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eS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY.
BULLETIN No. 14.

REPORTS

OF

OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS

IN

THE PRACTICAL WORK OF THE DIVISION,

MADE

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST.

WASHINGTON:
. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

Last:
22340—No. 14

LETTER OF SUBMITTAL,

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY,
Washington, D. C., May 30, 1887.
Sir: I have the honor to submit for publication Bulletin No. 14 of
the Division of Entomology, containing certain reports of agents and
other matter additional to that contained in Bulletin 13, and excluded
from my annual report from lack of space.
Respectfully,
©. V. REHGEY,
Entomologist.
Hon. NORMAN J. COLMAN,
Commissioner of Agriculture.

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Report on Insects injurious to Garden Crops in Florida ..-............-..-----
eponoOn. PUttalo GMNats . ha see.s eaves e cele oes oa Sa Santee en) ce soniein amie ie eee nee

Native Plums. How to fruit them. They are claimed to be practically cureu-

WOR PLOOt ce te coke Soe cisn ss
The Serrell automatic Silk-reel

CONTENTS.

39
52

INTRODUCTION.

This Bulletin*contains matter referring to the season of 1886, addi-
tional to that already published.

Mr. Ashmead’s report on insects affecting garden crops in Florida is
necessarily very incomplete, as it represents only four months’ field ob-
servations, and as the subject is one of no inconsiderable magnitude.
Mr. Ashmead’s work was stopped September Ist on account of the re-
duction in the appropriations.

Mr. Webster’s report on Buffalo Gnats is in the main the results of
work in March and April, 1886. It contains many interesting details
in addition to the more important observations which are quoted in
our own article on the subject in the annual report. It is also due to
Mr. Webster to say that the investigations since made, and especially
those by himself the present year, have added materially to our exacé
knowledge on the subject.

In reference to Mr. Wier’s article on the curculio-proof nature of the
native plums and his explanation thereof we wish to be understood as
in no way indorsing either the statements or conclusions of the paper.
Mr. Wier is an old friend and correspondent and has written much of
late upon this question. He claimed to have abundant personal evi-
dence of the wild plums being proof against Conotrachelus nenuphar
by virtue of the eggs failing to hatch therein. This was an important
matter, bearing directly on economic entomology, and, as we have often
been asked for our opinion as to the immunity of these wild plums, we
engaged Mr. Wier to prepare a statement of his evidence. His two
main claims are (1) that these wild plum trees are unfruitful, except
where the flowers receive the pollen from other varieties; (2) that the
female Curculio prefers their fruit for purposes of oviposition, but that
the egg fails to hatch therein or the larva perishes after hatching. The
_ first point belongs to economic botany, or rather pomology, and while
we consider that itis disproved alike by historical and botanical evi-
dence and general experience we leave it with the horticulturist to deal
with more fully. With regard to the second point we confess that the
reading of Mr. Wier’s essay has brought no sense of his theory being
well sustained or of its general truthfulness. Yet, for the reasons
stated, we have decided to publish the paper. very much as received,
omittirg only such portions as dealt with well known and trite entomo-
logical facts, as also a dissertation on grafting, and entering our dis-

rh

8

sent in the form of foot-note where the statements are unjustified from
the entomological side. |

The description of the principles and mechanism of the Serrell auto-
matic silk-reel has been prepared by Mr. Philip Walker, assistant in
charge of the reeling experiments and machinery at the Department.
It will be found useful in explaining the advantages which that deli-
cate and remarkable invention has over the ordinary reel as a labor-
saver, though no amount of description will impress the fact on the
mind so forcibly as a few moments’ observation of the reel at work.

| Ca Vi:

REPORT ON INSECTS INJURIOUS TO GARDEN CROPS IN FLORIDA.

By Wom. H. ASHMEAD, Special Agent.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

JACKSONVILLE, FLA.,
September 2, 1886.

DEAR Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith, in pursuance to your instructions,
my report on ‘‘ insects injurious to garden crops” in Florida, comprehending field-work
and studies on these pests from May 15 to August 31, 1886.

My time was too limited to do fulljustice to the subject ; moreover, it will take several
years of the most laborious, painstaking industry to thoroughly work up the life his-
tories of the destructive insect pests affecting our garden crops in this State.

Yours, very respectfully,
WM. H. ASHMEAD.
Proty ©.) Vi. KvtcRiy,

U. S. Entomologist, Washington, D. C.

INTRODUCTORY.

The insects depredating *“ garden crops’ in Florida are legion, and
the time at my disposal, May 15 to August 31, was too limited to begin
to do the subject justice.

Daily rains, too, from latter part of June and all during July greatly
interfered with my field-work. During the months of March and
April early vegetables are raised in great quantities for northern ship-
ment and consumption, and it is then that the greatest activity exists
among certain destructive pests depredating these crops. That is the
timeinvestigation should begin. However, considerable work has been
accomplished, and in the following pages will be found descriptions of
some of the more injurious insect pests injuring these crops; moreover,
to make the report of practical value to our vegetable growers, I have
given the best remedies known, extracted principally from the writings
of Professors Riley, Fitch, Lintner, Packard, Forbes, Thomas, &c.

INSECTS AFFECTING THE CABBAGE.

Probably there is no garden crop in Florida that is so preyed upon
and so seriously threatened from the attacks of insect pests as the cab-
bage and its numerous varieties.

To well-known imported European insect pests, now thoroughly estab-

lished here and depredating this crop, may be added many indigenous
9

10

species that attack and destroy it in different ways, and the injury and
loss is very great.

Necessarily I have given considerable time and study to unraveling
the life histories of some of the more important ones, giving them that
_ prominence in my report that their importance to the grower seem to
warrant. |

THE CABBAGE PLUSIA.
(Plusia brassice Riley.)

This is one of the most serious and destructive of cabbage insects.
Prof. C. V. Riley first described it in his Second Missouri Report, 1870,
page 110. ,

Distribution.— While, undoubtedly, originally indigenous to the South-
ern States, itis now very generally distributed over most of the HKastern
and Western States. In U.S. Agricultural Report for 1883, Professor
Riley states that he has received it from Mississippi, Georgia, Florida,
the Carolinas, Alabama, Texas, New Jersey, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska,
Virginia, and Maryland.

Food Plants.—The food plants of the larve, as given in same report,
are Cabbage, Kale, Turnip, Tomato, Mignonette (Reseda), Dandelion
(Taraxacum), Dock (Rumex), Crepis, Chenopodium, Clover, Senecio scan-
dens, Lettuce, and Celery. Professor Riley also says: ‘* We have
also found it in Florida feeding upon the Japan Quince (Cydonia japon-
ica), and it has been found in Washington upon same plant.”

Life History.—The life history of this insect is treated in the Annual
Report of the Department for 1883, pp. 119-122, and it is figured at
Plate I, figs. 2 and 2a,and Plate XI sige. 2 2,a,b,¢. The different stages
are ieeenbed in Bintoecan Riley’s cour hagsenet Entomological Re-
port, pp. 111-112.

Number of Broods.—Professor Lintner, State Entomologist of New
York, in treating of this species in his second report, page 92, says:
‘In its more northern extension there are two annual broods, for, from
larve taken in August, after about two weeks of pupation, Dr. Thomas
has had the moths emerge on the Ist of September, which deposited
their eggs for a second brood in October. In the Southern States there
are probably four broods, for Mr. Grote took examples oF the moths in
Alabama during the has of February.”

Here in Florida there are certainly not less than six broods, for I have
taken the moths every month but the winter months, November, De-
cember, and January.

Its Injuries.—Not a cabbage patch visited by me this spring and sum-
mer but was more or less damaged by the attacks of this terrible cab-
bage pest, and the injury it does and the loss sustained by the trucker
is immense.

The very young begin by eating the fleshy portion of the leaves; as’

11

they grow in size and strength they gnaw irregular holes through the
leaves, until they are completely riddled or honey-combed and the cab-
bage rendered thereby unmarketable.

Natural Enemies and Parasites—Comparatively few natural enemies
have been observed preying upon this insect, although carabid beetles
and others are supposed to destroy it at the North.

A European chalcid fly, Copidosoma truncatellum Dalman, has been
reported as parasitic on this species at Washington, by Mr. L. O. How-
ard; twenty-five hundred and twenty-eight specimens of this parasite
were actually counted as coming from a single parasitized worm.

Professor Riley has also bred an ichneumon fly, Apanteles congregatus
Say, from larve.

Here, in a single instance, I bred from a chrysalis an ichneumon fly
(Limneria, sp.) a common parasite of the Cabbage Plutella, and it will be
found treated further on under the parasites of that insect.

From the egg, however, I bred a pretty little chaleid fly (Trichogram-
ma pretiosa Riley). It was first described by Professor Riley in Canadian
Entomologist Vol. XI, page 161, from specimens bred from the eggs of
the Cotton Worm (Aletia argillacea Hiibn.).

Besides the above parasites, three larve were brought under my ob-
servation, attacked by the parasitic fungus (Botrytis Rileyt Farlow).

REMEDIES.—Pyrethrum.—Professor Lintner recommends pyrethrum :
‘CA tablespoonful of good fresh powder, diffused through 2 gallons of
water and sprinkled over the plants, would destroy the larve.”

Hot Water.—Every worm visible upon the cabbages may be killed by
the use of water at the temperature of 130° Fahrenheit, or 55° centi-
grade. The water may be boiling hot when put in the watering-can,
but it will not be too hot when it reaches the cabbage leaves. The thick
fleshy nature of the leaves enables them to withstand considerable heat
with very little injury. The sacrifice of a few heads of cabbage will
soon teach an experimenter how far he can go withthe hot water. It
may be sprinkled over the plants from a fine rose watering-can or poured
on with the sprinkler removed. If it is very hot it will color some of
the leaves, but even where the cabbage is considerably sorched it will
recover and renew growth from the heat. (Prof. C. V. Riley).

Kerosene Emulsion.—The kerosene emulsion, as formulated by Mr. H.
G. Hubbard for scale insects, will also be found valuable for cabbage
worms.

Lime and Carbolic Powder.—This is also good. Take 20 parts super:
phosphate of lime, 3 parts fresh air-slaked lime, and 1 part carbolic
powder; mix, and seatter a small quantity upon each cabbage head three
or four times at short intervals about three days apart. The carbolic
powder is made by taking sawdust and thoroughly impregnating it
with carbolie acid.

12

THE CABBAGE PLUTELLA.
(Plutella cruciferarum Zeller.)

Second only in importance to the Cabbage Plusia is another cabbage
worm, the “Cabbage Plutella,” the larva of a small moth, and which
may easily be confounded with the very young larva of the Cabbage
Plusia.

This insect was treated at some length in Professor Riley’s Annual
Report as Entomologist to the Department for 1883, and it will therefore
be unnecessary to go into detail here. Imay state, however, that while
at the North there are probably but two annual generations, there are
at least four herein Florida. The larve are quite plentiful on cabbage
from the last of February to July, and again in the fall. The damage
done is very similar to that of the Plusia and is aimost as great, al-
though it seldom attacks other than the outer leaves.

I have bred a parasite, additional to those mentioned by Professor
Riley,which agrees with the description of Cresson’s Limneria obscura.

THE CABBAGE APHIS.
(Aphis brassice Linn.)

The Cabbage Aphis (Aphis brassice) first described by Linneus, in
his “Systema Nature,” is quite widely spread throughout this country
and Kurope. It was undoubtedly imported into this country at a very
early day, for Dr. Fitch shows, by reference to the Transactions of the
New York State Agricultural Society for 1791, that it was already
known as a cabbage pest at that early date, and at this day it has
spread to most parts of the world where the cabbage is cultivated.

Food Plants—It is found on the Turnip, Raddish, Field-cress (Jsatis
tinctoria), Shepherd’s-purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), Charloch (Brassica
arvensis), Cabbage, and other cruciferous plants.

Here I found it on Cabbage, Turnip, and Raddish.

Its Lire History.—The Young.—These are oval, about .01 inch in
length, and of a greenish-yellow color, without the mealy coating of the
older ones.

Buckton, the British authority on the Aphidide, thus describes the
different forms:

Apterous Viviparous Female.—Body long, oval; plentifully covered with a whitish
mealy coat, both on the upper and under sides. When this is removed by a drop of
spirits of wine the body below is grayish-green, with eight black spots ranged down
each side of the back, which increase in size as they approach the tail. Antenne
green with black tips, shorter than the body. Eyes and legs black. Cornicles very
short and black. Tail also small and black.

Winged Oviparous Female.—Head, neck, and thoracic leben black. Antenne and
nectaries dark brown. Eyes black. Rest of the body yellowish-green. Abdomen

with a row of fine punctures on each lateral edge, with several obscure transverse
dorsal marks. Legs dusky brown, pilose. Tail dark green or brown; hairy. Cor-

13

nicles short and brown, as also is the tip of the rostrum. ‘This last organ reaches to
the second cox. Wings rather short, with stout coarse veins and stigma.

Its Injuries.—The injuries this species does are more apparent in early
spring and late fall than at any other time, for it is then that they are
most plentiful, and less subject to the attacks of their numérous natural
enemies.

They are found in colonies, on the upper and lower surface of the
leaf; often hidden in the wrinkles and folds of the leaf, deep down at
its base and on the leaf-stalk.

3ucktonsays: ‘Both theupper and under sides of the foliage of which
last plant (Brassica oleracea) it often crowds in such numbers that the
leaves become hidden by the living mass. Indeed sometimes, weight
for weight, there is more animal than vegetable substance present. The
leaves then become putrid, offensive in odor, and quite disgusting to the
eye.”

It is seldom that plants are so badly infested in Florida as described
by this author, although some years ago I did see old cabbage-stalks
that had been left go to seed in an old cabbage patch so affected.

Every stalk was literally covered, promiscuously piled one upon
another, with living, pumping, slimy aphids, rendered such by the exud-
ing sap of the plants. I was unable to touch a portion of the stalk with-
out my fingers being covered with the slimy, viscid mass.

Natural Enemies and Parasites.—Fortunately, in Florida, the species
has very many natural enemies and parasites which keep it from increas-
ing very rapidly.

In Europe, too, it has several parasites. Buckton mentions a Coruna,
a Ceraphron, and a Trionyx (T. rape Curtis) as having been bred from 1t
in Europe; also “several species of Syrphidee and Ichneumonide act
effectually as checks upon the increase of A. brassice. The larve of
the former dipterous flies, living in the midst of such plenty, soon gorge
themselves and become of great size.”

Trionyx rape Curtis has also been bred from it inthis country. It was
received at the Department February 27, 1880, from Norfolk, Va., and
redescribed by Mr. Cresson in the Annual Report, U.S. Department Ag-
riculture for 1879, page 260, as a new species, Trionyx piceus. Professor
Riley bred it at Saint Louis, Mo., as early as 1871, and I have bred it here
in great quantities in May, June, and July.

It is one of the principal checks in keeping this pest within bounds,
and but few of the Aphids escape its sting.

But there are other parasites; and below I give descriptions of sev-
eral others bred here which are apparently new and as yet undescribed.

The rearing of a parasitic Cynips from this species is quite interest-
ing, inasmuch as the habits of but few of our species are known. Up
tothe present time Allotria avena, A. tritici Fitch, and A. lachni Ashm.
are the only Cynipids bred from Aphids in North America.

14

THE CABBAGE APHIS ALLOTRIA—A llotria brassice nu. sp.—FEMALE.—Length .05inch.
Black, highly polished, face and vertex of head testaceous; cheeks broad, convex,
antenne 13-jointed, long, pale yellowish-brown or yellowish towards base, becoming
brownish or infuscated at tip; thorax smooth, parapsides distant; scutellum small,
round, convex, with a deep transverse groove at base; wings clear, pubescent and
fringed with short cilia; veins yellowish, the radial area closed; abdomen globose,
with the second segment but slightly longer than the third, highly polished black,
but more or less testaceous at base and at vent, and a clump of whitish hairs at base;
legs honey-yellow; in dry specimens tawny-yellow.

Ma.e.—The male is of the same size or slightly smaller than the female, and is easily
recognized by the 14-jointed antennz; the third, fourth, and fifth joints almost equal
jn length, and all are excised outwardly; the testaceous spot on vertex of head is not
so apparent; the pleura are more or less testaceous and the abdomen is ovate.

Described from several specimens bred from June 6th to July 15th.

THE CABBAGE APHIS PACHYNEURUN—Pachyneuron aphidivora n. sp.—FEMALE.—
Length .04 to .05 inch. Head metallic green suffused with purple and purplish
black on vertex ; shagreened, the sculpture coarser beneath eyes; mandibles large,
tridentate; eyes purplish-brown; antennz brown, pubescent, scape and pedicel
darker; thorax purplish-black with bronzy and cupreous reflection, finely reticulately
- sculptured; scapule, golden green; scutellum prominent, convex, rounded; meta-
thorax finely wrinkled; abdomen flat, oval, blue-black, metallic at base and with
bronze tingings towards apex, darker beneath; wings hyaline, iridescent, pubescent
excepting at base; veins pale yellow, the thickened marginal vein brownish, the
stigmal slightly longer than marginal; along outer edge are seven long hairs; legs
pale yellowish, cox:e black, anterior and middle femora d usky near base and along
upper and lower surface, at least two-thirds their length.

Described from several specimens bred June 6th.

