VOL. LXII
INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 17, 1907.
NO. 33
OUR INSECT   FRIENDS.
Minute Organizing That Prey Upon
Noxious Pests.
families that hnve similar habits, but 1
suspect that the most important family in
th:s connection, belonging to Ihis order,
is the Coceinellidae, or "Lady birds,"
sometimes called "Lady bugs." They are
designated by their rather small, oval or
this fact that enables it to secure its prey,
as its resemblance to the leaves or twigs
of trees is so complete as to often render
it quite difficult for a person to detect it;
hence before the victim is aware of its
fate   it  finds  itself  within  the  grasp  of
IA paper read by Prof. J. Troop, of Purdue Experiment Station, before tbe Iadlana Horticultural Sejclety, Auguat 7-8, 1007, L_fayette.
Indlaaa.]
In speaking of our insect friends, I have
in mind not so much those species that are
commonly thought of as being of immediate commercial importance, such as the
honey bee and the silk worm, but those
which assist tbe farmer and fruit grower
in his warfare against the noxious hordes
constantly preying upon the crops. Very
few people have nny knowledge of the life
histories of the various parasites which get
their living, wholly or in part, from the
bodies ot noxious tribes.
It may be said, that as a general proposition, these parasites are able to hold in
check these noxious forms, and largely
to prevent the destruction of crops which
would otherwise take place. Nature pro- j
vides for an evening-up process, among
the lower as well as the higher forms of
life. True we have a number of species which these parasites do not seem to
control, but these are, for the most part,
foreigners whose natural enemies were
left behind when they were brought to
this country; for example, the San Jose
scale, Gypsy moth and the Brown-tail
moth. But as these parasites have a
wonderful faculty of adapting themselves
to circumstances, it will not be long until some of our native species will have
found that these foreigners make as good
eating as their native brethern.
We are in the habit of dividing these
little friends of ours into two classes, viz:
predaceous and parasitic insects. Tbe
first includes those species which feed
wholly or in part upon other insects, and
whieh eatch and devour their prey, either
in the egg, larval or adult stages. Of this
class, perhaps the greater portion of them
belongs to the order Coleoptera, or beetles,
although a number of the others play nn
important part; e. g., the wasps, among
the Hymenoptera, the mantidae of the
Orthoptera, and some of the true bugs
of Hemiptera.
Among the more common species of the
Coleoptera, which belong to this class, are
what are commonly known as ground
beetles, belonging to the family Carabidae,
of which Calosoma calidum and Calosoma
scrutator are familiar examples. These
beetles seldom fly by day, but owing to
their long legs they can run very swiftly,
hence are known as "runners" or
"ground" beetles. They hide by day under
stones, sticks, logs, etc., and do their
hunting by night, hence they are seldom
seen except by the collector who knows
where to look for them. They often
climb trees and feed on caterpillars. They
are often found in orchards infested by
the tent caterpillar, hidden at the base of
the trees.
The family Cicindelidae or "tiger beetles," also play an important part in this
connection. These too are swift runners,
and their color often matches their surroundings very closely, so as to make
them quite inconspicuous. The beetles
are therefore enabled to get near enough
to their prey to capture them without effort. The larvae of these species live
in holes in the ground and do valiant service for the farmer or fruit grower by
capturing any unwnry insect that happens to pass that way.       There are other
Farm Home of Fred Youngman, Howard County.
_Ted Ynungiuan's Bun  ami Threshing Outfit.
round bodies, and by their colors, which
are usually either of some shade of red
with black spots or black with red or yellow spots. This family consists of a
good many species and in nearly all cases
they are predaceous, their prey consisting for the most part of plant lice and
small insects. It is one of these species
that renders the San Jose scale practically
inoperative in its native country, and
which the Department of Agriculture has
been trying to introduce into this country.
It is very largely due to the efforts of
these little friends that our own native
scale insects and plant lice are not more
troublesome.
Members of the family Mantidae, which
belongs to the order Orthoptera, which
includes th_ grasshoppers, are known as
"graqpera" from the fact that their forelegs are very strong and adapted for
grasping and holding their prey nntil it
can be devoured. They are clumsy,
heavy bodied insects, with short, broad
wings, with the head so set as to be capable of a lateral motion. In fact this
is the only insect capable of turning its
head when it wishes to look in different directions. Mimicry is often displayed
here to a  remarkable degree,    and it ia
those powerful fore legs.
