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U.S: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. . 
DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
PERIODICAL BULLETIN. 


August, 13890, to August, 1891. 


INSECT LIFE. 


Sols EE. 


DEVOTED TO THE ECONOMY AND LIFE-HABITS OF INSECTS, 
ESPECIALLY IN THEIR RELATIONS TO AGRICULTURE, 
EDITED BY 
GV. RILEY, Entomologist, 


AND 


L. O. HOWARD, First Assistant, 


WITH TILE ASSISTANCE OF OTHER MEMBERS = THE DIVISIONAL FORCE, 


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[PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. } 


WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICRH. 


LSeaot: 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


CONTENTS OF NO. 1. 


OES 1 Se ge pp ny Sandee Mdeto Seed fasts 
DEA GCH: Leet AN DEEMUDA (illustrated ) 2. -'- 255-2220 Sede ~ toss suceoe <= o8 
eer ris THe, CAKE WORM... Js0 252.255 co. Seo lees C. W. Hargitt - - 
emits WNOTA NOT >. .5- 2-652 eke a ws dew wn e F. W. Mally. . 


LARV % OF A CRANE-FLY DESTROYING YOUNG WHEAT IN INDIANA. F’. M. Webster -- 
SOME OF THE PARASITIC BRED HYMENOPTERA IN THE NATIONAL COLLECTION— 
LS gS 2S ee ee eee bon eS OPA We et 
How ARE INSECT VIVARIA TO BE LIGHTED? .......-....---. A. H. Swinton. . 
TTA MEOM CORRESPONDENCE = 2022222224226 22 25.< oto oot Soces a dceece= 
A Rose Pest.—A Parasite of Agrilus.—The Lady-bird Parasite.—The Tent 
Caterpillar.—The Horn Fly.—A Jack Rabbit Parasite.—Supposed Bed- 
bugs under Bark of Trees.—The Orchid Isosoma again.—Eristalis in 
Well Water.—The Bryobia Household Pest.—Florida Orange Scales in 
California.—The Larva of the Ox Bot-fly.—The Fuchsia Beetle.—Para- 
sites on Datana ministra.—A Tineid ( Anaphora popeanella Clem. ) injuring 
Indian Corn. 

UE Lee 2S aR a pe ee a Se ne oe EEE a aS 
Ettects of London Purple on Foliage.—The Tulip-tree Scale-insect.—A new 
Enemy to Rye.—Some Cases of Australian Spider Bites.—A new Pest in 
New South Wales.—Barbadoes Sugar-cane Mites.—A Remedy for Cab- 
bage Worms.—London Purple.—A little-used Bibliography.—New 
Genera and Species of Phycitide.—A social Papilio Larva.—Remarkable 
Case of Retardation.—An important Work on European Grape Insects.— 
Dermestid Beetles infesting Museams.—Cerambycid Larve occasionally 
beneficial.—Dimorphic Females of Butterflies.—An improved Insect 
Lime.—Utilization of the Sting of the Honey Bee in Therapeutics.—On 
Otiorhynchidle.—A cheap Spraying Apparatus.—A Paper on Myiasis.— 

Codling Moth Remedies.—Entomological Society of Washington. 


CONTENTS OF NO. 2. 


IIE Br ss no ee aa Sa een needa, SAAR wade ao hae Sie aceé wands 
THE CLOVER MITE (illustrated) .............. C. V. Riley and C. L. Marlatt.. 
REPORT ON AN OUTBREAK OF THE ARMY WORM AND ON SOME OTHER INSECTS 
Ae reCTING GRAIN IN MARYLAND‘ <..4 3.6... - 20d: acces seas = W. H. Ashmead... 
SOME OF THE BRED PARASITIC HYMENOPTERA IN THE NATIONAL COLLECTION. .- 
DESCRIPTIONS OF CERTAIN LEPIDOPTEROUS LARV2...... Harrison G. Dyar.. 

111 


41 
45 


53 
-—_ 


vod 


61 


IV 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE....20 -22. c000 cecue Sipitcmese sé dace eee 
Chilo saccharalis: Its Injury to Corn in Virginia, and to Cane and Sor- 
ghum in Louisiana.—Another Beetle Destructive to Carpets.—Other 
Insects under Carpets.—Locusts as Food in Madagascar.—Insects Nox- 
ious to Cotton in Egypt.—A Beneficial Beetle on Orange Trees.— Aspi- 
diotus perniciosus.—The Sow Bug.—-Traps for the Winter Moth again.— 
The Clover Phytoaomus.—California Notes.—Ants and Melons.—Fumi- 
gation for Scale Insects.—A Parasite of the Vine Aspidiotus.—Some 
Insects from Kansas.—The Joint Worm from Northern New York.—The 
Grain Aphis in Tennessee.—Prevalence of the Wheat Toxoptera in 
Texas.—Notes on Bulletin 21. | 
GENERAL NOTES #22726 coe teccloeae Sem eta ae rials ciate emia BADUO Ie sOde sno 5 S455 
A much parasitized Insect.—A Strange Omission.—Habits of Cimbex Ameri- 
cana.—Honors to Mr. Wight.—Legislation against the Gypsy Moth.— 
Hot Water for the Peach Borer.—Pyrethrtm in Australia and South 
Africa.—The Yellow-Hammer and the Codling Moth.—Additional Note 
on Ceratitis capitata.—Proceedings of the Entomological Club of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Indianapolis, 
1890.—Notice of Meeting of the Association of Official Economic Ento- 
mologists—Entomological Society of Washington. 


CONTENTS OF NO. 3. 


SPECIAL NODES :).2ccscoeeeceer se Se Sens SS Biisiee sO awe esos weeks Se ee 
SoME NEW ICERY AS*(llustrated)) 32 =< -22 =. erect a ce ttre eee 
TRACHING ENTOMOLOGY |: 22 5o- ¢ ace oe See eee one ee ee A, J. Cook.. 
ARMY WoRM NOTEsS....- S Cites Ssh gees Seon ee ee se ee ee F. M. Webster..- 
AN EXPERIENCE WITH ROSE BUGS): 22-26") -2see = = ER Ces J, B. Smith.. 
NOTES ON THE PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT IN MALLOPHAGA ..- Herbert Osborn... 
tnt CYPRESS WIG BORER 22222 52s. soe seem ee ate enaneee. D. W. Coquitlett.- 
NOTES ON THE GENUS ARGYRESTHIA HB., WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPE- 

CLES 2258s SSS ES LEE Se hd ree eee ergo Lord Walsingham. - 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE: 222 =- 22 es oe ee ete cee eee ee 
The Bermuda Peach Maggot and Orange Rust—The New Mexican Bean 
Epilachna—Adulteration of Paris Green—Two Grape Enemies in Ala- 
bama—London Purple and Paris Green for the Boll Worm—The Tent 
Caterpillar—An Orthesia on Coleus—The Cottony Maple-scale in 
Oregon—The Wheat Straw Isosoma in the State of Washington—Sup- 
posed Enemy under Pear Bark. 
GENERAL NODES = <22224222 =e Be ee Poet oe toe sc Sao e Oo eee =O 5 eons oa5e 
Damage by Toxoptera graminum—An Experience with the Gypsy Moth— 
Another Newspaper Spider-bite Scare—Remedies for the Harlequin 
Cabbage Bug—The Spiracles of Hymenoptera—Mouth-parts of Thysan- 
optera—Entomological Society of Washington. 


CONTENTS OF NO. 4. 


SPECIAL NOTES 2.22 62 occas sees co Boeke eee ee eee eee ee 
REPORT ON A LOCAL OUTBREAK OF GRASSHOPPERS IN IDAHO... Lawrence Bruner - - 
ON THE USE OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES IN CONTENDING WITH INJURIOUS INSECTS. 
Herbert Osborn... 

A NEW AND REMARKABLE ENCYRTID: Is IT PARASITIC (illustrated). 
L. O. Howard -. 
NOTES ON GARDEN INSECTS..-..----- Ty Za SAE ee UN es ede 3 F. M. Webster... 


76 


89 

92 
107 
112 
113 
115 | 
116 


117 
120 


126 © 


131 § 
135. 


141 | 


145 
148 


v 


SOME OF THE BRED PARASITIC HYMENOPTERA IN THE NATIONAL COLLECTION— 
PE aie cs oe Se a ee a aR ee ps Ee ee ee 
NOTE UPON EPHESTIA INTERPUNCTELLA (Hiibn.) Zeller. 
William Hampton Patton. - 
NOTES UPON SOME INSECTS AFFECTING CORN ...-..-..---------- F, M. Webster .. 
rats PRO OORERSPONDENCE.=--—. --. 2.050222 ss caa0 ooo bec caes neve -n-= 
The Green-striped Maple-worm—London Parple for the Rose Chafer— 
Maple Tree Borers—A Bot-fly infesting Hogs—A Peach-tree Leaf- 
beetle—Mites in a Warm House—A Beetle in Stramonium—The Pear 
Slug on Plum—The Locust Hispa—Importation of Hessian Fly Para- 
sites—Insects determined—Cheese Mite—Fighting the Rose Chafer— 
Wire-worm Damage to Onions—Orange-tree Bark-borers—Rhizococcus 
on Grass—The Grape Cureulio—Scale Insects in California—Household 
Pests—The Rose Chafer on Clay Lands—Tomato Worm—The Pear 
Slug on Quince. 
DeRN NOU Ce a eer kee Ue Re eee ince testes U2 Se omnes 
Destructive Locusts in Mesopotamia— Phosphorescent Centipedes—Further 
Observations on the Parasitism of Datana angusii—Bird Enemies of 
the Colorado Potato-beetle—Prof. L. H. Bailey’s spraying Device— 
Silk-worm Disease in China—Fumigating for Scale Insects—Swarming 
of a Cricket and a Ground-beetle in Texas—A Parasite of the Willow 
Cimbex—Entomological Society of Washington. 


CONTENTS OF NO. 5. 


TE RE SDS gi a ie ee Oe ee Es er ey 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF 
STL PE EES TTT TEE 2 a ee a nC ee 
THE OUTLOOK FOR APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY...-.-..----------- C. V. istley _. 
WORK OF THE ENTOMOLOGISTS IN THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. A.J. Cook.. 
MerinieeEs, AS. INSECTICIDER |... 2... 222 <-2--2-oocc- ou sance J. B. Smith... 
ie et STR OM ACH VYRRUBRON -. i. 25. ooss.ns5<. 256 cans L. O. Howard... 
Mgnt. Lae Eee CEP IO 2+. 22 oes ae we ee wae J. B. Smith.. 
AN EXPERIENCE WITH THE ROSE BUG..--- ee a J.B. Smith.. 
SOME QUESTIONS RELATING TO APHIDIDZ...-.......-....-.. J. B. Smith... 
NOTES ON THE PLUM CURCULIO AND PLUM GOUGER .....C. P. Gillette.. 
ire chee beet PNT Rs ee cen Lawrence Bruner .. 
AN INVASION BY THE CLOVER-LEAF BEETLE...-......------ J. B. Smith.. 
A SUMMARY HISTORY OF THE CORN-ROOT APHIS.....----- S. A. Forbes.. 
ON THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE WHITE GRUBS...--..-...---- S.A. Forbes.. 
tHe Lire-History. Or WikE WORMS ._-.=-.-.-..--.--=---- C. A. Hart.. 


NOTES UPON INJURIOUS INSECTS OF THE YEAR IN CANADA..Jas. Fletcher -. 
List OF MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS. 


CONTENTS OF NO. 6. 


emis eee EMG EMBER oe ne aan to an oe ena donc anecaa a aeons 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON ENTOMOLOGY OF THE AS- 
SOCIATION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT STA- 


Notes on Certain Experiments and Observations at the Iowa Experiment 


Le BAe ee lh 5 i ae age ie ee Sana een C. P. Gillette. - 
A. new Root-rot Disease of Cotton ...--...........-....-. G. F. Atkinson..- 
New Notes on the Life-history of the Hessian Fly........-.--- J. Marten... 


The Laboratory Method of Experimentation...........C. W. Woodworth.. 


Page. 
151 


158 
159 
160 


172 


258 
262 
265 


266 


vI 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON. ENTOMOLOGY, ETC.— 
Continued. 
Practical Notes on the Use of Insecticides ...............M. H. Beckwith. 
Life-histonyol imple InGUisttor so ee a ee oe ames C. M. Weed... 
The Host Relations of Parasitic Hymenoptera..........-.-.. L. O. Howara. - 
Experiments for the Destruction of Chinch Bugs in the Field by the Arti- 
ficial Introduction of Contagious Diseases .-............. F. H. Snow..- 
FIFTH CONTRIBUTION TO A KNOWLEDGE OF CERTAIN LITTLE-KNOWN APHID- 
DY: OAR el aia Scie Ee Pre een AI hela Seta ys Meta eh cael at IG aki C. M. Weed.. 


The Clover-seed Midge in England, and other Notes—The Mantis not Poi- 
sonous—A Rose Cecidomyiid—The Habits of Phorodon in Oregon— 
Schizoneura tessellata —Woodpeckers vs. the Tussock Moth—Abaormal 
Oviposition of Microcentrum—Dimorphism in Butterflies, and Miscella- 
neous Notes—Kerosene Emulsion against the Sheep Scab—On Nola 
sexmaculata and the Japanese Gypsy Moth. 

GENERAL) NOTES S325) seec5 «eon Ot erates Nae aie eae eee ee ee 

A Fig-leaf Beetle in Australia—Will Ramie support the Silkworm of Com- 
merce—Damage by the Red Scale growing less—A Grape-vine Pest 
Tin Cans vs. Crickets—Notes on Fruit-tree Insects—Gall-producing 
Heteroptera—Thripide injurious to cultivated plants—A Systematic 
Work on Gall-mites—More facts concerning the Katipo— Popular Names 
of Insects. 


CONTENTS OF NOS. 7 AND 8. 


SPECIAL NOTES 
THE XANTHIUM TRYPETA—TRYPETA AQUALIS (illustrated)...C. LZ. Marlatt..- 


VARIATIONS IN THE BRACONID GENUS LYSIPHLEBUS..----- D. W. Coquillett- - 
BIRTH OF A BEAUTIFUL EXOTIC LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECT IN NEW YORK (illus- 
ALCON CGY Ey Wee a nes Smee weer ang Se A nA tae Carat IRE he ear Henry Edwards -. 


THE STRAWBERRY-LEAF FLEA-BEETLE, HALTICA IGNITA, IN INDIANA— 
FF. M. Webster. . 


ANOTHER PARASITIC. ROVE-BEETIE.. =.) 202.252 225-00 2 3-22 > Wo. Coqualieir= 
PHOSPHORESCENT MIYRIOPRODS sn eeet ee foe een nee eee eee Lawrence Bruner... 
THE PREPARATORY STAGES OF EUSTROTIA CADUCA..-....----- D.S. Ketlicott.- 
A List of SPHINGIDZ AND BOMBYCIDA TAKEN BY ELECTRIC LAMPS AT 

POUGHKEEPSIM, Ng i Yecec 20 eee eg eee A oer Aa Shae Harrison G. Dyar..- 


STEPS TOWARDS A REVISION OF CHAMBERS’ INDEX, ETC..Lord Walsingham.. 
EXTRACTS (EROMe CORRESEONDENG@H yo cere a) ae eine ae eee eee rece er 
The Icerya in Honolulu—List of Coleopterous Larve sent by C. V. Riley to 

F. Meinert, of Copenhagen, for the University Museum, in exchange 

for European specimens from the Schiddte Coliections—Eggs of the 
American Meromyza: A Correction—Beetles and Moths infesting Stored 

Corn in Venezuela—Sweet Potato Root-borer—The Whip-tail Scor- 
pion—Horse-flies in Texas—A Borer in a Tree Fungus—Migration of 
Callidryas eubule—The Brassy Flea-beetle injuring Corn—The 
Banded Sand Cricket—A Curious Bed-bug Find—The Poisonous Spider 

of Australia—Notes from Mississippi—Carnivorous Habits of Locusts— 
Gelechia cerealella in Virginia—Appearance of Wheat infested with 


Hessian Fly—House-fly Parasites—Night Swarming of lLace-wing 
Flies. 


GENERAL NOTES ¢. sce coe eet 2 ete ion ae eae reel ae tere ee 
Recent Papers on European Grape Insects—Codling-moth Legislation in 
New Zealand—Feeding Habits of the Bee-moth—Tineid Moths with 


Piercing Ovipositor —Alterations in the Form of Plants due to Coc- - 


cide#—Insect Injury to Barrel Staves—Cocaine for Insect Stings— 


Page. 


269 
275 
277 


279 


285 
293 


297 


305 
312 
313 


316 


317 
318 
319 
321 


322 


325 
329 


341 


ir 


vu 


Dermestes vulpinus damaging Woodwork—Birds preying on the Wal- 
nut Caterpillar—Attempted Introduction of an insectivorous Bird into 
Algeria—Notes on miscellaneous Fruit Insects—The Codling Moth as 
a Friend—A Winter Wash for Scale-insects—Lady Birds versus Scale- 
insects—The Tarnished Plant-bug damaging Celery—The Downy 
Woodpecker feeding on the Jarve of the Codiing Moth—Oviposition 
in Adoxus vitis—A Caterpillar described as a Coccid—Injury of the 
Hop Crop on the Pacific Slope in 1890 by the Hop-louse—The Hop- 
louse in Oregon—Collections of Coleoptera: A recent important sale— 
Diseases of Chrysanthemums caused by Insects—Insect Wax—Cocci- 
nella Nova-zealandica a Synonym—Australian Fruit-growers and Vine- 
growers in Convention—A new Phylloxera Station in Brazil—A Soldier- 
beetle Larva eating Spiders’ Eggs—Winter protection for the Vedalia— 
Obituary—The Australian “ Fly Bug ”—The Entomological Society of 
Washington. 
CONTENTS OF NOS. 9 AND 10. 


0 eS Tet a ee et Ee ee eee ee eer ar A ae eee 
REPORT OF A DISCUSSION ON THE Gypsy MOTH, AT A CONFERENCE HELD 

IN THE ROOMS OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, BOSTON, MASS ...--. 
THE RAVAGES OF LIPARIS (Psilura) MONACHA IN GERMANY AND MEANS OF 


NEE re te een se erie Se Sue kh seco aba c wes - L. E. Fernow.. 
A NEW SCALE-INSECT FROM CALIFORNIA.....----.--------- D. W. Coquillett.. 
NOTES GN THE HABITS AND EARLIER STAGES OF CRYPTOPHASA UNIPUNCTATA 

pei eT MPeNUNUR ALIA) a0 occas ws onan sees oie eee ease = Henry Edwards. . 
STEPS TOWARDS A REVISION OF CHAMBERS’ INDEX, WITH NOTES AND DESCRIP- 

ReneS NEW, SERGIMS 002 Joo as SS ciel SoS Lord Walsingham.. 
DESCRIPTIONS OF CERTAIN LEPIDOPTEROUS LARV...... Harrison G. Dyar.. 
ets EGC OERESEONDENCE. 290% 52202 2 as Slo aes Shee ces whee 


The Quicksilver Remedy for Phylloxera—Another Spider Bite—The Calli- 
fornia Peach-tree Borer—Some new Injurious Insects in Russia—Some 
Traits of the English Sparrow in England—Codling Moth in New 
Zealand—Icerya and Vedalia in New Zealand and Australia—The Rhi- 
noceros Beetle in a Woodshed—A Codling Moth Larva in March—Dip- 
terous Larve vomited by a Child—Economic Value of the Study of In- 
sects—The Long Scale and the Wax Scale—Ducks and the Colorado 
Potato-beetle—Damage to Geraninm by Heliothis; Cannibalistic Habit 
of this Larva—A ‘Curious Condersation ”—The “ Mexican Jumping 
Bean”—The Use of Paris Green in England—Spraying for the Codling 
Moth in Oregon—A Case of Stomach Bots in Hogs—Case of a Child 
Swallowing and passing Grubs infesting Chestnuts—Fertilization of 
Red Clover by Bumble Bees—Sow Bugs Feeding ou Living Plants— 
Nezara again Injuring Plants—Mosquitoes in Boreal Latitudes—The 
Mealy Bug—The Sweet Potato Root-borer—Parasites of the Apple-tree 
Saperda—Museum Pests—Passalus for Ear-ache: Gall Insects—Phoro- 
don Notes from Oregon—A Southern Roach in a Northern Greenhouse— 
The Grape-root Priouus—A new native Currant Worm—Insects from 
Montserrat, W. I.—The Desirability of Importing thé Blastophaga for 
the Smyrna Fig in California—The Cabbage Worm Disease—An Orange 
Plant Bug from Aastralia—On Parasites of Lepidoptera—Unslaked 
Lime against the Rose Chafer—Abundance of Bombardier Beetles— 
Some new Parasites from California—A Tomato Root-louse—Ticks from 
Texas—Flights of Dragon Flies—On the Oviposition of Tachina—Fig 
Beetles—The Weeping Tree Phenomenon—Injury to Asters by the 
Black Blister Beetle—Isosoma Notes from Washington State—The Texas 


Page. 


VIII 


Mule-killer again—Insects Identified—The Red Scale of the Orange in 
Syria—Orange-tree Borers—Notes from New Mexico. 
GENERAL NOTES .22.00055 050 os beeers ht eee Pee eee eee 
Migratory Locusts in Australia—Some rere Work against Noxious In- 
sects—Oviposition of Dectes spinosus—Remedies for the Yellow Scale— 
The Flour Moth in Canada—A new Enemy of the Fall Web Worm—A 
Cherry-tree Borer in Maine—The Egyptian Icerya—Chinese Wax—A 
New Zealand Frog-hopper—The Green Beetle Pest in Australia—The 
Bite of Latrodectus—Matters in CaliforniamHome-grown Pyrethrum in 
Cape Colony—Popular Lectures on Insects—Journalistic Enterprise— 
Entomological Excursion—Obituary—Entomological Society of Wash- 


ington. 
CONTENTS OF NOS. 11 AND 12. 
SPECIAL NOTES: 325s.2 occ s 6 sees eee te eee eee tee Sb t a oad eam 
SOME ICERYA-AND VEDALTA NOrmS Gllustrated)) 224.25 eee eee 2. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH A DATE PALM SCALE.-:..---2...----- eee Ae ey eee 
A VIVIPAROUS CocKRoAcH @ilustrated)) 222 s2c2 4: ane eee C. V. Kiley... 
THE GRASSERIE OF THE SILKWORM (illustrated)............- Philip Walker. . 


OBSERVATIONS ON INJURIOUS 4ND OTHER INSECTS OF ARKANSAS AND TEXAS— 

if, M. Webster .. 

AN ENCYRTID WITH SIX-BRANCHED ANTENN4& (illustrated)... William H. Ash- 

MECQT 5 oes woniebe ASeges soa wh ieee Uae eee eee ee ee 

HISTORY OF THE HYDROCYANIC ACID GAs TREATMENT FOR SCALE INSECTS— 

D. W. Coquillett..- 

SOME OF THE BRED PARASITIC HYMENOPTERA IN THE NA TIONAL COLLEC- 

PION (Contin Wed) 7. 22 ee wees Je eee ee tee ere See 6 ote eee eee 

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW TORTRIX FROM CALIFORNIA.... Lord Walsingham... 

BXTRACTS FRIM CORRESPONDENCE 2. tece com cesta ese tee 

Experiments with Bacterial Cultures against Insects—Correspondence 

from Indian Territory—Notes on three Noxious Insects of Mississippi— 

Sure Way to destroy Nests of Harvesting Auts—Willow Hedges in- 

jured by Saw-flies—Oak Furniture damaged by Borers—The White 

Pine Weevil—A Lampyrid infested with Mites—Diabrotica injuring 

Corn in California—A New Pest to Prune Trees—The Pear-blight Bee- 

tle and Plum Plant-louse —Caterpillars migrating in Midwinter—The 

Grapevine Plume-Moth—Parasites of Forest Tent-caterpillars—An An- 

thomyiid injuring Sugar Beets—Remedies against Sand-flies and Mos- 

quitoes--The Horse Fly in Vriginia—A Plague of Grasshoppers and 

Spiders in Idaho—Pacific Coast Termites. 

GENERAL NOTES -2226i0555.0.2 2) -21-ed o- = pee een eee ae eee eee 

Massachusetts Laws and Regulations against the Gypsy Moth—The Exter- 

mination of the Gypsy Moth—Hot Water for the Rose Chafer—New 

Horticultural Laws from California—Insects stopping Trains—a true 

story—Some Notes on Iowa Insects—Precautions in investigating the 

Bites of Poisonous Animals—Some Tasmanian Fruit Pests—African 

Micro-lepidoptera—Effects of Temperature on the Coloring of Lepi- 

doptera—Another Carnivorous Butterfly—Silk Nest of a Mexican Social 

Larva—Tent Caterpillars in Eastern Connecticut—Paris Green for Cab- 

bage Worms—An Experiment against White Grubs—More Damage to 

Corn by the Brassy Flea-beetle—Phytophagic Dung-beetles—Germina- 

tion of Weeviled Peas—The Devastating Locust in California—Hop 

Lice on the Pacific Coast—Made Insane by Destroying Caterpillars—A 

New Entomological Society—More concerning the Bite of the Katipo— 
Obituary—The Entomological Society of Washington. 


— a pe ae 


Vol. Kil, No. 1.) INSECT LIFE. (August, 1890. 


SPECIAL NOTES. 


Index to Vol. II—Date of Publication. We send out with this number 
the index and table of contents to Volume II. Their preparation was 
delayed beyond the publication of the final numbers of the last volume 
by press of other work. In view of the difficulty experienced during 
the past year in promptly issuing a monthly number, owing to circum- 
stances beyond control and connected with the very nature of Govern- 
ment work, we shall revert to the plan originally announced in Vol. I, 
No. 1, of issuing twelve numbers to a volume, with no attempt to pub- 
lish one for each month, as we have endeavored to in the past. 


Bulletin 22, Division of Entomology.—Builetin 22 of the Division of En- 
tomology has just been issued from the press. It is entitled ‘* Reports 
of Observations and Experiments in the Practical Work of the Division,” 
and comprises articles by Messrs. Coquillett, Webster, Osborn, Koebele, 
Bruner, and Miss Murtfeldt, being in the main their reports of observa- 
tions for the season 1889, omitted from the Annual Report for want of 
space. 

Mr. Coquillett reports upon the destruction of the Red Scale of Cali- 
fornia (Aonidia aurantii) by the use of washes. 

Professor Osborn reports principally upon the leaf-hoppers injuring 
forage plants, and Professor Webster upon grain insects and certain 
points connected with the economy of a few well-known pests to other 
crops. 

Miss Murtfeldt sends in a general report on the insects of Missouri 
for the season. Mr. Koebele reports upon some injurious California in- 
sects, and particularly upon the Pacific Slope parasites of the Codling 
Moth. Professor Bruner treats of insects of the year and begins the 
consideration of the insects detrimental to the growth of young trees 
on tree claimsin Nebraska and other portions of the West, an important 
subject which has not before received treatment. 

1 


2 


Mr. Bruner on Insects injurious to young Trees on Tree Claims.*-_-We have 
just referred to the report by Mr. Bruner upon this subject in Bulletin 
No. 22 of this Division, and now call attention to his more elaborate 
paper, which covers 150 pages of the Nebraska Station Bulletin. The 
accounts of the species are in the main compiled, but a few original 
notes are added; 98 figures are introduced, most of which have been 
published before. The drawing together of these accounts is very ap- 
propriate to the subject in hand, and the bulletin makes a handy book 
of reference for the tree-grower in the arid regions of the west. The 
appendix includes a consideration of remedies. 


Catalogue of the Spiders of temperate North America.t—When the study 
of any branch of zodlogy has progressed sufficiently to permit so exten- 
sive and careful a list as that prepared by Dr. Marx of the spiders of 
America north of Mexico, our knowledge thereof may be said to be placed 
upon a basis from which progress is comparatively easy. The extent of 
the catalogue surprises us, including, as it does, about a thousand species. 
It is more than a catalogue, as all of the synonyms of families, genera, 
and species have been worked out by Dr. Marx, and are published with 
full bibliographic references. An index to families and genera, to syn- 
onyms of genera and a separate bibliography as well as a series of notes 
add greatly to the working value of the catalogue. We anticipate that 
the publication of this work will greatly increase the number of stu- 
dents of spiders and regret only that it was not prefaced with a few 
practical hints as to collecting and preserving. 


Vesicatory Insects.—We have just received from the author, Prof. H. 
Beauregard, his monograph of the vesicatory insects.t For ten years 
Professor Beauregard has been at work upon this subject and has given 
us a monograph which exhibits the greatest ability and industry. He 
has taken up in succession the following phases of his subject: Part I, 
concerns the anatomy of these insects; Part II, the physiology and 
pharmacology. In this second part he especially treats of the place 
which the Cantharides hold among insects and of the comparative ves- 
icating power of a large number of species of many genera. Part III 
is devoted to the habits of the different forms aud to the study of their 


* Bulletin Agricuitural Experiment Station of Nebraska, Vol. III, Article 2: Insects 
injurious to young trees on tree claims; by Lawrence Bruner, Entomologist, Lincoln, 
Nebr., June 7, 1890. 

t Catalogue of described Aranee of Temperate North America, by Dr. George 
Marx. Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XII, pages 497 to 594. Extra No. 
782. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1890. 

tLes Insectes vésicantes, Par H. Beauregard, Paris, Bailliére et Cie. 1890. 


' 
5 
. 
; 
; 


3 


life-history, including their extremely interesting larval development. 
Part IV comprises a historical chapter and a general consideration of 
the genera, followed by a catalogue of species and a full bibliography. 

The work extends over more than 500 pages of Royal octavo print, 
and in addition to many text figures there are nineteen lithographic 
plates, many of them double size. The greatest feature of the work, and 
the one upon which Professor Beauregard is to be most congratulated, is 
the fullness with which many of the larval histories have been worked 
out. He has admirably summarized the observations of others and has 
greatly added to our knowledge of the transformations of these inter- 
esting hyper-metamorphic creatures. He has given us de novo the full 
history of Epicauta verticalis, which is entirely parallel with that of our 
American congeneric species, and also of Cerocoma schreberi, and he has 
independently followed out and added many new points in the histories 
of Sitaris humeralis, Stenoria apicalis, Cantharis vesicatoria, and Zonitis 
mutica. In this connection Professor Beauregard has attempted a 
classification of the Blister-beetles based on the larval transformations 
and habits, which, although corresponding, to a certain extent, with 
the classification derived from the characters of the adults, vet differs 
in important particulars. It is in the same direction as Brauer’s pro- 
posed classification of the Diptera from their larve and the attempts of 
various older authors, such as Dr. Horsfield, to compass the same result 
with Lepidoptera. Beauregard gives us, however, careful and extended 
descriptions of the larval forms of three species of Melée, two species 
of Sitaris, one of Cantharis, two of Zonitis, two of Epicauta, two of 
Cerocoma, and five of Mylabris. 


Obituary Notes.—Never before in its history has Entomology suffered 
so many losses by death within such a short time as during the past 
few months. Such well-known workers as Fr. Loew, Keyserling, Letz- 
ner have been taken from us, and now we have to record a number of 
other deaths: 

Dr. Adam Handlirsch, of Vienna, died on March 24, aged twenty- 
seven years. He has written a number of Dipterological papers, among 
them interesting observations on the life-history of the genus Hirmon- 
eura. 

Mr. J. S. Baly’s death was announced by Mr. Godman at the April 
meeting of the London Entomological Society. His specialty was the 
study of Chrysomelide from all parts of the world, and he published 
numerous descriptive papers on this family. His best-known papers 
are the Descriptive Catalogue of the genera and species of Hispide 
and the Phytophaga Malayana. 

We are also informed of the death of Abbé S. A. de Marseul, the 
founder and editor of the journal ‘Abeille” and more widely known as 
the author of a masterly monograph of the Histeride. 


4 


Finally a few days ago we received the sad news that Dr. Hermann 
Dewitz, Custos at the Zoological Museum of Berlin, Germany, died on 
May 16, after long illness, at the age of forty-two years. He wasa per- 
sonal friend and correspondent and published a number of smaller papers 
on a great variety of entomological subjects, notably a series of articles 
on the motion of insects on smooth vertical surfaces. In descriptive en- 
tomology he was interested in West and Central African butterflies and 
also wrote a descriptive paper on the earlier stages of exotic Lepidop- 
tera. 

The death of Dr. George Thurber, one of the first horticultural writ- 
ers of America, is a sad blow to his many friends and admirers, and a 
deep personal loss to the Entomologist, who had a delightful personal 
acquaintance with him for many years. Dr. Thurber was born in Prov- 
idence, R. L., in 1821, and was a naturalist of the United States and Mex- 
ican Boundary Survey in 1850, on which expeditions he collected the 
immense stock of plants which furnished the material for Asa Gray’s 
‘Plante Nove Thurberiane,” published in 1854. He later lectured 
on chemistry and botany at the Cooper Union and before the New York 
College of Pharmacy, and in 1859 was chosen to the chair of Botany 
and Horticulture in the Agricultural College of Michigan, which place 
he filled until he became editor of the American Agriculturist in 1863. 
After twenty-two years of singular success as editor of this journal, 
he was compelled from failing health to relinquish its active control, 
though he continued to contribute to its columns till within a short 
time of his death. He published several books relating to agriculture 
and country life, “‘ American Weeds and Useful Plants,” which ap- 
peared in 1859, being still the standard work on the subject, and he 
also wrote the botanical articles in Appleton’s Cyclopedia. His knowl- 
edge of insects was perhaps greater than that of most persons who 
make no profession of it, and his correspondence with the writer is full 
of keen observation and suggestion, with an unrivaled admixture of 
humor. 


Mr. Weed on Ohio Insects.—In the entomological portion of the bul- 
letin of the Ohio Agricuitural Experiment Station, second series, 
Vol. III, No. 4, Mr. Clarence M. Weed presents a number of practical 
articles on Economic Entomology, comprising the following subjects: | 
Spraying to prevent insect injury, Bark-lice of the Apple and Pear, the 
Buftalo Tree-hopper; insects affecting corn, and the Ox-Warble-fly or 
Bot-fly. ; 

In the first article a number of available spraying devices are described 
and figured. The more important insecticides are also given and the 
methods of applying each to various crops are described. The Bark- 
lice of the Apple and Pear treated are the well-known pests, the Oyster- 
shell Bark louse (Mytilaspis pomorum) and the Seurfy Bark-louse (Chio- 
naspis furfurus). In the discussion of the injury occasioned to fruit 


5 


trees by the egg-punctures of the buffalo Tree-hopper (Ceresa bubalus) 
he suggests as a remedy the spraying of the infested trees with kero- 
seue emulsion during May, or as soon as the eggs hatch, to destroy the 
young before they have scattered to other vegetation. 

The corn insects noted are the White Grub, tbe larve of the common 
Twelve-spotted Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica 12-punctata), and the 
Corn Root-louse. Rotation is advised as a means against the first; for 
the second the theoretical course is proposed of planting squashes, etc., 
in the fields to lure the beetles and induce them to deposit their eggs 
about the vines rather than the corn. By destroying the vines the 
young larve would die of starvation. 

In the case of the Root-louse no effective remedy has been discovered. 
The articles on the Ox-Warble-fly or Bot-fly consist of a review of the 
publications on this subject in the Farmers’ Review, INSECT LIFE, and 
of pamphlets by Miss E. A. Ormerod. Abstracts from the two latter 
sources are given. All the articles mentioned are well illustrated and 
some of the figures are new. 


A PEACH PEST IN BERMUDA. 


(Ceratitis capitata Wied.) 


Order DIPTERA: Family TRYPETIDZ. 


Fic. 1—Ceratitis capitata: a, female fly ; b, front view of head of male; c, spatula-like hair of male 
shown at); d, antenna; e, larva; f, anal extremity of same; g, head of same—all enlarged (original). 


This peculiar and strikingly beautiful Trypetid fly was described by 
Wiedemann,* in 1826, as Trypeta capitata,and by him recorded from 
East India. It was subsequently redescribed by Macleay, in 1829,+ as 


* Analecta Entomologica, p. 54, No. 124. + Zodlogical Journal, Vol. IV, pp. 475-422. 


6 


Ceratitis citriperda, who stated that it was destructive to oranges in 
Madeira. 

In the Gardeners’ Chronicle for 1848 (page 604) Westwood published 
a beautiful figure of the species, with indefinite sketches of larva and 


puparium, and gave quite a lengthy account of the insect from speci- - 


mens received from St Michael’s (Azores). A number of short notes 
have been published by Guérin, Macquart, and Heineken in the older 
publications, and it was recorded by these authors from the Azores, 
Madeira, Cape Verde Islands, Mauritius, and, by hearsay, from the West 
Indies. Westwood also mentions two other species, one from the gold 
coast of Africa and the other from Andalusia. 

Very recently Rev. H. Henslow (Gardeners’ Chronicle, May 24, 1890, 
Vol. VII, p. 655), gave an account of the same insect, which has be- 
come very troublesome in Malta, where it appeared about fifteen years 
ago and has increased to a very injurious extent during the last three 
years. A committee was appointed in 1889 by the late governor of 
Malta, charged with the preparation of a report which will be pub- 
lished shortly in the Kew Bulletin. The fly penetrates the half-ripe 
orange and lays several eggs within it. This causes the fruit to fall 
when the larva escapes and enters the ground to transform. The reme- 
dial measures suggested are to collect and destroy the fallen fruit and 
to strew the surface of the ground under the trees with a mixture of 
one part of finely-powdered sulphate of iron to twenty-four parts of 
sand, the ground to be subsequently watered. The pest is said to par- 
ticularly attack the Mandarine in Malta, and to be more abundant in 
a hot dry season than in cold or inclement weather. 
Thus there appears no record of damage by this pest 
to any other crop than the Orange. 

Osten Sacken, in the Hntomologist’s Monthly Mag 
azine (X XI, p. 34, July, 1884), makes the general state- 
ment that this fly is injurious to citrus fruits wherever 


very large orange and lemon industries in this country 
seem never to have suffered from this insect, nor in- 
deed from any allied species, although, as we have 
shown (INSECT LIFE, Vol. I, p. 45), Trypeta ludens, a 
species of the same family, injures oranges in some- 
what the same way in Mexico. 

Last April, however, we received from Mr. Claud 
W. McCallan, of St. George’s, Bermuda, an injured 
peach infested by maggots. Mr. McCallan in his ac- 
companying letter stated that this pest completely 
_ Fic. 2.—Ceratitiseap-  Gegtroys the peach crop in the vicinity of St. George’s, 
OAT daa and that Dr. T. A. Outerbridge ‘‘ some years ago took 


extremity of same—en- 


ieee (onpinel): a peach or two and placed them in a bottle with a 


grown. This, however, seems to be a mistake, for the . 


7 


wide mouth over which he put a gauze and as the peach decayed the 
maggots grew and soon hatched out flies.” 

Later letters from Mr. McCallan accompanied further specimens 
of diseased peaches and conveyed the information that the crop has 
been infested in the Bermudas for about twenty-five years; that many 
persons have cut down their trees which are now becoming very 
scarce. Prior to this, however, they were most abundant and could be 
looked upon as almost growing wild. The peach is the first tree to 
blossom in that locality, beginning about the last week in January. 
Soon after the fruit appears and when about one-third grown it is punct- 
ured by thefly. It continues to grow, however, but instead of ripening 
it suddenly becomes quite soft and decayed and drops from the tree 
upon the ground, full of maggots and perfectly useless. 

Examination of the maggots found in the fruit first sent by Mr. Me: 
Callan showed that they were nearly full grown and resembled that 
figured at Fig.1,e. The larvais white or pale yellowish, the mandibles 
black, the anal respiratory tubes projected, trilobed and pale brown at 
tip. They were placed in a jar and soon left the fruit, entering the 
ground and transforming to pale yellow puparia from one-fourth to one 
inch below the surface of the ground. The first peaches were received 
April 23, 1390, and on May 9 sixteen adult flies issued, and upon 
careful comparison with figures and descriptions of Ceratitis capitata 
they proved to be identical. 

The figure well represents the appearance of the fly and no technical 
description is necessary. The general color is yellow in both sexes and 
the markings vary from dusky to black. Strikingly characteristic are 
the two peculiar spatula-like hairs upon the head of the male, shown 
at Fig. 1, 5, ¢. 

As we wrote to Mr. McCallan under date of May 13, soon after breed- 
ing the first adults, the best remedy which can be suggested at this 
time will consist in feeding or otherwise destroying the fruit imme- 
diately after it falls tothe ground. This should be done before they have 
time to leave the fruit and crawl off under sticks and stones or under 
the surface of the ground to pupate. The matter is somewhat compli- 
cated, however, for the reason that the insect is so far known in the Ber- 
mudas only in the spring months, and, as our breeding has indicated, 
the flies appear in May, and we know nothing further of them until they 
oviposit the following February or March. 

With our knowledge of the habits of the insect, derived from ee 
of those who have mentioned it as an orange pest, it seems altogether 
likely that there is more than one generation and that the flies issuing 
from peaches in May oviposit in some other fruit, and in this event the 
destruction of the peaches will only prove a partial remedy, unless it 
should turn out that a generation in the peach at this time is necessary 


8 


to fill a gap in point of time in the life of the insect. These are mat- 
ters which we hope to decide by future correspondence and inves. 
tigation. 

None of the previous writers give us an inkling as to the number of 
broods, but judging from the rapid development above indicated there 
should be six or eight generations in the course of a season provided 
food is at hand. It is altogether likely that the arsenical remedies will 
be of no effect on account of the fact that the eggs are probably inserted 
beneath the skin of the fruit and not fastened to it. 

The subject derives an especial interest trom the danger of the im- 
portation of this pest into the peach-growing regions of our Southern 
States. It is beyond doubt a tropical insect, and there is consequently 
reason to believe that it will not thrive in the Northern States, but 
peaches are grown extensively in Georgia and allied fruits in Florida, 
and although peaches are not received from Bermuda in bulk the acci- 
dental importation of the pest is always possible. 


NOTES UPON THE CANKER WORM. 


By Prof. C. W. HaraitTtT, Oxford, Ind. 


I learned during the past winter that a large orchard (apple) in the 
vicinity of Oxford, Butler County, Ohio, was subject to very serious rav- 
ages from some caterpillar, which from the general description from 
one not accustomed to close observation, I suspected might be Clisio- 
campa sylvatica. Having no means at hand of determining the matter 
definitely, I asked to be notified at once if they made their appearance 
the following spring. On June 5, I had notice that the depredations 
were under way and at the earliest available moment I secured convey- 
ance, and on the 9th drove to the orchard, some 4 miles distant. 
When nearly a mile from the placea very strange sight appeared. The 
orchard looked as if it had been burned and scorched by fire, except a 
small corner extending some distance diagonally from the main orchard, 
and the outer rows of trees. These, except upon a side adjoining a wood, 
were comparatively free from injury. Upon entering the orchard a sad 
sight was presented. Many trees were dead, the result of previous 


attacks. Others were evidently dying, and the entire orchard, with © 


the exception above mentioned, was very greatly damaged. We were 
doomed to disappointment so far as being able to find the various stages 
of the devastating work. The worms had, in the language of the owner, 
‘‘run their course;” and it was with difficulty that enough specimens 
could be found for identification. 

From the owner, Mr. C. C. McCreary, I was able to gather the fol- 
lowing points: (1) The depredations had been going on during a series 
of about five years, and growing worse each year. (2) They appeared 


9 


first in the interior of the orchard, but on the side nearest the wood. 
(3) They were allowed to continue under the impression that they 
would probably “‘run their course” in a season or two and then disap- 
pear. (4) Several sorts of birds had been noticed to specially frequent 
the orchard during the period of the ravages, especially the common 
eedar birds, the bluebird, chipping sparrow, and others. I noticed 
during our stay in the orchard the following birds which appeared to 
be engaged in searching among the withered leaves for the remaining 
worms: The cedar bird, bluebird, chipping sparrow, song sparrow, 
summer warblers, robin, cat-bird, crested fly-catcher, kingbird, and a 
few others passing through, but not apparently engaged in seeking 
food. 

Mr. McCreary informed me that during the earlier part of the spring 
when the worms were abundant the birds were more numerous. 

Altogether the case seems similar in many respects to the report 
made by Dr. 8S. A. Forbes in Bulletin No. 6, of Illinois State Laboratory 
of Natural History. 

There remains another interesting point to be considered, of which I 
have seen no account, in reference to the Canker-worm, namely, some 
indications of parasitism among the worms this year. Upon going into 
the orchard Mr. McCreary expressed surprise at not finding more worms, 
stating that only a few days previous they were fairly plentiful, though 
much less abundant than a fortnight earlier. This suggestion, together 
with the sickly appearance of two or three specimens noticed, led me to 
suspect the possible influence of parasitism. Further search revealed 
the presence of dead worms, though not in any considerable numbers, 
of the evident appearance of parasitized specimens. Whether this had 
been extensive appears doubtful, though the obvious indications of it 
are interesting. I regret that I had not information in sufficient sea- 
son to more satisfactorily study the case in detail. It should be stated 
that Mr. McCreary undertook on a small scale the experiment of spray- 
ing afew trees with London purple, but owing to the almost incessantly 
rainy weather prevailing at the time it was practically of no conse- 
qnence. 

JUNE 10, 1890. 


MONOSTEGIA IGNOTA Norton. 


By FREDERICK W. MALLY. 


Since the appearance of my article in INSECT LIFE, Vol. II, No. 5, 
pp. 137-140, on the life history of Monostegia ignota, additional points 
of interest in its development have been ascertained. This, together 
with a desire to consider Mr. W. H. Harrington’s article in INSECT 
LiFe, Vol. II, Nos. 7 and 8, pp. 227-230, induces me to collect my notes 
in the form of a short article. 


10 


At the time my former article was written it was too early to assert 
positively that this species was single brooded. This point is now pos- 
itively determined, as the larve obtained from eggs deposited by the 
imagos in confinement have been kept in the usual way in a breeding 
cage until now, when the imagos have emerged. Thus I have the his- 
tory of this species from imago to imago again, and have the original 
females for comparison. 

Mr. Harrington’s difficulty seems to be a kind of reluctance to recog- 
nize two distinct species of saw-flies attacking the strawberry and a 
suspicion that it is only one species with variations. If all the imagos 
collected by him are Harpiphorus maculatus Nor. it is evident that the 
venation, size, and coloration of that species are very variable. It is the 
evidence pointing to the establishing or separation of the strawberry 
saw-flies into two species that I wish to consider briefly. 

Dr. C. V. Riley, who has so thoroughly traced the life history of H. 
maculatus, gives a description of the larve from which the imagos were 
reared, in the American Entomologist Vol. I, p. 90. From this descrip- 
tion we find that the larve of H. maculatus may be distinguished from 
those of M. ignota by having three large black spots on the head. 
Thus the question to be determined is whether these characters of 
the larve are constant, and whether the imagos reared from them are 
constant. This I hope to do by presenting proofs for the same or re- 
ferring to the literature on the subject in such a way that those inter- 
ested may investigate and decide for themselves. 

Through the kindness of Prof. F. M. Webster, of Lafayette, Ind., I 
have before me the larve from which he reared imagos of H. maculatus. 
These larvee bear the three black spots on the head, as described by 
Riley. Through the kindness of Prof. 8S. A. Forbes I have before me 
the imagos of H. maculatus, and also a part of the lot of larve from 
which they were reared. Again, it is found that the larve bear the 
characteristic markings of the head aiready spoken of. Thus, from the 
writings of those who have traced the life history of H. maculatus from 
imago to imago, again it appears that the above-noted larval characters 


are constant, and that the imagos reared from them are also constant. 


My own experience in rearing imagos from larve with heads of a 
uniform yellowish brown color has already been stated in a former 
article. However, a few observations made by Professor Osborn and 


my brother, Charles W., at Ames, Lowa, this spring, may be of interest — 


as a check on my work of last year. The breeding cage containing the 
saw-fly larve which were reared from eggs deposited in confinement was 
left in charge of Professor Osborn when [ left for Champaign last Octo- 
ber. This spring Professor Osborn sent me imagos of both sexes taken 
from this cage, and stated that they had emerged April 16, 1890. 
About the same time my brother made sweepings on the same straw- 
berry bed where I had collected last season, and he also sent me a num- 
ber of specimens. | 


i a al ah a na lt i a ea 


11 


From the labels on the specimens I note that the earliest date of capt- . 
ure is April 18, 1890, and the latest April 28, 1890. He informs me by 
letter that after this date no imagos were captured, though he made 
several sweepings of the strawberry bed on later dates. This agrees in 
the main with my own observations as to the date of appearance, period 
of egg-deposition, ete. 