THE CABBAGE APHIS ENCYRTID—Encyrtus aphidiphagus n. sp.—FEMALE.—Length
.06inch. Blue-black. Head shagreened, face and mouth parts blue, the facial impres-
sion is very deep, eyes brown; ocelliregion greenish; antenne brown; thorax shag-
reened in wavy curved rugosities, hind margin metallic green ; abdomen bronzed, blue-
black; wings hyaline, marginal vein short; legs honey-yellow, all femora brown ex-
cept at tips, a large brown blotch near base of tibiw, terminal tarsal joints dusky.

Near Encyrtus sublestus Howard but the color of the legs will at once distinguish it.
Described from several specimens.

THE CABBAGE APHIS SYRPHUS FLy—Allograpta obliqua Say.—The
larva or maggot of this fly has been taken feeding on the ‘ Cabbage
Aphis,” and below I give description of its various preparatory stages:

The Egg.—Pearly white, long oval; .03 inch in length, deposited on the leaves
among the Aphids.

The Maggot.—It is difficult to distinguish this from many other Syrphid larve.
The full grown larva measures .25 inch in length, cylindrical, tapering anteriorly to
point; it is perfectly smooth, a translucent green, and the viscera are plainly discerni-
ble, variously shaded, dark green, yellowish or brownish; the jaws are black; the air
vessels, which are visible on either side through the body walls, become contiguous 6n
last segment, where they are connected externally with two small warty spiracles.

The Puparium.—The puparium into which the maggot transforms resembles a cone,
with the side attached to the leaf, flattened and held in place by a viscid substance
secreted by the larva; its anterior end broad and well rounded, gradually nar-
rowing posteriorly; at the end are still to be seen the two warty tubercles. Color
yellow-brown, with occasionally darker shadings.

15

From the puparium of this fly I have bred the following parasite :

Tue SyrpHus Fry PACHYNEURON—Pachyneuron allograptae n. sp.—FEMALE.—
Length .08 inch. Black, rather coarsly punctate, with aslight metallic luster. Head
large, face and cheeks full; eyes brown; antenne brown, scape rufous; legs tawny
yellow, a large brown blotch on fore and middle femora, while the hind femora are
almost entirely brown; abdomen flattened, oval, shiny black; wings hyaline, veins
pale brown; the bristles on submarginal vein are not long and are difficult to count.

MaLe.—Leneth .05 inch, otherwise similar to female.

Described from several specimens. The large size of this species and color of legs
will distinguish it from others in our fauna.

Besides the above parasites there is a small Coccinellid that preys on

the Cabbage Aphis, viz, Scymnus cervicalis.
OTHER INSECTS FOUND ON CABBAGE IN FLORIDA.

A Centipede (Julus multistriatus) Say, a Cricket (Tridactylus minutus
Scudder), the Southern Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris protodice Boisd.), the
Large Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris monuste L.), the Cabbage Mamestra
(Mamestra chenopodui Albin.), the Zebra Cabbage Worm (Ceramica picta
Harris), the Cabbage Pionea (Pionea rimosalis Guen.), the Cauliflower
Botis (Botis repetitalis Grote), the Harlequin Cabbage Bug (Murgantia
histrionica Hahn.), and others.

INSECTS AFFECTING CORN.

The lateness of the season at which I began my investigations pre-
cluded me from studying insects depredating this crop in its earlier
growth; consequently nothing can be reported of the cut-worms and
borers that do so much injury to this erep in early spring.

THE CORN WORM.

(Heliothis armigera Hiibn.)

This well-known insect has been very plentiful and injurious in
Florida during the past season. Not a field of corn was free from its
attacks, and but few perfect ears could be found that were not bored
into by this pest. .

Irom ears taken from a field near Jacksonville I obtained from eight
to a dozen worms in each ear, and out of the whole patch hardly an ear
could be found that had less than two or three worms in it.

The insect is treated in full in the Fourth Report of the U.S. Ento-
mological Commission, and a repetition of its life-history, habits, and
remedies are unnecessary here.

Its Injuries.—Enormous injuries are committed by this worm, whole
fields of corn being almost entirely destroyed by it. The eggs are laid
on the leaves, and the young larve, which hatch therefrom, begin by
eating the leaves, but they soon leave these and bore into the tender
ears, gnawing and eating them in all directions, so that frequently
hardly a perfect ear can be found. At timesit is also found at the

16

base of the tassel, feeding on the accumulated saccarhine juice, found
there, just before the tassel emerges from its sheath.

The worms will not only gnaw irregular burrows and feed on corn
whilein the milk, but the mature larve are known at times to continue
feeding on mature hard corn.

I have taken on corn two hemiptera or bugs which probably prey on
the worm, although not detected in the act—the Wheel Bug (Prionidus
cristatus L.) and Huschistus servus Say. From the egg I bred Tricho-
gramma pretiosa Riley, already. noticed; but no other parasite has been
bred from it by me.

THE CORN MINING FLY.
(Diastata sp?)

A mining fly larva is quite frequently met with, making long irregular
mines on corn leaves, and while I have not been able to rear the perfect
fly, yet I am satisfied it is the same species mentioned by Prof. Com-
stock, in U.S. Agricultural Report for 1880, page 245, as Diastata sp.

Several specimens of a parasite, agreeing tolerably well with Mr.
Howard’s Hntedon diastate, reared from it at the North, were also bred
from it here.

MISCELLANEOUS CORN INSECTS.

A Hemipteron (Oebalus pugnax Fabr.) was found in considerable num-
bers feeding on corn pollen, along with a Capsid and several flies. A
fly (Ortalis sp.) is common on the stalk, but was nol observed to do any
injury. A common beetle (Allorhina nitida Linn.) was taken, with head

immersed in the ear, feeding on corn while in the milk.

OTHER INSECTS INJURING CORN IN FLORIDA.

The following insects also injure corn here: The Corn-stalk Borer
(Diatreea saccharalis Fabr.); the Corn Bill-bug (Sphenophorus robustus
Horn.), and the Angoumois moth (Gelechia cerealella) and several Cut
Worms. From the tassels I have taken the larve of Nola sorghiella
Riley, and in the crib the Corn Weevil (Calandra granaria).

INSECTS AFFECTING THE TOMATO.

The cultivation of the Tomato for Northern markets is arapidly grow-
ing industry in Florida, particularly in the southern portions of our
State; and thousands of boxes are now forwarded by our growers to.
Northern commission men every season.

It behooves us, therefore, to keep a watchful eye on the insect depre-
dators of this fruit, for we may naturally expect, with the extension of
any horticultural industry, a corresponding increase of insect pests.

Fortunately, no serious damage done this plant by insects has been
reported this season, and, while I have been unable to visit West and

17

South Florida, the sections in which the Tomato is more extensively cul-
tivated, yet studies on insects infesting it in gardens near Jacksonville
will, I feel assured, prove of interest.

THE TOMATO WORM.
(Sphinx Carolina Linn.)

This is a well-known insect, common in all tomato patches, although
the moth into whichit transforms is seldom seen, and remains totally un-
known to the great majority of our farmers. When you tell them that
the worm will change into a large moth, nine times out of ten they ex-
press surprise and think it a most wonderful piece of information.

Distribution.—It is quite generally distributed throughout the United
States, Mexico, the West Indies, and is not uncommon in South
America.

Food Plants.—It feeds on Tomato, Potato, Jimpson weed (Datura stra-
monium), Egg-Plant, Tobacco, and other plants. I took specimens the
past season feeding on Poke-berry (fivina levis).

Its Lire History.—The Hgg.—The egg is spherical, perfectly smooth, and green or
yellowish-green in color ; diameter about .05 inch.

The Larva.—When full grown it measures over three inches in length. The head
and body are dark green, interspersed with greenish-white dots; it is transversely
wrinkled; oblique white or greenish-white lateral bands extend from dorsum to spi-
racles, edged above with bluish and short transverse black lines. ‘The spiracles, ex- |
cepting the first and last, are blackish, with a yellow dot above and below, all edged
with blue, the first and last orange yellow. The shield and terminal prolegs edged
below with yellow; the caudal horn is reddish-brown towards tip, and the feet are
white, edged with black.

The Pupa.—Length one inch and a half. Dark reddish-brown, with coarse punc-
tures on abdominal segments, and a detached cylindrical thick tongue-case, not
quite reaching to tip of abdomen.

The moth is a mottled gray species, with orange spots alone the body,
and has too often been figured and described to need description here.

Its Injuries.—W hen plentiful the injury done is considerable, and great
care should be taken to remove and destroy them. They eat the leaves
and tenderer and terminal shoots, frequently stripping the plant bare,
whereby the plant is unable to breathe or mature fruit.

Natural Enemies and Parasites.—I have observed a species of Wasp
carrying off the young worms to provision its nest. It is also probable
that the Microgaster and Blacas that attack its nearest ally (Sphinx
5-maculata) will be found parasitizing this worm.

A Tachina fly, a species of Mascicera, has been bred from it in the
North by Prof. Riley (fourth Missouri Entomological Report, page 129).
In June I bred from its eggs Trichogramma pretiosa Riley, a general egg
parasite already noticed, and a species of Teleas. Of the former three
to six specimens issued from each egg; from the latter two to four.

22340—No. 14——2

18

I submit a description of the Teleas, which is apparently new:

THE SPHINX EGG TELEAS—Yeleas sphingis n. sp.—Length, .04inch. Black, smooth,
and polished. Head large, much broader than thorax; antenne 12-jointed, dark
brown, sparsely pubescent, the scape barely reaching to the head; pedicel much
stouter and larger than first funicle joint, which is small; other joints slightly in-
crease in size to club, which enlarges and widens considerably, and comprises five
joints; the antenne in male are more flagellate. The thorax is ovate, smooth, con-
vex, and sparsely covered with microscopical pubescence.

Under a very high power the head and thorax show a microscopical reticulated
scratched surface.

No parapsidal grooves; the scutellum is separated by a deep groove at base and has
some wrinkled ridges; metathorax rugose. The abdomen is very flat ovate, and
somewhat carinate laterally; on first segment there are three deep transverse, punc-
tate grooves, and the second segment occupies most of the upper surface; surround-
ing the tip are a few hairs.

Legs clavate; femora and cox black or very dark brown; tibiz brown, with tips;
tarsi and trochanters yellowish or tawny; wings hyaline, hairy, and with a distinct,
rather long, stigmal vein.

Described from numerous specimens bred in July.

Remedy.—For destroying this worm no better method need be wanted
than hand-picking.

The worms are large and conspicuous, easily seen, and no difficulty
will attend their destruction. The best time for searching for them is
in the early morning and evening; during the middle of the day the
majority of them will be found hidden under trash and in the ground
at the foot of the vine.

.

THE TOMATO-STALK BORER.
(Gortyna nitela Guen.)

This insect is comparatively rare in Florida, although I have noticed
it several times the present season. It has been so often treated in the
reports and in popular articles as to need no extended notice here.

THE TOMATO APHIS.
(Megoura solani Thomas.)

In some cases brought under my observation this year, this Aphid
did considerable damage to tomato vines, particularly in the early
spring.

Distribution.—It is pretty generally distributed throughout the
United States, although it has not been reported, that I am aware of,
west of the Rocky Mountains.

Its Natural History.—Prof. Cyrus Thomas described the species in the
Eighth Illinois Report as follows:

Winged Female.-—Antenne 7-jointed, a little longer than the body; first and second
joints short; third and seventh longest, nearly equal; fourth a little shorter than the
third; the fifth not quite as long as the fourth; sixth about half or less than half
the length of the fifth; tubercles prominent. Honey tubes extending beyond the
abdomen, excessively enlarged in the middle, and expanding at the tip in trumpet

C3)

shape. Tail of moderate length, about one-third as long as the honey tubes, conical.
Wings as usual in Siphonophora; fourth vein strongly and regularly curved ; second
fork about equally distant from apex and third vein; stigma elongate, slender and
pointed, size large.

General color greenish; tail greenish-yellow at the base, darker at the tip; body
ereenish or pale greenish-yellow ; antenne dusky. Another winged specimen, proba-
bly a male, varies considerably from the above description ; the second fork of the third
vein is very short and near the apex, and in some cases absent in one wing and present
in the other. Honey tubes with the enlargement less than the preceding, and carried
nearer to the apex; antennze also differ slightly in the respective length of the
joints. Head and abdomen olive green; thorax and eyes black; antenne dusky,
legs pale, dark at the knees and tarsi.

Pupa.—Elongate oblong in form; very pale with a dark green stripe along the
middle of the back, with apparent whitish powder speckled sparsely over the body.
Head whitish; base of antenne greenish-white, rest pale fuscous, dark at the tip of
the joints and at the tip of the antenne ; eyes brown; femora greenish-white; tibize
fuscous; tarsi darker. Honey tubes long, slender, pale at base and dusky at the tip.
Tail short, conical, greenish. ae

The summer broods of this species are viviparous, but there must be
a fall sexual brood, containing oviparous females which deposit eggs,
from which hatch the early spring broods.

Its Injuries.—This species was first detected in the garden of Col. L.
W. Spratt.

The Colonel drew my attention to some sickly tomato vines and
showed me others that had died and asked me what was the matter
with them. An examination revealed the Aphids along the stem stalk
and on some of the leaves, and I feel convinced that these little creatures
were the cause of the trouble. Their puncture has a blistering and
blighting effect on the vine, and the leaves curl and wither.

Natural Enemies and Parasites.—I detected the larve of a Lace-wing
(Hemerobius) and certain Scymni feeding upon them; also bred from
them two internal parasites as follows:

ToMaTo APHIS ALLOTRIA—Aliotria megoure n. sp.—FEMALE.—Length .03 inch.
Black, shining. Face testaceous; antenne long, 13-jointed, subfiliform, dark houey-
yellow, infuscated from two-thirds its length to tip; thorax smooth, shining ; scutel-
lum oval, convex; abdomen globose, slightly testaceous in certain lights; legs dark
honey-yellow ; wings hyaline, ciliated, veins yellowish.

Described from one specimen bred May 26th.

THe ToMATO APHIS ENCYRTID—Encyrtus? megoure n. sp.—MALE AND FEMALE.—
Length from .02 to .03 inch. Blue-black. Head finely punctate; eyes large with
coarse facets; mouth piceous; antennie 1l-jointed, covered with short pubsecence
in female, in male with two whorls of hairs on each joint; the flagellum gradually
widens towards tip in female, narrower in male; scutellum slightly metallie in
female, brighterin male, with some long hairs ; abdomen blackish or brownish, short,
stout, with long hairs at sides; wings hyaline; veins yellowish ; marginal vein very
short ; legs yellowish, coxie, femora except at tip, and a broad annulus on upper half
of tibiw darker.

Described from three specimens.
Jtemedies.—Those recommended for ‘* Cabbage Aphis” will be just as
effectual for this species.

20.

INSECTS AFFECTING THE EGG PLANT.

The egg plant is comparatively but little cultivated in Florida, and
no serious injury is done it by insect pests.

The “ Tomato Worms,” Sphinx carolina and Sphinx 5-maculata are
both found on it eating the leaves; also a Tortricid and a Tineid. :

A Membracid (Acutalis calva Say) is found on the stalk, a Blister
Beetle (Lpicauta cinerea Forst.) in blossoms, and occasionally eating the
leaves; at times a small black jumping bug (Halticus bractatus Say) is
very plentiful on both stalk and leaves, as well as Stictocephala in-
ermis Fabr., and on the under surface of the leaves an Aphis. 7

THE EGG PLANT APHIS.

(Siphonophora cucurbite. Middleton.)

Distribution —This species was first detected on Squash vines at
Carbondale, Illinois, May, 1878, by Miss Nettie Middleton, and described
in Kighth Report Illinois Insects, page 67, and I know of no other ref-
erence to it. The specimens found here on Egg Plants agree perfectly
with her description, and it is probably extensively distributed over the
Kastern United States on various plants belonging to the Cucurbi-
tacee. 3

I quote her original description :

Winged Specimens.—Large and green. Antenne very long, reaching to or beyond
the tip of the tail; third joint a little longer than the fourth; fourth about the same
length or very slightly longer than fifth; sixth not more than one-fourth or one-third
the length of the fifth; seventh longest; wings transparent; veins slender; the first
fork makes a very acute angle with the third vein; second fork rather nearer the
third vein-than the apex; fourth vein curves sharply and approaches somewhat
closely in its middle to the first fork; stigma elongate and narrow ; honey tubes
long, slencer, and cylindrical, extending beyond the tip of the abdomen, but not to
the tip of the tail, about one-fifth the length of the body; tail long, subeonical, more
than half the length of the honey tubes (in the wingless specimens). The form of the
body in both the winged and wingless specimens is elongate and fusiform, the latter
being slightly broader than the former. Length of body .10 inch, to tip of wing .18-
inch, and some appear to even exceed this size; body green; head paler, more or less
yellowish; thorax pale brownish or fawn colored or tinged with this color; abdomen
green, with a darker green median line; first and second joints of the antenne paie,
third dark, seventh light, shades of light and dark more or less alternating; honey
tubes green at base, changing to fuscous at the tip; tail greenish; eyes brown;
stigma pale.

Wingless Specimen.—Green, with few markings: Body slightly broader than winged
specimens, and elongate ovate; the abdomen tapering posteriorly to the elongated
tail, which is elongate conical, its length more than half and almost equal to that of
the honey tubes. The honey tubes are long, somewhat robust and cylindrical; they
extend beyond the tip of the abdomen, although the posterior tapering segments are
much drawn out, but not to the tip of the tail. In most of the specimens examined
under a strong magnifying power they appear slightly and minutely wrinkled trans-
versely, or what may perhaps better describe the appearance, pustulate or scaly. The

f

21

length of body is usually rather greater than of the winged specimens. In both the
antenne and front of the head are hairy, and many of the hairs appear to be capi-
tate.

