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and is no less active during winter for "Pop | almost die; but still sufficiently alive to cause Corn." It is considered indispensable, under the farmer to think "a nice little shower or some form, on every table throughout the length and breadth of the land.

Corn is a precious, inexhaustible legacy left to the white man by his red-skinned brother; more lasting and eloquent than all the tumuli of their dead ancestors. Every ear of Indian corn is but a living epitaph to the memory of these fast fading wild children of the woods and winds; and when even their names have passed away from among us, a field of Indian corn will call them up to our fancy from every glade and valley in all their majesty and barbaric pomp.

Any thing injuring or militating against the quality and abundance of a staple second only to cotton in the estimation of the country becomes of paramount importance; and I propose to show you a few of the host which, if not kept under subjection by Omniscience, would soon render the land a desert, a vast grave-yard for man and beast.

The first on my list (Figure 1) is a large and beautiful moth, belonging to the Nocture. I can not suppose this insect to be so rare but that it may be found in almost any considerable collection in this country; but it is not described by any of our own entomologists, and is not known as a cut-worm. It would not be classed among the Agrotide if we accepted the imago alone, but its larva proclaims its affinity to this class so distinctly that it must be acceded. The specimen here represented is larger than ordinarily occurs, the larva having been well fed and tended. The Agrotis (i. e. "belonging to the country") Mayia

-"Corn Cut-worm," has its fore-wings shaded in light and dark brown, deepening into black; the nervures are all white. The hind-wings are of a delicate brown; the bands heavy and black. The thorax is brown, with a lighter line running down it; the body is white, with black bands, a brown line running its length, a black one in the centre. The antennæ are pectinated in the males, and filiform in the females.

She appears in August and September, and deposits her eggs while the harvest is ripening; the small worm comes forth generally above ground, and feeds around on grass and other vegetation until it has cast its skin twice, when autumn finds it well advanced. As soon as the cold sets in it descends into the earth, and remains coiled up until the spring, when its food is prepared. We need not be amazed at finding every rootlet devoured, when we consider what their appetites must be after such a fast. But this cut-worm has a great deal of caution and moderation in its proceedings. It is a brown worm, naked (that is, free of hairs), with a horny, yellowish head, and a black line running through the segments. It first devours one side of the root of the corn, carefully abstaining from touching the main root springing from the grain. It then moves round to the other side. When it has obtained all it dares take without killing the plant outright, it moves off to another hill, leaving the first to turn yellow in leaf, droop, and

more sun will bring all right." These come in time, but produce a dwarfish stem, and ears with spaces where no grains grow at all: in a word, yielding only the third of a crop. In this respect it differs from many other cut-worms which generally clip off the plant close to the surface, devouring all beneath it. It usually grows to the length of two inches, quite thick in the body, and changes its skin four times. When about to transform, it descends into the earth, where it takes nearly three days to go into pupa.

The pupa-case is represented in Figure 1, b. When the insect is ready to emerge, the lid bursts open, as you perceive, the moth having withdrawn its tube from the case (at c) before the division takes place. It creeps out wet, weak, and languid, grasping at any thing near by, to which it clings, gradually moving its wings to and fro and discharging a quantity of liquid of a dark-brown color. This continues three or four hours before the imago has gained its full expansion. When in the open air, she would now seek her mate; but if kept in confinement, she commences to deposit her eggs in a few days on any thing, and then dies. These eggs are sterile, being unimpreg

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nated. The pupa-case is of a rich claret-red color, with lighter segments.

There is a singular provision allowed the moths which come out during warm weather. They can manage-but how, I can not tell you to rise to the surface of the earth, so as to obtain as much heat as possible. You may bury them a foot below, but in a little while you will find them reposing on the surface. They seem to be aware that they have no time to lose. Again, with the moths that remain over the winter, you can not keep them on the surface. These you can see descending. They roll, and wriggle, and twist themselves until they are hid from the light. The colder the weather the lower they descend. How beautiful are all these provisions made by Providence for creatures esteemed by many so very useless and insignificant!

