his careful experiments it has been asserted
that under certain circumstances a female aphis may, in the entire
absence of males, continue propagating to infinity, providing that the
necessary conditions — food and heat — for the development of the young
are not wanting.

The color of the eggs of the aphis, together with their rarity, makes
them difficult to discover. During the months of February and March,
when the leaf buds of the rose begin to swell, the eggs of the rose aphis
may be seen like grains of gunpowder fixed within the crevices of the
bark. A single insect hatched from one of those shining black eggs
may be the progenitor of many billions of young during her lifetime.
Latrielle, who is an authority on this branch of entomology, makes a
curious calculation. He says that one female will produce young at the
rate of about twenty-five a day during the summer months, and one aphis
may be the mother of the enormous number of 5,904,000,000 during
the month or six weeks of her existence. Tongard and Morren, equally
good authorities, extend this number into quintillions, as being within
the capabilities of a single mother's efforts. Professor Huxley makes a
calculation which affords an approximate idea of what a quintillion of
aphids might mean. Assuming that an aphis weighs as little as the
one-thousandth part of a grain, and that it requires a man to be very
stout to weigh more than two million grains, he shows that the tenth
brood of aphids alone, without adding the products of all the genera-
tions which precede the tenth, if all the members survive the perils to
which they are exposed, contains more ponderable substance than five
hundred million stout men; that is. more than the whole population of
China and the United States combined. Fortunately there are large
numbers of carnivorous insects which prey upon the aphids and pre-
vent their inordinate increase. The variations in temperature, winds,
and birds also have a tendency to prevent their too rapid spread.

We have alluded to the fact that some species of aphids are subter-
ranean, passing their extire existence underground. Among these are
the Rhizobiina?, which are found on the roots of shrubs and plants, and
may be very injurious. These never come to the surface, are wingless,
and seem to be cared for by ants, which aid in their distribution.

54 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

Another underground form is the dreaded Phylloxera vastatrix. This
pest is known all over the world and has caused millions upon millions
of dollars' loss by its depredations in the vineyards of Europe and
America. The life history of this pest is given by Professor Marlatt, as
follows:

"The life cycle of the phylloxera is a complicated one. It occurs in
four forms in the following order: The leaf-gall form (gallicola), the
root or destructive form (radicicola), the winged or colonizing form,
and the sexual form. The leaf-gall insect produces from 500 to 600
eggs for each individual, the root-inhabiting insect not much above 100
eggs, the winged insect from 3 to 8, and the last sexed insect but one
egg. This last is the winter egg, and may be taken as a starting point
of the life cycle. It is laid in the fall on the old wood, and hatches,
the spring following, into a louse, which goes at once to a young leaf,
in the upper surface of which it inserts its beak. The sucking and
irritation soon cause a depression to form about the young louse, which
grows into a gall projecting on the lower side of the leaf. In about
fifteen days the louse becomes a plump, orange-yellow, full-grown,
wingless female, and fills its gall with small yellow eggs, dying soon
after. The eggs hatch in about eight days into young females again,
like the parent, and migrate to all parts of the vine to form new galls.
Six or seven generations of these wingless females follow one another
throughout the summer, frequently completely studding the leaves
with galls. With the approach of cold weather the young pass down
the vines to the roots, where they remain dormant until spring. The
root is then attacked, and a series of subterranean generations of wing-
less females is developed. The root form differs but slightly from the
inhabitant of the leaf galls, and the swellings or excrescences on the
roots are analogous to those on the leaves.

" During late summer and fall of the second year some of the root
lice give rise to winged females, which escape through cracks in the soil,
on warm, bright days and fly to neighboring vines. These winged lice
lay their eggs within a day or two in groups of two or four in cracks in
the bark or beneath loose bark on the old wood of the vine, and die
soon after. The eggs are of two sizes, the smaller and fewer in number
yielding males in nine or ten days, and the larger the females of the
only sexed generation developed in the whole life round of the insect.
In this last and sexed stage, the mouth parts of both sexes are rudi-
mentary, and no food at all is taken. The insect is very minute, and
resembles the newly hatched louse of either the gall or the root form.
The single egg of the larva-like female after fertilization rapidly
increases in size until it fills the entire body of the mother, and is laid
within three or four days, bringing us back to the winter egg, or start-
ing point.

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE — HEMIPTERA. OO

•• This two-year life round is not necessary to the existence of the
species, and the root form may and generally does go on in successive
broods year after year, as in the case with European vines, on the
leaves of which galls rarely occur. Under exceptional circumstances
all of the different stages may be passed through in a single year. The
young from leaf galls may also be easily colonized on the roots, and it
is probable that the passage of the young from the leaves to the roots
may take place at any time during the summer. The reverse of this
process, or the migration of the young directly from the roots to the
leaves, has never been observed/'

We have dealt somewhat extendedly with the aphids, because they are
among the most serious pests of the farmer and fruit-grower in our
own State, as they are elsewhere in the Union.

Family Aleyrodidse. In the aleyrodes we have a connecting link
between the aphids and the scale insects. In the early stages of their
lives, the larval form, the aleyrodes are true scale-bugs, and very
strongly resemble certain species of Lecaniums. For a long time, mem-
bers of this family were classed
with the Coccids, but owing to very
marked differences in the mature
insects were erected into a separate
family. They are very small in-
sects, and in the larval form are
sometimes quite pretty, having a
dark center and being surrounded
by a fringe of white, waxy fila-
ments. In the mature stage, both
sexes are winged, herein differing
from the Coccida?, in which only
the male acquires wings. In this

stage they are small, white, four-winged flies, very strongly resembling
minute moths. The wings and bodies are covered with a whitish pow-
der, resembling flour. We have several species of this family in Cali-
fornia, and they may be found quite commonly on the under side of
the leaves of fuchsias, nettles, iris, and other plants. Where very num-
erous, they fly off in a white cloud like a cloud of dust when disturbed.
None of our native species are especially injurious, but in Florida
and other of the Southern states the Aleyrodes ritri (the white fly),
a species found upon citrus fruits, has proven a very destructive and
dangerous pest and one that it has not been found possible to control.

Family Coeeidse (Scale-bugs, Mealy-bugs, etc.). We now come to a
family more widely known, and, in California, more generally destruc-
tive than any other of the insect tribe. It is a very large family,

FIG. 54. White.flies(.4i«/rode*sp.). Natural

size and riilurjred.

56 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

including something over fifteen hundred epecies, not all of which, how-
ever, are found in California.

The family Coccidse is divided into nine subfamilies, each having its
peculiarities of form and habits, which are set forth as follows:

Subfamily Monophlebinse. Of this subfamily, which comprises ten
genera, we have a good representative in leery a purchasi (the cottony-
cushion scale), which is well known to almost every horticulturist in
California. The general characteristics are: Males with compound
eyes. Females with definite hairy anal ring. The insects are usually
covered by a cottony matter of several shades, of color and with a
secretion of still longer filaments. Skin with rounded spinnerets and
with long, scattered hairs. The lateral lobes of the extremity of the
abdomen are fitted with a series of long, interlaced bristles.

Subfamily Margarodinse. This subfamily has been erected to ac-
commodate a single genus — Margarodies — comprising about ten species.
This subfamily is not represented in California. One very pretty
species is found infesting roots in South Africa and is bead-shaped.
They are very brilliant in color, being somewhat of a metallic green,
and are collected by the natives, strung on stout thread and worn as
ornaments.

Subfamily Ortheziinse. Under this subfamily are included three
genera, of which the genus Orthezia is the most important and the only
one represented in California. The female presents the following
characters: Eyes simple, anal ring with hairs. Body more or less cov-
ered with cereous matter arranged in compact symmetrical plates. The
eggs are carried in an elongated ovisac, which projects behind the body
until they hatch. Insect active throughout entire life. Legs long, with
fine hairs, one claw, and no digitules. Two or more long, slender,
snow-white filaments project from near the posterior end. Color
usually white.

Subfamily Phenaeoleaehiinse. This subfamily was erected to accom-
modate a single genus — Phenacoleachia — and is represented by a single
species, which occurs in New Zealand on Cupressus sp.

Subfamily Conehaspinse. These are insects with a separate covering
scale, which is formed entirely of secretionary matter, not using the
cast skins (exuviae) in forming the covering scale. Adult females
retain limbs and antennae. A distinguishing feature of this subfamily
is to be found in the mouth parts, as the lower part of the mouth
(mentum) is composed of two parts, and is grooved out to accommo-
date the sucking tube of the insect. This subfamily contains but a
single genus — Conchaspis — of which only four species have been
recorded, none of which occur in California.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HEMIPTEK A. Ol

Subfamily Daetylopiinse. This subfamily includes a large number
of genera, something like fifty-two, of which thirteen occur in Cali-
fornia. Among those found in this State are the following: Asterole-
canium, Pollinia, Kermes, Nidularia, Gossyparia, Eriococcus,
Dactylopius, Ceroputo, Pseudococcus, Erium, Ripersia, and Antonina.
The most important of these is the Pseudococcus (mealy-bugs). The
following may be of assistance in placing the species in their proper
place: Abdominal extremity not cleft, usually with a pair of more or
less prominent rounded tubercles, each bearing a long seta. No hinged
plates above anal orifice. Larva with abdominal lobes. Female not
secreting a waxy scale.

Subfamily Taehardiinse. These insects are inclosed in a resinous
cell, with three orifices. Adult female without legs, with the terminal
segments produced into a tail-like organ, with the anal orifice at the
extremity, which is surrounded by a broken hairy ring. A spine-like
organ above the base of the caudal extension. This subfamily includes
but two genera, comprising about twenty-three species, and is not rep-
resented in California.

Subfamily Coeeinae. This is another large subfamily, embracing
some forty-eight genera, ten of which are represented in California,
viz.: Pulvinaria, Exseretopus, Ceroplastes, Vinsonia, Eucalymanatus,
Coccus, Eulecanium, Saissetia, Physokermes, and Aclerda. The main
characters of the Coccina? are as follows: Females keeping the form of
the body, with segments distinct until the end, and also retaining the
power of moving under certain circumstances while young. Either
naked or simply covered with waxy filamentary material. Most of the
females, after impregnation, take on a different form and become fixed
to the host plant, and, once fixed, remain so for the rest of their lives.
Under this subfamily are grouped some of the more destructive forms
with which the fruit-growers of California have to contend. The
principal ones being Saissetia oletv (black scale), Pulvinaria innumer-
abilis (cottony maple scale), and Coccus hesperidum (soft orange scale),
although this species is now not considered a pest.

Subfamily Diaspinse. These insects have a separate covering-scale
composed partly of secretionary matter and partly of the exuviae, which
are the discarded skins shed at the periodical molts of the insect.
Adult female without limbs. The form of the scales comprising this
family are usually circular, varying to oblong. The eggs are deposited
beneath the parent scale. Under this subfamily occur some thirty-five
genera, among which are to be found many of the most destructive
species in our State. The principal ones are Chionaspis, Diaspis,
Aulacaspis, Hemichionaspis, Fiorinia, Aspidiotus, Chrysomphalus,
Pseudaonidia, Lepidosaphes, and Parlatoria.

58 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

In treating of the different species of the scale-bug family, it will be
well to call attention to the new classification. Our Horticultural Com-
missioners have struggled hard, in most cases, to inform themselves in
regard to scale pests in California, and have learned to know them by
their old names. Now, these names have been largely changed, the
knowledge acquired by our commissioners is turned topsy-turvy, and
they will have to learn the names of their old acquaintances over
again, or fail to recognize them when they appear in print. Following
is appended a list of the changes which have been made in the nomen-
clature of the more common of our California scales.

Common Name. New Name. Old Name.

Mealy-Bug. Pseudococcus. Dactylopius.

Black Scale. Saissetia olese. Lecanium olese.

Soft Brown Scale. Coccus hesperidum. Lecanium hesperidum.

Hemispherical Scale. Saissetia hemispherica. Lecanium hemisphericum.

Apricot Scale. Eulecanium armeniacum. Lecanium armeniacum.

Frosted Scale (Prune Scale). Eulecanium pruinosum. Lecanium pruinosum.

Red Scale. Chrysomphalus aurantii. Aspidiotus aurantii.

Yellow Scale. Chrysomphalus citrinus. Aspidiotus citrinus.

Oleander Scale. Aspidiotus hederse. Aspidiotus nerii.

Purple Scale. Lepidosaphes beckii. Mytilaspis citricola.

Long Scale. Lepidosaphes gloverii. Mytilaspis gloverii.

Rose Scale. Aulacaspis rosse. Diaspis rosre.

These are a few of the changes that have been made in the nomen-
clature of this family, and the list presented above will aid our com-
missioners and those who learned under the old school to recognize
their old friends under their new names.

In many members of this family there seems to be a sort of retro-
gression, and they go from bad to worse, from the time they are hatched
out until they die. When first hatched they are perfectly formed
insects, having the required six legs, well-formed antennae, eyes, and
mouth parts. They are lively in their motions and get around at a
fairly good rate. In a short time, however, they settle down in a chosen
place, on some form of vegetable, insert their beak and suck. Having
no further use for legs and other organs needed in active life, they
gradually lose them, molting in the meantime, and forming the coating
which we know as a scale. In the last stage, however, there is a differ-
ence between the two sexes, for while the female never changes her
position, being converted as it were into a mass of eggs and young at
the end of her life, the male emerges from the scale form a perfect
insect; usually a very pretty little creature, with a full complement of
feet and wings, and all other organs except mouth parts. He can no
longer eat, and is therefore not to be feared. His mouth parts disap-
pear and in their places he acquires a new pair of eyes. This we
presume is the better to enable him to find the female, for this is now
all that is left in life for him, and he soon passes away.

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE— NEUROPTER A. 59

This description will hardly apply to members of several of the sub-
families, in which both sexes retain some powers of locomotion through
life and do not become fixed, nor form a scale. A peculiarity of this
family.' too, is that while they belong to the four-winged insects, the
perfect males have but one pair of wings, a pair of small hooks, known
as halteres or poisers, taking the place of the other pair, and, unlike
other members of this order, the males undergo a complete meta-
morphosis.

As the Coccida? are treated of in extenso in another publication
issued by the Commission of Horticulture, under the title of "The
Coccida3 of California," we will dismiss this family here, and refer our
readers thereto for a full account of them.

Order NEUROPTERA.

(The Nerve-winged Insects.)

In the old classification, this order includecl all insects with four more
or less transparent wings, and these veined or netted. The lace- winged
fly and the dragon-fly were marked types of the order. In all members
the mouth parts are formed for biting. Aside from the winged resem-
blance, however, there were such marked differences in the diverse mem-
bers of this order that several new orders have been constructed from
it, and it is divided into from two to five minor orders, according to the
importance attached by authorities to the development of different
organs, and especially in relation to different methods of transforma-
tion. This order, or group of orders, is not of great importance to us,
for aside from some beneficial insects which we find in it, the greater
portion are neither beneficial nor injurious: we may therefore consider
its members together under the old style.

In this order both pairs of wings are usually of the same size and of
a similar membranous texture, and traversed with nervures, which are
usually united by a number of smaller ones, so that the wings present
a net-like appearance. In some of the members the metamorphosis is
complete and in others incomplete, and upon this fact the order has
been divided. The Neuroptera proper are divided into seven families:
Mantispidse, Raphidiidse, Sialidae, Coniopterygidse, Myrmeleonidse,
Hemerobiida?, and Chrysopida?.

The family Mantispidse is so named from the fact that the insects
strongly resemble the praying mantis in the order Hemiptera. They
are much smaller insects, however, and their possession of four strongly
marked membranous wings gives them a place in the order under dis-
cussion. They have strong, grasping forelegs and are predaceous,
living upon other insects. Only one member of this family is known in
California, Symphasis sign at a, but it is not frequently met with.

60 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The family Raphidiidse is represented in California by an insect
about half an inch in length, with a peculiarly shaped head and neck
which protrude far in advance of the wings. It is a predaceous insect,
lives largely on the larvae of the codling-moth, and is one of the best of
the native parasites of this pest. It is not a common insect, but is
sometimes found under the bark of trees, where it takes refuge.

The family Coniopterygidse comprises a few rare insects which have
no economic importance, and are of interest only to the systematist.

The family Sialidse includes the Dobson fly, which, in its larval form,
serves as a bait for anglers. In this stage it is an aquatic insect, living
upon other water insects. It has no economic value.

The family Myrmeleonidse are the doodle-bugs, or ant-lions. They
have the peculiar habit of setting a trap for their prey, usually in the
path of the ants, and this they do by digging a pit in the shifting sand.
When an ant gets over the edge of this pit he rolls to the bottom, where
the doodle-bug grasps him in his jaws and sucks out the juices. In
their matured form they strongly resemble dragon-flies.

The family Hemerobiidae strongly resembles the lace-winged flies in
appearance, but much larger and differently colored, being usually
dark brown. They are predaceous, and, so far, beneficial.

The family Chrysopidse includes the lace-winged flies, so well known
to our orchardists. In their larval form they are commonly known as
aphis-lions, from the fact that they are largely predaceous on aphids.
The mature insect is a very pretty creature, with its delicate form,
gauzy wings, and brilliant, prominent golden eyes. Upon being dis-

FIG. 55. Lace-winged fly.

turbed they emit a disagreeable fetid odor. Their eggs are white, are
supported on long stalks, and are usually deposited on plants infested
with aphids. The larvae are active and extremely voracious. There
are two or more broods during the summer, and the last brood winters
in the pupa state protected by a compact, round, whitish cocoon.