Its Injuries.—It is only in early spring that the plant suffers much
from this Aphid, and then almost any wash would destroy it; later the
rains and natural enemies almost totally destroy it.

Parasites—Enemies that are usually found destroying plant-lice—
Coccinellidze and Hemerobiidse—were also observed associated with this
species; but besides these I bred from it a parasitic Cynipid as follows:

THE EGG PLANT APHIS EvcoiLa, Lucoila siphonophore n. sp.—-MaLe.—Length, .05
inch; dark, piceo-black; polished; in shape somewhat linear; antennz longer than
body: 15-jointed ; filiform, red; third joint longest, excised; following joints long,
moniliform; scutellum cupuliform; abdomen slightly compressed, with hairy girdle
at base; legs red; posterior cox rather large, somewhat pale; wings hyaline, pub-
escent, and ciliate.

Described from one specimen, bred May 30.
INSECTS AFFECTING THE PEA.

There are several insects destroying the Pea in Florida, but it was
too late in the season when I began my work to study them in the
field, the Pea crop being about over.

Crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars cut and eat the
leaves and pods; but by far the most destructive is a root-mining An-
thomyid fly, which preys upon the roots.

Its existence is entirely unsuspected by the grower, and I hope an-
other season will enable me to thoroughly work it up.

The maggots bore into and burrow the roots near the crown, and in
a Short time flourishing and luxuriant vines are killed.

Our people attribute the cause to the hot weather, and would be sur-
prised could they see the larve at work.

INSECTS AFFECTING THE BEAN.

The same general remarks made in regard to insects of the Pea will
apply to the Bean also, and I have only been able to work up the life
history of one ‘‘Cut-worm,” taken while in the act, in June.

THE BEAN CUT-WORM.
(Telesilla cinereola Guenée.)

The moth of this species has long been known to collectors, but the cat-
erpillar, I believe, up to the present time, remains unidentified and un-
described.

Distribution.—Found generally spread over the United States east
of the Rocky Mountains and in Canada and the West Indies. Pro-
fessor Snow reports it common in Kansas; in Florida it is rare.

22

Its Lire History.—The Hgg.—Unknown.

The Larva.—This in shape and size very much resembles the Cabbage Worin (Plusia
brassice,) and, like it, when disturbed draws itself up and has the appearance of a geo-
metrid larva. When full grown it measures one and one-tenth of an inch in iength.
Pale green, with a wavy, yellow stigma line and a supra-stigma creamy white line
and two pale dorsal lines, 8 transverse black warty dots on segments with two more
on dorsum back of these, from all of which issue pale hairs; on either side of the
dorsal black warty tubercles is an irregular yellowish line, and an indistinct yel-
lowish oblique line extending from the outer line obliquely between the first pair of
tubercles and last pair to the dorsal-lines. The six true legs are pale, glassy, and
there are prolegs on ninth, tenth, and analsegments. Head green, with sutural edges
dark anda few hairs at sides.

The Pupa.—Length, .42 inch; greatest width, .15; wing cases, .21 inch; pale yel-
low brown, the fifth segment rather strongly constricted anteriorly and widest; the
edges of allthe segments anteriorly dark brown.

The Moth.—Wing expanse from one inch and ten-hundredths to one inch and fifteen-
hundredths. The fore wings are grayish brown, with a few short, indistinct, wavy,
lighter grayish lines interspersed ; transversely across the fore wing near the outer
margin is a light gray or slightly yellowish band.

The hind wings are uniformly gray, fringed with short cilia; beneath, silvery gray
with numerous brownish gray scales at anterior margin and on fore wing. .

Its Injuries.—The worm feeds on the leaves and the bean pods, some-

times stripping the vine bare.
OTHER BEAN INSECTS.

A Katydid (Phylloptera oblongifolia Dels.), a Butterfly larva (Huda-
mus proteus Linn.), and a Tineid are also found damaging this crop.

INSECTS AFFECTING THE SQUASH.

In Florida there are many insects found feeding on this plant; the
Cucumber Flea-beetle (Crepidodera cucumeris Harris), the12-spotted Dia-
brotica (Diabrotica 12-punctata Oliv.),a jumping bug (Halticus bractatus
Say), the False Chinch (7riphleps insidiosus Say), a Mining Fly (Oscinis),
and an Aphis (Aphis cucurbite Buckton) are common on the leaves and
stems, but have not been observed to do much injury. The life histories
of and observations concerning the more injurious are given below.

THE SQUASH BUG.
(Anasa tristis DeGeer).

When this bug exists in quantities probably there is no more inju-
rious insect known to squash and pumpkin vines. The mature bug
hibernates in the winter under débris, old vines, dry grass, boards, W&e.,
and from early spring to late fall there is a continual succession of
broods.

I have taken some specimens in mid-winter, on warm days, in old
fields and on fences.

Distribution.—It is found generally throughout the United States and

|
.
|

23

inCanada; Anasa uhleri Stal., found in Mexico, will probably prove to
be nothing but a climatic or varietal form of this well-known insect:

Its Lire History—The Egg.—Length, .04 inch; oval, flattened on three sides, so
that when viewed from either end it has a triangular appearance; in color it is dark
golden bronze. To the unassisted eye it is smooth and shining, but when viewed
under a high-power lens the surface is reticulated.

The Larva.—When first hatched the young bug is broadly oval, with long antenne,
the joints of which are flat, hairy; the head, thorax, and wing-scales blackish, while
abdomen is a bright ocher yellow. Length, .08 inch.

Its Injuries and Food Plants.—It confines its attacks almost exclusively
to the Squash and Pumpkin, although it is not improbable that other
cucurbitaceous vines also suffer from it.

The bug punctures the leaves and the stem of the vine, causing them
to wrinkle and wither; also the fruit.

The eggs are laid in arianes twenty or thirty together, on the upper
or lower surface of the leaves, fastened to the leaf with a sticky or gluey
substance, at night or just before dark, for during the day these disgust-
ing bugs seek shelter in the ground or under trash at the base of the
vine stalk.

It is curious to watch them come forth from their hiding places as the
sun sinks and darkness begins to fall. Brood after brood march up the
vine, led by an older one, like the different corps of an army march to
the parade ground at roll call. They come from everywhere—in the
ground, under grass, trash, and boards. Indeed, itis astonishing to see
how soon vines will be crowded with these bugs, where but a few hours
before not one could be found. °

Natural Enemies and Parasites.—Birds and fowls, on account of their
peculiar odor, will not feed on them, and beetles, wasps, and spiders,
which attack caterpillars and other insects, shun it as a foul thing.
Fortunately, however, there are parasites Tet prey on the egg, and thus
greatly diminish it, although no author that I am aware of mentions
this fact. It was therefore a surprise and a gratification for me when I
bred three distinct parasites from the eggs the past summer—a Bape’
mid, an Eneyrtid, and a Telenomid.

THE SQUASH-8UG EGG TELENOMUS—Telenomus anase n, sp.—MALE AND FEMALE.—
Black, very coarsely irregularly reticulately punctate, with white pubescence;
antenne in female clavate, 12-jointed, brown; in male flagellate, 14-jointed, pale
brown; legs, pale brown or yellowish brown ; cox, black ; abdomen in female, ovate,
sub-convex above, highly convex beneath, and with a light carina at sides; in male
somewhat fusiform. Wings, hyaline, with a slight fuscous tinge, pubescent, the mar-
ginal vein very short, post marginal long, while the stigmal is about two-thirds as
long as post marginal; all yellowish.

Described from numerous specimens bred in June and July.

About thirty per cent. of the eggs collected were parasitized by this
insect.

THE SQUASH-BUG EGG ENCYRTID—Zncyrtus anase n. sp.—FEMALE.—Length, .05
inch; robust; head and thorax blue-black; abdomen and tip of scutellum cupreous;
the very large pleura and cheeks are decidedly blue; antenn and legs pale brown; the

24

scape at base and tarsi yellowish. The femora have a large bluish-black blotch in the
middle. .

Described from two specimens.

The Reduvius Egg Eupelmid—Hupelmus reduvii Howard.—Seven
specimens of what I have identified as this species were bred from Anasa
eggs In July.

For a description of the species see Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XII,
page 207.

THE SQUASH BORER.

(Hudioptis nitidalis Cramer.)

The worm so commonly found with us boring into squashes, at the
North goes under the name of ‘‘ Pickle Worm.” There it is found eat-
ing the leaves and boring into the fleshy portions of the Cucumber.

Distribution.—lt is found in the West Indies, throughout the United
States, and in Canada. |

Food Plants.—As a borer it is found in Squash, Cucumbers, and Mel-
ons, but it will also feed on the leaves of all of these vines. The moth
is very common and it must have other food plants; Guenée Hein:
a species of Potato as its food plant.

Its Injuries —The worms bore cylindrical holes into the Squash, and
feed on the fleshy pulp, causing it to rot and decay.

Parasites.—F rom one of the pupe I bred a Chaleid fly, Chaleis ovata,
Say, but no other parasites are known to infest it.

Remedy.—Professor Riley, Second Missouri Entomological Report, p.
70, suggests ‘¢ overhauling the vines early in the summer, and destroyirg
the first worms that appear, either by feeding the infested fruit to hogs or
cattle, or by killing the worms on the spot.”

THE SQUASH VINE BORER.
(Melittia ceto Westw.).

This well known insect, unlike Hudioptis nitidalis, does not bore into
the Squash or fruit, but into the stem of the vine, often killing it.

I have taken two or three borers at a time from a single stem, and in
confinement they proved to be cannibalistic—feeding upon one an-
other—as was exemplified with some I attempted to rear this summer.

No borers were observed in the vine until July.

Distribution.—Found generally throughout the United States.

Food Plants.—Its attacks are almost strictly confined to the Squash,
although it has been reported to bore at times into Pumpkin vines.

Its Lire History.—The egg.—The egg is oval and of a dull red.

The Larva.—Full grown larve measure from one inch to one inch and a fourth.
Somewhat depressed, fleshy, soft, tapering at each extremity ; segments ten in num-
ber, very distinct, the incisions being deep; the eleventh or last segment minute, and
hardly distinct from the tenth. Head retractile, small, brown, paler on the front, and

with the usual V-like mark on it. First segment or collar with two oblique brown
marks on the top, converging behind. A dark line, occasioned by the dorsal vessel

25

seen through the transparent skin, along the top of the back, from the fourth to the
tenth rings inclusive. True legs six, articulate, brown ; prolegs wanting or replaced
by double rows of hooks in pairs beneath the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth rings,
and two single rows under the last ring. Spiracles brown. A few very short hairs
on eachring, arising singly from little hard points or pit-like, warty substances.

The Pupa.—TYhis is inclosed in a cocoon made of the squash stalk, tied together
with a few silken threads.

The Moth.—The wings expand one inch and one quarter. Opaque lustrous, olive-
‘brown; hind wings transparent, with the margin and fringes brown; antennw
greenish black, palpi pale yellow, with a little black tuft near the tip ; thorax olive
abdomen deep orange, with a transverse basal black band, and a longitudinal row of
five or six black spots; tibizw and tarsi of the hind legs thickly fringed on the in-
side with black, and on the outside with long orange-colored hairs; spurs covered
with white hairs. (Harris. )

Its Injuries —The female moth lays an egg on the vine near the
roots; the worm which hatches therefrom bores into and feeds on the
soft succulent interior of the stem, particularly at its origin near the
ground, and at the base of the leaves; frequently when small the
worm bores even into the larger leaf-veins. It may easily be detected
at work by the withering of the leaves and stem.

Parasites.—1 know of no parasites bred from this borer; although I
have a large, beautiful, golden green Pteromalid, captured on the
vines, that may possibly prove to be its parasite; others were seen on
the vine or its vicinity.

Remedies.—The following suggestions and remedies will be found use-
ful in destroying the pest:

Cutting out the larve.—This method has been long in use by garden-
ers, and with a little practice one soon becomes quite expert in detecting
and removing the larve.

Bisulphide of Carbon in the Ground.—Prof. C. V. Riley first suggested
the use of this insecticide in destroying grape phylloxera and Prof. A.
J. Cook has since used it successfully in destroying this borer. He
says: ‘*A small hole is made in the earth near the main root of the
plant by the use of a walking-stick or other rod, and about a teaspoonful
of the liquid poured in, when the hole is quickly filled with earth and
pressed down by the foot.” In every instance the insects were killed
without injury to the plant.

Gas-lime.—Fresh gas-lime, liberally distributed, after the removal of
the crop, will kill the larvee within the cocoons. It is well also to fol-
low Professor Lintner, who says: ‘An infested crop should not be
followed by another upon the same ground.”

Treatment with Saltpeter.—“ Four tablespoonfals dissolved in a pail
of water, and about a quart applied to each hill where an attack was
noticed and the leaves were wilting, at the time when the vines were
just beginning to run nicely, effectually arrested the attack and a fine
crop followed.” (Country Gentleman.)

INSECTS AFFECTING THE MELON, :

There aretwo insect pests which seriously damage this crop in Florida—
a borer and an Aphis—both damaging the crop annually to the extent
of thousands of dollars.

THE MELON BORER.
(Ludioptis hyalinata Linn.)

In July the melon crop (Cantaloupes and Musk-melons) is almost
totally destroyed by the injuries committed by this worm. By the end
of the month hardly a melon can be found that has not been bored into
by this destructive pest.

Distribution.—It is a common and extensively distributed species over
North America, the West Indies, and South America. Guenée also
records having received it from French Guiana. :

Its total annihilation is devoutly wished for by growers and lovers of
good melons, and a preventive from its attacks greatly desired.

Food Plants.—In several instances I have taken the larve in Squash,
but it is almost exclusively confined to the Melon. From two to six
worms have been taken from a single nutmeg melon. Guenée states it
is found in Pumpkins, Watermelons, and other cucurbitaceous plants.
Now, I have never yet found a borer in Watermelons, and the statement
that this worm is found in this fruit must be taken cwm grano salis.

The Larva.—Length eight-tenths ofaninch. Coior translucent green or pale green-
ish-yellow, with the head and cervical shield yellowish; the jaws and surroundings
of mouth paris black; from both sides of head issue some fine hairs; the stigmata are
yellowish; the warty tubercles on the different segments are arranged as in the larva
of Eudioptus nitidalis, its nearest ally, only they are neither so prominent nor black,
but green, and the hairs issuing therefrom are very fine and almost invisible to the
naked eye; the legs are the same in both species.

The Pupa.—This is long and slender, seven-twelfths of an inch in length, yellow-
brown, darker, and tapering to a point at tail; the wing cases are long and rather
narrow, and the antennal case is very long, projecting beyond the base of the 8th
ventral segment. Ail the segments are well separated, microscopally rugose and
wrinkled. The pupa is generally inclosed ina loosely-woven web or cocoon made by
drawing a leaf together. But this is not always the case. In two instances I found
the pupa loose in the soft pulp of the melon, in the juiciest portion, and it was quite
lively, twisting its abdomen from side to side and wiggling about like a thing of
life.

The Moth.—Wing expanse from one inch and one-sixth to a little over, The wings
are translucent, pearly white, iridescent, and with a glossy brown-black border; the
abdomen is also pearly white, excepting the last two segments above, which are black-
ish, and ends in a tuft of hairs or expanded brush, of a buff color, tipped with white
and black; the head and the thorax above are brown-black, glossy ; the legs are white
excepting the fore-thighs and tibizw, which are discolored above with buff-colored
scales; middle tibie armed with two spines, one longer than the other; posterior
tibie similarly armed, but with an additional pair in the middle, beneath.

21

Its Injuries.—The larve begin by eating the leaves, and the diet of
the first brood of worms must consist almost exclusively of phyllopha.
gous food. It is only as the melons begin to mature that the worms
boreinto them; for comparatively few green melons were found affected.

Of the large melons examined, from four to six worms were taken
from each, and in every case where this happened the melon had reached
its full growth and was undergoing the process of ripening.

This worm does not always bore directly into the interior of the fruit,
sometimes confining itself to the outer rind or boring irregular galleries
just beneath it; when it attacks the inner or fleshy portions it is most
destructive, excavating long galleries filled with its soft excrements, in
which the worm wallows and crawls backward and forward, and the
fruit then soon sours and decays.

Parasites.—Two parasites were reported on the worm in the Agricul-
tural Report for 1879. An Ichneumonid fly (Pimplaconquisitor Say), and
a Tachina fly are represented in Plate III, Fig. 6, of said report. No
parasites were bred from it by me, the majority of the pup in my breed-
ing boxes having been destroyed by a small red ant.

Remedy.—See Squash Borer.

THE MELON PLANT-LOUSE.
(Aphis citrulli Ashmead.)*

My first acquaintance with this plant-louse was made while on an
entomological tour to extreme South Florida in April, 1880, on Meta-
combie Key, where it had completely devastated the melon patch of
a Mr. Sands. :

Mr. S., who was a native of the Bahamas, termed the disease
‘**Curled Leaf,” and was not aware it was caused by an insect, until I
convinced him of that fact by showing him the insects through my
pocket lens.

Distribution.—At times the species is very injurious to melon vines in
Florida, Georgia, and places in the West. Prof. S. A. Forbes treats of
this same insect under the name of “ the Melon Plant-louse,” (Aphis cu-
cumeris nh. Sp.), in the Twelfth Report of the State Entomologist of
Illinois, page 83, It was first briefly described by the writer in the
Florida Dispatch, New Series, Vol. 1, page 241, July 7, 1882, more than
a year previous to the description by Professor Forves.t

Food Plants.—Its attacks are confined generally to the watermelon
vines, although occasionally found on Squash and other Cucurbitacez.