Comparing the reared specimens of M. ignota sent me by Professor 
Osborn with those I studied last year and those collected by my brother 
this spring, I find them all to be identical. The venation of the wings 
of the twenty-two specimens of MW. ignota collected this spring, and 
which are now before me, could not be more constant, even in minute 
details. The imagos vary slightly in size, and considerably in the dis- 
tinctness of the spots on the back of the abdomen. 

I have before me specimens of both sexes of H. maculatus and M.ignota. 
AsI look at them I note the following differences: First, ignota is larger 
and more robust. Second,the general color of ignotais a shining black, 
which is equally true of the head and thorax of maculatus, but the color 
of the abdomen of the latter is distinctly brown. Third, the spots on 
the back of the abdomen of maculatus are more distinct and striking, 
due totheir pure white color, than ignota,in which the spots vary from 
a light gray to black, in which latter case the abdomen is of a uniform 
black color. Fourth, the legs of maculatus have much more white than 
those of ignota. The above-named differences are such as can be read- 
ily noted by comparison. Except venation of the wings I must say 
that, so far as I have observed, the color and markings of H. maculatus 
are quite distinct and constant. 

Reviewing the points brought out by this brief discussion of the life 
histories of the larve and imagos in question, we find that the larve 
may be separated into two distinct kinds by strong and well marked 
characters; that the imagos reared from each kind of larve are also 
distinct and constant and can be easily separated by comparison. The 
only conclusion which I can arrive at from the above given evidence in 
_ addition to the details of what has been given at previous times by other 
authors, is that there are two species of saw-flies attacking the straw- 
berry. My conclusion at the first was not hastily made, nor was it based 
solely on the difference in venation of the two species, but rather upon 
the only true basis, that of a study of the characters and habits of the 
various stages of their metamorphosis. 

My statement in a former article that the two species could be readily 
distinguished by noting the difference in venation was made before any- 
thing had been written concerning the variability of the venation of H. 
maculatus, and was correct so faras our knowledge of that species went 
at that time. Since the publication of Mr. Harrington’s article I have 
brought together as many specimens of H. maculatus as possible, so that 
I might study the venation of that species. I can verify Mr. Harring- 
ton’s claim as to the variability of the same. Twenty-six specimens 


12 


were carefully studied with the following result: Those having the | 


normal venation, males 3, females 19; those having three submarginal 
cells in one anterior wing and four in the other, males 1, females 3. No 
specimens were found having four submarginal cells in both anterior 
wings, aS were found by Mr. Harrington. It has been my experience 
that where variation in venation occurs at all it is not the same in beth 
wings. As already stated, not the least variation in venation was found 
in the specimens of ignota studied, which with this season’s material 
runs up to some fifty specimens. 

In iny study of Iowa and Illinois saw-flies I have found considerable 


variation and uncertainty in their venation, and do not consider it a safe — 


basis (other things being equal) for distinguishing species. Of the spe- 
cies which have been found to be especially variable in this respect are 
Nematus ribesti Scop., Monophadnus rubi Harris, Eriocampa cerasi Peck, 
and in a less degree Pristiphora grossularie Walsh. 


DESCRIPTION OF THE MALE OF MONOSTEGIA IGNOTA Nor. 


Since the male of M. ignota to my knowledge has not been described 
I append a description of the same herewith : 


Male.—Body shining black, less robust than the female. Antenne about as long 
as the head and thorax, finely hairy, slightly enlarged in the middle; first joint twice 
as long as the second, third longer than the fourth, remaining joints subequal. 
Head black, rugose, slightly hairy, with three depressions about the ocelli avd one 
extending around the base of each antenne to the base of the clypeus. Nasus cre- 
nate. Anterior angles of the prothorax white or dusky, spots on the tergum light 
gray or fuscous or entirely wanting. Legs black. Knee joints ofall the legs whitish 
or fuscous, anterior and middle tibiz with their tarsi light brown or fuscous. Wings 
and venation same as in the female. . 

One specimen has the knee-joints of the posterior pair vf legs black, another has 
the legs of a uniform color throughout. 


LARVZ OF A CRANE-FLY DESTROYING YOUNG WHEAT IN 
INDIANA. 


By F. M. WEBSTER, La Fayette, Ind. 


Although the larvie of these flies have long been known to be de- 


structive in England, reports of their ravages in America have been 


very rare, and besides of quite recent occurrence. An outbreak ap- 
pears to have occurred in meadows in southern Illinois in 1887,! and 
we studied another in clover fields in Madison County, Indiana, in the 
spring of 1888, while a report of injury to growing wheat in California, 
in March, 1889,” closes the list, unless we include complaints of injury to 
wheat about Champaign, Illinois, in 1885,* which, though at the time 


1 Prairie Farmer, July 16, 1887. 
2 Pacific Rural Press, March 23, 1889. 
3 Prairie Farmer, September 18, 18e6. 


13 


attributed to earth-worms, might possibly have been due to Tipulid | 
larve. 

April 24, of the present year, Mr. J. G. Kingsbury, of the Indiana 
Farmer, cailed my attention to reports from Mr. T. H. Kendall, in refer- 
ence to the ravages of an unknown worm which had been observed some 
time previous in the wheat fields in the vicinity of Farmersburg, in the 
extreme northern part of Sullivan County. 

A visit to the locality on the 26th, and especially to thie fields of Mr. 
Kendall, revealed the nature of the depredator and effect ofits ravages. 
The insect was, at the tine, the most abundant in the pupal stage, these 
pupe, after the manner of the Tipulid@, in general occupying vertical 
cellsin the ground. Larvz were, however, present in considerable num- 
-bers, both in the earth and on the surface, and not only about the wheat 
plants, but also about stray clumps of timothy, of which there were a 
considerable number scattered over the field among the wheat. For 
reasons which will appear further on, the numbers present in both 
stages did not correspond at all with the reports of Mr. Kendall nor 
with the amount of damage clearly attributable to the pest. The most 
seriously injured fields were those which had been in clover the previous 
year. 

Of two fields, adjoining each other, one sown on oats stubble, the 
other on clover sod plowed early in October, the latter was damaged 
fully fifty per cent. while the former had escaped uninjured. Another 
field, a short distance from these, also in clover last year but plowed 
late in August, was damaged only about fifteen per cent. A clover fieid, 
adjoining the dirst two, had been completely ruined, but this might have 
been in part due to the winter, although the insect was present in 
abundance. A close inspection of the most seriously injured fields 
showed large areas of grain totally destroyed, while other areas among 
them were little injured. 

The plants themselves have not been thrown out by the frost, but 
were well fixed in the soil. The day was rainy, and many of the dead 
plants had a green appearance like that of wetted hay, and did not at 
all resemble those killed by frost or freezing, indicating that they had 
withered. 

Mr. Kendall stated that up to the first of February his wheat was in 
fine condition, but after that time it began to die, and continued to do 
so rapidly until about the first week in April, since which time the 
depredations had gradually ceased. Soon after the trouble began he 
had observed the larve in myriads, both above and below ground, but 
they worked below, not cutting off the plants, but apparently wound- 
ing them and sucking the juices. 

In working about just beneath the surface of the ground they raised 
ridges like those made by the mole but about the size of straws, and the 
earth immediately about the plants was often worked up asif by ants 
or earth-worms. 


14 


' A large number of larve and pupe were secured and taken home in 
order that I might be able to study the method of feeding in the larve, se- 
cure adults,and watch the oviposition of the females which, I jadeeaae 
might differ from those previously studied in case they proved of a differ- 
ent species. While collecting this material, not only many dead pup — 
were noticed, but also larve, lying on the surface of the ground, many of — 
which had turned black, wholly or in part after the manner of diseased ~ 
Cabbage-worms, which led to the suspicion that they had been attacked | 
by a fungus disease, which had reduced their number and consequent — 
injury. While all living materiai was, on my arrival home, placed in a — 
breeding cage and thus kept out of doors, all of the pupz were de- © 
stroyed, almost entirely, I beiieve. by this fungoid enemy, which Dr. J. 
C. Arthur informs me is undescribed, and for which he proposes the MS. — 
name Empusa pachyrrhine. One larva constructed its cell, in the earth — 
in the breeding cage, and transformed to the pupa, but the next day 
this pupa worked itself upwards out of the cell, and was found lying on 
the surface dead and covered with spores of Hmpusa. How much this 
fungus had to do with the stopping of Wepredations of the larva on — 
the wheat, it is of course impossible to say, but it must have destroyed 
a large portion of the pest. | 

The first adult appeared in the cage on the 28th, two days after 
removal from the field, and proved to belong to the genus Pachyrrhina. 
The adults emerged so very sparingly, and at such long intervals, that 
no opportunity was offered to secure fertilized eggs or note the ovipos- 
iting habits of the females. The first of the only two females reared 
was nearly dead when a male emerged, and, though fertilized, died 
without ovipositing, and the male refused to pair a second time, leaving 
the second female without a mate, she dying before a second male 
emerged. Two females and four males were all the adults secured from 
the material brought home. An occasional adult was observed in the ~ 
vicinity of La Fayette and one found in a breeding cage placed over a plat 
of blue-grass, which fact, together with the occurrence of the larve 
about timothy, in Mr. Kendall’s field, leads to the suspicion that the 
insect may breed in both grasses and clover. Young wheat was seri- 
ously damaged during March throughout the State, but how much was 
due to the attacks of these insects it was impossible to determine. 

MAy 24, 1890. 


3 il are Sores eee ee 


15 


SOME OF THE BRED PARASITIC HYMENOPTERA IN THE NATIONAL 
COLLECTION. 


(Continued from p. 353 of Vol. ii.) 
Family BRACONID2— Continued. 


Subfamily Microgasterine. 


Parasites. : Hosts. 
Mirax aspidiscs Ashm ...-.-....-.-...--. Aspidisca splendoriferella Clem., on Apple. 
Washington, D. C., July 25-28, 1879. 
Mirax lithocolletidis Ashm .........-..... Leaf-miner on locust. St. Louis, Mo. 
Mirax grapholithe Ashm.............---. Grapholitha prunivora Walsh, on Apple. 
Washington, D. C., May 3, 1881. 
Apanteles carpatus Say .........-- pS RES Tinea pellionella. Adrian, Mich., June 17, 
1885. 
Tinea tapetzella. St. Louis, Mo., July. 
_Apanteles edwardsii Riley---..........--.-- Pyrameis atalanta L. New York. 
Apanteles cacwciz Riley........-..-.-... Cacecia semiferana Walk., on Box Elder. 
St. Louis, Mo., June 21-29, 1876. 
Apanteles megathymi Riley.......-..---- Megathymus yucce Ba. Lee., on Yucca, Bluff- 
ton, S. C., Apr. 27, 1877. 
Apanteles limenitidis Riley ...-.......-.-. Limenitis disippus Godt., on Poplar. St. 


Louis, Mo. 
Apanteleslimenitidis v. flaviconche Riley .Colias? on Grass and Clover. St. Louis 
Mo., May 7, 1873; Oct.18, 1881 ; Cadet, 
Mo., Apr., 1884. 
Leucania unipuncta? Bradford, Conn., 
June, 1880. 
Found also at Washington, D. C., Aug. 
29, 1882, and Sept. 1, 1882, at Cham- 
paign, Ill. 


Apanteles koebelei Riley ....-...--...---- Melitea anicia on Castilliana parviflora. 
Summit Station, Cal., July, 1887. 

Apanteles hyphantriz Riley.............- Hyphantria textor Harr. Washington, D. 
C., 1887. 

Apanteles lunatus Pack .---.............. Papilio asterias F. Athens, Ga., Aug. 1, 
1885. 

Apanteles argynnidis Riley .-..........-. Argynnis cybele F. Washington, D. C., and 
Coalburgh, W. Va. 

MmpaAnteles KVIINA Say .- 2-26 2.05202: -- Arctiidlarva. Jacksonville, Fla., Jan., 27- 
29, 1880, and Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 
1886. 

Apanteles scitalus Riley...............-.- Spilosoma virginica F. St. Louis, Mo., Apr., 
1870. 

Apanteles flavicornis Riley..-............ Thanaos juvenalis E., on White Oak, St. 
Louis, Mo. 

Apanteles emarginatus Riley .....-....-.. Acronycta brumosa Guen., on Alnus incana. 


Washington, D.C., Oct. 21, 1882. 
Papilio troilus? L. Washington, D. C. 
Apanteles thecle Riley....-.............. Theclasp.? on cotton. Augusta, Ga., Sept. 
26, 1878; Selma, Ala., Sept. 6, 1880; and 
Marion, Ala., July 7, 1880. 
2902—No. 1——2 


Parasites. 


Apanteles junonia Riley ---... 


Apanteles carduicola Pack -... 
Apanteles smerinthi Riley.--.-- 


16 


Hosts. 


SACS peat ere Junonia cenia on Plantago lanceolata. St. 


Louis, Mo., Oct. 17, 1874. 


Beka Sete Pyrameis cardui L. 
Soe veer Smerinthus ocellatus ?* on Willow. 


St. Louis, Mo., June 10, 1872. 


Apanteles orobenez Forbes. .......-...-..-Mesographe rimosalis. Champaign, IIl. 


Apanuteles paleacrite Riley .-.-.- 


Apanteles atalantz Pack ...... 


Apanteles utilis French ....... 


Apanteles congregatus Say ..-. 


Apanteles acronyctz Riley..-.- 


Apanteles glomeratus L...... 


Apanteles pholisore Riley..--- 


Apanteles ornigeris Weed ...- 


Apanteles sarrothripe Weed 


cccec ec esewes 


ee eae eee Paleacrita vernataPack. Lawrence, Kans., 


May 20, 1869. 


b alamate ieets Vanessa milberti Godt. Coalburgh, W. 


Va., July 18, 1886. 

Received also from Dr. Packard, Salem, 
Mass. 

Bred also by Dr. Packard from Vanessa 
atalanta L. 


SAG ba nsodss Pionea rimosalis Guen. on Cabbage. Lone 


Star, Miss., Oct. 17, 1879. 


ae at ae ee Darapsa myron Cr. St. Louis, Mo., 1871, 


and Pleasant Valley, Iowa, Aug., 1889. 
Sphinx hyleus Dr.? St. Louis, Mo., 1871. 
Sphinx 5-maculaia Haw. St. Louis, Mo., 

1872. 

Sphinx plebeia F. St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 3, 
1877; Washington, D. C., Aug. 4, -1885, 
and Coalburgh, W. Va. 

Sphinz cata'ipe Boisd. Knoxville, Tenn., 
Oct., 9-19, 1879. 

Sphinx carolina L. Sandford, Ky., Sept. 11, 
1879; Fredericksburg, Va., Sept. 29, 
1872; Washington, D. ©., Jan. 22-Apr. 
18, 1881. 

Received it also from Montevallo, Ala., and 
Williamsport, Tenn. ) 

Acronycta populi Riley. St. Louis, Mo., 
1869, and La Fayette, Ind., Sept. 14, 1889. 

Pieris rape L. Adrian, Mich., Jan. 19-24, 
1383; Adrian, Mich., Feb. 27-Mar. 15, 
1883; Mountainville, N. Y., Jan. 4-23, 
1884; Philadelphia, Pa., Apr. 21, 1885; 
Albany, N. Y., Nov. 6, 1885; East Stone- 
house, Plymouth, England, Apr. 21, 1884, 
and Apr. 12-May 5, 1886; Washington, 
D. C., Nov. 11, 1884, Apr. 30-May 
7, 1885, and Brownfield, Me., Apr 14-16, 
1886. 


1878; Coalburgh, W. Va., and Washing- 
ton,D. C., Aug. 29, 1888. 

Ornix geminatella on Apple. Champaign, 
Il. 

Sarrothripa rewayana. Washington, D.C., 
July 26 and 27, 1836, and Champaign, 
Il. 


*This is probably Smerinthuss geminatus Say. 


Pholisora catullus Cram. St. Louis, Mo., 


ee a eee eye 


17 


Parasites. Hosts. 

Apanteles aletiz Riley -...--.---..------- Aletia zylinaSay. Crescent City, Fla., and 
Selma, Ala. 

Apanteles cassianus Riley ..---..--.-.----- Terias nicippe on Cassia marylandica. St. 
Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 1874, and Aug. 4, 1875. 

Apanteles politus Riley ........--..--.-..Scoleocampa liburna Guen. St. Louis, Mo., 
1872. 

Apanteles militaris Walsh..-.-. ----.-.--- Teoma unipuncta Haw. St. Louis, Mo., 


June 28, 1869,and Aug., 1875, and Wash- 
ington, D.C., Apr. 11, 1882. 


Microplitis ceratomiz Riley ...--.--..-.--. Ceratomia amyntor Hb. St. Louis, Mo., 
and Champaign, IIl.; St. Louis, Mo., Mar. 
6, 1874. 
Smerinthus excecatus Abb. 
Microplitis gortynez Riley ....-...-.-..-... Achatodes zee Harr. Iowa. 


Hydrecia immanis Guen. on Hop. Knox- 
boro, N. Y., Jan. 25, 1875. 


Microplitis mamestre Weed ..-.-...-...-.. Mamestra picta Harr. Washington, D.C., 
Sept. 1884; Albany, N. Y., 1287; Cham- 
paign, Il. 

Microgaster gelechie Riley....-.-.--..--. Gelechia gallesolidaginis Riley. St. Louis, 


Mo., Apr., 1867, and Apr., 1868; Wasl- 
ington, D. C. Oct. 9, 1883, and Apr. 17, 
1883, and Apr. 28, 1884. 

Microgaster carinata Pack ........---..-- Pyrameis atalanta L. Cambridge, Mass. 
(Scudder. ) 


Sub-family Agathidine. 


Ve on a 6 a Eurycreon rantalis Guen. on Ambrosia. 
Camden, Ark., July 6, 1888. 
Collected also in Texas, Mo., Mich., Wis. 


ATT RCT Do C3 see eee Grapholitha ninana Riley on Acacia feli- 
cina. Fort Huachuaca, Ariz., June 20- 
27, 1883. 

Microdus sanctus Say -- -..---.----:.----- Tortricid borer instem of Ambrosia. Wash- 


ington, D. C., Aug. 25, 1886. 
Collected also in Texas, Mich., S.C. 
Microdus laticinctus Cr..............-.-- Tmetocera ocellana Schiff.on Apple. Wash- 
ington, D. C., June 10, 1879; Canada, 
July, 1870. 
Microdus tortricis Ashm...-. Sees os cae Tortricid on Blackberry. Washington, D. 
C., Dec. 16, 1885. 
Leat-folder on Viburnum. Kirkwood, Mo., 
June 2, 1886. 
Microdus grapholithe Ashm........--....Grapholitha malachitana Zell. Kirkwood, 


Mo. 

Microdus albicinctus Ashm.............. Tortricid on Chestnut. Kirkwood, Mo., 
June «0, 1886. 

Pereredue seine Cr. ot 2 bo 22 si os. Cacecia rileyana Gr. on Hickory. Glen- 


wood, Mo., May, 1868. 
Cacecia infumatana Zell. on Hickory. 
Iron Mountain, Mo., June 10, 1869. 
Botis erectalis Grt.,on Polygonum. St. Louis, 
Mo., Sept., 1873. 


18 


Parasites. Hosts. 

Microdus apilis\Cre-2. cu ee ace eee ee Gelechia absconditella Walk., on Polygonum 
acre. Washington, D. C., May 26, 1884. 

Microdus melanocephalus Riley, MS. .... Pedisca sp.? on Solidago lanceolata. Wash- 
ington, D. C., June 12-17. 

Microdusicinctus/ Cri < 39024 -e cea ae Tineid on Cephalanthus occidentalis. Wash- 

. ington,D. C., June3 and 28, 1884. 

Microdus bicolor? /Prov. 225) sees ese Cecidomyiid in cone of Abies bracteata. Jo- 
lon, Cal., Sept. 8, 1880. 

Microdus simillimus!| Cr 225.502 eee Pedisca strenuana Walk., on Ambrosia. 


St. Louis, Mo., 1873. 
cc eae rete eeeencears eee Cecidomyia on Sensitive plant. Fort Hua- 
chuaca, Ariz., June 27, 1883. 
Microdus earinoides Cr................-- Tmetocera ocellana Schiff.,on Apple. Can- 
ada, July 20, 1870, 
Coleophora cinerella? Cham., on Alnus. 
Washington, D.C., Apr. 10, 1884. 


Microdus calearatus Cr 


HOW ARE INSECT VIVARIA TO BE LIGHTED ? 
| By A. H. SWINTON, Bedford, England. 


Knowledge means advance. Of late years the addition of an insect 
vivarium to zoological collections has pressed itself on the public notice, 
and, as the scientist knows and feels, the want of an efficient receptacle 
in which to study the habits of winged insects has for long been with 
him a desideratum ; but I can not think from those articles that J have 
chanced from time to time to read that any one has been at much pains 
to contend with the outstanding difficulty, that of illumination. To 
many this subject may appear futile, others may have reputed it, per- 
haps impious, but experience teaches. AsI have a fancy for a night 
moth or a butterfly flying about my apartment when engaged in read- 
ing, I have never failed to detect their invariable tendency to flutter 
over the window pane, save when the evening lamp has diffused a radi- 
ance, and then the moths circle around it or go a bumping against the 
whitewashed ceiling, the geometrid moths, perhaps, of the undomes- 
ticated kind appearing most at their ease. Evidently the second con- 
ditions here are most favorable; a vivarium should be diffusely illumi- 
nated, and probably the walls and ceiling should be blackened. But 
what would happen were the illumination from the floor and the same 
were covered over with flowering plants? Would not such an arrange. 
ment be congenial to butterflies whose glance is ever upward; and in 
the case of thick-bodied moths that are prone to flap along the ground, 
ought not the source of light here to be central, raised, and masked by 
a dark transparent shade? 

It is a vulgar notion that the hot-house, lighted on its four surfaces or 
five, is a suitable vivarium, when it is most palpable that the butterflies 
and moths instead of displaying their habits merely flutter over the 


19 


sashes; and then when we learn to know species by their habits, what 
areal advance itis! 1 have of late been astonished with the supposed 
longevity of Gonoptera libatrix. I brought a hybernating individual 
into my apartment (which is high up, and looks into the road, and is 
in every wise isolated) the winter before last. During the mild spells of 
weather it would frequently circumvent the room at dusk, but it did not 
come out of its hiding on the influx of spring. I reputed it to be dead, 
when, to my astonishment, at midwinter I again saw a libatrix. I 
must repute it to be one and the same which came forth like a ghost 
and circumvented the room as before. What a marvellous thing is in- 
sect vitality and who knows its limits? 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 


A Rose Pest. 


The inclosed insect, or rather the worm which preceded it, has become very de- 
structive to the roses in our greenhouses. Its habit is, whenever it can draw a leaf 
up against a bud, to do so and feed on the bud, ruining it in a night. Sometimes 
they get under the petals of the larger buds, which soon fade. We shouid like to 
know its true name and if there is a remedy for the evil, which is becoming very se- 
rious with us. Only a part of our rose-houses so far have been infested. We have 
supposed that by removing the soil from the top of the beds we might get rid of it, 
but do not know how deep they work into the soil. Any information you can give 
or reliable authorities you can refer us to will be highly appreciated.—[ Wilter & 
Co., Denver, Colo., May 5, 1890. 

REpLy.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 5th inst., together with 
the accompanying specimen of a moth reared from a caterpillar damaging roses. 
This moth is the species known as Cacecia argyrospila. It is a common species 
throughout the whole country and feeds in the larval state upon horse-chestnuts- 
roses, apple, hickory, oak, soft maple, elm, and wild cherry. You ought to have little 
difficulty in destroying it in your greenhouse by spraying your plants about the 
time they are expected to appear with Paris green in the proportion of a table-spoon, 
ful to a large bucket of water. You will gain nothing by removing the soil from 
the top of the beds, as this species does not enter the ground in any stage ofits ex- 
istence. It transforms to the pupa state within the leaf-rol). Of course some good 
can be accomplished by picking, but in the case of an extensive greenhouse I would 
advise arsenical spray.—[ May 13, 1890. ] 


A Parasite of Agrilus.—The Lady-bird Parasite. 


Enclosed you will find the cocoons (No. 1), larva (No. 2), and imago (No. 3), of an 
ichneumon fly, which I suppose to be a parasite of Agrilus rujicollis. 

The female fly (No. 3) emerged April 7, from one of a number of cocoons like No. 1, 
taken March 11, from the raspberry gouty galls at the end of a mine where the larva of 
A. ruficollis had perished, it having emerged from the side of the cocoon and not from the 
end as is usual, and as there are yet larve in some of the cocoons taken at the same 
time I do not know if this is the original parasite or a secondary one. Will you please 
give me your opinion on the subject ? 

Two examples emerged on the 7th of April, a male and female. In making 
drawings of them I dissected the male and was not careful in preparing the female 
(No. 3), thinking I would have plenty of examples when the others emerged. As I 


20 


can not wait longer for others, I send you what you will find inclosed, hoping they will 
be sufficient for you to identify the species. Iam preparing areporton 4. rujicollis for 
our Experiment Station, and due credit will be given in my report. 

LT have been studying the life history of A. ruficollis for over a year, have examined 
hundreds of canes of the red and black raspberry, the blackberry, and dewberry, and 
on March 11, 1890, I discovered for the first time that the Agrilus larve had all been 
destroyed in my black cap raspberry canes. I have not, however, found asingle one 
of these parasite cocoons in the wild blackberry briers where the Agrilus larve are 
quite plentiful. 

Yesterday, May 8, I found a lady-bird (Hippodamia maculata) on a clover leaf at- 
tached to the cocoon of its parasite, Centistes americana (INSECT LIFE, Vol. I, No. 4, 
p. 103). As there seems to be some doubt as to where the parasite larva makes its 
exit from the body of the Coccinellid, I made a thorough examination of this speci- 
men (which you will find inclosed in the quill, No. 4) while it was yet alive. On 


opening the elytra the abdomen was easily tipped back, readily separating from the | 


metasternum, causing me to believe that this thoracico-abdominal suture is really the 
place of exit, as suggested by you on page 102, INSEcT LIFE, as above. The form of 
the anterior abdominal segment would naturally cause the abdomen to tip back or 
up when the larva would attempt to force its way out at this point. I found an- 
other parasitized specimen to-day, attached to the bark of an apple-tree, the same 
conditions existing as with the one I send you. 

I also inclose you another example of an insect, being impressed in paper, for your 
inspection. It was taken from a late bulletin of the South Dakota Experiment Sta- 
tion.—[A. D. Hopkins, Kanawha Station, W. Va., May 9, 1890. 

REPLY.—The parasite which you have reared from 4grilus rujficollis is a new species 
of the genus. Bracon. 

it is in all probability a primary parasite, as the species of this genus are reared 
from Coleopterous larve. I hardly know what to make of your statement that it is- 
sued from the side of its cocoon and not from the end, but will keep the three cocoons 
to observe the issuing of otherspecimens. The parasite on Hippodamia maculata you 
will find isthe species described by Professor Riley on page 338 of Vol. I of INSECT 
LIFE, as Perilitus americanus. 

You are unquestionably correct in your opinion as to the point of issuance of this 
larva from the Lady-bird. 1 regret to state that your insect impressed in paper could 
not be found in yourenvelope. Did you omit to send it?—[May 13, 1890. ] 


The Tent Caterpillar. 


Our town (Barrington, R. I.) is infested with the Tent Caterpillar (Clisiocampa 


americana). Every wild-cherry tree in the town is covered with them. At the last 
meeting of the Improvement Society the propriety of cutting down the wild-cherry 
trees was discussed. Some thought the cherry-trees attracted them from fruit-trees, 
and that it was better to kill the caterpillars and leave the cherry-trees; others 
thought the trees were breeding places for the caterpillars, and consequently largely 
increased their numbers. Which isright?—[J. H. Griffith, Barrington, R.I., May 14, 
1890. 

ReEep.Ly.—Your favor of the 14th inst., relative to the Tent Caterpillar, has been re- 
ceived. The answer to your question depends, I should imagine, largely upon the 
number of wild-cherry trees in the vicinity of your orchards. Supposing that the 
wild-cherry trees are very numerous and that the caterpillars are allowed to breed 
upon them unmolested, the numbers of the pests will undoubtedly increase upon this 
their favorite food plant, and the overflow will spread to the orchards. If, however, 
the number is very small it will pay to allow them to remain, provided some meas- 
ures are taken for destroying the worms as fast as their tents become perceptible. 
Where there are only a few wild-cherry trees they will always be infested, and the 
moths will always lay their eggs upon them in preference to other trees. On account 


| 


21 


of their small number they can be readily watched and easily treated, either by burn- 
ing the webs or by spraying with an arsenical poison. I should think, then, that it 
is an advantage to have a very few wild-cherry trees near an orchard and a disad- 
vantage to have alarge number. The eggs are so easily seen on the cherry-tree in 
winter that the pruning and burning of these is one of the best preventive meas- 
ures.—[ May 16, 1890.] 

The Horn Fly. 


The Horn Fly has made its appearance again in considerable numbers and is an- 
noying our cattle greatly. I can apply the train-oil to the dairy cows in their stalls, 
but it is exceedingly troublesome, not to say difficult, to apply it to the compara- 
tively wild field cattle and steers. Can an emulsion be made of it, so as to apply it 
to the cattle with our tree-spraying pumps? And if so, in what way is it best done? 
It is impracticable in onr large fields, many of them including woods, to apply lime 
to the droppings, as recommended in the special bulletin on the Horn Fly, issued in 
1889.—[H. M. Magruder, Charlottesville, Va., May 12, 1890. 

RerLy.—Your letter of the 12th May has cometo hand. There ought to be no dif- 
ficulty in making the emulsion of train-oil with soap, so as tobe able to apply it with 
aspray pump; but I am of the opinion that it will be difficult to apply in a spray 
thoroughly enough to cattle in the fields to keep the flies off for any length of time. 
However, as you seem desirous of trying the experiment, I shall be very glad indeed 
to learn the result. To emulsify the train-oil satisfactorily it will only be necessary 
to prepare it according to the inclosed formula, simply substituting train-oil for kero- 
sene. In spite of your statement that it is impracticable in your large fields to apply 
lime to the droppings it seems to me a great deal of good can be accomplished at just 
this time of the year. If the flies are just appearing they will soon begin to lay their 
egys and the numbers of subsequent generations can be greatly reduced if only a por- 
tion of the dung is limed. Are there not certain points in the field where the cattle 
stand through the heat of the day and where the dung can be limed ?—[ May 13, 1890. ] 


A Jack Rabbit Parasite. 


I should like to call your attention to a parasite that infests the Jack Rabbits of 
this country, and in view of the fact that the Australian Government offers a large 
reward for the destruction of rabbits in that country it may be that this parasite 
would be just the right thing. It occurs in the shape of a large lump on the back, 
hips, and thighs. Upon examination it seems to be made up of innumerable small 
transparent sacs, which are held together in rows. The lump gets larger and others 
appear and finally the rabbit dies. If this parasite is unknown to scientific men I 
‘would take pleasure in sending you specimens in alcohol or as you may direct. I 
believe this country would be overrun with rabbits were it not for this parasite. 
But it does not kill them all, and it may be that it does not kill them at all, but I 
frequently find them dead from some cause.—[D. G. Sherrard, Burnet, Burnet 
County, Tex., May 3, 1890. 

ReEePLy.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 5th inst. There are sey- 
eral species of true ‘“‘ Bots” which infest rabbits, although I am not aware that any 
species is specifically confined to the ‘‘ Jack Rabbit,” nor am I at all certain that the 
parasite which you mention is a Bot. The matter can be readily settled, viz., send 
specimens in alcohol. Please see that the bottle is carefully packed in sawdust, and 
if you will forward by express, all charges will be paid at this end. Please mark the 
package with your name.—[ May 13, 1890. ] 


Supposed Bed-bugs under Bark of Trees. 


In No. 4, volame 2, INsEcT LIFE, page 106, regarding the ‘‘ Bed-bug” (Acanthia 
lectularia L.), I will say that I have seen the ‘‘bug” under the bark of the Cotton- 
wood (Populus monilifera) in many places in the West, and more especially along the 


22 


Big Horn and Little Big Horn Rivers in Montana; by pulling off the bark of the dead 
trees they would be found in numbers. The question occurred to me “ what they 
lived on ;” they were not dull, but perfectly lively as soon as exposed to the light.— 
[S.M. Swigert, captain, Second Cavalry, U.S. Army, Fort Leavenworth, Kans., May 
10, 1890. 

REpLy.—Your letter of May 10 has just come to hand. I have known for some time 
thati the domestic Bed-bug will live for a long time, even for years, in locations where 
buildings have once stood or in spots where‘there have been camps in the woods. 
But if seems more likely to me that the insect which you have found under the bark 
of the Cotton-wood is not the true Bed-bug, but that it is another quite similar bug of 
the genus Aradus, the species of which are often found in such localities, and which, 
before they have attained their full size, strongly resemble the Bed-bug. I can settle 
this point for you if you will take the trouble to send in specimens.—[ May 13, 1890. } 


The Orchid Isosoma again. 


Since the receipt of your letter, etc., concerning the Orchid Isosoma, about which 
I made inquiries last fall, I have endeavored to make observations and obtain more 
material, but, owing to the previous vigilance of the florist who was troubled by it, I 
have not been able to do so. He has given me, however, a number of roots of Cattleya 
gigas affected with galls containing, I think, dipterous larve. Those I have opened 
cont..ined from one to seven maggots, separated from each other by the substance of 
the root. I inclose some for your inspection. As you will see, the galls are situated 
near the tips of the roots. The trouble seems to have been introduced on a plant 
from England last year, and to have spread toa few plants hanging nearest that one. 
Owing to the costly character of the plants affected by this pest as well as the Iso- 
soma, all insects attacking them are destroyed as soon as discovered, but I am trying 
to obtain as much material as possible.—[ Albert P. Morse, South Natick, Mass., May 
8, 1890. 

ReEPLY.—Yours of the 8th instant, with maggots found in galls on roots of Cattleya 
gigas, has been received. These are the larve of a species of Cecidomyia, or of the 
allied genus Diplosis. I can tell you nothing more until the adult flies are reared. 
As you will notice in my note in INSEcT LIFE, copy of which I sent you some time 
since, some skepticism exists among English entomologists for the very reason that 
Dipterous galls occur upon these Orchids, and the [sosomas have been considered by 
them as their guest flies or parasites. This, moreover, would be strengthened by the 
fact that we can unquestionably separate J. orchidearum from the restricted genus 
Isosoma, which is composed entirely of phytophagic species, were it not for the fact, 
as I also state upon page 121 of Vol. I of INsEcT LIFE, that the larve have been 
watched by me in all stages and observed to feed upon the orchid substance, and 
that the cavity made at first is only just large enough to contain it and its frass. I 
am glad that you are int-resting yourself in this matter, and hope that you will in- 
dicate your further observations to me for the benefit of the readers of INsEcT LIFE.— 
[May 12,1890. ] . 

Eristalis in Well Water. 


I send by mail to-day a specimen of asmall worm that infests a well at this place. 
Ordinary cleaning of the well does not get rid of them, but they quickly redevelop, 
so that one bucket of water will frequently contain three or four. As a matter of 
course the water is not used for drinking purposes, but the proprietor would like to 
use it and be freed from these pests.—[ Dr. D. B. Frontis, Johnston, Edgefield County, 
S. C., May 7, 1890. 

REPLY.—The maggots which are infesting the well in your town are those of a 
Syrphid fly of the genus Eristalis and probably belong to the species known as EL. 
tenax. These larve, together with those of several allied genera, have long been 
known to live in decaying vegetable matter, in manure, or in soft mud impregnated 


| 
{ 
| 


—— eee ee ee eee 


23 


with decaying vegetable matter, and I should say off-hand, without an examination - 
of the well, that the very presence of these larve indicates that the water is not fit. 
to drink. If the well were perfectly clean and the water pure I believe that these 
larve would not be present, consequently cleanly measures are the ones which will 
bring relief. The eggs are laid by a two-winged fly which frequents flowers.—[ May 
12, 1890. ] 


The Bryobia Household Pest. 


In the summer of 1888 I found a bay window swarming with red spider. I had 
them cleaned down, the window washed outside and within. In afew days every- 
thing was as bad as before. I again had it cleaned and rubbed—glass, casing, 
and above, on the outside, with kerosene. As soon as the kerosene had dried out I 
was afflicted as before. By this time I had discovered they were more or less on every 
window with a northern aspect; they were also on the carpet, webbing from the 
floor onto the base boards, and on the wall under the window-sills, where I could not 
use kerosene. They were in the drapery, and could not be brushed off without soil- 
ing it. The only way was to hang it out, when they would drop off. 

Being very sensitive about “insect life” about my premises, having always kept 
clear of it, it took some courage for me even to hint the case to my neighbor 20 
rods away, and find out if she had seen the like. We examined her house thoroughly 
on the northern side, and found no sign of it; nor could I ever hear of or see, peer 
round as much as I would, a case during that summer; and soI concluded my house 
was the only one whose door posts were not marked when the plague passed by. In 
order to keep them down, I can not say clear of them, I sprinkled the carpet and 
every thing that would not bear kerosene with gasoline, using perhaps a pint, being 
sure there was no fire in the house, nor like to be before it would evaporate. Every 
morning as’ soon as breakfast was over, I drew a broad line of kerosene across 
the whole northern side of the house, sprinkled the ground with carbolic acid and 
water. I found dandelions loaded with the spider; while across the path 3 feet 
wide, in the sun, there were none on the dandelions. At that time I supposed it was 
the result of setting house plants troubled with red spider out on the north of the 
house in 1880-1882, not since. 

In 1839 I saw two houses where rooms of northern aspect were troubled with them. 
One was a house in which was no tenant, and in a week after it had been newly 
painted (ecru-colored paint), newly papered, and well calcimined, it was a sight which 
would drive a careful housekeeper to despair. 

The last case that came to my notice was in December, 1889, after we had had a 
hard freeze (3 degrees below), then very mild weather. A lady and her husband, 
spending the evening, told of the plague of red spider just infesting their house; they 
had never seen anything like it. This was on the northeast side of their house.— 
{ Mrs. H. S. Perry, Elgin, Ill., May 5, 1790. 

REpLy.—Yonr letter of May 5, giving an account of your experience with the so- 
called ‘‘red spider” has been received. We are very much obliged to you for the 
trouble you have taken in sending this account, which we shall take pleasure in pub- 
lishing in a near number of INsEcT Lire. An account of any further experience, 
should these creatures bother you again, will be thankfully received.—[ May 12, 1890. ] 


Florida Orange Scales in California. 


We are somewhat alarmed at the great quantities of imported Florida trees that 
have of late been brought into the State largely infested with the Florida scales, nota- 
bly the Long Scale ( Mytilaspis gloverii), the Purple Scale ( Mytilaspis citricola), and the 
Chaff Scale (Parlatoria pergandei), and also the Florida Red Scale ( Aspidiotus ficus). 
I inclose you some leaves taken from trees planted a year ago at Downey. Knowing 


24 


that you are familiar with these insects, having lived in the Magnolia State, I would — 


consider it a very great favor if you will briefly answer the following questions: 
First. How destructive is the Purple Chaff and Long Scale? That is, what are 

the general characteristics of an infected tree and its fruit? How does the tree 

show being infected? Some claim here that the leaves curl, turn yellow, and drop 


off, and that the tender growth dies and the tree presents the appearance of having 


been scorched by fire. 

Second. What is the best means of exterminating them? Do you consider dipping 
and the gas remedy previous to planting absolute proof against scale? Is absolute 
quarantine the only safe and sure means of freeing the country from this new and 
now threatening invasion of insect pests ? 

Third. The statement is often made here that the Florida Scales will not live in 
this dry climate. San Bernardino lays particular stress upon this point. Livescales 
‘(Purple and Chaff) have been found on trees planted a year at Pomona, and it would 
seem that if they thrived there the chances of their living and breeding at Riverside 
and San Bernardino are rather good. 

In your opinion will they not live and thrive in any portion of California where the 
citrus fruits flourish? If not, what localities are peculiarly adapted to their well- 
being ? 

Fourth. How rapidly do they spread, and when is their breeding season. 

Any other information that you can furnish touching this subject will be appre- 
ciated. The growers here are becoming seriously alarmed.—[Henry W. Kruckeberg, 
Los Angeles, California, April 21, 1290, to Mr. Albert Koebele. 

REpLy.—Mr. Albert Koebele has referred to me your letter of the 21st ultimo, to- 
gether with the specimens which you sent him. The insect which you forwarded 

-and which has been imported into your State upon trees from Florida is the common 

Purple Scale (Mytilaspis citricola). This is one of the worst of the Florida scales, 
although not equaling in severity of its attack the San José Scale, the White Scale, 
or the Red Scale of California. Its effects in extreme cases are like what you de- 
scribe. The question as to the possible spread of this insect in California is one 
which is difficult to decide without absolute experimentation. I am familiar with 
the idea that has been frequently expressed that these scale insects die out after the 
first year in California, but should be inclined to doubt it were it not for the fact 
. that while this insect must have been frequently imported it has never taken hold. 
It is kept in subjection in Florida by horticulturists by the kerosene emulsion made 
according to the Hubbard formula, a copy of which is inclosed on a separate sheet. 
The young lice begin to hatch in March. 

There is another brood in July and a third in September or October, and it is at 
the time of the hatching of the eggs and the migration of the young that the emul- 
sion is applied with the best results. Some modification of the life-history of the 
species is to be expected if it establishes itself in California. The rapidity of the 
spread of this and allied species can be gauged by that of any scale-insect. Unless 
assisted artificially it is slow on account of the fact that the female is wingless. 

I think there is no cause for serious alarm, for these scales are handled with com- 
parative ease, and the fact that they have not already established themselves in Cal- 
ifornia is somewhat of an argument against their accidental colonization in that 
State. —[May 6, 1890. ] 

ANOTHER LETTER.—]I spent a day and a half at Riverside, and was shown around 
by Dr. Claflin, the horticultural commissioner for that district, but I found no Florida 
scales, except on some orange trees planted out the present season. They have the 
most thorough system of inspection and of disinfection of anyI ever saw. Dr. Claflin 
informed me that they employ eight inspectors at a salary of $3 per day. During the 
past two years every plant, shrub, and tree growing in the Riverside district has been 
carefully inspected, and whenever a scale of any kind was found prompt measures were 
at once taken to destroy it. When only a few scales were found on a tree the twigs 


25 


or branches on whick they are located are cut out and burned, but if the scales are 
quite numerous on the tree the trunk of the tree is marked with chalk, and the owner 
ot the tree is notified to spray the tree. After the lapse of about two months the 
trees which were marked are again carefully inspected, and if any live scales are 
found on them are ordered sprayed; and this warfare is kept up until the inspect- 
ors are unable to find a single living scale. I was informed that all of those who 
had been requested to spray their trees did so at once, everybody being anxious to 
aid the inspectors in getting rid of the scales. As an illustration of what is being 
accomplished in this direction I may mention a certain orange grove some twelve or 
fourteen years old in which at the first inspection about forty trees were found to be 
infested with scales, whereas at the last inspection scales were found on only six of 
the trees. 

Such results as this are encouraging indeed, and indicate what well-directed efforts, 
backed by public opinion, will accomplish.—[D. W. Coquillett, Los Angeles, Cal., 
May 9, 1790. 

The Larva of the Ox Bot-fly. 


Regarding Hypoderma bovis I shall read the account of the discovery of Dr. Cooper 
Curtice with great attention. If I understand rightly you have not yet developed 
the imago, and the point is occurring to me whether it lies in the compass of possi- 
bility that these larve can belong to Cuterebra americana Fab. I scarcely like to 
venture even to suggest this, for your personal knowledge of this genus will be prob- 
ably just in inverse ratio to my ignorance, but looking at Brauer’s descriptions and 
figure of generic type of larva, the idea has entered my mind. 

I think I may safely say that the form of attack would be quite abnormal to H. 
bovis in this country. As the point isof so much interest allow me to submit my rea- 
sons to you from about six years’ observations. I think that the larva penetrates from 
the exterior to its location beneath the hide, because I have found an excessively 
minute channel leading down from the outside to where the minute larva lay below, 
and when I squeezed the fragment, blood ran up this channel, but I did not see any 
other passage from the torn and bloody hole in which the minute larva lay. Also I 
found a channel partly down from the outside occupied at the lowest part by what 
appeared to me certainly (though tvo much crushed for me to say it was so) to be a 
larva. I have uniformly, so far as I can remember, found the H. bovis larve with the 
caudal extremity uppermost, and their extraordinary powers of self-inflation, and 
non-power of rejection of contents to tangible exteut at the time when in this country 
they are forming the cell by pressure, seems to me to account for this part of the effects 
of their presence. * * *—[Eleanor A. Ormerod, Torrington House, St. Albans, 
England, March 10, 1890. 

REepPLy.—In reference to Dr. Curtice’s discovery in relation to the Hypoderma, I have 
little to say beyond what I stated editorially in Insect Lirrz. There is no chance of 
the larva which he refers to being a species of Cuterebra, but until it is reared we can 
not say positively that it can not be another species of Hypoderma, though the chances 
are all against this even. Dr. Curtice is going to make every effort to rear it, but 
you can, from the very nature of the case, see how difficult, if not impossible, this is. 
It is not only from my own observations, but because of your own careful researches, 
as recorded, that I have felt so positive that the very normal habit of Hypoderma 
bovis larva is to penetrate from the exterior of the skin of the animal, and the case 
observed by Dr. Curtice is, in my judgment, exceptional.—[ May 1, 1890. ] 


The Fuchsia Beetle. 


Will you be so kind as to answer a question for us concerning the Fuchsia Beetle ? 
Would there likely be larve of the insect in the ground in the spot where the beetle 
was very troublesome last year on fuchsia, or does the great swarm that annually 
makes its appearance come from some other locality ? 


26 


We are going to try growing our fuchsia under a wire gauze guard this summer 
and wanted information on the above point before we located the bed in the same 
spot again.—[ Ernest Walker, New Albany, Ind., May 17, 1890. 

ReEp.Ly.—The insect which you know as the fuchsia beetle (Graptodera exapta) feeds 
in the larval state upon the leaves of fire-weed (Hrechthites hieracifolia) and the 
Evening Primrose (CGénothera biennis), and itis probable that the swarms which attack 
your fuchsias have developed on these plants. I shall be interested to know whether 
in your vicinity (New Albany) either of these plants is abundant. Your plan for 
growing fuchsias under wire is a good one.—[ May 24, 1890. ] 

SECOND LETTER.—Many thanks for your communication of 24th; the information 
it contains will be of great value. 

The Evening Primrose (@nothera biennis) was very abundant last year in this local- 
ity. One field that had been under cultivation for a long time and then neglected for 
a season, came up the following year (which was the summer of 1889) a solid mass 
(almost) of the Primrose. There were also scattering patches of the Primrose in 
fields adjoining our nursery grounds. The Fuchsia Beetle was more troublesome last 
year than any other year in our experience. They, in spite of all our efforts, staid 
with us almost through the summer. They were also troublesome in private gardens 
in the city —most all lost their plants long before summer was over. We saved afew 
this year. The fuchsia sold very poorly on account of the trouble last year. The 


Fire-weed (Erechthites hieracifolia) I have not yet met with in this vicinity. me oct 


Walker, New Albany, Ind., May —, 1890. 
Parasites on Datana ministra. 


Mr. Webster, I think, only saw one-half the show, as told in his notes on the para- 
sitism of the larva of this moth, as given on page 256, of Nos. 7 and 8, Vol. II of In- 
sECT LIFE, by a Tachina Fly. 

In all cases where I have observed the Fly ovipositing in the larva on the ground, 
Ichneumon Wasps were ovipositing in them on the trees. 

The Ichneumon would deposit one egg in a larva on the tree, when it would flip up 
and drop to the ground, where the Tachina Fly would meet it and further make its 
life a burden to it. I have often observed the same actions of these parasites on the 
larva of the Datana moth when feeding on the foliage of the apple. I never 
observed the Tachina Fly attack the larva on the tree. 3 

Once on nearing an apple tree partially defoliated by this larva, I saw a Box Land 
Turtle, such as we clod-hoppers in I]linois called ‘‘ Terrapins,” directly under the clus- 
ter of caterpillars, which an Ichneumon was industriously laying her eggsin. As I 
neared the tree I saw her pierce a larva, which bounced into the air and fell to the 
ground near the Turtle’s head, she struck two or three more, which also fell. I ex- 
pected to see the Turtle gather them in, and waited quite a time tosee him feed on 
them, as he seemed to be there with that intention. 

Thinking that my proximity was intertering with his lunch, I walked directly 
away and came up carefully behind another apple-tree twenty feet away, and peeped 


through the foliage; directly the Turtle snapped up the five or six larve on the’ 


ground, and then gathered in others the instant they touched the ground. 

This Land Turtle seems to be quite omnivorous; they feed on strawberries vora- 
ciously. The above is the only case observed by myself of its feeding on insects. 

