Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-04-21

or us his servants in honey-malsing
The lecture was substantially as fol-
lows:
The lowest insects among the n.y.
r1euoptera are the phytophagous
group. which are plant feeders. They
are divided into two classes. the bor-
ing and the saving kinds. They all
have sessile abdomens, closely Joined
to the body
THE SAW FLIES.
TIE sawnles include among others.
the willow sawny. the rose slug, the
pear slug, and the curraut slug. The
larvae of the slugs. which are some
what common, resemble Shiny snails.
The eggs of the pear slug are laid
all over the leaves, and hatch in about
10 days The larva eats only the
upper side of the leaves. When ma
ture, the slugs drop to the ground and
SPIN cocoon. The pear slug feeds
on pear and cherry leaves.
The best remedy is to use whit
hellebcre on yard and house plants
and good Paris green spray on trees.
Tho gaIl-makers constitute one class
of sawGies. Treir gals always have
an opening, usually on the under side
OF the leaf or stem.
In all Of the phytophagous group IF
hymenoptera, the abdomen is direct
Is joined TO the thorax, and Is SAID
to he broadly sess!le.
All other hymenoptera, the bees,
wssps. and ichneumon flies. have
petiolate abdomens; that is, these in
sects have slender waists.
TIE ICHNEuMoN FLIES.
The ichneumon flies are all para
siti., that Is, they live on or in other
insects They are decidedly beneficial.
One of them. the ensign fly, 50 called
from, its elevated abdomen, feeds on
cocBroaches. Another group, the
brachonids, many of which feed on
aplddes. plant lice, are usually
small. and in the case of those Feed
ing On caterpillars, a large number
may hatch in the body of one worm.
There are over 1000 genera IN this
group of ichneumons. They feed on
almost every other kind of insect.
Their common characteristic in form
Is an abdomen fIsttened vertically and
usually elongated.
FIG INDUSTRY DEPENDENT.
The chalclds are very small and near
~ all have a metallic luster. They are
not all parasitic, the larvaes of one
group feeding in the joints of grasses
and grains, and known as joint worms.
Another group are called fig insects On
the latter the fig industry is wholly
dependent. They live on the inside of
the fig. They look like small billy
te 11t ran
these insects the figs cannot be fertil-
lied and figs first planted in Califor-
MIA failed TO mature until the fig in
sects had been imported from Greece
to fertllize the blossoms. These in
sects carry the pollen from the male
to the female flowers, which are OH
different trees.
A NEW MARVEL
From an ordinary cutworm we may
secure 1000 little four-winged chalcid
flies, which have developed from sim
gle egg laid inside the egg from which
the cutworm had developed.
The cutworm egg is laid by moth
on the alfalfa or other plants. The para
site lays an egg within the egg of the
future cutworin: the latter matches out
with the chalcid egg still In Its body.
This egg segments. or divides. in chain
like series, after the cutworm begins to
feed until there are thousands of these
bead-like larvae, about half of which,
after devouring the cutworm, pupate m
side the empty skin, and develop into
minute winged insects-the chalcid
flies.
The gall flies. or more properly the
cynIpids, since not more than a third
OF them are gall flies, are divided into
three groups. ID inquilim parasites or
guests living In other insects homes
4 trey 40 1T
gall files are commonly found on oaks
and rosehushes. The gals of these in
sects are always closed gals, the only
openings being where the adult nnally
cuts it's way out.
The next group, the Proctotrypids. In
clude the egg parasites. They are the
smallest of insects, most of them only
from five to ak thousandths OF an inch
long. They are the most valuable OF
all Insects because they are parasitic
upon the eggs of various other insects.
They pass their larvae life within the
egg Of the host.
THE sTINGERs.
The next four groups the aculeates.
or singers. are the stingng hymonp-
terra. The groups are the ants. tho
wasps, the caterpillar storers, and the
hees. All the females can sting, eN-
ceptlng some OF the ants.
The ants are called formlcids. There
arc always three castles in the ant COM
females, and workers
and sometimes "a fourth caste, the SOL
dors. Some have stu other castes--
nurses. guards miners, etc. Anus are
the best examples of communicate work.
ers to be found anywhere
INTERESTING LOCAL wAsPs,
some OF the more interesting OF the
local wasps are the jug makers. These
construct small clay jugs under stones
or on the leaves of sagebrush. They
store food In this jug. then lay an egg
In n and seal IL up, 80 that the larvae
may have a supply OF food.
I'm the same group come the soclal
Wasps. These include the paper max
ers, which make the paper from WOOD,
and construct the hanging wasp ana
hornet nests In trees and on buildings
The bald faced hornet and the yellow
jacket are among them, only the TO-
males hibernate over winter the male7
die I'm the fall.
The velvet ants are a class ~ wAsps,
usually hairy and bright colored Ihey
are seen running about on tho srouhu:
only the males can fly. The larvae OF
the cuckoo bees live In the homes OK
other Insects, eating up the foOd IN
.endcd for the larvae OF the most.
The caterpillar storers include wasps
hat store caterplllars In burrows lot
The food of the larvae Of the wasps.
One OF the principal wasps we nave
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