In the West its habits seem to be similar. Dr. Cyrus Thomas, in

“Synonym, Aphis cucumeris Forbes, Ill. Insect Rep., XII, p. 83.

t Mr. Ashmead disregards the well-known rules of zoological nomenclature in insist-
ing upon the priority of his A. citrulli, as a name attached to a description published
simply in the Florida Dispatch cannot hold. This species should be known as 4.
cucumeris Forbes.—C. V. R.

28

the Farmers’ Review for September 2, 1880, says: ‘*There has been
great complaint among our gardeners this season in reference to a
plant-louse that is doing much injury to the nutmeg and muskmelon
vines, and also to the cucumber vines. In some instances they have
almost entirely destroyed the entire fields of vines.”

Its NaTurAL History.—Very Young.—Length, .02 inch; greenish yellow; eyes,
brown; tips of honey tubes brown; legs pale.

Wingless Female.—Length, .04 inch; yellow; eyes dark brown; honey tubes
slightly conical, black; cauda distinct, dark green; legs pale; extreme tips of tibiz
and tarsi black.

Winged Females.—Length, .05 inch, ovate; head and thorax shining black, some-
times with the prothoracic segment green or yellowish; the antennz are dark and do
not reach the honey tubes; abdomen dark-greenish yellow, spotted along sides;
honey tubes black, thickest at base, gradually tapering to tip; cauda distinct, green-
ish yellow or dark green; wings hyaline, with stigmaand veins pale yellowish ; legs
pale, with tarsi and extreme tips of tibie and femora black.

Its Injuries.—The viviparous female breeds very rapidly and is soon
surrounded by young in various stages of growth. Ina brief time these
reach maturity, wander off to new leaves and shoots, and begin colonies
of their own. When these lice become too numerous they exhaust the
vitality of the vine, distort the leaves and cause them to curl up and
wither. The growing terminal shoots are also crowded with them, and
then the vine can make no headway; it is fruitless and dies.

It is one of the most destructive plant-lice. To illustrate its destrue-
tiveness I cannot do better than quote from an article I wrote in Florida
Dispatch, July 27, 1882, after investigating its injuries in Georgia:

Some figures here in regard to the damage done by the ‘‘ Watermelon Aphis” will
not be amiss, and will show our planters tbe necessity for prompt and united eftorts
in its destruction.

In Georgia the estimated yield of the watermelon crop this year (1882) for ship-
ment was 900 car-loads, or 900,000 melons. Many at the beginning of the season
bring $40 and $50 per hundred. However, to keep within a fair valuation and rather
below the true amount, we will say they bring $25 per hundred, which equals, in
round numbers, for the crop $225,000. Now, what has been the yield? The ship-
ments are nearly over, and they have not yet reached 690 car-loads, a falling off of
334 per cent., or a total loss of $75,000, due mainly to the ravages of an insect!

The above statistics of loss are founded upon data of the estimate yield for but
three counties, principally Thomas, Brooks, and Lowndes, in Georgia. In Florida
the crop has from the same cause met with a loss still greater, and we are considera-
bly below the estimate when we say the total loss to the planters of the two States
is not less than $150,000.

Natural Enemies and Parasites.—These have not been specially
studied, but the enemies and parasites will be found to be similar to
those of the ‘‘ Cabbage Aphis ”—flies belonging to the family Syrphi-
die, the Lace-wings (Chrysopide), Chalcid flies (Chalcidide,) and Lady-
birds (Coccinellidea.)

Remedies.—An important help in their destruction, and to which the
planters’ especial attention is requested, and which is equally applicable
to other crops, is the following, which, if universally carried out, would

a

29

materially assist in the destruction of all noxious and destructive insect
pests :

Never plant watermelons two successive years in the same field.
Plant always in an entirely new field and as far off as possible from
ground in which they were grown the previous year.

My reason for recommending this is obvious on account of the pecul-
iarity in the development and propagation of the Aphididae. The
spring and summer broods in the majority of the species are vivipa-
rous, while the fall brood of females are oviparous. The last, therefore,
lay the eggs, which lie dormant in the ground all winter and hatch with
the first warm breath of spring; now, then, if this field is plowed up
and other crops planted, the young aphids have nothing to feed on
and so perish.

My observation on this species, too, has been, that it is only trouble-
some in fields planted in melons two or three years in, succession; new
melon fields are not affected by it, or to such a small extent as to be un-
noticeable.

Spraying with a dilute emulsion of kerosene wil! doubtless prove an
effectual remedy as with other plant-lice. The emulsion should be
sprayed from the ground up so as toreach the under sides of the leaves,
Professor Riley has figured and described devices for this method of
spraying in his report as entomologist to the Department for 1883, pp.
136-138, and Plates IV and V.

REPORT ON BUFFALO-GNATS.

By F. M. WEBSTER, Special Agent.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

} LAFAYETTE, IND., April <0, 1886.

Sir: I herewith transmit a report of my investigations of the habits of the Southern
Buffalo-gnat.

In accordance with your instructions I left my home in La Fayette, Indiana, on
February 18, reaching Vicksburg, Mississippi, onthe 20th. Learning here that these
gnats appeared every season in greater or less numbers in the vicinity of Somerset
Landing, Tensas Parish, Louisiana, in company with Mr. T. C. Bedford, of Vicksburg,
one of the leasers of Somerset Plantation, I left for that locality on the 22d, reach-
ing our destination on the same day.

On the 23d, the weather being very pleasant, the day was spent in riding about
among the teams at work on the plantation, in the hopes of observing some of the
earliest appearing gnats.

During the afternoon swarms of aspeciesof Anthomyia were observed in the air, and
I was informed that these were the insects that killed cattle and mules. The follow-
ing day was both cold and rainy, and, in fact, during the two weeks following there
were but two days of sunshine.

During this inclement weather the lakes and bayous about Somerset were carefully
exa'nined, no trace of the true gnat being found. In the meantime larve of dAn-
thomyia were found in considerable abundance about decayed logs and among de-
cayed leaves in the woods, and, as the planters to whom I applied for information ai-

30

most unanimously agreed that these adult Anthomyia were the depredators, it really
seemed that the term Buffalo-gnat here might, like the Tent-worm and the Weevil in
other localities, include a variety of insects.

Wishing to make the best possible use of time, I utilized the bad weather A180 by
visiting our correspondent, Mr. Robert E. Craig, at Luna Landing, Chicot County,
Arkansas, spending a few days there, and at Greenville, Miss., returning to Somer-
set March 8.

The 9th and 10th being pleasant, the Anthomyia again appeared, but, although
very demonstrative, none were observed to alight upon the teamsat work. This faet
led to the impression that my information had been incorrect, and that I was on the
wrong track. This proved true, for during my entire stay I never saw one of these
Anthomyia alight on stock.

On the 11th word came that mules were being harassed by gnats on a plantation
six miles to the northwest, and, on the following day, I rode out to that locality and
found the true gnat in considerable numbers.

Four days were now spent in a fruitless search for the adolescent stages in the
bayous and ditches adjacent to the locality where the adults had now appeared, and
as many more were lost on account of bad weather. |

During this time, and up to noon of the 20th, no adult gnats had appeared on the
Somerset plantation. A strong northwest wind had, however, set in during the morn-
ing, and by evening the gnats were quite abundant. The next day (Sunday) the
wind blew still stronger from the same quarter, and Monday morning, the 22d, found
them abundant enough to cause some considerable uneasiness among the teams at
work.

Fully satisfied now that these gnats did not breed in the vicinity of Somerset, I
started out on horseback, and after riding for about eight miles toward the northwest
reached a small stream known as Mill Bayou. Following this down stream, through
the woods, the current soon became quite rapid, the banks being more or less grown
up with brush and bushes, to below the water’s edge. The gnats, too, whose num-
bers had been continually increasing, now became numerous enough to worry my
horse considerably.

Finding that little could be accomplished in the way.of inspecting the stream with-
out a boat, and it being too late in the day to procure one, I returned to Somerset.

On the next day, the 23d, procuring a dugout, a thorough examination was made,
not only of Mill Bayou, but of two others, tributaries to it, one of which had no per.
ceptible current, the result being that where there was no current no larve of gnats
could be found. Asthecurrent became sluggish a few were observed, the number in-
creasing in proportion to its rapidity, reaching the maximum in numbers in the
swiftest current of Mill Bayou; always provided, however, there was sufficient mate-
rial to which to attach themselves. Thus, the larve would occur abundantly on one
side of the stream, where a bend caused it to run very swiftly, while on the opposite
side, in comparatively still water, few could be found.

Upon inquiry and personal investigation, this bayon was found to be receiving
water from the Mississippi River through Lake Palmyra and Bayou Vidal, and also
that its water rose and fell with that of the river itself, until the height of the latter
fell below 25 feet on the gauge at Vicksburg.

It now seemed quite important to learn to what extent, if any, the other inland
bayous were influenced in this manner, and,as the country is of difficult access, I
thought best to visit our correspondent, Judge A. A. Gunby,. of Monroe, Louisiana,
whose circuit I knew comprised the entire infested territory of the northwestern por-
tion of the State, and whom, I learned, was then at home on a short vacation.

Leaving Somerset on the 25th, and returning again on the 31st, I was, by this
journey, enabled not only to obtain much valuable information from Judge Gunby,
but also to examine the Washita River, and also, but very superficially, on account
of recent heavy rains, the country between it and the Mississippi River.

ol

Finishing my labors at Somerset on the 7th of April, I bade a final adieu to the
country and turned homeward.

To Maj. T. C. Bedford, of Vicksburg, and Mr. J. B. O’Kelley, of Somerset Landing,
I am under very many obligations. From first to last—and I made the latter gentle-
man’shome my headquarters for over a month—both left nothing undone that could
aid me in my work, or make my stay pleasant.

To Judge F. H. Faner, of Bayou Sara, Judge E. D. Faner, and other gentlemen of
Vicksburg, to General Furgerson, of the Mississippi Loan Board, Judge Gunby, and
Messrs. Robert E. Craig and John M. Lee, I am under obligations for both personal
courtesies and aid in my investigations.

And lastly, I have had yourown kindly advice and counsel, the more valuable from
your personal knowledge of the country and of the insect.

Respectfully,
F. M. WEBSTER.

Dri: Vi; KILEY,

Entomologist.

There is no authentic record of the occurrence of the Southern Buffalo-
enat in Louisiana prior to the year 1850, when there seems to have
been some complaint of their harassing domestic animals, but no fa-
tality is known to have resulted. A vague rumor exists to the effect
that they had previously appeared in 1846; but this lacks confirmation.
The earliest record I have been able to obtain of stock being killed by
enats was related to me by Mr. Jacob Alexander, present mayor of
Greenville, Miss., who states that he observed cattle being killed by
enats at Clarendon, Ark., in the spring of 1859.

A colored man, formerly an overseer, states that mules were killed by
enats near Refuge, Miss., in 1861 and 1862. General Furgerson, who.
came to Greenville, Miss., in 1862, with a battery of Confederate artillery,
states that gnats were exceedingly troublesome to horses and mules
during the spring of that year. They were also observed in Concordia
Parish, Louisiana, during the spring of 1862.

In 1863 and 1864 the gnats were very abundant about Shreveport,
La., and also Chicot County, Arkansas. No trouble is reported during
1865, but in 1866 the alluvial country between the Arkansas and Red

Livers lying east of the Washita was literally overrun with the pests.
Mr. T. 8S. Coons, an intelligent planter living at the time near New Car-
thage, Tensas Parish, Louisiana, preserved a written memorandum made
at the time the gnats first appeared.

From this record we learn that up to the afternoon of April 11 no
gnats had been observed, but towards evening they came in hordes,
settling upon and biting the mules and horses and throwing them into
the greatest agony. Of 6 mules and 2 horses belonging to Mr. Coons,
all of which were as well as usualon the morning of the 11th, the morn-
ing of the 12th found only one mule alive. In the meantime, a neigh-
boring planter had lost 30 mules, and Mr. Douglas, on Somerset plan-
tation, a few miles below, had lost 75 mules.

The mortality throughout the parishes of Madison, Tensas, and Con-

32

cordia, within afew days, amounted to upwards of 4,000 mules and
horses, principally the former.

Although frequently causing more or less trouble and ce He gnats
did not again appear, generally, and in such countless myriads until
1882, although they caused serious injury in Tensas Parish in 1873 and
1874, and doubtless in other localities also.

Snee in 1882 they were more destructive to stock than ever before.
The deer were driven from the woods, and frequently took refuge from
their tormenters in the smokes, built by planters for the protection ot
their cattle; when in their agony they would allow people to rub the
gnats from their bodies, and would even lay down in the glowing em-
bers, or hot ashes, in their frantic endeavors to seek relief.

In 1884 the gnats again appeared in great numbers, and were fully as
destructive asin 1882. Throughout Franklin Parish, Louisiana, within a
week from their first appearance, they had caused the death of 3,200
head of stock. And for the first time in the history of the pest, they
attacked horses and mules on the streets, and in the stables, in the city
of Vicksburg, Miss.

No general outbreak took place in 1885, yet they appeared in Tensas
and Franklin Parishes in sufficient numbers to kill quite a number of
mules.

During the present season, although the gnats appeared pretty gen-
erally throughout the country between the: mouth of the Arkansas and
that of the Red River, and westward to the Washita, and along the

Yazoo River in Mississippi, no fatality to stock had been reported up.

to April 10,and there had been little or no suspension of work on
plantations on account of gnats.

Generally speaking, the Southern Buffalo-gnat may be said to infest
the low, flat, wooded country adjacent to the Mississippi River and its
tributaries, from the mouth of the Red River in Louisiana as far north
at least as Southern Missouri.

I have found nothing to indicate that these gnats originate in large
streams, or even in small ones in hilly localities, although the latter
may have both a swift current and arocky bed. The fact of adult
gnats occurring in such localities, even in destructive numbers, is not of
itself sufficient proof of their having originated there, as they may be
carried long distances, and in immense numbers, by a strong wind.
Furthermore, I have found no indication of their origin in other than
perennial streams, although many intermittent bayous and small lakes
were closely examined with this point in view.

From the foregoing, we are forced to the conclusion that these gnats
follow the tendency of others of the genus, and breed exclusively in
the running water of small streams. But besides this, there is another
equally essential element, viz, something to which the insect can at-
tach itself during the adolescent stages. As no rocks are found in these
bayous and small streams, we find the larve utilizing wholly or partly

33

submerged stumps, brush, bushes, or any other material of like nature,
clustering upon or making their way upward and downward with a
looping gait, or attached by a minute thread-like spider web, they sway
with the ripples at or near the surface of the water, often half a dozen
being attached by a single thread. While these larve make their way
up and down these submerged objects with perfect freedom, they do
not venture above the water, and when about to pupate select a situa-
tion well down toward the bottom of the stream. In deep water they
were found 8 to 10 feet below the surface, and also much higher up.
But in shallow water they may be found in the pupal stage, clustered,
one above the other, just above the bottom of the stream, their instinct
having evidently taught them to provide for a sudden fall inthe water.
Notwithstanding this, with the water falling at the rate of 1 foot per
day, [found many pup had been left high and dry. |

These pups are at first of a light brown color, afterwards changing
to a pinkish cast, and, just previous to the emerging of the adult, to
black. During the first of these coloral epochs they are attached to
these vegetable substances by the thoracic filaments, by threads about
the body and at the anal extremity, somewhat after the manner of some
Lepidopterous chrysalids; but during the last two the pupe hang by
the short anal attachment alone, and in this way swing about freely in
the current, the adult issuing from beneath the water after the manner
of others of the genus.

The time and exact place of oviposition as well as the exact iength of
time required for the insect to pass through either the larval or the
pup2l stage I was unable to determine. But when I left Mill Bayou,
on March 24, the iarvee were nearly all of a uniform size and probably
nearly full grown, a few only being one-fourth to one-half as large. On
returning, on April 1, nearly all larve had passed the pupa stage, and
the adults had emerged; all of those larve now remaining being as
large as the majority were on March 24. This, besides indicating that
the breeding season was nearly ended, also leaves some grounds for the
inference that several broods may be thrown off, during early spring,
in rapid succession; some strength beiug added to this theory by the
fact that, as I now learned from those residing near this bayou, the
cattle had been driven from the woods in the vicinity of the stream
about the 20th of February. These are points which the necessarily
limited period during which [had the adolescent stages under consider- |
ation, and the sudden, and to me rather unexpected, termination of the
breeding season, prevented my settling.

The adult gnats are usually observed in the vicinity of places where
they breed, during the first warm days of spring, and they remain from
ten days to three or four weeks, seeming to prefer amoderately cool tem-
perature; and hence, during warm weather, are more numerous in the
early morning and t)wards evening, frequently being as troublesome
during bright mooulight nights as during the day time. They are said

22340—No. 14 3

o4

to spend thenight among grass and like herbage. They are exceedingly
active, and no sooner have they gained a foothold on an animal than
they are busy at their bloody work, selecting the breast, we ears,
nose, or wherever the skin is the most easily punctured.