There has been much confusion among entomologists in regard to the
insects comprising this order, owing to the diversity of character of
many of the insects classified under it originally, and this has resulted

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — NEUROPTERA. 61

in splitting it up into several minor orders, some of which are repre-
sented by a single family. Some authorities divide it into two sub-
orders, the true Neuroptera and the Pseudo-neuroptera. In the former
the metamorphosis is complete, and in the latter it is incomplete. In
this classification of Neuroptera and Pseudo-neuroptera, the insects
with incomplete metamorphosis are separated into Ephemeroptera, or
mayflies; Odonata, or dragon-flies; Plectoptera, or stone-flies; Platyptera,
the white ants, book-lice, and bird-lice. Comstock, however, erects
separate orders for these, and does not recognize the Pseudo-neuroptera.
As few of these are of great economic importance, and as this is not a
scientific treatise, we give the minor orders place under the general title
of Neuroptera.

Order Meeoptera includes but one family, the scorpion-flies, so-called
because the last abdominal segment has a strong resemblance to the
sting of the scorpion. It is not a sting, however, and contains only a
set of grasping organs. These insects are of no economic importance.

Order Triehoptera, the caddice flies, in their larval stage, are found
in streams and have the peculiarity of constructing for themselves
shelters of particles of wood, gravel, and other substances. The larvse
remain in these structures, the head alone protruding, and are thus safe
from outside foes. The material of which these structures are joined
together is a silk spun by the worm, and the inside of the tubes is
generally lined with the same substance. Another peculiarity of these
insects is that under water they construct a web very similar to that of
the spider on the surface.

Order Ephemerida includes the mayflies, which are very delicate
insects that appear in enormous numbers on summer evenings on the
margins of quiet streams and lakes. The mayfly is an aquatic insect,
and spends its entire larval life in the water. In its perfect form it is
a beautiful sprite-like insect, without mouth parts, its only object in
life being to lay the eggs which are to produce a new generation. This
is accomplished in a few hours and the insect passes away. They have
no economic value. The metamorphosis is incomplete.

Order Odonata (Dragon-flies). Members of this order are easily
recognized and are well known. They are, in their larval form,
aquatic, and have an incomplete metamorphosis. They may be classed
as beneficial, as they live almost wholly on mosquitoes in both their
larval and mature stages, and are probably one of nature's most effect-
ive methods of keeping down these troublesome pests. Unfortunately,
this insect has been credited with malign powers, and ignorant people
regard it as a dangerous insect. It is at once one of the most graceful.

62

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OP HORTICULTURE.

beautiful, useful, and harmless of the insect tribe. It has no sting and
no means of defense, except in its rapid flight, and may be handled
with impunity by collectors. Aside from their work on mosquitoes,
members of this order have no interest to our orchardists.

FIG. 56. Dragon-fly. Natural size.

Order Pleeoptera (Stone-flies). These are insects having an incom-
plete metamorphosis, and which breed in great numbers in streams.
They are known as stone-flies from the fact that they take refuge under
stones in the streams, and are a favorite bait with anglers. Fish are
very fond of them, but aside from this they are of no economic impor-
tance.

Order Isoptera includes the so-called white ants, or termites, which,
by the way, are not ants at all, nor even remotely connected with them.
Termites are very common insects in California, where they will be

FIG. 57. Various forms of Termes lucifugus. A, adult worker; B, soldier; C, perfect
winged insect; D, perfect insect after shedding the wings; E, young comple-
mentary queen; F, older complementary queen. Enlarged. (After Grassi and
Sandias.)

found working usually on decaying wood, but sometimes attacking grow-
ing trees just beneath the surface of the ground. They are not, how-
ever, seriously harmful, and while some damage is reported from their
attacks, this is not common. This order comprises some of the most
remarkable and interesting forms of insect life, and it may be well to

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— NEUROPTER A. 63

deal more extensively with it. There are seven species found in
the United States, of which four are confined to the Pacific Coast. None
of these are of large size, usually being from one sixth to one fourth of
an inch long. In the tropics, however, they attain a much larger size,
and are among the most destructive of insects, in some cases being so
destructive to wood that this material can be used very sparingly, if at
all, in buildings. Comstock gives the following account of the life of
the termites:

"A remarkable thing about the white ants is the way they are
divided into classes, each class fitted to do a certain work for the colony.
First, there is the class of workers, which is constituted of both sexes ;
they are wingless and of a dirty-white color, and while they resemble
true ants somewhat, their waists are thicker. Their business is to
bring food for everybody, feed and bring up -the young termites, and
build nests. Second, there is the class called soldiers ; these, too, are
of both sexes, and wingless, and look somewhat like the workers, only
their heads are tremendous in size, being often nearly as long as the
rest of the body, and their jaws are large and powerful. Third, is the
royal class, called kings and queens. It would have been better to have
called them fathers arid mothers, as they are the parents of the colony,
and do not rule it. This class when grown have wings, which lie flat
upon the back when at rest, and may be twice as long as the body. In
May or June in our common species this class swarms forth from all
the nests of the neighborhood. After a flight of some distance the
wings are shed, and a king chooses some queen near him and proposes
that they start a kingdom of their own. But like mortal kings and
queens they can not reign unless a kingdom is found for them, and so
millions of these royal pairs die because they have no subjects. But
sometimes a fortunate couple is discovered by some termite workers,
who at once take possession of the wanderers and provide them with
food and with shelter in the shape of a large circular shallow cell. In this
they are really imprisoned, but are well cared for. Soon the queen
or mother begins to develop eggs, and her body grows enormously.
Finally, it is nothing but a huge sac filled with eggs, looking more like
a potato than anything else, and is sometimes six or seven inches long.
Of course, the poor queen can not move herself in the least, and if she
were not fed would soon starve ; but her king remains devoted to her,
and her ladies and gentlemen in waiting do their best to make her com-
fortable ; they carry away the eggs to other chambers as soon as they
are laid, then care for the eggs, and feed the little ones when they are
hatched. The young termites are active, and resemble the adult in
form. If a nest becomes queenless, and the workers are unable to pro-
cure a queen, there are developed in the nest wingless sexual individ-
uals, which are termed complemental males and females. But as each

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

complemental female lays only a few eggs, it requires several to take
the place of a real queen.

"All white ants are miners, and avoid the light. They build covered
ways wherever they wish to go. In hot countries they are a terrible
pest, as they feed upon wood, and actually destroy buildings and furni-
ture and libraries. They leave merely the outside portion of what they
feed upon; and they have been known to enter a table through the
bottom of the legs and to eat all the inner portions so that a slight
weight crushed it to the floor. In Florida they do damage to orange
and other trees by girdling them below the surface of the ground."

Order Corpodentia (Book-lice, etc.). These are tiny creatures, some-
what resembling the termites in appearance, only one family of which,
the Psocids, are found in the United States. They are general scaven-
gers and receive their common name of book-lice from the fact that
they are sometimes found in libraries, attacking old and unused books.
They are found in great numbers in many of our orchards, where they
congregate in colonies. They lay their eggs in heaps on leaves and
branches, and cover them with a web, giving vegetation a dirty appear-
ance, as the dust finds lodgment on these webs. The dry climate of
California is especially favorable to their propagation, but, aside from
the fact that they give our trees a dirty appearance, they are of no
importance to us from an economic standpoint.

Order Malophaga. This order has been erected for the bird-lice.
We have alluded to these insects before, and little more need be said of
them. They infest birds and sometimes are also found on animals,

being known by the name " wool-
eaters," which was given them be-
cause some species are found on
sheep and goats. They are fur-
nished with rmandibulate jaws,
and are, therefore, biting and not
sucking insects. In this they differ
from the true lice, which are suck-

ers. Their
complete.

metamorphosis is

in-

FIG. 58. Pear-thrips (Euthrips pyri).
enlarged.

Order Physopoda (Thrips).
This is a small order of very small
Greatly insects which has had a deal of
trouble in getting located. Ento-
mologists have located it in the Hemiptera, the Orthoptera, and the
Neuroptera. Finally a "Thysanoptera" was created to take care of it,
and now it has come to be known as Physopoda. Whatever the name

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— LEPIDOPTER A. 65

of this group, its members while exceedingly minute are also exceedingly
destructive. The various species in this order are distinctly different
from those belonging to any other order, which accounts for the trouble
of locating them when there were only the seven orders in which to
place all insects, and the necessity at last of erecting an order for them.
These insects abound in flowers and flowering plants and can be
found in great quantities in many blossoms. In some sections they
infest pear, orange, and other fruit trees, and do much damage by
injuring the blossoms, as they bite into the essential organs and prevent
the fruit blooms from fertilizing and the fruit from setting. In the
vineyards of this State one of the leaf-hoppers is called a thrips, but
this is a misnomer, as the insect found in the vineyard is a hopper, and
belongs to the Homoptera.

Order LEPIDOPTERA.

(Butterflies and Moths.)

A description of the members of this order is hardly necessary, as it
is the best known of all the insect tribe. The butterflies are especially
attractive to the non-scientific classes, as they comprise the most
attractive and showy of all insects. We find them of all colors and all
combinations of color, and of such varied forms that one becomes
bewildered with their myriad beauties. They have been aptly termed
the flowers of the insect world, and, certainly, in their varied liues and
forms, they more resemble flowers than animals. Their name, Lepidop-
tera, is composed of two Greek words, lepis, a scale, and pteron, a wing",
and means scaly wings, from the fact that the wings, in insects belonging
to this order, are covered with minute scales.

As a rule, it is not difficult to recognize a member of this order, for
while the species are very numerous, there are conspicuous general
characteristics in shape, wing formation, etc., which are so strongly
marked as to make them plainly recognizable even to the tyro. There
are, however, some minor exceptions to this statement in the wingless
forms, usually females, as the tussock-moth, the cankerworm, etc., and
in the clear-winged moths, which so nearly resemble wasps that the
beginner in entomology might be pardoned for mistaking them.

The order is again divided into two well-defined groups or suborders:
the moths, or Heterocera, meaning variable horns, from the great variety
of forms shown in their antennae, and the butterflies, or Rhopalocera,
or club-horns, in allusion to the form of their antennae. The butterflies
are all diurnal, or day-fliers, while the greater part of the moths are
nocturnal, or night-fliers. Some moths fly in the daylight and many
are on the wing during the twilight hours, between sundown and dark,
5— E

66 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

but by far the greater part of the members of this family are night-
fliers.

Referring again to the antennae, there is always a distinguishing
feature here by which we can decide to which class either of these
insects belongs, for while moths and butterflies, in some of their forms,
so nearly approach each other that it is difficult to tell where to place
them, the antennae of the butterfly invariably end in a little club or
knob, hence the name. The antennae are always filiform, or thread-
like, varying in thickness ; but at the end there will be a knob, which is
sometimes prominent, sometimes obscure, and varies in form in different
species, but it is always present. With the moths, the antennae always
end in a point. In this group, there is a great variation in the form of
the antennae; they are feathered or branched, or filiform, sometimes
very simple and sometimes very elaborate, but they invariably terminate
in a point.

While, in their perfect state, this order is the most attractive of all
the insect tribe, they are, in their larval stage, the most destructive of
any. With the exception of the silkworm, whose products we have
turned to our use, and a few minor species which are predatory, we may
say that the whole order is destructive. They are vegetable feeders,
and, in the form of caterpillars, often do enormous damage. Codling-
moths, armyworms, cutworms, cankerworms, gypsy-moths, the brown-
tail moths, and others of this kind, are too well known to our
orchardists, while the housewife is troubled out of her life by the
clothes-moth. They are a pest in everything, and do more damage
than any of the other insect orders.

Another distinguishing feature is that, when at rest, the butterflies
fold their wings perpendicularly over their backs, while the moths fold
theirs horizontally. In the latter, the wings lie flat on the back, or are
folded over it roof-like. There is one family of butterflies, commonly
known as skippers, which seems to connect the two branches, and in
these one pair of wings are folded, as in the butterflies, and the other
lie flat, as in the moths.

The butterflies have well-marked peculiarities which separate them
into natural groups, based on the character of the feet and the position
of the antennae. In the true butterflies, the head is very narrow, and
the feelers are set close together on the top. The club on the antennae
is very prominent and well defined. In the skippers, which we have
stated seem to form a connection between the two suborders, the head
is much broader, the bodies stouter, and the antennae, while ending in
a club, are recurved and pointed, and they are widely separated and set
close to the eyes.

It has been previously stated that all insects have six feet, from
whence we have the name Hexapoda, applied to this section of the

KXTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE — LEPIDOPTERA. 67

insect world. In the case of some of the butterflies, it would seem at
first glance that an exception was had to this rule. In many of them
the fore legs and feet are aborted, and often not plainly visible. They
are always present, however, even if indistinct. In these, the tibia or
foot is represented by a brush, and these brush-footed butterflies are
divided into two families: the Nymphalidse, containing the moderate-
sized and large species, and the Lycsenidae, small species, generally of
a blue or coppery color, with the under side sometimes marked with
hair-like streaks. These are commonly known as the blues, coppers, or
hair-streaks. They are common in damp places and along watercourses.

There is a marked difference in the methods of transformation in the
butterflies and moths. In the former, the pupa is known as a chrysalis;
it is naked — not inclosed in a cocoon — and is always abov.e ground,
there being no subterranean forms. Usually the chrysalids are found
attached to the under side of a limb, a stone, or some other convenient
place, and usually pendent. They are, as a rule, obscure in color,
although some are brilliantly marked with metallic colors, and some
are ornamented with points like burnished gold.

The pupa of the moth is inclosed in a cocoon. This may be a silken
web woven round it for its protection, the highest form of which we find
in the cocoon of the silkworm, or it may be a mere case of hardened
earth, silk-lined and buried.

The moths vary much more in their habits than do the butterflies,
and are found in all places. Some are wood-borers, and pass their
transformations in the trunks of the trees which have given them refuge;
others are subterranean in their larval stage, and these construct cells
of earth in making the change; others are plant feeders, and these may
weave a cocoon in any available place. The butterfly is wholly aerial.
Its larva is always found on the surface. It is not a borer or a bur-
rower, with perhaps the exception of the genus Megathymus, one of the
skippers, which in its larval stage is said to burrow in the underground
stem of the yucca.

In the Lepidoptera the three principal divisions of the body are well
defined. The head is small, rather broad in proportion to its length,
and moves freely on the neck. The eyes are hemispherical and very
prominent, of various colors in the different species, and sometimes
showing a few hairs. Two ocelli are found in some of the moths,
usually concealed beneath the hairy scales which cover the head, and
are probably of no service as visual organs.

In their larval form, members of this order are popularly known as
caterpillars, but the smooth species a're often termed worms — which, by
the way, like most popular names, is a misnomer — as cankerworms,
apple-worms, cutworms, budworms, etc. They vary very much in size,
form, and appearance, according to species. The body is usually

68 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OP HORTICULTURE.

cylindrical, and is composed of twelve rings or segments, besides the
head. The head is the most specialized part of the larva. It is usually
covered by a horny plate, often divided down the middle into two equal
parts. The jaws are broad and strong, serrated or toothed on the
edges, with the under lip or labium well developed, while the maxillaB
and palpi in most species are rudimentary. They differ very greatly
from the mature insects; in fact, it may be said that they do not
resemble them in any respect. In the larval form, caterpillars are
vegetable feeders and are very destructive; their mouth parts are
formed wholly for biting and chewing, while, in the perfect insect, these
are entirely changed, and it lives by suction. The internal organs and
all the external organs are changed in the process of transformation.

The first three segments behind the head are the thoracic segments,
and these carry the jointed feet, which afterwards develop into the feet
of the mature insect. These are known as the true legs. The remaining
segments, usually nine in number, are known as the abdominal seg-
ments, and on these we find the false or prolegs, varying in number
from two to five pairs. These are provided with a circle of minute
hooks, in the place of feet, which enable the caterpillar to cling fast to
the plants upon which it feeds. These prolegs disappear in the mature
insect. Most caterpillars have sixteen legs, including the true and false
legs. The loopers, or measuring-worms, however, have but ten, while
the bag-worms have but six.

Suborder RHOPALOCERA. (Butterflies.)

While the moths are the most important branch of the Lepidoptera,
greatly exceeding in number of families and species the butterflies, and
are of much greater economic importance from either a beneficial or
an injurious standpoint, yet the former are the more widely known
and admired largely owing to the nocturnal habits of the greater part
of the moths, and also to the fact that a very large portion of them are
obscure in coloring, while nearly all the butterflies are attractive.

Butterflies are separated into five families, representatives of all of
which are found in California. These are:

1. Nymphalidse, the Brush-footed Butterflies.

2. Lemoniidse, the Metal-marks.

3. Lycrenidse, the Blues, Coppers, and Hair-streaks.

4. Papilionidse, the Swallow-tails, etc.

5. Hesperiidre, the Skippers.

The family Nymphalldse is distinguished from all other butterflies by
the fact that in both sexes the first or prothoracic pair of legs is greatly
dwarfed, useless for walking and carried folded up against the breast.
On this account, members of this family are sometimes known as four-

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — LEPIDOPTERA.