I have seen a large black wasp sting a full-grown Datana larva, which paralyzed it 
instantly, and then carry it off a long distance over the ground, and bury it ina hole 
in the ground which she had already dug; two days after, on digging it up, found 
she had laid an egg under it which was not yet hatched. The caterpillar seemed 
yet to have life and some motion, as if in a comatose condition. 

Luckily but very few Datana larve escape the parasites; if they did the Black 
Walnut and Apple could hardly be grown, for they defoliate these trees at the most 
critical period of the year. 


27 


A young Apple-tree entirely defoliated by them in August shows no visible effects © 
above ground, will pass the winter; the buds will swell the next spring, wither, 
and, if the tree is taken up, it will be found to have no live roots whatever; and, 
curiously, so far as my observation goes, the smooth form of the Datana larva which 
feeds on the Apple, does not seem to be as liable to parasitism as the hairy form that 
feeds on the Black Walnut, and the Apple-tree form is at least one-third larger when 
fall-grown.—[D. B. Wier, Petaluma, Cal., May, 1590. 


A Tineid (Anaphora popeanella Clem.) injuring Indian Corn. 


I send you by mail specimens of larve that are injuring the young plants of Indian 
Corn to a great extent in this and adjoining States. They are most abundant on sod 
lands of first year’s planting, from one to three being found in each hill, and from my 
first observation of them when about one quarter of an inch long up to 1} inches they 
live in burrows lined with fine filaments of silk-like structure, the alley-ways being 
often as deep as 4 or 5 inches in the ground and 2 or 3 long on the surface. When 
they reach a hill of corn they surround the base of each plant with a fine web mixed 
with earth pellets, building it up to the lower blade which they slowly eat away. 
As they get larger they eat the stripped plant to the ground. They are shy, retreat- 
ing to the bottom of their burrows on the least noise. If half a dozen are placed to- 
gether they are belligerent, biting each other. Their colorislight brown, notstriped, 
and they are covered with a thick coat of microscopic hairs, finer as the larve get 
olier. The specimens ] send you have undergone their third molt. I have noticed 
them here for several years, but not in injurious numbers till the present season in this 
section. Iam feeding a number of them so as to get the perfect insect and eggs if 
possible. Could you tell me what they are and something of their life-history? 

The present summer I spent on the heads of the Saskatchewan River and was sur- 
prised to see the great number of Danais archippus in the month of September. 
Shrubs and small trees were covered with them in countless numbers. In the cool 
(almost frost) of the evening they could be shaken to the ground in a helpless, chilled 
condition, but became lively enough when the sun warmed them up. The Cree and 
Blackfeet Indians say the wind from the south bringsthem there. The specimens I 
send are in chloroform, which shrinks them a good deal, but I think will not destroy 
their distinctive characteristics.—[John C. Andras, Manchester, Ill., May 22, 1888. 

ReEp.Ly.—Your letter of the 22d inst., inclosing specimens of larve injuring 
Indian Corn, duly received. Thespecim-ns interest me very much, as they are new to 
science in the réle of corn-feeders. They belong evidently to the Tineid genus 
Anaphora, but it will be impossible to determine the species without rearing the 
adult. I trust you will therefore assist us by sending us a large number of the living 
larve, as well as by carrying on the observations which you mention in the field. 
Your observation upon Danais archippus is very interesting, but has frequently been 
made before (see Vol. III, American Entomologist). —[ May 26, 1888. ] 

SECOND LETTER.—I send you by mail some living larve, but fear they will hardly go 
through alive. I have had some difficulty in rearing them in captivity, as they seem to 
need the covered spun retreat into the ground and rather solitary habit. Though there 
may be a dozen destroying a hili of corn, each has his home, and on the least disturb- 
ance retreats to the lowest depths of his web-lined burrow. Their hearing is acute; 
I can not say whether by aural organs; it may be by vibrations of the ground fiom 
walking over it; but the sound of a light step will cause every head to retreat for 
several feet round. Their sight is good. I have stood perfectly still till a number 
round me would be eating, when with the lifting of a hand all would be out of sight 
in an instant. They feed in the evening, generally after 6. As the sun goes down 
those that have their home a short distance from a hill of corn will crawl to the near- 
est stalk and begin devouring it at once. As they increase in size they eat only next 
the ground, and you can often see a plant 6 inches high cut down in the early stage. 
The larvz live on the small leaves and do not cut the stem of the corn. In locomo- 


23 


tion they travel equally well backward or forward. As to the damage done by these — 
larve it far exceeds, on new-plowed meadow-land, any pest that has visited this sec- — 
tion for several years. 

I visited 80 acres of corn yesterday afternoon that had been plowed once—corn about 
4 to 6 inches high, that in a few days will be destroyed; there were from 1 to 20 larve 
in every hill and its vicinity. The second year from meadow is not entirely exempt 
from these pests, but on older plowed lands I do not find it. Of the enemies of the 
larve I find birds, the Crow, Black-bird and the Thrush, near hedges busy. Ants 
are busy destroying and driving the larve from their retreats. There may be two 
broods up to the present time as I find a few larve not over one-half an inch long that 
have only moulted once. After each change the larva comes out less hairy. My first 
observations began about April 10. My first captures of them when larve were about 
one-fourth of an inch long, and feeding entirely on the leaf of the early corn, cutting 
itin small holes. These larve never drag the cut-off leaf or plant into their retreat as 
the cut-worm does, but farmers attribute all the present destruction of corn to the 
corn ‘‘cut-worm” which has nothing todo withit. As soon as the larva changes into 


the pupa state I will send you some by mail so as to reach you safely. A very dry 


autumn and continued cold winter has been favorable for all insect life. * * *— 


[John C. Andras, Manchester, Ill., May 30, 1888. 
SECOND REPLY.—Letter and specimens acknowledged, and the latter determined to 
be Anaphora popeanella Clem. 


GENERAL NOTES. 
EFFECTS OF LONDON PURPLE ON FOLIAGE. 


Our esteemed correspondent, Mr. J. Luther Bowers, of Herndon, Va., 
after considerable experience, makes the following estimate of the 
strength of solutions of London purple which different trees and shrubs 
can endure while in blcom without injury: Plums, English varieties, 1 
pound of London purple to 160 gallons of water; apples and raspber- 
ries the same proportions; apricots, 1 pound to 200 gallons; cherries, 
1 pound to 250 gallons; peaches, 1 pound to 300 gallons. Mr. Bowers 
further states that he has discarded Paris green and will always use 
London purple in future. 


THE TULIP-TREE SCALE-INSECT. 


The Rural New Yorker of May 10, 1890, contained a little editorial no- 
tice of the damage done by Lecanium tulipifere Cook with arough figure - 
of an infested limb. The tulip trees upon the Rural Grounds are said 
to be “‘ now so disfigured by this disgusting insect that they will have 
to be destroyed. The branches are covered with the scales which resem- 
ble so many chronic sores. The infested branches first turn black, asif 
scorched by fire, and then die.” The editorial mention concludes with 
the statement : 

There is practically no way of fighting this insect. The kerosene emulsion, if ap- 


plied at the right time, and at repeated intervals during two or three weeks, would, — 
no doubt, afford a temporary relief. 


29 


This, it strikes us, is a very unsatisfactory way of dismissing the rem- - 
edy question and we feel assured that a thorough treatment with the 
kerosene emulsion at the time when the young lice are hatching will 
prevent the spread of the insects and result in the recovery of the trees. 


A NEW ENEMY TO RYE. 


An entirely new and very injurious enemy to the Rye crop made its 
appearance in 1887 in St. Mary’s County, Md. We have never pub- 
lished any account of it, awaiting its re-appearance. It has not, how- 
ever, since been seen, and as the matter is of considerable interest we 
present this note. The pest was a small, active, rather hairy caterpillar 
which confined its attacks entirely to the heads of the grain. Mr. G. F. 
Dyer,of Leonardtown, to whom we were indebted for the specimens, 
wrote that he had 20 acres of rye from which he expected to harvest 
from 18 to 20 bushels per acre, but that the crop was entirely destroyed 
and was not worth harvesting except for the straw. He had about 20 
acres of wheat in the same field but this crop was not touched. The 
field in question was not in cultivation last year, but in 1885 was planted 
with corn and tobacco. The larva is smali measuring but a trifle more 
than a quarter of an inch in length when full grown. It is yellowish in 
color and is marked with two broad brown bands down the back, and 
two narrower ones nearer the sides. The back is also furnished with a 
number of large yellowish warts, six to each joint, from each of which 
comes a bunch of stiff hairs. 

The work of the larva is very thorough. Nearly every grain is bored 
into by a circular hole through its sheath and the contents eaten out 
more or less completely. Mr. Dyer counted as many as seven larve 
upon a single head and each larva must destroy a number of grains in 
the course of its growth. Before transforming to pupa the larva spins 
for itself a moderately strong silken cocoon, covering it with spiny bits 
of the seed sheaths and attaches it to the head of the grain. It re- 
mains in the pupa state not more than a week or ten days, when the 
adult insect, a small white moth slightly marked with slate-color to- 
wards the tip of the wings, emerges. The adult is a species of the in- 
teresting genus Nola, and is closely related to Nola sorghiella Riley, 
described in the annual report of the Entomologist (Rep. Dept. Agr., 
1881-82, pp. 187-189), and which was reared from Sorghum from Ala- 
bama. 

The habits of this insect, so far as learned, render it easy to subdue, 
as it spun its cocoons and transformed with considerable regularity just 
at the time of harvest. We therefore advised Mr. Dyer to thresh his 
grain immediately after harvest, for if this course were followed the 
helpless pupz attached to the heads would be crushed and the next 
generation of the insect would be practically “ nipped in the bud.” 

From the fact that the land was not cultivated the previous season 
it becomes probable that the normal food of this insect is some unculti- 


30 


vated plant, and that this damage to rye is to a great extent abnormal. 
‘I'he very thoroughness with which Mr. Dyer carried out our recommenda- 
tions probably accounts for the subsequent non-appearance of the insect. 


SOME CASES OF AUSTRALIAN SPIDER BITES. 


The following cases have been kindly collected and sent to us by Mr. 
C. O. Montrose, of Melbourne : 


A Rutherglen exchange states that a lad named Thomas Johnson, 18 years of age, 
was bitten by a spider last Tuesday morning while putting his hand into a bag for 
fowl feed. The insect had, according to the lad’s account, apparently been knocked 
down with his web when he moved the bag. It seems to have got underneath his 
shirt at the neck and dropped down to the waist, where it inflicted two bites. He did 
not notice these much. Butit then got into his sleeve and bit him on the elbow. 
Most excruciating pain and sickness immediately succeeded, and he pluckily pro- 
cured a horse and rode into Corowa, occupying only two and one-half hours in cover- 
ing 30 miles. On arrival at the Newmarket Hotel he was foaming at the mouth and 
most violent in his behavior. He offered the most strenuous resistance to being se- 
cured, but was at length overcome. Dr. Lang was called in and for a time the 
patient’s chances hung in the balance between life and death, but the treatment ulti- 
mately prevailed, and he was moving about on Wednesday.—WMelbourne Herald, Jan- 
uary 11, 1890. 

Another case of serious results from the bite of a spider is reported. Mr. Joseph 
Chicken, proprietor of the Netherby Mills, Corowa, was bitten by a spider near the 
top of the thigh. He thought little of the occurrence at the time, and mounting his 
horse commenced to ride out of town. He had not proceeded far, however, when 
the pain arising from the slight wound became very severe, indeed, and after endur- 
ing it for a few hours Mr. Chicken had to return home. He passed a terrible night. 
The pain extended to the extremities, and the patient was in a most feverish state. 
Under medical care he is now recovering.— Melbourne Herald, January 18, 1890. 

Mr. M’Donald, of Corowa, manager of Goonambil, was last week bitten by a 
spider of the red and black species, and for two days suffered severely. Mr. W. 
Squires and Mr. Geo. Parkin have both been laid up suffering from the same cause. 
Other cases are reported from different parts of this district.— Town and Country Journal 
(Sydney), February 8, 13890. 

Mr. Giles, one of our farmers here, was bitten by a black spider in the palm of the 
right hand. The bite assumed such bad poisonous symptoms that he had to seek 
medical aid. We are glad to say that he is now getting right again.—Minyih, Vic- 
toria. 


THE NEW VINE PEST IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 


We have noticed many accounts in the Australian newspapers of the 
occurrence in great numbers of the new pest to the vine, mentioned on 
p. 381 of vol. ii. It has been determined by Mr. Skuse as a species of 
Phytocoris, and extensive experiments have been made under the dir- 
ection of the Government entomologist, Mr. French, with the result 
that benzole strong proved to be the most efficacious remedy. An 
emulsion of this substance has not been made, but one part is mixed 
with a similar quantity of water and violently agitated to keep mixed. 


ol 


In this proportion it does no injury to the foliage and instantly destroys 
every bug which it touches. 


BARBADOES SUGAR-CANE MITES. 


In Bulletin No. 40 of the Royal Kew Gardens (April, 1890) Mr. A. D. 
Michael reports upon the mites found on samples of diseased sugar-cane 
sent from Barbadoes by Mr. John R. Bovell, superintendent of the 
Dodd’s Botanical Station. According to Mr. Bovell, cane affected with 
mites yields only one ton of sugar per acre as against three tons per 
acre from healthy cane grown on the same estates under the same con- 
ditions. Mr. Michael found upon the canes four classes of mites, viz: 
(1) Histiostoma rostroserratus, a foilower of decay. (2) Several imma- 
ture Gamasids, predaceous species. (3) Dameus or Notaspis sp., in small 
numbers only. (4) Two species of Tarsonymus, the larger of the two 
being identical with the species found by Dr. Bancroft destroying sugar- 
cane in Queensland. For this is proposed the name Tarsonymus ban- 
crofti. This is the principal enemy. 

As remedies Mr. Michael recommends Dr. Bancroft’s plan of steep- 
ing the canes before planting for twenty-four hours in a solution of 1 
pound carbolic acid to 100 gallons of water, and suggests the use of a 
mixture of powdered sulphur in soap and water. This application 
should be made two or three times at intervals ofa fortnight. Burning 
the débris is also recommended. 


A REMEDY FOR CABBAGE WORMS. 


Mr. A.S. Fuller, agricultural editor of the New York Sun, finds that 
the following treatment deters the Cabbage Worm: 

Two quarts of coal-tar are put into an open vessel, which is set in the bottom of 
a barrel, and the barrel is filled with water. In forty-eight hours the water is im- 
pregnated with the odor of the tar, although tar is not dissolved in it. The water 
is then sprinkled abundantly on the cabbages, and the odor penetrates every por- 
tion of the head, killing or driving away the worms. As the water evaporates, no 
stain or odor remains on the cabbage. The same quantity of coal-tar can be made to 
impregnate several successive barrels of water. 


LONDON PURPLE. 


The Gardeners’ Chronicle of February 15, 1889, published an article 
under this caption which shows that London purple isless knownin Lon- 
don perhaps than in any other place. Spraying with this substance 
having been urged in this journal, some of its correspondents wrote to 
inquire what it was and where it could be had. The editors surmised 
it to be an arsenical preparation, and weresure that they could find re- 
ferences to it inany authorized dictionary of chemistry or pharmacy. 
They were disappointed, however, and then applied to chemical authori- 
ties, “‘to scientific chemists of high repute, to manufacturing chemists, 
pharmacists, but all to no avail. Finally Mr, Holmes, of the Pharma- 

2902—No. 1——3 


32 


ceutical Society, furnished the desired information. In the meanwhile, 
~ however, finding that in London they could get no information as to Lon- 
don purple, they tried London, Canada, and finally wrote to us in Wash- 
ington. The morals which they draw from the story are that manu- 
facturers should advertise in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, and the popular 
names are “ time-wasting, trouble-giving, and truth concealing.” 


A LITTLE-USED BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


It is unnecessary to call the attention of entomologists to the im- 
portance of such comprehensive bibliographies as the Zoological Record, 
the Zoologischer Jahresbericht and the Berichte uiber die Leistungen auf 
dem Gebiet der Entomologie. Every working entomologist who desires to 
keep abreast with the current literature must have them all or at least 
one of them. It is, however, not generally known that the German 
Botanical Record (Bota wscher Jahresbericht) also contains an entomo- 
logical chapter, viz, on insect injury to plants, including galls and plant 
deformations caused by insects. The literature on the latter subject is 
here more fully treated than in the Zoological Records, but largely 
from the botanical stand-point. The entomological e'itor is now the 
well-known Hymenopterist, Prof. K. W. von Dalla Torre, of Innsbruck, 
Austria. 


NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF PHYCITIDA. 


At the meeting of the French Entomological Society, held January 8, 
1890, Mons. E. Ragonot presented the descriptions of the following new 
genera and species of North American Phycitide: (Ann. Soe. Ent. France 
1890, Bull. des séances, pp. vii—viil); Ulophora n. g., type; U. groteti n. 
sp. from North Carolina. (To this genus belongs Myelois guarinella Zeller 
from Columbia); Glyptocera nu. g., type: Hphestia consobrinella Zeller ; 
Laodamia, n. g., type: Pempelia fecella Zeller; Letilia, n. g., type: 
Dakruma coccidivora Comstock. 


A SOCIAL PAPILIO LARVA. 


None of our North American species of Papilio can be called social 
in the larva state, and even when they are abundant on one particular 
tree, e. g., the larve of P. cresphontes on a young Orange tree or on 
a Prickly Ash, they are not social since it is evident that they do not 
care for the company of each other. It is rather strange, therefore, 
that in a species from Cuba (Papilio oxynius Hiibn.), the larve should 
be social. Dr. P. Gundlach, the venerable explorer of the Cuban 
fauna, has already recorded this fact in his contributions to the Cuban 
Entomology, but he has corroborated his former observations by recent 
experience communicated in a letter to Mr. E. G. Honrath (Berl. Ent. 
Zeits., v. 33, 1890, p. (8) ). It appears that the larve of this Papilio 
feed at night on a species of Xanthoxylum (Prickly Ash), but during 


33 


the day they are found huddled close together on the lower part of the 
trunk in large companies, fifty-six specimens and more having been 
counted in a single flock, all with the heads turned in the same direc- 
tion. Doctor Gundlach speaks only of the more mature larva and Jeaves 
us in doubt about the mode of oviposition and habits of the young 
larva. Pupation does not seem to take place on the trunk, for a large 
number of fall-grown larve purposely left on the trunk of a particular 
tree were entirely lost sight of. 


REMARKABLE CASE OF RETARDATION. 


Dr. A. Speyer relates (Stett. Entom. Zeit., 1888, p. 205) that of two 
larve of Bombyx (Gastropacha) lanestris, coliected in June, 1882, and 
which pupated shortly afterwards, the one did not produce the imago 
until April 4, 1887, after a pupal rest of five years. He now informs us 
(1. c., 1889, p. 140) that the other pupa produced the imago two years 
later, on April 9,1889. It had thus been in the pupa stage seven years. 
In this particular species of Bombycids retardation in development has 
frequently been observed, specimens often remaining two years in the 
pupa stage, and Dr. Speyer had previously noted retardation of three 
and four years duration. The remarkable thing in these five and seven 
years’ instances of retardation is that the imagos were not inferior in 
size to those hatched after a normal pu;.al rest of one year. 


AN IMPORTANT WORK ON EUROPEAN GRAPE-INSECTS. 


Professor Valéry Mayet’s work, “‘ Les Insectes de la Vigne” (Paris, 
1890), to which has just been awarded the Dollfus prize by the French 
Entomological Society, forms a stately volume of 470 pages, with 
eighty-one figures in the text, and five plates (four of them colored), 
and is the most noteworthy recent publication in the domain of eco- 
nomic entomology. To the entomologist, as well as to the vineyardist, 
this work will for a long time remain a reliable source for the study of 
the economy of all insects injurious to the grape-vine. 

The Grape Phylloxera naturally claims most attention of all grape- 
insects, nearly 120 pages or about one-fourth of the whole work being 
devoted to it, the bibliography alone occupying nearly 17 pages, and 
the chapter on remedies and modes of prevention (very fully illustrated) 
50 pages. <A full enumeration of the insects treated by Professor 
Mayet would occupy too much space, but would be of great interest if 
placed side by side with the insects injurious to the grape-vine in our 
owncountry. The insects infesting grape-vines in Europe are as follows, 
distributed among the various orders: Diptera, one species; Homop- 
tera, thirteen species (three Coccida, two Aphidida, one Fulgoride, four 
Cicadide); Heteroptera, six species; Lepidoptera, seventeen species 
(twenty-two species have been observed in fact but five have never 
proved to be injurious to any extent) ; Veuroptera, one species; Ortho- 


o4 


ptera, six species; Coleoptera, forty species (out of a much larger number 
actually observed to feed on grape-vine); Hymenoptera, two species. 
In the Appendix are further mentioned: Thysanura, one species (hardly 
injurious), and Thysanoptera, two species. 


DERMESTID BEETLES INFESTING MUSEUMS. 


Trogodermainsulare Chevrolat, a Dermestid beetle originally described - 
from Cuba, has lately been found by Mr. H. Lucas* at the Museum of 
the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, France, infesting insect collections re- 
ceived from Panama, the injury done by the larve being very serious. 
We presume Mr. Lucas has at once trken steps to exterminate this 
pest in his boxes, and that we are thus prevented from ascertaining 
whether or not this American insect would have become naturalized in 
Europe. 

While it is true that by the general watchfulness on the part of the 
owners and keepers of collections the distribution of these museum pests 
is largely prevented, it must be remembered that these Dermestids are 
not only found in collections but also feed on the bodies of dead flies, 
spiders and other insects in the dark corners of our rooms, under fur- 
niture, etc., and that they should find, therefore, no difficulty in spreading 
from house to house, from city to city, and finally from one coutinent to 
another. But this is only correct regarding a portion of the species, 
Dermestes lardarius has, together with other species of the same genus. 
become cosmopolitan in distribution and the same may be said of 
Anthrenus varius and Attagenus piceus.t On the other hand, Anthrenus 
scrophularie, the best known museum pest in Europe, is entirely un- 
known in American collections of insects and other objects of natura 
history. It is well known that this species has been imported of late 
years into the northeastern part of the country where itis greatly inju- 
rious to carpets, but for some reason or another it seems to be unable 
to extend its range southwards and even makes slow or no progress 
westward. Our own most destructive museum pest, Trogoderma 
tarsale, has never established itself in Europe where it is replaced by 
T. versicolor. 

The Chilian Hurhopalus variegatus has to our knowledge never been 
found elsewhere. In the American Naturalist (v. 16, 1882, p. 826) Pro- 
fessor Riley called attention to the fact that Perimegatoma variegatum 
infests insect collections in California, but in spite of the lively inter- 


*Annales Soc. Ent. France, 1889, p. cxl; description of larva and pupa by the 
same author, l. c., p. cex. 

t This last named species is of late years decidedly increasing in numbers and de- 
structive powersin Washington, D.C. The larve have repeatedly been found in insect 
boxes which were not quite tight, but fortunately they are larger and more cylin- 
drical than those of Anthrenus or Trogoderma and unable, therefore, to enter the box 
through a very small crack. Moreover they feed only externally on insects and do 
not enter their bodies as is the custom with Anthrenus and Trogoderma. As a house- 
hold pest they injure carpets in the same way as Anthrenus scrophularia. 


35 


course between the entomologists of the Pacific and Atlantic slopes it 
has never been found in the Eastern States. 

From these facts it would seem that the apparent facilities for the 
spread of these Dermestids are counteracted, or at least greatly inter- 
fered with by the intricate natural laws which govern the distribution 
of animated beings.—E. A. S. 


CERAMBYCID LARV.Z OCCASIONALLY BENEFICIAL. 


Certain cerambycid larve (Leptostylus and Hyperplatys) have been ob- 
served by Mr. Schwarz (Proc. Ent. Soc. of Washington, v. 1, p. 165) to 
destroy the larve of Sculytid beetles by running their own galleries 
through the colonies of the Scolytids. A similar instance is recently re- 
ported by Professor Altum, of the Forestry Academy at Eberswalde, 
Germany (Zeitschrift fiir Forst- und Jagdwesen, v. 22, 1890, p. 55). In 
consequence of the favorable weather of 1889 the larve of Lamia (Acan- 
thocinus) cedilis were very common and worked so vigorously under the 
bark of felled pine trees that they crowded out and killed the half-grown 
larve of a Scolytid, Hylesinus ligniperda, which infested the same logs. 


DIMORPHIC FEMALES OF BUTTERFLIES. 


It is a well known fact that in certain Diurnal Lepidoptera the male 
sex is constant in coloration while the female appears in two forms, one 
being similar in coloration to the male, the other considerably different 
therefrom. An instaace of this class is our Papilioturnus. In other 
cases of female dimorphism the form resembling the male is wanting, as 
is the case in our Argynnis diana. Mr. Charles Oberthiir now advances 
the question (Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1889, Bull., p. coxxxv) whether in 
this latter case the form corresponding in coloration with the male should 
not always exist. He believes that in these polymorphic species the 
original form of female was of the same coloration as the male, and ‘the 
aberrant form developed subsequently and gradually. As a proof of 
this hypothesis he communicates an interesting recent discovery. 
Argynnis niphe is an old and common species enjoying a remarkably 
extended range, since it occurs in Abyssinia, India, China, on the 
Philippine Islands, and Java. From all these widely distant locali- 
ties the female of this species was hitherto known only in a form 
strikingly different from the male. Quite recently, however, Mr. Ober- 
thiir received from a place in southern Hindoostan bearing the attrac- 
tive name of Trichinopolis, specimens which prove that in this particular 
locality the female of A. niphe differs no more from the male than in 
most other species of Argynnis. Does Mr. Oberthiir’s hypothesis hold 
true in all cases, and should we really expect to find iu our A. diana 
females which correspond in coloration with the male ? 


AN IMPROVED INSECT LIME. 


Quite alarge number of periodicals are devoted in Germany to the 
various branches of scientific forest culture and contain not infre- 


36 


quently entomological articles of considerable economic interest written 
by competent authorities and observers. Since these periodicals are but 
little read in this country our entomologists know of the existence of 
these articles only when they are collated in general and more accessi- 
ble works on forestry insects, e. g., the well-known works by Ratzeburg, 
Altum, Eichhoff, Judeich and Nitzsche, etc. Through the kindness of 
Prof. B. K. Fernow, chiet of the forestry division of the U.S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, we have before us the more recent numbers of 
one of these periodicals, the Zeitschrift fiir Forst- und Jagdwesen (Berlin, 
Julius Springer) for 1889 and 1890,* from which the following note is 
taken: 

In comparison with the tar rings emploved here to prevent injurious 
caterpillars from ascending trees, the rings of adhesive lime, of late years 
largely used by the German foresters, appear to be greatly superior in 
every respect. The lime is manufactured by two firms, L. Pohlborn, 
Berlin, and Schindler & Mitzell, Stettin, both kinds appearing to be of 
the same quality. We are not told of what material this lime is made, 
but it probably largely consists of boiled linseed-oil (birds’ lime.) It is 
not in the least injurious to the trees and its superiority over tar be- 
comes at once apparent from its long effectiveness, since rings applied 
in early spring retain their adhesive power till late in the fall. The 
lime as now used is of the consistency of green soap, so that it has to 
be smeared on and can not well be painted on the trees. To facili- 
tate this operation a simple wooden implement consisting of two pieces 


is used; a Saving of material is thereby effected, and the rings can be - 


made of even width and thickness. The cost of this lime is, in Germany, 
$4.25 per hundred kilograms (50 pounds), including freight to some dis. 
tance. In an experiment on a large scale made in 1888, rings 30 milli- 


* The foliowing is a list of the entomological papers in the volumes for 1889 and 
1890 (so far as published) of this periodical, the trauslations of the titles not being 
verbatim: 

Contributions to the life: history of and the mode of warfare against Bombyx pini. 
By Professor Altum, 1889, pp. 39-47. 

The destruction of Orgyia pudibunda. By Professor Altum, 1889, pp. 166-169. 

Contributions to the life history of certain species of Lyda (Tenthredinide). By 
Dr. Karl Eckstein, 1889, pp. 210-218. 

Experimental application of lime rings for preventing injury by Orgyia pudibunda. 
By W. Boden, 1889, pp. 219-222. 

Tenthredo cingulate Fabr., a ‘‘ deceptive” Saw-fly. By Professor Altum, 1°89, pp. 
271-274. : 

Grapholitha strobilella L. By H. Gerike, 1889, pp. 321-326. 

The banded Pine Geometrid (Ellopia fasciaria L.) By Professor Altum, 1889, pp. 
403-4 18. 

The Winter Geometrids. By Professor Altum, 1889, pp. 641-647. 

The mode of feeding in the Pine Bombyx, the Pine Noctua, and the Pine Saw-flies. 
By Professor Altum,:1890, pp. 81-82. 

The new Pine Geameoid (Ellopia prosapiaria L.) By Borgmann, 1890, pp. 141- 145. 

The Basket-Willow Leaft-beetle (Chrysomela vulgatissima). By Dr. Karl Eckstein, 
1890, pp. 145-148. 


oi sich alc 


Oo” 


meters in width and 4 millimeters in thickness were applied to 885 trees 
of an average diameter of 18 centimeters, at a total cost of 27.40 marks 
(about $6.80) including labor. The rings were smeared around the 
trunks at a height of 14 meters from the ground; if laid much higher up 
so as to necessitate the use of ladders the cost of labor was correspond- 
ingly increased. As stated above, the rings have in all cases proved to 
be a perfect protection against all caterpillars that attempted to ascend 
the trees during the whole season.—E. A. 38. 


UTILIZATION OF THE STING OF THE HONEY-BEE IN THERAPEUTICS. 


This old and half-forgotten subject has been brought up again re- 
cently byDr. Al. Laboulbene at the meeting of the French Entomolog- 
ical Society, held on March 13, 1889. Dr. Laboulbéne gave then a 
short abstract of a paper published in 1888 by an Austrian physician, 
Dr. Tere, who seems to have made extended experiments for a number 
of years. Dr. Tere asserts that a person stung by bees acquires thereby 
a relative immunity for the consequences of subsequent stings; in 
other words, that the virus of the bee sting acts like a vaccinal inocula- 
tion againstits own poison. Theimmunity lasts six months, sometimes 
less, probably according to the number of stings inflicted on a person. 
Persons suffering from acute rheumatism require a larger number of bee- 
stings to feel the usual effect of the poison, but as soon as by inocula- 
tion of a sufficient amount of virus they have acquired immunity against 
its effect, they will—as long as this immunity lasts—be free from rheu- 
matic attacks. Dr. Laboulbéne suggests that, in the interest of med- 
ical science, it would be well to thoroughly test these assertions. 


ON OTIORHYNCHID£. 


In the American Naturalist, v. 16, 1832, pp. 915, 916, Dr. Riley gave 
a list of the North American weevils of the family Otiorhynchide which 
are injurious to cultivated plants, adding thereto an enumeration of 
those species of which the food-habits were recorded. To these may 
now be added Aramigus tesselatus, which, according to E. A. Popenoe 
(Industrialist, May 29, 1886), infests the Sweet Potato in the West; 
Scythropus elegans, which is enumerated by Mr. W. H. Harrington 
(Trans. Ottawa Field Nat. Club, v. 2, 1881, p. 33) among the enemies of 
pine trees in Canada; and Graphorhinus vadosus, the imago of which 
feeds on the leaves of clover, according to F. M. Webvster (Amer. Nat., 
v. 16, 1882, p. 746). Of late yeavs three additional species have 
been recorded as injurious to cultivated plants. Otiorhynchus ovatus, 
which proved to be a not insignificant enemy to the strawberry, 
as first pointed out by Prof. A. J. Cook, who also described its 
earlier stages; Aragnomus griseus, which was recorded by Dr. Riley 
(INSECT LIFE, v. 1, 1888, p. 16) as an enemy to pear trees in Oregon. 
The third species is Otiorhynchus sulcatus, which occurs in both North 
America and Europe, aud which, in the latter country, has been quite 


38 


frequently mentioned and treated of as an enemy to grape vines, straw- 
berries, and other cultivated plants. In North America, Dr. J. A. Lint- 


ner (Second New York Report, 1885, p. 51) introduced it, on the testi- 


mony of Mr. S. Henshaw, as a species injurious to * bulbs and house- 
plants,” Mr. Henshaw’s statement apparently referring to injury done 
jn Massachusetts. Quite recently Dr. H. A. Hagen (Psyche, v. 5, No. 
167-8, March-April, 1890, p. 333) states that this species has injured 
Cyclamens in greenhouses at Montvale, Mass., the flowers being de- 
stroyed and in some instances the bulbs injured. It is not stated 
whether the latter kind of injury is done by the imago or the larva. In 
reviewing the history of the species in North America, Dr. Hagen says 
that ‘*‘ Professor Riley, in his third Missouri report (1871, p. 11), states 
that the species infests the crown of strawberries, but does not say 
where it was observed.” If Dr. Hagen would carefully read the whole 
paragraph from which the above passage is quoted he will find that 
Professor Riley distinctly referred to injury done by weevils in Europe, 
instancing a number of European species, and among them this Otior- 
hynchus sulcatus. 

As to the probable future course of this pest we do not anticipate that 
its injury will be a very serious one nor that it will spread very much, 
The species was already known from North America to coleopterists 
more than sixty years ago and is confined to the extreme northeast- 
ern portion of the country (from New York northward to Newfound 
land and Nova Scotia). For this reason we are inclined to believe that 
it is not an imported species but that it belongs (with the other species 
of Otiorhynchus known from North America) to the cireumpolar fauna. 
It is a peculiarity of the cireumpolar insects that, with few exceptions, 
they do not seem capable of extending their range southward, at least 
not at a rapid rate, and they seem further incapable of doing very seri- 
ous injury. The only notable exceptions that occur to us are Agrotis 
fennica and Otiorhynchus ovatus. But either species has not spread over 
a large stretch of the country. These circumpolar species thus form a 
most striking contrast to the introduced and cosmopolitan insects and to 
some extent also to those insect pests which, originally belonging to the 
Central or South American faunas have advanced from the south, e. g., 
the Cotton Worm, the Chinch Bug, the Harlequin Cabbage Bug, etc.— 
E. A. S. 

A CHEAP SPRAYING APPARATUS. 


Our attention is called by the Southern Horticultural Journal of May 
15 to a cheap spraying apparatus described and figured by Prof. Ro- 
land Thaxter in Bulletin No. 2 of the Connecticut Experiment Station. 
It may be constructed by any ingenious person and is designed to take 
the place, especially in vineyard work, of the more expensive knapsack 
‘¢Kureka” sprayer manufactured by Adam Weaber & Son, of Vine- 
land, N.J. 

The apparatus (Fig. 3) consists of a reservoir, pump and nozzle. The 


en a aii 


39 


reservoir is an ordinary copper wash-boiler of small size. The pump is. 
of the “ hydronette” or “‘ aquanette” pattern, and is connected with the 
boiler by means of a hose which enters at e, and passes to the bottom 
of the boiler. The boiler is fitted with straps as in the case of the ordi- 
nary knapsack sprayers. 


EE. OY 


Nit CSe eet S 


“ib -™ 


Fic. 3.—Spraying apparatus designed by Dr. Roland Thaxter. (After Thaxter.) 


The Vermorel nozzle is used, and in order to give continuous action 
to the spray, which would not be accomplished with the single-acting 
pump used, a sort of compression chamber is contrived between the 
pump and nozzle as follows: A piece of 32-inch elastic tubing D (hose 
will not answer) is fastened to the nozzle and pump ata.z. The nozzle 
and pump are also connected with two heavy copper wires ¢, which sup- 
port the elastic tube b, and may be bent to give the nozzle any desired 
direction. Theexpansion of the tube bd is sufficient with the Vermorel 
nozzle to produce a continuous spray. For limited operations, we have 
no doubt, this apparatus will prove satisfactory ; its cost should not 
exceed $12, of which amount the pump would represent about $8.— 
C. L. M. 

A PAPER ON MYIASIS. 


The subject of Myiasis or the Pseudo-parasitism of Diptera in Man 
is quite fully treated in a paper by Hugo Summa, A. M., M. D., pro- 
fessor of Physiology, Histology, and Pathology in the St. Louis Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons. The three articles comprising this 
paper originally appeared in the April, May, and June, 1889, numbers 
of the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal. Article I sums up all 
the hitherto recorded cases of Dipterous larve infesting thehuman body 
which could be found and consulted. Article II divides the subject 
into two parts (myiasis of wounds, nose, ears, and eyes, caused by Sar- 
cophagide and Muscide ; and myiasis of the intestines caused by An- 
thomyide), cites a few recorded cases omitted in the first article, and 
describes in detail two new recent cases of nasal myiasis, one observed 
by the writer’s brother, Dr. Henry Summa, the other by himself. The 
first of these was caused by the larvee of Catliphora (Musca) vomitoria, the 
blue-bottle fly, and was cured in eight days by a nasal irrigation with 


40 


_& gdyy Solution of corrosive sublimate used twice daily for five days, and | 
doses of albuminous water and raw eggs on the stomach to counteract — 
any injurious resultsfrom mercurial salivation. One of these living mag- 
gots was fed on raw beef and became a pupa, five days later developing 
into the perfect fly, original natural size figures being given of this 
pupa and fly. The other case, observed by the writer himself, was 
caused by the larve of Sarcophaga carnaria, the common flesh-fly, 
and though a very bad case was overcome in a few weeks; by what 
treatment is not stated. Injections ofa five per cent solution of carbolic — 
acid had been of no avail. Three original figures of one of these larvze 
are given showing respectively the magnified larvee and its anal and 
capital segments still more enlarged. 7 

Article III considers the clinical history of myiasis, dividing it into 
(1) myiasis of wounds, (2) myiasis of nose, ears, eyes, and vagina, and 
(3) myiasis of the intestines. The first two are caused by Sarcophagide 
and Muscide being attracted to putrid or septic wounds, or to an offen- 
sive or purulent discharge from the various orifices of the body and 
depositing their eggs or larve therein. Such cases, after removing all 
the larvee possible by mechanical means, are best treated with the cor- 

‘rosive sublimate injection (except in wounds), injections of chloroform 
diluted with sweet milk, or injections of citric acid or lemon juice. The 
insufflation of iodoform has also proved satisfactory in several cases. 
The last division of the subject, myiasis of the intestines, is caused by 
the Anthomyide depositing their eggs in spoiled vegetables which are 
afterward eaten in a raw state, asin salads. The same treatment should 
be used in this case as in helminthiasis.—C. H. T. T. 


CODLING MOTH REMEDIES. 


D. B. Wier, in the Orchard and Farm for May 15, after referring to 
the successful spraying with London purple for the Codling Moth, 
reported by Prof. M. H. Beckwith, of the Delaware Agricultural Col- 
jege, and of the similar favorable reports from cther Agricultural 
Colleges and Experiment Stations, expresses the belief that this pest - 
of the Apple and Pear, and also the Curculio of the Plum and Peach 
can by this means be effectually controlled. He gives, also, a mode 
of destroying the Codling Moth, which he claims to be of great value 
where the apples are carried to a shed or barn to be assorted and 
packed. He proposes to kill the myriads of worms which leave the 
apples while in such places to spin np in crevices of the building by 
fumigating with some gas, such as sulphide of carbon, fumes of burn- 
ing sulphur, or the hydrocyanic acid gas used against the Cottony 
Cushion Scale. By making the apple shed or house of rough lumber, 
with plenty of crevices for the worms to spin up in and yet as near air- 
tight as possible, it will be feasible, he says, to shut up and thoroughly 
fumigate in March, destroying the insects; or in smooth-plastered 
houses, traps of old boards and shingles, rags, etc., could be arranged, 


41 


which in February or March could be taken out and burned. Where © 
the buildings could be kept closed during the early summer the hatch- 
ing moths would eventually die, thus avoiding the necessity of fumiga- 
ting. These remedies will doubtless be of value where apples are 
treated as indicated, the last two being mere variations of older sug- 
gestions. 


THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


June 5, 1890.—Mr. Ashmead, under general notes, announced the discovery of a 
genus of Proctotrupide new to the United States. The insect Iphitrachelus ameri- 
canus is interesting as furnishing a connecting form between the subfamilies Cera- 
phronine and Platygasterine. 

Mr. Schwarz exhibited a specimen of Throscus pugnax, which species is new to the 
tauna of the District. 

Professor Riley presented a paper ‘‘On the Difficulty of Dealing with Lachnos- 

terna,” in which he described the attacks of these beetles on certain large trees, espe- 
cially a Chestnut and a Swamp Oak having a height of about 30 feet, which had 
been transplanted to his grounds last February. The successive appearance and 
work of several species of Lachnosterna were described and the experiments with 
remedies detailed. The latter consisted in spraying with a stroug whale-oil and to- 
bacco-soap solution, and later with London Purple at the rate of 1 pound to 125 gal- 
lons of water. 
. The applications were satisfactorily made, but proved ineffective. The first did 
not prevent the attacks of the beetles at all, and while the second resulted in the 
poisoning of many of the beetles, as indicated by the finding of dead ones on the 
ground, it was of little value in limiting the onslaught. Professor Riley deduced 
from his experiments that it was practically impossible to protect large trees from 
Lachnosterna. It was shown also that the beetles came from the ground near the 
trees. The injury consisted in the gnawing off of the leaves at the base of the 
petiole. 

The paper was discussed by Messrs. Fernow, Riley, Schwarz, Howard and Mann. 
In a paper entitled ‘‘Notes on Xyleborus” Mr. Schwarz commented upon the dis- 
covery of a wild food-plant of Xyleborus dispar (pyri). This Scolytid had been found 
quite recently in the vicinity boring and ovipositing in young shoots of Liriodendron 
tulipifera. Inthe same branches another species, X. tachygraphus, was discovered, 
and Mr. Schwarz exhibited and described its galleries. 

Discussion followed by Messrs. Riley, Schwarz, Ashmead, and Fernow. 

Mr. Howard read a paper entitled ‘‘ The habits of Eurytoma,” in which he called 
attention to the fact that heretofore the generally-surmised parasitic habit of the 
members of this genus had never been conclusively shown; and the close relation- 
ship of Eurytoma with the phytophagic genus Jsosoma would lead to the inference 
that the former might be, in part at least, inquilines and not true parasites. 

The following of a certain species from the Jarval stage to the pupal, in which they 
were at once recognized as a species of Eurytuma,* settled in one instance at least the 
question of larval habit. An Oak gall, Cynips quercus-prunus, was found, on cutting 
it open May 17, to contain six full-grown parasitic larve, afterwards determined as 
given above, and the remains of a larva which they had vearly devoured. 

The paper was discussed by Messrs. Riley, Howard, and Ashmead. 

C. L. MARLATT, 
Recording Secretary. 


* The imagos obtained later proved to be Eurytoma prunicola Walsh. 


Vol. Ill, No. 2. } ENS ECe. LIFE. [Issued Sept., 1890. 


SPECIAL NOTES. 


Insects injuring Cotton in Egypt.—One of the last official acts performed 
by the late Hon. Eugene Schuyler, United States agent and consul- 
general at Cairo, before his recent untimely and lamented death, was 
to send usacopy of Albert Ismalun’s brochure upon the cotton insects of 
Egypt and (through the State Department and the honorable Secretary 
of Agriculture) a dispatch containing a translation of a recently pub- 
lished article on the same subject by Dr. E. Sickenberger of the Cairo 
Medical School. We print this dispatch in the ‘extracts from corre- 
spondence” of this number as a matter of entomological interest, al- 
though there is little danger, as Mr. Schuyler feared, of the importation 
of any of these pests into this country, and certainly none that * the 
cotton exported from Egypt to the United States might contain the 
eggs.” Of the three species treated, the Prodenia seems to be isotypical 
with the Laphygma frugiperda of our Southern cotton fields, and the 
Oxycarenus with our Dysdercus suturellus. 


A Japanese Parasite of the Gipsy Moth.—Rey. H. Loomis, of Yokohama, 
has just written us the following interesting letter: 


I have seen the reports of the ravages of the Ocneria dispar at Medford, in Massa- 
chusetts, and have taken considerable interest in the matter. 

Some time last season the same caterpillar appeared on a wistaria vine near my 
house and was very destructive, but after a while the caterpillars began to die and I 
discovered that an ichneumon fly had attacked them with great success. 

This spring the caterpillars have been very few, and in nearly every case have been 
destroyed by the ichneumon flies. 

I will send you a box in which are some of the cocoons of the ichneumon fly, and 
also two specimens of their work. Perhaps this may be of some value to those who 
are interested in the extermination of the pest. 


This matter is one of great interest for the reason that no parasites 


have as yet been found to attack the Gypsy Moth in this country. We 


stated in our article on page 210 of Vol. II that we thought it very 
41 


42 


probable that some of our native species would acquire a taste for this 
pest, and this species, which Mr. Loomis sends, is confirmatory of our 
surmise. The Ocneria has evidently been imported into Japan from 
Europe and as the parasite which he sends can not be identified with 
any of the known European parasites it is probably a Japanese insect 
which has learned to prey upon the Ocneria. The parasite is an Apan- 
teles and seems to be a new species. The Microgasters, by the way, 
seem very fond of this larva as our list in the article above referred to 
embraces no less than nine species which prey upon it in Europe. 


Se 


The Oviposition of the Horn Fly._In regard to the egg-laying by the 
Horn Fly, Prof. J. B. Smith (in his annual report for 1889) takes direct 
issue with us upon the point as to whether the eggs are laid during the 
day or during the night, a point of considerable practical importance 
in view of its bearing upon remedies. 

We have carefully searched through Professor Smith’s account, and 
the only definite observation which he has recorded is that flies put in 
a large bottle with fresh cow-dung rested quietly upon the glass and 
upon some chips which he had also placed in the bottle and had not 
oviposited ‘‘ early that evening; 7. ¢.,8o0’clock. Next morning the flies 
were still alive, and there were numerous eggs on the chips, on the sides 
of the bottle, and on the top of the manure.” Healso quotes Mr. Bodee, 
of Freehold, to the effect that the eggs are laid at night, and in fresh 
droppings. On the strength of these premises, and ignoring the fact 
that cows normally drop no dung from the time when they lie down at 
night until they arise at daylight, Professor Smith disputes the force of 
the positive observations detailed in our article on pp. 93-103 of Vol. II. 

These observations by Mr. Marlatt, as there stated, were made in the 
field upon the natural process of oviposition. From these observations, 
repeated a number of times, and from the long course of field study, 
both by Mr. Marlatt and Mr. Howard, there can be no doubt but that 
the eggs are normally laid only at the moment of the dropping of the 
dung. Mr. Marlatt’s observation that the number of eggs laid in dung 
dropped between sunrise and 7 o’clock compares with those laid in the 
hot sunshine between 10 and 11.30 only in the proportion of 10 to 350 
is conclusive against Professor Smith’s position. We consider that our 
generalization to the effect that ‘“‘the eggs are deposited during day- 
light, chiefly during the warmer time of the day, between 9 and 4, and 
mainly between 9 in the morning and noon,” is more than substantiated 
by recorded observations and is not vitiated in the least by the action 
of frightened flies confined in a bottle, and which from Professor Smith’s 
own statement (and from our own experience frequently repeated) de- 
parted so far from their normal habit under these unusual conditions as 
to oviposit upon chips and glass. The statement, however positive, of 


43 


Mr. Bodee, unsubstantiated and unaccompanied by any particulars, in 
a matter where error is so easy, is of little value against these positive 
facts. Z 


Sending Codling Moth Enemies from the United States to New Zealand.— 
Sometime since we instructed our California agent, Mr. Koebele, to collect 
and forward a number of living specimens of a common Raphidia which 
he had found to destroy the larva and pupa of the Codling Moth in Cali- 
fornia, to Mr. Wight in New Zealand, as a partial return for Mr. Wight’s 
kindness to Mr. Koebele when he was in New Zealand in the spring of 
1889 collecting the insect enemies of the Fluted Scale. Recent letters 
from Mr. Wight and an article in the June number of the New Zealand 
Farmer, inform us that the shipment arrived in fairly good condition, 
although it was opened for examination and held for ten days at the 
custom-house. Twenty-one specimens were sent, each one in a small 
box with moss, and the whole inclosed in a strong wooden box. Mr. 
Wight fuund pup in sixteen of the boxes anda larva in one, while three 
were empty, probably owing to the custom-house examination. The 
single larva was hungry and very attenuated and it at once attacked 
and devoured a Codling Moth larva twice its own size. It was so 
stretched out and distended that at first, not discovering the absence 
of the Codling Moth larva, Mr. Wight thought it was entering the pupa 
state; but it presently resumed its usual appearance and finished sev- 
eral more larve. 

We shall look forward to the result of this importation with great 
interest. The genus Raphidia is represented in this country only upon 
the Pacific coast and itis not at all likely that it will flourish East. We 
shall attempt, however, the introduction of this ravenous creature inte 
some of our eastern apple orchards. 


