Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-08-02
CHRONOLOGICAL.
INQUIRIES AND REPLIES CON.
CORNING VARIOUS INSECTS.
A New Caterpillar-Para as
sisting in Destroying In
jurious Species.
Especially prepared by Matthew Cooke for t
REooRD-UNIoN and WEEKLY gEF5rJ.

age. 1hey apparently prefer ire tonnage vi
the young vines, or those on the tips Of the
canes of the large vines. Although perhaps
they have been present in some vineyards
III previous years they have not been so
destructive as to attract attention.
Description: When full grown, length
about one and quarter inches; color. dor
sal stripe, ash-gray with dark dorsal line;
stigmatal or line along the side yellow;
sub-dorsal or line between the dorsal and
stigmatal lines white. The space between
the sub-dorsal and stigmatal line is brown,
crinkled with yellow; below the stigmata
as fesh-colored band reaching to the base
of the legs; the ventral parts and prolegs
are greenish yellow. The stripes are SINH
lar to those of the army-worm, only they
differ in color, and the black spots on the
legs are absent.
The full-grown caterpillars are changing
to chrysalids at present. Some of the cater
pillars feed in the daytime, while others
hide under clods, etc.
Remedies Spraying with buhach, one
pound to fifteen gallons of water, will de
stroy all that the solution reaches. In order
to destroy as many as possible Mr.. LaRue
will use upon the foliage of the young
vines a solution of one pound of arsenic
dissolved in $50 gallons of water. The
leaves may bear one pound to 125 gallons
stronger than this might destroy the foil
age. This will etfectually destroy all the
caterpilarS that feed upon the leaves thus
washed.
Mr.. A. p. Crane, San Lorenzo. Alameda
county: The apricot leaf infested by small
caterpillars received here on 10Th of July.
At present writing (29th) are so dried up
hat I of N VI
they belong, but from the shade of the eggs
remaining on the leaf it is evident they do
not belong to any of the Canker worms but
to a genus of moths known as the Cali
ws0rpha. which / have found feeding on the
foliage of the apricot The moth is of a
cream color, and the head, base and point
of abdomen is of an orange color; expanse
of wings about one and half inches.
Mr.. T. B. Whitcomb, of Colfax, Placer
county, writes
l sent you to-day some apple and plum leaves
upon which are some shells OF worms Please
let me know the name of the worm. We found the
worms all on one plum tree, and burned them
The WORMS looked like the shells, except IN
color: they were yellow, instead OF the blush
cast the shells have. l am sorry did not send
worm, but we destroyed them before found
the shells. Those are the only worms | have
seen on the fruit trees. There have been few
army worms OIL the grapes but not enough TO
do any harm. They are different IN color from
those found on the tree, and do not seem to be
the same buiid. That shell OF head you see on
the shell was red on the worm. have inclosed
the leaves in paper box. Length of worm,
about two inches. Do you think the worms we
found go into a chrysalis state and leave those
shells or do the worms come from the shells
Please give Information.
Reply: Mr.. Whitcomb writes that the
length of the worms that infested the
plum tree, and which were destroyed, was
two inches. If this is correct, they were
not connected in any manner with the
specimens he sent, as they are the pup@ of
an Lctastmon-fy. The parent fly depos-
tied her eggs III or on q number of small
caterpillars, on which it intended its young
20 feed. When these eggs Matched the
Larvae produced from them devOured the
body of their vctims When full grown
they changed into the pupa state within
the skin OF the caterpillar. These are
what Mr. w terms the shells.) Therefore,
the specimens sent are the pupg of the
IcfneltDt0n- Ftes, which are eminently bene-
fetal
The caterpillars on which the eggs were
deposited were probably less than three
quarters of an inch in length, of yellow
ish color, with a transverse row of black
spots on each segment, and closely resemble
the Pr0cSis of the grapevine. Do not destroy
any specimens of this kind you find upon
your trees or vines, as IN few days the
perfect insects will emerge to assist in the
work Of destroying injurious insects.
In order that this part Of the natural his
tory Of this insect should be fully under
stood, open one of the pupa carefully, and
you will find nearly ready TO emerge q
small four winged fly. Head and body
black wings, transparent; legs, reddish
antenne, black, long, slender, and many
jointed This is an Ichneumon fly, or para
site which DESTROYS the CaterDillar
MI L. l.. Frost Of Susanyille, LaSsen
county, writes:
send you a box containing pups OF some
kind, which find attached 10 my gooseberry
bushes / haze found this season any number
OF gOoseberries which have evidently
been attacked by worm which has. in most
instances eaten out the entire inside OF the
berry; but think have examined q thousand
berries, and have never been able to find one
worm. Whatever il is, il leaves Il hole in the
akin Of the berry about the size of a large-sized
darning needle. Currants are badly affected by
the worms. OrcluiTdlsts say tnat the lndlca-
tions now are that the apples are not as badly
affected by the Goblin moth this year Us last
Reply; The chrysalids that Mr.. Frost
sends are those of very small species Of
butterfly belonging 10 the HesperidG. OF
Shippers. ] win attempt to raise the per
feet insect. 1t may be in some way con
nected with the destruction Of the goose
berries.
grape leaves you send are dried up to some
extent. 1 have examined them carefully
and cannot find any indication Of the
Phyl9TerG gals. The rOuginess is appa-
rcntiy some kind Of fungus growth
Martin Keating Of Lower Lake, Lake
county, writes
take the liberty Of writing to you and send
ing you by mail some specimens Of different
worms that have come into our vineyards and
thousands
menting az present | cannot tell you what
means | find the best for killing them l find
thar busting the vines in the morning, before
the sun reaches them, with ashes has the effect
of keeping them almost of, and have busted
with arsenic q few vines, and ! find this kills
them; but am anxious 10 know if | am likely
10 Kill the trees and vines by using arsenic. As
the trees and vines were all planted last winter,
and there Is no crop, there is no danger OF poi
soning any person. VIII it be asking too much
70 ask you for a few lines OF advice on this mat
terri | am picking 10y hand constantly, but IS
harvest has Just started, and have 100 acres to
go over, find 1t almost impossible TO get hands.
II you think the arsenic wont kill the treeS and
vines, think can stamp them out almost en-
trcly- In heading some barley that has a slight
grcen second growth, caused by the late rams
find numbers of these and many other varic-
tee in large quantities.
Reply: Among the packages OF insects
received in my absence are five which are
not marked in any manner 10 designate
who sent them. so that | cannot refer to
anyone package, as the one or more meant
by Mr. K. I will therefore describe all of
them in this reply;
No Am obiong paper-box containing
\ branch Of grapevine and at the time sent
some caterpiilars, which at present are
changed 10 pupG, and therefore | cannot
determine to what species Of moths they
belong, but win keep them TO Try TO raise
the perfect insect
No "A small round box containing
leaves entirely stripped Of the epidermis
only theribs and veins remaining. On these
are two small black grubs, apparently the
authors of the damage done to the leaves
These are the larv,e or gTubs of a species Of
ea-beetlcs-probably that of the Grape
vine Flea Beetle, HgLtiod C7tG,ybea.
No. 3-A small red paper box containing
two caterpillars. Body, black; on each
side Of the segments next 10 the head is q
long brown horn. There are some horns
on the three last segmeuis, with some dor