69

footed butterflies. It is the largest of all the families, and has been
divided into many subfamilies. It is generally composed of large or
medium-sized insects, but there are some small species in it. Promi-
nent in this family is the large Milkweed butterfly, or, as it is some-
times called, the Monarch (Anosia plexippus). This is a cosmopolitan

A, Anotiti ]>hsippn>i, the "model"; B, K
the "mimic." Natural size.

-hippus,

insect, and is found nearly the world over. It is very common in Cali-
fornia, and can often be seen on a summer day flying westward in large
numbers. It is a large, red-brown insect, with the wing veins very
broadly marked in black. The caterpillars, which are common on the
milkweeds, are about an inch and a half in length, when fully grown,
greenish in color, marked with black bars. It is pretty, even in its
larval form, and the chrysalis is a most striking object, being marked
with brilliant golden dots along the margin.

70

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

Family Lemoniidse. Butterflies belonging to this family are mostly
confined to the new world, and largely to the tropical sections. Its
distinguishing features are that the males have but four walking feet,

B

FIG. 60. Kalliina inachis. A, upper surface; B, with wings closed, showing
resemblance to a leaf.

while the females have six, and the antennae are longer than in the
first-named family. They are usually small insects, but are very
brightly colored.

The family Lycsenidse is a very large one of mostly small butterflies,
and contains some of the most beautiful members of the order. Blue
in various shades is a common color. In this family the males have
four and the females six walking feet.

Family Papilionidse (Swallow-tails). In this family both sexes have
six feet, and in it we find some of the largest and most striking forms
in our State. One of the most common and showy of this family in

our State is Papilio tur-
nus, the large yellow
swallow-tail, with a
sprea d of wings over four
inches. (See colored
Plate I.) The ground
color of its wings is
bright yellow, crossed
with broad dashes and
streaks of black, with
black border, inclosing
crescent-shaped mark-
ings. Near the tips of the hinder wings are bright purple and yellow
marks, which add to the beauty of this grand insect.

A second group of this family is the Pierinse, which include the well-
known cabbage-butterfly (Pieris rapse). This is one of the worst pests

FIG. 61. Large white cabbage butterfly (Pieris brassicse).

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — LEPIDOPTERA. 71

of all the butterfly tribe. It was imported from the Mediterranean
region into Canada about the year 1868, and since that time has spread
all over the American continent. It will be found in swarms over
cabbage patches, alfalfa fields, and other sections, in which it finds its
food plants, until the fields sometimes have the appearance of being in
a snow storm. Its larva is the com-
mon green cabbage caterpillar. In

FIG. 63. Small white cabbage butterfly
Larva of Picris brassiae. (Pieris rapx).

connection with the cabbage whites, we often find a bright yellow but-
terfly, known as the sulphur yellow. These belong to the genus Colias
and are very common in alfalfa fields, as the
larva? feed upon clover. It is a green worm,
verv similar to the cabbage-worm, and so

FIG. 64. Larva of Piens rapx.

nearly the color of its food plant as to be

difficult to find. In this State it feeds largely upon alfalfa, and while
it does some damage to this crop, can not be regarded as a very
serious pest.

Family Hesperiidse (Skippers). This family is of little economic
importance to us. The genus Megathymus is said to have the habit,
in its larval stage, of burrowing in the underground stems of the yucca,
and. therefore, is somewhat of an anomaly among butterflies, as it is the
only one which works beneath the surface. The family is interesting
in the possession of certain characteristics which seem to connect the
butterflies with the moths. Members of this family are small, with
stout bodies, quick and powerful in flight, and have a peculiar jerky
motion, from which their common name is derived. They have six
well-defined feet in both sexes, and in their metamorphoses weave a
light cocoon of a few silk threads, in this, as in many other respects,
approximating the moths.

In North America alone there are over six hundred and fifty species
of butterflies, but all belong to one or another of the families named.

Suborder HETEROCERA. (Moths.)

We now come to the second and' more important division of the order
Lepidoptera, the Heterocera, or moths. The species included under
this division are far more numerous and of greater importance in every

72

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

way than are those classed as butterflies. Among the moths we find
some of our most important insects from an economic standpoint;
some few are also beneficial, as predaceous upon other pests; but by far
the greater part of them are injurious to a greater or less degree,
and some of them are among the most destructive, costly, and serious
of all our insect enemies. The codling-moth, together with its
destructive work, is well known to orchardists, and the bee-moth is a
terror to the apiarist, methods to circumvent its destructive work rack-
ing the brains of our beemen. The Mediterranean flour-moth has, on
many occasions, put large and costly flouring-mills out of business by
so obstructing the machinery with its webs that it could not be oper-
ated. The clothes-moth and its destructive work are well known to
every housekeeper, and so the list might be almost indefinitely extended.

As stated before, as most of these insects are nocturnal they are not
so well known as the butterflies, which fly only in the light, but they
are by far the more numerous, covering a wider range of families and
species, and working their destructive operations in more diverse ways
than the other members of the order.

The moths with which we are acquainted in the United States are
divided into forty-three families, as follows:

1. SphingidaB.

2. Saturniidse.

3. Ceratocampid^e.

4. Syntomidse.

5. Lithosiidse.

6. ArctiidaB.

7. AgaristidaB.

8. NoctuidaB.

9. Nycteolidse.

10. PericopidaB.

11. Dioptidse.

12. Notodontidse.

13. ThyatiridaB.

14. Liparidse.

15. LasiocampidaB.

16. BombycidaB.

17. Platypterygida3.

18. GeometridaB.

19. EpiplemidaB.

20. Nolidse.

21. LacosomidaB.

22. PsyehidaB.

23. Cochlid'iidaB.

24. MegalopygidaB.

25. DalceridaB.

26. EpipyropidaB.

27. ZygaBnidaB.

28. ThyrididaB.

29. CossidaB.

30. JEgeriidae.

31. PyralidaB.

32. PterophoridaB.

33. OrneodidaB.

34. TortricidaB.

35. YponomeutidaB.

36. GelechiidaB.

37. XylorictidaB.

38. (EcophoridaB.

39. Blastobasidas.

40. ElachistidaB.

41. TineidaB.

42. HepialidaB.

43. MicropterygidaB.

Family Sphingidse (Hawk-moths). These moths fly at twilight, and
are very noticeable because of their habit of hovering over flowers,
from which they extract nectar by means of their extraordinary tongue,
which is sometimes several times the length of the insect. Its larva is
the large green worm often found on tomatoes, grapes, tobacco, etc.
The caterpillars are peculiar in the possession of a sharp, curved
horn on the last segment of the body, or in its place a hard eye-like
spot. When at rest, some of them have the habit of elevating the

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — LEPIDOPTERA.

73

body and drawing back the head, giving them somewhat the resem-
blance of the Sphinx, from which they take their name. Some of the
largest of the
moths are found
in this family,
which includes
many genera and
species.

FIG. t>5. White-lined Sphinx moth (Deilephila Iweata). Natural size.

The family Sat-
urniidae includes
some of the largest
and most beauti-
ful of our moths,
and the Emperor
moth can be taken

as a type of this family. The larva forms a cocoon of silk and the
insect is sometimes called the wild silkworm. Species of this family are
not uncommon in our State, although, being a nocturnal insect, it is not
so commonly met with as some of the day-fliers, and when found is some-
times considered as rare by the finder. One of the most striking mem-
bers of the family which is found here is the Samia cecropia. The larva
of this moth is a very large caterpillar, and is generally found on the
wild shrubbery, although it sometimes attacks fruit trees. Its favorite
fruit plant is the Cascara sagrada, or wild coffee, of our foothills.

The family Ceratoeampidae comprises moths of large or medium size
which do not produce cocoons, but undergo their metamorphosis under-
ground. They are short-bodied and hairy, and usually beautifully
colored in tints.

The family Syntomidse is of little interest to us, as its members are
more objects of curiosity to the professional entomologist than to the
producer, being in no sense of economic importance. They are small to

FIG. 6(1. Caterpillar of white-lined Sphinx moth. Slightly enlarged.

medium sized insects, diurnal in their habits, and frequent flowers.
Many of them strongly resemble wasps in their form and markings, and
are sometimes mistaken bv the uninformed for those insects.

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The family Lithosiidae consists of small or medium sized insects,
which feed principally upon lichens. They pupate in silken cocoons,

in which the hairs of the
larva are mixed. They are
not, as a rule, destructive to
cultivated plants, and so
can be dismissed from fur-
ther consideration here.

FIG. 6"

Yellow bear (Spilosoma virginica). a, larva ;
b, pupa; c, moth.

The family Aretiidse is a
very large one, being repre-
sented by thirty-eight genera
and over two thousand spe-
cies, of which there are some
hundred and twenty species
in the United States.. It in-

cludes the so-called woolly-bears and tiger-moths. They are stout-

bodied moths with moderately broad wings and usually spotted or

striped. Some of them are very highly colored and others are white.

They are mostly nocturnal

and are attracted to the light.

Their larvae are covered with

long hairs, which grow in

bunches, and they are very

general feeders, being found

on a wide range of vegetables.

The Arctiidse are represented

in our State by the fall web-

worm, although the family is

a very numerous one with us.

The family Agaristidse con-
sists of day-flying moths, us-
ually of moderate size, and
it contains some of the most
beautiful members of the in-
sect world, although the most
beautiful members of it are
found in the tropics. In Cali-
fornia the wood-nymphs are
common, and are representa-
tive of this family here.

The family NoetuidSB in-

eludes a very large number of

FIG. 68. Catocala lacrymosa. A, upper surface ; B,

™85 Cl°Sed' ™& '^ °" ""*• *"

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— LEPIDOPTERA. 75

genera and species, there being hundreds of the former and thousands
of the latter. The common name is owlet-moths, given them from their
nocturnal habits, and their soft-downy appearance. In both respects
they resemble owls. In their larval form they are injurious to vege-
tation, and are among the worst of our insect enemies in this order.
The cutworms, which are so destructive to young plants, belong to this
family. Many of the moths. are dull colored, but, at the same time, the
family gives us some of the most beautiful of insects. The catocalas,
or under wings, also belong here. The members of this family have
very distinct characteristics, by which they may be recognized, and the
venation of the wings is especially very constant.

The family Nyeteolidse is a small one, resembling the NoctuidaB in
many respects, and is represented in the United States by only two
genera.

The family Perieopidse somewhat resembles the wood-nymphs, but
has a different wing venation. They are not common, and in our
State are represented by Gnophaslia vermiculata, a beautiful moth found
in the foothill sections.

The family Dioptidse is represented by only one species, and that a
California one, the common live-oak moth (Phryganidia calif ornica).
This is the light-colored weak moth which appears in such great num-
bers on the live oaks and sometimes entirely defoliates them.

The family Notodontidse includes a number of families of moths of
moderate size, ranging up to two inches spread of wing. . They strongly
resemble the owlets, from which they differ principally in wing venation.

The Thyatiridse are another family resembling the owlets, but which
present sufficient difference to class it as a separate family.

The family Liparidse is of interest to us, as it includes among
its members the tussock-moth (Hemerocampa vetusta), which is very
widely distributed and a very common pest in California. The females
of this genus are wingless, or, at least, possess wings of a very rudi-
mentary form. The female deposits her eggs on the cocoon from which
she has emerged, and covers them with a frothy mass, after having per-
formed which duty she dies. In spite of the common prejudice against
caterpillars, it must be acknowledged that the caterpillar of the tussock-
moth is a beautiful insect, witfy its bright yellow color, the coral red
protuberances on the last dorsal segments, and the four creamy brush-
like tufts on its back, with the two black plumes on the anterior, and
one on the posterior section of the body. Altogether, as a caterpillar,
it is remarkable for both form and coloring.

76

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The gypsy-moth (of which we give a beautiful illustration in colored
Plate XI), whose work of devastation in the Eastern and New Eng-

FIG. 69. Tussock-moth (Henierocampa retusta). a, female moth on
cocoon ; b, young caterpillar; c, female pupa; d, male pupa; e, larva
on leaf; /, male moth.

land States has attracted the attention of the whole country, belongs,
also, to this family.

The family Lasioeampidse is of interest to us principally from the
fact that in it we find the tent-caterpillars. The most prominent
members of this family are well known from their habit of forming a

Female moth. Larva.

FIG. 70. Tent-caterpillar (Clisiocampa xylvatica).

covering or tent, in which they congregate, returning to it, as to a com-
mon home, after they have gorged themselves on the foliage of the
trees which they infest. When they outgrow their tent, they form
another. The orchard tent-caterpillar (Clisiocampa americana) is
sometimes a very serious pest in our fruit orchards, especially apples,

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — LEPIDOPTER A. 77

sometimes entangling the whole tree with its webs. They live in com-
munities, feed in droves, and are capable of doing great damage, unless
checked.

The family Bombyeidse includes the true silkworms. The true silk-
worm (Bombyx mori) appears to be an invention of man in the insect
world. Its origin is unknown, none of its species existing in the wild
state, and it has been so long under cultivation that it can not live
unless cared for by man.

The family Platypterygidse has a few representatives among us, but
they are of no economic importance.

The family Geometridse includes those caterpillars commonly known
as loopers, inch-worms, measuring-worms, etc. They are all vegetable
feeders and very destructive. In it we find the currant span-worm, the
spring and fall cankerworms, and many others too well known to our
fruit-growers. Over eight hundred species are known to exist in the
United States
and Canada.
The caterpillars
lack all save one
pair, or in some

cases two pairs, FIG. 71. Fall cankerwonn (Alsophila pometaria). a, male moth;

. .1 i b, female moth; c, joints of antennae of female, enlarged;

<l. segment of body of emale, enlarged : e, larva.

found in other

caterpillars, and in moving are compelled to make the peculiar motions
which give them their popular names. They first extend the body its
full length, then bring the posterior end close up to the forelegs, loop-
ing the body in the middle, then stretch out the fore part of the body
again, and continue these motions until they reach their desired desti-
nation. The moths have slender bodies, small heads, and very broad,
thin wings. In many species the females are wingless, as in the
cankerworms.

The family Epiplemidse is a small one, closely related to the Geom-
eters, but of little importance to us.

The family Nolidse is another small one of rather small moths, which
are of little interest except to the systematic entomologist.

The family Laeosomidse is a small one, and consists of moths pecul-
iar to the western hemisphere. It is thus described by Holland:
''While the perfect insects show structural resemblances to the Pla-
typterygidse, the caterpillars, which have the habit of constructing for
themselves portable cases out of leaves, which they drag about with

78 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

them, resemble in some respects the Psychidae. The young larva of
Cicinnus melsheimeri, immediately after hatching, draws together two
small leaves with strands of silk, and makes between them its hiding-
place. Afterwards, when more mature, it detaches two pieces of leaves,
and makes out of them a case which it carries about with it, and which
it can desert at will. When at rest it ties the case to a station selected
with a few strands of silk, which it bites off when it desires again to
start on a journey among the branches. The larva of Lacosoma makes
a case by doubling a leaf at the midrib, cutting it off at the petiole, and
taking it with it as a portable house. There are only two genera of
this family in our fauna. It is more abundantly represented in the
tropics of South America."

The family Psyehidse is of more interest to us, however, as in it we
find the bag-worms, or basket-worms, so called from the curious habit
the larvae have of making for themselves a case, or basket, or shelter,
composed of pieces of leaves, grass, or fragments of wood or other vege-
table substances. These fragments are carefully joined together and
lined with -silk, spun by the insect. In this case the caterpillar lives
securely, and carries it along wherever it goes, much as the snail does
its shell. It does not do much damage., in our State, as it confines itself
to conifers and is not very common. When the bag-worm has attained
its full growth, it attaches the bag to a twig and changes to a pupa
within it. The male emerges a full-winged insect, but the female is
wingless and never leaves the sack, laying the eggs for a new generation
within the house she has inhabited during her life.

The family Coehlidiidse consists of slug-like caterpillars, and con-
tains a number of interesting, modest green or brown moths. They
are usually of small size and very densely clothed with scales or hair.
The larvae resemble slugs in their general form, being usually oblong
in shape and flattened. They have no visible legs and move like slugs.
Some of these larvae have stinging powers, and can inflict a sharp,
burning sting when carelessly handled.

The family Megalopygidse, or flannel moths, is a small family of
whitish moths, having their wings densely clothed with long, curly
hairs resembling bits of flannel. Their larvae have ten pairs of legs-
three pairs of true legs and seven pairs qf prolegs — a larger number
than in any other family of lepidopterous larvae. The cocoons have a
trap door, through which the moth escapes after it has passed its
metamorphosis.

The family Daleeridse is a small one, of no interest to the fruit-grower.

The family Epipyropidse is of interest to us from the fact that it is a
family of parasitic moths. Among all the vegetable pests of this order,

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— LEPIDOPTER A. 79

it is so pleasant to find one that does something toward redeeming its
reputation by being of some service in checking pests.

Of the family Zygsenidse but few species occur in the United States,
and none are destructive to fruit trees.

The family Chaleosiidse is represented by but a single insect, an
obscure moth known as Gingla later culde, found in Arizona.

The family Thyrididse is a small one, and consists of small moths
characterized by the presence of small white or yellowish translucent
spots on the wings.