The next (Figures 2, 3) belongs to the family of Rhyncophorus, or "Weevils;" order, Coleoptera; sub-genus, Sphenophorus. It corresponds in so many particulars with Say's R. Immunis, that there is little

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roughly on the thorax, which gives it rather a polished appearance, very different from many of its confrères. The wing-cases are very full of punctures, and do not at all times quite cover the abdomen. It is apt to be distended more or less before she deposits her eggs. They are easily destroyed by burning the corn-stalks, or placing them in pits, covering them with lime or ashes; the insects are thus killed, and a good manure remains from the stalks.

doubt that it is the same insect seen at different indistinct. The weevil is not punctured very stages. Early in the season it is quite brown, growing darker with age until it is very nearly black. It is familiarly called at the South and West, "Bill-bug," "Corn-borer," and "Canepiercer"-it is a great nuisance under any name. The mother weevil bores into the stalk just above the ground, where she deposits her eggs. The grubs, when hatched, work up the stalk, eating their way in runs, if it is far enough advanced to allow of many inhabitants. In time the stalk dies, when suckers shoot up which, of course, give but half a crop at most.

The grub at first is short and cylindricalwhitish, with a brown head. It changes its skin four times, and becomes more slender and of a darker color. When ready to transform it throws out a few loose threads; gathering up the débris of its food it packs it around, making a cavity where it passes into pupa, remaining until the next season, when it comes out a perfect insect. The antennæ are placed on the rostrum, or beak, and are always elbowed, or bent, at an angle. The beak is horny and strong, and has the mouth at its extremity. The mandibles, or jaws, are obtuse or blunt. The other parts are very

The third insect on my list is the Gortyna Zea, the famous "Spindle-Worm"-(Figure 4)-so called from its destroying the "spindle," or small stalk, which is hidden between the leaves when the corn is very young. If you examine the corn closely you will see a small hole in the side of the stalk through which the worm has entered, when hatched from the egg, on the exterior. When you discover the mischief you may draw the whole up-spindle, leaves, and all-for they are all detached by this little creature. Cut the spindle open, and then you will see the cause of the trouble. It will be perforated every way, up and down, by the caterpillar, whose castings will be packed cunningly around the hole, to

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a. The Moth.-b. Spindle of the Corn.-c. Entrance Holes -d. The Larvae,f Larva in its Run, and Chrysalis in its Cavity.

prevent the evaporation of the juices. It is smooth, naked, and yellowish, with the head and first and last rings of the top black. There are bands of black dots running double round each segment. From each of these, with a high magnifier, you will perceive a strong black hair, growing to the length of an inch and a half. When full grown, is in bulk the size of a quill. When ready to transform, it spins a loose cocoon in the cavity which it has eaten out, and there turns into a chrysalis; it is of a dark reddishbrown; the edges of the last four segments are made irregular by small points, and four short spines turn up on the back extremity of the body.

head and thorax are reddish, with tufts of tawny feathers on each, the body is pale brown with the tawny tufts in a row down the centre. It expands, when a fine specimen, over an inch and a half.

You perceive, by comparing them, how very similar are the destructive habits of the two last insects of which I have treated, in the larva state; but examine closer, and you will note that the moth can only commit her injuries when the stalk is very young and tender, while the mission of the weevil's grub is to be carried out when it becomes stronger and harder in texture. There are yet three more of each of these insects, who, at alternate seasons, assist in this destruction.

This Gortyna Zea-"Spindle-moth of the Corn" is a very pretty creature. The fore- You have before you (Figure 5) one of the wings are a rusty red, marked in bands, and wonders of creation-a very common, everyday mottled over with gray. There is a tawny spot production, but not the less marvelous on this at the tip of each fore-wing, which are to be account. The Aphis Mayis, the "Plant-louse seen distinctly only when the insect has newly of the Corn," as it is familiarly called, belongs emerged. The hind-wings are gray, mixed with to the order Hemiptera-the genus Aphis-subyellow, with dark grayish spots in the centre, genus Eriosoma. The Aphida are scattered from which run two slight bands of gray. The throughout the vegetable kingdom. Every plant,

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FIGURE 5.-APHIS MAYIS (CORN-PLANT LOUSE).

a. Imago. b. Aphida on the Stem.-e. Aphis before the last Change.-d. Aphis with Young.

flower, bush, and tree, has its own peculiar Aphis attendant, differing somewhat in appearance but still retaining their individual habits and similitudes. They serve to keep down the redundancy of vegetation, and are the bonbons of the insect kingdom, serving as food to a great number of other insects.