Very inconspicuous in their flight, making little noise, seldom arising
more than a few feet from the ground, they often bite mules working in
the fields, sufficiently to cause death before their presence in considera-
ble numbers has been discovered., This will, perhaps, account for the
prevailing notion that the bite of these gnats first appearing is the
most poisonous, for inclement weather and adverse winds may cause
them to appear, for the first, at any time during the breeding season,
in localities where they do not actually originate, and, as will be shown
farther on, the same wind that holds them back from one locality may
convey them to another. It would appear as rather more probable,
however, that the poison introduced into the animals’ system by the
bites of the first gnats, unless sufficient to prove fatal, may to some ex-
tent serve as an antidote for that introduced by those appearing later;
and should this poison remain in the system with considerable stability,
the fact would alsoaccount for acclimated stock being less susceptible to
poison from the bites of these gnats than those unacclimated. Except
in the case of great numbers, death does not necessarily follow the bite
of these gnats, and even then it is not suddenly fatal. Mules that at
night do not appear to be seriously injured will often be found dead
next morning.

Stock, and mules especially, that have been fatally bitten by gnats
are affected in much the same manner as with colic, and, in fact, many
think the bites bring on that disease. But Dr. Warren King, of
Vicksburg, who has made a large number of post mortem examina-
tions, states that he has never been able to obtain any facts which would
justify such a conclusion.

Dr. King opines that the effects of these bites from gnats are on
animals much the same as that of the rattlesnake on the human sys-
tem; and this seems to be the generally accepted opinion among the
more intelligent planters.

In regard to artificial methods of counteracting the poison of gnats,
there is of course no end, apropos to which, one planter remarks thatif
the gnats failed to kill the mule the remedies used certainly would.
Be this as it may, I could learn of no measures that had been generally
tested and proved effective, and no opportunity was offered me to make
any experiments in that direction.

Dr. King recommends rubbing the affected animal thoroughly with
water of ammonia, and administering internally a mixture of 40 to 50
grains of carbonate of ammonia to one pint of whisky, repeating the
dose every three or four hours until relieved. The doctor claims to
have never lost ap animal under this treatment, although they were
sometimes apparently beyond recovery. This measure I do not think

——— rr

35

is generally known, but it certainly contains sufficient merit to warrant
a thorough and eareful trial. Various external applications, such as
decoctions of Alder leaves, tobacco, pennyroyal and other herbs, have
been tried with a view of preventing gnats from biting mules while at
work, but all of these have proven ineffective. A mixture known as
Gnat Oil is now the chief protection, but this is apt to remove the hair
and is considered injurious to the mules. Fish-oil, and also a mixture
of Kerosene and Axle-grease, are both useful, but none of these can be
used to advantage on stock running at large. ;

Smokes made about the fields serve as a partial protection, both te
teams at work and stock in pasture. Smoldering fires of cotton seed
are also made in tin cans and like objects, and these are hung about the
teams at work.

While these protective agencies are of considerable service when there
are comparatively few gnats, they are of little value in seasons of great
abundance, for then stock can only be protected by placing them in
dark stables, the gnats having a great aversion to entering dark places.
I am told that to look for relief from simply killing the gnats would be
worse than hopeless, for, though millions were destroyed, they would
not be missed.

Judging from the results of some experiments made with insecticides
by myself upon larve of the gnats, it will be nearly if not quite im-
possibfe to reduce their numbers by killing them in the streams.

These experiments were made by confining the larve in glass tubes
and submitting them to a current of the decoctions or solutions indi-
cated below.

Larvee remained in a decoction of China berries for half an hour with.
out apparent effect, and the same larve immediately withstood a brine
of salt water, composed of a heaping handful of salt to seven quarts of
water, for twenty minutes, and still remained alive. Lime-water and
sulphur and water had no effect. Strong tar-water killed them, but
diluted it proved harmless. Kerosene emulsion, diluted to contain 3
per cent. kerosene, was effective, but it would be impossible to get a
strength of even 1 per cent. in the stream. About an ounce of Disul-
phide of Carbon was placed in seven quarts of water, but half an hourin
this failed to affect the larvee. About three ounces was placed in same
amount of water, and this proved fatal within ten minutes.

From this it will be seen that while the Jarve are susceptible to ordi-
nary insecticides, it will be next to impossible to place a sufficient
amount in a stream to affect them. At the time, too, when remedial
measures are the most needed these streams are swollen, and are often
from ten to twenty yards wide and half as deep. Besides, both men and
beasts are dependent upon these streams for their water-supply, and
cutting this off by introducing poisons would cause almost as much trou-
ble as the gnats.

Notwithstanding all attempts to combat this pest have so far been

36

discouraging, there is yet some hope of relief, and that, too, from quar-
ters little expected, by myself at least, when these investigations began.

But, in order to fully understand the matter, it will be necessary to
bring together, not only chronological data relating to the insect in
question, but to the height of water in the large streams during the past
thirty-five or forty years. Also, we must understand something of the
nature of the country which these gnats inhabit, as well as the elements —
necessary to their production. And not only must these facts be
weighed independently, but very carefully with relation to each other,
for it is more than probable that it is through a combination of cireum-
stances that the pest holds its sway. |

A very noticeable feature connected with the occurrence of the Buf-
falo-gnat is, that below the Arkansas River there is no record of any
fatality to stock, attributable to gnats, previous to the outbreak of the
war, even in seasons of high water. But since that time the two have
occurred in connection with such regularity that the fact has been
noted by even the most unobserving; that is, in season of low water
during the first three or four months of the year, there have been few
gnats, but with high water during these months they were abundant,
reaching the maximum during an overflow.

The banks of the rivers of this alluvial district are peculiar, in that
the country slopes from instead of toward the streams. Hence water,
escaping through the banks first runs inland, and then more or less
parallel with the parent stream, until it can empty its waters into a
larger tributary. Of this characteristic of the Mississippi, Red, and
Yazoo Rivers, whether considered individually or collectively, I do
not think it would be too much to say that it is one of the primary
causes of the production of the gnats in such destructive numbers.

My own observations were almost wholly confined to tbe country
lying between the Arkansas and Red Rivers on the one hand and be-
tween the Mississippi and Washita on the other. This section is of
difficult access, and I have relied for my information principally upon
civil engineers and other people familiar with topography of the coun-
try, aS my own time was largely occupied in studying the gnats them-
selves in Tensas Parish. ;

With the exception of a low, wide ridge of country lying between
Beeuf River and Bayou Mason, and extending from Franklin Parish to
Southern Arkansas, and known as the Bayou Mason Hills, this whole
region is very flat; and the streams, with only rain and sewage water
to carry off, would naturally have a sluggish current. A glance over
the map of this section will show that it is traversed by Bayous Bar-
tholomew and Mason, and Rivers Beuf and Tensas, the last two
really not materially differing from bayous.

Three of these will be observed to originate in extreme Southeastern
Arkansas, and running south-southwest, finally unite together, and form
Black River, which is a tributary of the Washita.

387

Besides these main bayous there are innumerable smaller ones which
often intersect them and each other, so that if one of the main streams
becomes suddenly swollen, the water escapes from it into all of the
others, and if continued, affects the whole internal water system.

These bayous all differ from the rivers, in that the descent from the
top of the bank to the water is much more gradual, and this slope is
apt to be more or less overgrown with brush and bushes to below low-
water mark. Hence, it will be seen that whatever contributes to the
volume of water in these bayous not only adds rapidity to the current,
but brings it more and more in contact with the second element, viz,
material to which the larve can attach themselves, and we have the
same state of affairs as in Mill Bayou.

In Louisiana there is but one locality where water from the Missis-
sippi gets through the bank into these inland bayous, and that is by
way of Bayou Vidal and Mill Bayou, although in very high water it
runs into Roundaway Bayou a couple of miles above Bayou Vidal at Dia
mond Bend. The next opening is at Master’s Bend, a short distance
north of the Arkansas line, and the water coming in through it enters
both Bayou Mason and Tensas River. The next break is just above
Luna Landing, and is known as Whisky Short; another, Panther For-
est, is just below Gaines’s Landing. Of the effect of these last two
openings extracts from a letter received from Mr. Robert E. Craig, who
resides on Point Chicot, in the immediate vicinity, will fully explain:

“Tf you will examine your map you will find Lake Mason lies at right
angle across head of ‘Tensas Basin.” The recent rise in the river was
high enough to run into Lake Mason, the southern bank of which is
high. There are two or three bayous through this bank which let the
water into all bayous east of Bartholomew, but not enough water to
overflow the lower banks of any one of them. Lake Chicot also filled
at the same rise in the river, and is gradually being emptied through
the Mason and Boeut.” Mr. Craig also adds: “‘ When you were here, bay-
ous were all receiving Mississippi River water through Lake Mason and
Lake Chicot.” It was during “the recent rise” to which Mr. Craig re-
fers that I was his guest at Point Chicot. Andon March 2d, the day
after my arrival, the water measured 27.8 feet on the gauge at Memphis,
and 38.2 feet at Vicksburg, as the signal officer at the latter city in-
formed me.

It will be proper to state here that up to the breaking out of the war,
owing to the perfect levee system, water was prevented trom escaping
into these bayous. During the war, these levees were destroyed by the
caving of the river and through other causes, and the places where wa-
ter now escapes from the Mississippi River and runs inland are breaks
that have never been rebuilt.

As the season of high water usually occurs during late winter and
early spring, the effect of this influx of water is not only to fill these in-
land bayous, but to keep them full during the breeding season of the
gnats. Hence the effects, if any occur, should be noticeable in the

38

number of gnats and the amount of damage done by them in the
vicinity of the streams thus influenced.

They appear in the vicinity of Mill Bayou every year in greater or
Jess numbers, and I have twice observed them being carried from them
to Somerset plantation by a heavy northwest wind, and as often ob-
served them gradually disappear under winds blowing equally strong
from the north, northeast, and south.

Strong winds, blowing from a northwesterly quarter, bring gnats sud-
denly and in great numbers to the neighborhood of Lake Saint Joseph,
six to eight miles below Sumerset. Judge Gunby states that they appear
at Monroe with an east wind; Mr. Craig observes them at Point Chicot
with a west or southwest wind, and at the time they appeared in the
city of Vicksburg they came with a westerly wind.

Probably the worst afflicted parish in Louisiana is that of Franklin,
which is situated between and at the junction of Boeuf River and Bayou
Mason. Judge Gunby and others well acquainted with the country
through which these two streams flow state that gnats appear with
more regularity and in greater numbers in that vicinity than elsewhere.
Mr. Craig states that they occur to some extent every year along these
streams in Arkansas, being observed the most numerous the present
season near Bayou Mason. This is in accordance with all reliable in-
formation which I bave been able to obtain, and, aside from the country
about Mill Bayou, coincides with my own observations.

In connection with this evidence we can also observe that these
gnats are yearly being produced in numbers close up to the danger
line, only an overflow being required to furnish the conditions suitable
for carrying them far beyond. Soon after these investigations began I
learned that the Buffalo Gnat did not occur below the mouth of the

Red River. Wishing definite information on this point, 1 addressed a

letter to Judge F. H. Farrer, of Bayou Sara, La., whosereply is given
herewith, and I will only say that the facts embodied therein have since
been corroborated by planters whom I have met from that region:

Bayou Sara, LA., March 9, 1886.

Dear Sir: Yours of the 4th instant was received day before yesterday, Sunday.
Court being in session, a great many farmers were in town, and I had plenty of old,
experienced men to apply to for information in regard to the Buffalo-gnat.

Many had been familiar with the mischief it did farther north, but all agreed that,
except to young turkeys and other poultry, it worked little or no harm in this region,
either in low or high lands. <A few indeed asserted that the one here was a different
insect, known by the name of ‘‘turkey gnat,” but the large majority maintained that
it was the same humpbacked individual so destructive in North and Nortnwest Lou-
isiana. I presume that it never appears in such numbers here as there.

My own experience, as far as it goes, agrees with that of the majority with whom I
spoke on the subject, viz, that the genuine Buffalo-gnat is to be seen here every
spring for a few weeks, but is by no means the dangerous pest to cattle, horses, &c.,
that if is in Northern Louisiana.

Respectfully, yours, &c.,
F. H. FARRAR.
F. M. WEBSTER, Esq., Vicksburg, Miss.

q
4
.
q
i

39

In summing up the matter we find that so long as this influx of river
water was prevented no damage occurred by reason of gnats, even in
the district now the worst infested, and we also find that in other parts
of the same State, where this influx is still prevented, no trouble is ex-
perienced.

Hence it seems but reasonable that, if this protection was restored,
the trouble would, within a few years at most, subside toits former state.
This time would be materially hastened by the removal of underbrusi,
&c., which would come in contact with the current in portions of these
inland streams where it runs the most swiftly. This last remedial
measure might also be applied to bayous affected by high water of the
Red, Yazoo, and other smaller rivers.

From the fact that the gnat breeds during the season when: the water
is cool, and ceases as it gets warmer, it seems not impossible that the
infusion of the icy current of those rivers flowing from the north into
those breeding places might serve to prolong the breeding season. The
truth of this point can only be obtained by future study.

It is also possible that a more extended study of the Buffalo-gnat and
the entire country it infests might, to some extent, modify the conclu-
sions arrived at in this report; but with the evidence now before me
they appear correct.

THE NATIVE PLUMS—HOW TO FRUIT THEM—THEY ARE PRACTI-
CALLY CURCULIO PROOF.

By D. B. WIER, Lacon, II.

During the past forty years, in the vast region of North America ly-
ing west, north, and south of Lake Michigan, and the west line of the
State of Indiana, it has been impossible to succeed in fruiting the fine,
large, delicious Garden Plums (Prunus domestica) of Western Europe, for
the reasons that the trees were not hardy in this fierce Western climate.
The fruit was destroyed by the Plum Curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar),
and of late years, if not so destroyed, * rotted,” particularly south, be-
fore maturity. |

Long and persistent trials of this species of plum in the West, by the
most careful and expert cultivators, have proven that itis folly to longer
attempt to cultivate the old and well known varieties of these plums,
for in the northern part of this region neither the trees nor their roots
will withstand the severity of the winters, and south, if we protect the
fruit from Plum Curculio, it seldom escapes total annihilation by “ rot”
before arriving at maturity, and, as a rule, for many years all intelligent
cultivators have given up its cultivation, and have been anxiously seek-
ing for a substitute, and have repeatedly selected for this purpose the
finer varieties of our two most common species of

40)

NATIVE PLUMS.

The Chickasaw Plum (Prunus chickisa) found indigenous from North-
ern Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, and the wild yellow or red plum
(Prunus americana) tound indigenous over nearly the whole continent.
These are two quite distinct races (for they cannot be regarded as dis-
tinct species) of the subgenus Prunus of the Almond family (Amygdalea),
order Rosacee. And a typical tree of either so-called species is very
distinct in fruit, foliage, and general appearance from a typical tree of
the other. But so far as we are concerned in this study of them they are
practically the same, except that the fruitof the P. americana, or North-
ern type, has much the thicker, tougher, and more acerb skin, and that
some of the Chickasaw, or Southern type,do not provehardy far North,
_t. €.,8some of the named varieties, while others do, and the same would
undoubtedly prove true of P.americana. But as this last is found grow-
ing wild, and with good varieties, at least as far north as the northern
limit of Dakota, these native plums are a fruit in some of tbeir varieties
perfectly adapted to every part of the United States and | erritories and
pre-eminently the fruié of the great Northwest.

Yet, as a rule, those who have taken these wild plums from their na-
tive thickets and planted and carefully cultivated them, in hope of find-
ing at leasta poor substitute for the Garden Plum, have met with a com-
plete, decisive failure. They got no fruit. We, the older settlers of
the West (Illinois), knew the wild plums as the most plentiful and use-
fal of the wild fruits when the country was first settled and when our
‘‘tame” plums failed (for it is a fact that in this part of Illinois as early
as 1845 we fruited many varieties of the Garden Plum, Nectarines,
Peaches, and Apricots in abundance, with no injury from the Plum Cur-
culio, or rot”). We began to hunt out and plant the finer varieties of
the “ wild” ones, some of which were most beautiful, large and fine, and
of very good quality. But after years of patient waiting we found that
these gave no fruit in their new homes, except very rarely. We found
that the young fruit developed to the size of a little pea, or a little larger,
and indeed often to more than half its full size, and then all fell off.

This fallen fruit, if examined, showed very generally the ovipositing
marks of the Plum Curculio, made when laying her eggs.

It is not necessary here to give thecomplete natural history of this
insect, because all the more important facts and their practical bear-
ings have been recorded by competent writers, and especially by Walsh.
in his first report as State entomologist of Illinois, and by Riley in his
third report on the insects of Missouri; but it will be sufficient to say that
it is a Small insect of the Curculio (Curculionide) or snout-beetle family
that deposits its eggs under the skin of the young fruit of all the smooth-
skinned species of the Almond family, or nearly all of them, and some
other fruits as well. Theeggs are deposited in little holes eaten through

41

and under the skin of the fruit by the mother beetles, and so soon as
deposited she cuts around and under the egg, leaving acrescent or new-
moon shaped mark on the fruit, with a round dot (hole where the egg
was laid) between the two horns of the crescent. Inthe Garden Plums,
Nectarines, Peaches, Apricots, late Cherries, &c., these eggs soon hatch
and bring forth white, footless grubs, which burrow through the pulp
of the fruit and live and grow fat on its substance, and at the time
when the fruit should mature, instead of a fine, delicious fruit, one finds,
though perhaps quite fair without, a mass of rottenness within, with a
nasty grub wallowing around in its own excrement, and the rotten pulp
of the fruit, thereby completely destroying it for any purpose whatever
as a fruit.