Economic Entomology in India.—No. 4.—Through the kindness of Mr. E. 
- T. Atkinson and Mr. E.C. Cotes, we have lately received No. 4 of Vol. 
I of the interesting ‘“‘ Indian Museum Notes” to which we have before 
referred in these pages. The present number contains pages 175 to 
213, illustrated by a single well-executed plate trom the drawings of Mr. 
G. C. Chuckrabotty, a native artist of considerable ability. The articles 
in this number comprise “Notes on Rhynchota,” by Mr. E. T. Atkin- 
son; ‘“* New Species of Indian Diptera,” by Mr. J. M. F. Bigot; “A 
Butterfly Destructive to Fruit,” by Mr. L. de Niceville, and *“ Miscella- 
neous Notes,” by Mr. E. C. Cotes. 

Mr. Atkinson’s article is devoted principally to the consideration of 
the so-called ‘“‘mosquito-blight” which we have referred to in the review 
of one of Mr. Green’s articles upon the insects injurious to the tea-plant 
in Ceylon. Mr. Atkinson describes several species of Heteroptera of 


a4 


the family Capside and of the genus Helopeltis which are concerned ‘ 
in the damage to tea and other plants, known as *“‘ mosquito-blight,” and ~ 
after a consideration of the remedies at present in use he urges the adop- 
tion of our kerosene-soap emulsion as the best remedy which he can 
suggest. Mr. Atkinson also records the finding of a Wax-scale (genus 
Ceroplastes) on the tea plant and suggests that the waxy portion of the 
adult female may possibly be used as an article of trade like the insect- 
wax of the pela in China. The species has been sent to Mr. Maskell, of 
New Zealand, for determination. The butterfly which Mr. de Niceville 
treats of as destructive to fruit is Virachola isocrates, Fabr. This insect 
damages the fruit of the Locust, Guava, and Pomegranate, by laying its 
eggs within the calyx of the flower, the larva boring into the young 
fruit within which it develops and transforms. No remedy is suggested 
beyond catching the female butterfly, but the arsenical sprays would 
doubtless serve to prevent the injury. 

Mr. Cotes, under the head of ‘ Miscellaneous Notes,” treats of a 
number of interesting matters which we have not the space to mention © 
in detail. . 


Bean Insects in Nebraska.—[n the report of the Horticultural Depart- 
ment, extracted from the second annual report of the experiment sta- 
tion of the Kansas State Agricultural College for the year 1889, Prof. 
K. A. Popenoe takes up the subject of some insects injurious to the 
Bean. The principal article under this head is, naturally, the Bean- 
weevil (Bruchus obsoletus Say). After practical tests, Professor Popenoe 
indorses the use of bisulphide of carbon as a remedy, following the rec- 
ommendations of the Entomologist of this Department. The other in- . 
sects considered are the Bean Leaf-beetle (Ceratoma caminea Fabr.), and 
two plant-bugs, viz, Agalliastes bractatus Say and Halticus minutus 
Ubler, MS. These insects injure the Bean by feeding in great numbers 
on the under side of the leaves, puncturing the tissues, sucking the 
sap, and causing the death of the leaves in small irregular patches that | 
appear as white spots. They operate mostly near the ground and upon 
weak, slow-growing varieties, and sometimes do appreciable injury to 
the plant. No practical conclusions have been reached regarding these 
last two insects. 


Common native Insects of South Australia — We have just received from 
the author, Mr. J. G. O. Tepper, F. L. S., Part II of his treatise upon 
the common insects of South Australia. 

This part is devoted to the Lepidoptera, or butterflies and moths, — 
and has just been printed at Adelaide. 


45 


THE CLOVER MITE. 
(Bryobia pratensis Garman.) 
By C. V. RILEY and C. L. MARLATT. 


The subject of this article has been referred to several times in INSECT 
LIFE in extracts from correspondence, notes, and otherwise, but no full 
account of it has been given. Occasion is now taken to place on record 
the notes accumulated by the Division relating to its distribution and 
habits together with such recommendations as to remedies as past ex- 
perience warrants. Bryobia pratensis belongs to the family of vegetable- 
feeding mites, Tetranychide, which includes the well-known Red Spider 
of hot-houses and the Six spotted Mite of the Urange, which was de- 
scribed and figured in the annual report of the Entomologist for 1889. 
It occurs very commonly in the Northern and Central States from 
Massachusetts to California, and is especially annoying on account of its 
habit, frequently developed in spring and autumn, of migrating in enor- 
mous numbers into houses. No specimens have heen received from the 
Southern States, but- the fact that itis abundant about Washington 
would lead us to expect its occurrence farther south. 

The wide distribution of the species might lead to the supposition 
that there were several distinct species; but a careful examination of 
the large series of specimens in the national collection shows no other 
aifferences than in size and coloration, such as may be found in speci- 
mens on a single piece of bark or leaf and which are chiefly due to 
varying degrees of maturity. 

This Bryobia, from a general resemblance in habit, shape, and color 
(particularly in its younger stages) to the Red Spider of hot-houses, was 
at first confounded with the latter species, which also, as is well known, 
occurs not infrequently on trees and plants out of doors. In our earlier 
notes we referred to it, therefore, as the red spider (Tetranychus tela- 
rius); and, in the published writings of others concerning the occur- 
rence of this last species out of doors, both mites have doubtless been, 
in like manner, confused. 

This mite was first characterized scientifically in 1885 by Mr. H. Gar- 
man in Forbes’s Third Report, pages 73, 74, under the name given above, 
which description is given at the close of this article. The species de- 
scribed in the same place by Mr. Garman as B. pallida is evidently but 
an immature form of B. pratensis. Concerning this Bryobia Professor 
Forbes reported the following : 

At Normal, early in May, the general occurrence of a large and conspicuously 
brownish-red mite was noticed upon clover and blue-grass, the former of these plants, 
especially, sometimes suffering severely from the pest. The leaves of the clover turned 


yellow, and their growth was arrested where the mite was abundant. The effect on 
the blue-grass was similar. 


46 


In an article by Mr. Garman, on “ Injuries by Plant Mites,” read be- 
fore the meeting of the Central Illinois Horticultural Society and pub- 
lished in the Prairie Farmer of June 26, 1886, the observations in Forbes’s 
report were repeated and the further statement was made that still 
another Bryobia damages the plum trees in the Pacific coast region. 
We have not, however, as already intimated, been able to find any 
characters to separate the mites obtained from California, Oregon, and 
Montana from those received from Central and Eastern States. 


Fic. 4.—BRYOBIA PRATENSIS: a, Female from above; b, do. ventral view, with legs removed; cand d, 
tarsal claws; e, proboscis and palpi from below; f, proboscis enlarged ; g, palpus enlarged; h, one of 
the body scales; 7, scale from outer cephalo-thoracic prominence ; j, scale from inner cephalo-thoracic 
prominence; k, serrate hair from basal joint of leg; 1, same from penultimate joint; m, spine of last 
joint; a,b, greatly enlarged; c- m, still more enlarged (original). 


47 


In the following brief review of our notes and observations relating - 
to this mite we have preferred to associate by localities all references to 


it, rather than to adopta chronological arrangement. From these notes 


a good knowledge of its distribution and habits may be obtained, the 


— entomologist having personally observed itnot only at Washington but 


at many points in the Mississippi Valley, as far as St. Louis, where it 
is quite common, and also in California. 

Distribution.—The first reference to the occurrence of this mite 
at Washington bears date of March 21, 1879, when the eggs and 
young together with adult mites were found abundantly on the twigs 
and bark of the elms in the Department grounds. On May 9 of the 
same year, it was found to infest the leaves of the red clover in great 
numbers throughout the city of Washington. The clover leaves, espe- 
cially the older ones, had asickly appearance asif attacked by a fungus; 
the younger leaves showed very clearly, however, that this appearance 
was caused by some species of insect, and at first sight seemed to be the 
the work of a micro-lepidopterous leaf-miner, but closer inspection 
showed it to be the work of a mite, of which quite a number were found 
on the leaves, chiefly on the upper sides, where they extracted the juices 
as they slowly crawled along, leaving behind them a discolored narrow 
line of irregular windings which imitated to perfection the mines of 
certain Tineide. 

In December of the same year, also, eggs, which afterwards proved 
to belong to this species, were found very commonly on the bark of 
apple trees in the Department orchard. 

Since 1879 these mites have been observed every spring and summer, 
chiefly on clover, but also on various trees, notably Apple, Elm, and 
Peach; and in the fall and winter, on or beneath the bark and at the 
angles of the branches of trees, occurring in connection with numerous 
eggs and young in various stages of development. The mites and eggs 
occur on all rough-barked trees examined in the grounds of the Depart- 
ment, and particularly on Apple, Elm, Arbor-vitze, and Black Locust. 
Their blood-red eggs have frequently been observed in numbers suf- 
ficient to impart a reddish color to the trunks and branches of the in- 
fested trees. 

In the Eastern States but one account of its infesting houses has 
been brought to our notice. Mr. George N. Kimball, of Waltham, Mass., 
writes, sending specimens, under date of May 24, 1884, as follows: 

We have occupied the house in which the inclosed mites were obtained but for a 
few weeks and do not know how long they may have been about * * * The 
mites have not been found in any of the rooms except the sitting-room and parlor, 
but are quite numerous under the bay windows of theserooms. A few are also found 
under other windows and on the mop-boards. 

In the central States the inconvenience occasioned by their presence 
in houses has been more frequently reported, as the following refer- 
ences show: 


48 


Specimens of this mite were received from our Indiana agent, Mr. F. 
M. Webster, May 7, 1886, who reported them to be abundant on Red — 
Clover; and in June of that year Mr. Webster found them in numbers 
on grass (Timothy ?), which they were seriously injuring. May 28, 1888, 
he reported them to be disagreeably abundant in houses, where they 
occurred in myriads, and in the spring of the year following they were 
similarly numerous. A description of these outbreaks is given by Mr. 
‘Webster in InsEct LiFE, Vol. I, pp. 277-279. 

Accounts of similar occurrences, together with specimens, have been 
received from A. H. Mundt, Fairbury, Ill.; Mrs. H. S. Perry, Elgin, 
Ill.; L. H. Ellis, Wellington, Ohio (see letter with reply in INSECT LIFE, 
Vol. II, pp. 278-279) ; C. C. Stoltz, Greenville, Ohio; E. M. Mackemer, 
Creston, lowa; and others. 

Of the many accounts with specimens received from Western States, 
in no case have the mites been reported to enter dwellings, but have 
always been found on fruit and other trees. 

December 12, 1879, apple-twigs bearing the eggs of this mite were 
received from Mr. Wickson, editor of the Pacific Rural Press, San Fran- 
cisco, Cal., and the larval mites issued ay, the following year, begin- 
ning to appear January 26. 

March 29, 1880, additional specimens of eggs, this time on the bark of 
the Almond, were received from Mr. Wickson. The specimens were 
collected in Santa Clara County, Cal., by Prof. H. B. Norton, who re- 
ported that they were quite abundant in that locality. These eggs 
were hatching when received, and the young continued to appear dur- 
ing April.* 

Additional specimens of eggs and young on the Almond have been 
received from G. W. Barnes, San Diego, Cal., our agent, Albert Koebele, 
Alameda, Cal., and on the Plum, from C. H. Dwinwelle, Berkeley, Cal., 
and Prune, from J. H. Casterline, Santa Rosa,Cal. The latter sending, 
in addition to eggs and young, included one adult mite. The adults 
were also obtained by Professor Comstock in California in October of 
1880. 

A very interesting lot of eggs was received August 14, 1889, from H. 
W. Turner, Valley Springs, Cal., who forwarded us a piece of the bark 
of Cottonwood absolutely covered, and several layers deep, with what 
are evidently the eggs of this mite. Mr. Turner writes of these eggs as 
follows: 


Eggs on Cottonwood, Tuolumne County, Cal.. 8,000 feet elevation ; collected July 
21, 1889. These eggs are mostly deposited on the south side of the trunks of the Qot- 
tonwood (the one common at from 6,000 to 8,000 feet everywhere in Sierra Nevada, 
with rounded leaves), near the base. At least 50 square feet of these eggs were seen, 
and from the specimens sent you, you can easily approximate their numbers... 


_ *Numbers of the young mites were placed on an orange tree infested with Aspidi- 
otus gloveri and Mealy-bugs, but none were observed to attack the scale insects which 
it was at first thought they might do since they were found on trees infested with 


scales of various kinds. 


49 


These eggs are identical with those heretofore mentioned, and any . 
doubt as to their parentage was removed by the discovery of several 
cast skins of the larval and partly-grown mites about and on them. From 
these eggs was bred a very interesting Tineid moth, a number of larve 
of which were found burrowing in and feeding on the eggs. Aft the 
time of writing, none of these eggs have hatched. 

Specimens identical with the last were received June 14, 1888, from 
Mrs. H. S. Reynolds, of Willis, Mont., concerning which she writes: 

I send you a specimen of interest to us and it may be to you. My husband found 
it on MeCarthy Mountain, at an elevation of about 7,000 feet, on living Aspen trees. 
I at first thought it red snow-plant, but under a glass it proved to be a mass of eggs 
just hatching. They look like spiders, but have only six legs.’ 

When received by us but a few dried and shriveled mites could be 
found. These eggs were as abundant as, and were identical with, those 
already referred to, collected by Mr. Turner at an even greater eleva- 
tion on the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in California. 

The tree mentioned is probably the same in both instances and, on 
the authority of Professor Fernow, is without much doubt Populus trem- 
uloides. 

The occurrence of the mites in Oregon and Utah is shown by the 
following: 

May 28, 1889, Mr. E. Shipley, James Valley P. O., Oregon, sent us 
twigs bearing young and one full-grown mite, and he reported the mites 
to be very abundant on boards, stones, fences, and fruit trees. 

July 19, 1880, Professor Comstock found what is evidently the same 
mite infesting the apple-trees at Salt Lake City, the eggs, young, and 
nearly-grown mites occurring abundantly on leaves and twigs. On the 
under side of the leaves, along the midrib, a fine web was spun, be- 
neath which and attached to it cast skins of the mites were found. The 
largest of the mites collected at Salt Lake City by Professor Comstock 
are somewhat less in size than the ordinary adult B. pratensis, and, 
while evidently having undergone the final moult had not yet reached 
complete development. No variation in structural details occur and 
they may, with little doubt, be referred to the species under discussion. 

Habits and Life-history.—As would be naturally expected, the wide 
range of this mite gives it a somewhat variable habit. 

In the more northern regions and at higher elevations the winter is 
passed principally, if not altogether, in theegg state. The mites, or the 
last brood (there are evidently several broods) come to maturity in the 
fall and deposit their eggs on the trunks and branches of the trees fre- 
quently in sufficient numbers to entirely cover the bark of the trunk and 
branches to a height of several feet. The young mites issue during 
March and April following. 

In the cases referred to above of the occurrence of the eggs in Cali- 
fornia and Montana at an elevation of 7,000 to 8,000 feet, the issuance to 
the young was delayed, evidently by the cold, till from the 1st to the 15th 


50 


of June. The California specimens, collected July 31, 1889, have not 


" 


3 
2 


hatched and it is quite possible, in view of the prior hatching of the ~ 


eggs from similar localities in Montana, that the former eggs, either 
from severe cold or other causes, have been killed, although they are 
still fresh and healthy in appearance. 

Professor Comstock found nearly full-grown specimens at Salt Lake 
City on apple trees in July, together with eggs and young, which would 
indicate two broods there at least. 

In Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Massachusetts large numbers of the last 
brood of mites winter over, and the fall and spring wandering of these 
in search of food or shelter doubtless accounts for the invasion of dwell- 
ings so frequently reported. Theswarming or massing in Europe of an 
allied species, Petrobia lapidum, is referred to by Mr. Webster in the 
article cited above. 

In Vol. I, No. 10, of INSECT LIFE we mentioned the record by the New 
Zealand Farmer of the damage occasioned by a congeneric insect to the 
leaves of the Apple in New Zealand; and our agent, Mr. Webster, in 
the course of his recent Australian mission, had his attention called to 
the work of a similar mite on various fruit-trees in Victoria (see INSECT 
LIFE, Vol. I, p. 363). | 

At Washington, the mites abandon the clover and leaves of trees 
early in October and secrete themselves, especially, in crevices in the 
bark and under loose bark of various trees. In these situations they 
may be found abundantly during the fall and winter in connection with 
eggs and (sparingly) young of various stages. It is thus seén that 
breeding is hardly interrupted in this latitude during the winter months. 

Food-plants.—The foregoing notes indicate that this mite is a very 
general feeder. Many of the trees on which it has been found, how- 
ever, evidently serve but to furnish winter quarters, and are not espe- 
cially attacked by the young and adults during the summer months. 

Of the forage plants, Clover and Timothy (?) are especially attacked ; 
the former being perhaps the ordinary food-plant of the mite. Of trees, 
- the Apple and Arbor-vitz are frequently infested with all stages during 
summer, and the occurrence of eggs aud adults in fall and winter on 
Almond, Plum, Prune, Poplar, Elm, and other trees would indicate that 
these are also attacked. 

Remedies.—In the case of its occurrence on fruit or shade trees it can 
doubtless be controlled or destroyed by spraying with the kerosene 
emulsion, to which sulphur may be profitably added at the rate of 2 or 
3 ounces to the gallon of the wash. In the ease of forage crops, spray- 
ing would be impracticable and no effective method of combatting the 
pest can at present be given. 

The importance of this mite arises chiefly, however, from the annoy- 
ance occasioned by its infesting houses, and this “ inconvenience,” to 
put it mildly, can be avoided, or the mites that may have effected an en- 
trance may be destroyed, by the use of the following measures which 


51 


have been already recommended in our replies to various correspond- 
ents: 

In the event of an invasion of these 
mites, the Jawns about the buildings, and, 
if practicable, the sides of the buildings,  ~. | 
should be sprayed with the kerosene emul- ; 
sion. The lower portion of the building, 
walls, etc., may be treated with pure kero- 
sene with advantage. These applications 
should be repeated every day or two, or 
as often as necessary to destroy or repel 
the mites. Infested houses may be freed 
by spraying with benzine, which may be 
used freely without danger if care be taken 
that no fire is present, as this substance 
vaporizes rapidly and is highly inflam- : 
mable. A thoroughairing willremove all 76-5 BBYOBIATBATENSIS: Newiy- 

‘ atched larva—g.cat_y enlarged. 
traces of the odor of this substance. (Original.) 


DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS STAGES. 


£gg.—V.19™™ in diameter, spherical, slightly flattened at base; color, vermilion; 
shining; placed singly or, more commonly, in masses covering bark of trees to a depth 
of from one to three layers. 

Young Larva.—0.18 by 0.22™™, nearly circular. Color red (vermilion). Surface 
irregularly striate. Three pairs legs, all 5-jointed, not exceeding body in length, 
second and last joints longest ; the first pair of legs slightly exceeding the others in 
length; tarsi surrounded with six knobbed hairs, two at the tip and the other four 
near the base. Eyes two, situated on a reddish-purple triangular spot a little back 
of the center and near the edge of the cephaluthorax. Cephalothorax one-third less 
in size thanabdomen. Scale-like appendages of the adult occur on the larva in same 
number and position, but are more elongate, being more in the nature of serrate 
spines; frontal processes wanting, but in place of them occur two serrate spines pro- 
jecting forwards. The position of the spines on the body is as follows: Two prvject- 
ing from the anterior extremity, one in front and one behind eyes; one at anterior 
angle, two pairs closely placed near lateral margin, three arranged in triangle near 
posterior margin of abdomen, three pairs on dorsum of abdomen; making in all 28 
spines. 

Later Stages.—The full complement of legs, as also the anterior scale-tipped projec- 
tions, appear after the first or second molt; the legs in relative length and in length 
of joints approach those of the adult, but are shorter and stouter; the scales of body 
also become like those of adult. Little change in color occurs until nearly full size 
is reached. 

Mr. Garman’s species are described as follows: 


Bryobia pratensis, n. s.. H. Garman. 


Body oval in outline as seen from above or below; but little elongated. Ontline 
as seen from side also oval, increasing in depth towards the posterior extremity, 
where itis abruptly truncated. Strongly convex above, much lessso below. Entire 
surface rugose, with more or less parallel, waved strie. Striw of dorsal surface of ab- 
ce coarser and more regular than those of the ventral surface and of the cephalo- 

orax. 

With scattered, curved, finely denticulate, scale-like appendages attached to the 
dorsum and at the margins. These scales expand uniformly from their bases to their 


52 


tips, where they are widest and have slightly rounded denticulate margins. The 
four conical prominences which extend forward over the mouth parts at the anterior 
extremity of the cephalothorax, each bears one of these scales. The two median 
prominences are longest, and are united at their bases. Palpi very stout; the 
basal articles with a few long hairs; inner ramus of forceps thumb-like and with 
spinose hairs; outer ramus a strongly curved hook. ; 

Legs with strong, plumose, spine-like hairs on their basal articles, which hairs 
grow iess and less stout towards the distal extremity of the limbs until upon the dis- 
tal articles they form long, slender sets. Anterior legs equal to the body in length, 
tapering but slightly to the distal extremity. Two basal articles about equal. the 
proximal slightly the longer. Third article longest, twice the lengtn of the sixth. 
Fourth article uearly as long as the sixth, about half the length of the fifth. Adhe- 
sive hairs fewer and more slender than those of the other legs. Legs of the three 
posterior pairs much shorter than the anterior, and with less difference in the lengths 
of the articles composing them. 

The eyes consist of two approximated ocelli on each side of the cephalothorax. 
Adults in life marked with red and black. The pattern has been destroyed by alco- 
hol. Tke majority of those examined have large anal protuberances. — 

Length of body .038 inch; width of same .025 inch. 


With the above, another mite, similar but paler and smaller, was frequently 
taken in meadows. It is thusdescribed by Mr. Garman: 


Bryobia pallida, n. s., H. Garman. 


A small, alc species agreeing with B. pratensis in general form. Anterior legs 
slightly longer than the body, with the fourth article markedly shorter than the sixth. 
Scale-like appendages somewhat wider and shorter proportionally. Two outer of 
the frontal processes wider at their tips than those of B. pratensis. Median pair of 
processes more slender than the outerand united for half their length. Color, whitish. 
Length of body .024 inch; width of the same .015 inch. Occurs with the preceding 
on grasses in meadows. The anal protuberance is conspicuous in most of the exam- 
ples seen. 


Additions to Description of Adult.—Length, 0.70 to 0.82™™.; width, 0.55 to 0.57™™, ; 
in specimens collected in fall and winter, the dorsum is concave, slightly elevated to- 
ward the middle, the lateral edges being quite sharp, and even in the most distended 
specimens this appearance is not entirely obliterated. The rami of forceps may be 
best described as upper and lower, the hook being above ; in mounted specimens their 
position is frequently as shown at Fig. 4, c, with the hook forming apparently the in- 
ner ramus. 

““The long set” of the distal articles of the legs are prominent only in the case 
of the first pair of legs; with the following pairs the hairs on the last articles ap- 
proach more nearly those of the other joints; with the exception, however, thatfrom 
near the tip of the outer side of the distal article of each leg spring two long, curved 
hairs, in length more than one-half that of the article, and these prominent hairs 
occur also in the earlier stages of the insect. 

The comparative length of the six articles of the anterior legs may be shown by 
the following numbers, counting from the basal article: 4, 2, 20, 8, 16, 9. 

There is in different specimens a slight variation in tae length of the articles, but 
their relative length is practically uniform. The eyes, as already indicated for the 
larva, are situated in a triangular reddish-purple spot, from which they probably 
take their color by reflection, since when viewed from the side they are colorless. 
Color: Abdomen dorsally, central spot on the hind margin of the cephalothorax and 
a lateral oblique mark directed forward, purplish-black ; anterior and lateral portions 
of cephalothorax, lateral edge aud sometimes central dorsal portion of abdomen, 
sternum and legs vermilion. : 

Projecting ventral (anal) portion of abdomen large, and with prominent triangular 
or oval anal opening (Fig. 4, db). 

The position of the scale-like appendages of the adult agrees with those of the 
larva, with the exception that the place of the anterior pair of spines of the larva is 
taken by the projecting scale-bearing appendages of the cephalothorax of the adult. 

The character of these scales is shown in Fig. 4,1, from the outer cephalothoracic 
prominence j from the inner and hk from body. 


53 


REPORT ON AN OUTBREAK OF THE ARMY WORM, AND ON SOME 
OTHER INSECTS AFFECTING GRAIN, IN MARYLAND. 


By Wn. H. ASHMEAD. 


In accordance with Professor Riley’s instructions, on May 31, accom- 
panied by Mr. Albert I. Hayward, of the Maryland Agricultural Col- 
lege, I started for Salisbury, Wicomico County, and Princess Anne, 
Somerset County, Md., to make such observations on the Army 
Worm (Leucania unipuncta), then depredating in the vicinity of these 
places, as the limited time at our disposal should permit. 

During our journey, we ascertained in conversation that the worms 
were most numerous in the immediate vicinity of Princess Anne, and 
we took the most direct route for that place. 

As we approached our destination we began to see the effects of the 
worms’ work; just before entering the town we passed by a large field 
of corn, owned by Mr. H. H. Deshields, containing about 12 acres, that 
had been devastated by them, and only a few green plants could be 
detected, here and there, in the field. 

This field was in marked contrast- with another corn-field adjacent, 
which had been saved from attacks by ditching, as recommended in 
the Third Report of the U. S. Entomological Commission. Another ~ 
thing observed, was that this field. was flanked behind with a wood 
that evidently prevented their ingress that way, whereas the former 
was contiguous to grass and wheat fields, in which the worms are said 
to originate. 

Just before entering the town, we passed another 10-acre corn-field, 
owned by Mr. John L. Lormer, that but a short time previously 
presented a most promising appearance, but. which to-day is com- 
pletely *‘cleaned out” by the worms. It may be worthy of record, 
as the theory has been advanced that insects originate in just such 
places, that in an adjoining field were three old hay-stacks. Contrary 
to our expectations, we found the reports of their numbers not at all 
exaggerated, and the damage done is even worse than we anticipated 
—the Wheat, Corn, Barley and Timothy of many of the farmers being 
totally ruined by them. 

One of the most interesting places for observation we visited was that 
of Wm. J. Porter, a practical and energetic farmer, who, although he 
has fought the worms most vigorously, has suffered severely from their 
attacks. By means of ditching and by burning straw he has been able 
to save part of his crops, but several of his fields of Corn, Timothy and 
Wheat, were already ruined. Hereported the worms much less uumer- 
ous than they had been, but we saw many thousands in his fields. 

During our rambles Mr. Porter took us to one of the ditches he had 
dug to keep the worms out of a large corn-field. In this ditch he had 


54 

sunk, every 2 or 3 yards apart, deeper pits, where we found the worms 
2 and 3 inches deep, and the rest of the ditch was black with the dead 
and living worms. From the dead a fearful stench arose in such 
strength as to attract the buzzards, which, as we viewed the scene, 
were proudly sailing overhead. Various carrion-beetles, too, seemed 
to revel in the carnage—large Silphids and Staphylinids, besides nu- 
merous smaller forms, were quite numerous, while the hard-shelled His- 
terids were quite plentiful, working through the putrid masses.* Sev- 
eral carabids were observed running through the ditches, preying on 
the living and dving, Scarites subterraneus Fabr. being particularly 
noticeable, and, no doubt, with its large mandibles doing efficient service 
in destroying the worms. 

Mr. Porter informed us that the worms always originated in the 
wheat and old grass-fields, and during the morning hid themselves from 
observation, never appearing in numbers until after 3 o’clock p. m., 
which accorded with our own observations and with those of the other 
farmers visited. 

They ate up the Timothy and Corn clean, and after devouring the 
blades of the Wheat, congregated, three or four together, on the heads; 
after devouring several of the lower grains, they ate the husks and 
nipped off the upper portion of the kernel of the rest, thus almost en- 
tirely destroying it. Ifthe grain is well advanced and somewhat hard 
it escapes destruction ; but as most of the wheat visited was still in the 
milk, the destruction was great, and not less than 75 per cent. of the 
crop had been already destroyed. 

Although several parasites are known to prey upon the worms, and 
we kept a sharp lookout for such, none were seen except a few cocoons 


of an Apanteles, which were discovered, together with the worms, under - 


old trash and logs in a wheat-field. A few were gathered and for- 
warded to the Department, some of which have since hatched and prove 
to be Apanteles militaris Walsh. 

The corn-fields of all this region were found to ie badly infested with 
the larve of two species of beetles, and so numerous are they at times 
as to entirely destroy the first planting and necessitate a replanting of 
entire fields. The farmers call them the * Bud-worm ” and do not seem 
to be aware that they are two distinct species that do the injury. 


| 


One species is a well-known corn pest, the larva of Diabrotica vittata, 


widely distributed over the United States ; the other is one of the wire- 
worms, possibly the larva of a common beetle, Drastarius elegans Fabr., 
which also has an extended range, extending into Mexico. I am not 
aware that this latter species has ever before been reported as injurious 


to corn, as the larva is supposed to be predaceous on other insects. It — 


may, though, have dual habits, not an unusual occurrence in some in- 


*None of these insects were brought back by Mr. Ashmead, or determinations would 
be introduced.—EDs. 


55 


sects. Both of these species are more prevalent in low fields, the higher 
fields being less subject to their attacks. 

Another beetle, found to be seriously injurious to cantaloupes and 
sweet-potatoes, in this region, was aChrysomelid, Systena elongata, Fabr., 
which we found swarming in numbers, skeletonizing the leaves and fre- 
quently kiting the young plants. Me. Porter stated that he was com- 
pelled to replant on account of them. 

On a neighboring farm, owned by Mr. Z. Rouch, almost as much 
damage had been done by the Army Worm, as on the former place. A 
large corn-field and a field of timothy were totally ruined. A wheat- 
field, farther advanced than that of Mr. Porter’s, was less seriously 
affected, although it did not escape entirely, the blades of the Wheat 
and the young Timothy being entirely eaten up by them. 

It was on this place that we saw the effects of the worms on Barley. 
Quite a large field already in head was completely ruined. 

In the afternoon we visited probably the largest farm in the county, 
that of the Hon. D. N. Dennis, comprising 500 acres or more. 

No better place existed for the proper study of the pest, as the worms 
were swarming in all the fields by the millions, and we had hit upon 
the proper time of day to see them most advantageously, 4 o’clock p. 
m. The ground was literally black with the crawling worms. Mr. 
Dennis had made no especial efforts to destroy them, although, like 
some of his neighbors, he had surrounded some of his fields with ditches 
in an attempt to keep them out of adjoining fields. I believe it would 
have been quite practicable to have destroyed many thousands with 
poisonous washes, or, as Mr. Porter did, by burning straw in the ditches, 
as the bottom of the ditches were black with worms. 

This farm is divided by a central lane, on either side of which are 
fields of wheat, corn, grass, oats, etc., and in passing through this lane 
we found the worms quite plentiful, crawling almost invariably in the 
direction of the prevailing wind. 

One of the first fields we passed was an immense wheat-field already 
in the head, and the worms could be plainly discernable on the ground 
all through it and on the stalks andheads. The worms having already 
devoured the young timothy and other tender plants usually found 
growing there, the blades of the wheat, the husks, and a goodly por- 
tion of the kernels, evidently could not find sufficient food and were 
now migrating to pastures new, the sides of the field being black with 
moving hosts seeking more nutritious food. 

These, as well as all the others observed, were moving in a south- 
westerly direction, the direction of the prevailing wind. They were 
apparently in all stages of growth, from little fellows not more than a 
quarter of an inch long to the fully matured larve, and all got over the 
ground and every obstacle in their way with the most surprising rapid- 
ity. The fences, posts,and other obstacles in their way were no ob- 
struction to their migratory instinct, or their search for food. The 

7940—No. 2——2 


56- 


fence rails and posts were often covered with crawling worms, some- 
times not less than a dozen worms being found on the top of a single 
tall post, while others were seen going up one side as others were 
going down the opposite. Some specimens were even found under the 
loose bark on the posts and rails, where they had probably crept for 
shelter. One specimen thus found was in the jaws of adarge hairy 

spider, Salticus sp. } 

Adjacent to this wheat-field was a large field of Timothy, containing 
17 acres, the blades of which had been cut off by the worms as clean as 
cattle could have done. Mr. Jones, the overseer, informed me this 
field would have harvested not less than three tons of hay to the acre; 
but now it would not pay for the cutting. 

At one side of this field, the side next the wheat, the worms had 
congregated in countless numbers, every square foot having not less 
than 30 to 50 worms. The worms were now coming out of this field 
and going into the adjoining wheat-field and crossing the lane into 
the opposite fields in great numbers, and it was here that we ob- 
served a flock of the common English sparrows and a few robins pick- 
ing out the smaller worms and feeding on them. Mr. Jones informed 
us the English sparrows had been thus busily engaged all the past 
week, and it gives us pleasure to record here this fact in favor of the 
despised bird. Eee 

Some distance off from this field was another one of wheat, contain- 
ing probably 20 acres, in which the worms were even more numerous, 
and they had already sufficiently injured it to render the crop unprofit- 
able to harvest. A deep, broad ditch had been dug along one side, 
and it was now, about 5 o’clock p. m., black with worms. It seemed 
to us a pity that these worms were not killed, as many of them were 
able to crawl up the sides and escape into adjoining fields. 

Facing this field was a large corn-field of probably 75 acres, of which 
50 acres had already been destroyed, and there was but a slight chance 
that any of the corn still left would escape, although by ditching an 
effort was being made to save it. Of the 50 acres destroyed 30 acres 
had already been replanted, and in the newly plowed portion the worms 
were seen moving about in all directions, having just entered it from 
the adjoining wheat; it is probable that most of these will die of starva- 
tion or from the effects of the hot sun in the middle of the day. 

We were particularly struck with what Professor Riley has written 
about the Army Worm not feeding onClover. Of the several clover-fields. 
we saw the worms passed entirely through them, eating the Timothy, 
other grasses, and some weeds, but leaving the Clover almost untouched. 
A few of the leaves and some of the heads were slightly eaten, but no 
appreciable injury was observed. Only once did I actually observe a. 
worm eating it, and that was asingle half-grown specimen curled up on 
the head devouring the most palatable portions. 

The present outbreak seems to be quite local, within a radius of 10 to. 


57 


15 miles, and of the origin and previous outbreaks we ascertained but 
little. All the farmers and others interviewed concurred in the opinion 
that the winter of 1889-90 had been unusually mild and dry, and a few 
reported having observed the worms feeding on warm days during the 
winter. 

On the following day we visited Salisbury, but found nothing of im- 
portance to prolong our stay there. Messrs. L. Malone and W. B. 
Tighlman informed us that the army worm had not as yet appeared on 
any of the farms in the immediate vicinity, and no serious injury had 
been done nearer than 3 miles. 

Mr. Tighlman reported the oat crop of this whole region this year a 
total failure from the depredations of the Grain Aphis, Siphonophora 
avene Fabr. 


SOME OF THE BRED PARASITIC HYMENOPTERA IN THE NA- 
TIONAL COLLECTION. 


(Continued from page 18.) 


Subfamily Buphorine. 


Parasites. Hosts. 
Perilitus gastrophyse Ashm..-........---. Gastrophysa cyanea Mels. Columbus, Ohio, 
June 2, 1886. 
Euphorus sculptus Cr...--.. Soe odes 8 oe Megilla maculata DeG. Washington, D.C., 


June 24, Aug. 29, Sept. 12, 1884. 
From same beetle, by F. M. Webster, La 
Fayette, Ind., July 21, Aug. 18, 1884. 


Subfamily Meteorine. 


Meteorus coquillettii Ashm ..---........- Agrotis sp.? Los Angeles, Cal., July 3. 
Meteorus orchesie Ashm ....-..-.-...---- Orchesia castanea Mels. Grand Ledge, 
Mich., July, 1881. 

Meteorus vulgaris Cr -.......-.....-.--.. Omphalocera cariosa Led.ou Paw Paw. St. 


Louis, Mo., Oct. 5, 1873. 
Tetralopha platanella. Kirkwood, Mo., Apr. 


15, 1887. 

Meteorus notodonte Riley MS..-.....---. Heterocampa subalbicans Grt. St. Louis, 
Mo., Oct. 28, 1874. 

Meteorus brevicaudus Ashm..--.-..--. Ce Cecidomyious? gallon Oak. St. Louis, Mo., 
June 1, 1872. 

Meteorus euchromie Ashm............--. Euchromia criphia Fabr. Caracas, Vene- 
zuela, Sept. 23, 1886. 

EIN Ae so eae wal cae so Tineid larva on Hamamelis. Kirkwood, 
Mo., May 29, 1886. 

Mobeoorus Sfad 322) eee = <= Sno ws wed =o - Cacoecia fervidana Clem, on Oak. St. Louis, 


Mo., Oct. 24, 1874. 


58 


Parasites. Hosts. 
Meteorus communis Cr....--..--......... Botis penitalis Grt. St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 
15, 1875. 
Gelechia pseudacaciella Chamb. on Locust. 
Washington, D.C., Nov. 11-29, 1879. 
Datana integerrima G.& R. Washington, 
D.C., July 21, 1880. 
Found also in Texas. 
Meteorus cecopsidis Ashm....-......-..--- (Ecopsis sp.? Kirkwood, Mo., Aug. 10, 
1885. 
Meteorus floridanus Ashm....-...---..--- Arctiid larva. Cocoanut Grove, Fla., May, 
1887. 
Meteorus dimidiatus Cr .............----. Tineid on Willow. St. Louis, Mo., May 27, 
1867. 
Agrotis subgothica Haw. Washington, D. 
C., Mar. 7, 1882. 
Found also in Michigan. 
Meteorus indagator Riley MS ..-..-...---- Pionea rimosalis Guen. Oxford, Miss., 


Sept., 1880. 


Subfamily Calyptine. 


“nbadizon, pleuralis Cr... -.2c2e-2-s2 32 Coleophora sp.? on Oak. St. Louis, Mo., 
July 15, 1877. 
Tortricidous borer in twig of Apple. Kirk- 
wood, Mo., Oct. 24, 1387. 


Eubadizon phymatodes Ashm...---...---- Phymatodes amenum Say on Grape. Kirk- 
wood, Mo., Apr. 11-16, 1889. 

Ganychorus atricornis Ashm..-..--....---. Andricus? on Quercus Douglassi. Marion 
Co., Cal., 1885. 

Ganychorus orchesie Ashm..........-.--. Orchesia castanea Mels. in woody fungus. 
Grand Ledge, Mich., 1881. 

Ganychorus gelechi# Ashm.............. Gelechia prunifoliella Cham. Kirkwood, 


Mo., May, 1885. 
Subfamily Alysiine. 


Aphereta musce Ashm..........---.----- ? Haematobia serrata Desv. Washington, 
D.C., Aug. 8-10, 1689. 
Puparium of another Muscid. Washing- 
ton, D.C., July 7, 1888. 
Found also at St. Louis, Mo. 
Aphereta californica Ashm ..........-.--- Dipteron in roots Typha latifolia. Los 
Angeles, Cal., Sept., 1886. 
Oscinis malue? Burg. Jacksonville, Fla., 


1886. 

Aphereta oscinidis Ashm........--.-.----- Oscinis on Plantago major. 

Adelura dimidiata Ashm........-.--.---- Anthomyia brassice Bouché ?, in stem of Cab- 
bage. Ames, Iowa. 

Adelura subcompressa Ashm.....-..-.----- Ovipositing in Dipterous larve in fungus. 


Los Angeles, Cal., July 16, 1886. 


Subfamily Dacnusine. 


Dacnusa oscinidis Ashm...-... bah fesse sel Sars Oscinid miner on Honeysuckle. Kirkwood, 
Mo., Apr. 6, 1885. 


59 


Parasites. 
Dacnusa confusa Ashm 


Dacnusa flavocincta Ashm 
Synaldis ulmicola Ashm 


Celinius meromyzz Forbes 


Ceelinius sp. var. ? meromyzz Forbes 


Hoste. 

Dipterous miner in leaves of Wild Rice. 
Monroe, Mich., July, 1881. 

Dipterous leaf-miner on Wheat. Anderson- 
ville, Tenn., May 5, 1884. 

Dipteron on trunk of Elm. Washington, 
D. C., Oct. 14, 1878. 

Meromyza americana Fitch, in stems of 
Wheat. Indianapolis, Ind., July 18, 1883. 

Collected also at Ames, Iowa. 

Meromyza americana Fitch. Ottawa, Can- 
ada, July 21, 1889. 


Subfamily Macrocentrine. 


Macrocentrus pedisce Riley MS 


Macrocentrus gelechiz Ashm 


' Macrocentrus pectoralis Prov 


Macrocentrus solidaginis Cr. MS 


Macrocentrus delicatus Cr 


Zele nigriceps Riley MS 


Zele atriceps Riley MS 


Subfamily 


Promachus saperde Riley MS 
Promachus rubriceps Ashm 


Pedisca scudderiana Clem. Richfield 
Springs, N. Y., May 23, 1887, and Buffalo, 
N. Y., Jone 25, 1884. 

Gelechia epigewella Cham. on Vaccinium. 

Washington, D.C., Aug. 28, 1882. 
Pedisca sp.? on Solidago lanceolata. Wash- 
ington, D.C., June 6 and 21, 1884. 

Cacecia fervidana Clem.on Oak. St. Louis, 
Mo., July 6, 1877. 

Tortricid on Black Oak. Lansing, Mich., 
July 4, 1887. 

Carpocapsa pomonella (L.). 
July 10, 1872. 

Cacecia fervidana Cl. on Oak. St. Louis. 
Mo., July 7-17, 1873. 

Tortricid leaf-roller on Cotton. 
City, Fla., 1880. 

Acronycta oblinita S. and A. Washington, 
D. C., Oct. 1, 1880. 

Collected also in Texas and North Carolina, 

Crambus zeellus Fernald. La Fayette, Ind., 
July 11, 1886. 

Coleophora sp. on Hickory. Washington, 

D. C., Sept. 16, 1886. 


St. Louis, Mo., 


Crescent 


Diospiline. 


Saperda candida Fab. Indiana. 
Sternidius alpha in Sumach. Washington, 
D.C., Feb. 14, 1884. : 


Subfamily Opiine. 


Phedrotoma sanguinea Ashm 


Opius anthomyiz Ashm 


ee es 


Opius mellipes Prov ... 


Opius foveolatus Ashm 
Opius floridanus Ashm................-.. 


~sseewee ee eees ewe eee 


Trypeta in fruits of Solanum carolinense. 
Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 1885. 

Anthomyid, mining leaves of Dock. Lans- 
ing, Mich., June 23, 1887. 

Lophoderus incertana Robs. Kirkwood, Mo., 
Sept. 25, 1881. 

Leaf-miner on Pigweed. Ames, Iowa. 

Leaf-miner on Artichoke. Jacksonville, 
Fla., June 15. 


60 


Subfamily Ichneutine. 


Parasites. 
Ichneutes fulvipes Cr. 


Hosts. 
Euura? on Willow. Ft. Grant, Ariz., Mar. 
28, Apr. 7, 1882. 
Saw-fly on Willow. A. J. Cook, Lansing, 
Mich. 


Subfamily Toxoneurine. 


Toxoneura minuta Cress 


Gelechia prunifoliella Cham. on Peach. 
Kirkwood, Mo., Oct. 8, 1884. 


Subfamily Aphidiine. 


Praon humulaphidis Ashm -..-........... 
Aphidius prociphal: Ashm 
Aphidius pterocomme Ashm 


Aphidius avenaphis Fitch .-..-. 


Aphidius lachni Ashm 


Aphidius phorodontis Ashm 


Aphidius xanthus Ashm..-.......--..- aru 


Lysiphlebus ribaphidis Ashm .......--.-. 


Lysiphlebus cucurbitaphidis Ashm. . 


Lysiphlebus eragrostaphidis Ashm 


Lysiphlebus coquillettii Ashm. 


Lysiphlebus citraphis Ashm . 


ecreree rsceees ee eerce 


Lysiphlebus myzi Ashm 


Lysiphlebus testaceipes Cr............-- 


.- Siphonophora 


eceereece coe 


secece-o---Myzus sp.? on Hosackia Giune: 


-Aphis gossippii on Cotton. 


sp.? on Hop. Richfield 
Springs, N. Y., June 15, 1887. 

Prociphilus sv.? on Pinus inops. 
ington, D. C., Apr. 7, 1883. 

Pterocomma salicicola Uhler on Willow. 
Washington, D. C., Apr. 5, 1883. 

Siphonophora avene Fab. Glendower, Va., 
June 17, 1882, and La Fayette, Ind., 
June 24, 1889. 

Lachnus? on Poplar. 
1887. 3 

Phorodon mahaleb Koch on Peach. Wash- 
ington, D. C., June, 1888, and Ottawa, 
Canada, 1889. 

Cecidomyiid gall on blossom of Solidago. St. 
Louis, Mo., Sept. 23, 1876. 

Myzus ribis L. on Currant. La Fayette, Ind., 
July 12, 1886. 

. -Siphonophora cucurbite Thos. 
Ind., Nov. 6, 1885. 

Aphid’ on Eriogonus fasciculatus. 
geles, Cal. 

Siphonophora on Audibertia stochoides. 
Angeles, Cal. 

Swept from Eragrostis. La Fayette, Ind., 
Nov. 4, 1885. 


Wash- 


Alameda, Cal., Nov., 


La Fayette, 
Los An- 


Los 


Los An- 
geles, Cal. 

Toxoptera on Orange. Brooksville, Fla., 
April 26, 1879; alsu from Rock Ledge, 
Fla., April 12, 1880; J ESSN 2 Fla., 
and Cetin City, Fla. 

Dactylopius citri Boisd. 
C., Oct. 4, Nov. 20, 1884. 

Myzus ribis L. Lansing, Mich., and La Fay- 
ette, Ind. 


Washington, D. 


Selma, Ala., 
May 19, 1879; Washington. D. C., Oct. 
30, 1879; Fremont, N. C., July 20, 1880; 
and Wedgefield, 8S. C., July 24, 1886. 


4 


- 


—_— 


61 


Parasites. Hosts. _ ; 
Lysiphlebus gossippii Ashm..-.........--. Aphis gossipii on Cotton. Selma, Ala., Oct. 
7 and 8, 1880, and Columbia, S. C., Dec. 
26, 1888. 
Lysiphlebus abutilonaphidis Ashm........ Siphonophora rose Reaum. Los Angeles, 
Cal. 
Siphonophora on Abutilon. Los Angeles, 
Cal. 
Lysiphlebus tritici Ashm......-.......-.-.. Siphonophora avene Fab. Glendower, Va., 
June 20, 1882, and Cadet, Mo., May 10, 
1882. 


Toxoptera graminum Rond.? on Wheat. Me- 
bane, N. C., Feb. 30. 1890. 

Aphis sp.? on rootsof Wheat. La Fayette, - 
Ind., Oct. 14, 1888. 


Lysiphlebus persicaphidis Ashm...-...--.-- Aphid on Peach. Fresno Co., Cal., May, 
1886. ii 

Lysiphlebus baccharaphidis Ashm........ Aphid on Baccharis viminalis. Los Angeles, 
Cal. 

Lysiphlebus salicaphis Fitch .-........-.-- Siphonophora viticola Thos. St. Louis, Mo., 


June 18, 1873, and Washington, D. C., 
Sept. 10, 1886. 


Lysiphlebus minutus Ashm ............-- Aphis gossyppii on Cotton. Fremont, N.C., 
July 22, 1880. 

Dizretus americanus Ashm ...... 6/3. Siphonophora avene Fabr, La Fayette, Ind. 

Dizretus ferruginipes Ashm..........-.-.--. Siphonophora avene Fabr. La Fayette, Ind. 

Dizretus brunniventris Ashm .-.--.. ..---.: Siphonophora avene Fabr. La Fayette, Ind. 

Lipolexis rape Curtis = piceus Cr....--.-. Aphis brassice L. Bluffton, S.C., May 12, 
1384. 


A. brassice L. St. Lonis, Mo. 

Aphis on Brassica campestris. Los Angeles, 
Cal., Apr. 

Aphis on Turnip. St.Louis, Mo. Collected 
also at Jacksonville, Fla., and La Fay- 


ette, Ind, 
Lipolexis salicaphidis Ashm......-....--- Aphid on Salix. Los Angeles, Cal. 
Lipolexis chenopodaphidis Ashm...-.-..--. Aphis sp.? on Chenopodium album. Los An- 
geles, Cal. 


DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN LEPIDOPTEROUS LARVZ. 


By HARRISON G. DyaR, Rhinebeck, N. Y. 


A 


Nola sexmaculata Grote. 

