ACACIA COOKII, PODS DIFFERING FROM THOSE OF OTHER GROUPS IN THEIR GREAT SIZE AND WOODY TEXTURE. SPECIMENS FROM ALTA VERAPAZ, GUATEMALA. NATURAL SIZE. ORIGINAL. Smithsonian Report, 1921.-Safford. PLATE 14. 394-14 ACACIA ANTS FROM THE HUASTECA REGION OF MEXICO, PSEUDOMYRMA BELTI VAR. FULVESCENS, FROM THORNS OF ACACIA SPHAERO- ACACIA ANTS FROM NICARAGUA, INHABITING THE HOLLOW THORNS OF ACACIA COSTARICENSIS. AT THE TOP, ACACIA BELTI VAR. FULVESCENS CALLED "HORMIGA ROJA"; IN THE CENTER, CREMATOGASTER BREVISPINOSA, "HORMIGA DEGENERADA"; BELOW, PSEUDOMYRMA BELTI, "HORMIGA NEGRA BRAVA." RECEIVED FROM PRESIDENT CHAMORRO OF NICARAGUA. ENLARGED NEARLY 14 DIAMETERS. ORIGINAL. THE FALL WEBWORM. By R. E. SNODGRASS, Office of Fruit Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology. FIG. 1.-Moths of the fall webworm (natural size). Could insects think and express their thoughts in terms that we could understand we should probably hear complaints from them of woods and fields disfigured by our barns and country houses and of great areas devastated by our factories and towns. However, since it happens that we are the ones that do the thinking, it is we that express our thoughts in these same terms against the insects and their works. People still ask why pests were made to annoy us and to destroy our crops. But such questions imply a too egotistical view of the situation. All of us, men and insects, are on the earth for our own ends, and friction arises wherever interests overlap. A caterpillar claims a certain tree as its natural food and habitat, but we assert our property rights and proceed to drive the caterpillar out. Yet, though we never so intended, we have vastly improved living conditions for many insect species by furnishing them a far greater acreage of their favorite food plants than nature ever provided. As a consequence they multiply in spite of our constant war against them. In June silvery white bags of glistening silk appear amongst the foliage of city, orchard, and woodland trees, each inclosing twigs and leaves. As the season advances the bags increase in size, the leaves within them die, and by fall they become objects of disgusting ugliness, each perhaps spreading over several square feet of area. These bags are the homes of the fall webworm, hairy caterpillars which are the progeny of a small, white, night-flying moth (fig. 1) |