The Odonata, or lace wings, commonly
called "snake feeders," are predaceous. in
both the larval and adult stages, but as it
is aquatic in the larval stage, it often does
as much harm as good by devouring small
fish and perhaps other beneficial animals.
The adult takes its food wholly on the
wing, and so catches and devours innumerable flies, mosquitoes and other small insects.
Parasitic insects: Our parasitic friends
belong, for the most part to the two orders, Diptera and Hymenoptera; or to
the two-winged flies and to the bees. It
is to this class that the farmer and fruit
grower must look for relief, whenever certain injurious species break out in such
numbers, and cover such a wide stretch
ol" country, as to make it practically impossible to control them with insecticides.
As for example, sueh an outbreak of the
green aphis as appeared to be prevalent
during the past few months, which was
perliaps no more extensive than happens
every year; or whenever any particular
species of cut worm makes its appearance
in unusually large numbers; or in case of
an undue increase in the stock of Hessian
fly.       It is then that these little parasitic
Hies, rinding au abundance of their favorite food,    increase very rapidly, and soon
hnve their victims under control.      These
little friends    may be    divided    into two
classes.        First, those   which lay    their
eggs either upon or within the bodies of
their victims.        Second,   those whieh lay
their eggs  upon  the eggs of their hosts.
Iu the first case the egg of the parasite
soon hatches and the larva feeds upon the
caterpillar or whatever it happens to be.
In some cases there may be as many as
forty or fifty eggs placed within the body
eef a sint-'li' larva.       In any case the para-
sitizi'il larva nerer   tomes    to    maturity.
These little parasitic flics vary in size all
the way from almost microscopic little fellows to the    large,    long-tailed  Thalessa
lunator,    with an ovipositor five or six in-
ilu's in length, which it usts in forcing its
egga throngh the bark and wood of trees
and laying them in the burrows or upon
the bodies of certain wood borers, notably
the   larva   of  the  pigeon   tremex. The
green aphis, or plant louse, furnishes the
favorite diet for many species of this parasite. A field of grain may be swarming,
as it were, today with these lice, and within a week or 10 days scarcely a live louse
can be found, all of which may be due to
the efforts of the parasites.
The species of egg parasites are, for
the most part, of smaller size than those
just mentioned, but no less effective in
their operations. A moth or a butterfly
lays its eggs upon a growing plant; the
natural supposition would be that those
eggs would hatch and the larvae would devour the plant; but along comes one of
these minute flies, so small sometimes
that it almost requires a microscope to see
it, and deposits an egg upon this egg. The
parasite's egg hatches first and the young
larva proceeds to feed upon the caterpillar's egg, which contains sufficient nour-
ishmenet to bring it to maturity, when it
passes through its transformation and is
then ready to repeat the performance; and
this thing goes on as long as there is anything left for it to work upon. Whenever its favorite food has been exhausted,
then of course the parasite dies off. And
so we have seasons when the noxious
tribes are abundant, and seasons of scarcity, which is very largely due to the
presence or absence of these insect friends.
TO PREVENT DISEASE.
According to a recent ruling of the State
Board of Health proprietors of canning
plants are forbidden to employ persons
suffering from cancer, tuberculosis or similar diseases, or people with sore hands,
within the State of Indiana. Employes
will also be required to wash their hands
before and after working.
This1, as a precautionary measure against
the spread of contagious diseases, is highly conmmendable. Heretofore too much
laxness in regard to the employment of
persons unfortunately afflicted with dread
diseases, was shown by certain employers.
Too stringent and vigorous sanitary rules
cannot prevail for the good of the people.
We are certain the Health Board will
faithfully enforce this new rule.
Mr. A. L. Quaintance, of the Bureau of
Entomology says that in various experiments and tests but little practical good
has resulted from the use of strong lye
water, whale oil soap, kerosene or crude
oil in the control of apple aphides. Lime-
sulphur wash, however, has given good
results. Circular 81 of the Bureau of
Entomology, written by Mr. Quaintance
gives a number of formulas for making effective insecticides.