Before the last molt the young larva is like the mature one but the black patch on 
the eyes is absent, only a small spot is present in the triangular platein front of the 
head and the two other marks are fused. The moath is brown, the eyes black. 
Width of head .7™™. The body is pale greenish-yellow and lacks the subdorsal line. 
The warts in rows (1) and (2) are black, the rest concolorous with the body. Length 
Qa. 

Mature larva.—Head round, partly withdrawn within joint 2, pale yellowish and 
marked with black so thickly as to appear nearly all black. Maxillew brown. Two large 
vertical black spots separated by the central suture; a large spot at each side of the 


62 

head covering and extending behind the eyes; a smaller one before it, narrowly sep- 
arated from it, from the vertical patch and by the pale suture from the black trian- 
gular plate above the mouth. Width of head nearly1™™. Body somewhat flattened, 
robust, of nearly uniform width, but joint 13, smaller. Thoracic feet rather slender, 
abdominal present only on joints 8, 9, 10, and 13. Cervical spot black, bisected, 
curved behind, each part containing in front a yellow wart. Three rows of warts, 
one per segment, the second wart on joint 2, small:—(1) above subdorsal line, (2) 
below it, (3) substigmaztal, and a fourth row, small, concolorous with the body situated 
below the subventral fold above the bases of the legs. All beara few fine white hairs, 
those at the extremities of the body, long. Body pale yellow in color, a black dorsal 
shade band and a fainter subdorsal one, the latter seen by a lens to be broken into 
somewhat oblique portions, neither reaching the extremities. Rows ot warts (1) and 
(2) are partly black and partly pale brown, row (3), ocher. Length 12™™, 

The cocoon is constructed on a piece of wood from little bits of the bark, thus ex- 
actly resembling it in color. It is flat at the sides and narrow, tapers upward from 
the posterior end and is truncate anteriorly at the end where the moth emerges. The 
little pieces of bark of which it is composed are about three times as long as wide, 
are laid on regularly lengthwise, not overlapping, and fastened with silk. Length 
12™™, width 2™™, greatest height at truncated end 2.5™™, 

The pupa is cylindrical, the last segments rounded and without cremaster, but a 
few fine short hairs sparsely distributed. Color light brown. 

Food-plant.—W itch-hazel (Hamamelis virginica). There is only one brood a year, the 
larve forming their cocoons about the Ist of July. The moths appear early the sub- 
sequent spring. During their whole history the larve eat only the upper surface of 
the leaf, leaving the veins and lower epidermis almost untouched. 

Larve from Dutchess County, New York. 


Nerice bidentata Walker. 

Mature Larva.—Head, flattened at the sides, a little depressed at vertex; green, 
with a black line on the angle between front and sides, which is shaded with white 
posteriorly ; some irregular white marks in front and at the sides, the principal one 
being a line in front bordering the triangular plate and continued irregularly to the 
vertex subparallel to the centralsuture. Mouth and antenne pale; ocelli biack ; afew 
short whitish hairs. The body does not reach the vertex of head for joints 2 to 4. 
Joints 5 to 13 have each a dorsal process somewhat modified in shape on the several 
_ joints. Those on joints 6 and 12 are the longest and rise abruptly in front from the 
suture before the segment, terminate at the top in two rounded points of a yellowish 
color tipped with brown, of which the anterior one is the larger and longer, and slope 
evenly to the posterior edge of the segment. The other processes are similar in 
structure and coloration, but are shorter, the two tips rather closer together, and 
tend, on the posterior segments, to become cleft on the dorsal line. This is first dis- 
tinctly seen on joint9, becomes more prominent on the succeedivg segments, while 
the process on joint 13 lacks the posterior tip and the brown coloration, and consists 
of two short points placed side by side. Colorof body leaf-green, the subdorsal space 
covered with greenish white, but leaving the ground color to appear as a dorsal band 
and an oblique line on each joint. The white color is continued down the sides 
nearly to the spiracles. A faint, fine, pale stigmatal line. Spiracles white with a fine 
black border. On joints 2 to 6 and 13 are indications of a dark red subventral line. 
Abdominal feet pale reddish, marked with two black lines; thoracic, green with a 
black line. 

Food plant.— Elm (Ulmus americana). The species is double-brooded in this State, 
and the winter is passed in the pupa. Larva from Dutchess County, New York. 


Schizura ipomcee Doubleday. 

Mature Larva.—Head higher than wide, flattened a littlé in front, not distinctly 
bilobed ; pale brown, with a band from vertex of each lobe composed of two black 
lines inclosing a space of the ground color, in which is a pulverulent bluish line. 


63 

Triangular plate, labrum, and the bases of antennz pale; outside of jaws and 
antenn testaceous; inside of jaws and eyes black, the latter on a whitish ground. 
A few black hairs. Body of nearly uniform width, slightly rising dorsally on joints 
2-4; on joint 5a long, pointed dorsal process. Joints 7-10 are arched, joint 9 the 
highest and somewhat humped. The body slopes to joint 11, and at joint 12 is again 
humped, from whence it tapers to the anal feet. Rows of tubercles, one per seg- 
ment, each bearing a black hair as follows:—(1) in subdorsal space on joints 5-12; 
(2) subdorsal, two tubercles on joint 13, (3) superstigmatal; (4) substigmatal; (5) 
and (6) in subventral space, only one on joint 13, but others on the anal plate. All 
are small and whitish except in row (1) on joints 5, 9, and 12, where they are orange- 
red. On joint 5 they surmount the process and are long, pointing upward; on joint 9 
rather far apart and surmounting two subconical elevations, and on joint 12 nearer to- 
gether, surmounting the hump. Body pale brown, mottled with many fine crinkled 
lines ot red brown; all of joints 3 and 4, except a dorsal band, green with small black 
spots laterally. On the posterior part of joint 5, on joints 6 and 7, and the anterior part 
of joint 8 is an elliptical, creamy white dorsal patch, a little retracted at the segmental 
sutures and containing three crimson lines. It is supplemented by two white dorsal 
dots on joint 8. Bordering the patch posteriorly, from joint 7, is a broad blackish 
dorsal band, continuous on joints 8, 9, and 10, but interrupted on joints 10 and 11 by 
the usual V-shaped mark. This mark is broad, creamy white, containing some crim- 
son lines and consists of a subtrianguiar patch on joint 10 posteriorly and two ob- 
lique subdorsal bands on joint 11, between which is a small white dorsal spot. The 
blackish dorsal band fills in the space between these marks and is continued more 
narrowly than before to the anal plate. On joints 10 and 11 it has a decided green 
tinge. The mottlings on the ground color are much darker on the dorsal line on 
joints 2-4, on the base of the process and anterior edge of joint 5, bordering the ante- 
rior part of the pale vatch on joints 5-8, and in the subventral space. Spiracles brown, 
paler centrally in a fine black border. Thoracic feet reddish; abdominal concolorous. 
with the body and furnished with a few hairs. The anal feet are partly aborted and 
are held out straight. Venter pale yellowish on joints 6-13. Length, 30™™, 

Food-plants.—Maple (Acer), Beech (Fagus), Witch- hazel (Hamamelis), Linden ( Tilia), 
and probably others. 

Larve from Dutchess County, New York. 


Mamestra confusa Hiibner. 

Head pale brown; the lower pari of labium and bases of antenne white; anten- 
nz black; eyesand jawsdark brown. Body semi-transparent, pale whitish, minutely 
but rather thickly flecked with white. A white dorsal, subdorsal, stigmatal and 
substigmatal line; a row of large crimson lateral spots, one per segment, except on 
joint 13; those on joints 2-4 centered with black, the others minutely with white. 
Spiracles white, bordered by a fine black line; a few short black hairs. Cervical 
spot blackish. Feet normal. 

The larva remaius concealed by day in a hollow nest composed of a leaf and silk 
and comes forth to feed. It is net gregarious, and usually but one is found .on the 
same plant. 

Food-plants.—Maple (Aeer), Willow (Salix), Hickory (Carya), Apple (Pyrus), Birch 
(Betula), and others. I have never found the larva on anything but a tree or bush— 
contrary to the habits of other species of this genus, which eat herbaceous plants. 


64 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 


Chilo saccharalis: Its Injury to Corn in Virginia, and to Cane and Sorghum 
in Louisiana. 


I send you by this mail a small package containing some worms, which are proving 
very destructive to the corn crop around here. Some farmers report their crops totally 
ruined and many others much injured. Ours is very much damaged. The way the 
worms attack the stalk is unlike anything of the kind I have ever seen. They at- 
tack anywhere from the the tip end of the tassel down to the root in the ground. 
Above the ground they just eat off the hard coating and nibble the blades; below 
the ground and just on a level with the surface they bore through and through the 
stalk, generally in several places. The stalk does not die for some time, and remains 
green, but the blades soon drop and hang down from the stalk. The worms vary 
greatly in size, color, and shape, but have all the same habits. I send four in the 
package in different stages of development. The beetle or fly that lays the egg I 
have been unable, so far, to find. 

Please write me what you know about this destructive insect. It is now too late 
to save this crop, as they have already done much mischief, but I would like to know 
if there could be anything done to keep them off in the future. My description of 
them has been written in great haste, and is not very full. If you would like more 
information, I shall be glad to answer any questions.—[W. J. Morton, Nottingham 
Farm, near Fredericksburgh, Va., July 8, 1390. 

REPLY.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th instant, and of the 
accompanying specimens of corn-stalks which have been bored by some worms. The 
matter proves to be a very interesting one, for the reason that the insect which is do- 
ing the damage is the Tropical Sugar-cane Borer (Chilo sacchuralis), which damages 
sugar-cane in Guiana, the West Indies, and Louisiana. In 1881 it was found to dam- 
age corn in Mississippi, Georgia, and as far north as South Carolina. It has never 
hitherto been recorded further north than Columbia in the last-named State. The 
insect is referred to in the Annual Report of this Department for 1880, pages 243 to0.245. 
As there stated, the borers hibernate in the larval state in the old corn-stalks; and 
the custom which prevails in many parts of the South, of leaving the old stalks stand- 
ing in the fields after harvest, renders this hibernation easy and the consequent multi- 
plication of the insect possible. The most satisfactory remedy, therefore, will be to put 
the stalks out to fodder early, and have the uneaten portion burned before early spring. 
The stubble should be plowed up and burned, or plowed under very deeply. The eggs 
are laid by a straw-colored moth. It is of course too late to attempt any remedial 
measures this year.—[July 10th, 1890. ] 

ANOTHER LETTER.—I have about forty-five (45) experimental field-plots of small 
size in,tropical cane and sorghum. It is desired to protect these, at all hazards, 
against the tropical cane-borers, which were very numerous and damaging here last 
year, and which I anticipate willdo yet more harm the present season as a result of an 
open winter. Will you kindly suggest means for their protection? The whole area 
in these experiments does not exceed one (1) acre. As I am unfamiliar with such 
matters, it may be necessary to describe the method of application, as well as to 
name the remedy. For example, if Paris green will do the work, kindly mention 
best apparatus for its use, and where obtainable, period best for application, quan- 
tity to be distributed, etc. Such would be highly appreciated, I assure you. Sor- 
ghum appears to be far more viciously attacked than tropical cane.—[ W. J. Thomp- 
son, Calumet Plantation, Bayou Teche, La., April 9, 1890. 

REPLY.—Yours of the 9th has just come to hand. Unfortunately we know very 


little about the exact periods of development of the tropical cane-borer in your part of 


age 


65 


the country beyond what was ascertained in 1881 at Dr. Wilkinson’s place. We know, 
however, that there are several generations iu the course of the summer, probably at 
least a half-dozen; and, as in the case of all many-brooded insects, there will be a con- 
stant overlapping of Broads: so that moths will be flying most of the summer. This 
means an almost continuous egg-laying, and your only absolute protection, where the 
moths are abundant and breeding, will be to spray with Paris green at frequent in- 
tervals. In an experiment of this kind you will not mind taking considerable trouble, 
and I would therefore advise you to purchase a “‘ Little Climax” pump with outfit from 
the Nixon Nozzle and Machine Company, of Dayton, Ohio, and to spray with Paris 
green in the proportion of one-quarter of a pound to 40 gallons of water. I would 
spray at intervals of from two to three weeks, and oftener when heavy rains intervene. 
I am surprised to learn that sorghum is more viciously attacked than tropical cane, 
and should be very glad to have a note from you upon this insect for publication. 
I should particularly like your criticism upon the paragraphs on remedies, on pages 
10 and 11 of the little bulletin on Insects Injurious to Sugar-cane, which was pub- 
lished after my return from your plantation in 1881. 

Lest you have not a copy of this bulletin by you I have had the paragraphs in 
question copied and inclose them herewith.—[April 12, 1890. ] 


Another Beetle destructive to Carpets. 


I presume the inclosed specimens are not new to an entomologist, although to me 
and my neighbors they are new. I have resided in several states north and south at 
different times but I never happened to meet any of these fellows before. We have 
found the larve very destructive to carpets, woolens, etc., and were unable to dis- 
cover the perfect insect until by putting the larve in a bottle we in time developed 
them into the little black bug which you see. Any information which we can get re- 
gar@ing best methods of offense or defense against these little pests will be gratefully 
received. These insects may be dead when they reach you butI presume you will 
recognize them all the same. I am not certain whether I should send these specimens 
to the ‘‘ Smithsonian ” or to the Agricultural Department, but presume, if lam wrong, 
they can be put on the right track there.—[D. Strunk, Mankato, Minn., July 1, 1890. 

ReEpPLY.—The insect is one of the Dermestid beetles ( Attagenus piceus) that feeds on 
animal substances, and may be killed by chloroform or bisulphide of carbon. Cam- 
phor or, still better, naphthaline will prevent further attacks of this pest. In habit 
and transformations this species closely resembles the true carpet beetle (Anthrenus 
scrophularie) and the same preventive and remedial measures given for that species 
{INSECT LIFE, Vol. II, No. 5, Nov. 1889, pp. 127-130) will answer.—[July 9, 1890. ] 


Other Insects under Carpets. 


I sent you this morning some larve found under carpets in my house. Both kinds 
are new to me, or possibly, the brown one is a stage of the longer jointed one. Will 
you be good enough to give me the name or names, and if described in ‘‘ INSEcT LIFE” 
please state- where it can be found.—[J. B. Brinton, Philadelphia, Pa., March 29, 
1890. 

REPLy.—Your letter of March 29 is duly received, together with the accompanying 
specimens of larve found under carpets. The long, many-jointed larva found by 
you belongs to the Dipterous genus Scenopinus and is probably the larva of S. palli- 
pes. The larve of these flies are very long and slender and are peculiar in that the 
abdominal segments, except the last, have the appearance of being double, so that 
the body, exclusive of the head, seems to be 22-jointed. These larve have been occa- | 
sionally found beneath carpets or in woolen blankets, and they have also been found 
in rotten wood. Professor Riley has also recorded the finding of larvee of Scenopinus 
in human expectoration. The fly is black with a metallic hue. 

The brown larve which you suppose may be a stage of the longer one belongs to 


66 


Attagenus piceus, a beetle very closely allied to the common carpet beetle or “buffalo” 
moth (Anthrenus scrophularie), of which an account was given in a recent number 
of INsEcT LirE. A. piceus has been recorded as irvjuring feathers in pillows and — 
beds. This noel doubtless is not essentially different in habit from the well-known | 
carpet pest just mentioned, and the same means may be employed against it.— _ 
[April 1, 1890.] | 


Locusts as Food in Madagascar. 


jeter 


I send you with this letter some specimens of our migratory locust of Madagascar 
You will see that we have to deal here with a particular species, Pachytylus migra- 
torioides, Reich., variety capito Sauss. For the Malgaches (natives), these locusts, _ 
which they call in their language Valala are at the same time a scourge and a re- | 
source ; a scourge by reason of the ravages done to the crops, and a resource in that | 
they furnish food for the lower classes and animals. Thus it is true, that Providence | 
with every ill disposes something of good. 

When the flight of the Valala is observed, men, women and children, armed with 
receptacles of various kinds, hasten to make ample collections of these insects, which 
they obtain chiefly by setting fire to the vegetation. What is not collected and ear- 
ried away is left to the “‘ Gouika” (Corvus scapulatus) and to the ‘‘ Papanyo” (Milvus 
olgyptius), which, I am informed, are very fond of this kind of food. After being col- 
lected the Valala are thrown into large pots and submitted to a thorough stewing, 
after which they are spread out in the sun on mats until they are perfectly dry. It 
is then, after the legs and wings are removed, that the Valala are ready to be stored. 
to supply the wants of the household, and they are moreover a common current com- 
modity in the markets. 

The Valala prepared in this manner may; it is said, be preserved for a considerable 
time. The Malgaches eat the Valala fried in grease, and in the form of ‘‘ Ro’% or 
soup, with which they season their rice. To havea perfect dish of this kind, after 
the feet and wings and also the head of the Valala has been removed, they are soaked 
for half an hour or thereabouts in very salt water before they are fried in grease. I 
have tasted the Valala, but believe that the dish will never be popular for the civil- 
lized palate. 

It seems to me, however, that, used as a condiment, in sauce for example, the pow- 
der or flour of the Valala and other locusts may be very well employed in connection 
with other foods. The migratory locust may be employed, if I mistake not, as food 
for various domestic animals. 

M. le Général Comte de La Croix de Vaubois has stated that it is known that fowls. 
feed on the locusts eagerly during the passage, and he thought the locusts would, if 
properly preserved, furnish a very suitable food for them. * * *—[{P. Camboué, 
Tananarive, Madagascar, April 25, 1890. 


Insects noxious to Cotton in Egypt. 


As the cotton exported from Egypt to the United States might possibly contain the | 
eggs of noxious insects I call your attention to the following description of the three 
cotton pests which are most common here, by Dr. E. Sickenberger, Professor in the 
Medical School : 


I. THE COTTON-WORM OR LEAF-EATER. 
(Prodenia litioralis Boisd.) 


This moth, the length of whose body is 16 millimeters and the transversal dimen- 
sion when the wings are extended about 30 millimeters, has its upper wings of a 
brownish color, mixed with gray and cream color, its lower of a yellowish-white 
with a brown line on the lower edge. It passes the winter in the state of a reddish- 


: 67 


‘brown chrysalis in a light cocoon buried in the soil. The eggs are laid at the begin- 
ning of spring on the most different plants and trees; the caterpillar is therefore 
omnivorous. During the cotton season the moth prefers to lay its eggs on the cotton 
plant. The eggs are massed on the under surface of the leaves in spots containing 
from 200 to 300, covered with down and grayish-yellow scales. 

About a week after being laid the eggs hatch, and in about three days the young 
caterpillars seek the tenderest parts of the plants and bury themselves in the young 
buds and pods, which they quit when about one-third developed to feed afterwards 
exclusively on the leaves. The young caterpillars are of a pale green and slightly 
hairy. They then grow grayish, the hair is no longer perceptible, and their length 
attains about 4 centimeters and their breadth 5 millimeters. 

This development is accomplished in from sixteen to twenty days, when they 
bury themselves in the earth, where they enter the chrysalis state, out of which ina 
week come the moths. A fall in temperature retards and an increase of heat accel- 
erates the duration of these phases. The adult caterpillars have the habit of bury- 
ing themselves in the earth at the foot of the plant during the hottest hours of the 
day. This insect is the principal ravager of the cotton plant, but it is when the 
caterpillar is young that it does the greatest damage by destroying the buds and 
the ovaries of the young capsules, and when one wishes te fight the worm it is of 

-the utmost importance to act at the moment the eggs are laid, or at least immediately 
after they are hatched, because if the young caterpillars once get into the pods they 
are sheltered from any substance which may be applied to destroy them. 

The destruction of the leaves of the cutton plant by the adult caterpillars is but 
a slight damage compared with the destruction of the pods by the small caterpillars. 

Of all the remedies which I have tried that which produced the best and surest ef- 
fect is the following: Make a mixture of 10 per cent. raw carbolic acid at 30°, of 10 
per cent. powdered ammoniacal alum (avoid ferruginous alum), and of 80 per cent. 
of an inert product such as ordinary plaster. Spread this on by hand at the rate of 
about 85 to 90 pounds per acre. 

This preparation, when made with acid of the necessary degree of concentration, 
kills the worms without injuring the plants; only it should be applied when the 
dew has disappeared, otherwise the plant being stil! damp, the tender shoot might be 
burned. The picking off of the leaves before the eggs are hatched has a good effect, 
but taking away the caterpillars when the plant is already attacked is almost use- 
less. 


Il, THE GNAWING MOTH. 
(Earias insulana Boisd. ) 


This little moth also passes the winter in the state of a red chrysalis in a cocoon 
‘shaped like a boat, and having a nankeen or gray color and a silky tissue. This 
cocoon is attached to the dry shoots or to the branches of the cotton plant. The moth 
is about 12 millimeters long and has a breadth of about 20 millimeters with the wings 
extended. I have observed that during the summer most of them have the upper 
wings of a light green, whilst in autumn and spring they are pale yellow, often with 
grayish brown or violet spots or lines. The lower wings are of a shining white. 
‘These differences in color are not due to the difference in sex, because during my 
observations I have often seen moths coupling, both of which were of the same green 
color. 

The females lay their eggs in spring on the young capsules. The caterpillar has 
sixteen feet and attained a length of 15 millimeters and a diameter of 5 millimeters. 
Its color isolive-brown. It has a glistening black head, with a yellowish face and'a 
white stripe on the middle of the back, the under part of the body being of an ash- 
gray color. The skin is covered with white and orange-colored spines, interspersed 
with fine and rather long hairs. 


68 : 


This caterpillar gnaws the inside of the tender stalks, and in autumn does great 
damage by destroying the inside of the pods. The only means of fighting this wor | 
is to burn the dry stalks of the cotton plant, a means proposed by the late J: oanovich | 
Bey and practiced by order of Mr. Gibson. 4 

By this proceeding the caterpillars which are passing their winter in the chrysalis 
state are destroyed and ashes are obtained. | 

This caterpillar escapes every method of destruction by staying in the inside of the — 
plant. 


° 


Ill. THE COTTON BUG. 
(Oxycarenus hyalinipennis Costa.>) 


It is found on many plants, particularly around the Mediterranean. It is of an 
elongated ovoid shape, and is brown or blackish in color. These bugs are found in 
great numbers in the ripe pods of the cotton plant. Ihave observed that they suck 
the sap from the base of the young pods and from the blossoms and thus prevent their | 
development; they attack also the seeds when they are tender, which results in a 
diminution of the germinative strength, and consequently a diminution in the prod- — 
uct of the plants. 4 

Besides these injuries, these insects, by pullulating in the cotton, make it dirty | 
and communicate to it their characteristic and disagreeable smell. Among these | 
various insects it is the leaf-eater (Prodenia) which makes the greatest ravages in the | 
cotton plantations, and although the alum-carbolic treatment destroys the worm in | 
a sure way, it would be better to seek a cheaper and more simple remedy. The use | 
of ashes of the cotton plant might perhaps be tried with success in doses of a hun- | 
dred weight per acre, whether pure or mixed with a small quantity of carbolie acid. 

They should be used while the worms are still very young, or even before they are 
hatched. Up to the present I have never tried this substance, and I beg cultivators — 
who are in a condition to make the experiment to try it this year, in order to arrive | 
at a conclusion. By burning the dry stalks of the cotton plant to obtain their ashes | 
_not only would the gnawing worm be destroyed but a product would be obtained, — 
which, spread on the fields, would be at the same time a manure for the plant anda __ 
poison for destructive insects.—[ Eugene Schuyler, Agent and Consul-General, Cairo, _ 
June 2, 1890. | 


A beneficial Beetle on Orange Trees. 


We send by to-day’s mail a box containing bugs that are found on orange trees, also | 
on Peach and in the cracks of ripe fruit. Will you please name them for us and let | 
us know whether they are injurious or otherwise ?—[E. O. Painter, De Land, Fla., 
April 21, 1890. | 

REPLY.—Yours of the 21st ult. has been received, together with the accompanying | 
specimens of insects found upon Orange, Peach, ae in the cracks of ripe fruit. This | 
insect is the common L£pitragus tomentosus, iendiowed upon page 75 of Hubbard’s” 
report on ‘Insects Affecting the Orange.” The early history of this beetle is un- 
known, but its larva probably lives on the ground among oak leaves. The adult | 
beetles are carnivorous and feed upon scale-insects of all kinds. It is, therefore, ben- | 
eficial and not injurious.—[ April 28, 1890.] 


Aspidiotus perniciosus. 


I forward by to-days mail specimens of apple and pear tree bark taken from trees 
in the orchard of J. M. Gose, of this place. The disease with which these trees are | 
affected is new in this section, having made its appearance last year for the first time. | 
The first symptoms are minute white and brown scales on the outside, and when cut 
the bark shows red or black spots. The fruit buds show red where it should be | 
white, and even the fruit is affected the same way. The disease spreads rapidly from 
tree to tree, appearing first on the larger limbs and quickly making its way to the} 


69 


smaller ones, finally killing the bark and eventually the tree itself. It was first no- 

ticed on trees which were bought from a New York State nurseryman. If some 

remedy is not soon applied it is feared the disease will spread throughout the Walla 

Walla fruit belt. Will the Department kindly give me the cause and preventive of 
the disease? Can trees be saved which are in the first stages of the disease? Please 

communicate with me at your earliest convenience and the remedy, if any, will be 

published in “ The Washington Farmer” for the benefit of the fruit growers of the 

Walla Walla Valley and entire northwest.—[Wm. M. Freeman, Walla Walla, Wash- 

ington, March 24, 1890, to Mr. Van Deman, Chief of Division of Pomology. 

REpPLy.— Mr. Van Deman, the Pomologist of this Department, has referred your 
letter of March 24, relating to the new apple and pear-tree pest, to this division for 
reply. The specimen of bark taken from the trees in the orchard of J. M. Gose proved 
to be infested with a scale insect known as Aspidiotus perniciosus. This scale has been 
recorded as very injurious in California and Nevada. It is described and figured in 
the Report of the Department of Agriculture for 1880, page 304. It is further dis- 
cussed in the report for 1881-’82, pages 65 and 207. I think by careful application of 
the following-described remedies you will be able to prevent further injury by-it. The 
best means against scale-insects, as shown by long experience in the work of the © 
division, is the emulsion of kerosene and soap, a formula for the preparation of which 
is inclosed on separate sheet. In California experiments have been made by agents 
of the Division which show that resin formula (see INSECT LIFE, Vol. 1, No. 4, Oct., 
1889, p. 92) may be used with the best of results against scale pests and Aphides. 

Numerous experiments have been made with one part of the compound to 8 parts 
water, and this strength for most purposes will be sufficient. Both the resin wash 
and the kerosene emulsion should be applied by means of a force pump and spray 
nozzle. Any good nozzle that will cause the liquid to break into a fine mist-like spray 
will answer the purpose. 

The bug inclosed with the bark is the Twice-Stabbed Lady-bird (Chilocorus bivul- 
nerus), a well-known enemy of many injurious insects, including scale insects and 
Aphides, and it was doubtless engaged in devouring the scales on your trees.—[April 
1, 1890.] 3 

The Sow Bug. 


A small 14-legged crustacean (Oniscus) is very destructive to low growing flower- 
jing plants in my garden and those of my neighbors. Would you please inform me if 
you know of any way of getting rid of them outside of crushing them with hand or 
foot ? Will send you specimens of the little pest if you so desire. It is especially 
fond of flowers of violets and bearts’s-ease or pansies.—[G. Kohn, New Orleans, La., 
April 19, 1890. Z 

REPLY.—We shall be glad to receive specimens of the Oniscus of which you com- 
plain, and beg to ask you if you are perfectly sure that this is the creature which is - 
damaging your flowers and plants. In other words, have you seen it at work? A 
full account of its damage will be acceptable to us and we shall be glad to publish a 
note on the subject if you will favor us with the result of your observations. They 
are popularly supposed to feed mainly if not entirely upon decaying vegetation. Do 
you find that they feed at night or not? Witha little more information from you 
we may be able to suggest a remedy.—[ April 22, 1890. 


Traps for the Winter Moth again. 


There is one point in reply to which, if you are quite willing, I should much like to 
be allowed to insert a few lines. 

It is to the paragraph headed ‘‘ Traps for the Winter Moth Useless,” p. 289 of March 
number of ‘‘INsEcT Lire” for 1890. Mr. R. McLachlan is mentioned as having 
stated that traps which aim at destruction of the males of the Cheimatobia brumaia are 
useless, as enough will remain to fertilize the winged females. This I should have con- 


10 


jectured to be a well-known fact, but it is not this point which we are in any way 
working on, in any of the prevention details which Iam myself acquainted with. 
Our difficulty, as you will see mentioned in my 13th report, if you will kindly turn to 
page 67, is the transportation of the females in the act of pairing by the winged males 
to the trees. This is a point much observed in this country, and I have to-day once 
again had my attention drawn to this difficulty in the matter of prevention by a 
Somersetshire correspondent who, in confirmation of his observation, has preserved 
the pairin his collection. It is solely to meet this difficulty that we use tarred boards 
and lightsin any preventive operation with which I am connected. 

I do not see the Gardeners’ Chronicle, and I am not in communication with Mr. Mc- 
Lachlan, or I should have replied in my own country and given the necessary expla- 
nation, but (if you approve) I should much like to be allowed to insert the above ob- 
servations, otherwise the various superintendents and myself might appear to your 
readers (whose good opinion I should like to merit) as wonderfully ignorant of what 
I believe is a well known fact.—[E. A. Ormerod, Torrington House, St. Albans, Eng- 
land, April 10, 1890. 


The Clover Phytonomus. 


I will send you by to-morrow’s mail specimens of some kinds of worms, which on 
the 24th of this month I found in great numbers in our clover fields. They atesmall, 
round boles in the leaves, which you will notice in those Isend you. These hole are 
what first attracted my attention to them; fully one-half or more of the leaves are 
thus bitten, and Iam sure I could have found fifty or more of these creatures on a 
space not more than 1 yard square. It was between 6 and 7 o’clock a. m. when 
I saw them on the 24th, and they were feeding. To-day I went out about noon to 
get some specimens, but could not find them more than one-tenth as abundant as the 
other day. This is a nice warm day, and perhaps the warm sun drove them to the 
roots for shelter. As they are something new in our neighborhood I send them for a 
pame.—[W. Stewart, Landisburg, Perry County, Pa., April 28, 1890. 

REpPLY.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28th ult., together 
with specimens of the insect which is injuring your clover. A glance at these larve 
show that they belong to the species known as the Clover Leaf-beetle ( Phytonomus 
punctatus). This insect was probably imported to this country from Europe some 
thirty years or more ago, and in 1881 became noted as a pest in Yates County, N. Y., 
and it has since spread considerably. The insect hibernates in the young larva state 
and any mode of winter warfare that will crush or burn them during the winter will 
considerably reduce the number of the species the ensuing season. If the field is 
badly infested it will pay to make an effort to burn the stubble, even if straw has to 
be strewn over the field. Fortunately a fungus disease has taken hold of this species 
with great avidity, and every specimen which you sent had been killed byit. It 
may be that the disease will practically destroy the insect with you, so that no 
remedy will be necessary. If you will kindly inform us as to the future develop- 
ments, you will place us under obligations. You will find an account of this insect 


in the Annual Report of the Department for 1881-82, pages 171 to 179, and it is fig-- 


ured upon Plate X of the same report.—[ May 1, 1890. ] 


ANOTHER LETTER.—Yesterday two students of Franklin and Marshall College — 


brought me the inclosed specimens, wanting to know what they were and what to 
do about them. They are on the grass in the campus of the college. They disap- 
pear at night (or during rain) and appear during the day, twisting their bodies 
around the blades and devouring them. They appear to be the larva of a species of 
‘‘saw-fly,” so far as I can make them out, as they appear in the bottle. Some of the 
farmers state that this insect was present in destructive numbers about twenty years 
ago. So far asl am able to recall the case, that worm was the larva of Leucania albi- 
linea, and in addition to timothy and other grasses it also attacked the wheat, even 
“‘the corn in the ear” after it was standing in shocks. 


71 


The other bottle contains a smail species of coleoptera, which the college students 
found attacking the books in the library of the college.—[S. S. Rathvon, Lancaster, 
Pa., May 15, 1890. 

REpPLY.—The first of the specimens which you send is of considerable interest. It 
is not a saw-fly larva but apparently a weevil of the Phytonomus group. It closely 
resembles that of Phytonomus punctatus, the clover weevil which was described in my 
report for 1881-2. The occurrence of one of these insects upon Timothy is something 
entirely new so far as our knowledge goes. We advise that you urge the two stu- 
dents of Franklin and Marshall College to collect as many as possible of these larve 
_and send them to me alive in a tight tin box with asupply of food. If the insect is 
very abundant it might pay to send one of my assistants to study it. Please inform 
me as to this. The insect which is damaging books in the college library is the com- 
mon Sitodrepa panicea. We would advise the use of fresh California Buhach for this 
insect.—[ May 19, 1890.] 


-California Notes. 


I have sent by this mail two boxes, one containing Jsosomas, Cynipids, Chalcids, etc., 
and the other, grasses and galls belonging thereto. I have mislaid the seed-pods of 
the grass from which Isosoma No. 547 was bred, and will send it later. On the same 
grass I found a peculiar larva boring from near the top down and offen into the rvot, 
where they spin a long thin transparent tube to pupate, in fact the habit is the same 
as the wheat saw-fly, Cephus pygmeus; as yet none of the mature insects have come 
out. 

This reminds me that while at Napier, N. Z., in a similar species of grass I found - 
also a larva resembling this in size and habit. 

In the same grass puparia of the Hessian fly were found in the Santa Cruz Mount- 
ains.—[A. Koebele, Alameda, Cal., April 18, 1890. 

ReEp.Ly.—In answer to yours of the 18th ult. with box containing Jsosoma, etc., I 
will say that the Isosoma No. 547 is very near if not identical with J. hordei. 

The work of the Cephus in the same grass as the above, is very similar to that of 
C. pygmeus, though nothing can be said definitely till the fly has been bred. 

The Chlorops, found boring in the stem of a grass (Agrostis vulgaris) in a meadow 
near Edgewood, Siskiyou County, Cal., must be bred before any determination can 
be made. Apparently the same species, forming less conspicuous galls, may be bred 
from the salt marsh grass in company with No. 263, (Jsosoma sp.,) found growing 
near Alameda.—[ May 1, 1890. ] 


Ants and Melons. 


I called on one of my neighbors, a farmer to-day. He complained of the injury 
smnall ants were doing to his watermelon plants. They seemed to have fixed their 
abode in the hills and gather in quantities about the neck of the vine as it comes out 
of the ground, sucking the juices out of same, and causing the infested plants to look 
wilted. It will not do to put kerosene about the hills, I suppose, and I could think 
of nothing else. I promised to write you and learn what is the treatment proper.— 
[W. H. Edwards, Coalburgh, W. Va., June 23, 1890. 

Rep.Ly.—Your letter of the 23d, inst. isduly received. Your informant certainly is 
mistaken in supposing that the smali ants which were found clustering about the 
base of watermelon vines were doing any injury. They were doubtless attracted by 
the presence of aphids, probably the common melon plant-louse (Aphis ewcumeris). If 
you think it worth while you might have specimens collected and forwarded so that 
the determination can be accurately made and recommendations as to remedies 
given.— [June 24, 1890. ] 


7940—No, 2 3 


12 


Fumigation for Scale-insects. 


A short time ago Fruit-pest Inspector Richardson, of Pasadena, and myself paid a 
visit to Orange to learn more about fumigating trees with hydrocyanic-acid gas, and 
were shown around by President Hamilton, of the Orange County Board of Horti- 
culture. About a dozen fruit-growers have fumigators of their own, and several of 
them fumigate for their neighbors at so much an acre, while some of them rent their 
fumigating outfits to other growers. All I spoke to on the subject expressed them- 
selves as being highly pleased with the results obtained by this process. It comes 


the nearest to extermination when applied to the red scale of any process known to 


me, and one of the largest orange growers at Tustin informed me that after he had 
sprayed his trees three times there were more living red scales on a single lemon than 
could now be found in his entire orchard, the latter having recently been fumigated 
with the hydrocyanic-acid gas. He also informs me that it costs but little more to 
fumigate his largest trees than it did to spray them. Two different kinds of fumi- 
gators have been patented, but I did not see one of them in use, the growers using 
fumigators of their own devising, modeled after the one first constructed by Messrs. 
Wolfskill and Craw, of this city.—[D. W. Coquillett, Los Angeles, Cal., July 1, 1890. 


A Parasite of the Vine Aspidiotus. 


I send some bottles containing larve in alcohol, and a few more slides with speci- 
mens for the microscope. Among the latter is an interesting parasite on Aspidiotus 
uve, which seems to be doing good work in keeping this pernicious scale-insect in 
check. More than a dozen of these little flies emerged from the scales on a bit of grape 
cane not 5 inches long. 

In one of the bottles is a section of a Plusia larva found on Chrysanthemum, from 
which thousands of the minute flies inclosed with it issued. I never saw a more ex- 
treme case of parasitism. After spinning up the poor worm lost all semblance of 
itself. A myriad of the parent flies must have attacked it at once.—[M. E. Murtfeldt, 
Kirkwood, Mo., November 23, 1889. 


REPLY.—The parasite on Aspidiotus we is a species of Centrodora, while the Plusia 
parasite is probably Copidosoma truncatellum Dalm. * *. —[December 3, 1889. ] 


“Some Insects from Kansas. 


I inclose you two specimens of insects for identification. I have found four of the 
smaller of the two crawling about the house during the last week. I should like to 
know if it is the true curculio or not. The larger one with red markings is found 
abundantly in the fall about box-elder trees, but as I have never seen it teed I thought 
that perhaps it is a relation to the wheel bug pictured in INSECT LIFE, and therefore 
a predaceous insect and consequently beneficial. This last is seen all winter on sunny 
days crawling about, especially getting into houses whenever it can.—[F. F. Creve- 
ceur, Onaga, Kans., March 31, 1890. ‘ 

REPLY.—Your letter of March 31 has been received together with the accompany- 
ing specimens of insects for determiuation. The smaller one which you thought. 
might be the plum curculio is an entirely distinct insect, although it resembles that. 
species and belongs to the same family. It has no common name but bears the scien- 
tific name of Dorytomus mucidus. It is a very common western beetle and breeds in 
the catkins of Cottonwood. The larger specimen with red markings, which you 
found abundantly in the fall about box-elder trees and later in the winter about. 
houses, is the Box-elder Bug (Leptocoris trivittatus). This is also very abundant in the 
west and is known to breed chiefly on the Box-elder. It also attacks other plants, 
and in Bulletin 12 of this Division is recorded as seriously injuring apples. Ordi- 
narily, however, it is not particularly injurious, but is frequently very annoying by 
reason of its entering houses in the fall and winter. Its habit of congregating on 


73 


the trunks of Box-elder and other trees will make it comparatively easy to operate 
against. It may be destroyed by crushing with a stiff brush or broom or by apply- 
ing strong kerosene emulsion or hot water.—[April 7, 1890. ] 


The Joint Worm in northern New York. 


I send you some pieces of straw that contain maggots of some kind. I have heard 
of their being in but one piece of wheat and that man did not find them until this 
winter while feeding the straw. My wheat.was very much injured by frost and this 
man thought that was what was the mattér with his wheat crop, but it proves to be 
something else. I write to hear if you have seen or heard of anything like it, what 
you call it, and what you think it will amount to?—[K. W. Russ, York, Living- 
ston County, N. Y., March 13, 1290. 

Repty.—The insect damaging your neighbor’s wheat is the common Joint Worm 
Isosoma hordei, which does considerable damage to the wheat crop insome parts of the 
country, but which has not been a serious pest in your State. From past experience, 
therefore, it is not likely that you will have much trouble. In case the insect in- 
creases, however, so as todo any appreciable damage, the farmers over 4 given terri- 
tory should unite in burning stubble, screenings, and straw for one or more seasons.— 
[March 17, 1890. ] 


The Grain Toxoptera in Tennessee. 


In your letter of January 21 you state that you wish me to keep you informed as to 
the increase or decrease of Toxoptera graminum. I inclose two clippings from our 
county paper, and am happy to state that they have not been able to survive the 
heavy rains and frosts of this month, so far asI can see. We are greatly relieved, 
for, althongh you say you doubt whether much damage would be done, the wheat- 
fields seem to show the contrary, and patches in size of an acre or more were appar- 
ently dead. I have one field which I doubt will ever recover from the damage done. 
So much for T. g. at present. Should they make their appearance again I will let you 
know.—[P. C. Newkirk, Jalapa, Monroe County, Tenn., March, 1890. 

ReEpLy.—Your letter of recent date inclosing clippings duly received. Thank you 
very much for your further information relative to the grain plant-lice. I am glad 
that my anticipations were verified and that the lice have disappeared.—[ March 14, 
1890. ] : 


Prevalence of the Grain Toxoptera in Texas. 


I ship by to-day’s mail some insects that are infesting our wheat fields of this 
county, many fields being almost ruined. The effect is just the same as the Chinch 
Bug on corn. When the first crop has matured they look very much like the ‘‘ Pha- 
raoh,” or seventeen-year locust. They are about one-eighth of an inch long and can 


_ jump or fly. The young one I send you seems to be doing the mischief, there being 


as many as three to each branch of wheat. No one seems to know what these insects 
are or how they are likely to terminate. We would be pleased to have your Division 
examine them and advise us at once, and give us all the information you can, as 
wheat is the main dependence for a large part of the State.—[J. L. Fookes, Era, 
Cooke County, Tex., February 26, 1890. 

ReEpPLy.—Your letter of recent date, inclosing specimens, duly received. The in- 
sect in question is one of the grain plant-lice known as Joxoptera graminum. This 
insect, although hitherto comparatively rare, has been very abundant in the wheat 
fields in Kentucky and Tennessee the past winter, although in these States the re- 
cent frosts have almost entirely destroyed it. The life history of the species is not 
well known and no remedy can be suggested at this time. I shall be glad to hear 
from you as to the amount of damage done by this insect, and as to how long it is 
abundant in your fields.—[ March 18, 1890. ] 


< 


74 


SECOND LETTER.—Your letter of information in regard to the wheat-destroying 
insects in this community is at hand, for which you will accept the thanks of the 
farmers of this county. You ask for the amount of damage done to the crop and how 
long they have abounded in our fields. I+ is believed now that they have been in the 


fields since early fall, and they still remain in great quantities in some fields. As to 


the amount of damage done to the crops, after a careful estimate we place the damage 
at 75 per cent. in one-half of this county, which includes the wheat belt. One-half 
will be planted in other crops and the remainder will be about one-half stand. 
There are some small crops of what is known as Faltz wheat; this is not burt. 
The rest of the crop is Mediterranean wheat. Can you give any reason for this? 
If so, you would oblige us.—[J. L. Fookes, Era, Cooke County, Tex., March 31, 1890. 

REPLY.—I take pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of your favor of March 31, 
together with newspaper clippings relating to the Wheat Louse ( Toxoptera graminum), 
and am much obliged to you for the additional information relating to the amount of 
damage occasioned by it. As stated ina former letter, this insect has a wide range, 
extending from Maryland to Texas, but has been heretofore comparatively rare. We 
first received specimens in 1882, and it has since then been found near here in Mary- 
land. It has also been reported several times from Indiana, and specimens have been 
received from South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. 

We have received specimens at all times of the year, from January to July. There 
is very little doubt but that this species is the one named above, which occurs com- 
monly on the continent of Europe, where it is frequently destructive to grasses and 
grains. In 1852 it was recorded to have been so abundant in the streets of Bologna, 
Italy, as to cause great annoyance to the inhabitants. The fact that this pest is 
with little doubt an imported one, and its excessive abundance over a wide area, 
makes a knowledge of its habits very desirable, aud it is hoped that during the com- 
ing summer opportunity will offer to thoroughly study it inthe field Any assist- 
ance you can offer in the way of observations during the spring and summer will be 
gladly received, and I shall also be glad to get additional specimens of the lice, for 
the sending of which I inclose return franks. Many insect pests, after periods of un- 
usual abundance, suddenly disappear, owing to the great increase of their natural 
enemies, and this is especially true with the Aphides, or plant-lice, and has been fre 
quently noted in case of the well-known Grain Aphis (Siphonophora avene). We may 
therefore hope that this insect, which is a near ally of the Grain Aphis, will disap- 
pear after the present year and not be troublesome again for some time. 

The immunity of the Fultz wheat is doubtless explained by some peculiarity of 
its epidermis, or skin, which protects it against the lice or renders it distasteful to 
them, and this protection is very probably caused by the presence of numerous 
minute hairs, which prevent the louse from readily puncturing the stem with its 
sucking beak. In view of this, would it not be desirable to grow the Fultz and 
other wheats that experience may show to be little affected by this insect, rather 
than the Mediterranean ?—[ April 7, 1890. ] 

THIRD LETTER.—According to promise in my letter of the 8th instant, you will find 
inclosed three of what is commonly called the Lady-bug, which is claimed by Mr. F. P. 
Heare, of the Fair Plains neighborhood, to be the parent of the Toxoptera graminum. 
In my letter of the 8th instant I gave you my reasons for doubting Mr. H’s. statement, 
and from an investigation made to-day I have much greaterreason for doubting. In 
one wheat field we saw a few straggling bunches of wheat which were thickly stuck 
with the plant-lice, some of the smallest size, but not a Lady-bng could be found. 
In an oat field where were a few scattering bunches that were left by the freeze of 
some weeks ago, three Lady-bugs were found, but we could not find a single one of 
the little pest. In another part of the farm we found another Lady-bug, but not one 
of the pest. I then examined some oats on two other farms and found the little pests 
in great numbers, but a diligent search failed to find a single Lady-bug. We have 
interviewed a number of our best farmers and find them all inclined to doubt Mr. 
Heare’s opinion in regard to the Lady-bug. I have no tangible idea of where our 


75 


pest comes from, and I have no remedy to offer. Should the warm weather and hot 
sun fail to drive them away, I think they will take both the corn and cotton. [ 
would be glad to have your opinion as to the origin or parentage of the little pest and 
how long they will be likely to remain with us, so that I may give it to the press for 
the benefit of the farmers.—[J. L. Fookes, Era, Cooke County, Tex., April 10, 1890. 

REPLY.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 10th inst. and also the ac- 
companying specimens. AsI wrote you on the 11th inst., the ‘‘ Lady-bug” is the 
enemy of the grain-lice and notits parent. An examination of the specimens which 
you sert shows that they belong to the species known as the spotted Lady-bug 
(Megilla maculata). 

Nothing more need be said in answer to Mr. Heare. The life history of one of the 
species of grain-louse will be treated at some length in the forthcoming annual report 
of this Department, a copy of which will be sent you when published. The lice may 
do considerable damage with you this spring, but there is no available remedy. Ordi- 
narily they are killed off by parasites before attaining injurious numbers, although 
occasionally, as last year in the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and 
Ohio, the parasites did not get the upper hand until later in the year than usual, and 
the result was that the crop was somewhat damaged. In reply to your question as 
to where the lice come from, we may state that they are always with you, but usually 
in such small numbers as not to be noticed. The past open winter has evidently 
been favorable to their early and excessive multiplication.—[April 17, 1890. ] 

ANOTHER LETTER.—I saw in your reply to Mr. J. L. Fookes, of Era, Tex., that you 
asked him to report to you the extent of damage done by the insects that are on our 
wheat. The wheat in Cooke, Grayson, Collin and Denton counties, and a few other 
places where I have been, is suffering from their ravages, and it is hard to tell how 
long they will remain. They are onmy wheat and seem to be increasing fast, and up 
to yesterday 1t was a very great mystery to my mind how they originated and accu- 
mulated so rapidly. I walked into the wheat to make a close investigation, and 
within an hour I discovered the great mystery which has been bothering us so long, 
and it is the simple little bug known all over the United States as the Lady-bug, a 
small red bug with ashell covered with black specks. She can be seen all over the 
field depositing little eggs resembling a clear grain of sand. I find these are soon 
hatched in the warm sun, and the little bug is very small with a transparentskin. It 
begins to suck the sap from the green wheat, which soon changes its color to a dark 
green, and as it advances in age and size it takes on the perfect shape of a Lady-bug 
with her shell and wings off. Next I find him a little larger and a little older with a 
dark streak along his back ; next, larger in size, while the streak has developed into 
a set of wings, very fine in texture. 

We had a freeze a short time ago that perhaps killed most of the little rascals, and 
the ones now on the wheat I have no doubt hatched since the freeze. I can not say 
just now whether they will turn to Lady-bugs or not, but I can convince any man in 
a few minutes that the Lady-bug is the cause of their existence. Iopened and counted 
in one Lady-bug over thirty eggs. I find in all the counties that the wheat is damaged 
a great deal worse in valleys near timber or brush, or near where the rocks are numer- 
ous on the surface, and in sections of the black land where very large rank weeds have 
been growing. Wherever the Lady-bug has had shelter they have been noticed by all 
with whom I have talked to-day as being very numerous for the past year or two. The 
bugs have already destroyed in this county (Cooke) thousands of acres of wheat, and 
I find the Lady-bug laying her eggs on some corn that is up. Have also found the 
little Toxoptera graminum, as you call them, on the corn, too. 