That the numbers of this pest have grown less each year for the past
ten years, and more especially during the last three years, is the evi-
dence of all careful observers. This grand result has evidently been
brought about by the continuously-increasing numbers of its natural
enemies, in the form of other insects, &c., and if this rate of decrease
and increase keeps on, we may in the near future be so relieved of this
pest as to be able to have fair crops of the stone fruits without using
preventive measures.

So much about the Plum Curculio is necessary for the general- reader
in understanding this paper, and it is well to continually bear in mind
that, until a very recent date, the native plums were considered as one
of the fruits totally destroyed by the Plum Cureculio by all, unless it
was ‘* Curculio proof” or protected from the parent beetle. But this be-
lief was not and is not true, for we shall find as we proceed that all, or
nearly all, of the native plums are practically cureulio proof. And
what is of very much more value, we will find that instead of breeding
and multiplying the Plum Curculio, they scarcely breed them at all,
and that if these plums are planted in sufficient quantity they will
greatly reduce its numbers and. protect other fruit from its ravages.

Then, of course, when we found nearly every fallen fruit marked with
the peculiar marks made by the Cureulio when laying her eggs, we al]
of us; professors of entomology, professors of horticulture, fruit-growers,
and ‘ clod-hoppers” at once jumped to the conclusion that the * Little
Turk ” (so called from her ovipositing mark being crescent-shaped) was
the cause of the loss cf our plums. We all believed this to be true ; we
looked for no other explanation; we had no data on which to base a
search for any other explanation, so we sheathed our weapons and re-
‘treated from the field vanquished.

in the mean time what few matured plum thickets were left, the few
that had escaped the farmer’s grubbing hoe, continued to give annually
bountiful crops of fruit, the Curculio to the contrary notwithstanding,
and, whether stung or not by that insect, matured and ripened their
fruit.

It is true that the trees in these wild plum patches were not as vig-

42

orous and healthy as they were when we gray-headed chaps were boys,
for their surroundings had been changed, greatly changed. Their old
companion plants were nearly all gone; new plants, usurpers, had taken
their places and their environment was changed.

These new plants were many of them very injurious and detrimental
to the vigor of the trees, and with the advent of man had come his herds;
they tramped the ground down hard over their roots; they laid bare
the surface of the soil to the direct rays of the sun by eating the herb-
age. Things injurious to the foliage and fruit of the trees, in the shape
of new insects and new diseases, were introduced, but with all of this
a few wild plum thickets survived and matured plums. Why these did
mature fruit under these adverse circumstances, and why the selections
we made of a few fine plums from perhaps some of the most fruitful of
these same thickets could not be nade to mature a plum with all the
care and petting we could give them, when planted in our garden or or-
chard, to explain this, to give the reasons why, and to show how easily
all can have this valuable and delicious fruit in abundance, is the mo-
tive of preparing this paper for publication.

And now I will begin my task. I was born here (Marshall County,
Tllinois) in 1834, and can therefore well remember the country as it was,
and the wild plums as they were before the Plum Curculio made its
first destructive showing here in 1845. Then we had these plums
everywhere ; ‘the woods were full of them.” The valleys of the smaller
streams were almost one continuous and unbroken plum thicket from
source to mouth. The edges of the prairies were skirted with them.
They were the most plentiful and useful of all our wild fruits.

Asa boy I was passionately fond of fruit of all kinds, and the lo-
cation of all good wild fruits that I could find was stored up in my
memory for future use.

Many of the wild plums, as Tremember them, growingin our woods
were very poor in quality—many good, a few very good, and a still
smaller proportion of them very good and very handsome.

About the year 184! I found growing in the edge of a plum thicket a
beautiful young tree, witha few large bright golden plums on it, kissed
by the sun untii their cheeks blushed crimson, and, when ripe, of deli-
cious, honeyed perfumed flavor, large, oblong, and most beautiful. The
next fall it was fairly loaded with its glorious fruit. I determined to
secure this prize and have it all my own. I took it up very carefully,
transplanted it into the garden, and tended it with the greatest care;
it grew finely in its new home, but never matured a fruit; it bloomed.
and set fruit freely, but it soon all fell off, but they were not stung by
the Plum Curculio! It was before the advent in great numbers of
that now numerous pest.

I next tried the European or Garden Plum ; ; they bloomed, fruited,
but every plum was destroyed by the Plum Curculio before mature!

43

At last a dry autumn, followed by a severe winter, cleaned these out,
roots and all.

I next heard of a variety of the Native Plums called the Miner ; heard
a great mass of testimony as to its being thoroughly hardy, entirely
‘“‘curculio proof,” and yearly productive of good, large, salable fruit.
I procured 500 trees of this variety and planted them in an orchard, the
spring of 1862, and, with the exception noted farther on, these trees have
not to this day matured one peck of fruit. This variety is about half
way between or a hybrid between the extreme types of the two species
firstmentioned. I next learned of the celebrated plum of the Southern or
Chickasaw type, known as the “ Wild Goose” plum, in 1867. I procured
afew scions of it, and top-grafted them in the center of the Miner or-
ehard. Fiveof these grafts grew, and the next spring the grafts bloomed
freely and set a large amount of fruit, nearly every one of which ma-
tured fully. The great, bright red oblong fruit hung on ropes on these
grafts, and I was so excited over them that I nearly went plum crazy.
They ripened the first half of July and they were snapped up in our
little town at 25 cents per quart. In my dreams I saw golden visions ;
a fortune from plums stared me in the face. Thinking all was right with
this plum, so soon as I could obtain trees I planted 800 of them in
orchard. They grew and flourished grandly, bloomed, and they set
fruit profusely, but it all fell off when quite small. Both these Miner
and Wild Goose orchards were planted in a solid mass, no other trees
of the almond family being among or near them, except as hereafter
noted.

I have said the grafts set in Miner bore profusely, so did the trees in
which they were grafted, ¢. ¢., of Miner Plums, as did the trees next ad-
joining, and matured their fruit perfectly. These plum orchards were
both a continuation of a large orchard of hardy cherries. The rows of
both varieties of these plums next to the cherries have every year matured
more or less plums, some seasons quite a crop. With these exceptions, no
other trees in these orchards hare ever brought one plum to maturity.
These two orchards were some distance away and so were not observed
very closely. In carrying on a general Nursery I gathered here many va-
rieties of Native Plums, and propagated them quite extensively for sale.
Trees of the leading varieties on their own roots were planted isolated
from other plums, so as to obtain suckers. The varieties so planted
were Wild Goose, Miner, Forest Garden, DeSoto, Weaver (though not

,to be true to name), Langdon, Newman, and many others, none of
which have as yet matured a plum except the Newman. About the
same time, or sixteen to eighteen years ago, I planted the varieties
named above, together with several others, thickly in rows, the rows ~
four feet apart, with the several varieties intermingled or “all mixed up,”
but at some points in the rows all of one variety wilh no other quite
near, and these trees have not failed of bearing and maturing a full crop
each year during the last twelve years. Again soon after this I planted

A4

in nursery rows for budding 2,000 one-year-old seedlings of the Ameri-
cana type, from seed grown in Wisconsin. These were planted in two
blocks and were budded over once with the varieties last named, and
some others. The rows were four feet apartand the seedlings one foot
(or less) apart in the rows. Buta small percentage of the buds grew,
the best of the resulting budded trees were sold, but more or less trees
of all the varieties so budded were left among the seedlings and all grew
up together and are yet, to-day, to be seen in the same condition.

Of the trees planted not near other trees of the Almond family,
numbering some hundreds, not one of them ever matured a fruit during
the sixteen years they have been old enough to produce, until last
season, when a few of the varieties ripened a very high crop of fruit,
the Miner being second only to the Newman in point of productiveness.

The Newman as an exception to the other varieties has given a fair
crop each season during the sixteen years, except one, when it failed
entirely. Ten years ago I was ready to retire beaten, and give up the
whole plum and plum-tree business in disgust, in fact the whole Al-
mond family, for the Plum Curculio seemed determined to destroy all the
cherries also. I had followed every hint and theory that I had ever
heard of. I carefully examined the flowersof all the varieties, and found
them, so far as I could see, perfect in all their parts. The first grafts of
the Wild Goose in the Miner trees continued to bear each year, as did
the trees in which they were grafted. The isolated trees, scattered
over the plantation, were vigorous, healthy, and each year bloomed pro»
fusely and set fruit freely, but it all fell off when quite small, except a
very small proportion of that on the Wild Goose; some of the fruit of
this variety weuld attain half, two-thirds, or even full size, ripen pre-
maturely and then fall off. But in all such instances there were other
trees of the Almond family planted not far away, and I can safely say
that during the twenty years or more that I have had this variety old
enough to bear, the hundreds of trees of if in my orchards have not
matured one fruitif completely isolated from other trees of the Almond
family.

One day, when examining the fruit of this variety for Curculio young,
I was surprised not to find a live grub in them at all, and at that time
could not find a fruit in which the larve had ever fed. And I was
still more surprised upon cutting through the shell to find that the seed
had not developed and was imperfect. ‘T’ais fact led me to believe that
the flowers of this variety were not perfect, that the pollen was not
good.

Some years ago I received from its disseminator, O. M. Lord, of Min-
Hesota City, Minn., scions (grafts) of a fine new hardy plum found in
his neighborhood, named the “ Rolling Stone.” Five of these I grafted
into a tree of Wild Goose of bearing age by splice grafting on the ter-
minal twigs of the main branches. All five of these grafts grew; one
of them gave three clusters of bloom the same spring it was grafted,

45

and matured three plums. I was very greatly surprised this same sea-
son, in July, to find near this graft, and in the same tree, about twenty-
five perfectly matured Wild Goose plums, all very close to the Rolling
Stone graft and none any distance from it, and the Wild Goose did not
ripen prematurely or fall off before fully developed. The three plums
matured by the graft ripening about a month later.

Three of the Rolling Stone grafts grew finely the first summer after
grafting, and the next spring bloomed profusely. The tree in which
they were grafted grew at the south end of a row of the same variety
(Wild Goose) about 30 rods long. This second season after the gratts
were inserted the tree in which they were growing matured a full crop
of fruit; the one next north 4 feet from it was full of fruit on its south
side; the fruit was scattering. The next tree 10 feet north of the grafts
matured three plums; not one other tree in the row out of perhaps a
hundred matured a plum that season.

The extreme cold of the following winter destroyed the Wild Goose
below the grafts, and the following spring they did not bloom. Twenty
feet east of this row of Wild Goose stood a row of cross-bred seedlings.
The following summer (of 1885) this row of seedlings bloomed and
fruited enormously, and the row of Wild Goose fruited very heavily on
the east side of the trees, with scarcely a plum on the west side of the
row.

And to close the record of these two rows, I will add that during the
spring of 1886 I made a record of the time of blooming of all the
plum trees on the place, and of the force and direction of the wind
during the time of blooming, and find, by referring to that record,
that a gentle east wind prevailed for three days during the time when
the row of native plums were in the height of bloom, and the row of
Wild Goose matured an enormous crop of very fine fruit, but with very
much more fruit on the east than on the west side (the row of seedlings
furnishing the pollen which was wafted to them by the east wind.)

The first year that the Rolling Stone grafts bloomed gave me the long-
hidden secret of the failure in productiveness of the native plums,
which has proved itself to be that a great majority, or nearly all
of them, are not fertile with their own pollen; or, in other words,
trom some not as yet fully explained cause or causes the pollen of, say,
the Wild Goose or Miner will not pollenize the ovaries of their own
flowers. Why it will not does not become material; the fact remains,
nevertheless.

After a pretty thorough investigation my conclusion as to the reason
is, that the pollen matures and is flown away and wasted before the
stigmas are mature enough to receive it; or, it may be true that thé
pollen of some varieties is impotent to their own stigmas, or possibly
even poisonous to them. That this latter condition of facts may exist
has been fully and satisfactorily proven by the most carefully conducted
experiments by the great Darwin, and the results given in detail in his

AG

‘Plants and Animals under Domestication,” and the same theory has
to some extent been handled in works by other eminent scientists. I
found that the Rolling Stone variety would pollenize the Wild Goose and
render it fruitful. I found that other varieties would do the same when
twenty feet away, if the wind blew from the right direction when they
were in bloom. I found that in every instance where I had trees of the
Miner and Wild Goose near each other, both varieties were very pro-
ductive, and also that when the Newman and Wild Goose were near
together neither was fully productive, and that where Miner and New-
man were contiguous both were enormously and regularly productive.

IT also found that where Il had Newman growing isolated from other
varieties, that it was yearly productive cf moderate crops of good fruit,
but scarcely a seed from such trees would grow ; but where the Newman
and Miner were planted near together the Newman was not only enor-
mously productive, but the fruit was larger, later, darker colored, and
thicker skinned, and the seed all good, and the resulting seedlings
strong and vigorous, the Miner being also very productive in this ease.

Further, I found that where I had nearly all the named varieties of
both types of these plums growing together in the two blocks of seed-
lings, that all of them (including the seedlings) were, with the excep-
tion of the Wild Goose, very productive each year since old enough to
bear. Trees of the Wild Goose were growing in both blocks of these
seedlings, but none of them have ever fruited so heavily as those grow-
ing near Miner, showing, I think, that the Miner is its best consort. The
trees in these two blocks of seedlings are about one foot apart in the
row, and the rows four feet apart. Growing in this way much in the
same manner as the natural plum thickets of the earlier days of this
country, they have all of them matured a full crop of plums each year
for the past seven years, and the trees have remained more vigorous
and healthy than isolated trees of the same varieties. The number of
varieties in these two blocks may be safely estimated at 5,000, running
through all grades of the northern wild plum, from the poorest to the
very best. During the whole period in which these plums have been
fruiting, nothing whatever has been done to protect the fruit from or
to destroy the Plum Curculio, and this insect has been present in large
numbers during the whole time. No hogs or other stock have been
allowed to run among the trees, and, until the last three seasons, all the
‘“ wormy ” fruit has rotted on the ground, undisturbed.

The history of these plum trees tells my readers exactly how to fruit.
the native plums everywhere in abundance. Heretofore when writing
on this subject I have qualified the above by saying how they will
fruit here abundantly. But during the past two years I have ecor-
responded with the owners of or visited a great number of plum or-
chards throughout nearly the whole country and find the same results.
everywhere, namely, wherever these plums have been planted with
several varities near together (or near trees of several other species of

47

the almond family) they have been constantly productive, but when
planted with the varieties isolated they have proven barren, except in
the South.

While the Wild Goose will pollenize its own stigmas south of the Ohio
River, and will not north, may seem a.little strange. But this fact is
easily explained. Here, or North, fruit trees burst suddenly into bloom,
and in three or four days the sexual organs of the flowers have matured,
performed their functions, and lost their sexual force. South, the peach
is often in continuous bloom for four months, the plum for two months,
and therefore there is a continuous supply of ripe pollen and ripe (stig-
matic) stigmas to receive it. Here the Wild Goose plum, for instance,
opens its flowers one day, ripens and sheds most of its pollen the fore-
noon of the next day (the pollen of the plum, whichis the male element
of their sexuality, consists of very minute roundish, egg-like cells, very
light and produced in great abundance, and may be carried by the wind
for miles under favorable circumstances and their potency remain un-
impaired), and not until the afternoon of this day do the stigmas take
on the sexual heat and become ready to receive it. These and the other
fully established facts, that to many varieties and species of plants their
own pollen is neither acceptable nor fertile to their own flowers—stig-
mas—and to the more common fact that in many piants a flower is
not fertile with pollen of that flower, but fully fertile with pollen from
another; why we have failed to get fruit from many varieties of Na-
tive Plums when not growing near other Plum trees (or other trees of
the Almond family), and why these same varieties are very productive
when planted near others; the reason for this seems to be that nat-
ure abhors “in and in breeding,” or, in other words, she has carefully
guarded nearly all forms of life from unnatural unions or a too close
consanguinity of offspring.

But in our Almond family the different species seem freely to fertil-
ize each other sexually in many instances, and the resulting hybrids.
are, so far as observed, fully fertile with all. For, as before intimated, I
have absolute and incontestable proof that the flowers of the Wild Goose
and Miner plums are fertilized to a limited extent by the pollen of our
cherries, which belong to a different genus of the same order. Also,
the proof is absolute that the pollen of the peach freely fertilizes the
flowers of the Chickasaw plums, at least some of them. The new early
peaches, such as Hale’s Early, Amsden’s June, Alexander, Wc., are
such hybrids nearest the peach in their generalities; and the Black-
man, Golden Beauty, and other so-called plums are such hybrids more:
nearly resembling the plums.

The plums of Europe freely fertilize our native plums, and vice versa.
So far there is no proof that the sub genus, Padus, to which our wild
cherries belong, is sexually fertile with other members of the sub order,
but it is very probable that it is not.