The family Cossidse is of more interest to us, for in this we find some
of the most destructive of the moth family. To this belong the goat-
moths or carpenter-moths, as they are popularly known. In their larval
stages they live in the roots and trunks of trees and sometimes do great
damage to the tree which they infest. In some cases, in the East,
orchard trees have been killed in great numbers by the ravages of these
moths. They are said to remain in their larval stage for three years,
before they have attained their growth. They pass their transformation
in the burrows which they have eaten out in the wood, and when ready
for the change the larva forces itself partly out from the burrow. When
the moth has emerged, the empty pupa skin can be seen protruding
from the burrow. The species most common in California is Priono.rys-
tus robiix. It is a large gray moth, much resembling the sphinx-moth
in general appearance, and flies by night. They are destructive to
elms, locusts, and forest trees, but have not as yet been reported as doing
damage to fruit trees in our State.

In the family ^Eg-eriidse we have the clear-winged moths — a family
utterly unlike any other branch of the Lepidoptera, and many of the
members more resembling wasps than moths. They are of small size,
with slender bodies, and fly only by day and frequently in the bright-
est light. They are all borers, and among them are some of our most
destructive pests, the Western peach-root borer (Sanninoidea opal-
escens), the Eastern peach-root borer (S. exitiosa), the currant borer
(Alcathoe caudatum), and many others, being representative of
the family. Many of the matured insects are very beautiful, and most
of them are remarkable on account of their protective mimicry, resem-
bling, as they do, insects of different orders, especially bees, wasps, and
flies. This strong resemblance to stinging insects often protects mem-
bers of this family from danger to which their day-flying habits would
otherwise expose them. Yet, in spite of their threats of danger, which
are carried out in their acts as well as in their coloring, they are harm-
less, and it is all a mere bluff on their part to frighten their enemies.

80 ' CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The worst representative of this family which we have in this State is
the peach-root borer (Sanninoidea opalescens). The following descrip-
tion of the different stages of this insect will aid those who are troubled
with this pest in detecting it:

Egg. — The egg is very minute, not exceeding j- mm. in length, oval,
light brown in color, and, when seen through a lens, ornamented with
hexagonal sculpturing. The eggs are deposited on the bark of the tree,
at or near the surface of the ground; rarely they are laid high up on
the trunk or even in the crotches of the trees. This last phase is gen-
erally found in the grafted trees, where gummy exudations have occurred
and where grafting has somewhat soured the sap.

Larva. — The young larvaB, on hatching, are very active and imme-
diately burrow into the tree, generally entering the cracks in the bark

Female. -,:«

Pupa.
FIG. 72. Peach-root borer (Sanninoidea opalescens).

at or below the surface of the ground. Here they remain constantly
feeding on the bark, at first near the surface, surrounding themselves
with gum, or coagulated sap, and gradually enter the sapwood, enlarg-
ing their burrows as they increase in size. The full-grown larva is pale
yellow, about one inch long, tapering with a brown head. After attain-
ing its growth, the borer ascends in the burrow to or above the surface
of the ground, as the case may be, and begins to spin a cocoon.

Cocoon. — This is made up of a silken web mixed with castings and
earth glued together, and is of a brown color, from 1^ to 1^ inches long.

Pupa. — The pupa within the cocoon is shiny, light brown, with num-
erous spines on the abdomen. When about to emerge the pupa is
pushed out of the cocoon, and soon the adult moth emerges.

Moth. — To the novice this insect would appear more like a blue wasp
than a moth. The female differs so much from the male that they
might be taken for two distinct species. The female has bluish-black,
opaque front wings, while the hind wings are transparent, like those of
a wasp; the margin of both wings has a bluish-black fringe; antennae,
head, thorax, and abdomen are very dark steel blue, almost black; wing
expanse, li inches. The male has fore wings nearly transparent, with
upper margin and tips black; hind wings are transparent, like those of
female; the body is bluish black; the abdomen is much narrower than
that of female and more elongated; legs are black, with yellow tufts on
femur and tibia; wing expanse, 1^ inches.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — LEPIDOPTERA. 81

The family Pyralidse includes moths generally of small size, some so
small in fact as to be classed as micro-lepidoptera. It has been divided
into a great number of subfamilies, genera, and species, so that it would
be impossible in a limited space even to mention them all. It contains,
however, a number of'species injurious to plants, among them the leaf-
crumplers, leaf-rollers, case-bearers, and several fruit-worms.

In the family Pyralidse, and subfamily Galleriina?, we find that pest
of the bee men, the bee-moth (Galleria mellonella). This pest is
described by Prof. C. V. Riley as follows: "During the daytime these
moths remain quietly ensconced in some angle of the hive, but as night
approaches they become active, and the female uses her best endeavors
to get into the hive, her object being to deposit her eggs in as favorable
a place as possible. Wire gauze contrivances are of no avail to keep
her out, as she frequently commences flying before all the bees have
ceased their work. But even if she were entirely prevented from enter-
ing the hive, she could yet deposit her eggs on the outside, or, by means
of her extensive ovipositor, thrust them in between the slightest joint
or crack, and the young worms hatching from them would readily
make their way into the hive. The moment the worm is hatched, it
commences spinning a si] ken tube for its protection, and this tube is
enlarged as it increases in size. The worm cuts its channels right
through the comb, feeding on the wax, and destroying the young bees
on its way. When full-grown, it creeps into a corner of the hive, or
under some ledge at the bottom, and forms a tough, white cocoon of
silk mingled with its own black excrement. In due time the moth
emerges from this cocoon. A worm-infested hive may generally be
known by the discouraged aspect which the bees present, and by the
bottom board being covered with pieces of bee-bread mixed with the
black, gunpowder-like excrement of the worm. * * * If a hive is
very badly infested with the worms, it is better to drive out the bees
and secure what honey and wax there may be left than to preserve it
as a moth breeder to infest the apiary. If put into a new hive, the
bees may do something; and if they do not, there is no loss, as they
would have perished, finally, from the ravages of the worm."

The family Pterophoridse includes those graceful, elegant little moths
commonly known as plume-moths, from the fact that their wings are
divided in such a manner as to suggest feathers. Sixty species are
known in the United States. They are vegetable feeders, but do little
damage to fruit.

The family Tortrieidse is so named from its habit of rolling up the
leaves of plants upon which the insects feed, and on this account they
have received the common name of " leaf-rollers." It must be remem-
bered, however, that not all leaf-rollers belong to this family, nor are

6-E

82

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

'

FIG. 73. Codling-moth (Carpocapsa pomonella), showing
variations. All natural size.

all of its members leaf-rollers. The family includes a number of sub-
families, genera, and species. Many of them live in plants or burrow

into fruits or the stems
of plants, and in this
family we find that
most destructive of all
^^ f ruit pests, the codling-

moth (Carpocapsa po-
monella). This one
pest causes a loss to
the fruit-growers of
America running into
tens of millions of
dollars annually.
While the other mem-
bers of this family
are hurtful to plants, none of them, nor all together, have attained the
unenviable prominence of the codling-moth.

The family Yponomeutidse is of moderate size, containing about
sixty species in the United States. It is of little economic value.

The family Geleehiidae consists of small moths, many if not most of
them being injurious to vegetation. One of these, an introduced spe-
cies, by the way, is the potato-moth, which is becoming a very severe
pest in this State. In this family, too, is found the destructive peach-
twig borer (Anarsia lineatella). This pest, like all our worst insects'
was probably introduced into California from Japan, of which country
it seems to be a native.

The families Xylorietidse, (Eeophoridse, Blastobasidse and Elaehistidse
afe generally small families of small insects. Their different peculiar-
ities have caused them to be assigned to separate families, but, except to
the systematic entomologist, they are of little interest.

In the family Tineidse, however, we have some members which are
of direct interest to us. This is a very large family, generally of small •
moths, although some of them attain moderate size. These insects
have narrow wings bordered 'with a fringe, and some of them, although
-exceedingly small, are very beautiful. Some of the members of this
family are so minute that they attain their full growth and undergo
their metamorphosis within the tissue of the leaves in which they live.
Some of them, when they appear in great numbers, are very destructive.
When it is considered that the leaves of trees are often no thicker than
a sheet of paper, and that they consist of an upper and a lower surface,

—

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— DIPTER A. 83

or skin, and that on the fleshy part of the leaves, between these two
layers, these insects feed and live and pass through all their changes,
it will be understood how minute they, or some of them, are. It is in
this family, too, that we find that greatest
of all pests to the careful housewife, the
clothes-moth (Tineola bisselliella) . This
is not the only culprit, however, for while
to the disgusted housewife, who finds her
woolens eaten full of holes, there is but
one clothes-moth, the entomologist recog-
nizes several species, ail guilty of like
destruction. Among these are the case-
bearing clothes-moth (T. pellionella), the tube-building clothes-moth
(T. tapetzella), and the naked clothes-moth (T. bisselliella), mentioned
above.

The family Hepialidse is a small one, composed of large or moderate
sized moths. Its members are not sufficiently numerous to be of
importance economically.

The Mieroptepygidse. The last family of this branch of the order
Lepidoptera is one of little importance to our readers. This family is
remarkable only for the reason that it reveals certain anatomical
features which are thought to point out an early connection between
this and other orders.

Order DIPTERA.

(Two-winged Flies.)

Like that of the other orders of insects, the name of this order is com-
posed of two Greek words, dis. two. and pteron, wing. As before stated,
the wing peculiarities have been taken by entomologists to divide the
orders of insects, and in this order most of the members have but two
wings, while in all others, as a rule, there are four wings present. But
even to this rule there are exceptions, as we have shown, for in most of
the orders some of the members are wingless, while in some, as in the
male of scale insects, there are two-winged insects. But the rule works
in the Diptera to this extent, that most of its members have two wings
and no more. There is in them what appears to be the rudiments of
another pair, in a pair of little knobbed hooks, known as halteres,
which occupy the place of hinder wings in the members of other orders.
These halteres are present even in those few species in 'which the fore
wings are entirely absent.

As with the word "bug/' so with the word "fly"; it is wrongly used.
To the average person, either of these terms may mean almost any kind
of an insect, the latter, of course, being applied to insects with wings

84 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

which are not butterflies or moths. The name "fly," however, is only
properly applied to members of the order Diptera.

Considering the number of individuals and the number of species,
flies very greatly exceed any other order. They are common every-
where, in the houses, fields, swamps, and plains. Their members swarm
in every place ever penetrated by man. Within this order are some of
the most serious pests with which we are troubled, and they attack
alike our animal and vegetable products, and man himself suffers more
from them than from any other of the orders. We can escape in some
manner our insect enemies in the other orders, but not always the
Dipterons.

In this order we have the mosquito family, some members of which
spread disease and death in the germs of yellow fever and malaria.
It may be safely asserted that this family alone is the source of greater
suffering, hardship, and even death to mankind than any other one
cause. This order, too, furnishes the dreaded fruit-flies, one of the most
destructive pests with which the fruit-grower has to cope, and which
fortunately has not yet obtained a foothold in California. The disrep-
utable botfly; the sheep-tick, a wingless form; the Hessian-fly, which
causes a loss to the farmers of the United States of $100,000,000
annually; the ox warble fly, which causes a loss as high as $40,000,000
on hides, and others too numerous to mention, but most injurious to a
greater or less extent, all belong to this order of two-winged flies. At
the same time, there are many of its members which are friendly to
man and which give us some of our most valuable beneficial insects.
Among these are the Tachnid flies, one of which is the principal check
on the locusts, and without whose work California would suffer severely
every season from the locust pest. The Syrphus flies are another of
our friendly families which feed upon the aphids and serve largely to
keep them down.

As indicating the vast numbers of this order, it may be stated that
there are already over 40,000 described species, and it is estimated that
this number would be increased to 350,000 if all the species were known.
All the members of this order are suctorial insects, and their mouth
parts are formed to this end. The methods of different species in pro-
curing their food, however, differ widely. Some simply absorb fluids,
or reduce their food to a fluid state, in order to absorb it, as with the
house-fly; others are provided with a piercing beak, with which they
are enabled to drill a hole into their victim and suck his blood, as with
the mosquito. • Some absorb the juices of vegetables, others of animals,
and others again have no choice but to take whatever comes handiest.
The larvae of flies are known as maggots. They are usually footless
grubs, and pass through a perfect transformation. In some cases the
eggs hatch within the body of the female, and1 the young maggots are

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— DIPTER A. 85

produced alive, and, in other cases even, the female gives birth to the
young in the pupa form. As a rule, however, there are the usual well-
defined periods of the insect life. With many of the flies, as in the case
of meat-flies, the eggs hatch very soon after deposition, and the in-
sect passes through all its changes in a very short time. In this we
see a wise provision of nature, which arranges that the fly shall pass
through its young stage and reach perfection while its food is available.
If it were to remain long in its larval stage, its food supply would
putrefy, and dry up before the insect matured, and the young fly would
die of starvation.

Flies are adapted to various conditions, and breecl under all circum-
stances. Some are aquatic, as the mosquitoes; some subterranean, as
the crane-flies. Many breed in dirt and filth, and some swarm in
cesspools, as the rat-tailed larva? — the young of a Syrphus fly — and we
have seen masses of maggots crawling in the crude oil running from
the wells, and apparently well satisfied with conditions which would
have knocked out any other form of insect life.

One of the most terrible of the dipterous pests is the so-called screw-
worm (Compsomyia macellaria) . This is a common species throughout
a large portion of our country, and ordinarily feeds upon dead or
decaying vegetable matter. Under some circumstances, however, it
attacks living animals, and in the Southern and Southwestern states
occasionally becomes a terrible pest. On such occasions it lays its eggs
on man or animals wherever there is the slightest trace of a wound,
bruise, or offensive discharge of any kind. The larva? bore directly
into the living flesh, causing intense pain as well as suppurating sores.
Living larvae are produced, as well as eggs almost ready to hatch, and
in any opening from which there is a discharge of any kind eggs may
be deposited. Sleeping humans with an offensive breath, or with a
fetid discharge from the nostrils or mouth, have had eggs laid at these
points, and .larva? have made their way into the head in some cases,
causing the death of the individual. Eggs have also been laid in the
far- of uncleanly people, and the channels and passages of these organs
have been penetrated into the head and destroyed. Animals are
troubled in the same way. and where the insects are abundant their
attacks often become fatal. The following, which appeared in a San
Bernardino paper several years ago, gives a very vivid account of the
work of this dreaded insect: "George Madden, a Western Union Tele-
graph lineman, was brought to the county hospital from the desert
afflicted with a most loathsome complaint, actually being eaten up
alive by thousands of minute worms which have hatched from the eggs
laid in his nostrils while he was asleep. A description of his condition
is too revolting to be printable. Madden states that three weeks ago
he was employed by the telegraph company at Los Angeles and was

86 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

sent to the Arizona desert. At night he was considerably pestered by
gnats, but had no idea of the terrible danger to which he had been
exposed until a week later, when he was seized with dizziness. . He was
taken to Needles, where it was discovered that the gnats had deposited
eggs in his nostrils and that they were hatching. The poor fellow was
brought here, where everything possible is being done to allay his
sufferings, but no hope is entertained for his recovery. This is the
second case of the kind treated here."

The Diptera are divided into two suborders, the Orthorrhapha, in
which the insects make their escape from the pupa case either through
a T"snaPed slit near the head, or in fewer species through a crosswise
slit between the seventh and eighth abdominal segments. The second
suborder is the Cyclorrhapha, in which the insect, after passing its meta-
morphosis, escapes from the pupa case through an opening made at the
head part of it. These two suborders are divided into families, accord-
ing to Comstock's classification, which we have adopted, as follows:

Suborder ORTHORRHAPHA.

1. PsychodidaB, the Moth-like flies.

2. Tipulidse, the Crane-flies.

3. BlepharoceridaB, the Net-winged Midges.

4. DixidaB, the Dixa-midges.

5. Culicida?, the Mosquitoes.

6. Chironomidse, the Midges.

7. Mycetophilidae, the Fungus-gnats.

8. CecidomyiidaB, the Gall-gnats.

9. RhyphidaB, the False Crane-flies.

10. OrphnephilidaB, the Solitary-midge.

11. Bibionidse, the March-flies.

12. Simuliidse, the Black-flies.

13. TabanidaB, the Horse-flies.

14. Stratiomyiida?, the Soldier-flies.

15. Leptidse, the Snipe-flies (in part).

16. Acroceridas, the Small-headed flies.

17. NemistrinidaB, the Tangle-veined flies.

18. Asilidse, the Robber-flies.

19. Midaidse, the Midas-flies.

20. ApioceridaB, the Apiocerids.

21. Bombylida?, the Bee-flies.

22. TherevidaB, the Stiletto-flies.

23. Scenopinidse, the Window-flies.

24. EmpididaB, the Dance-flies.

25. DolichopodidaB, the Long-legged flies.

26. LonchopteridaB, the Spear-winged flies.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — DIPTERA. 87

Few of the families of this suborder are of interest to us from an
economic viewpoint, as most of those mentioned have no direct bearing
upon our welfare; they may, therefore, be dismissed with a bare men-
tion. Some, however, are of more importance, as among them we find
some of our most beneficial insects, our friends, as well as some that
are very destructive, or, at least, very injurious to us.

The family Psyehodidse consists of small flies very much resembling
moths in appearance, and are often found on the under side of leaves.