The most simple and effectual remedy I know of just now is this: Take corn-meal 
and scatter it broadcast over the wheat field, one-half bushel to 10 acres of wheat, so 
as to toll the little birds on the fields, and when once there they will eat the Lady- 
bugs and rid the wheat of the terrible pest. Please give this to the press at once, so 
the farmers may save what wheat remains, if possible.—[F. P. Heare, Vernon, Wil- 
barger County, Texas, April 6, 1890. 


76 


REpLY.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th inst. You are 
entirely mistaken in supposing that Lady-bugs are the parents of the grain-lice. 
Their apnearance in the grain fields in such great numbers is due to the fact that 
they feed upon the lice. Hence your proposition to destroy the Lady-bugs will 
result in the destruction of the farmers’ best friends. That these insects are so abun- 
dant in the infested fields is a very encouraging sign and indicates that the lice will 
speedily disappear at least in part.—[April 12, 1590. ] 


Notes on Bulletin 21. 


Page 12. Re Vedalia cardinalis.—I have already alluded to this subject in the 
Garden and Field. Still, there is no harm repeating that neither Mr. Tepper nor my- 
self have the slightest recollection of Mr. Koebele showing us the Lady-bug on the 
occasion he states, but I can understand that he may have done so without my 
remembering it, because my thoughts were all intent on Lestophonus. Neither the 
Rev. T. Blackburn, who is strong on Coccinellids, Mr. Tepper, nor myself have ever 
seen J’. cardinalis in our lives to our knowledge. 

Page 15. Re Diabrotica (Aulacophora punctata). ‘‘ This gentleman claims that all 
injury can be avoided by dusting powdered lime over the plants.” This is news to me. 
I certainly was not the informant. As the Aulacophora is not to be found near Ade- 
laide I have had no opportunity of experimenting with it. I will bear the remedy in 
mind. 

Page 18. I certainly informed Mr. Koebele that Mr. Maskell considered the insect 
on the Kangaroo Acacia that has often been mistaken for Icerya, as a Dactylopina, but 
he had had only 2 specimens to examine, and if I remember right he only suggested 
it. I have since re-examined it, and believe it to be an Eriococcus but the insect is 
now so scarce that I can not obtain any specimens. Lriococcus eucalypti have also dis- 
appeared unless on the tops of tall gum trees. 

Page 20. P. engenioides should read, eugenioides. 

Page 29. Dr. Diez should read, Mr. A. Zietz. 

So much for Mr. Koebele’s report the perusal of which has given me much pleasure. 
He certainly did his work welland, what is better, it has turned out better even than 
was anticipated. I hope that you may be able to send him again before long to bring 
us a consignment of Codlin Moth enemies and take back a general assortment of our 
useful insects.—[F.S. Crawford, Adelaide, Sonth Australia. 


GENERAL NOTES. 


A MUCH PARASITIZED INSECT. 


A most remarkable instance of parasitism is given by Prof. C. Ru- 
dow-Perleberg, in Die Insekten- Welt, Volume IV, Nos. 4and 5, May and 
June, 1887. 

In treating of the enemies of Cheimatoba brumata, a common Euro- 
pean moth, he gives a list of no less than sixty-three parasites of the 
family Ichneumonide, and states that he has reared an almost equal 
number of Braconids and of Chalcidids, and Proctotrupids. We give his 
list of Ichneumonids, as a matter of interest. It will be noticed thatin 
nearly every case several species of the same genus have been bred 
from the single host. From this fact we might suspect that some of 
the so-called species may be simple varieties ; but the author has studied 


17 


parasitic Hymenoptera for many yearsand speaks with authority. Yet 
some of the species, judging from analogy, must be secondary and not 
primary parasites. 


Ichneumon fabricator Gr. Tryphon brunniventris Gr. 


Ichneumon fabricator var. 


Ichneumon saturatorius Wsm. 


Ichneumon deliratorius Gr. 
Ichneumon scutellator Gr. 


Ichneumon pallifrons Wsm. 


Ichneumon anator Wsm. 
Ichneumon nigritarius Gr. 


Trematopygus nigricornis Hgr. 
Polyblastus cothurnatus Hgr. 
Polyblastus arcuatus Hgr. 
Bassus letatorius Fbr. 

Bassus albosignatus Nees. 
Bassus flavolineatus Hgr. 
Bassus bimaculatus Hgr. 


Bassus cognatus Hgr. 
Pimpla examinator F. 
Pimpla instigator F. 
Pimpla varicornis Gr. 
Pimpla mixta Rtz. 
Pimpla longiseta Rtz. 
Pimpla flavipes Gr. 
Pimpla oculatoria Gr. 
Cryptus atripes Gr. 
Cryptus seticornis F. 
Cryptus longipes Htg. 
Cryptus n.sp.(brumate Rudow). 
Phygadeuon vagans Gr. 
Phygadeuon brumate n. sp. 
Hemiteles cingulator Gr. 
Hemiteles niger Gr. 
Hemiteles oxyphymus Gr. 
Hemiteles pectoralis n. sp. 
Hemiteles socialis Gr. 
Hemiteles fulvipes Gr. 
Pezomachus fasciatus Gr. 
Pezomackus agilis Forst. 
Pezomachus audax Forst. 


Ichneumon ochropis Wsm. 
Ichneumon tentator Wsm. 
Ichneumon varipes Wsm. 
Ichneumon albinus Gr. 
Anomalon violatum Gr. 
Anomalon tenuicorne Fbr. 
Anomalon varitarse Hgr. 
Anomalon geniculatum Gr. 
Anomalon clandestinum Gr. 
Campoplex mixtus Gr. 
Campoplex melanarius Hgr. 
Thersilochus harpurus Schrk. 
Porizon hostilis Gr. 

Porizon bodps Gr. 

Porizon saltator Gr. 
Mesoleius aulicus Gr. 
Mesoleius sanguinicollis Gr. 
Mesoleius hzematodes Gr. 
Mesoleius c¢aligatus Hgr. 
Mesoleius segmentator Her. 
Mesoleius improbus Hgr. 
Mesoleius sanguinicollis ? 
Tryphon vulgaris Gr. 


A STRANGE OMISSION. 


It is very strange that attention has never before been called to the 
fact that “ Standard Natural History” entirely omits mention of the 
family Thripide or order Thysanoptera. 


HABITS OF CIMBEX AMERICANA. 


In a recent letter from Mr. Elmer D. Ball, of Little Rock, Iowa, he 
reports the following observations on the common willow Saw-fly: ‘I 
noticed in INSECT LIF that this insect was common in Nebraska, and 
mention was made of the injury done to the trees by their cutting a 
slit nearly around the twigs. Ihave watched this for a number of years 
and can say that these slits always heal over and the tree continues to 
grow without apparently being injuriously affected, but when the larve 
hatch and begin eating them the growth of the tree is arrested for that 
year. They will strip it of ail its leaves and then travel on to the next 


13 


tree. Ina few days a few leaves will come out at the ae of the tree 
and so it will remain for a month or more. 

When willows have been cut back and come up rank and close to- 
gether the worms do not seem to like them for the first year. They do 
not seem to like the creek willows but will try the pussy willow if hard 
up for food. 

In examining the imago I found that one mandible had two points 
and the other only one. Upon examination I saw that, while working, 
they sink the two-pronged jaw into the wood as far as possible and 
work with the other on the outside.”—|[Herbert Osborn, Ames, Iowa, 
August 2, 1890. | 


HONORS TO MR. WIGHT. 


Our valued correspondent, Mr. R. Allan Wight, of Auckland, New 
Zealand, has recently been appointed Consulting Entomologist to the 
Bay of Islands Horticultural and Agricultural Society, and to the 
Papakura Fruit-growers Association in recognition of valuable infor- 
mation conveyed in his contributions to the New Zealand Farmer. Mr. 
Wight, although past seventy years of age, is a most energetic and in- 
defatigable worker in the interests of New Zealand borticulture and 
agriculture. Moreover, his work is largely a labor of love. 


LEGISLATION AGAINST THE GIPSY MOTH. 


Our readers may be aware that the State of Massachusetts has taken 
hold of the destruction of the imported Gipsy Moth with great energy. 
The matter was mentioned by the governor in his message to the leg- 
islature last winter and a bill was introduced and passed appropriating 
$25,000 for the work. The governor appointed three men to take entire 
charge of the work and we learn from recent correspondence and from 
articles in the New Hngland Farmer and Massachusetts Ploughman, 
Garden and Forest, and Scientific American that a large force of men 
was employed early in the spring to go over the infested districts mark- 


ing the trees upon which eggs had been laid. They were followed by 


other men furnished with torches who burned the eggs thus marked. 
One hundred men were employed in this labor, which lasted until May 1. 
The young larve began to appear early in May and spraying with Paris 
green wasat once commenced. Some fifteen machines were purchased 
ata cost of about $75 each. These consisted of barrels mounted on carts 
with pump, spray-nozzle and other accessories and from 100 to 200 
feet of hose, besides ladders. The spraying was done with Paris green 
in the proportion of 1 pound to 150 gallons of water, and five men accom- 
panied each machine. 

One hundred inspectors were appointed whose duty it was to prevent 
the moths from being carried beyond the limits of the infested regions. 
They were divided in gangs of five each, and all teams leaving the in- 
fested locality were examined and all caterpillars found destroyed. 


— 


ee — 
ae as eee ee 


19 


The territory occupied by the pest is much greater than was at first 
supposed, and extermination appears almost impossible. There has 
been no lack of energy in the prosecution of the work, but the whole 
matter needs scientific supervision in order that this energy shall not 
be wasted. 

HOT WATER FOR THE PEACH BORER. 


The Prairie Farmer for July 5, 1890, quotes a number of experiments 
in favor of this remedy. The balance of evidence seems to show that 
hot water will kill the borers around the crown and will not injure the 
trees; but this only corroborates a fact that has been the common pos- 
session of intelligent peach-growers for decades. 


PYRETHRUM IN AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH AFRICA. 


We learn from the Agricultural Journal (Cape Colony) of June 5, 
1890, that a Mr. Kleesattel has 6 acres of Pyrethrum under cultivation 
in Victoria, which has begun to yield a return. The seed is sown in 
beds in the month of August and the following winter the young plants 
are put out in rows 2 feet 6 inches apart with 1 foot between the 
plants. The plants bloom from November to January, fifteen months 
after the sowing of the seed. The plant is perennial and the crops last 
for several years. 

In 1872 Mr. J. B. Hellier planted some seed at Graham’s Town, South 
Africa, which grew well, and it is interesting to know that without cul- 
tivation and in the same locality the plants are still to be found, so that 
it practically grows wild. He distributed also in 1872 small quantities 
of the seeds to other localities, and in each place the experience has 
been the same. Mr. Perks, near King William’s Town, has grown it and 
has manufactured his own insect-powder for the past six years. Under 
these favorable conditions Mr. Hellier urges that the plant be grown 
extensively, not only for home consumption, but also as a future article 
of export. 


THE YELLOW HAMMER AND THE CODLING MOTH. 


Mr. A. P. Martin, of Petaluma, Cal., writing to the Pacific Rural Press 
of June 27, 1890, states that in looking over his orchard last spring and 
examining all crevices and bark of the trees for Godling Moth larve he 
failed to find any where there were thousands last fall. He discovered 
plenty of cocoons, but in every case the former occupant was absent. It 
was tooearly for transformation to have taken place and he found small 
holes in the bark-scales which had been made by some bird. His belief 
is that the good work was done by a bird whose scientific name he does 
not know, but which is variously called the ‘ Yellow Hammer,” 
“Hlicker,” or ‘“* High Hole” and which Dr. Merriam informs us is, in 
California, Colaptes cafer. During the early spring months Mr. Martin 
states that they were to be seen by hundreds in his orchard, industri- 


+ 


80 


ously examining the trunks and larger limbs of the fruit trees, and he 
also found great numbers of them around sheds where he stored his 
winter apples and pears. As the result of several hours search Mr. 
‘Martin found only one worm, and this one escaped only by an accident, 
for several had been taken within a quarter of an inch of it, but, as Mr. 
Martin writes, ‘“ Luckily he only escaped ‘ Charybdis to fall into Scylla,’ 
for I incontinently pulverized him.” 


ADDITIONAL NOTE ON CERATITIS CAPITATA. 


on - 


In our brief review of the literature of this interesting insect in our 
article in the last number, entitled ‘‘A Peach Pest in Bermuda,” we 
neglected to mention a most important article which is contained in 
Dr, O. Penzig’s “Studi Botanici Sugli Agrumie Sulle Piante A ffini,” 
published in the “Annali di Agricoltura” for 1887. Dr. Penzig reviews 
the general subject of Dipterous insects on the Orange and gives an 
account of the literature of the three species of Ceratitis, viz, C. capi- 
tata, C. catoirei, and OC. hispanica, all of which he treats under the 
generic name of Halterophora, proposed by Rondani on account of the 
preoccupation of Ceratitis in Ammonites. 

C. catoiret comes from the island of Bourbon and from Mauritius ; 
C. capitata from the East Indies and the Azores Islands, while C. 
hispanica is found in the Mediterranean region and differs from the 
other two, which Doctor Penzig thinks may be synonyms, by the posses- 
sion of two frontal tubercles. He gives a good account of the different 
stages of the latter species and also an account of its life history from 
which it appears that the perfect insect is possessed of extraordinary 
vivacity and lives by sucking the sweets of different fruits, oranges, 
peaches and figs, which the fly is not able to pierce with its mouth 
parts, but only sucks when they are injured from other causes. 

The female penetrates the skin of a half-grown orange and lays her 
eggs at a depth of from one to three millimeters. In afew days the 
jarve hatch and burrow through the skin and into the pulp of the fruit, 
rendering injured fruit readily recognizable by a brown or olive spot 
which soon extends to from three to five centimeters in diameter. The 
original puncture is always noticeable and the larva returns to it 
frequently for air, placing its anal spiracles against the opening. The 
orange soon falls to the ground and in the space of fifteen days, more 
or less, the larvee issue, either through the original opening, or through 
another one made for the purpose, and enter the ground, where they 
transform to pup, remaining in this condition only afew days. There 
are presumably a number of annual generations. The orange is pre- 
ferred for food, but lemons and other cultivated citrus fruits are also 
attacked, as well as peaches, figs, azaroles, etc. The species seems to 
be limited to the countries around the Mediterranean. Found origi- 
nally in Spain, it was soon discovered to do great damage in Algeria. 
In Sicily it was first confined to oranges but later attacked peaches 


6s ob eee 


81 


and other fruits. In Liguria it was occasionally observed in 1882 dam- 
aging peaches, but seemed to leave citrus fruits intact;.at least the - 
author was not able to verify its presence in oranges or lemons. 

As a remedy it is proposed to collect and destroy the infested fruit 
or to submerse it for a short space of time in water. 

As a means of destroying the infested fruit he proposes to place it 
in a ditch, covering with a layer of caustic lime, thus after six months 
converting the entire mass into a valuable fertilizer. Concert of action 

_and energetic measures on the part of the provincial authorities are 
urged. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB OF THE AMERICAN ASSO- 
CIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, INDIANAPOLIS, 1890. 


The club met in regular session on August 20, 9 a. m., in room 11, 
in the State House, President, Prof. A. J. Cook, in the chair. There 
were present through the meeting, Messrs. Chas. Robertson, Clarence 
M. Weed, E. W. Claypole, James Troop, F. S. Earle, L. H. Pammel, 
Herbert Osborn, John Marten, H. Garman, Geo. F. Atkinson, Chas. 
W. Hargitt, Thos. Hunt, John W. Spencer, W. B. Alwood, J. Fletcher, 
F, M. Webster, W. W. Norman, 8. G. Evans, W. 8S. Blachley, Truman 
P. Carter, Ralph St. F. Perry, Miss Mary E. Murtfeldt, Miss Augusta 
Murtfeldt, Mrs. K. B. Claypole, Mrs. O. Hanney. 

The president proceeded to deliver a most interesting address upon 
Teaching of Entomology. 

Dr. C. M. Weed, speaking with reference to the president’s address, 
urged the study of French and German, as a knowledge of those lan- 
guages was almost essential when making a thorough study of many 
species of insects. He also criticised Professor Cook’s plan of labeling 
specimens, as requiring too much labor. 

Prof. Herbert Osborn highly commended the course of instruction 
laid down by the president in his address. 

Dr. C. M. Weed then read a paper upon the life history of the 
Evening Primrose Curculio ( Tyloderma foveolatum). He reported breed- 
ing a species of Bracon from the larve of the Curculio; and recorded 
observations upon the habits of both insects. All of Dr. Weed’s papers 
will appear in a forthcoming Bulletin of the Ohio Experiment Station. 

Mr. F. M. Webster had heard Dr. Weed’s paper with interest, and 
was pleased that he had made further observations upon this interest- 
ing insect. 

The meeting adjourned to meet again at 5 p. m. 

The club met at 5 p. m. pursuant to adjournment. At the request of 
the president, Mr. Fletcher presented some notes upon the injuries 
caused by the Hessian Fly, the Wheat Stem-maggot, and an undeter- 
mined species of Oscinis. He stated that he had been studying these 
insects at Ottawa, Canada, during the last four years. 

The note was presented with the object of eliciting further informa- 


82 


tion. He had been trying to ascertain, for the Ottawa district, the 
number of broods of Hessian Fly in a season. He had found that the 
Hessian Fly, the Wheat Stem-maggot and an Oscinis, were all found at 
the same time in the same plants, and further speaking, generally they 
passed throngh their stages contemporaneously. Of the three, the Os- 
cinis had proved much the most destructive during the past summer. 
He had found spring wheat sown in April, badly attacked at the root by 
all three. With regard to the Hessian Fly, this was a new attack in his 
experience. The perfect insects of the Hessian Fly and Oscinis had 
emerged at the end of June, and a month later Meromyza. He had 
taken the adult Hessian Flies at Ottawa during the present season, in 
the beginning of May, at the end of June, and in August, and he sup- 
posed they would appear again in September. He had not been able to 
find the Hessian Fly breeding in any of the grasses, and would like to 
know if others had done so. Meromyza and the Oscinis were both most 
destructive pests in grass lands. Both of these had been present in the 
perfect state during the past spring in enormous numbers, but notwith- 
standing this, the conspicuous summer attack of Meromyza, causing 
‘‘silver top” in wheat and barley, was less noticeable than usual. He 
could only account for this by supposing that the eggs had been de- 
stroyed,. as the amount of injury to the root shoots was only about the 
Same as usual. 

The Oscinis he had been unable to identify ; but Mr. John Marten had 
told him during the present meeting of a similar attack which had been 
studied by Professor Garman, in Kentucky, which appeared to be of the 
same species. This had been identified by Dr. Williston as probably 
being Oscinis variabilis. Professor Cook stated that at Lansing, Mich., 
Meromyza was one of the worst pests in oats. He had seen no no- 
tice of this attack in literature on the subject. They had looked 
carefully for Hessian Fly in grasses; but so far had not succeeded in 
finding it. 

Mr. Garman stated that he had studied what appeared to be the same 
species of Oscinis, in Kentucky, and had prepared there an article for 
publication. 

Professor Osborn stated that he had taken at Ames, lowa, numerous 
specimens of Oscinis, one of which closely resembled that exhibited by 
» Mr. Fletcher. Mr. W. B. Alwood mentioned having studied, in Ohio, 
a species of Oscinis infesting oats, and had published his results in Bul- 
ietin 13, Division of Entomology. He had found that the eggs, two to 
eleven in number, were forced between the sheath slightly below the 
juncture of the leaf, and that, just prior to pupation, the larve gnawed 
through the epidermis and the pupz protruded so as to admit of the 
easy escape of the adult. 

Mr. Fletcher, referring again to the Meromyza, stated that in many 
instances he had found the egg deposited upon the upper surface of the 
leaf, some distance from the stem, and asked if others had observed 
this to be the case elsewhere. 


ee es ee! 


83 


Mr. Garman had found that the eggs were laid just above the sheath, 
or sometimes pushed beneath it. 

Mr. Webster stated that the eggs of Hessian Fly had, the past 
spring, throughout the southern and central parts of Indiana, been 
deposited near the roots, the flaxseeds being found in that portion of 
the plant, while in the northern part of the State the case had evi- 
dently been different, as the flaxseeds were there almost invariably 
located several inches up the stem, near the second joint. 

A paper on the subject of American silk spinners by Mr. Edward L. 
‘Graef was read by the Secretary, of which the following is an abstract. 

Refers to the periodical, phenomenal increase of some species of in- 
sects and their sudden disappearance. Speaks of the adaptability of 
the cocoons of L. cecropia Linn. for the manufacture of silk, and of the 
firm belief of the writer in the possibility of the creation of an American 
industry in the rearing of the, 7 larve for manufacturing purposes. So- 
licits plans for the profitable rearing of the larve of this, or other 
American silk spinners, also for preparing their cocoons for this pur- 
pose. Offers a prize ($50.00) for this purpose. 

THURSDAY, August 21. 

Clib opened its morning session at 8.00 a. m. by an interesting 
paper by Dr. C. M. Weed, the subject of which was * The Food Plants 
of the clover Stem Borer” Languria mozardi. Fifteen species of the 
plants were reported on which the larva is known to feed. 

This paper was discussed by Professors Cook, Alwood, Osborn and 
others. 

Professor Alwood announced his intention of studying tobacco in- 
sects, and mentioned having observed a stem borer. Dr. Weed had 
heard of a tobacco root-iouse in southern Ohio. 

Professor Osborn followed with a paper on a peculiar coleopterous 
larva infesting the stems of plants.* 

Professor Garman spoke of the mouth parts of some of the Thysa- 
noptera, and stated that some recent studies of mouth parts, had fully 
coincided with previous studiest of his in the same direction. In alli 
material examined he had found the mouth parts unsymmetrical. 

Dr. Weed presented a short paper upon the oviposition of Listronotus 
latiusculus. The eggs are laid in bunches of five to ten on the leat 
stalks of Sagittaria variabilis, and are covered with bits of epidermis 
chewed up by the adult beetle. 

This was discussed by Messrs. Garman, Fletcher and Webster. 

Mr. Charles Robertson made some remarks upon the habits of Emphor 
bombiliformis, which he stated was apparently a special visitor of Hibis- 
cus. The nests were constructed by burrowing in the ground, and, in 
order to facilitate the excavation, water was frequently carried to the 


* To be published in INsEcr LIFE. 


+ Mouth parts of the Thysanoptera, by H. Garman. Bull. Essex Institute, Vol. 
XXII, Nos. 1-3, 1890. 


84 


Cia 


hole with which the bottom was moistened. Sometimes but one pellet of 
earth would be carried out after an application of water, while in some 
cases he had observed as many as four of these pellets thrown out im- 
mediately following an application. Discussion followed which was 
participated in by Messrs. Fletcher, Osborn, Cook, Weed, and others. 

Miss Mary E. Murtfeldt read a charming paper entitled, ‘Some Ex- 
periences in Rearing Insects.” In this paper some valuable hints were 
given as to the best way to manage larve so as to carry them to matu- 
rity, and the most frequent causes of failure were mentioned. The paper 
was listened to with great attention by all present. 

Mr. Fletcher spoke in terms of high approval of the paper, which he 
said bore upon its face the mark of being the production of a worker, 
one who had seen and knew the things she spoke of. He then gave a 
short account of some of his own failures and successes in breeding 
larve from the egg. 

Mr. Webster also spoke in the same strain; he had not previously 
had the pleasure of meeting Miss Murtfeldt, but he hoped she would 
be a frequent attendant at future meetings of the club. Professor 
Osborn had listened with pleasure to Miss Murtfeldt’s experience ; he 
had always found that the simpler the apparatus the better. For ‘small 
larvee he used glass tubes having the ends closed with cotton wool. 

Club convened at 5 p.m. and proceeded to consider the following 
resolution : 


Resolved, That it is the sense of the club that the meetings of the Association of 
Official Economic Entomologists and of the Entomological Club would both be bene- 
fited by holding such meetings, if possible, at the same time and place as the meeting 
of the American Associatiou for the Advancement of Science. 


After discussion by Professors Fletcher, Osborn, Cook, Alwood, 
Weed, and others, the resolution was unanimously adopted. 

The secretary proceeded to read the following paper upon ‘The 
Preparatory Stages of Hustrotia caduca,” by D.S. Kellicott, of Colum- 
bus, Ohio. 

This was discussed by Messrs. Weed, Webster and others. 

Professor Cook presented a note upon a new breeding habit in 
Agrotis C-nigrum. He had found the eggs on the foliage of currant 
bushes and had reared the larve thereon. 

Professor Osborn read an interesting paper on the period of incuba- 
tion of Mallophaga.* 

Mr. F. S. Earle presented several interesting notes on some injurious 
insects of southern Mississippi. Diabrotica 12-punctata was a very 
abundant insect, and, in addition to its well-known food plants it also 
fed to an injurious extent upon the foliage of peach and also cab- 
bage. Cut-worms were very injurious in gardens. A species of Aphis 
worked serious injury to the cucumber and melon vines. Pieris rape 
is exceedingly destructive. Doryphora 10-lineata had not yet reached 


* To be published in INSECT LIFE. 


a, 


“7 ——e SLU a 


85 


southern Mississippi. Sphinx larve were very destructive to the foli- 
age of tomatoes and the Boll-worm to the fruit. 

Club met at 8.30 a. m., 22d. 

Dr. Weed presented a short paper on the habits of Lixus concavus. 
Discussed by Cook, Fletcher, and Webster. 

Professor Hargitt called attention to early observations on the Canker 
Worm.* 

Professor Hargitt also spoke of a Cecidomyia infesting the tops of 
Solidago, and also presented some notes upon Cermatia forceps. 

This myriopod has, within the past two or three years, become quite 
numerous in houses and college buildings at Oxford, Ohio. The difficul- 
ties mentioned by Dr. Lintner in the fourth New York report, and by 
others, of keeping the specimens in captivity, be found to be very gen- 
eral. He succeeded in keeping them for several days in captivity, and 
inducing them to take prey by keeping them in dark quarters during 
the day. It took and devoured various insects, such as the croton bug, 
mentioned by several observers, and the common house fly. 

Mr. Webster spoke of the predaceous habits of Cermatia and its 
preying upon the croton bug. Mr. Fletcher had observed the insect 
with Mr. Howard, at Washington. Its mode of capturing the croton 
bug before devouring it was remarkable. It sprang over its prey 
which was thus encaged between many curved legs. He thought that 
Mr. Hargitt’s success in keeping alive the specimens he had confined 
in a tin canister was more due to the moisture thus secured than the 
darkness. He understood that this insect was a lover of damp places, 
like many other myriopods. 

The club then proceeded to the election of officers for the ensuing 
year, which resulted as follows: 

President, Prof. Herbert Osborn, Ames, Lowa. 

Vice-President, Miss Mary E. Murtfeldt, Kirkwood, Mo. 

Secretary, Clarence M. Weed, Columbus, Ohio. 

Professor Osborn presented a paper on ‘‘ The Use of Contagious Dis- 
eases in Destroying Injurious Insects.” + 

Mr. Fletcher thought it difficult to keep diseases over winter and to 
have them in the right condition when wanted. 

Professor Hargitt reported disease in the Canker Worm. 

Professor Cook thought the greatest argument against the use of 
disease was the resistance against them. 

Professor Garman thought Empusa very difficult to introduce, much 
more so than Bacteria. He doubted the practicability of infecting 
the Boll-worm with the disease of the Cabbage Worm. This would 
probably be better accomplished on the Tent Caterpillar. 

Adjourned to meet at 12 m. 


* Published in INsEctT Lirx, Vol. III, p. 8, 1890. 
+t To be published in INsEcT LIFE. 


86 


Club reassembled at 12 m. 22d. 

Professor Atkinson spoke of some insects of Alabama. The Bud 
worm, as it is called, though it is probably the larva of Diabrotica 12- 
punctata, is very abundant, working in young corn. 

Plusia brassice is very abundant. In the southern part of the State 
it has done more injury to cabbage than Pieris. Also attacks the potato. 
Pieris protodice does not occur in any great abundance in the southern 
part of the State. The melon worm destroys 50 per cent. of the melons 
in some sections. These may be destroyed by Paris green, and later 
by kerosene emulsion. Scoiytus rugulosus occurred in the Station or- 
chard. Thrips are very injurious to grain, and also infest the cotton 
plant. 

Professor Cook said that Thrips were very abundant on grain in 
Michigan. Mr. Webster said that Scolytus rugulosus had occurred this 
season in Indiana but he had not found them capable of injuring a 
healthy tree, only such as had suffered from diseased roots or a girdled 
trunk were seriously attacked. Mr. Fletcher stated that Canadian 
lumbermen told him that borers only attacked trees with “sour sap.” 
Mr. Webster said that while he believed this to be true of S. rugulosus, 
Xyleborus fuscatus, in June, attacked logs of both cypress and cotton- 
wood, while in the rafts in the St. Francis River, Arkansas, and did 
serious injury by boring into the solid wood. Professor Atkinson stated 
that a lepidopterous larva attacked the living oaks in Alabama. Miss 
Murtfeldt thought that this season the early brood of Pieris rape had 
been destroyed by the winter. 

Dr. Weed read a short paper on the oviposition of Dectes spinosus in 
Ambrosia trifida. 

Mr. Webster stated that he had usually found the species on or about 
A. artemisicefolia. 

Professor Cook presented some notes on the insects of the year. He 
said that Cut-worms and Saw-flies had been very injurious. The larve 
of Algeria tipuliformis was attacked by a fungous growth like that at- 
tacking the White Grub. The foliage of the quince and cherry were 
injured by the first brood of larve of Cherry Slug. Road dust was 
applied with excellent results. 

Dr. Weed presented a short paper on Psephenus lecontei, which, he 
stated, he had found on the shores of Lake Erie. 3 
Mr. Webster stated that he had taken what, without critical study 
he supposed to be this species, on the shores of Chautauqua Lake, New 

York. 
Club adjourned to meet in connection with the A. A. A.S. next year. 
F. M. WEBSTER, 
Secretary. 


87 


NOTICE OF MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL ECONOMIC 
j ENTOMOLOGISTS. 


The second annual meeting of the Association of Official Economic Entomologists 
will be held at the University buildings, Champaign, II]., November 11 to 15 proximo, 
at the same time as the meeting of the Association of Agricultural Colleges and Ex- 
periment Stations. The Committee on Entomology of the latter Association will 
meet at the same time 

Members expecting to attend will confer a favor upon the officers if they will an- 
nounce the fact, and will send titles of papers to be read or topics they desire dis- 
cussed, to the secretary. 


All are earnestly urged to be present, if possible. 
JOHN B. SMITH, 


Secretary, New Brunswick, N. J. 
THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


September 4, 1890.—Under the head ‘‘short communications and exhibition of 
specimens,” Mr. Heidemann spoke of the occurrence of Cylapus tenuicornis (Capsidz) 
near Washington, D. C., and Mr. Schwarz exhibited specimens of Choragus nitens 
(Anthribidz) lately found in the District, also a branch of Carpinus infested in a 
peculiar way by the larve of Acoptus suturalis (Curculionid#), and a specimen of 
Hymenarcys nervosa with deformed antennz, and he also called attention to the 
reported discovery of the stylopized Gryllotalpas in eastern Africa. Dr. Marx 
reported having found specimens of Latrodectus under a board, devouring carabids— 
the webs of the spider being garnished with fragments of the beetles. As possibly 
throwing light on the subject, Professor Riley mentioned having been greatly sur- 
prised this summer at the large number of insects, Lachnosterna, Xylocopa. Bombus, etc., 
that he found about his grounds at Sunbury, with large perforations and apparently 
killed by birds, and probably the house wren. Mr. Fox thought that spiders were 
largely responsible for this work. Professor Riley described his recent investigations 
into the life-history and habits of Sphecius speciosus, exhibiting specimens of the egg 
in situ on Cicadas, and of the young and full-grown larve and cocoons. Careful 
drawings were shown illustrating the different stages and habits of Sphecius. 

Mr. Schwarz queried, in view of the earlier appearance of the C. septendecim, 
whether Sphecius ever preyed on that species. Professor Riley showed that the 
period of septendecim and Sphecius overlapped, and that the general belief that Sphecius 
attacked the seventeen-year locust, while not based, so far as he recalled, on obser- 
vation, was probably well founded. 

Mr. Howard exhibited specimens of sand cricket, Stenopelmatus fasciatus, which 
had been recently sent to Professor Riley by one of hiscorrespondents. Mr. Howard 
stated that they occurred abundantly in the Southwest, and are reported errone- 
ously to be extremely poisonous. As stated by Professor Riley in the Standard 
Natural History, they are carnivorous in habit. - 

Mr. Mann described some observations and experiments relating to the longevity 
of decapitated specimens of Caloptenus and the vigorous resistance of such speci- 
mens to the attacks of ants. 

Mr. Schwarz, ‘‘ On Black Locust Insects,” presented a list of twenty-four species 
of Coleoptera bred by him in May from dying trunks of Black Locust, and spoke of 
the principal insect enemies of this tree in the District. Discussed by Messrs. 
Riley and Howard. 

Mr. Schwarz also read a paper on the food habits of some Scolytide observed by 
him during the summer. Galleries of the following species were exhibited and ex- 
plained: Xyloterus politus in Acer dasycarpum ; Xyleborus furcatus and pubercus in 
Walnut; Cnesinus strigicollis in Liquidambar styraciflua. 

C. L. MARLATT, 

Recording Secretary. 


7940—No, 2——-4 


a ! ot , me 
Ia Goh, Mies 
Geta t 


erly y 
eee en 


‘Tha eae 


Vol. Ili, No. 3. INSECT LIFE. = ee 1890. 


SPECIAL NOTES. 


Name of the Oyster-shell Bark-louse of the Apple.—Mr. Albert C. F. 
Morgan has been bringing together some very interesting bibliographic 
notes concerning scale-insects and has been publishing from time to 
time in the Entomologists’ Monthly Magazine for the past year or two. 
His comments upon the insect which we have learned to know as Myti- 
laspis pomorum Bouché, are given in the August, 1890, number of this 
journal and are worthy of comment. Mr. Morgan, from a comparison 
of descriptions, has lumped many names as synonyms of Modeer’s 
Coccus linearis. Among them isourcommon apple species. He brings 
forth many facts in support of his views, but we would protest against 
the adoption of the name Mytilaspis linearis for this species. In the 
first place, as Mr. Morgan himself must be aware, all arguing from the 
mere descriptions of Diaspine, particularly those of the genus Mytilas- 
pis, which were drawn up without reference to characters of the anal 
plate, must be based upon extremely problematical and uncertain 
grounds. There is absolutely no way in which we can be certain that Cur- 
-tis’s Aspidiotus conchiformis, Fitch’s Aspidiotus juglandis, and Schrank’s 
Coccus pincti, for example, are one and the same species, without secur- 
ing the actual specimens which these authors had before them at the 
time when their descriptions were drawn up, mounting them carefully 
and making careful studies of the anal plate, and, if possible, of the 
males. We were perfectly willing to adopt Professor Comstock’s care- 
fully worked out dictum to the effect that Mytilaspis pomicorticis Riley 

is a synonym of Bouché’s pomorum in spite of the not thoroughly well 
explained differences in the color of the eggs and the other reasons 
given in the fifth report on the insects of Missouri; but now that for 
ten years entomologists have generally treated of this Apple scale as M. 
pomorum, it is too much to expect that, simply from Mr. Morgan’s com- 
parisons of the descriptions, this name should be dropped in favor of 
linearis. The uncertainty and insufficiency of the proof renders the 
change very undesirable. 
89 


90 


The second Edition of Miss Ormerod’s Manual of injurious Insects.*—This © 
greatly enlarged and revised edition of Miss Ormerod’s valuable hand-— 
book has just reached us, and, on account of its convenient size, ad- | 


mirable arrangement, plain language, and abundant illustrations, it 


is almost a model of what such a work should be. It does not contain — 


much matter whichis new, but since Miss Ormerod has drawn very largely 


from her own well-known reports her name should certainly appear on 
the title-page as author, and not under the modest title of compiler. Our 
space prevents an extended review of this admirable volume, although 
we find much in it of interest to the American entomologist and agri- | 
culturist, since so many of the insects treated are common to both Eng- | 


land and America, while there is hardly a species mentioned which is ] 
not liable at almost any time to make its appearance in America, judg- 


ing from the frequent accidental importations of late years. The work 


comprises, Part I, Food Crops and the Insects Injurious to Them; | 
Part II, Forest qivces and Insects that Injure Them; Part III, Fruit | 


Crops sai Insects that Injure Them; an + pagibetieal list of insects | 


treated; an introduction to gupomologe: couched in very popular lan-— 
guage she giving an idea of the classification ; and a glossary of ento-— 


mological terms followed by a full index. The work covers 410 pages 
and has an illustration for almost every second page. Miss Ormerod’s_ 
work can not be too kighly commended. 


The cheapest Form of Light.j—Under this taking title Professor Lang- 
ley and his assistant, Mr. Very, have published the results of their recent 
researches upon the so-called phosphorescent light of certain insects, 
in the same form in which they were presented at the last meeting of 
the National Academy of Sciences. The insect principally used in the 


experiments was the large Cuban Fire-fly (Pyrophorus noctilucus). We | 
assisted Professor Langley in the spring and summer of 1889 in import- | 
ing a number of these insects from Cuba with the help of Professor | 


Poey of Havana, and Seftor Bonzon of Santiago de Cuba, and, after | 


many failures, succeeded in getting a large number of healthy living 
specimens, upon which photometric and thermal observations were | 


made at the Allegheny Observatory. The total radiant heat from the | | 
light of one of these insects (heat representing waste) was compared | 


with that transmitted by glass from the nearly non-luminous Bunsen 


flame, the luminosity from which was very much fainter than that from | 
the insect. The most accurate observations prove that the insect light | 


* A Manual of Injurious Insects with Methods of Prevention and Remedy for their | 
attacks to Food Crops, Forest Trees, and Fruit. To which is appended a short In- | 
troduction to Entomology. Compiled by Eleanor A. Ormerod, F. R. Met. Soc., etc., | 


London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1890. 


t On the Cheapest Form of Light, from studies at the Allegheny Observatory by S. | 


P. Langley and F. W. Very. Authors’ extras from the American Journal of Science, 
Vol. XL, August, 1890. 


91 


is accompanied by approximately one four-hundredth part of the heat 
which is ordinarily associated with the radiation of flames of the luminous 
quality of those experimented with. Thus Nature produces this cheap- 
est light at about one four-hundredth part of the cost of the energy 
which is expended in the candle-flame, and at but an insignificant 
fraction of the cost of the electric light which is the most economic light 
which has yet been devised. “ Finally,” the author concludes, “ there 
seems to be no reason why we are forbidden to hope that we may yet 
discover a method (since such a one certainly exists and is in use on a 
small scale) of obtaining an enormously greater result than we now do 
from our present ordinary means for producing light.” 


Dr. Curtice on the Animal Parasites of Sheep.—Lhis Department has re- 
cently issued a valuable Treatise on the Animal Parasites of Sheep by 
Dr. Cooper Curtice, of the Bureau of Animal Industry. The work is 
interesting from an entomological stand-point from the careful studies 
which it contains of the following insects, of which the first-uamed is 
perhaps the most important of all the ovine parasites: The Sheep Gad- 
fly (Estrus ovis Linn.) ; the Sheep Tick or Louse-fly (Melophagus ovinus 
Linn.); the Sheep Louse ( Trichodectes spherocephalus Nitzsch.); Goat-lice 
( Trichodectes limbatus Gervais and T. climaz Nitzsch.). Though not true 
insects, the Acari or Itch or Scab Insects or Mites, of which three spe- 
cies are treated, may also be considered as belonging to the domain of 
_ the entomologist. The species parasitic on sheep are Sarcoptes scabiei 

DeG. var. ovis, which causes the scab of the head; Psoroptes communis 

Fiirst. var. ovis, which causes the common scab; and Chorioptes com- 

munis Verh. var. ovis, which causes the foot-scab. 

Some forty-four pages and eight plates are devoted to the parasites 
named. The illustrations are excellent and very accurate, and repre- 
sent, as far as possible, the life-history of the species. The three plates 
devoted to &. bovis are especially interesting and particularly Plates 
Il and III which represent sections of the head of a sheep with the Gad- 
fly larve in situ in the sinuses and cavities. Through the courtesy of 
Dr. Curtice we had the opportunity of examining the specimens from 
which these latter plates were drawn and can vouch for their accuracy. 
Plate I, however, is more or less inaccurate in its delineation of the 
adult of strus ovis. 

The work deals at length, also, with the various intestinal and lung 
parasites of the sheep and will be of great practical value both to the 
sheep raisers and to veterinarians. 


Notes on Plant-Lice.—Bulletin, Technical Series, Vol. I, No. 2, Article 

V, of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station contains the fourth 
of Dr. Clarence M. Weed’s papers entitled “* Contributions to a Knowl- 

_ edge of the Life-history of certain Little-known Plant-lice (Aphidide).” 


: 


92 


The paper comprises more or less complete notes on the habits and 
‘careful descriptions of various stages of the Cherry Plant-louse (Myzus — 


cerast L.), Willow Grove Plant-louse (Melanoxanthus salicti Harr.), 


a 
{ 
4 


4 


Spotted Willow Plant-louse (Melanoxanthus salicis L.), White Pine © 
Plant-louse (Lachnus strobus Fitch), Toothed Willow Plant louse (Lach- — 


nus dentatus Le B.), and the Scotch Pine Plant-louse (Lachnus pini L.). 
Four plates of drawings by Miss Freda Detmers, Mr. Weed’s assist- 


ant, accompany the article and illustrate several of the stages of the 


plant-lice discussed. All publication. on Aphidids that does not em- 


brace the full annual life-cycle must needs be preliminary; but such | 


studies as the above are most useful as helping to final results. 


The Boll Worm Investigation.— By resolution of Congress the Division 
has been instructed to conduct an investigation upon the Cotton Boll- 
worm (Heliothis armigera) supplementary to that which was summar- 
ized in the Fourth Report of the U. 8. Entomological Commission. 
Active measures have been taken to make a success of the investiga- 
tion and trained agents have been stationed at Holly Springs, Miss., 
College Station, Tex., Pine Bluff, Ark., and Shreveport, La., and are 
carrying on a course of observations and experiments. 


Diseases of Crops and their Remedies.*— Dr. O. B. Griffiths has recently 
favored us with a copy of his little book with the foregoing title, which 
forms one of the Bell’s (London) Agricultural Series, and is designed, 
as stated on the title page, as a hand-book of economic biology for 
farmers and students. It gives briefly the life-histories of the principal 
insect and vegetable foes of the farm together with means to prevent 
or reduce the losses arising therefrom, and will doubtless beof service to 
the English farmers. The subject matter of the book has been compiled 
from various sources including, on insects, the publications of the U. 
S. Entomologist. The illustrations are copious and apparently new, but 
of very inferior character. 


SOME NEW ICERYAS. 


It is a peculiar and interesting fact that while, since 1878, the genus 


Icerya has been known only by its two species J. seychellarum (Westw.) 
(=sacchari Sign.) and J. purchast Mask., the present season should 
have brought to light no less than four additional species. The enor- 
mous damage done by J. purchasi in South Africa, New Zealand, and 
particularly in California, bids fair to be duplicated by that which 
has been and may be done by the new I. egyptiacum (Doug.) in Egypt, 
while the probabilities are that much damage may be expected from 


—SS 


*London: George Bell & Sons, 1890, 2s. 6d. 


: 
| 
; 
; 
; 


were greatly troubled by the 


93 


the three new species which we shall here characterize. The impor- 
tance of the matter therefore demands that the species shall be imme- 
diately described, albeit from rather insufficient material, and all known 
facts at once placed on record. 


THE ROSE ICERYA. 


(Icerya rose Riley and Howard.) 


On page 333 of Vol. IL of IN- 
sEcT LIFE (No. 10, April, 1890) 
we published a short note on this 
insect, describing briefly the 
stages which we possessed and 
giving it the MS. name of Icerya 
rose, deferring detailed descrip- 
tion on account of insufficient 
material. All the specimens 
which we have received have 
been sent to the Department by 
Passed Assistant Paymaster H. 
R. Smith, U. S. Navy, from Key 
West, Fla. 

The original specimens were 
sent March 24, 1890, on a limbof 
rose, with the information that 
the rose propagators on the Key 


pest, which causes the limbs to Fic. 6.—Rose twig infested by Icerya rose, natural 
dry and the leaves to fall. The ee caer 

second sending was received in April, and Mr. Smith stated in his 
accompanying letter that, while the rose-bushes in the yard from 
which he took the specimens sent had been infested only four or five 
months, he was told that other plants, including the Sugar-apple, Lime, 
and Lemon, had been visited by it for years. The weather had been 
unusually dry for four or five months and the owner of the bushes was 
of the opinion that the insect did not appear until the drought set in. 

An examination of the specimens received shows that they prefer- 
ably infest'the stems at and near the forks, and the leaves along the 
midrib on the under side (Fig. 6). 

We have called this insect the Rose Icerya, for the reasons that it was 
sent to us as a Rose pest, that we have seen it on no other plant, and 
that Mr. Smith’s informants were possibly in error in their statements 
as to its infesting other plants, as several other scale insects, not read- 
ily distinguishable from this to the untrained eye, are commonly found 
in Florida on the plants mentioned. In other words, the only plant 
which we know it to infest is the Rose. 


94 


The following full descriptions of the stages at hand include and are 


supplementary to the few diagnostic characters given in connection 


with our first announce. 
ment. They should be 
compared with the full 
descriptions of I. pur- 
chasiin the reportof the 
Entomologist, Annual 
Beport U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture for 
1886, pp. 475-481. 


Icerya rosz Riley and 
Howard. 


THE EGG (Fig. 7, b).—The 
egg is ovoid, smooth, yel- 
lowish-red in color, and 
0.8™™ in length. 

NEWLY-HATCHED LARVA 
(Fig. 7, a).—General cotor, 
dull red; eyes, antenne, 
legs, and hairs dark brown, 
nearly black, becoming 
gradually muchlighter after 
prolongedimmersion in bal- 
sam; apex or cornea of the 
eyes, darkred. Eyeslarge, 
projecting, conical. Anten- 
ne, six-jointed ; joint 1 very 
stout, narrowest at tip, in- 
ner side very convex; joints 
2, 3, and 4 subequal in 
length; joint 5 shorter, all 
subcylindrical; joint 6 club- 


shaped, a little longer than 
Fie. 7.—Icerya rose: a, newly hatched larva; b, egg—greatly en- 3 and 4 together; joints 1 
larged (original). 


to 5 each bear a pair of 
long, fine hairs, becoming successively longer and stouter; joint 6 bears six very long, 
stout hairs, each longer than the entire antenna, and each arising from a distinct 


tubercle, and about six shorter hairs, one cr two of which are sometimes quite long. . 


Body oval, broadest across the mesothorax; sparsely covered with short black hairs, 
more numerous and longer on the three last joints. The whole lateral margin is 
fringed with very long hairs, each arising from a tubercle, those at margins of abdo- 
men differentiated from the others by superior size and length and greater size of 
tubercle. There are nine on each side of abdomen, the three anal ones precisely re- 
sembling those found in the corresponding stage of J. purchasi. ‘The six anterior ones 
have a characteristic forward arch, and their tubercles are abruptly bent forward. 
The three anal bristles are longer than- the others, but all nine seem to increase 
slightly in length toward the end of the body, the anal ones exceeding the body in 
length. The legs, tarsal digitules, secretory pores, and mouth parts are as in I. pur- 
chasi. 


ee ee i 


95 


FEMALE LARVA—Second Stage (Fig.8).—-Stouter, more rounded and more convexthan 


first stage. Color red, brownish in cen- 
ter, legs, antenne and hairs dark brown, 
nearly black. Antenne almost pre- 
cisely like those of second stage of J. 
purchasi; they are relatively much 
shorter than in the newly-hatched 
larva; joint 1 short and stout, as broad 
as long; joint 2 as long as 1 but not 
quite so wide; 3 as wide as 2 and twice 
as long ; 1, 2, and 3 subcylindrical; 4 
and 5 short, rounded, each shorter than 
2; joint 6 large, as long as 2 and 3 to- 
gether, irregularly ovate in shape with 
a slight concavity on the outside; 
hairs much shorter than in first stage. 


The long bristles around the margin of 


the body are proportionately shorter, 
those of the thorax quite as long and 
stout as those of the abdomen, the ab- 
dominal ones having also lost some- 
thing of the pronounced upward arch. 
The ones toward the anal end, instead 
of being longer than the entire body, as 
in the first stage, are about one-third 
the length of the body. The hairs on 
the back are still sparse, but the secre- 
tory pores are scattered. The legs are 
proportionately shorter. 