This little creature, minute, common, and justly considered by us a great nuisance, has occupied the attention of naturalists of every age -has had treatises upon it read before the Academie des Sciences at Paris-has consumed months of their valuable time in experiments-Bazin, Lyonnet, Trembley, Bonnet, Reaumur, and a dozen others have found them a marvel and most worthy their deepest study. The first three were appointed by the Academy to test the experiments made by Bonnet, who proved that they brought forth young without pairing; "that the mother of ninety-five Aphides had never paired." Trembley affirmed that they paired before birth, but this is considered now very erroneous. In subsequent experiments Bonnet ascertained (having seen up to the fifth generation in succession produce young without pairing) that the female after a time is deprived of her fecundity and becomes exhausted, when pairing is absolutely necessary to fertilize the female. And strange it is, after pairing she is no longer viviparous - that is, producing her young alive-but deposits eggs. This, you perceive, is a beautiful provision of nature. The tender young would be killed by the severity of the winter; but the eggs remain unscathed, and produce the young early in spring, who go on peopling the Aphis world as their ancestors did before them, without pairing. Another singuVOL. XXIII.-No. 135.-X

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larity is, that no males are produced until toward the close of the season.

These naturalists stopped here, but I have gone on a step farther. The female Aphis continues to bring forth young when she has changed her skin three times. She then becomes exhausted, which is near the time the males are produced, who gain their growth very rapidly, and obtain their wings at the fourth moulting. These exhausted females now cast their fourth skin, under which were hidden their wings; when they fly forth to meet their mates, depositing eggs for the future supply of the next year. They now pair until they have obtained their wings. Males and females are found feeding and living together until the fall is far advanced. You will find them of all shades, delicate green, almost white, dark green, pale brown, red, and nearly black, in the same crowd. But these are only individuals of different ages, and changed by the juices of the plants they are feeding upon. This is a beautiful experiment, which you can make any month in summer by closing up a large Aphis in a box with a glass cover, giving her fresh food several times a day of the plant from which you have taken her. You can convince yourself of this phenomenon occurring under your eyes every hour-nay, minute-of the day, from early spring until late in the autumn.

But let us examine this Aphis of the Corn. It differs in many particulars from those of the rose, the oak, the willow, and many others. The haustellum, or sucker, is not so long, but stouter and stronger, for it has a harder substance to penetrate. They are found only on the stem or stalk of the ear of corn, where they cluster, sucking the juice; thereby reducing the

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nourishment of the leaves and grains on the cob, which gives that wrinkled and withered look which ears of corn often exhibit. The sucker, when not in use, is carried, bent under, between the legs. It is a delicate transparent tube, the point acting as a perforator, and contains two small brownish looking instruments. But these are so exceedingly minute and tender that you can only prove this by pressing the sucker, which will not allow dissecting in this variety, from its flabbiness after death. When multiplied to thousands and tens of thousands they demonstrate their capabilities of injury most unmistakably. They have two tubes, called "honeytubes," at the extremity of the body, through which passes the "honey-dew;" so long a marvelous production to naturalists, but which is now proved to be ejected from these tubes as food for the young who are not capable of perforating for themselves. This is the reason why you always find black and red ants clambering up the corn-stalks. They are accused of stealing grains from the ears when they simply have been seeking this their favorite food, and coaxing their friends, the Aphides, by every affectionate caress, to give them this delicacy-which these generous little creatures never refuse. The instinctive gourmands: it is quite amusing to see them lapping it up with such apparent delight.

This variety the Eriosoma - has another peculiarity of ejecting from every segment fibres of a white cottony material; not so long and thick as that belonging to the Apple and Honeysuckle Aphides, but quite sufficient to shelter the young from extreme heat or cold. And

here, among this cottony stuff, you will find granulated lumps of honey-dew, which you will often see ants carrying off in their jaws to store away in their own nests. This variety, which is called in England "the American Apple Blight," was long considered to belong alone to this country; but it is now well ascertained to be quite as prolific in the Netherlands, France, and the south of Europe, as with us.

I hope you will look upon these little creatures with more curiosity than hitherto. They are indeed a marvel, and a subject of thought to every reflecting mind.

Tinea Maisinia-"Corn-silk Moth" (Figure 6). I wish it was in my power to place this little moth under a magnifier before the eyes of every reader. It is certainly one of the most beautiful little creatures in existence. The Tinea Maisinia feeds only on the efflorescence or silk of the corn. It is, indeed, a marvel of beauty. Let me describe it as well as the pen will paint. First, it is silvery white-those dots on the front wings are two shades of brown: dark and paler at the edges; the little dots on the exterior encircling them are black; they are raised like feathers on the breast of a bird, the white shimmering around them like hoar-frost. The hindwings are the same, except having only one large brown spot and a double row of black dots on each. The head and thorax are both covered with scales of burnished gold, scintillating with every ray of light, and throwing them off in shades as if from a prism. The body is silvery white, with dots of black feathers. The light is so reflected from the dazzling commingling of these colors that she looks as if incased

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