The family Tipulidse includes the crane-flies, sometimes popularly
called daddy-long-legs. The larvae of these flies live in the ground and
are very tough and wiry, resembling wire worms in this respect. They
live on grass and grain roots and may become very destructive. Some-
times they are so numerous as to kill out lawns in which they have
become established. There are a large number of species, ranging in
size from a gigantic insect, an inch and a half in length, with a spread
of leg several inches in diameter, to some not larger than mosquitoes,
which they greatly resemble in general structure. This family is
representative, so far as the structure is concerned, of a large group,
the Midges, which resemble them. In these the bodies are long and
tapering, the legs generally very long and usually widely spread, so that
the insect has the appearance of walking on stilts.

The family Blepharoeepidse. the net-winged midges, includes several
families of aquatic insects, somewhat resembling mosquitoes in form,
but different from them in wing venation. They breed in swiftly
running water, and in some species there are two forms of females, one
of which is blood-sucking, while the other lives by sipping nectar.

The family Dixidse is another family of midges also resembling mos-
quitoes, and differing from the former family in wing venation. m

The family Culieidse is one alto-
gether too well known, as it is in
this that we find the whole abom-
inable race of mosquitoes. This is
not a very large family, although
it is perhaps one of the worst ene-
mies with which the animal world,
including man himself, has to con-
tend. Members of this family are
found the world over. In some
sections of the tropics they are so
bad as to render the places infested

_ . FIG. 75. Adult female of Ciilcx pipi' »*.

by them uninhabitable, and miners enlarged. (Miss. Agr. EXP. station.)

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

FIG. 76. Female of

in far northern Alaska
report them as the se-
verest plague of that
section. Explorers
have not yet penetrated
sufficiently far to the
north or south to es-
cape the mosquito.
Every one dreads this
pest. Their droning
sound in the still hours
of the night always
brings with it a feeling

enlarged. (Miss. Q| irritation and dread)

and the poisonous

wounds inflicted by them are well known to everybody. It has now
been definitely proven that the bite of the common mosquito, Culex
irritans, with all its
pain and irritation, is
the lesser evil inflicted
by the members of this
family, for there is now
no doubt that they are
active agents in the
spread of malaria and
yellow fever, and per-
haps of other malig-
nant contagious dis-
eases. To the non-ento-
mologist a mosquito is

FKi

At left, head of male Cttlc.r: at right, head of female
Culex, enlarged. (Miss. Agr. Exp. Station.)

a mosquito, but to the entomologist there are numerous species included
under this title, all of varying degrees of badness, ranging from bad to

worse and worst, the
plagued pipens, which
annoy us so, not being
among the worst. The
malaria-spreading
mosquito is known as
Anopheles maculipen-
/r/.s, while that to which
we owe the dissemina-
tion of yellow fever
goes by the name of
Stegomyia fasciata. It
would seem that the

FIG. 78. At left, head of Anopheles, showing appendages: at
right, head of Culex, showing appendages Enlarged.
(Miss. Agr. Exp. Station.)

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— DIPTERA. 89

blood-sucking propensity of the mosquito family is an acquired taste, for
while all that can, absorb our blood with that of other warm-blooded
animals, they breed in countless billions in swamps and marshes, far
from any warm-blooded animals, and there they live and die without
tasting blood.

The mosquito breeds in water, and the so-called wigglers" found in
stagnant pools are the young form or larvae. While aquatic in their
mode of life, these larvae are air-breathing, and have to come to the
surface for a supply of air. For this reason they frequently come to
the top, stick out their breathing apparatus, which is a sort of tail-like
tuft, and after absorbing the supply of air, disappear in the depths of
their breeding-pool again. It is for the reason that the larvae are com-
pelled to come to the surface to breathe that pouring coal oil over stag-
nant pools will keep them down and is the most effective remedy for
this evil.

The family Chironomidse are the true midges, small mosquito-like
insects. They differ from the former family in their wing markings
and habits, not being addicted to blood sucking. Sometimes they are
so numerous as to be annoying, but otherwise they are neither good
nor bad.

The family Myeetophilidse consists of small to medium insects, gen-
erally resembling the mosquito in structure. The larvae live upon
fungi and decaying vegetable matter.

The family Ceeidomyiidse, the gall-gnats, are small insects, including
the smallest of this order. Their common name indicates their habits.
Many of them are very serious pests to the farmer, for in this family
are many which attack crops, as the clover-leaf midge and the wheat
midge, both of which do great damage to crops, and here we have that
worst of all grain pests, the Hessian-fly. It is impossible to accurately
estimate the amount of damage actually inflicted upon our farmers
annually by this pest, but it runs into the hundreds of millions. For-
tunately the wheat-growers of California have not been troubled much
by this insect, due, probably, to the habit of burning over old stubble in
the fields, by which means the eggs are destroyed.

The Rhyphidse, the false crane-flies; the Orphnephilidse, the solitary-
midges; the Bibionidse, the March-flies; and the Simuliidse, the black-
flies, are all families of little importance except to the entomologist.

The family Tabanidse includes the horse-flies. These are well known
and are one of the worst pests of our domestic animals during the
summer season, when they sometimes attack horses in swarms and
cause them much trouble. These insects have such sharp mandibles

90 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

that they can pierce the skin as soon as they alight, and man himself
often suffers from their attacks. In their larval, as well as in their
mature, form, these insects are carnivorous.

The family Stratiomyiidse, or soldier-flies, is so named from the
bright-colored stripes borne by some members. These flies are common
in the vicinity of swamps, and are both carnivorous and vegetarian.

The family Leptidse embraces the snipe-flies, so called from the fan-
cied resemblance to those birds, due to a lengthened abdomen. The
members of this family are predaceous, and frequent low shrubbery
and grass. The larva? live in the earth, decaying wood, and sometimes
in water, and in this form they are always predaceous.

The family Aeroeeridse are the small-headed flies, peculiar-looking
insects, in which the head is disproportionately small in comparison
with their bodies.

The family Nemistrinidse are medium-sized insects, some of them
resembling horse-flies.

The family Asilidse includes the robber-flies, of which there are so
many species, and all are predaceous, preying upon other insects.
They live largely upon moths, and in their larval form prey upon the
larvae of beetles. They are not at all discriminating in their choice of
food, however, and attack many insects. They are mostly large flies,
some species being an inch or more in length. Usually they are long,
with a sharp, tapering abdomen, although some species are short and
stout and somewhat resemble a bumblebee in form. From their preda-
ceous habits and their voracious appetites, they may be classed as bene-
ficial insects.

The Midaidse, the midas-flies, which resemble the robber-flies some-
what in appearance; the Bombylidse, the bee-flies, in which family
there are many which strongly resemble bees in color and markings;
the Therevidse, or stiletto-flies, are all families of little importance
except to the professional entomologist.

The Seenopinidse, or window-flies, are so called from their habit of
congregating in the windows. They are small insects with a long,
slender body, much sharper than the common house-fly, and in the
larval form are sometimes found under carpets and in decaying wood.

The last family in this suborder is the Lonehopteridse, or spear-
winged flies, and one of little interest to us.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — DIPTERA. 91

Suborder CYCLORRHAPHA.

The second suborder into which the Diptera are divided is the Cyclor-
rhapha. which includes all those flies which make their escape from the
pupa case, or larval skin, by a round opening formed in the top by the
imago pushing out its ^ead, the first suborder which we have been con-
sidering escaping through a slit made in the back.

1. Syrphidse, the Syrphus-flies.

2. Pipunculidse, the Big-eyed flies.

3. Platypezidse, the Flat-footed flies.

4. Phoridse, the Humpbacked flies.
•5. Conopidse, the Thick-head flies.

6. (Estridse, the Botflies.

7. Muscidse, the Muscids.

8. Hippoboscidse, the Louse-flies.

9. Nycteribiida?, the Bat-ticks.
10. Braulidse, the Bee-louse.

The family first to be considered here is the Syrphidse, in which we
find several beneficial species. This is a very large family and includes
over 700 species so far named and described. They are moderate-sized
insects and are great mimics, many of them strongly resembling bees,
wasps, and other insects. In fact, the Eristalis tenax, or drone-fly, so
strongly resembles the honey-bee that it is frequently mistaken for it,
the principal difference being in the fact that it is a dipterous insect,
while the bee has four wings. Another difference is that this insect
has no sting, although its strong resemblance to the honey-bee admon-
ishes the ignorant to avoid it. The larva of this fly lives in cesspools
and decomposing filth of any kind. It is provided with a long breath-
ing tube, which is a continuation of the abdomen, and it is commonly
known from this appendage as the " Rat-tailed larva."

A common member of this family is a black and yellow banded
insect, much resembling a yellowjacket, which may be seen hovering
motionless in the air over flowers on a summer day, making a sudden
dart occasionally in one or another direction. The larva of this is pre-
daceous on aphids, and is one of the many beneficial insects to which
we owe so much.

The larvae of the different species of Syrphus-flies have various feed-
ing habits; some, as stated above, are predaceous on aphids; some feed
on decaying animal and vegetable matter; some are found in the nests
of ants, and others in the nests of bumblebees and wasps.

The Pipuneulidse, or big-eyed flies, are remarkable mainly for the
disproportionate size of their eyes, which seem to swell the head beyond
the size of the body. They frequent plants and are parasitic on bugs.

92 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The Phoridse, or humpbacked flies, is a family of small insects, the
larvae of which are parasitic.

The Conopidse is a family of large-headed flies, any of which in their
mature form resemble wasps in general appearance, having the abdo-
men elongated and connected with the thorax by a slender pedicel.
They are common among flowers, and their larvae are parasitic on
bumblebees and wasps.

The family (Estridse consists of the botflies. The members of this
family are medium to large in size, of heavy build, resembling bees in
general structure, and the family contains some of the worst pests
which our four-footed animals have to struggle against. In this family
is found the botfly of the horse, the warble of the ox, the sheep gadfly,

and their kindred, which, in their
larval stage, live upon the intes-
tines or muscles of quadrupeds.

The reproduction of these insects
is one of the freaks of nature, and
is accomplished in the most round-
about manner. The female of the

ir^r M"*uei horse botfly lays her e^s on the

legs or other handy portions of the
horse, and so well does the animal know his enemy that horses will run
in terror from them. The eggs are small yellowish bodies, furnished
with hooks, by which they are attached to the hairs of the horse,
usually the lower portion of the legs. It is wonderful, too, with what
rapidity a fly will attach her eggs to the selected spot. We have
watched them in action, and seen them dart at the spot and away
again, not even resting, but in the short contact an egg was securely
placed. The eggs are taken into the mouth of the horse, which licks
itself, and the moisture and warmth cause them to hatch at once. The
irritation occasioned by them causes the animal to swallow them and
then they attach themselves to the coating of the stomach, where they
remain until they have attained their larval growth, which requires
eight or ten months. They are then passed, and fall to the ground,
going through their pupa stage underground.

The ox warble is also taken into the stomach of the animal, but
works its way between the muscles until it reaches the back, where, just
beneath the skin, it grows rapidly until it has reached its full larval
growth, when it enlarges an air hole, which it had already made in the
skin, and passes out, dropping to the ground and going through its
transformation underground.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE— DIPTERA.

93

The family Mus-
cidse is the largest
of the whole order,
including about
one third of all the
species of Diptera
known. The com-
mon house-fly be-
longs to this family.
Comstock sepa-
rates this family
into two divisions,
the Caly pirate Mus-
cidse and the Aca-
ly pirate Muscidae,
and under each of
these divisions
there are several
subfamilies.

FIG. 80. Formia regina. A, larva; B, puparium; C. imago.

The subfamily Taehininse is one of the most beneficial of the order
Diptera. The subfamily includes a number of species, several of which
are found in California. In their larval form they are parasitic, and

FIG. 81. Red-tailed tachina fly (Winthemia U-pmtulatd), a parasite of the array-
worm, a, fly, natural size; 6, fly, enlarged; c, army worm, natural size,
upon which eggs have been laid ; d, parasitized army worms, enlarged. (After
Slingerland.)

lay, their eggs upon the larvae of other insects, largely on caterpillars,
upon which the female fly lays her eggs. These eggs soon hatch out
small footless grubs, or maggots, which at once proceed to bore their way

94

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

into the body of their host, where they remain until they have attained
their growth. We have often been disappointed when, after caring for
a choice specimen of caterpillar, until it passed into the chrysalis state,
and were watching anxiously for it to come out, to have a small hand-
ful of Tachnid flies reward us for our pains.

In California one species of Tachininas is a most effective check upon
the locust pest. This is the Masicera pachytyli Sk., and where there is
a flight of grasshoppers these flies will be found in countless numbers,
and the grasshopper which escapes them is rare. It is the natural
enemy of the grasshopper, feeding most voraciously on the adipose
tissues of its victim, but avoiding the vital parts. It feeds in the
thorax and abdomen, and frequently three or four may be found in a
single grasshopper. A grasshopper infested by these maggots soon
shows signs of feebleness, ceases feeding, and dies in a short time, the
maggots escaping often before the death of the host insect. The
maggots, after extricating themselves from the grasshopper, enter the
ground to pupate, and emerge in five or six days as perfect flies.

There is no more effective check upon cutworms and other lepidop-
terous pests than the Tachina flies.

The subfamilies Sareophaginse, the flesh-flies, and Dexiinse, the
nimble-flies, are of less importance to us.

The subfamily Museinse, however, embracing the house-flies, and
other species equally obnoxious, forces itself more upon our consider-
ation. The house-fly
(Musca domestica) is
known by every one
the world over. It is
a highly sociable in-
sect, and clings to
mankind with a te-
nacity more to be
repudiated than ad-
mired. Its breeding
places are around
stables, and a female
will lay from 120 to
1BO eggs. The larvae
attain their growth in
from five to seven
days, pass through
their changes in an-
other five to seven,
and then make a line
for our houses. Keep-

FIG. 82. Screw-worm fly (Compsomyia maceltaria), enlarged,
a, adult fly; b, larva. (After Francis.)

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — DIPTERA.

95

ing the stables clean, and removing all rubbish from around the house
will do much to prevent them.

The stable-fly (Stomoxys calcitrans) resembles the house-fly, but its
mouth parts are made for biting, while the house-fly is a sucker. Severe
bites, and sometimes poisonous ones, are inflicted by this insect, for
which the house-fly gets the blame.

The horn-fly (Hwmatobia serrata) is another dipterous pest of
cattle.

The screw-worm (Compsomyia macellaria), to which we have before
alluded, belongs also in this subfamily; as does the blowfly (Caliphora
i-omitnrici). the largest of the common species, with a deep blue, almost
black body, always coming in swarms when there is an odor of cooking
cabbage or decomposing meat.

The subfamily Anthomyiinse is a very large one, including the cab-
bage-maggot, onion-fly, and many others which infest vegetation.
Some of its members are parasitic on other insects, and others infest
decaying vegetation. Some of these resemble house-flies, but differ
from them in structure.

The second division of the Muscidse is the Aealyptrate Museidse, and
thi> includes the fruit-flies, the dreaded Tryp.eta hi dens among others.
Must of the flies
belonging to the
subfamily Trypet-

inae are small, al- l^jj^r J /[\

though some of "2fillfcr -/•! \

them are at least
medium in size.
They are charac-
terized by their pe-
culiar wing mark-
ings, which are
shaded, mottled,
banded, or striped.
They vary in color
from light brown
to nearly black, and the family is well represented in the United States.
It must not be supposed that because T. ludens, T.pomonella, and several
others of our fruit pests belong to this family, all are pests on fruit.
It is true that most of the fruit-flies belong here, but a very large
number of the species live in galls which they form in the stems of wild
plants, and are not noticeably injurious.

The cheese-maggot (Piophila casei) belongs in this group, as do also
the vinegar or pomace flies — small, yellowish flies, common about
decaying fruit.

FIG

Trypeta acidusa. Puparium at right, adult at left, greatly
enlarged. (After Howard.)

96 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The family Hippoboseidse includes the louse-flies. Some of these are
winged and some wingless. They are parasitic upon birds and mam-
mals. The best known member of this family is the sheep-tick, a
wingless species, which lives upon sheep.

The family Nyeteribiidse, or bat-ticks, are, as their name implies,
parasitic on bats. They, too, are a wingless species.

The family Braulidse includes the bee-louse, a minute wingless
creature, infesting the honey-bee.

Order SIPHONAPTERA.

This is an order erected to take in the fleas. These insects have
many peculiarities in common with flies, and at one time were consid-
ered as degraded Dipterons. The order contains but a single family,
Pulieidse. There are a number of species, however, afflicting various

animals. The dog and cat
have their special fleas, and
man another, the latter being
the Pulex irritans, a descrip-
^on °f which is not necessary
for California readers.

The Chigoe, a small species,
common in warm climates, is
sometimes a very serious pest.
The female has a habit of

FIG. 84. Cat and dog flea (Ctenocephal as canis). A, larva burrowing into the flesh, be-

Tduitr,2KZCkel d'Herculais); *' adult" Length of tween the toes of the natives,

or others, when opportunity

allows. In this position, with her abdominal end protruding, she swells
with eggs to the size of a pea, when the eggs are obtruded and shed on
the ground. Unless removed, these pests sometimes cause great
suffering.

Order COLEOPTERA.

(The Beetles.)