FEMALE LarvA—Third Stage (Figs. 9 
and 10g and #).—In this stage the insect 
closely resembles J. purchasi. It is red- 


Fic. 8.—Icerya rose: c, larva, second stage—greatly 
enlarged ; d, antenna of same—still more enlarged 
(original). 


der in color and not so hairy, but the antenne are identical, and it possesses the other 


Fic. 9.—Icerya rose: e, larva, third 
stage—greatly enlarged; 7, antenna 
ofsame—still more enlarged (origina)). 


characters, except that the secretory pores are 
sparser and it does not bear the cylindrical lipped 
pores from which extrude the glassy filaments 
which become so prominent in this stage of J. 
purchasi. The shape is broadly elliptical, moder- 
ately convex. Antenne nine-jointed; joints 4 to 
8 subequal in lengih and nearly as broad as long; 
2 and 3 broader and considerably longer; 9 as long 
as 7 and 8, together but not broader. The lateral 
hairs are as in the previous stage, but relatively 
shorter, and many other lateral hairs have grown 
out to an equal length. The white, waxy secre- 
tion is dense and completely covers the body, the 
black hairs projecting through it and forming a 
fringe around the body. The secretion first makes 
its appearance in tufts, as with the larve of Cero- 
plastes, and at a certain stage of growth after the 
second molt will be noticed a median row of five 
or six tufts, a subdorsal row of four, and a lateral 
row of one to each lateral segment of abdomen. 
In molting the skin splits down the back of the 
head and thorax and the adult slowly crawls 


96 


through this orifice. A very great number of the wax-covered skins of this stage 
occur on the rose twigs and leaves sent us. 


Fic. 10.—Icerya rose: g, larva, third stage, with waxy covering; h, same, cast skin; i, adult, immedi- 
ately after molt—greatly enlarged (original). 


ADULT FEMALE—Fourth Stage (Figs. 10i, and 11).—Similar in size to adults of I. pur- 
chasi, broadly oval in shape and densely covered with a short powdery secretion 


Fic. 11.—Icerya rose: j, pregnant, side view; k, same, ventral 
view—enlarged ; J, tarsus of same; m, antenna of same—still 
more enlarged (original). 


which forms; a series of short 
close plaits sround the mar- 
gin. The waxy secretion has 
often a yellowish tinge. No 
distinctive egg-sac was to be 
found with any of the speci- 
mens received, and it is prob- 
able that such is not formed. 
Removing the secretion, the 
head and thorax are black, 
margined with red, while 
the dorsum of the abdomen 
and entire under side of the 
body are bright red; anten- 
nz, legs, and eyes black. 
Surface of the body covered 
with short hairs, lateral mar- 
gin with longer hairs, still 
longer near anal end. Di- 
visions of segments plainly 
marked, especially of abdo- 
men, which has a broad 
rounded subdorsal ridge. On 
first issuing from the third 
stage the adult is only 
moderately convex, but ad- 
vanced specimens are much 
swollen and appear more 
naked. The antenne are 
like those of J. purchasi. 


97 


Mae Larva—Third Stage (Fig. 12, n and p).—The male larva has been recognized 
only in this stage. It corresponds almost exactly with that of J. purchasi, having an 
elongate form, no mouth parts, sparse pubescence and secretion and nine-jointed 
antenne. 


Fig. 12.—Icerya rose: n, male larva, third stage; 0, male pupa—enlarged; p, antenna of n—still more 
enlarged (original). 


MALE PUPA. (Fig. 12,0.)—A single male pupa was found. It agrees closely with 
that of J. purchasi except that the coxe are elongate-ovoid instead of rotund and 
the anal segment shows a terminal cleft rather than a crescent cut. 


THE EGYPTIAN ICERYA. 
(lcerya egyptiacum, Douglas) 


Crossotosoma wegypltiacum Douglas, Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine, second series, Vol. 
I, 1890, pp. 79-81. 

It will be remembered that in the double number of INSECT LIFE for 
January and February, 1890, p. 256 (Vol. Il, Nos. 7 and 8), we mentioned 
under the beading ‘‘ An Egyptian Mealy Bug” the receipt from Mr. D. 
Morris, of the Royal Kew Gardens, of a copy of a letter from Mr. R. W. 
Blunfield, of Alexandria, Egypt, giving an account of a scale insect 
which during the past four years has infested the gardensof Alexandria, 
killing all the trees and causing the greatestalarm. It wassaid to have 
first appeared upon the Banyan tree, soon spreading with marvelous 
rapidity to many other plants. The statement was madethat “‘a breeze 
sends the cottony pests down in showers in all directions.” 

Specimens were referred by Mr. Morris to Mr. J. W. Douglas, who 
in the Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine, second series, Vol. I, pp. 79-81 
(March, i890), described it as Crossotosoma n. g. egyptiacum n. sp. 

A careful study of Mr. Douglas’s full description and comparisons with 
I. purchasi and particularly with specimens of the new and still more 


98 


closely related species on Chrysophyllum from Montserrat, West Indies, 
which we treat next, have convinced us that this Egyptian species 
is in reality an Icerya and that therefore the new genus Crossotosoma 
isasynonym. Mr. Douglas has seen only the adult female and the 
newly hatched larve and gives as his generic diagnosis the following: 
‘¢ Antenne of eleven joints. Eyes not facetted, oval, produced in the 
form of a subconical truncate tube. Rostrum present. Body sur- 
rounded with a marginal fringe of long opaque processes. Anal ring 
not present. Legs simple.” Later in his paper he says: “In the larva 


Fig. 13.—Icerya agyptiacum: a, newly hatched larva; 6, adult female form below; c, same form 
above—enlarged ; d, antenna of same—still more enlarged. (After Douglas.) 


with its six caudal sete, and in the adult 2 with eleven joints in 
the antenne there are suggestions of the genus Icerya, but the form 
of the joints is different and most of the characters, notably the unique 
structure of the eye, are divergent, as also they are variously from the 
other genera of Monophlebide of which Guerinia alone has similar sub- 
pyriform joints in the antenne.” 

All of the points of difference which Mr. Douglas has indicated be- 
tween his new genus and Jcerya we are able with one exception to 


99 


readily reconcile with the aid of our very abundant material in the latter 
genus. The eye structure to which he gives such particular weight as 
a distinguishing character, is common to I. purchasi, I. sacchari, and I. 
rose. The proportions of the antennal joints are identical with those of 
Icerya, and the * subpyriform ” appearance of joints 4 to 10 is one which 
is often perceptible in J. purchasi, and, in fact, is much as we have 
shown it atFig. 3a of Plate I of our Annual Keport for 1886. The 
single exception to the similarity of characters is the disposition of the 
waxy secretion, and this as it seems to us is a matter wholly of specific 
and not atall of generic importance. In Mr. Douglas’sspecies the ovisac 
is uf about the same relative size as that of I. purchasi, and of about 
the same shape. ‘It curves under the abdomen and completely covers 
the underside of it, closely attached thereto at the edges, forming a 
capacious receptacle, quite smooth externally, but with the faintest in- 
dication of longitudinal strize.” The most characteristic features of the 
secretion are described by Mr. Douglas as follows: 

In the first stage of adultness the whole smooth surface has a pellicle of white, 
waxen matter closely adherent, but easily detached, and often more or less easily 
rubbed off ; eventually, as the ovisac is developed, exudation of waxen and cottony 
matter obscures the segmentation. At first there is a narrow, well-defined marginal 
rim all round the body, afterwards there is a flattened area exterior to this; from 
just below it, on each side of the abdomen, is a projecting fringe of seven to eight dis- 
tinct, contiguous, stout, sinuate, tapering, waxen, snow-white, opaque, fragile pro- 
cesses, 3 to 5™™ long, much curved round at the pointed ends, all as a rule tending 
downwards. In one specimen sheltered within a curved leaf, a similar but thicker, 
straighter, obtuse, upturned, or horizontal appendage also proceeds from the sides of 
each of the thoracic segments, and two from the head; the latter close together, the 
others wide apart. This is the most perfect example, and I regard it as typical of the 
species ; in the other specimens these appendages, which are very fragile, have been 
more or less broken off by the incidents of the position of the insects on loose leaves 
during transit. 


We have thus given Mr. Douglas’s exact description of the arrange- 
ment of the secretion for the purpose of comparing it with the next 
species which we shall consider, and we reproduce his figures for the 
same purpose. Reverting to Mr. Blunfield’s statement that “a breeze 
sends the cottony pest down in all directions,” it is at once evident that 
it is these fragile, waxy processes which are thus broken off and fall, 
and that the insects themselves are not so dislodged. 

Pending the finding aid comparison of the males, therefore, we shall 
be obliged to consider Crossotosoma egyptiacum as atrue Icerya, differ- 
ing from I. purchasi chiefly in the possession of the long waxy processes. 


THE MONTSERRAT ICERYA. 


(Ieerya montserratensis n. sp.) 


Under date of May 10, 1890, we were written to by the Montserrat 
Company, of Birmingham, England, asking that specimens of Vedalia 
cardinalis be sent to the attorney of their company at Montserrat, West 


100 


Indies, for the purpose of exterminating a scale insect allied to Zcerya 
purchasi, which had made its appearance upon their orchards of lime 
trees. We at once entered into correspondence with Mr. H. de C. 
Hamilton, the attorney in question, asking for specimens of the insect 
in order to ascertain its relationship to J. purchasi before securing the 
sending of the Vedalia, as experiments both in this country and New Zea- 
land have shown us that the latter insect is probably confined strictly to J. 
purchasi for food. It will feed on no other scale insects which have been 
; offered to it, although 
we have not been able 
to test it with other 
species of the same 
genus for the reason 
that J. seychellarum, the 
only other congeneric 
species known up to 
the present time, seems 
to be confined to cer- 
tain islands in the In- 
dian Ocean, and we 
have never seen living 
Specimens. 

Mr. Hamilton 
promptly sent us sev- 
eral species of Coccidse 
on the twigs, leaves, 
and fruit of the Lime, 
among them Chionaspis 
citri Comst. and Mytil- 
aspis citricola Pack. 
The new insect, how- 
ever, was not found 

/ upon the limes in the 

| package, but upon 

Fig. 14.—Icerya montserratensis: a, newly hatchedlarva; b,egg— certain curious costate 
greatly evlarged (original). leaves which Dr. Vasey 

informs us are those of some species of Chrysophyllum, but whether of 
the common Star Apple or ot some ornamental species could not be 
decided :from the mildewed specimens received. Later letters from 
Mr. Hamilton state that it occurs also upon the cocoa and banana 
trees and other forest trees in the vicinity of the original Chrysophyl- 
lum. Upon the leaves of the last named tree it was clustered most 
abundantly upon the under side along the midrib. The leaves were 
abundantly covered with a smut-fungus*, particularly upon the upper 


* This smut-fungus has been determined by Mr. D. G. Fairchild, of the Division of 
Vegetable Pathology, as Antennaria pannosa Berkley. 


101 


surfaces, which evidently originated in the honey-dew also abundantly 
covering the surface where it had evidently collected from the drop- 
pings from the insects on the under sides of higher leaves. 


Fic. 15.—Icerya montserratensis: ¢, larva, second stage; d, antenna of same; ¢, larva of third stage; 
j, antenna of same; c,e, enlarged greatly; d,/f, still more enlarged (original). 


The species seems closely related to I. agyptiacum, and possesses to 
a certain degree the same peculiarities in the arrangement of the secre- 
tion. From the insufficient material at hand we have drawn up the 
following partially complete description : 


Icerya montserratensis n. sp. , 

Eae (Fig. 14, b).—Length 0.74™™. Narrow oval in shape; red in color; without 
visible markings. 

NEWLY HATCHED LARVA (Fig. 14, a).—Compared with corresponding stage of 
I. rose: The antennal club is longer in proportion to the other joints, equaling 
joints 3, 4, and 5 together in length; the hairs upon joint 5 are longer than in J. 
rose: those upon joint 6 are identical. The six anal bristles are extremely long and 
stout, while those on the sides of the abdomen are of less than half their diameter at 
base and less than half their length and their tubercles lack the forward bend of 
those of I. rose. They are, however, much longer and stouter than in J. purchasi. 
The tubercles of the head bristles are very pronounced and the bristles reach beyond 
the third antennal joint. The secretory pores are abundant and are not arranged in 
rows, but occur allover the dorsum. In other respects as in I. rose. 

FEMALE LARVA—Second Stage (Fig. 15, c, d).—Resembles closely the second stage of 
I. rose. The concavity on the outer side of the club of the antenna is more pro- 
nounced, giving the tip of the club a finger-like appearance; the hairs are shorter 
and sparser and the longest of the six anal bristles is only one-fifth the length of the 
body instead of one-third, as with J. rose. 


102 


FEMALE LARVA—Third Stage (Fig. 15, e, f).—Closely resembles the corresponding 


Fic. 16.—Icerya montserratensis: g, adult female, 
from below greatly enlarged; h, antenna of same, 


still more enlarged (original). 


stage in J. rose. The body appears slend- 
erer and the legs stouter in the specimens 
at hand, but they may not exactly corre- 
spond in age. The last joint of the anten- 
ne is longer, equaling 8, 7, and half of 6 
together in length; the chitinous band at 
base of front coxe is much slenderer, the 
tarsi are less curved, the hairs along the 
margin of the body are shorter and not so 
dark in color, and the antenne are lighter 
in color, while the mentum and rostrum 
are hardly differentiated in color. The 
general colcr is red but duller than in J. 
rose. Occasionally joints 4 and 5 are con- 
solidatei, making the antennze appear 
eight-jointed, with joint 4 nearly equal to 
3 in length. In two specimens before us 
this occurs in the antenna of the left side 
and not in that of the right, and in another 
specimen it occurs in both antenne. In 
one specimen joints 4 and 5 and joints 7 
and 8 are consolidated in the left antenna, 
making it appear seven-jointed, while in > 
two others joints 4 and 5 appear separated 
from below and consolidated from above. 
The secretion is very abundant and pre- 


sents a similar tufted appearance, the tufts-arranged in dorsal], subdorsal, and lateral 


rows, about five to the 
dorsal row, six to each 
subdorsal, nine to each 
lateral, and one each to 
head and anus. The 
anal tuft early beginsto 
exceed all the others in 
length, and by this 
character alone this 
species can in thisstage 
be easily distinguished 
from I. rose. In some 
of our specimens in this 
stage it has reached a 
length of 3™™ and pro- 
jects directly back- 
wards, doubtless sup- 
ported by the long and 
strong anal bristles. 
The color of the wax is 
light lemon yellow. 
ADULT FEMALE (Figs. 
16 and 17). — General 
color, reddish yellow ; 
antenne and legsblack; 
broadly oval in shape, 
somewhat convex, 4™™ 


Fic. 17.—Icerya montserratensis : i, leaf of Chrysophyllum, showing the 
lice insitu, natural size; j, adult female, showing egg sac ae appen- 
dages, three times natural size (original). 


long by 2.5™™ broad; hairs very inconspicuous and sparse, very much less incon- 
spicuous around the lateral margin than in J. rese; sutures of segments distinct; body 


103 


with a double outline from above, and obtusely serrate around Jateral margin of abdo- 
men. In the five denuded specimens three have ten-jointed antenne, differing thus 
from any other Icerya. In the two remaining specimens joint 6 is divided into two, 
giving the normal number of eleven joints; in one antenna of one specimen the di- 
vision is only faintly indicated. The club is proportionately considerably longer 
than in J. rose, equaling the three preceding joints in length. Rostrum plain; 
secretory pores extremely abundant, particularly under the lateral edges of the 
abdomen ; no indication of cylindrical lipped pores or of the glassy filaments seen 
in I. purchasi,and the dorsal honey-dew pore of the latter species is also apparently 
lacking, although the insect undoubtedly secretes honey-dew as previously men- 
tioned. All tarsi one-half the length of their respective tibiew. The waxy secretion 
is pure white in color and is dense and even over the dorsal surface of the body, 
and appears to be arranged in an irregular double row of tufts around the border. 
Certain of these tufts grow to an extraordinary length, particularly one which springs 
from near the head and another arising from the anal end of the body. The latter 
we have mentioned in our description of the third stage. Owing to the long journey 
and insecure packing all of the adults in our possession appear somewhat damaged, 
and our description of the arrangement of the secretion is doubtless very imperfect. 
In one specimen, however, this anal tuft of wax reaches a length of over 20™™. The 
ovisac closely resembles that of J. purchasi. It is about twice the length of the body 
of the female in the specimens at hand, is regularly fluted, and about fifteen longi- 
tudinal flutings are visible. The body of the female does not appear to be pushed 
up so much by the growth of the sac as is the case with J. purchasi, and as a conse- 
quence the sac shows a tendency to turn up rather than down. 


PALMER’S ICERYA. 


(Icerya palmeri n. sp.) 


Fic. 18.—Icerya palmeri: a, cast skins of larve of second stage—greatly enlarged; 6, same in situ on 
grape leaf—natural size (original). 


In the winter of 188788 Dr. Edward Palmer, the well-known botan- 
ist, while working over his previous summer’s collections in Washing- 


ton, handed us a number of leaves of the Muscat of Alexandria grape- 
9974—No. 3——2 


104 


vine which he had collected July 30, 1887, at San José de Guaymas, 
9 miles north of Guaymas proper, Sonora, Mexico. Along the main 
ribs, principally on the undersides of the leaves, were fixed many white 
scale insects which examination showed to belong to a new species of 
Icerya. The specimens consisted mainly otf cast skins of the first and 
second stages, and, although a few dry and shriveled specimens of the 
lice in each of these stages were found, no adults or larger larve of 
either sex were present. 

This material would, under other circumstances, seem very insuffi- 
cient to warrant the founding of a new species, yet the characters are 
fairly good, it is evidently a new form, and the great economic impor- 
tance of the genus justifies a description, however incomplete, in this 
connection. 


Fic. 19.—Icerya palmeri: a, newly hatched iarva; b, larva, second staze—greatly enlarged; c, antenna 
of b—still more enlarged (original). 


Icerya palmeri n. sp. 

NEWLY HATCHED LARVA—First Stage (Fig. 19, a).—Color, reddish yellow. The pro- 
portions of the antennal joints are asin the other species, except that the club is 
somewhat longer than joints 4 and 5 together and has a large swelling at base fol- 
jowed by a constriction. The tarsi are long, nearly straight, and nearly as long as 
their tibiz ; the chitinous band at base of front coxe is narrow. The six anal bris- 
tles are very long and stout—as long as entire body. The twelve abdominal bris- 
tles (six each side above anal bristles) are only one-third as long as anal bristles; 
their tubercles project at right angles to the body and the bristles curve gradually 
backward. The head bristles are very prominent, particularly the two large ones 
between the bases of the antenneg, each of which reaches to the tip of the fifth anten- 
nal joint. The secretory pores are numerous and much larger than in the corre- 


| 


105 


sponding stage of any other species of the genus; they have no special arrangement, 
but are scattered quite thickly over the dorsum and under the lateral edges of the 
abdomen. Even in this stage the waxy secretion is quite abundant, although no 
definite arrangement can be seen in the poor specimens at hand. 

FEMALE LARVA—Second Stage (Fig. 19, b, c, and Fig. 13).—Color reddish yellow; legs, 
antenne, and eyes brown, hairs yellow. Body stout, slightly concave. Antenne six- 
jointed; proportions of joints as in J. rose except that joint 3 is considerably less than 
twice as long as joint 2, and 5 and 6 are somewhat stouter, while in the unsatisfac- 
tory specimens at hand the club does not seem to be concave on the outside. This 
last point can not be determined accurately without fresher material. The anal 
bristles are one-sixth the length of the body, and the other bristles are of insig- 
nificant length except four on the front which are as long as the antenne. The tarsi 
are more curved than in the first stage and are about two-thirds the length of their 
tibiz. As in the first stage the secretory pores are large and very abundant. 
The waxy secretion is very abundaut. In the smaller specimens a dorsal and 
two sublateral rows of tufts are noticeable as well as a row around the margin of 
the body. In larger specimens, however, the dorsal and subiateral rows are lost 
and the secretion seems to form a more or less even coating over the surface of 
the body. The circumferential row remains distinct, however, aud contains about 
thirty-five short, more or less distinct, tufts which are more readily distinguish- 
able towards the anal end of the body. The wax is pure white, as also in the 
first stage, while in the corresponding stages of J. rose and I. montserratensis it is 
yellow, which color persists to the adult stage in I. seychellarum. 


PARASITE. 


Within one of the mounted individuals of the second stage is to be 
plainly seen the puparium of a Dipteron apparently of the family 
Phoride. 


CATALOGUE OF THE SPECIES OF ICERYA. 
Genus ICERYA. 


V. Signoret, Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, 1875, pp. 
351-352. 


Icerya seycheilarum Westwood. 


J. O. Westwood, Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1855, p. 830. 

Syn. Icerya sacchari Signoret. 

V. Signoret, loc. cit. 

Habitat: Madeira, Seychelles Islands, Rodriguez Island. Food 
plants: Sugar Cane, Palms. 


Icerya purchasi Maskell. 

W. M. Maskell, Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand In- 
stitute, 1878, p. 220. 

Habitat: Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, California, Mexico. 
Food plants: Almost all plants, principally the Acacias and Citrus trees. 


_ Icerya egyptiacum (Douglas). 


Syn. Crossotosoma cegyptiacum Douglas. 
J. W. Douglas, Entomologists’ Monthly Magazine, 1890, pp. 79-81. 
Habitat: Cairo, Egypt. Food plants: Ficus spp. 


106 


Icerya rose Riley and Howard. 


Riley and Howard, Insect Life, Vol. Il, p. 333 (April, 1890). 
Habitat: Key West, Fla. Food plants : Rose, Sugar Apple (?), Lime 
(2), Lemon (?). 


Icerya montserratensis Riley and Howard. 


Riley and Howard, Insect Life, Vol. III, pp. 99-103. 
Habitat: Montserrat, W. I. Food plants: Chrysophyllum sp., Cocoa 
Palm, Banana. 
Icerya palmeri Riley and Howard. 
Riley and Howard, Insect Life, Vol. ILI, pp. 103-105. 
Habitat: Sonora, Mexico. Food plants: Grape. 


SYNOPTICAL KEY TO SPECIES. 
Newly Hatched Larve. 


Six lateral bristles on borders of abdomen anterior to anal bristles not especially 
longer than other lateral hairs. 
Two especially long hairs on antennal club, last segment of abdomen with a 


rounded median emargination. ......-.....---- I. egyptiacum (Douglas). 
Four especially long hairs on antennal club, last segment of abdumen not 
6MaATo Nate. soi eee eee ee I. purchasi Maskell. 


Antennal club with very many long hairs, of which five are especially long. 
I. seychellarum (Westwood). 
Six lateral abdominal bristles anterior to anal bristles, strongly differentiated from 
other lateral hairs. 
These lateral bristles nearly as long as anal bristles, their tubercles directed for- 
ward, and the bristles having a very pronounced forward arch. 
I. rose Riley & Howard. 
The six lateral bristles less than haif as long as the anal bristles, slightly arched 
forward, their tubercles issuing nearly at right angles to the abdomen. 
Antennal club with a large swelling at base, followed by a marked constric- 
CON sesso sss Joisecten te ea ee I. palmeri Riley & Howard. 
Antennal club without especial basal enlargement and without constriction. 
I. montserratensis Riley & Howard. 


Adult Females.* 


Body furnished with many very long, glassy, brittle filaments, each arising from a 
cylindrical lipped pore. 
Egg-sac with strong longitudinal flutings-..........--..I. purchasi Maskell. 
Heo-sac smooth. 24-h.-cecee eee ee oe I. seychellarum (Westwood). 
Body without such glassy filaments. 
Border of body with a variable number of long curly tufts of wax. 
Egg-sac with strong longitudinaf fluting -.I. montserratensis Riley & Howard. 


Egg-sac with faint longitudinal flutings ...........I. egyptiacum (Douglas). 
Border of body with no long, curly waxy tufts. 
Ego -sac not formed: |o22- se-e een eee I. rose Riley & Howard. 


* T. palmeri is not included in this table, as the adult is not yet known. 


107 


TEACHING ENTOMOLOGY.* 
By Prof. A. J. Cook, Agricultural College, Michigan. 


Ladies and gentlemen of the Entomological Club, I congratulate you 
that another year has passed, and our number has not been broken in 
upon by death. While our ranks have been much enlarged, no one 
has been called to that “undiscovered country from whose bourne no 
traveler returns.” 

I also congratulate you upon the great increment in our force of work- 
ing entomologists. I think I may say, with no fear of contradiction, that 
no year in the history of America has been so remarkable in this respect 
as has the last. This is a cause for special felicitation not only to en- 
tomologists, but to all our people. Ours is a tremendous country—by 
ours I include, of course, our Canadian brothers, for we as scientists 
know no line of separation—and to spy out the entire land needs an 
army of workers or observers, all trained to keen sight and ready ap- 
prehension. But more than this the magnitude of our country is fully 
equaled by the magnitude of the insect hosts, and to know all of these, 
with their full life history, requires an incalculable amount of closest 
research. But our business economy demands this for all our species, 
for so wonderful is the balance of nature, so close the relations of all 
species of life, that really we may hardly divide insects into those im- 
portant and those unimportant in our agricultural economy. All are 
important; and so from an economic, no less than a scientific, stand- 
point it is desirable that all such research be widely encouraged. And 
it is a most hopeful omen—the rapid increase of earnest and trained 
workers. 

I shall not in this address occupy time to give the peculiarities of the 
season in respect to insects, nor yet call attention to the interesting dis- 
coveries, like the importation of the Vedalia cardinalis. All these will 
be brought out in papers and discussions. I must, however, refer to the 
new association for the advancement of economic entomology, which 
was organized at Toronto a year ago, and which held its first meeting 
in Washington last November. This meeting, under the presidency of 
Dr. Riley, was a valuable one, and that society promises much for the 
science of entomology, as well as for its economic development. It is 
also a matter of much interest that a new paper, Entomological News, 
is started at that great center of entomology, Philadelphia, which will 
also do much every way for our science. This, with the very excellent 
periodical, IysEct LIFE, published by the Entomological Division of 
the Department of Agriculture, can but give new impetus to entomo- 
logical research. Supplementary to these we have an addition to Pro- 


. *Presidential address delivered at the meeting of the Entomological Club of the 
_ ACA. A.S. at Indianapolis, August 20, 1890. 


108 
fessor Comstock’s admirable work, which, when completed, will form a 
most valuable adjunct in the development of entomology. If we may 
judge from what we already have, this will be invaluable in every en- 
tomological laboratory. 

When the Society of Economic Entomologists was organized a year 
ago, it was remarked by one of our first entomologists, that that move 
sounded the knell of this club. I then remarked that such ought not 
to be the case. That society is to be composed of only those interested 
in economic entomology, and of course will only put emphasis in the 
direction of the practical aspects of the science. There will always be 
in attendance at the meetings of the Association for the Advancement 
of Science, more or less entomologists. It will certainly be valuable 
every way for such to meet. These will be entomologists in a wider 
sense, and so will include those interested in practical entomology and 
also in the science without relation to utility. The club then may well 
continue. I believe it will live and thrive and will be most helpful to 
entomologists and to our science. While the other association will 
discuss economic questions this club will place no limit on either its 
discussions or its membership, only so far as entomology shall be its 
aim and purpose. No one doubts but that he who has a thorough train- 
ing in the science of entomology will be far better prepared for prac- 
tical work, and so there can be only the most cordial relation between 
the Association of Economic Entomologists and this club; indeed, many 
of our most active entomologists will be members of both. 

I have already stated the truism, that he only can do the best prac- 
tical work in entomology who is thoroughly well grounded in the gen- 
eral science of entomology. As we now have a great call for entomol- 
ogists in our experimental stations, agricultural colleges, and as State 
entomologists; not to speak of the fact that every farmer and fruit- 
grower would be more successful if he were well informed in this 
science; it goes without saying, that somewhere there shouid be in 
training, men for just such work. Itseemsto me that it needs noargu- 
ment to show that our agricultural colleges are just the places where 
this training should be given. They were founded to teach those sub- 
jects which would be most serviceable on the farm. Entomology is one 
of the chief of these. Thus it follows that every student of agriculture 
should have a thorough course in this science, with the practical aspect 
of the subject kept in the foreground. In thus presenting this science 
to large classes—I have from thirty to forty each year who study this 
subject in the course—the teacher will find some in each class who are 
specially fitted to succeed. They enjoy the study, and work most ear- 
nestly, just for the love of the pursuit. They have quick observation and 
are very accurate and honest in all their work. It needs no prophet to 
bespeak success in this field for such students. Our agricultural col- 
leges then are just the places to discover the men who have great pos- 


109 


sibilities in this direction, just the places to give the training that shall 
best fit men to do the most valuable work. 

It will be my purpose, then, in the remainder of this address to describe 
the equipment for such work and to explain the method which I believe 
will give the best results. 

Of first importance is a good library. This should contain all the 
standard works, periodicals, and monographs, so that a student who 
may decide to study any insect or genus may find what has been written 
upon the subject. Of course this can not be had at once, but it is so 
essential that no eftort should be spared to build up a complete ento- 
mological library at the earliest possible moment. True, the scientist 
should study things, not books, but he will find a wise use of books 
most helpful in his study. 

Next to a library, such colleges should have good collections, which 
indeed are often of more value than the library. A small show col- 
lection illustrating the families and orders, and the several stages of 
the most injurious species of the place, as well as the groups of bene- 
ficial species should be open to the public. This will be studied and 
appreciated by the practical farmer, who, as he visits the college, will 
find it helpful, and will also interest and stimulate the under-class nen 
who will thus have their attention called towards insects before they 
commence the regular study, which will not occur till they are well 
along in the course. Drawing, botany, microscopy, and French and 
German, if thoroughly understood, will be great aids to the student who 
commences the study of entomology. Thus this study will come late 
in the course, and the show collection will be whetting the appetite of 
the under-class men from the time they enter college, until they com- 
mence this study. 

I would also have what I call the student collection. This is a pretty 
full collection from the locality of the college. This I would hang up 
on the wall in the lecture room, which I would have dark except when 
in use, so as to preserve the color of the specimens. I wouid have this 
in rather small cases with glass in front and also back, where it is de- 
sirable, as in case of diurnals, to study both under and upper sides of 
the wings. This collection should show at least types of each group in 
all stages from egg to imago, as well as nests, cocoons, etc. This is an 
object lesson, even before the student is even ready for use, by the 
teacher to illustrate his lecture, and is at the disposal of the students 
in naming their own collections or in closer study of any group. It 
seems to me such a collection should be in every college. Lastly, I 
would have a laboratory collection, which should be a biological collec- 
tion, and the fuller the better. This is in large, tight glass-faced draw- 
ers. I use the Harvard case. This is for use of the teacher and post- 
graduates who desire to study further in this science. It is too valua- 
ble for general use by the students, or to be kept to satisfy general 
curiosity. 


110 


THE COURSE OF STUDY. 


As I have before remarked, before the student commences the study 
of insects, he should have had a good course in free-hand drawing, 
should have had instruction in the use of the microscope, and in pre- | 
paring wicroscopic specimens and slides, and if he has a ready use of 
German and French it will be very helpful to him in his study. It is 
also desirable that the student should have had a good course in 
botany. The students at our college have had three terms of botany, 
one devoted entirely to microscopic botany, before they commence the . 
study of entomology. I consider this very valuable preparatory work. 
Entomology is very close, precise work, and the laboratory work, if 
carried on for a less space than three hours at a time, is not satisfac- 
tory. But three hours of such close work is very wearying unless the 
student has had a fitting preparation. Thus I am pleased that our 
students have had vertebrate dissection, with human and comparative 
anatomy and physiology, before they commence entomology. I know 
this seems the reverse of the natural method, as nature proceeds from 
lower to higher; but vertebrate dissection is lighter and less trying to 
eye and brain than is the study of insect anatomy; thus I am pleased 
to have anatomy and physiology of vertebrates precede that of the 
arthropoda in our course. 

In our college, the student attends a course of sixty lectures on the 
anatomy and physiology of insects, systematic entomology, and the eco- 
nomic bearing of the subject. ‘Lhese lectures are illustrated by use of 
models, the students’ collection of insects, already referred to, by micro- 
scopic preparations, mostly prepared at the college, and elaborate charts 
and drawings also prepared specially for our use. In connection with 
this course there are thirty-six hours of laboratory work. Each student 
works three hours one day each week for twelve weeks. In this time, 
they are able to study the internal anatomy, and to examine carefully 
and accurately one insect of each order. In connection with this, sev- 
eral insects are traced to the genus by such keys as Leconte & Horn, 
Cresson, Williston, ete. 

Besides the above, each student makes a collection of from ten to 
twenty-five insects of each order, all neatly putup, with date and locality 
label,each order by itself, and all labeled as far as time will permit. 
Many students succeed in naming a large number of their specimens. 
Each student is also required to mount insects in all the approved 
ways. Small insects are mounted on triangular pieces of card-board, on 
rectangles of cork, with silver wires, while the larve are put up in vials 
of alcohol with rubber corks, and also prepared by eviscerating, and 
drying while distended with air, in a heated oven. 

The students are also encouraged to prepare biological collections in 
which they preserve the eggs, larve after each molt, pupa, cocoon, 
and imago of both sexes, and of various sizes, and the several varia- 


111 


tions. Some of our most enthusiastic students work out several such 
life histories, describing not only the separate stages, but the several 
parasites that work to destroy the insects. I regard this work as very 
valuable, It is excellent discipline for the mind and observation, gives 
accurate information of the most interesting kind, and arouses enthusi- 
asm for the study as nothing else can. It is such work as this that will 
tell for the future of entomological research, that will make entomolo- 
gists that will honor alike the fields of pure and applied entomology. 

But such study ought not and will not stop here. Post graduates 

will avail themselves of the opportunities which such laboratories offer. 
Last winter, during our long vacation—ours is an agricultural college, 
and our vacations must needs occur in winter, when farm operations 
are largely at a stand-still—I had ten special students of entomology 
in my laboratory, one from South Dakota, one from Indiana, one from 
Ohio, one from Japan, one from Wisconsin, and the others from our 
own State. Nearly all were college graduates. Six special students, 
all graduates from colleges, have spent the year in my laboratory in 
special entomological study as post-graduate students. It seems to 
me that such are the young men that are going to develop the entomol- 
ogy of our country. They are the young men that can and will do 
grand work in our colleges and experimental stations. 
- These young men each take some special family or genus of insects, 
to which they give the major part of their time and study. They col- 
lect in all orders and give special attention to biological work, tracing 
the life history of insects, identifying the specimens they capture as far 
as possible, and try to become familiar with entomological literature, so 
far as they are able. These students are mutually helpful to each 
other, as the laboratory may be said to be a sort of perpetual natural 
history, or, more accurately, entomological society. Thus these stu- 
dents become familiar with the general laboratory work; indeed they 
each become a factor in some degree of carrying that work forward. 

Here I will close by explaining briefly our method of laboratory 
work, which differs in some degree from the admirable plan which 
Professor Forbes explained at the Washington meeting of Economic 
Entomologists last November. 

Our labels give in compact space locality, date, accession, and species 
number. Theaccession number agrees with a number—seria] number— 
in our accession catalogue for the special year. Thus Ac. 400 shows 
that the insect or insects bearing that label were the four hundredth 
collected during that season. The Sp. number is given as the insect 
is determined and is the number of the insect in the catalogue which 
we use. Thus Sp. 25 is Cicindela purpurea, as that beetle is numbered 
25 in Henshaw’s catalogue of Coleoptera. In case the catalogue is not 
numbered, as is the case with Cresson’s list of Hymenoptera, then we 
number it. We have a column in our accession catalogue for date, 
collector, person who named specimen, and also for remarks. This last. 


112 


column is wide, and in it we can usually write all necessary informa- 
tion which we received in the collecting. If we are experimenting with 
or studying the insect our notes are kept on cards. These are num- 
bered to agree with accession catalogue and are kept in serial order 
until we know the species, when we add species number as well. We 
now index the card and place it in its correct alphabetical position in 
our card collection. Thus we can very easily find our notes on any 
Specimen, either by accession number or by the name of the species. 
This plan works well, and it seems to me is very economical in respect 
to time. Of course our students all see this scheme and become famil- 
lar with its workings. 


ARMY WORM NOTES. 
By F. M. WEBSTER. 


The season of 1890 was not noted in Indiana for any considerable ap- 
pearance of this pest, except in the extreme southern portion of the 
State. In Point Township, Posey County, a very serious invasion oc- 
curred on the farm of Mr. F. W. Nolte, whereby 150 acres of promising 
meadow was totally destroyed, not a pound of hay being obtained from 
the entire area. This meadow and adjacent cultivated lands were sit- 
uated on second bottom of the Ohio River, and all were overflowed dur- 
ing March, the overflow remaining long enough to destroy the young 
wheat. 

Very small, young worms were noticed in great numbers in the 
meadow on May 2, but the magnitude of the outbreak did not become - 
apparent until some days after. By June7 the worms had done their 
work and generally disappeared, leaving what was a few weeks before 
a fine field of thrifty growing timothy just coming into head, as bare as 
a stubble-field, except an occasional clump of red clover. While the 
young worms were observed generally throughout this meadow, the 
appearance of the place on June 14 indicated that their course had 
invariably been from the Ohio River, in precisely the same direction 
that a similar invasion is said to have taken in 1881. 

On June 14, both pupz and adults were found in considerable num- 
bers, while parasites were literally swarming. These were chiefly Ne- 
morcea leucanice, and in several instances they were in turn being destroyed 
by a spider, Oxyopes scalaris. The ravaged meadow was of two years’ 
standing, other fields of one year’s standing, situated near by were in- 
jured; but the destruction was not so complete, though a field of young 
corn, situated in the path of the advancing hosts was eaten to the 
ground. | 

While there is good evidence that the adult moths may oviposit in 
fields of small grain in spring, the fact of their ovipositing in fields of 
young corn seems not to have been recorded. From the 4th to 28th of 


113 : 


Juue, 1888, about La Fayette, Ind., we frequently observed the larve 
varying in length from one-half to three-fourths of an inch, depredating 
on the plants, in the midst of quite extensive corn-fields, from 50 to 
100 yards from the margins. With a single exception, the fields 
in which these worms were found had been cultivated for a num- 
ber of years, and in all, the present crop was being continually worked 
with plows, thereby precluding the possibility of the larvz having origi- 
nated outside of these fields, and, except corn, there was nothing else 
to tempt the parent moth to deposit her eggs. Thesmalier larve were 
frequently attacked by a species of Microplitis, which Dr. Riley found 
to be similar to, but specifically different from that mentioned in the 
third report of United States Entomological Commission, p.127. A 
peculiarity of this parasite was that after leaving its host, it usually 
constructed its cocoon under the body of the latter, after the manner of 
Perilitus americanus, which similarly attacks Megilla maculata. In this 
case, however, the body of the host was not so fastened as to form a pro- 
tection, as in the case of Megilla. 
AUGUST 12, 1890. 


AN EXPERIENCE WITH ROSE-BUGS.* 
By Prof. J. B. Smiru, New Brunswick, N.J. 


The rose-bug, or, more correctly, rose-chafer, was known as a difficult 
subject to Harris and Fitch and the entomologists oftheir day. They 
gave us a fair life-history of the insect, to which Dr. Riley has quite re- 
cently added a good description of the larva, with figures, as well as 
some further biological notes. Each of these authors seems to have 
been fully aware of the difficulty of dealing with the insect, and the 
recommendations as to remedies are vague and unsatisfactory. Fitch 
gives an excellent description of the way in which the invading swarms 
cover everything, apples and other fruits becoming so covered that a 
mere mass of yellow sprawling beetles indicates that here probably is a 
fruit. 

Southern New Jersey has been invaded for several years past, which 
cleared out the grape crops so completely year after year, that many 
vineyards have been taken out and others will be abandoned uvless 
some practical remedy is found. With the view of testing the value of 
the published methods I spent some days in the invaded districts. I 
found that, as a rule, the insects did not breed in cultivated land, but 
that, on the other hand, the entiresand region isa vast breeding ground, 
pup being found even at the very sea-shore. From these breeding 
places the insects emerge and fly about, searching for food, the winds 
apparently influencing their direction to some extent. Vineyards are 


* Republished from Garden and Forest, July 16, 1290. 


114 


therefore generally invaded from the edges, newly-arriving hordes ever 
advancing farther. They are not at all dainty in food habits, but do 
show some preferences. Sumach is readily eaten; apples and cherries 
are tidbits; sour gum attracts them by the million; hollyhocks are 
eaten, stems and all; roses are high favorites, while the peach is not 
so much liked. In fact, there is scarcely a plant they will not eat, 
though flowers and some fruits are always preferred. A field of black- 
berries at Colonel Pearson’s place was swarming with them, and the 
Colonel told me that iast year his strawberry patch looked yellow where 
red ought to have been seen. 

Pyrethrum has been highly recommended for these insects. I tried 
it first at the rate of 1 ounce to 1 gallon of water. It acted in about 
ten minutes, the majority of beetles tumbling from the blackberry- 
bushes to the ground. Only a few, however, were really stupefied, 
and most of them began crawling back upon the plants immediately, 
where, as soon as the sun dried them, they fed as freely as before. Then 
I increased the dose to one-fourth of a pound toa gallon of water. The 
effect was more prompt, the resulting stupor more lasting, but half an 
hour later all were again feeding on blossoms that were yellow with 
pyrethrum. The insects will live for an hour or two in pure powder, 
and recover when removed from it. Tobacco seems to give an added 
relish to the plants upon whichit is applied. Sprayed on at the rate of 
a pound to the gallon, the powder being added to the decoction, the 
beetles never stopped eating. London purple, applied asstrong as the 
grape would bear, did not prevent the destruction of the blossoms, but 
left a sprinkling of dead beetles on the ground. Powdered naphtha- 
line, pure, and mixed with carbonate of lime, was dusted over a row of 
vines with the most approved appliance, so as to leave the vines white. 
This had not the slightest effect, so far as the blossoms are concerned, 
and the leaves were eaten from below instead of from above. Car- 
bolated lime was equally ineffective, as was also the pure hydrate of 
lime,which is better than air-slaked lime asarule. Hellebore applied 
pure is utterly ineffective. Mrs. Treat showed me some foxgloves in 
her garden, each plant surrounded by dead rose-bugs. Colonel Pearson 
thereupon made an infusion of leaves, which was ineffective, while I 
fed a lot of the beetles for a week upon roses which were soaked in a 
saturated solution of digitaline. Quassia is useless, and so were all the 
copper compounds, the saturated solution of lime, the iron solutions, 
the kerosene emulsion; and, in fact, everything else that was applied. 
All this goes to show what a tough subject we have to deal with. Cor- 
rosive sublimate will kill him readily, but unfortunately kills the plants 
as well. A sludge-oil soap, obtained too late to test thoroughly, kills 
the beetles without injuring plants. It is probable that in this we have 
a good remedy for the Macrodactylus if it can be made cheaply enough. 

Of the mechanical means tried, an umbrella, with a sack attached, into 
which the beetles were jarred, proved satisfactory, and this can be used 


115 


at all times of the day, since the beetles can not fly out of a sack as 
they could off a sheet or from the ground. 

My conclusions are that the only way to save a crop of grapes is to 
plant spirza, roses, or blackberries between some rows of the vineyard, 
and, by persistent collecting, keep these plants free and attractive. 
How persistent one must be is shown by the fact that though Colonel 
Pearson one year went over his vineyard once a day killing beetles, yet 
they destroyed his grapes almost completely. This year, though he 
daily cleared his rose-bushes by applying the sludge-oil soap, yet every 
bud was eaten. 

The Clintons, many of them, bloom and set before the rose-bug arrives 
in force; they are then generally safe, since the beetles prefer the foli- 
age of the grape. The Concord buds are just right for the insects, and 
they go completely. The Concord foliage is not relished, and only the 
upper surface is eaten. Very late-blooming varieties are also fairly 
safe, and this indicates another method of dealing with this pest, 2. e., 
plant very early or very late blooming varieties, while supplying some- 
thing for the insects to eat. I may say that thesuggestion that spirzea 
be planted as an attraction is Mr. Fuller’s, and he reports that he saves 
his grapes in this way. 

There is one glimmer of hope ahead. Indications of a decrease in the 
number of the insects are observed, and natural means may end the in 
vasion. Some eighteen or twenty years ago there was a similar invasion 
lasting four or five years. The present flood began about four years 
ago, and in some places is undoubtedly on the decrease. Colonel Pear- 
son did not suffer nearly as much this season as he did last season, and 
others have made the same statement. 


NOTE ON THE PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT IN MALLOPHAGA.* 
By HERBERT OSBORN. 


The habits of the species of Mallophaga render accurate observations 
upon the time required in development of the eggs a matter of con- 
siderable difficulty. While in some of the species upon very common 
birds it is possible to get an abundance of material, in other cases the 
opportunities for obtaining such material are very rare. But in the 
most common species the difficulty of determining the exact time of 
deposition of eggs, and then of keeping individuals in such conditions 
as to insure a normal development, makes positive observations difficult. 
This being the case, any observations which may add to our knowledge 
of the subject seem of interest, and the present note is offered as one 
such contribution. 


*Read before the Entomological Club of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science at Indianapolis, August 21, 1890. 


116 


The species chosen in the present case is the Nitzschia pulicare, which 
is almost invariably to be found in abundance ou the common Chimney 
Swift (Chetura pelasgia). This bird is an abundant resident of the 
building in which my laboratory is located, and being readily obtained 
on account of its tendency to fly in at the windows, I suggested to Mr. 
P. H. Rolfs, 4 graduate student in biology, that he attempt the rearing 
of larve from eggs with a view to determine the length of develop- 
mental period in connection with studies of its embryology. 

For this first purpose he secured on two separate occasions a number 
of the eggs, and kept them, part in a tight pasteboard box in his vest 
pocket, the others inclosed in cotton-plugged tubes under a hen that 
was kept in the laboratory at the time for incubating eggs for embry- 
ological work. Of the first lot, all kept in pocket, secured July 27, two 
eggs hatched August 4, five between August 8-13, one August 16, the 
last giving twenty days as the longest period. 

Of the second lot secured August 3, six hatched between the 8th and 
13th, four hatched August 14 (three in box and one in tube), two 
August 15 (one in box and one in tube), part not hatching, the longest 
period in this case being thirteen days. 

Assuming that those requiring the longest time had been deposited 
but a short time before the experiment began, we would have from fif- 
teen to twenty days as the ordinary time required for the eggs to hatch 
for this species. 


THE CYPRESS TWIG BORER. 


(Argyresthia cupressella W1sm.) 
By D. W. CoQuiLLetTrt. 


Every spring a large percentage of the cypress trees growing in the 
city of Los Angeles present a brownish aspect, as if they had been 
scorched by fire; this is especially the case with trees allowed to grow 
naturally and that have not been trimmed. This is the work of a Tin- 
eid, the larva of which burrows into the tender twigs, causing them to 
wither and finally to turn brown. The larva enters the twig some dis- 
tance from the apex, and extends its burrow downward, but the latter sel- 
dom exceeds an inch in length, after which the larva deserts it and attacks 
another twig in asimilar manner. Only the smaller and more or less 
terminal twigs are attacked, these seldom exceeding the size of the 
lead in a common lead-pencil. The opening of the burrow is usually 
closed by the blackish castings of the larva, which form a conspicuous 
object on the outside of the twig. The twigs attacked die back as far 
as the burrow extends, and when the latter extends into the main twig 
this also dies back to the point of attack. 

This larva attains a length of about 7™”, is of a light-green color, 
and in the older ones there is an indistinct, reddish dorsal spot on the 


117 


eighth segment, appearing as if located beneath the skin; piliferous — 

spots and spiracles concolorous; cervical shield tinged with yellow; 
anal plate slightly brownish; head brownish-yellow, marked with a 
brown dot each side above the jaws. 

When fully grown the larva deserts its burrow and spins a white 
cocoon, which it fastens to two or more twigs. There is only one brood 
in a year, the larva appearing from February to April and the moths 
issuing in April or early in May. These evidently lay their eggs in the 
course of a few weeks after issuing from the chrysalis, and the eggs re- 
main upon the trees unhatched until the following year. 

I have found this larva attacking the tender twigs of the following 
trees: Cupressus macrocarpa, commonly known as the * Monterey 
cypress,” and largely used for hedges; Cupressus lawsoniana, C. pyra- 
midalis and C. guadaloupensis. They are most abundant on the com- 
mon C. macrocarpa. I have never found them on any other trees than 
those named above, although several different kinds of Conifers, such 
as Pinus insignis, Sequoia gigantea, Thuja orientalis, Cedrus libani, and 
Cupressus funebris were frequently growing within a few yards of the 
infested trees. 

