Article beginning on page 185.
Psyche 6:185-186, 1891.

Full text (searchable PDF)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/6/6-185.html

The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

PSYCHE.
SOME OLD CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN HARRIS. SAY AND PICKER1NG.-V.
MILTON, May 15, 1825.
By the enclosed letter you
will see that I had not neglected to
write in reply to yours of January last, though I have delayed to send my
answer until this time.
I regret that unforeseen obstacles
have occurred, which will prevent my
contemplated visit to Philadelphia this
spring, and that I must relinquish, for
the present, my project of consulting
you in person respecting a description of the insects of this vicinity.
My collection contains nearly all the
native species that are to be found in the cabinet of Prof. Peck, besides many
others which are not there. I have also
in keeping a small case of insects, col- lected near Boston by a friend. From
these it was my intention to have
selected, for your examination, speci-
mens of all those which I had not
already sent you ; in order both to indi- cate to you what species were natives of the environs of Boston, and to inform
myself by what names they had been
described. Although disappointed in
my wish of exhibiting these to you in
person, I cannot feel contented to
remain in my present state of ignorance, and perhaps incur the risk of publishing, as nondesciipts, insects which you or
other late entomologists have already
described. I will therefore encroach
still further on your goodness by send-
ing the case containing these insects for inspection at your leisure, if any you can afford from the various pursuits in
which you are engaged. I shall wait
until I hear from you before I presume
to put your goodwill & patience to this
test; and, if your answer be favorable
to my wishes, I will forward them by
water, to be returned in the same way
when you have completed your exam-
ination of them. I would not request
this of you were not many of the species unique specimens, or such as are en-
trusted to me by my friend. Those, of
which I have duplicates, I shall distin- guish in a particular manner, &shall beg of you to retain, if desirable.
I have received from Northampton,
(a town in Mass. on Connecticut River)
an insect which I presume to be the
Cremastocheilus castanece of Knoch.
In the month of September last great
numbers appeared on a hill in that town
which is wooded with Chestnut trees.
The specimen is nine twentieths of an
inch long, & nearly 5 twentieths of an
inch across the humeral portion of the
elytra. It is entirely black, scabrous. .



================================================================================

186 PSYCHE. [December 1891'.
slightly pilose, & with two conspicuous
tufts of short hairs 011 the posterior part of the thorax.
There has been discovered in the
state of Maine a species of the genus
Condylura of Illiger, which presents
characters distinct from those of the two species which have been described by
naturalists. This animal has the teeth
of the Condylura (Sorex) cristata,
but not the knotted tail of that species. This species I have examined, & per-
pared an account of it, for the Boston
Journal of Philosophy & Arts, & have
called it Condylura prasinata. Colour
green : Length from end of the snout to
origin of the tail 4; inches : Length
of tail 3 inches : circumference of the
tail ( 2 inch from its insertion) I 3-
inch. Caruncles on the nose 22 in
number, the two intermediate superior
ones united at base, & situated a little anterior of the rest. On each of the
phalanges of the fore-feet 3 acuminated, triangular scales or cuticular processes, situated on the inside, near the meta-
carpo-p halangal articulation. Tail,
nearly three quarters as long as the
body, strangulated at its insertion,
becoming abruptly very large, & taper-
ing toward the extremity. The caudal
vertebras not distinguishable through
the mass of fat with which they are
enveloped : No transverse folds or
ridges on the tail, its surface being per- fectly uniform, & the hairs, with which
it is thinly clothed, are not disposed in whorls. Such a structure of the tail
shews the inaptitude of the generic
name Codha. Please inform me
whether this species has fallen under
your observation, & how you think it
would answer to propose for it the
generic name of Astromycteq from
aymp, a star, & pTp, the proboscis.
Is the cabinet of Mr. Melsheimer now
in existence? and have any descriptions
been published of the insects, to which
he has given names in his catalogue?
(Of course I except yours in the Jour-
nal Acad. Nat. Sc.) The catalogue
can be of no service without such de-
scriptions, or access to the original
specimens.
I wait with pleasant anticipations for
the appearance of your second volume
of American Entomology, and for your
promised account of the Coleoptera, in
the Journal of the Acad. Nat. Sc.
Please let me hear from you soon ; &
allow me to express, for your success in all your undertakings, the best wishes of Your much obliged friend,
T. WM. HARRIS.
May 21, 1825.
DEAR SIR,
As you have asked my
opinion relative to the Condylura, I
think it my duty to ' return you an
answer without delay, in order to
apprize you that you have no time to
lose in publishing an account of your
species, as a person here is about to
publish what he calls a Fauna Ameri-
cana in which I suppose this animal
will be included. Are you sure it is a




================================================================================

December 1891.1 P.!~'~C'HL?~. 187
distinct species & not the female of the cristata I should have given an
account of it long ago if I had been sat- isfied on this point, which, however, I
do not suppose would deter the author
of the expected Fauna Americana. If
you have found a male having the.
swelled tail you are perfectly safe, & I should be glad to see your account of it. It is true that the generic name is an
improper one, but I do not think it
ought to be changed ; Desmarest com-
plains of the name but he observes that
he is afraid d'introduire une nouvelle
denomination, & de contribuer ainsi il
compliquer la synonyrnie. .
My concerns here are so numerous
that I cannot at present devote as much
time to nat. hist. as I could wish, I
must therefore defer a further answer to y'r letter for a future opport'y.
In the cristata the hair has been incor- rectly stated to be in whorls, Desmarest notices this error. It has 22 caruncles
on the nose. This author's fig. of
cristata is very good (Jour. de physique, for Sept'r 1819) he relies on Illiger's
acumen in placing the Talpa longicau-
data, Gmel. Long tailed mole of Pen-
nant in this genus, but that species can- not be yours.
A TACHINID PARASITE OF THE OAK UNICORN PROMINENT. BY C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND, LAS CRUCES, N.M. The following Tachinid, which I de-
scribe from four male specimens, was
reared from Schizwa unicornis Srn.
& A. by Mr. I?. A. Marlatt, at Man-
hattan, Kans. It has been bred by him,
as he writes me, every year for several
years past. The specimens are labelled : "From Oak Unicorn Prominent, Ks.
Oct."
Masicera schizz~rae n. sp. 3. Black, ciner- eous.
Eyes brown, bare; front about one-
third the width of head, a little narrower at vertex than before, rather prominent, ciner- eous, with a brassy tinge; frontal vitta dark brown or blackish, about one-third the fron- tal width; frontal bristies descending a little or considerably below base of third antenna1 joint, some short hairs outside them and on ocellar area; sides of face silvery, bare ; face receding, facial depression with a golden tinge, cinereous on the sides of depression ; facial ridges with a 1-OW of bristles extending nearly 01- fully half way up the face; vibrifrsae decussate, inserted nearly on the oral margin ; cheeks almost wholly invaded by occipital area, cinereous, black hairy, with row of bris- tles on lower border ; antennae a little shorter than the face, black, second joint not elon- gate, bristly before, third joint about four times as long as the second; arista rather long and slender, a little thickened on its proximal half, microscopically pubescent, distinctly jointed at base (in one slightly immature specimen distinctly 3-jointed nn- der a high-power lens), black ; proboscis. short, fleshy, brownish, with large labella;



================================================================================