The Coleoptera, or beetles, are, perhaps, not so familiar to the general
observer as the butterflies and moths, although they outnumber them
in species two to one, for they are generally obscure in their habits in
both larval and adult stages, and when seen are usually avoided on
account of their unfriendly, or, in some cases, disagreeable aspect. But
they are so numerous, over 12,000 species being known, and so easily col-
lected and preserved, that the amateur collector of insects is attracted
to them nearly as much as to the Lepidoptera.

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE — COLEOPTERA. 97

Beetles are characterized by the possession of a pair of horny wing-
covers, called elytra, which meet in a straight line down the back, and
beneath which is a single pair of membranous wings. They possess
biting mouth parts, and the metamorphosis is complete. The earwigs
are the only insects that might be mistaken for beetles, but as they pos-
sess a pair of pincers-like appendages at the end of the body, they may
be readily distinguished from them.

The name Coleoptera is derived from the Greek coleos, a sheath, and
pteron, a wing. The name refers to the sheath-like structure of the
elytra, which were formerly believed to be modified wings, but which are
now known to be homologous to the plates, or paraptera, which exist
at the bases of the wings of the lower orders of insects. The true wings
are membranous, and are efficient organs of flight in most species.
When at rest they are folded beneath the elytra. In those species
which have no true wings, the elytra serve only as a protection to the
soft abdomen. The mouth parts are evenly proportioned, no part being
over-developed at the expense of others, as in the Lepidoptera or
Hymenoptera. The upper lip, or labrum, is usually distinct; the upper
pair of jaws, or mandibles, are strong and fitted for seizing or gnawing;
the lower jaws, or maxillae, are composed of several distinct pieces, and
bear prominent palpi; the lower lip, or labium, is also complicated in
structure, and bears prominent palpi. The antennae of beetles are
extremely varied in form, being serrate, clavate, momliform, or irregular,
as the case may be. The tarsi, or feet, have from three to five joints,
the last joint usually terminating in a pair of claws.

Since Coleoptera possess no easy means of identification, entomol-
ogists have had to separate groups and species by means of obscure
specific differences in the structure of organs and parts of the body.
The antennae, mouth parts, and sclerites or plates of the body are usu-
ally employed, but such a mass of technical terminology has, of necessity,
piled up on this account that the ordinary student of Coleoptera is
much mystified.

The eggs of beetles are laid where the larvae, upon hatching, will find
an abundance of food suited to their needs. It may be on leaves, twigs,
decaying logs, carrion, fresh water, or underground. The larvae are
known as grubs, wireworms, water-tigers, and the like. They usually
possess six thoracic legs (some species have more), biting mouth parts,
and simple eyes. The larval life lasts from a few weeks in some species
to three years in others. After several molts they change into pupae,
either underground or in or on the food, using the last larval skin as a
pupa case, or constructing a rough cocoon of earth and bits of wood
and vegetable matter.

Only such of the eighty families as possess especial interest or eco-
nomic importance can be treated, even briefly, in a short discussion.

7-E

98 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The order is divided into two primary groups or suborders, Coleoptera
genuina and Rhyncophora. Coleoptera genuina includes the typical
beetles, with the mouth parts all present, and the head not elongated
into a beak or rostrum. In the Rhyncophora, or snout beetles, the head
is elongated, the labrum is indistinct, and the palpi are reduced to
small processes. These two suborders are further divided into sections,
tribes, families, genera, and species.

Suborder COLEOPTERA GENUINA. Section PENTAMERA.

The beetles in the section Pentamera all have five tarsal segments in
all the feet. The Adephaga, one of the four tribes in this section, are
the carnivorous beetles, and embrace four important families.

The members of the family Cieindelidse are characterized by their
metallic colors with light markings on the wing-covers, their graceful
forms, rapidity of movement, and alert habits. They are commonly
seen running and flying swiftly about sandy, sunny
places. Both larvae and adults are noted for their
rapacity and ferocity, and these traits, combined with
the curious markings on the elytra, have given them the
name of tiger-beetles. The larvae of tiger-beetles are
repulsive in appearance, possessing large heads, which
are bent at right angles downwards from the body and
furnished with immense jaws and sprawling legs. They
live in the sand in vertical burrows several inches deep,
and in these they lie in wait ready to grasp any unwary

lnS6Ct tlmt COmeS within their reach' T° keeP them-

selves from being pulled out by a larger insect than
themselves, they possess two strong small hooks on the back of the fifth
body segment. The pupal stage is passed in the burrow, also in the
last larval skin. The tiger-beetles, especially the larvse, are beneficial
to the fruit-grower, as they devour quantities of injurious caterpillars.

The Carabidse are a family of flat, smooth beetles, usually shining
black, greenish or brownish in color, with small heads, prominent
slender antennae, sharp mandibles, clubbed antennae and conspicuous
eyes. They are active and swift runners, ready to bite when caught.
Most of them hide by day under boards, stones and the like, seldom
taking to flight, and hunting their prey at night. The larvae of many
species live in the ground, where they destroy quantities of burrowing
insects. The pupal stage is passed in rough cells in the earth, the
emerging adults pushing their way to the surface.

The "searcher" or "caterpillar hunter," Calasoma scrutator, is one of
the most familiar and beneficial of the Carabids. It is especially

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — COLEOPTER A. 99

destructive to tent-caterpillars, climbing the trees at night and feeding
on them. Other species are predaceous on cankerworms and cutworms.
The bombardier-beetles (genus Bruchina) possess an organ at the
tip of the abdomen by which when disturbed they spurt out, "with a
popping sound and puff of smoke," an ill-smelling, ¥

acrid fluid. Harpalus is a large genus, any species V

of which destroys large numbers of the larvae of the
codling-moth and plum-curculios.

The Dytiseidse are a family of carnivorous water-
beetles of some three hundred species, common in all
our streams and ponds, many of them from one to
two inches long and quite conspicuous. They
possess a single pair of eyes, long, slender antennae, FIG
are flatly convex in shape and brown or black in
color; the swimming hind legs are long, broad, and heavily fringed
with hairs, and their air supply under water is carried in a bubble
under the elytra, held in by means of fine hairs. The larvae are long
and slender, and on account of their voracity are called water-tigers.
They breathe through a pair of spiracles at the top of the body, coming
to the surface frequently for the purpose. The pupal stage is passed in
a rough cocoon in the bank of the stream or pond.

The Gyrinidse, or whirligigs, are the small, metallic, steely black
beetles seen swimming in circles on the surface of ponds and still pools.
They are peculiarly characterized by the possession of compound eyes-
on each side of the head, which are distinctly divided into two parts by
the sharp lateral margins of the head. They are of slight economic
value, though destroying some mosquito larvae.

Tribe Clavieornia.

This tribe comprises those beetles which have clubbed antennae.

The family Hydrophilidse are the " water-scavengers," usually black
in color, though some have orange or red markings along the margins,
convex above, flattened below, smooth and polished, and possessing
short antennae, which are clavate or clubbed. Certain of the smaller
species are small, and have a rough body wall, and crawl on the bottom
of ponds and streams instead of swimming, and still others are land
forms. One species, Hydrophilus triangularis, is often seen flying about
electric lights. All live on decaying matter, but are of slight economic
importance.

100

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

FIG. 87. Hydrophilus triangularis. Natural size.

The family Staphylinidae, or rove-beetle family, is a large and widely
distributed group, its members being characterized by the possession of
short, leathery wing-covers, which leave the abdomen exposed. They
live in decaying animal or vegetable matter, excrement, or in flowers.
In the spring, certain tiny flower-inhabiting forms take
to flight in great swarms, get in the eyes of travelers
and become very annoying on account of their acrid
body-fluids.

FIG. 88. Rove-
beetle (Staphi-
linid sp.).

The Silphidse, or "burying-beetle" family, are found
on carrion and in fungi. The antennae are terminated
by a short spherical club, in which are the very sensi-
tive organs of smell, and the wing-covers are slightly
shortened. The thick-bodied beetles, black marked with

red, and with the habit of digging under small animals until they are

buried, belong to the genus Necrophorus, and are the burying-beetles

proper.

The genus Silpha, or roving carrion-beetles, are short, broad, flat,

black in color, and have longitudinally grooved elytra.

The Cueujidse are a family of small beetles, light brown in color, flat
and narrow in shape, well fitted for their habitat under the bark of
trees. One species, Silvanus surnamensis, the saw-toothed grain-beetle,
infests stored grain and dried food products of all sorts.

The Dermestidse are the beetles commonly known as the buffalo-
moths and carpet-beetles. They are small, stout, oval forms with weak
legs, and feed in all stages on stored animal and vegetable products,
dried insect specimens, furs, feathers, stuffed animals, and on cheese

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — COLEGPTEP A. _ 101

and dried meats. Among the worst pests in this family are Anthrenus
scrophularixj the carpet-beetles, known in the larval stage as the buffalo-
moth; A. varius and A. museorum, the museum pests; and Dermestes
lardarius, the larder-beetles.

The family Parnidse are generally known as "water-pennies," on
account of the flat, crustacean-like larvae, which cling to stones. The
adults are non-swimming, but crawl about on submerged objects.

Tribe Serrieornia.

This tribe is composed of beetles with slender, serrated, saw-toothed
antennae.

The Buprestidse is an important Serricorn family, both economically
and numerically, its members being commonly known as the metallic
wood-borers. These beetles have a compact, elongate body, short, ser-
rate antennae; the head is deeply inserted in the
prothorax, and they are always metallic and iri-
descent in their coloration. Their larvae are flat-
headed, legless, tadpole-shaped wood-borers, making
broad, shallow galleries and chambers under the
bark of trees.

The apple-tree borer (Chrysobothris femorala) is
a greenish-black beetle, half an inch long, which
lays its eggs on the bark of apple, peach, plum, and several forest trees.
The newly hatched larvae bore through the bark to the sapwood, where
they burrow around and often girdle the tree. The Sinuate pear-borer
is another very serious pest in the Eastern States.

The Elateridse resemble the Buprestidae in shape, but their lack of
metallic colors, being usually blackish, brownish, or grayish, and the

FIG. 89. Flat-headed ap-
ple-tree borer (Chryso-
bothris femorata).

FIG. 90. Click-beetles (Elatrids)
and larva (wireworm).

FIG 91. Firefly (Photinus pyralis). a, larva; 6, pupa
in underground cell; c, adult; d-f, enlarged de-
tails of larva.

backward projecting angles of the prothorax, readily distinguish them
from that family. On account of their power of springing up in the
air when laid down backwards, they are called click-beetles. The larvae
are the "wireworms," and are long, slender, slightly flattened, and

102 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

leathery in texture. The larvae live underground, and require two or
three years to complete their growth. They are very destructive to
sowed grain, root crops, meadow land and strawberries.

The insects commonly called fireflies are not flies at all, but beetles
belonging to the family Lampyridse. Only a few species are luminous,
however, and these belong mainly to the genus Photinus. (See Fig. 91.)

The soldier-bugs are diurnal members of this family, of the genera
Chauliognathus and Telephorus. T. bilineatus does much good in the
Eastern States, as it eats quantities of plum-curculio larvae.

The family Cleridse are called "checker-beetles," or "flower-beetles,"
from the conspicuous black, white or red checkered markings on the
body, and from their habit of living on flowers. The antennae are
serrate or slightly clubbed, and from the slenderness of the body and
their habits of running swiftly about they look decidedly ant-like.
With one exception, those of the genus Necrobia,the larvae are all pred-
atory on the larvae of wood-boring insects and in bees' nests. Necrobia
rufipes, the red-legged ham-beetle, lives on ham and other stored animal
products; but, on the whole, the family is a very useful one.

The Ptinidse are nearly all injurious forms, living on dried vegetable
matter. They are small brownish beetles, with strange tastes in the
selection of foods. The drugstore-beetle (Sitrodrepa panicea) attacks
all sorts of drugs and herbs, many of them noxious and poisonous to
us. Lasioderma serricornea lives on tobacco in any form, and is called
the cigarette-beetle. Others are destructive to books and paper, or are
borers, such as the apple-twig borer. Certain species, belonging mainly
to the genus Aniobium, have gained the name of "death watches," on
account of their habit of rapping their heads against wood or some hard
object.

Tribe Lamellicornia.
This tribe contains two families, the Lucanidae and the Scarabaeidae.

The Lucanidae are rather rare, curiously formed beetles, with
elbowed, clubbed antennae, and large, often branched mandibles. From
the latter character they have received the name of stag-beetles. The
larvae are white grubs living in decaying wood, while the adults live
upon honey-dew, and on sap which flows from woun4s in trees.

The Searabseidse is, numerically, a very large family, and its num-
bers vary greatly in shape, size, and feeding habits. They all have
antennae with a club at the tip composed of from three to seven lamellae,
and the fore tarsi are formed for digging. The larvae are white grubs,
which live in decaying vegetation or excrement, or in the ground on

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — COLEOPTERA.

103

the roots of plants. There are
two groups in this family : the
scavengers, of which the tum-
ble-bugs are examples, and
the leaf-chafers, represented
by the "May-beetles" and
"June-beetles." Macrodacty-
los subspinosus, the rose-chafer,
a yellowish beetle with pale
red legs, does great damage to
roses and grapes and other
flowers and fruits.

The genus Lachnosterna
contains the "June-beetles,"
or u bugs," from whose attacks
lawns and root-crops surfer.

The rhinoceros-beetles be-
long to the genus Dynaste, and are so named on account of large horns
on the head, and another larger horn, accompanied by two smaller ones,
projecting forward from the prothorax.

There are several genera of flower-beetles, one of the com-
moner forms being the "bumble flower-beetle," Uphoria
inda. It is yellowish brown and hairy, and in early spring
is seen flying near the ground with a loud buzzing noise.

FIG. 92. Grapevine beetle (Pelidnota punctata).
a, larva ; 6, pupa ; c, beetle ; d, antennae ; /, leg,
enlarged.

Section TETRAMERA or PHYTOPHAGA.

FIG. 93. Rose-
chafer (J!fa-
crodactylos
subspinosus).

This section comprises those beetles which, apparently, have four
segmented tarsi, the fourth segment being so fixed with the third as to

be indistinguishable. There
are four families under this
section, and among them are
very many of our worst crop
enemies.

The family Chrysomelidse
is one of the largest of the
beetle families and probably
contains more injurious forms
than any other. They are
generally small, oval forms,
strongly convex above, pos-
sessing small heads and widely
separated antenna?. The
adults, when disturbed, have
the habit of folding up the legs and dropping inert to the ground.

June-bug or white grub.
3-4, adults.

1, pupa; 2, larva;

104

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The Colorado potato-beetle, asparagus-beetle, and elm-leaf beetle are
some very destructive species which have not yet reached California.

Diabrotica we have in plenty,
however; D. vittata, the
cucumber-beetle, a greenish
yellow form with two black
stripes on each wing-cover;
D. soror, the flower-beetle, a
12-spotted greenish form, be-
ing familiar pests. Chrysochus
cobaltinus, a large, bright blue
beetle, is a noticeable Chryso-
melid, and the smaller, though
not less destructive, flea-
beetles belong here also. Hal-
tica chalybeus, a blue grape-
feeding flea-beetle, and the
black cucumber flea-beetle

FIG.95. Grapevine flea-beetle (Haltica chalybeus). (C repidodera CUCUmeris),

feeding on cucurbits, represent these destructive insects. Lena calif or-
nica is a small blue beetle found on dock, and Lena scripta on willow.

The black-legged tortoise-beetle (Cassida nigripes) represents a genus
of bright golden-colored Chrysomelids of a peculiar shape, which are
most often found feeding on the leaves
of the sweet potato.

FIG. 96. Black-
legged tortoise-
beetle (Cassida
nigripes).

FIG. 97. Bean-weevil
(Bruchus obtectus).

The family Bruehidse is small, and
consists of beetles which are short and
chunky, with the elytra cut off be-
hind, with small head, and thighs
swollen as if from jumping, and which
in all stages live on stored seeds.

Bruchus pisi, commonly known as the pea-weevil, and B. obtectus, the

bean-weevil, are cosmopolitan species.

The Cepambyeidae have antennae as long or longer than the body,
and are primarily a wood-boring family, being commonly called the
long-horned wood-borers. The bodies of these beetles are usually cylin-
drical and elongate, though some are flattened, and their mandibles are
stout and sharp-pointed. The larvae are known as the round-headed
borers, to distinguish them from the flat-headed Buprestids. Over 600
species are known, most of them living in dead or dying wood, although
some attack healthy tissue.

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE — COLEOPTERA.

105

The round-headed apple-tree borer (Saperda Candida) is a pale-brown
beetle, with two broad whitish longitudinal stripes. The larval life is
three years, the
first part being
spent in the sap-
wood and the
later, and pupal
stages, in
heartwood.
" primers''

FIG. 98.

Round-headed apple-tree borer (Saperda Candida),
a, larva; b, pupa; c, imago

the
The
are

species living in
and eating out
the hearts of

twigs of maple, oak, apple, pear, plum, and other trees, so that the wind
blows them to the ground.

Our great sugar and yellow pines are attacked by a large Cerambycid,
Ergates spiculatus. The genus Prionus has some large species, the

larvae of which are two and one half to three
inches long and which live in the roots of
apple and cherry trees, and of grape and black-
berry vines.

'Section TRIMERA.