We have now, if we have read understandingly, learned how we may

48
FRUIT THE NATIVE PLUMS

everywhere in abundance. How? Simply by planting several va-
rieties near together or commingled, or by grafting or budding barren
trees with one or more different varieties as above explained. Plant-
ing the different varieties near together is most practical, and easily
done by selecting such two (or more) varieties as will pollenize each
other, and planting them alternately in rows 4 to 6 feet apart, the rows
running in the direction of the prevailing winds at the blooming time
of the plum. If we do not know what varieties will pollenize each other,
we will be safe if we plant several varieties in close proximity, so as to
have the so-called species alternate in the rows. The rows may be 15
to 30 feet apart.
We now take up the

PLUM CURCULIO (Conotrachelus nenuphar)

understandingly. But why need I add one more word about it, for the
proof is absolute here, and I have tie same complete proof from nearly
every State and Territory, that it has no effect on the fruiting of the
great majority of our native plums whatever. If their flowers are
pollenized they give regular crops of valuable fruit as apy fruit in any
climate, with no material damage to the fruit, except rarely to a few
varieties, by this pest. In fact, I will here put it on record: I believe
that after carefully investigating the subject throughout three seasons,
that what effect this curculio has on these fruits tends to benefit the
tree and fruit rather than injure, for, where these plums are fully pollen-
ized their tendency is to overbear—to set more fruit than they can or
should bring to maturity. The most material injury to this fruit by the
curculio is that the cuts through the skin of the young fruit, made by
her when laying her eggs, sometimes forms a nidus (breeding place) for
‘‘fruit-rot.” The varieties will be affected by this very differently in
different locations and climates, but this rot does not, as is the case
with some other fruits, so far as is known prevent our securing full
crops of some varieties everywhere. (Curiously the evidence is that P.
chickasa is more subject to rot South than P. americana, and vice versa.
But my observations here prove that this “fruit-rot” in the native
plums more often finds a nidus or origin in the minute punctures of leaf
lice (Aphidide) and plant bugs (Hemiptera). The most injurious of the
bugs to the fruit of our native plums, and perhaps the most injurious in-
sect of North America, is the now notorious tarnished plant bug (Capsus
oblineatus, Say.). This pernicious bug is abundant nearly everywhere,
is an omnivorous feeder, and not only depletes trees and plants of their
juices, but the puncture of its beak is very poisonous to them, causing
many young fruits to drop soon after being punctured, on others leav-
ing wounds for the entrance of the spores of the sporadic diseases or
‘‘rots.” Therefore it will not do to give the plum curculio credit as the

49

destroyer of all fruit that falls before maturity; and, further, it is a fact
that the injury to the young fruit by this curculio when laying her eggs
does not cause such fruit to fall while small, but the contrary is true,
Therefore, when we find all our young plums on the ground early in
June, notice if every one of them sho ws the ovipositing mark of the
Little Turk. She or her work was not the cause of their fall. But cut
them open and you will invariably find the seed embryo dead, or the
lice or bugs before mentioned had caused their death.

Then it remains to give a short summary of the facts gathered, show-
ing the true status of the Plum Curculio in regard to fruit growing
generally and the Native Plums especially.

The first and most important is that all evidence shows that this in-
sect seeks the Native Plums in preference to all other fruits in which to
deposit her eggs. This is a queer, a strange fact in biology, which nat-
uralists will be inclined to dispute, namely, that an insect should seek
and use, seemingly by preference, a fruit in which to lay her eggs
wherein but very few of them will hatch and in which but few of such
-‘larve as do hatch can be nourished on its substance to maturity.

The reason why the Plum Curculio does seek the Native Plums to
Oviposit in seems to be because of their very early and very fragrant
bloom. This beetle, unlike some others, is a ravenous feeder while in
the imago or beetle state, and flies toward the nearest inviting food.
With what result, now becomes the important question. Ihave shown
that the depositing of the eggs of the Curculio in the young truit does
not cause it to fall before reaching maturity; thatit does not materiaily
injure the fruit, for 1 have marketed a Miner plum on which were eight-
een of the ovipositing marks of this beetle, and yet it was a passable
plum for use (eating or canning). But the facts are best given in figures
and percentages.

During the past two seasons I have gone over the great mass of native
plums in bearing here twice during each season, or four times syste-
matically, and very carefully, with practically the same results each
time, and I will here give my results in figures.

I found that for every egg that hatched and the larvee had fed notice-
ably, that there were from 1,500 to 1,900 ovipositing marks of the Cur-
culio, and that only one living curculio maggot was found in 3,100 to
3,000 plums examined and in which her eggs had been laid. These
percentages are from the June observations of these two years and
coincide with previous observations. In the two observations made
during the latter part of July and first of August the percentages were
not materially changed or different. Another study was made to find
out how many larve that had hatched had fed to well advanced matu-
rity as larve. To get at this I selected the fruit of the Wild Goose and
Newman, in which I had found more living larve than in any other
variety here (as yet I have not fonnd any living larve of considerable
size in the Miner, but strangely I found more living, well fed, healthy

22340—No. 14-——4

50

looking larve in P. americana in the woods, to the number of plums
stung than I have in any other plum, a not very careful survey of this
tree showed that about one in twenty-five of the eggs laid in the fruit
has produced well-grown, healthy looking larve). I selected first 100
plums of the Wild Goose variety, in which eggs had seemingly been
laid. (Lam well aware that in many species of insect life the females
will continue to form proper nid? for the reception of her eggs long
after her supply of eggs has become completely exhausted; in fact,
as a rule the “grim messenger” finds her busily at work, with feeble
effort, trying to lay eggs and reproduce her kind, and it is quite proba-
ble that our ‘Little Turk” possesses this instinct, which continues to
its fatal termination. Therefore my percentages are not so correct as
if I had been able in each instance to locate an egg, in situ within the
Ovipositing mark.) At least the ovipositing mark was apparent on
each fruit. These were placed in a vessel, and taken out one at a
time and cut under the ovipositing mark te ascertain if the larve
had fed. If it had not fed noticeably, it was thrown aside and another
taken up, and so on until I had obtained a hundred piums in which
the egg had hatched and the larve had fed. Two trials of Wild Goose
plums, in this way, gave respectively 22 and 23 living, sickly look-
ing, attenuated larve. ‘Two trials of the same number of Newman gave
respectively 24 and 26 of the same kind of grubs. Whether any one
of these sickly looking larve would have matured into beetles I do
not know, but I have the best of reasons for believing that none of
them would. And here are my reasons, and they are of the greatest
value, if I have made no mistakes. The autumns of 1884 and 1885 I
gathered the fallen fruit from all the trees for seed, and of course in this
way I got all the fruit with living larvee in them, and when selecting
what good fruit there was for market, all wormy and imperfect fruit
was thrown on the surface of the ground in the shade of trees, day by
day as gathered, and on and convenient thereto were placed several
contrivances, such as the young beetles are known to seek as soon as
they emerge from the grovnd for shelter. These shelters were care-
fully examined until cold weather without finding a single beetle.

The next spring this seed was gathered up early and planted. A good
portion of the ground it had occupied was at once covered with strong
canvas, with its edges so covered and fastened down that it was in-
probable that the beetles could escape from under it.* Now, if this 80
bushels of plums selected from the 264 bushels marketed on one season,
and of course including practically all the wormy plums, bred no Curcu-
lios, and it takes 3,200 eggs to produce one well-matured larva, and if we
give it all the Native Plumsit may require in which to lay allof its eggs,

* This experiment was very poorly conducted and proves nothing. If the plums re-
ferred to were wormy, it is safe to say that at least a portion of the larve were in
healthy condition ani went through their transformations under ground. We have

51

this is the pertinent question: Does it not seem conclusively to show
that when this great western region, the timbered portion of it, was, we
may say, one vast Plum thicket, that there were then plums enough to
hold the Plum Curculio entirely in check? And, further, does it not
also show concluskvely that if we now plant a sufficientnumber of these
plum trees to produce fruit for the beetles to feed on and lay all of
their eggs in, and such eggs do not hatch, as we have seen, that they,
the plums, will again reduce its numbers below the point of practical
injury, and in this way protect all our other fruit from its depreda-
tions? Again, do not our facts show, that if it is true that the Plum
Curculio is attracted by these plums early in the season, and being
there on the plums she will therefore lay her eggs in them exclusively,
and that by planting these plums unstintedly among and around our
Peaches, Apples, Cherries, and other fruits liable to injury by her, that
we will protect these fruits from damage by this beetle?

We have but one question of importance to answer, whichis, Are the
Native Plums a fruit worthy of extended cultivation? I can answer
this question emphatically, Yes, they are. ‘They are one of the most cer-
tain of the fruits in the regularity of their crop, and the yield is usually
abundant, the fruit wholesome, attractive, and easily gathered, and can
be shipped any reasonable distance to market. When thoroughly ripe
it is delicious, eaten in a natural state—that is, some varieties of it ;

thers are among the finest of fruits for preparing in the various ways
known to the culinary art—stewing, canning, drying, preserving in
sugar, sweet pickling (spicing), &c. And many of the varieties of the
Northern type will keep perfectly throughout the winter if simply placed
in an open earthen jar and covered with water. They all make most

had some experience with the larve of this insect, but should scarcely venture to dis-
criminate between sickly and healthy individuals as Mr. Wier has done. The pre-
cautions taken to observe and count the beetles emerging from the ground were en-
tirely insufficient for the purpose, as the tendency to secrete under traps is mani-
fested chiefly in cool weather in spring.

Moreover, Mr. Wier’s statements that the planting and cultivating of the Wild Plum
will protect our peaches, apricots, cultivated plums, &c., and effect a decrease in the
numbers of the Curculio, are mere assumptions and contrary to experience. The fact
that these cultivated fruits were badly infested by the Curculio as soon as they were
introduced is a sufficient proof that the Curculio shows a decided preference for
these plants. While we would not discredit the correctness of Mr. Wier’s observa-
tion that a large proportion of Curculio eggs laid in Wild Plums fail to hatch (be-
cause they often thus fail in cultivated varieties and in cherries, pears, and apples),
yet we do not believe this fact has much influence on the general decrease of the Cur-
culio. The Wild Plums were the original food-plant of the insect and it has ‘ ex-
isted as a species” on this plant from time immemorial. ‘lhe cultivation of peaches,
apricots, cherries, &c., simply furnished the means for it to increase, and only the com-
plete abandonment of their cultivation would re-establish the original relative scar-
city of the Curculio. The state of affairs would be quite different if Mr. Wier could
show us how to compel the insect to oviposit in the fruit of the Wild Plum, or could
even prove by satisfactory scientific evidence the truth of his assertion that it has a
preterence for said wild fruit. —C. V. R.

52

beautiful and delicious jellies. Such are the principal uses of the fruit.
The trees will thrive on any soil that will support common trees, but do
best on a deep, rich, moist soil; they thrive finely in the bottoms of deep,
steep, narrow ravines and along drains, on lands too rough for cultivation,
ifreasonably rich. The trees are natural to crowded situations, crowded
by each other, and by other trees; their rocts do best rambling through
moist soil, shaded from the sun, and the trees do very much the best in -
a location sheltered from the strong winds of spring (which blow away
the pollen). The trees are easily propagated; they throw up young
trees (suckers) freely from their roots; therefore when planting these
plums on the thicket plan in waste places it is best to have them on
their own roots. Or, if we do not wish them to produce suckers, they
may be budded on the Chickasaw variety known as Mariana, which
variety grows freely from cuttings, is quite hardy, and seldom, if ever,
throws up suckers from its roots. In the South these plums do finely
when budded or grafted on peach (which do not sucker), but care must

' be taken to prevent injury from the Peach Borer (d/geria exitiosa Say).

North they do nicely if ‘‘root-grafted” on peach. Generally, as the reader
will have learned from this paper, the Native Plums have no very nox-
ious insect enemies or diseases here or over the country at large, and it
is Safe to say that they in some of their varieties or tribes can be grown
profitably in every part of the country. There is a vast amount to be
learned about them as yet, and some very important facts to determine.
The most valuable one is this: I have some proof that certain varieties
of these plums will breed the Plum Curéulio freely; if so, such varieties
should be searched out and destroyed, and we should be sure not to
plant these varieties for fruit, be that ever so fine.

THE SERRELL AUTOMATIC SILK REEL.

By PHILIP WALKER.

In previous reports the new Serrell automatic silk reel has been fre-
quently mentioned, but owing to the incomplete ccndition of the pat-
ents upon it, it has been considered unwise to publish even such a gen-
eral description as that which follows. Now, however, that these ma-
chines are in operation in Washington, it is possible to gratify the
laudable curiosity of persons interested in this machinery, of which so
much has been said but so little known in this country.

An understanding of the mechanical principles of ordinary non-auto-
matic reels and of the Serrell serigraph are so necessary to a thorough
comprehension of the automatic reel that, although they have already
been described by Professor Riley in Bulletin No. 9 of the Division.*
it is deemed wise to insert an account of them here. The quotations

* The Mulberry Silk-Worm, by C. V. Riley, M. A., Ph. D., Washington, 1886.

53

which follow are from that pamphlet. A further word on some of the
properties of the cocoon filament and the general process of reeling is
also given in order to make the descriptions which follow more intelli-
gible.

Thesilk-worm occupies, in general, about thirty days in passing through
the period comprised between its birth and the fabrication of its cocoon.
Most of this time is employed in eating, but about five days being con-
sumed in passing through the molts. The food consumed during the
last ten days is almost entirely employed in the formation of a fluid
which fills the silk ducts and which goes ultimately to the fabrication of
the silken thread of the cocoon.

In the body of the larvee there are two of these ducts, each of which
is connected with an orifice called a spinneret, which is situated in the ©
lower lip of the insect. The larva in the formation of its co coon throws
out from these orifices two fine filaments covered with a natural glue.
This glue serves to stick the two filaments together and to form them
into what appears to the naked eye to be one compact thread. <An ex-
amination of this thread under the microscope, however, shows its
double nature and its flattened sectiou, whose width is three to four
times its thickness.

The first step taken by the worm, after it has found a con venient
place to make its cocoon, is to throw out a system of threads designed
to form a founda ion to the more compact pod. The tissue of this sys-
tem is loose and is not apparently woven after any fixed plan. Once
this foundation completed, the larva begins the constru ction of the
stronger wall of its resting place, which is constructed of a firm felting
laid on in figure-eight loops and in many distinct layers. Of these
layers it is easy to recognize at least a dozen and to tear them apart
but itis probable that in reality these might each be subdivided into
many more but for the lack of instruments of sufficient delicacy.

Taking the yellow Milanese races as a type, we find that it requires
about 250 fresh cocoons to make a pound and that each contains about
one thousand yards of thread. These cocoons, with the inclosed chrys-
alides, contain, however, 66 per centum of water, which in the course of
three or four mouths’ drying will effectually evaporate. Of the total
weight of these cocoons, again, but about 15 per centum is formed of
silk, the balance being composed of chrysalides and the skins cast by
the larvee in their transformation. Thus, were we to recover all of the
silk contained in a lot of cocoons, it would not exceed 15 per centum of
the total weight when fresh, or 33 per centum of the weight when dry.
It is not, however, possible to accomplish such a result, both on account
of the loss caused in getting hold of the end of the thread and from the
fact that it is impossible to finish the reeling of a cocoon to its very end.
Manufacturers rarely obtain more than one pound of silk for each three
and one-half pounds of dry covosons employed, and it is not uncommon

540

for them to consume at least four pounds of raw material in the forma-
tion of each pound of their product.

Before reeling the cocoons must be cleaned by the removal of the
outer system of threads which, under the name of floss, is one of the
waste products of the industry.

In the filature the ‘cocoons are first plunged into boiling water,
whereby their gluten is softened in such a manner as to render the un-
winding of the filaments an easy matter. This done, they are brushed
with a small broom, to the straws of which their fibers become attached.
The bundle of filaments is then taken and they are unwound until each
cocoon hangs by but one clean thread. These three operations are
called ‘cooking,’ ‘brushing,’, and ‘purging.’ The first two can be ac-
complished mechanically, and are currently so performed in Italy and
largely in France. But purging is a process to which the accuracy of
the human eye and the delicacy of the human touch have so far been
found necessary.” The thread unwound in these processes is also a
waste product, called ‘“frisons,” and has about one-fifth the value of
_ reeled silk. In good working about four times as much silk as frisons
is produced.

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Fic. 1.—Elements of the mechanism of a modern silk reel.

‘The elements of the mechanism of all modern silk reels are essentially
the same. They are shown in Fig. 1, and consist, in general, of a basin,
A, in which is a perforated steam-pipe, P, by means of which the water
in the basin may be heated. A few inches above the surface of the
water is placed a perforated agate, B. The cocoons having undergone
the three operations mentioned, the ends of the filaments of four or more
of them are twisted together into a thread, which is passed through the
hole in the agate. From this it runs through the ‘“ croisure” M, which
will be hereafter explained, and over the guide E to the reel at F. Be-
tween E and F the thread passes a guide, G, moving to and fro (in a
line perpendicular to the plane otf the paper), which distributes it in a

55

broad band over the surface of the reel. This facilitates the drying of
the silk, without which the gluten would bind together the threads of
the skein as it does those of the cocoons, and thus ruin its commercial
value. The shaft of the reel carries at one end a friction-wheel, H,
which rests on the large friction-wheel I, that constantly revolves on the
shaft N, and thus motion is imparted to the reel. In order to stop the
reel it is only necessary to raise the wheel H from its bearings by means
of the lever L. This movement presses the wheel against the brake-
shoe K, and its motion is at once arrested.

‘¢ As has been said above, the thread is passed between the agate and
the reel through the croisure. The making of the croisure consists in
twisting the thread around itself or another thread so as to consolidate
its constituent filaments and wring the water from it and thus aid in its
drying. The mode of the formation of this croisure forms the principal
distinguishing mark between the French and Italian systems of reeling.
The former is called the ‘Chambon system.’ Hach reeler manages two
threads. These are passed through separate agates, and after being
brought together and twisted twenty or thirty times around each other
are again separated and passed through guiding eyes to the reel. The
other system, called ‘tavellette,’* consists in passing the thread up
over a small pulley, C, down over another, D, and then twisting it around
itself, as shown at M, in Fig. 1, and thence to the reel.