This section contains only one family, the
all-important beneficial one, the Coeeinellidse,
or ladybirds. They are small, hemispherical
beetles, usually red or yellow with black
spots, or black with red or yellow spots. The
tarsi have only three joints, so that if confused
with certain Chrysomelids, as they sometimes
are, this character serves to readily distin-
guish them. With one exception, the genus
Epilachna, they are all predatory, both larvae and adults, on plant-
lice, scale insects, and other soft-bodied plant-feeding insects. The
larvae are slender and fusiform in shape, with roughened spiny bodies,
often prettily marked with blue, black, and orange.

Hippodamia convergens is a very common native form, feeding prin-
cipally on plant-lice (aphids). It is yellowish red in color, with six
black spots on each wing-cover. Coccinella calif ornica is a similar form,
but more rounded and lacking the spots. C. sanguinea is a small,
blood-red form. C. abdofninalis is the ashy gray ladybird with seven
small black spots on the thorax and eight on each wing-cover. Chilo-
corus bii-ulnerus, the "twice-stabbed," is a large black ladybird, with a
large red spot on each wing-cover, very destructive to the armored

FIG. 99. California pine-borer
(Pnonu? californica).

106

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

scales. Coccinella oculata is a still larger form often taken for the
"twice-stabbed" ladybird. Exochomus pilatei, "Pilate's ladybird," also
resembles the "twice-stabbed," but the under side of the abdomen is
black instead of red. It feeds on black scale, but does not increase
rapidly. Psyllobora £0-maculata, the "20-spotted ladybird," is a com-
mon species, feeding on young scale and the red spider.

Of the ladybirds introduced by the State Commission of Horticulture,
Vedalia cardinalis, Rhizobius ventralis, R. twoombeze, Novius koebelei,

Orcus chalybeus, Cryptolse-
mus montrouzieri, Scymnus
vagans, S.marginicola, Rhizo-
bius debilis, Rhizobius lopan-
tha, and Hyperaspis lateralis
have proved the most suc-
cessful. Vedalia cardinalis
and Novius koebelei have com-
pletely subjugated the cot-
tony-cushion scale. Orcus
chalybeus is effective against
the yellow scale. Rhizobius ventralis is a very useful destroyer of the
black scale. Scymnus vagans is an enemy of the red spider. Rhizobius
lopantha makes some headway against the purple scale, and Cryptolssmus
m.ontrouzieri cleans up the mealy-bugs in greenhouses. The other
species are general feeders.

If it were not for these industrious enemies of our fruit and vine
pests, California would be far from ranking i^o-day the chief fruit-
producing State of the Union.

FIG. 100. Novius koebelei.

Section HETEROMERA.

This section is a rather miscellaneous lot of beetles, including several
small obscure families, as well as two large ones. All those beetles
which have the front and middle feet with five tarsal segments and
the hind feet with four are included in it.

The family Tenebrionidse are the "darkling beetles." They are usu-
ally dark brown or black in color, oblong or oval in shape, have the
head more or less inserted in the prothorax, and, on account of their
long legs, are very awkward in their movements. Both adults and
larvae are scavengers, the latter much resembling wireworms in appear-
ance. The common pinch-bug, Eleodes sp., which when disturbed
stands on its head and emits an ill-smelling fluid, is a familiar type.
The meal-worm beetle (Tenebrio molitor), bred by bird fanciers for
food, and Tenebrio obscurus, found about stored grain products, are
cosmopolitan species.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — COLEOPTER A.

107

The family Meloidse are called blister-beetles, because their bodies
when dried and pulverized are used therapeutically as blisters. In the
adult stage they feed on plant tissue, and are sometimes
injurious. In the larval stage many are, however, mark-
edly beneficial, such as the larva? of Epicauta vittata,
which live on the egg pods of grasshoppers. The life
cycle of many species has reached a highly specialized
development and their study is exceedingly interesting.

The Stylopidae is an obscure family, most of its forms
being parasites on wasps.

Suborder RHYNCOPHORA.

FIG. 101. Striped
blister -beetle
(Cantharis vit-
tata).

The suborder Rhyncophora, or snout-beetles, consists of beetles
characterized by the peculiar prolongation of the front of the head into
a beak or snout, at the end of which the
mouth parts are situated. The curculios,
bill-bugs, and most of the weevils belong

to this suborder, and are

great pests, living as they

do on vegetable matter,

stored products, and the

like.

FIG. 102. Fuller's
rose - beetle
(Aramigus ful-
leri).

FIG. 103. Plum curculio (Conotrachelus
nenuphar), a, larva; b, pupa; c,
adult ; d, curculio at work.

The family Otiorhynehi-

dse are the beetles which

have a scar on the front of

the upper side of each man-
dible. Fuller's rose-beetle, a species attacking roses and orange trees, is
a familiar type.

The family Cupeulionidse lack the scar, and are the typical curculios
and weevils. The cotton-boll weevil, strawberry weevil, and the plum-
curculio are well-known pests belonging to this family.

The Calandpidae include the bill-bugs and rice and
granary weevils. The latter two forms, Calandria oryzea
and C. granaria, are world-wide in distribution and do
immense damage to stored grain.

FIG. 104. Pine- The SeolytidsB are the engraver-beetles. According to
Pinchot, the annual losses caused by these insects total
nearly $100,000,000. The Monterey pines of California

are attacked by two species, Dendroctonus valens and Tomicus plasto-

graphus, to such an extent that entire forests have been killed by them.

Others, such as the fruit-bark beetle, attack and kill peach and plum trees.

108 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

Order HYMENOPTERA.

(Bees, Wasps, Ants, Saw-flies, etc.)

This, of all the orders, is the one which may be said to be wholly
beneficial to man, for while, as there is a black sheep in every flock,
there are injurious species in the Hymenoptera, they are so largely the
exception to the rule that we may say that the order Hymenoptera is
the one wholly beneficial order of insects. In this order we find the
several species of honey-bees, which supply us with honey and wax; an
immense number of parasitic insects, which keep down any redundancy
on the part of the injurious species; and the ants, which act as scav-
engers. The whole of the wasp family are beneficial, for, in providing
for their young, the larger members stuff their cells with spiders, cater-
pillars, and- other insects, and they are all predaceous in some form.
It is in this order, too, that we find the highest development of the
social instinct, for many of the species are so constituted that they can
not exist except in communities, and in these communities we find the
most perfect system of division of labor imaginable. With the social
bees, for instance, we have one mother bee, whose sole duty is to supply
the eggs from which the stock of workers is to be kept up; the drones,
or males, whose sole duty is to act as fathers of the hive; the third
class are the workers, and these are again divided into outside workers,
inside guards, nurses, and other classes, each of which has its special
duties to perform, and upon the proper performance of which the wel-
fare of the whole community depends — and they never fail in their
duty. In this order, too, we find the only class of insects which care
for their young. In all others the eggs are laid as it happens. Usually
instinct directs the female to choose a position which will supply food
for the young when hatched, but, this done, she is through with them
and gives them no more care. But in this order we have species which
diligently watch over the eggs, take charge of the young when hatched,
attend to them, feed them with proper food, and watch over them in
every stage of their growth until they have passed through all the
changes, entered the ranks of the mature workers and are ready, in
their turn, to perform the same duties for their successors.

The name Hymenoptera is compounded of two Greek words, hymen,
membrane, and pteron, wing. The name is not altogether distinctive,
however, as all insects possessing membranous wings are not members
of this order, but all members of this order have four membranous
wings. A peculiarity of this order is that the hinder pair of wings are
provided with a series of hooks, with which they catch the fore wings,
and thus the two pairs are connected closely together. Another feature
is that while in all other insects the mouth parts are made for either
biting or sucking, in this order they are so arranged as to be of use for
both purposes.

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HYMENOPTER A 109

The three divisions of the body are well denned. The head is, in
many species, movable on the thorax, while the thorax is sharply
divided from the abdomen, in some cases, as in the wasps, being joined
by a mere thread-like process.

The metamorphosis of the Hymenoptera is complete. The eggs are
not remarkable for either form or color, and are usually somewhat
oblong. They are laid in various positions, according to species, in
some cases being deposited in the bottom of cells prepared to receive
them; in others, as in the parasitic species, being attached to or placed
in the body of their victims. In all, except the two lower families, the
larvae are maggot-like creatures, footless, and incapable of extended
motion, and, in many cases, wholly dependent for their existence upon
the care of the adults.

This order is divided into two suborders, the Terebrantia and the
Aculeata. The former comprises a number of parasitic insects, as the
ichneumons, braconids, chalcids, etc.; the gall-flies, saw-flies, etc.; while
the latter includes the stinging forms, as bees, wasps, and ants.

Suborder TEREBRANTIA.

In the modern system of classification it has become the rule to com-
mence with the lower forms and work upward to the higher, and, for
this reason, the Hymenoptera, being recognized as the highest devel-
oped of any of the members of the insect world, is placed at the top of
the list. In this arrangement the various orders and families may be
compared to a pyramid, in which the less specialized, lower, and baser
kinds form the foundation, and in which there is a constant ascent
until the capstone is reached, and, in this case, this is the higher order
of Hymenoptera. So, in accordance with this plan, the suborder
Terebrantia, which is the less specialized of the two suborders, and
contains the lower forms of the order, takes its place first in our con-
sideration, and in this the lower families are first noticed.

Comstock gives us the following synopsis of the suborder Terebrantia :

THE BopiNG HYMENOPTERA. Suborder Terebrantia.

The Plant-eating Hymenoptera.

The Saw-flies. Family Tenthredinidae.

The Horn-tails. Family Siricidae.
The Gall-inhabiting Hymenoptera.

The Gall-flies. Family Cynipidse.
The Parasitic Hymenoptera.

The Trigonalids. Family Trigonalidae.

The Ichneumon-flies. Family Ichneumonidae.

The Stephanids. Family Stephanidae.

The Braconids. Family Braconidse.

The Ensign-flies. Family Evaniidaa.

The Chalcid-flies. Family Chalcididae.

The Proctotrupids. Family Proctotrupidaa.

110

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

Family Tenthredinidse (Saw-flies). In this family the females are
provided with a pair of saws, which are concealed in a cavity of the
abdomen when not in use. With these she cuts a slit in the leaves or

stems of plants upon which she lay
her eggs, and it is this fact which gives
its common name to this family. The

[^ \ ^^JK^x^ larvae are small, slimy-looking insects,

somewhat resembling caterpillars, but

\C ^ \ \ \Cv>^\ they have from twelve to sixteen pro-

legs, while caterpillars, with one ex-
ception, have but ten. They are a

7) £P^ y '* I XV") serious pest upon plants infested by

them, and examples of this family

FIG. 105. Corn saw-fly (Cephus pygmxus).
a, larva ; b, larva, enlarged ; c, larva in
wheat stalk; d, frass; e, adult female;
/, its European parasite (Pachyonerus
calcitrator). (From "Insect Life.")

FIG. 106. Currant- worm (Pristophora grossulairse)

may be instanced in our common cherry-slug (Eriocampa cerasi) (which
also infests the pear), the rose-slug, and the currant- worm.

Family Sirieidse (Horn-tails). This family is closely connected with
the foregoing family, but differs from it in the shape and uses of
the ovipositor. Instead of being a sawing instrument, as in the
former, it is a very
complicated and
effective boring
tool, by means of
which the female
can drill a hole in
the hardest wood,
in which she deposits her egg. The habits of the larvae are also very
different, those of the horn-tails being boring insects, and they some-
times do great damage to forest timber and shade trees. Members of
this family are of large size, the pigeon tremex (Tremex columba),
which is not uncommon in our State, being as large around as a pencil,
and sometimes an inch and a half in length.

These two families are practically all of this order which are inju-
rious, or not beneficial to man. The gall-flies, which come next, when
very numerous, may do some damage to vegetation, but the extent of
this is trifling.

FIG. 107. Cherry-slug (Eriocampa cerasi). a, larva on leaf and
larva enlarged ; b, adult saw-fly.

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE — HYMENOPTERA 111

Family Cynipidse (Gall-flies). In this family we have one of the
mysteries of the natural world. Here we have a minute insect, in
some cases almost microscopic in size. This insect will puncture a
twig or leaf of a tree, and at once the whole character of the part so
punctured is changed. In the oaks, for instance, we see galls known as
oak apples, and often they are as large as big apples, and these are
formed for the purpose of supplying sustenance to the tiny maggot of a
gall-fly. What kind of fluid is injected to cause this change? It cer-
tainly is wonderfully powerful, as the amount injected must be so
infinitely small as to be past our comprehension, for it is but a part of
the insect and this is not large enough to be noticed. More than this,
each species creates a special kind of gall, and an entomologist can tell
what species of insect did the stinging by the shape, color, and general
appearance of these strange swellings. Now, how is it that the plant
will accommodate its growth to the peculiar requirements of each one
of the different species of these minute insects?

It must not be understood, however, that all the members of this
family are gall-makers, or that there are no galls caused by other
insects. In fact many of the other orders have gall-makers, as the
aphids, the mites, etc.; but there is this difference: in other galls there
are external openings, while in the galls made by members of this
family they are closed and contain the larvae of the insect until they
have attained their growth. In some cases the insect goes through its
transformations within the gall, and in others it makes its escape and
changes in the earth.

Family Ichneumonidse. We have now come to a family of especial
interest to the fruit-growers and farmers of California as well as else-
where, for in the Ichneumonidse are found the greater number of our
beneficial insects; that is, they are of benefit to us, as they prey upon
species which devour and destroy our vegetable products. It is to this
family that Swift's oft misquoted lines apply:

"Naturalists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller still to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum."

It should be borne in mind that there are two classes of beneficial
insects, the parasitic and the predaceous. In the latter the insect
pounces upon his victim wherever he catches him, that is, if he happens
to be hungry, and devours him on the spot. The parasitic insects,
however, have a neater way of doing business. In their proceedings
they are not so coarse as the predaceous varieties, although they
accomplish their work more effectively. They attach themselves early in
life — in fact, the mother usually brings about the match — and, once
attached, they remain until there is nothing left of their victim worth

112

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

bothering about. They are quiet and insidious in their efforts, but
never let go. Some of them get on the inside of their host, in which
case they eat him out of house and home before they quit; in other
cases they take an attachment on his outside and cling closer than a
brother so long as he has a drop of blood in his body. But, however
they do it, the result is the same to us; they get away with our foes, so
we declare them our friends. But, bearing out Swift's doggerel, there
are other parasites on these — secondaries, or hyper-
parasites, we call them — and some parasites on
these again — tertiaries. So that, in importing bene-
ficial insects, we are always very careful to see
that there are no secondaries to escape and prey
upon them before they are turned loose. Usually,
when the egg is laid upon the body of the victim
insect, as soon as it is hatched the young larva pro-
ceeds to work its way to the inner portions of its
host, where it lives
secure and waxes fat
on his substance. By
a strange instinct,
however, it carefully
avoids the vital por-
tions, and so the host
insect lives in misery
until its parasite has
acquired its growth,
when it dies.

While some of the
members of this fam-
ily are of small size,
many of them are
large, for parasitic in-
sects. The Caliephi-
lates messer Grav., of
which we give an ex-
cellent colored illus-
tration elsewhere, is a member of this family. This is a new species
in the United States, introduced for work on the codling-moth, of which
it has been found a very effective parasite.

The females of some species of this family are remarkable-looking
insects, having an exaggerated ovipositor, which appears like a long
tail. This, when folded, looks like one piece, but is really composed
of three pieces: the ovipositor proper, and two guards, which form a
sheath. The ovipositor itself is composed of three parallel pieces, one

FIG. 108. Thalessa luna-
tor, ichneumon para-
site of pigeon tremex
(Tremex columba).

FIG. 109. Thalessa lunator drilling a
hole in a tree-trunk in order to de-
posit eggs in the burrow of the
pigeon tremex (Tremex columba).

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HYMENOPTERA.

113

above and two below, joined together; near the end they are toothed
like a saw, and between them is the egg passage. In the larger species,
the females seem possessed of a special sense by which they ascertain
whether their victim has already been attacked. If it contains an egg,
they abandon it for another. This, for the reason that the food supply
would not be sufficient for two lar^e larvae. With the smaller species,
however, it is not uncommon for the female to lay a number of eggs
on one victim. But it is not alone in their larval stage that insects
are attacked by parasites, for they are subject to it at any stage of their
existence, from infancy to age. Even in the egg, they are not immune,
for there are egg parasites— minute insects, which lay their eggs within
the eggs of other insects, which are eaten out by their internes.

The family Stephanidse contains a fewr rare insects of no importance
in this discussion.

The family Braeonidse, however, is a different matter, for this is a
very extensive family of, generally, very small to medium sized insects,
containing several thousand described species. All are parasitic on

other insects, and in this we

find many of the secondary
and tertiary parasites. This
family, in the older classifica-
tions, is included in the Ich-
neumonidse, but well-defined
differences in the two classes
have led to the creation of the
new family of Braconida?. As
parasitic insects, however,
their habits of life are very
similar, and to their efforts is
largely due the fact that we
are not entirely eaten out by
the destructive pests. One of
the chief checks on the aphids
of our gardens is a minute
member of this family, the
genus Aphidiu*. Examine *a
twig or leaf infested with
plant-lice, and you will see
many of them bloated and
white. Look closely and you

will see a minute circular hole in the abdominal end. It is from this
hole that the insect, after having eaten out the aphis, and gone through
all its changes on the inside of the victim, has escaped. Gather a few

8-E

FTG. 110. Tomato-worm (Phlegethontius sexta), bear-
ing cocoons of the parasitic Apanteles congrcfjaitm.
Natural size.