‘¢The cocoon filament is somewhat finer in the floss or beginning, thick-
ens at the point of forming the more compact pod, and then very gradu-
ally diminishes in diameter until it becomes so fine as to be incapable
of standing the strain of reeling,” the mean sections at these points be-
ing about proportional to the figures 30, 40, and 25. . “Therefore a thread
which is made up of five new filaments becomes so small when the co-
coons from which it is drawn are half unwound as to require an addi-
tion. This addition might also be made necessary by the rupture of
one of the constituent filaments. It is here that the skill of the oper-
ator is called into play. When her experience tells her that the thread
needs nourishing from either of these causes, she takes the end of the
filament of one of the cocoons which lie prepared in her basin, and, giv-
ing it a slight snap or whip-lash movement with the index-finger, causes
it to wind around or adhere to the running thread, of which it from this
moment becomes a constituent part. This lancing, as it is called, of the
end of the filament, although in hand reeling performed in the manner
deseribed, is also accomplished mechanically, several devices having
been invented for this purpose. They consist, in general, of a mechan-
ism (occupying the place of the agate B), which causes a small hook
to revolve in a horizontal plane about the running thread, and to twist
around it any end of the filament that may be placed in the path of the
hook. The reeler, seeing that anew filament is needed, holds the end of
one in the way of the attaching device, and it is automatically caught.”

* The trade name of the small pulley mentioned.

56

The thread of ‘‘raw” or reeled silk is excessively strong, ductile, and
elastic. .As has been seen, it is composed of several double filaments,
drawn from as many cocoons. In common with other elastic threads,
a given length of one of silk will resist-a tendency to stretch to an ex-
tent proportionate to its mean section. This is the underlying prinei-
ple of the serigraph. The mode of determining the irregularities exist-

ing in a thread of raw silk by means of this machine is as follows: The.

end of the thread is brought from the reel or bobbin on which itis wound

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Fic. 2.—The principle of the serigraph.

around a drum, S, (Plate I), thence over a pulley, Rk, and back around
another drum, 7, mounted on the same axis as S. From the drum T it
is wound on a reel. The drum Tis larger than S, so that the former
winds on the thread somewhat faster than it is paid off by the latter,
and thus stretches it. .In this manner we apply a constant force to the
pulley A, tending to draw it from its normal position. This pulley is
attached to the base of a pendulum, U, which, under the action of the
force mentioned, is drawn from the perpendicular. The weight of this
pendulum overcoming the force thus applied to an extent inversely pro-
portional to the mean section of the length of thread submitted to the
test, the position of equilibrium taken by the pendulum depends upon
and is an indication of that mean section. The portion thus tested is
that between the two drums S and 7, and as, through the constant
action of the machine, successive lengths of thread occupy the position
indicated, the pendulum oscillates through a course which depends upon
the irregularities of the thread. These irregularities are graphically
recorded by a pencil, attached to the pendulum, upon a band of paper,
which moves constantly under its point.

The serigraph, it will be seen, is an apparatus for continuously meas-
uring the relative size of any thread passed over its drums and record-
ing the irregularities in its size on a band of paper.

From this machine to the automatic reeler was but a slight transition,
easily accomplished. It has been in working out the details of the de-
sired mechanism that the greatest difficulty has been met with. The
result is attained in general by causing the pendulum U to close an

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Bulletin 14, Division of Entomology, Dept. Agr.

PRINCIPLES OF THE SERRELL AUTOMATIC REEL.

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57

electric circuit whenever the thread becomes so weak as to permit of a
certain amount of stretching under the tension applied to it. The
electric current due to this circuit-closing is then employed in releasing
the detent of a suitable feeding device, by which a new cocoon filament
is added to the main thread and its size augmented.

In the operation of the automatic silk-reel the thread is made as in an
ordinary hand-reel, and passed through the centre of a filament-attaching
device, B, thence through the croisure M. Thence, as in the serigraph, it
is passed around a small drum, S, around a pulley, #, situated at the end
of a pendulum, U, which is called in the reeler the control-lever, thence
around the larger drum 7, and in the ordinary way over the guiding
pulley #, to the reel. On the end of the control lever U is a circuit-
closing contact piece, a, which acts when the puliey R, overcoming the
resistance of the thread, recedes from the drums Sand 7. The tension
thus resisted by the thread may be regulated by the movable weight X,
or an equivalent device.

We will now suppose the thread to be running at the desired size, and
_ that the tension due to the stretch imparted to it by the difference in
the circumferential speed of the two drums is sufficient to keep open the
circuit-closing device of the control lever. it continues in this condi-
tion until, through the diminution in the size of the constituent filaments,
or the rupture of one of them, the thread falls below the standard, and
the addition of a new cocoon becomes necessary. Then the pendulum
falls back, and the contact at @ is closed.

Just above the water of the basin, with its edge dipping beneath the
surface, is a cocoon-holding device, O. This apparatus, usually called
the magazine, rests on a support which is mounted on a shaft around
whose axis the magazine may be rotated. The magazine consists of a
number of compartments, ¢, situated around the circumference of a lower
disk and a number of small pins, d, mounted on a parallel disk a short
distance above thelower one. In each compartment is placed a cocoon
previously prepared for reeling, while its filament is conducted upwards
and wound around one of the pins d. A magazine thus filled is set
upon its support in readiness to furnish cocoons to the running thread
as desired. Its position is such that the hook of the filament-attaching
device passes just below the disk holding the pins d, and in such a way
that a thread passing from its cocoon to the pin, which for the moment
is opposite the attaching device, will fall in the path of the hook and be
caught by it in its revolution.

The shaft on which the magazine turns is connected with a suitable
feed movement, W, which consists in general of a cam to which a rotary
motion may be given by a proper connection with the shafting of the
filature, of a lever to which the cam imparts a to-and-fro motion, and
of a magnet to whose armature is attached a detent which, when no
current is passing, prevents the rotation of the cam.

Now, as we have seen above, no current passes through the electric

58

circuit while the thread is at its standard size; for under such condi-
tions the lever is so held by the thread that the contact at a is kept
open. As soon, however, as the thread diminishes in size the lever
recedes, the contact at a is closed, and the current passing through the
magnet of the feed movement W causes the attraction of its armature
and the release of the detent holding the cam in place. Upon this oceur-
ring the magazine is advanced one step and brings a new cocoon fila-
ment into the path of the hook on the filament attaching device, which
catching it up twists it around the running thread and, with the help
of its natural gum, attaches it firmly thereto, at the same time cutting
off the loose end. The rotation of the cam is so timed that its detent
will not arrive at the stop en the armature until the new filament has
reached the controlling drums and had its effect upon the position of
the control lever. In the reeling of fine sizes the addition of one fila-
ment will generally be found sufficient to bring the thread toits normal
size, though it is less apt to be so with larger sizes. In any case, how-
ever, if, when the rotation of the cam is completed, the electric circuit
still remains closed the action of the feed movement is repeated and con-
tinued until the thread is again brought to the normal size.

Owing to the irregularities in a thread of raw silk it is impossible to
obtain any measure of its size by means of a caliper or even, with any
degree of ease, by a microscopical examination. Merchants are there-
fore obliged to content themselves by approximating its size in the fol-
lowing manner: They measure off upon a suitable real a skein of a
given length (476 meters) and obtain its weight in the terms of an arbi-
trary unit called the denier. If such a sample skein, for instance, is
found to weigh ten deniers'it is called a ‘ ten-denier silk.” Now itis
found that the exterior thread of a cocoon of the yellow Milanese races
has a value of about two and a half deniers, so that it takes four such
new cocoons to make a thread of ten deniers. When these cocoons are
halfunwound the size of the thread formed from them would be but about
eight deniers. Now, in order to augment the thread and bring it to the
normal size we are obliged to add another cocoon which, with its new
thread, would increase the combined thread to ten and one-half deniers,
and it will be seen that from cocoons of this race it is impossible to
augment the thread by smaller increments than that mentioned. For
this reason no attempt is made to produce an absolutely regular thread
of silk, but reelers are content if the variation from the desired mean
does not exceed two deniers in each direction. In hand-reeling, where
the regularity of the thread depends entirely upon the ability of the
reeler to estimate its present size and to add a new filament at the
proper time, only the most expert operatives are ableto make silk with-
in the limits named. In the automatic reel, however, all this is taken
out of the hands of the operative and the indication of the need of a new
thread is made by the delicate serigraphic measuring device of the con-
trol movement. Its delicacy is such that when working under good

Ce ee ee ee

59

conditions it will sometimes run off an almost theoretically perfect
thread. A great advantage exists in this fact, as the beauty of a piece
of woven goods depends very largely on the regularity of the raw silk
- entering into its composition.

In addition to the devices mentioned above, the automatic reel con-
tains an electrical stop movement by which the motion of the reel is
arrested upon the rupture of the running thread. It consists of a small
faller on the end of which is mounted the guide-pulley at H. When the
thread is running the pulley is drawn in the direction of the reel and an
electrical contact, b, placed onthe faller, is kept open. Upon the rupture
of a thread, however, this contact is closed and a suitable mechanical de-
vice at V is set in operation by an electro-magnet. The releasing of the
lever of this apparatus enables the spring on the bell crank LZ to act on
the shaft of the reel and draw its friction drum away from its bearing
on the large drum J, and thus stop its motion so quickly that the end of
the broken thread will rarely be drawn into the skein. When this ap-
paratus works promptly and well there results a very considerable
Saving of time in the knotting of the thread, and less waste is produced
thereby.

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Aletia argillacea, 11.
Allograpta obliqua, 14.
Allorhina nitida, 16.
Allotria avenex, 13.
brassice, 14.
lachni, 13.
megoure, 19.
tritici, 13.
Anasa tristis, 22.
Uhleri, 23.
Angoumois moth, 16.
Anthomyia mistaken for Buffalo Gnats, 29.
Apanteles congregatus, 11. :
Aphis brassice, 12.
eitrulli, 27.
cucumeris, 27.
cucurbite, 27.
Ashmead, Wm. H., Report on insects injurious to
garden crops in Florida, 9.
Automatic silk reel, Serrel’s, 52.
Bean, insects affecting, in Florida, 21.
Bean Cut Worm, 21.
Distribution, 21.
Earlier states, 22.
Injuries, 22.
Bisulphide of carbon for squash borer, 25.
Botis repetitalis, 15.
Botrytis Rileyi, 11.
Buffalo Gnats, 29.
Amount of injury in various years, 31.
Breaks in the levees the cause of their abun-
dance, 36.
Distribution, 32.
Finding of the larve, 30.
Habits of imago, 34.
History of the injury, 31.
Nature of their bite, 34.
Nature of their breeding places, 32.
Not injurious before the war, 31, 36.
Not injurious below the mouth of Red River,
38.
Pupa and pupation, 33.
Report on, by F. M. Webster, 29.
Restoration of the levees probably the true
remedy, 39.
Swarms of Anthomyia mistaken for, 29.
Topography of the infested country, 36.
Various direct remedies, 34.
Vitality of the larva, 35.
Cabbage Aphis, 12.
Buckton’s description, 12.
Enemies and parasites, 13.
Food-plants, 12.
Injuries, 13.
Introduced from Europe, 12.
Life-history, 12.
Cabbage Aphis Allotria, 14.
Encyrtid, 14.
Pachyneuron, 14.
Syrphus Fly, 14.
Cabbage, insects injurious to, in Florida, 9.
Mamestra, 15.
Pionea, 15.
Plusia, 10.
Distribution, 10.
Enemies and parasites, 11.
Food-plants, 10.
Injuries, 10.
Life-history, 10.
Remedies, 11.
Plutella, 11, 12.

Calandra granaria, 16.
Carbolic powder for Cabbage Piusia, 11,
Cauliflower Botis, 15.
Ceramica picta, 15.
Ceraphron sp., 13.
Chalcis ovata, 24.
Conotrachelus nenuphar, 39, 48.
Copidosoma truncatellum, 11.
Corn, insects injurious to, in Florida, 15,
Bill-bug, 16.
Mining Fly, 16.
Worm, 15.
Enemies, 16.
Injuries, 15.
-stalk Borer, 16.
Weevil, 16.
Coruna sp., 13.
Cotton Worm, 11.
Crepidodera cucumeris, 22,
Cucumber Flea-beetle, 22.
Curculio-proof nature of the native plum trees, 39.
Cynipids parasitic on Aphids, 13.
Diabrotica 12-punctata, 22.
Diastata sp., 16.
Diatrza saccharalis, 16.
Egg Plant Aphis, 20.
Distribution, 20.
Injuries, 21.
Middleton’s description, 20.
Parasites, 21.
Egg Plant, insects affecting, in Florida, 20.
Encyrtus anase, 23.
aphidiphagus, 14
?megoure, 19.
sublestus, 14.
Entedon diastate, 16.
Eucoila siphonophore, 21.
Eudioptis hyalinata, 26.
nitidalis, 24.
EKudamus proteus, 22.
EKupelmus reduvii, 24.
Euschistus servus, 16.
False Chinch, 22.
Florida, insects injurious to garden crops in, 9.
Gas-lime for Squash-vine Borer, 25.
Gelechia cerealella, 16.
Gortyna nitela, 18.
Insects affecting the Bean, 21.
Cabbage, 9.
Corn, 15.
Egg-plant, 20.
Melon, 26.
Squash, 22.
Tea, 21.
Tomato, 16.
Halticus bractatus, 22.
Harlequin Cabbage Bug, 15.
Heliothis armigera, 15.
Hemerobius sp., 19.
Hot water for Cabbage Plusia, 11.
Introduction, 7.
Julus multistriatus, 15.
Kerosene for, Squash-vine Borer, 25.
emulsion for Cabbage Plusia, 11.
Large Cabbage Butterfly, 15.
Letter of transmittal, 6.
Lime for Cabbage Plusia, 11.
Limneria obscura, 11, 12.
Mamestra chenopodii, 15.
Mascicera sp., 17.
Megoura solani, 18.

(61)

62

Melittia ceto, 24.
Melon Borer, 26.
Descriptive, 26.
Distribution, 26.
Injuries, 27.
Parasites, 27.
Melon Plant-louse. 27.
Distribution, 27.
Enemies and parasites, 28.
Food-plants, 27.
Injuries, 28.
Natural history, 28.
Remedies, 28,
Synonymy, 27.
Margantia histrionica, 15.
Nola sorghiella, 16.
(Ebalus pugnax, 16.
Ortalis sp., 16.
Oscinis sp., 22.
Pachyneuron allograpte, 15.
aphidivora, 14.
Pea, insects injurious to, im Florida, 21.
Phylloptera oblongifolia, 2 22.
Pieris monuste, 15.
protodice, Sy.
Pimpla conquisitor, 27.
Pionea rimosalis, 15.
Plum Curculio, 44, 48.
It preters the native Plum for oviposition, 49.
Larve not developing in the native Plum, 44, 49.
Plum trees, foreign and native, 39.
Curculio larve not developing in the native
species, 44, 49.
Failure of European varieties
America, 39.
Fertilization of native species by other varie-
ties and species, 45.
Native species and their failure to fruit, 40.
Wild Goose Plum in the South, 47.
Plusia brassice, 10.
Plutella cruciferarum, 12.
Prionidus cristatus, 16.
Pyrethrum for Cabbage Plusia, 11.
Reduvius Ege Eupelmid, 24,
Riley, C. V., criticism of Mr. Wier’s report, 7, 50.
Introduction to the Bulletin, 4.
Letter of transmittal, 3.
Saltpeter for squash borer, 25.
Seymuus cervicalis, 15.
Serrel’s automatic silk reel, 8, 52, 56.
serigraph, 52, 56.
Silk reel, elements ef mechanism, 54.
Serrel’s automatic, 8, 52, 56.
Silkworm cocoon, how itisspun by the worm, 53.
preparation for reeling, 54.
Siphonophora cucurbite, 20.
Southern Cabbage Butterfly, 15.
Sphenophorus robustus, 16.
Sphinx carolina, 17.
Egg Teleas, 18.
5-maculata, 17.

in North

Walker, Ph.,

Squash, insects injurious to, in Florida, 22.
Borer, 24.
Distribution, 24.
Food-plants, 24.
Injuries, 24.
Parasites, 24.
Remedy, 24.
Bug, 22.
Distribution, 22.
Egg Encyrtid, 23.
Telenomus, 23.
Enemies and parasites, 23.
Food-plants, 23.
Injuries, 23. ~
Lite-history, 23.
Wane Borer, 24.
Distribution, 24.
Food-plants, 24.
Life-history, 24.
Parasites, 25.
Remedies, 25.
Syrphus Fly Pachyneuron, 15.
Teleas sphingis, 18.
‘Telenomus anase, 23.
Telesilla cinereola, 21.

Tomato, insects injurious to, in Florida, 16.
Aphis, 18.
Allotria, 19.
Distribution, 18.
Encyrtid, 19.
Enemies and parasites, 19.
Injuries, 19.
Life-history, 18. é
Remedies, 19.
Thomas’ description, 18.

Stalk Borer, 18.
Worm, 17.
Distribution, 17.
Enemies and parasites, 17.
Food-plants, 17.
Injuries, 17.
Life-history, 17.
Remedy, 18.
Trichogramma pretiosa, 11, 15, 17.
Tridactylus minutus, 15.
Trionyx piceus, 13.
rape, 13.
Triphleps insidiosus, 22.
Twelve-spotted Diabrotica, 22.
description of the Serrel automatic
silk reel, 52.

Webster, F. M., Report on Buffalo Gnats, 29.

W heel bug, 16.

Wier, D. B., Report on the Curculio-proof nature
of the native Plums, 39.

Zebra Cabbage Worm, 15.

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