114 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

of these aphis-infested leaves or twigs, place them in a small vial, and
cover it with gauze. In a short time you will find numbers of a tiny,
dark-colored insect, looking like a miniature wasp. This is a Braconid
of the genus Aphidins. There are millions of them at work; each one
eats an aphis, and afterwards lays hundreds of eggs on other aphids,
which, in their turn, eat up their hosts. These insects of the parasitic
class are usually small, and often so minute as to escape observation;
but insignificant as they appear, we owe our very existence to them, for
without their constant efforts we would be reduced to a condition of
starvation by the hordes of pests, which, having no checks, would
increase with enormous rapidity and soon overwhelm us like a flood.

The family Evaniidse is a small one, closely connected with the
IchneumonidaB, but differing from them in structural characters. Its
habits are similar, as it is parasitic.

The family Chaleididse is an immense group, composed largely, but
not wholly, of parasitic insects. As a rule, the members of this family
are exceedingly small, many of them being microscopic, and some even
requiring a high-power lens to bring them into view. Notwithstanding

their minute size, however, they
rank among the best friends the
fruit-grower has, for they make up
in numbers what they lack in size,
and to the destructive pests of the
fruit-grower they are as "terrible
as an army with banners," for
within the ranks of the Chalcididrc

w i\ W — / ii\ ig comprised the largest number of

species of any of the parasitic
Hymenoptera, extending into many
thousands. The members of this
FIG. in. Tomocera caiifornica, & chaicid para- order are very small, and, as a rule,

"""" ""* ^^' lack the attractive beauty of some
of the larger insects, and so have
been much neglected by entomologists. Dr. L. 0. Howard, Chief of
the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department of Agricul-
ture, has devoted much time to the study of this family, and to him,
more than to any one else, science is indebted for its knowledge of
this interesting and valuable group. Most of the species are parasitic,
and most of them confine their attacks to one class of insects. Some
of them, unfortunately, attack some of our beneficial insects, so that
they are not wholly beneficial from our viewpoint.

In speaking of this family Professor Howard says: "Nowhere in
nature is there a more marked example of the co-relation between

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HYMENOPTERA. 115

structure and habits than occurs in this family. This co-relation
descends to the relation between the parasites and their hosts, so that
it is possible for an experienced person on seeing a new species of
Chalcid fly to tell precisely what kind of an insect it will be found to
be parasitic upon. For example, the species of the genus Coj)idos<>m<i
are always parasitic within naked caterpillars. Those of the genus
Both riotho rax are always parasitic in small dipterous larvae. The
economic importance of the group is great. They are the most effective
parasites of many of our most injurious insects. For example, in
a certain year in the cotton fields of northern Florida ninety-five
per cent of the eggs from which would have hatched the voracious
cotton-caterpillar were kitted by the minute Chalcid parasite, Tricho-
g ram ma pretiosa"

In our own jBtate, the different species of this family form one of the
most efficient checks on scale pests, usually burrowing into the scale
and eating it out. How exceedingly minute some of them are is indi-
cated by the fact that the red, yellow, and San Jose scales are all para-
sitized by members of this family, and, within the bodies of these
insects, none of which are larger than the head of a pin, these little
flies have ample room to live, grow, pass through all their changes, and
emerge as perfect insects. We have often found from three to five
parasites belonging to this group snugly ensconced within the body of a
soft brown scale, and there was ample room for all without crowding.

Some of the Chalcids attack larger insects, and the cabbage- butterfly
is largely kept down by the efforts of one of them, Pteromnlus puparum,
which lays its eggs on the caterpillar and reduces it to a state of
"innocuous desuetude." One branch of the family closely approaches
the gall-flies in structure and habits.

The family ProetotPupidae contains the smallest members of the
Hymenoptera. They are all parasitic, many of them being parasitic on
the eggs of other insects. How small they are may be understood by
the statement that, in some cases, as many as half-a-dozen of them will
live and pass through all their changes wTithin one minute egg of an
insect, moth, butterfly, or bug-. Some live in the larva? of other insects,
some exist wholly in the nervous system, others in the digestive tract.
The largest of them is not over one twenty-fifth of an inch in length,
while the smallest (Alaptus excisus) measures between six and seven
one-thousandths of an inch.

Suborder ACULEATA.

We now come to the second branch or suborder of the Hymenoptera,
which includes the species armed with stings. Most of our readers
have made acquaintance with them, as the group includes the wasps,

116 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

hornets, bees, and ants. These are divided into families as follows,
according to Comstock's classification:

THE STINGING HYMENOPTERA. Suborder Aculeata.
The Pelecinus. Family PelecinidaB.
The Cuckoo-flies. Family Chrysididse.
The Ants. Superfamily Formicina.

Family Formicidae.

Family Poneridse.

Family Myrmicidse.
The Digger Wasps. Superfamily Sphecina.

The Velvet-ants. Family MutillidaB.

The Scoliids. Family Scoliidae.

The Sapygids. Family Sapygida?.

The Spider-wasps. Family Pompilidae.

The Thread-waisted Wasps. Family SphecidaB.

The Ampulicids. Family AmpulicidaB.

The Larrids. Family Larridse.

The Bembecids. Family Bembecidae.

The Nyssonids. Family Nyssonidae.

The Philanthids. Family PhilanthidaB.

The Mimesids. Family Mimesidse.

The Mellinids. Family Mellinidse.

The Pemphredonids. Family Pemphredonidas.

The Crabronids. Family Crabronidaa.
The True Wasps. Superfamily Vespina.

The Guest Wasps. Family MasaridaB.

The Solitary Wasps. Family Eumenidse.

The Social Wasps. Family Vespida?.
The Bees. Superfamily Apina.

The Short-tongued Bees. Family Andrenidse.

The Long-tongued Bees. Family Apidse.

It is in this suborder that we find the fullest development of the
social instinct. With the social bees, wasps, and ants, every interest is
sacrificed for the good of the community. Here

"None is for himself,
But all are for the state."

None of the members of this suborder are of direct importance to us,
being beneficial only incidentally. The wasps are all predaceous, many
of them preying upon the larva? of injurious species, while the work of
the bees is too well known to need enlargement in these pages. Prob-
ably Ave owe more to this group for their work in the pollenization of
plants and fruits, perhaps in the cross-fertilization of species— hybrid-
ization— and probably even the production of new species, than for any

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HYMENOPTERA. 117

other benefits they render us. Were it not for their labors in this
direction, aided by other insects, true, and perhaps to some extent by
other means, it is not improbable that a very large part of the veg-
etable world would perish and man and other members of the animal
kingdom suffer correspondingly. A cursory glance at the various
families comprising this suborder is, therefore, all that is required in
this place.

The family Pelecinidse is a very small one, in which the distinguish-
ing peculiarity is the great length of the abdomen in the female.

The family Chrysididse, better known as the cuckoo-flies, have the
habit of the bird after which they are named, of laying their eggs in the
nests of other wasps and leaving them to be fed by the owner of the nest.
As the larva develops, it either turns out the proper occupant of the
cell or devours it. They are beautiful insects, the body being a brilliant
metallic green.

Superfamily Formicina. (Ants.)

The ants have been erected into a superfamily called Formicina, and
this superfamily is divided again into three families: the Fopmieidse,
Poneridse, and Myrmieidse. Ants are so distinct from all other insects,
and so well known to most people, that no description is needed here.
There is but one other class of insects likely to be mistaken for them,
the Termites, which are not ants at all, although called "white ants."
These do not at all resemble ants in appearance, either in form or in
color, but being communistic insects have somewhat the habits of ants
in this regard. Termites resemble ants in the fact that they congregate
together in immense numbers, and are divided into different classes,
each class having separate and well-defined duties to perform in the
community. Aside from this their habits are entirely different.

All the species of ants are composed of three classes of individuals:
males, females and neuters, or workers, which latter are really undevel-
oped females. All ants live in communities of greater or less extent,
and in some cases these colonies are exceedingly populous. By what
system of laws these densely populated communities are governed is
unknown, but it is known that each class performs its appointed duties
without let or hindrance and that all move smoothly and harmoniously.
The workers perform all the work of the colony, and their numbers
exceed the other classes many times over. There are usually several
perfect females whose sole duty is to maintain the strength of the
colony, and for a short time during the early summer a great number
of young females and males are produced. These quit the nest together,
never to return. Thev are the ones which found new colonies, and out

118 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

of thousands which start forth, vast numbers of them perish, falling a
prey to birds and other causes. There is much that is fascinating in
the life of an ant, and these insects have been a great favorite with
entomological students even from the time of Solomon, as is indicated
by his advice: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and
be wise." Many books have been written of them, and when we con-
sider their intelligence and that in many respects they resemble man,
it is not strange that we should be interested in them. We find among
them a perfect system of government; also a highly specialized
division of labor, many of our trades being represented, such as archi-
tects, builders, agriculturists, tailors, masons, and many other trades
corresponding to those followed by man. The rare intelligence exhib-
ited by ants in attending to and caring for their young is astonishing.
They watch the eggs and larvae night and day, and remove them from
place to place, as they require more or less light, warmth, and moisture.
When an ants' nest is disturbed the workers first of all secure the
young and take them to a place of safety, this instinct being even
greater than that of self-preservation, for they will risk the greatest
dangers and their own lives for the eggs and cocoons of the young
insects. That they are able to communicate and transmit intelligence
is evident, too, and this is done by means of their antennae. They
play like children when they have leisure, and have so many striking
peculiarities that there is a charm in them for those who are not inter-
ested in entomology.

They have, however, little economic importance, for, except inci-
dentally, they are neither hurtful nor beneficial. If anything rather
the former, as, in their efforts to get the exudation of honey-dew from
aphids and scale-bugs, they often spread these insects into new loca-
tions, and they sometimes prey upon the soft larvae of some of the lady-
birds, and thus keep down our beneficial insects. The small red ant
found in the house becomes a pest by reason of its enormous numbers,
which increase in the summer. This is essentially a domestic species,
having its nests in the walls and floors of our houses. It is sometimes
very difficult to trace it, but usually by careful watching the location of
the nest can be found, when it may be driven out by the application of
coal oil to the runways.

Superfamily Sphecina. (Digger-wasps.)

The next superfamily is the Sphecina, and is composed of the solitary
wasps, the digger-wasps, or Fo^ores. This name is given to them from
the fact that each female makes a nest for herself, usually by bur-
rowing in the ground or boring into wood. Some, as the so-called mud-
daubers, construct tubes, while others use any suitable tunnels they
can find, or even utilize the hollow stems of plants, in which to deposit

ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HYMENOPTERA. 119

their eggs and provide for their young. These nests are usually pro-
vided with food for the young wasps in the form of the preserved bodies
of other insects or spiders. Many species provision their nests with
caterpillars, others with spiders. The parent wasp possesses some
kind of fluid which she injects into the victim, and which renders it
apparently senseless, but which, instead of killing, preserves its life,
and it will remain in this condition perfectly fresh until required by
the larva? of the wasps for food.

Comstock gives us fourteen families under the superfamily Sphecina,
to most of which only a passing allusion' is necessary.

The family Mutillidse are the velvet-ants. The females are wingless
and strongly resemble ants in appearance, but their bodies are covered
with a dense growth of hair, which has given them their common name.

The family Seoliidse very strongly resembles the foregoing family.
Members of this family do not build a burrow, but find the larvaB of
other insects in the ground, and upon these they lay their eggs, which,
hatching, consume the host insect. So far, this wasp may be regarded
as beneficial.

The family Sapygidse is a small one, the members of which are
usually found in the nests of bees. It has no economic importance.

The family Pompilidse includes about a hundred and twenty species,
and they are commonly known as the spider-wasps, on account of their
habit of provisioning their nests with spiders, which they sting and
reduce to a dormant condition. They are generally slender insects
with long legs, and usually brilliantly colored and beautifully marked.
While generally of moderate size, some of the species are very large,
and here we find the well-known tarantula-hawk (Pepsis formosa-).

The family Spheeidse comprises the thin-waisted wasps, and includes
the well-known mud-daubers. These are commonly known as the
thread-waisted wasp, on account of the thin, thread-like process which
connects the abdomen with the thorax, and which is composed of the
first two segments of the abdomen. This family is a very conspicuous
one and embraces about seventy species in the United States, most of
them well known from their peculiar form and habits. They build
their cells from mud, and stock them with spiders or caterpillars, after
first depositing an egg in the bottom. When hatched, the young larva
finds an abundance of preserved food awaiting it, and remains in the
cell until it has passed through all the changes, when it emerges a
perfect insect.

120 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

The family Larridse is composed of moderate-sized insects, which
frequent sandy locations.

The family Bembeeidse includes some of the larger forms of this order
They make their nests in burrows, which they excavate in sandy places,
and store them with flies. The larger species attack cicadas, and one
may often be seen carrying away a cicada larger than itself.

The families Nyssonidse and Philanthidse are two groups of insects
having the same general characters and habits as the foregoing, but
differing in points of structure and wing venation.

The families Mimesidse, Pemphredonidse, and Crabronidse are rather
borers than diggers, although classed with the digger-wasps. They
usually burrow into the stems of pithy shrubs and form their nests
therein. As in all the other members of this order, these nests are
stored with the preserved remains of other insects, so that all may be
classed as beneficial.

Superfamily Vespina. (True Wasps.)

The true wasps are included in three families, grouped together in
the superfamily Vespina. Insects belonging to this superfamily are all
winged, and when at rest fold their wings lengthwise like a fan. The
legs are not suited for burrowing. It is in this superfamily that we
find the paper-wasps and nest-builders.

The three families under this group are the Masaridse, the Eumenidse,
and the Vespidse. The first of these is a small family of no impor-
tance in this place.

The second is a family of solitary wasps, the members of which vary
in their habits, some being builders and some burrowers. Some of
them build nests of mud, while others' bore tunnels into wood in order
to provide for their young.

The third family is of more interest, as it includes the social wasps,
the nest-builders, and paper-makers. It is here that we find our well-
known friends, the yellowjackets. These belong to the genus Ve^pa,
and most of our readers, especially those who live in or have been in
the country, are very familiar with their appearance and not unfamiliar
with their mode of defense. Their nests, which are sometimes attached
to buildings, trees, or fences, are made of paper, and are very elaborate
specimens of architecture. Being social insects they accomplish some
great works, and it is no uncommon thing to find one of these nests
as large as a water-bucket. Sometimes they make their nests under-
ground, either excavating a hole for the purpose, or taking possession
of one already formed.

ENTOMOLOGY IX OUTLINE — HYMENOPTERA. 121

Superfamily Apina. (Bees.)

We now come to the bees, the last and highest of the Hymenoptera.
It is here that we find the greatest intelligence displayed in the insect
world. No insect has been so thoroughly studied as the bee. Books
and libraries have been written about bees, and the most wonderful
stories told of their intelligence, which would seem to far exceed any-
thing we can call instinct and to closely approach human reason. They
present to us the highest known type of social life, and the most perfect
form of government.

Bees have been placed under the superfamily Apina, which is divided
into two families, the Andrenidse and the Apidse, or the short- and
the long-tongued bees. The habits of members of the different families
vary greatly. Some are solitary, making a nest for themselves, and
storing it with honey and pollen. Others can live only in communities.
Some are very small, one of the mining-bees measuring but from one
hundredth to three hundredths of an inch in length.

So far as relates to agriculture, bees are beneficial. They are not
parasitic, like some of the other families of the order, although there are
some bees parasitic on others, but in their work of gathering honey
they are one of the greatest agencies in nature in the fertilization of
plants.

Many species of both families are troubled by parasitic or cuckoo
bees. These build no nest for themselves, but look out for a nest of the
mason, carpenter, or other bee. When she discovers one at work, she
watches, and as fast as the cells are completed, lays an egg at the
bottom. This egg hatches before the egg of the rightful owner, and
the larva of the intruder proceeds to eat the provisions stored by the
careful mother of the rightful owner, and finally consummates its evil
work by eating the young of the nest-builder.

Of the social bees, including the honey-bee, little need be said here,
as the subject is too great to be handled in a few pages, and our object
is merely to draw attention to the science of entomology, not to enlarge
upon it, and also to draw special attention to those families which are
either directly beneficial or injurious to our orchards.

The foregoing will serve to give our readers some general idea of the
important science of Entomology. As stated at the commencement,
the work is not designed to be thorough in any respect, and pretends
only to give an introduction to this great science. Those of our readers
who wish to follow it to a greater extent are referred to the following
works :

"Entomology for Beginners," by A. S. Packard; "American Insects,"
by Vernon L. Kellogg; "Manual for the Study of Insects," by John

9— E

122 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

Henry Comstock; "Economic Entomology," by John B. Smith; "The
Insect Book," by L. 0. Howard; "The Moth Book" and " The Butterfly
Book," by W. J. Holland, and "Entomology, with Special Reference to
its Biological and Economic Aspects," by Justus Watson Folsom.

Very many other excellent works on entomology might be recom-
mended, but the above or any of them will be found valuable to the
student of this science. In addition to these are the many excellent
publications issued from time to time by the Federal Government, which
can be secured by the student upon application.

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