The larve have a habit of letting themselves down a distance of a 
foot or more by means of a silken thread, and while in this position are 
sometimes devoured by the common Humming-bird; on one occasion 
I saw one of these birds devour upwards of a dozen of these larve in 
the space of a few minutes. Of natural parasites I have bred from one 
of these larve, or from a chrysalis, I am not certain which, a single 
specimen of Ichneumon-fly belonging to the genus Porizon, but the 
specimen is too much mutilated to admit of a specific determination. 

The moth is not named in my collection, but I have sent specimens of 
it to Professor Riley, to whom I must leave the proper identification of 
the species.* 


NOTES ON THE GENUS ARGYRESTHIA Hb., WITH DESCRIPTIONS 
OF NEW SPECIES. 


By LorD WALSINGHAM. 


The genus argyresthia, as represented in the United States, has un- 
doubtedly been much overlooked. Many species allied to, if not identical 
with, the numerous European forms may be expected to be found, but 
up to the present time only thirteen species have been recorded from 
the United States, to which I have now to add descriptions of three new 
ones, and to record an additional species known in Europe. With some 
of the described species I am still unacquainted, and it is possible that 


* The species proved to be undescribed, and in the current number will be found a 
communication from Lord Walsingham, in which he has kindly characterized it in 
connection with some notes on the genus Argyresthia.—C. V. R. 


118 


one or more of them may turn out to be synonyms, but no reliable evi- 
dence to this effect is to be gathered from the often too meager descrip- 
tions. For this reason I am unable at present to suggest any new 
synonymy. 

The Revised Index will stand at present approximately as in Cham- 
bers’ edition, with the addition of the five subsequently recorded species, 
including the four here mentioned, the fifth being described in the 
Transactions of the American Entomological Society, X, 173 (1882), as 
-subreticulata Wl1sm. 


Argyresthia mendica Hw. 


A specimen submitted to me for examination by Dr. Riley in July, 
18386, appears to be not separable from mendica Hw. from the European 
form of which it differs, perhaps, in having the white portions of the 
wing somewhat less conspicuous, especially the costal dots. 


Argyresthia cupressella sp. n. 


Antenne, basal joint clothed with white hair-scales; stem distinctly annulated with 
black and white. 

Palpi, short, depressed, ochreous. 

Head, white. 

Thorax, shining golden-brown. 

Fore-wings, shining, mottled with golden-brown and creamy-white, the latter appear- 
ing in a broad, inwardly-oblique spot near the base of the dorsal margin, followed 
by a smaller costal spot at one-fourth from the base, and in an oblique and some- 
what waved central fascia, wider and nearer to the base on the dorsal than on 
the costal margin, below which it is slightly bent outwards, followed by two 
costal and one dorsal spot of the same color; the first of the two costal spots is 
smaller than the second, and reaches almost, or quite, to the anal angle of the . 
fascia, sometimes forming a separate costal fork of the fascia itself. About the 
apex are three or four small spots of a similar color, followed by a few black 
scales at the extreme tip; cilia, pale golden. Underside, steely-gray, with an 
aureous tinge about the cilia. 

Hind-wings, pale grayish, with a slight ochreous tinge in the cilia. 

Abdomen, grayish, anal tuft ochreous. 

Legs, whitish, tarsal joints faintly indicated above by slightly darker spots. 

xp. al., 8™™. 

Larva, on cypress, the perfect insect appears in April. 

Hab., Los Angeles (California). 


The description is taken from a good specimen received with three oth. - 
ers from Dr. Riley, to whom they had been submitted by Mr. D. W. 
Coquillett; both sexes were represented. The markings have evidently 
much tendency to blend into each other so that the exact position of 
the pale spots is not always clearly defined and would be scarcely trace- 
able in a worn specimen. This species is allied to the European ab- 
dominalis Z., from which its darker coloring and more checkered pat- 
tern at once distinguish it. 


m 


119 


Argyresthia freyella sp. n. 

{ Antenne, missing. ] 

Head and thorax, white. 

Fore wings, shining, mottled with silvery-white and golden-yellow ; the silvery-white 
markings consist of a spot at the middle of the base, two pairs of wide, nearly 
opposite, outwardly oblique, costal and dorsal streaks, the dorsal commencing a 
little before the costal and blending with the latter about the middle of the wing; 
beyond the outer costal streak are three more small costal spots, the first of which 
is diffused towards the middle of the wing, tending to blend with the angle formed 
by the preceding pair; there is also a faint indication of dorsal spots at the base 
of the cilia; there is a distinct triangular black dot at the extreme apex; cilia, 

' golden-yellow, whitish at their bases. Underside, pale, brassy-ochreous. 
Hind-wings very pale grayish with an ochreous tinge throughout the cilia. 

Abdomen, grayish, ochreous at the base. 

Legs, sordid whitish, with very faintly speckled tarsal joints. 

Exp. al., 8™™, 

Hab., Dallas (Texas). Boll. 

Type, 3, Mus. Wism. 

This species is described from a single specimen in the Frey collec. 
tion. The white head and thorax at once distinguish this species from 
cupressella, which it greatly resembles in the disposition of its markings, 
although it differs in the paler golden-yellow of its fore-wings. The 
markings are so ill-defined, tending so much to blend into each other, 
that the above description can only be taken as an attempted indication 
of their general pattern. It is extremely probable that this is a speci- 
men of the species referred to by Zeller [ Ver. Z-b., Ges. Wien xxiii, 106 
(1873)] under the name abdominalis Z., but it is in sufficiently good con- 
dition to show that the pattern and markings are quite different 
from those of the European species ; indeed it is more nearly allied to 
cupressella than to abdominalis, although it may be regarded as inter- 
mediate between them. In abdominalis the white ground color of the 
wings is cleaner and brighter and decidedly predominates, whereas in 
freyella the wings are much more golden although the costal and dor- 
sal oblique streaks are wider, nor indeed are these streaks to be found 
in the same position in the European form. I have no hesitation in re- 
garding freyella as abundantly distinct. The pale markiugs are de- 
cidedly not dark margined in either of these species, nor is there any 
fuscous sprinkling. In these respects they differ from quercicolella 
Chamb., and this species must therefore be regarded as distinct, Cham- 
bers’s identification (Can. Ent. xi, 144, 1879) notwithstanding. 


Argyresthia plicipunctella sp. n. 


Antenne, annulate with white and brownish-gray. 

Palpi, sordid whitish. 

Head and thorax, white. 

Fore-wings, white, densely dusted above the fold with grayish-brown; a marginal 
line of dark brownish runs around the apex at the base of the cilia, contiguous 
to which are two or three ill-defined brownish spots; beneath the basal portion 
of the fold is a series of distinct grayish-brown spots; at the outer third of the 
fold is a strong brownish spot lying in the fold itself, distinctly separated from 


9974—No. 5——3 


120 


the dorsal margin by the white ground colorof the wing which occupies nearly 
the whole of the space beneath the fold; the extreme costal margin at about the 
middle is slightly speckled with grayish-brown; cilia grayish about the anal 
angle, grayish-brown around the apex, with whitish interruptions along the costal 
margin. 

Hind-wings, pale grayish, shining; cilia pale grayish-ochreous. 

Abdomen, cinereous, anal tuft paler. 

Legs, dull whitish, tarsal joints faintly spotted. 

Exp. al., 104™™. . 

Hab. 

Type, 2, Mus. Wism. 


This species is nearly allied to the European retinella, but has not 
the same blotched appearance on the outer half of the fo-e-wings, the 
more clearly defined spot on the fold and the marginal line around the 
apex at once distinguishing it from that species. 

In addition to these I have single specimens of two undoubtedly dis- 
tinct species, the one allied to the unmarked variety (ossea Hw.) of the 
European nitidella, but with a slight golden gloss, taken near Crescent 
City, Del Norte County, Cal., the third week in June, 1872; the other 
reminding me of what should be a small form of altissimella Chamb., 
taken in Mendocino County, Cal., at the beginning of June, 1871. Iam 
not disposed to describe these from single specimens. 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 


The Bermuda Peach Maggot and Orange Rust. 


Your letter of the 22d of July reached me a day or two ago. Since I last wrote 
you I have occasionally looked for the Ceratitis, and not many days ago discovered 
the pest among and lodging on some lime trees and fruit, also among the grape-vines. 
So far as I know this insect does not injure the orange in these islands, and I should 
be very much pleased to learn from you in your next in which way they injure the 
fruit. We grow now very little fruit in this island, owing to diseases of one kind or 
another. For instance, orange trees, bearing the most delicious fruit up to five or six 
years ago, have ceased to produce fruit, and have died down limb by limb in one year, 
then made a strong effort for life, sprung and started into bud, but died down again 
with greater rapidity, and so on year by year until at the end of three or four years 
they have died altogether. Can you explain this? Is the soil exhausted, or is it a 
borer or tree lice which cause this death to the orange trees? Before this trouble 
the oranges would be covered with what is generally called rust, which is most un- 
sightly, preventing the oranges from turning yellow, although the pulp seemed to be 
uninjured; but, so far as I know, no other injury has happened to the fruit except 
the premature decaying of the trees, which I have endeavored to explain briefly in 
the former part of this letter. The Surinam cherries ripen about June and the Man- 
goes about September. The cherries have been very full of maggots, quite one-half 
of the crop ruined. We have also another fruit, known as the Loquat or Malta plum, 
which ripens in February, and this has also been infected to a greater or lesser ex- 
tent. My father-in-law, Dr. T. A. Outerbridge, has had some peaches ripened this ° 
season, which were most securely protected from the flies by the use of mosquito net- 
ting.—[Claude W. McCallan, St. George’s, Bermuda, August 6, 1890. 

REpPLy.—Your finding of the Ceratitis upon the lime trees and fruit is very interest- 
ing and I hope you will watch the particular tree upon which you found them in 


121 


order to see whether they lay theireggs upon the fruit. This insect injures oranges in 
other countries in much the same way as does the Morelos Orange Fruit-worm (T7ry- 
peta ludens) in Mexico. I think that I sent you a copy of Dr. Riley’s account of this 
latter insect. The eggs are laid on or thrust into the skin of the orange and the larve 
burrow into the pulp of the fruit. I should be glad to receive specimens of the mag- 
gots which infest the Surinam cherries, and hope that you will examine the Mangoes 
to see whether they are not also infested. The possible infesting of these fruits as 
well as the Citrus frnits by this Ceratitis is very important, as you will readily see, 
from the stand-point of any remedial work which has to be done upon the Ceratitis 
injuring peaches. 

The rust upon your oranges is probably produced by the Rust Mite (Phytoptus olei- 
vorus) and is remedied in Florida by applications of sulphur mixed with lime in the 
process of slaking and afterwards sprayed in a watery solution. The dying of your 
trees is probably due to the disease known in Florida as the “Die Back,” which is 
caused by a fungus. This disease yields to treatment with carbolic or creosote 
washes provided the existing cause is removed, and this latter has been variously 
ascribed to overfertilization, deep planting, and imperfect drainage.—[ August 19, 
1890. ] 


The New Mexican Epilachna.. 


I notice on page 376 of INsEcT Lire, Vol. 11, for May and June, 1890, that the Epi- 
lachna corrupta, which I trust will continue to be known vulgarly as the New Mexi- 
can Bean-bug or New Mexican bean-eating Lady-bird—for I have not been able to 
learn that it feeds upon any other plant except those of the Phaseolus family—is aiso 
found in Colorado. From this I infer that the so-called arid region of the Rocky 
Mountains is its native habitat. But I also venture to foretell that if it should ever 
chance to spread further east, it will prove as destructive to the bean there as the 
Doryphora decemlineata once proved to the potato. You suggest Paris green as a 
remedy, and it may therefore be interesting to you to know that I have tried its ap- 
pliance, and to learn how it resulted. I may say that it effected a radical cure. It 
killed not only the insects, but also a great part of the vines (especially those of the 
wax-pod varieties, which appear more delicate), and utterly ruined several rows of 
new varieties, such as the Yosemite Mammoth, Dwarf Lima, Bush Bean, Flageolet 
Wax, Black-eyed Wax, etc., which I had obtained from New York at considerable 
expense for trial in our soil and climate. The green-pod sorts resisted better, espe- 
cially the ‘Emperor William,” asplendid large-podded variety with pure white-colored 
seed, which deserves to be planted extensively, both as a string and shell bean. 
The only bean plants that escaped entirely unscathed under the Paris-green treat- 
ment, among some fifteen sorts grown in rows side by side for experimental purposes, 
were the native frijoles, which remained entirely unaffected by the corrosive action of 
the arsenious poison. The row of these Mexican beans now stands in the garden, still 
growing in wonderful exuberance, and covered with an immense profusion of pods, 
some of these already ripening, while of the other beans probably not over one-fourth 
are alive. I would therefore advise great care in the use of arsenical compounds with 
beans, as it appears to corrode and burn both the leaves and stalks. The solution 
used was at the rate of 1 pound to 100 gallonsof water and was applied about three 
weeks ago, once. Onaccount of its great rusticity and wonderful productiveness and 
hardiness the Mexican frijoleseems to me to be deserving of a trial in the ‘‘ States,” espe- 

_ cially for field culture. It is of allshades of color when shelled, but the appearance of 
the plants show no difference in growth. Itmakes a larger bush than the sorts cul- 
_ tivated in the States, inclined to ran somewhat, although it requires no poles. On 
account of its remarkable vigor, it suffers less from the atttacks of the bug than the 
more delicate and tender sorts raised in the States, and also stands late spring frosts 
which would kill the others. Used dry it is much more delicately flavored than the 
white navy bean so much cherished by the people of the ‘‘ Hub,” ratherresembling the 
ima bean in delicacy of taste. But it has one drawback, it bas a brownish appear- 


122 


ance when cooked. The Epilachna made its first appearance here about the 25th day 
of June, and now some belated stragglers are still occasionally met with. The orly 
safe remedy I kuow of against the insect is to plant the beans either very early, or 
very late, here from the 15th of April to the Ist of May, and from the 15th of June to 
the 10th of July. The beetle does not seem to trouble the very young plants, and is 
not found after the Ist of August in this locality and latitude. I inclose a few of 
these frijoles of various coloring, in another envelope; among them a large seeded 
greenish white sort appears to me to deserve some attention. Last spring I collected 
about a quart of this peculiar sort by hand-picking them myself from among the 
others, and will gather quite alarge crop from them. It never enters the heads of 
Mexicans to select seed for planting, and I had to run over perhaps two bushels of 
beans to pick my quart. I also inclose aspecimen of a little striped flea which is very 
pestiferous here in early summer. It alights in great numbers on various plants, 
even weeds, and perforates them like sieves. It had, among others, taken a great 
fancy for my Yosemite Mammoth Bush beans (costing one half a cent a bean) and 
preyed extensively on them. I used Dalmatian insect powder at first, and after- 
wards Paris green, with the results stated.—[John F. Wielandy, Santa Fé, N. Mex., 
July 26, 1-90. 

Rrepiy.—The inclosed beetle is Systena teniata Say. It is a common insect and 
known to work on common plants, particularly the Cucurbitacew. It is exceedingly 
variable in coloration, and up to within a very recent time it was divided into sey- 
eral distinct species.—[ August 4, 1890. ] 


Adulteration of Paris Green. 


I wish'to call the attention of the proper authorities to the adulteration of Paris 
green which has now become very common in this country. Not knowing exactly to 
whom to write upon the subject I venture to do so to you, hoping the Department of 
Agriculture is sufficiently interested in the cotton crop to take note of the matter 
and call the attention of the proper authorities to the subject. The Paris green sold 
exclusively in this portion of the South last season was so badly adulterated that in 
many instances it killed cotton, while in others it had no effect upon the worms, no 
matter how liberally it was used. In some instances the Paris green was so mixed 
* with very fine white sand that I found as much as 7 pounds of sand left in the dust- 
ing bag after sifting out the green in-one package of 25 pounds. I donot know 
what other adulterations are used, but they are something that either do no good 
or else injure the cotton plant seriously. Now, I know from experience that pure 
Paris green will not harm cotton, no matter how liberally applied, for I last season 
obtained a 14-pound can of painters’s pure green and sified some of it as an experi- 
ment on some cotton until the leaves and blossoms were literally covered with it, and 
not one leaf or blossom was injured. In using adulterated green, from 4 to 5 pounds 
is required, while of pure green a pound per acre would be sufficient if you could 
distribute it in as small a quantity as that. I do not know if there is a law cover- 


ing the adulteration of this article, but if not, I think something should be done for 


the protection of the cotton crop, and would suggest that you call the attention of 
Congressman Charles J. Boatner, of this district, to the matter, and perhaps a bill can 
be passed regulating the matter. In the event of the appearance of worms this sea- 
son an immense quantity of Paris green will be required, and it is likely they will 
come as the crop in the entire valley is late and will be young and tender and easily 
and quickly destroyed unlss the ravages of the worms can be stopped by the prompt 
application of the green. If dishonest manufacturers flood the country with an adul- 
terated article that will not be effective the crop will be destroyed, for only those 
who have had experience know how rapidly a cotton crop can be eaten up by worms. 
In my opinion Paris green should be subject to inspection and a strict test, just as 
many other articles are inspected before going on the market, and a severe penalty 
should attach to the tampering with or adulteration of the article after it has re- 
ceived the inspector’s stamp.—[Samuel Coulson, Bullitt’s Bayou, La., July 9, 1890. 


123 


Two Grape Pests in Alabama. 


I inclose some specimens of beetles and Hymenoptera. W231] you kindly inform me 
what they are and how I can get rid of them, especially the beetles? These perfor- 
ate the leaves of my grape vines to such an extent that they have arrested their 
growth and have caused them toshed many of theirleaves. What is the best remedy 
for this evil? Where are the eggs laid? They have made their appearance here for 
the first time to my knowledge. They do their mischief mostly at night, while the 
Hymenoptera are on the young canes during the day and suck the sap from them as 
a mosquito draws the blood from an animal; they might be called vegetable mos- 
quitoes. I catch and kill most of them, though they are cunning little fellows, and 
dodge around the canes of the grape-vines, as a squirrel runs around atree. The 
beetles though are a great pest, and I fear they will greatly damage my grapes, if 
they have not already doneso. The nocturnal habits of this coleopteron give it every 
opportunity to commit its depredations.—[ William C. Avery, M. D., Greensboro, 
Ala., June 25, 1890. 

RepLy.—The beetles sent are specimens of the Grape vine Colaspis ( Colaspis flavida), 
and belong, together with the Grape-vine Flea-beetle and the Grape-vine Fidia, to the 
family Chrysomelide. ‘The injury occasioned to the Grape by the Colaspis is caused 
by theadult insect only. In the larval stages it feeds on the roots of the Strawberry. 
The larve# may be found on the strawberry roots throughout the fall and winter. 
They change to pup in June and the beetles soon after emerge and feed on the ten- 
der leaves of the Strawberry and later spread to other plants, attacking the grape- 
vine chiefly. The history of this insect is given at length, with illustrations, in 
Riley’s Third Missouri Report, pages 81 to 84, and in the Fourth Report, page 34. 
The injury occasioned by the adults in defoliating vines may be prevented by spray- 
ing with London purple. A mixture in the proportion of 1 pound of the London 
purple to 100 gallons of water will effectually destroy the beetles, and will rid the 
vines of numerous other leaf-feeding insects. The specimens sent and termed ‘‘ Hy- 
menoptera” prove to be one of the common “‘ leaf hoppers ”— Proconia undata—one of 
the false bugsor Homoptera. This species occurs on vegetation generally, but seldom 
occurs in sufficient numbers to cause any annoyance. It is said to deposit its eggs in 
single rowsin the grape stem and doubtless also deposits them in other plants, Should 
their numbers warrant it this insect can be destroyed by jarring it on to cloth screens 
saturated with kerosene. The grape-vine Colaspis may also be destroyed by the 
same means.—[June 25, 1890. ] 


London Purple and Paris Green for the Boll Worm. 


I wrote you some months ago in regard to the best methods of combating ravages 
of Boll-worm, and you were kind enough toreply. Now I seek additional informa- 
tion, as I see abundant evidences that we will lose our cotton again by them. 

(1) What poison is best, Paris green or London purple? 

(2) For small farmers, what method of application is most efficient ? 

(3) Ifby spraying, what apparatus is most satisfactory; the same if dusting the 
poison on is advised ? 

(4) If spraying is advised, what is the proper strength of poisoned water, how 
much poison to a gallon? 

(5) What is the chemical name of Paris green and ‘‘ London purple,” and if either 
can be made soluble in water and still retain its poisonous properties? Anything 
new elicited in the past few months? 

If you will kindly answer the foregoing questions and embody in your reply any 
other suggestions, I will take occasion to give your answer large circulation through 
the county press of this section of the State, in order that farmers may have the bene- 
fit thereof.—[H. L. Tate, M. D., Lindale, Smith County, Tex., June 13, i890. 

REPLyY.—A copy of the Fourth Report of the United States Entomological Com- 


124 


mission has been sent to you in response to your former letter; it contains in its 
first part, in treating of the Cotton Worm, an elaborate chapter on the application 
of arsenical poisons to the cotton plant and upon referring to that portion of the 
Report (pp. 136-153) you will find full particulars regarding the points you asked me 
in your lastletter. I have pointed out that atimely application of Paris green or Lon- - 
don purple, not only protects the plants from the Cotton Worm, but is at the same 
time the best remedy that can be recommended for the destruction of the young Boll- 
worms before these enter the bolls. The report was published in 1885 and since that 
time no new discoveries have been made regarding the mode of application of these 
. poisons. It will be necessary, therefore, to reply but very briefly. 

(1) London purple can not be said to be better than Paris Green, but it is a good 
substitute and much less expensive. (See fourth report, pp. 143 and 151.) 

(2) This depends entirely upon circumstances: Water is often not handy, and small 
planters are liable not to have any spraying apparatus on hand. For these reasons 
the dusting method is often resorted to, but it is much more expensive on a large 
scale than the spraying method. In a general way it may be said that the spraying 
method is very much preferable, especially in dry or tolerably dry weather, while in 
very wet weather the dusting method gives the most satisfaction. 

(3) Any of the improved force pumps which are now in the market, in connection 
with a good atomizing nozzle, and more especially the ‘‘ Riley ” or ‘‘ Cyclone Nozzle,” 
which is described on pages 211-219 of the fourth report. For the dusting method 
several simple hand dusters can be obtained, or, if nothing else be at hand, a broad 
sieve with a double layer of fine muslin covering the botton will answer the purpose. 

(5) Neither Paris green nor London purple, being compounded substances, have chem- 
ical names; the analysis of London purple is given on page 149 of the report. Neither 
are soluble in water though London purple has a larger proportion of soluble matter. 

The chief requirements in successful coping with either of the worms are: (1) 
Watchfulness for the first appearance on the under side of the leaves, and early spray- 
ing before the leaves beconie seriously eaten or ragged ; (2) spraying as far as possi- 
ble on the under side of the leaves and as finely as possible in order that the poison 
may adhere and not be washed off.—[June 19, 1890. ] 


The Tent Caterpillar. 


The apple trees in this vicinity are greatly overrun by the Tent Caterpillar, the 
larvee of ‘‘ Clisiocampa americana” and much damage is being done to orchards and 
isolated trees. In a recent walk I counted over one hundred apple trees completely 
denuded of buds and leaves, while on one half-grown tree I counted eighty-nine of 
their nests. About Junel there were hosts of the larve everywhere—on fences, 
bushes, over our gardens, on windows, doors, and trying to gain an entrance at every 
opening into. our houses. For a time it seemed like a new edition of an “ Egyptian 
plague,” but the cold stormy weather has destroyed them, or else they are reddy to 
make the change into chrysalid state, for at present they are not troublesome. Our 
trees blossomed well, but this pest will cause a change in the crop estimates of the 
early spring.—[Lewis E. Hood, Ashland, Mass., June 12, 1890. 


An Orthesia on Coleus. 


By to-day’s mail I send you asample of Mealy Bugs which have caused me a great 
deal of trouble on our Coleus. I think I got them from P. Henderson’s last winter on 
some new Coleus. They propagate very fast. I got rid of millions of them by dipping 
the plants in a solution of fir-tree oil, but it was an expensive job. Do you know of 
a better remedy? Is it anew bug oranoldone? I haveneverseenit before. Iam 
much obliged to you for the advice you gave me last winter.—[Charles Freund, Rye, 
N. Y., June 16, 1890. 

REPLY.—The specimens received belong to the Coccid genus Orthesia. The insect 
is apparently a new one and has not been hitherto described. It has been received 


125 


from New York and California, and in both cases was reported to infest Coleus. In 
the same line of your experiment with fir-tree oil would be the application of the 
kerosene emulsion, which will doubtless be as effective as the former treatment and 
less expensive. Ifyou are not already acquainted with the method of making this 
emulsion, the accompanying formula will give ample directions.—[ June 23, 1890. j 


The Cottony Maple Scale in Oregon. 


I send you to-day under another cover a specimen of a Scale or Bark Louse that is 
infesting some of our trees here. The specimen sent is taken from the soft waple. 
I am inclined to think that it is the Maple Scale; but its appearance and habits 
answer completely those given of the Cottony Cushion Scale, anddo not answer those 
given of the Maple Scale. The color of the eggs of these are pinkish, and I have never 
found them on the leaf, but always upon the stem or limb ofthetree. They infest 
the Maple, Box Elder, Locust, Pyracanthus, and in fact nearly everything in the way 
of tree orshruv. I have thus far not been able to discover any serious effect upon 
the tree or shrub from their workings. Please advise me what they are, and 
oblige.—[E. W. Allen, Secretary Oregon State Board of Horticulture, Portland, Ore- 
gon, July 16, 1890. 

REPLY.—The insect which you send, and which is damaging your soft Maple shade 
trees, is the common Cottony Maple Scale of the East (Pulvinaria innumerabilis). It 
is somewhat below normal size, and the egg sac is narrower than usual. It spreads 
slowly, but is often extremely abundant and injurious. The remedies in use in East- 
ern cities consist of heading in the tree; i. e., cutting off the branches, and in 
spraying by means of a double-actirg force-pump, mounted upon a tank cart, with 
the ordinary kerosene soap emulsion.—[July 22, 1890.] 


The Wheat Straw Isosoma in the State of Washington. 


‘We have discovered a worm in the stalk of our present crop of wheat which is un- 
known to us as farmers. The insect is found sometimes in the space between the 
joints, but oftener in the first joint from the ground. Our wheat fields have shown 
spots of poor grain in unaccountable areas to such an extent that we have sought for 
the cause. We have discovered this small worm to be very numerous, but it does 
not seem to be of any especial damage to the plants, asit is found in the healthy stalks 
equally with those of poorer growth. Would you kindly refer the specimens which 
I inclose to the Entomologist, and send report to Walla Walla Farmers’ Alliance ?— 
[Milton Evans, Secretary Northwestern Farmers’ Alliance, No. 56, Walla Walla, 
Wash., July 17, 1890. 

ReEPLY.—The insect which is damaging yonr wheat fields is a species very closely 
related to the Joint-worm of the Eastern States. Itisa species known as the Wheat- 
straw Isosoma (Isosoma.tritici Riley). You will find this insect treated at some length 
in the annual report of this Department for 188182, pages 183-187. Unless present 
in a wheat field in enormous numbers this insect damages the crop but little; but in 
case a remedy is desired, it may be found in burning the stubble after harvest, as the 
majority of the worms occur in the straw below the point of cutting. As most of the 
fields are allowed to grow up with the weeds after harvest, it will be an easy matter 
a little later to ran a mower through the fields, and after the weeds are dried the 
whole surface of the field can be burned over.—[July 24, 1890. } 


Suppposed Enemy under Pear Bark. 


Inclosed please find two bits of bark from a pear tree. The tree is at least twenty- 
five years or more old; it is an old-fashioned, mealy summer pear. There have been 
for years places where the bark has been off, and under it there looked to be a white 
stringy saw-dust. This morning I applied some of it to the examination of a 16-power 
pocket glass and found it to be worms, the longest being one-eighth of an inch long. 


126 


It has been known to cause the decay of many good trees for perhaps fifteen years im 
this neighborhood, because they all go just alike. The bark will begin to turn black 
in the crotch of the limbs, then about six inches from the crotch it will begin to de- 
cay, turning black first and then white, and in the course of three or four years the 
tip ends of the limbs begia to die nearly to the body of the tree. The limbs from the 
crotches up die on the upper side and seem to go from the outside to the center by 
sawing off and splitting them open. It is the first time that I have had a good sight. 
at the worms, although I have watched the decay for several years. Do you recog- 
nize the worms ?—[H. L. Jeffrey, Woodbury, Conn., July 23, 1890. 

REPLY.—I am of the opinion that the worms which you send have nothing to do 
with the decay of your trees. They are the maggots of a little fly of the genus 
Sciara, and are attracted, probably, by the decaying condition of the wood. You 
will therefore have to look further for the true cause of the injury.—[ July 24, 1890. ] 


GENERAL NOTES. 
DAMAGE BY TOXOPTERA GRAMINUM. 


Colman’s Rural World, of St. Louis, called attention last June to the 
extraordinary abundance of this plant-louse in the vicinity of St. Louis. 
The oats for 100 miles in every direction were badly damaged, and in 
general it was predicted that hundreds of thousands of bushels of oats 
would be destroyed. The insect in question has acquired the popular 
name of the ‘‘ Texas Louse,” which seems very appropriate, in view of 
its great abundance in Texas during the past two summers. It extends, 
however, as far north as northern Indiana. 


AN EXPERIENCE WITH THE GIPSY MOTH. 


We quote from the Orange Judd Farmer of July 5, 1890, an experience 
contributed by a Mr. J. O. Goodwin to the Medfsrd Mercury: “I 
have had quite a little experience with the pest, as in the rear of my 
premises are three or four large apple trees which have been wholly un- 
cared for by the owner, and the Tent Caterpillar and Gypsy Worm have 
held high carnival there until every vestige of green has disappeared. 
After devastating my neighbor’s trees they marched in myriads for my 
premises, fairly covering the fences, houses, outbuildings, grass-land, 
currant bushes, and concrete driveways with their trooping battalions. 
I immediately tacked tarred sheathing paper around every one of my | 
trees and keep the paper well coated with printers’ ink. The worms will 
not go over the printer’s ink if care is taken to make frequent applica- 
tion of it. Experience, the best of teachers, proves it. During the past 
week or ten days I have personally attended to the matter and have 
killed millions of Gypsy Worms which have congregated below the paper 
on mytrees. The trees nearest my neighbor’s land were the first ones 
attacked (they will not pass a tree), and five or six times a day the trees. 
below the paper are literally covered with thousands of worms, notwith- 
standing I take great care to kill every worm seen at each inspection, 


| 


127 


while not a worm can be found on the tree above the appiication of 
printers’ ink. The number of worms cultivated on the three or four 
worthless trees on the premises adjacent to my own is astonishing; 
numbers fail to convey an adequate idea. The grass-lawd and the 
earth seem to be covered with them. In fifteen minutes after killing 
every worm to be seen on the trunk of the tree below the tarred paper 
hundreds can be found making their way up the trunk, to be stopped 
by the application of printers’ ink.” 


ANOTHER NEWSPAPER SPIDER-BITE SCARE. 


“ Bitten by a spider—Harry Mattoon, of the Central House, has a close 
ceall.— Dr. J. LU. Karsner yesterday was called to, attend Harry, the 
second son of Mrs. S. V. Mattoon, and about sixteen years old, at the 
Central House, who on Tuesday night had been bitten on the fleshy part 
of his thigh by a black spider. 

“The doctor says that as soon as the young man was bitten his leg 
began to swell and pain him fearfully. At times he was unconscious. 

‘‘A doctor was sent for to Moore’s Station, and he attended young 
Mattoon that night, but as the swelling had not subsided in the morn- 
ing and his suffering was very great, Dr. Karsner was sent for. 

‘‘The doctor told the Mercury reporter that young Mattoon’s condi- 
tion was a very serious one. His leg was swelled to great proportions 
as far as the knee, and it was so hard that he could make no impression 
in the flesh with his hand. But when he left the patient was better, 
and he thinks he will recover.”— Oroville Mercury, July 11, 1890. 


REMEDIES FOR THE HARLEQUIN CABBAGE-BUG. 


Two of our correspondents, the one in Gregg County, Tex., and the 
other in Natchez, Miss., have suffered considerably from the damage 
done by this well-known pest. The gentleman from Texas writes that 
after exhausting his patience in endeavoring to hand-pick the bugs he 
finally hit upon the plan of sprinkling tle plants with lime in the morn- 
ing when the dew was on. The first application did not entirely rid 
him of the bugs, but a second and third about ten days or two weeks 
apart were successful. He commenced using the lime about the first of 
August, and following his example some of his neighbors tried it suc- 
cessfully. The lime was sprinkled on so that the plant appeared toler- 
ably white without being affected. 

Our Mississippi correspondent reports that he found the bugs hiber- 
nating in the neighborhood of fences among the thick Bermuda grass, 
and that in April he found them for the first time in the cabbage fields. 
They were at that time, however, comparatively few in number and con- 
fined to restricted places. They were evidently the first brood after 
the hibernating individuals, and by careful searching our correspond- 
ent entirely rid his fields for the season by sacrificing four or five dozen 
cabbages, cutting them down when they were only half grown. 


128 


THE SPIRACLES OF HYMENOPTERA. 


The investigations of M. G. Carlet have recently shown that the spira- 
cles of Hymenoptera are provided with a peculiar organ for closing and 
opening them which has been hitherto overlooked. 

The spiracles of insects are, for the most part, capable of being closed 


in various ways. This is effected by the sides being caused to approach _ 


each other or by the action of a single or double lid or lips. The 
spiracles of these classes are provided with an internal muscular ap- 
paratus, by means of which the insects can exclude or admit the air at 
will. In other cases, however, the opening in the spiracle is rigid, and 
is commonly protected from the entrance of extraneous matter by the 
presence of simple or plumose hairs on the edge of the opening. The 
Spiracles of Hymenoptera previous to Carlet’s studies have been con- 
sidered to belong to the latter class, and this is true of the external 
opening. It was found, however, in the first instance in the case of the 
anal spiracle of the bee,* and afterwards 7 to be true of all the spiracles 
of Hymenoptera, that the closing was effected not at the mouth of the 
spiracle, but a short distance below it on the trunk of the trachea, thus 
forming a small cloaca-like cavity. The closing is effected by means of 
a chitinous flap or operculum, which in its normal position forms a por- 
tion of the wall of the enlarged cavity immediately below the spiracle. 
By the action of a special muscle this flap may be drawn backward so 
that it crushes in the wall of the trachea and closes it much as a rubber 
tube may be closed by bending it at an angle. This form of shutting 
out the entrance of air into the trachea is given the name of the oper- 
culate closure (fermeture operculaire). The dissection of this tracheal 
muscle is a matter of extreme difficulty, as it is smaller than the finest 
thread of silk and is confused among the bundles of the other muscles 
which surround the stigmata. 


MOUTH PARTS OF THYSANOPTERA. 


A peculiar asymmetry of the head and mouth parts of Thysanoptera, 
which seems to have been hitherto overlooked, is described and figurcd 
by Prof. H. Garman in Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Vol. X XII, Nos. 
1-3, 1890. A well-developed organ supposed to be a mandible is found 


emt pal 


to occur on one side of the head and to be represented by a mere rudi- ~ 


ment on the opposite side, and that is accompanied with a lack of sym- 
metry in the clypeus labrum, and also in the chitinous endocranium of 
the head. The long styliferous organs heretofore taken for the mandi- 
bles are supposed to be rather the laciniz of the maxille. The explana- 
tion of the organs is given with some hesitation by the author, his stud- 
ies having been limited to species in two genera. 


* Comptes Rendus, November 5, 1888. +t Comptes Rendus, April 23, 1889. 


129 
ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


OcTOBER 2, 1890.—Messrs. J. M. Stedman, Nathan Banks, and F. W. Mally were 
elected members of the Society. 

Under exhibition of specimens and notes, Dr. Fox exhibited a specimen of a small 
spider, belonging to the genus Episinus, which was stated by Dr. Marx to be an un- 
described species. 

Dr. Marx called attention to two spiders new to our fauna, one belonging to the 
European genus Histopona, taken at Penn-Mar, Md., and also received from South 
Florida, and the other a new genus of uncertain position, but possibly allied to the 
Agalenide, represented by a single specimen taken on the grounds of the Department 
of Agriculture. 

Mr. Marlatt exhibited a specimen of Trypeta equalis Lw. which he had bred from 
the seed-pods of Xanthium and the larval habit of which he had described at a pre- 
vious meeting of the Society. _ 

Mr. Marlatt then presented a paper on ‘‘ Some Observations on the Habits of Vespa 
germanica and V. cuneata.” The feeding and nesting habits, particularly of the first- 
named species, were described. Three kinds of nests were mentioned, viz, the very 
rare aérial ones, those beneath stumps or stones and those in open ground, the latter 
being much the more common. Various insect and mammalian enemies of these 
wasps were alluded to, together with the means employed to destroy the nests when 
their proximity to dwellings renders them objectionable. Discussed by Messrs. How- 
ard, Schwarz, Fox, Dodge, Stedman, Marlatt, and others. 

Mr. Howard read a paper entitled ‘‘A New Remarkable Genus of Encyrtine,” in 
which he characterized a new genus and species which possesses the peculiar ramose 
antenne, hitherto peculiar in the subfamily Encyrtine, to Teiracnemus diversic6rnis of 
Westwood. Mr. Howard has named the genus Tanaostigma and the species T. course- 
tie from Coursetia (?) mexicana, a rare leguminous plant collected in the Alamos Mount- 
ains, Mexico, by Dr. Edward Palmer, and in the ovaries and stigma of which the 
insect breeds. Discnssed by Messrs. Schwarz, Howard, and Marlatt. 

Dr. Marx gave an interesting account of his recent experiments to determine 
whether the bite of Lathrodectus mactans is poisonous or not. He described the poison 
glands of Lathrodectus which are remarkably small. He had introduced the poison 
in various ways into guinea-pigs and rabbits without obtaining any satisfactory 
results, and proposed to vary and continue his experiments to put the matter of the sup- 
posed poisonous nature of the bite of this spider, if possible, beyond doubt. Discussed 
by Messrs. Schwarz, Howard, Fox, and Marlatt. 

Mr. Ulke, who was present, gave an interesting description of the habits of Tachys 
incurvus Say, which he had found in numbers in the nests of ants, and which is the 
first Carabid to be determined as truly myrmecophilous. He also described the habits 
of certain myrmecophilous Staphylinide, and exhibited a small collection of Coleop- 
tera made by Mr. T. Ulke, illustrating the local fauna of the Black Hills district. 
Discussed by Messrs. Schwarz, Howard, and Marx. 

In connection with the subject of local faunas, Mr. J. B. Smith’s recent catalogue 
of the insects of New Jersey was taken up and discussed at length by the Society. 

Mr. Townsend communicated for publication a generic synopsis of the first five 


groups of the North Amercan calyptrate Muscide. 
C. L. MARLATT, 


Recording Secretary. 


fo) 


Vol. III, No. 4.] ENS ECE BLEEK. [Issued Noy., 1890. 


SPECIAL NOTES. 


The Texas Screw Worm.*—Prof. H. A. Morgan has put together some 
original matter on the subject of this plague to Southern cattle (Luecilia 
macellaria) in a recent bulletin of the Louisiana Station. It seems that 
some animals were purchased for the purpose of investigation, and 
direct observations upon the insect were made. Popular descriptions 
are given of the egg, larva, pupa, and imago, and observations are re- 
corded which prove that the insect will breed upon decaying animal 
matter. The statement is made that they will breed in decaying vege- 
table matter also, but the observations proving this statement ate not 
recorded. The fly is said to be readily attracted by the odor of both 
decaying animal and vegetable matter, and the author has seen plants 
in the neighborhood of a dead animal completely covered with the flies. 
The fly is said to be more or less active at night, and the author urges 
the necessity of mosquito bars in localities where the Screw-worm Fly 
is prevalent, as it is well known to attack human beings. 

All the natural openings of animals are said to be most liable to at- 
tack, particularly the “‘ sheaths” of horses and mules and the navels 
of newly-born stock, while in all animals where an abrasion of the skin 
is made the fly may be expected to lay her eggs. The death of stock 
which has been attacked at the point where the horn has been acci- 
dentally broken off is recorded, but the majority of deaths resulted from 
the deposition of eggs upon spots where ticks had been killed, the fly 
being attracted by the blood. The author had noticed, however, that 
when sheep had become sick and emaciated, the characteristic sickly 
odor has attracted the flies, which laid masses of eggs in the folds of the 
wool, the young larve penetrating the skin where no wound has been 
made. 

In the matter of preventives, the author insists upon the importance 
of burying or otherwise destroying all animal and vegetable matter, a 


*Bulletin of the Agricultural Experiment—Station of Louisiana, No. 2, Second 
Series. Texas Screw Worm, by Prof. H. A. Morgan, Entomologist, Baton Rouge, 1890. 
131 


132 


depth of from 2 to 24 feet being necessary in case of burying, and he 
suggests also that all refuse on common dumps be disinfected. Any- 
thing that will prevent the stock from abrasions of the skin is a pre- 
ventive, and the statement is made that the barbed-wire fence and the 
Screw-Worm Fly go hand in hand. In the matter of remedies, a long 
list of substances has been experimented with, and it will be unneces- 
sary to mention them in detail, as but one is unhesitatingly recom- 
mended. This is crude carbolic acid. When the maggots have been 
eliminated from the wound the latter shoulda be washed thoroughly 
with warm water and dressed with carbolized oil (1 part carbolic acid, 
16 of oil). If there is a cavity, lint cotton saturated with the oil should 
be inserted. Tar, grease, and fish-oil are recommended as ointments. 
The common use of mercurials is deprecated on account of the danger 
of the animal licking the parts. 

We are sorry to see that the author has not experimented with 
pyrethrum, which is useful in destroying the worms and particularly in 
causing them to forsake the affected parts. Our first specimens of this 
worm were sent us back in the sixties as abounding in the refuse of 
osage orange fruit from which the seed had been abstracted, and Mr. 
Morgan’s experience corroborates this vegetal-feeding habit in a species 
normally sarcophagous and helcophagous. We have long been inter- 
ested in this insect, and are pleased that Mr. Morgan has so thoroughly 
covered the ground in his little bulletin, which, by the way, is stated to 
be preliminary in its nature. It is a valuable contribution to the some- 
what extensive literature on the subject, which for the most part con- 
cerns the insect’s relations to man rather than to live-stock, and we wish 
that he had omitted the perfectly ridiculous figures of the insect, which 
serve no other purpose than to prejudice the character of the text. 


eed 


Physiognomy of the American Tertiary Hemiptera.**—Mr. 8S. H. Scudder 
has just published under this caption a very interesting contribution 
to the paleontology ofentomology. An interesting comparison isdrawn 
between the fossil Hemiptera of Europe and America (including the 
species found in amber), showing that 266 species have been found in 
American strata as against 218 in European strata. A number of — 
striking generalizations are made, from which it appears that the 
general facies of the Hemipterous fauna is American; that all the 
species are extinct; that no species are identical with any European 
tertiary forms; that a very considerable number of genera are ex- 
tinct; that existing genera which are represented in the American 
tertiaries are mostly American, not infrequently subtropical or tropical 
American, and where found also in the Old World are mostly those 


*Author’s extras from the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 
vol. xxiv, 1889, pages 562 to 579. 


* 


7 


133 


which are common to the north temperate zone; that there are no ex- 
tinct families ; and that the appearance of the same families and even 
of the same groups of genera in the European and American tertiaries 
is common, but of the same restricted genus very rare. 


Catalogue of the Insects of New Jersey.*—In a handsome volume of 
485 pages Professor Smith has given us a list of all the insects which 
are recorded from the State to which his labors have been recently 
transferred. The catalogue is the result of only afew months’ labor 
and is confessedly very incomplete. In fact, as the author states, ex- 
cept in Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, New Jersey is practically unex- 
plored, and even in the collected orders northern and northwestern 
New Jersey are entirely unrepresented. The only general collection 
the author was able to consult was that of Mr. M.S. Crane, of Cald- 
well. We marvel at and admire the author’s great industry, but feel 
that in this case it has been prematurely applied and that further time 
and collecting would have resulted in a catalogue more satisfactory to 
himself and to entomologists generally. In its present shape it will be 
of very slight avail to the student of faunal distribution, except, per- 
haps, in the two orders above mentioned. Six thousand and ninety- 
eight species are mentioned, of which 2,227 are beetles, 1,074 butter- 
flies and moths, 1,140 Hymenopterous insects, and 811 two-winged flies, 
the other five orders being very poorly represented. 


Economic Entomology in New South Wales.—The Government of New 
South Wales has just begun the publication of a journal entitled The 
Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, issued by direction of the 
Hon. Sydney Smith, M. P., Secretary of Mines and Agriculture, the first 
number of which was published in July of the present year. The 
Director of Agriculture, Mr. H. C. L. Anderson, has sent us the open- 
ing number, which is a very creditable pamphlet of 154 pages and in 
which we are pleased to see that the subject of insect pests receives a 
great deal of attention. Our esteemed correspondent, Mr. E. Sidney 
Olliff contributes three articles to this number, entitled, respectively, 
Insect Pests (a consideration of the Codling Moth and Apple-leaf 
Roller), Insect Friends and Foes, and the Maize Caterpillar and Moth 
(Heliothis armigera). The first and the last of these articles are each 
illustrated by a well executed heliotype plate reproduced in part from 
the reports of this Department, and, what with the work being done 
by Mr. Olliff at Sydney, Mr. Crawford at Adelaide, Mr. Tryon at Bris- 
bane, and Mr. French at Melbourne, the Australians are making rapid 
advances on the practical side of entomological study. 


“Catalogue of insects found in New Jersey. By Prof. Jno. B. Smith. From the 
final report of the State geologist, vol. ii, Trenton, 1890. 


™“~ 


134 

Root Galls of Australia—Since the preceding notice was written we 
' have received Part 2, Vol. 1, of the Agricultural Gazette of New South 
Wales (August, 1890) and are pleased to notice that it is devoted en- 
tirely to the consideration of an Anguillulid which damages potatoes, 
parsnips, mangels, and the roots of the peach. The subject is treated 
in a masterly manner by Dr. N. A. Cobb, the pathologist of the De- 
partment of Agriculture of New South Wales. A most careful study 
of the life history of the species involved is given and an analytical key 
to the species of the genus Tylenchus follows. Descriptions of the 
different species are then given and the final section of the paper con- 
siders the question of remedies. Dr. Cobb identifies the species with 
the one treated by Dr. Neal in Bulletin 20 of this Division and adopts 
Dr. Neal’s provisional name of Tylenchus arenarius. He is unfamiliar 
with the paper by Prof. G. F. Atkinson published as No. 1, Vol. 1, of 
the ‘‘ Science Contributions from the Agricultural Experiment Station, 
Alabama Polytechnic Institute” (reviewed in INSECT LIFE for March, 
1890, page 263), in which this form is determined as identical with the 
European Heterodera radicicola, although Doctor Cobb admits that the 
species may be this latter, his uncertainty arising from the insufficiency 
of the description and from lack of literature. Doctor Cobb gives the 
results of no experiments of his own with remedies, but publishes a 
very concise and admirable summary of the recommendations of others, 
giving the greatest prominence to the trapping remedy proposed by 
Professor Kuhn on the basis of Strubell’s investigations. He also de- 
votes considerable space to the different means by which the disease 
may pass from one piece of land to another and in this connection the 
influence of a good system of surface drainage is brought out. 

We congratulate the Director of Agriculture upon the publication of 
such an admirable papei. 


Notes upon Ephestia interpunctella—We publish in this number a 
note under the above heading by Mr. W. H. Patton, in which he arrives 
at the conclusion that EHphestia interpunctella, H. kiihniella, and H. zee 
are all synonyms. We publish the note in deference to Mr. Patton’s 
well known reputation as an entomologist, but can not do so without 
entering our strong dissent from his conclusions. We have long since 
adopted zee as a synonym of interpunctella, but fully believe in the dis- 
tinctness of kihniella, though originally inclined to believe that they 
might prove synonymous. Full study confirmed us in the opposite 
view, and, while we do not attach great generic value to the differences, 
the fact that Mr. Hulst in his recent monograph of the Phycitide of 
North America has placed them in two different genera (kiihniella be- 
longing to Hphestia proper while interpunctella is placed in Guenée’s 
genus Plodia, is certainly corroborative of their specific distinctness. 
The main difference between the two genera, as indicated by Mr. Hulst, 


135 


is that in Ephestia the palpi are erect while in Plodia they are porrect. 
The criticism concerning the larva shown at fig. 30, Vol. II, is equally 
unfortunate, as we have carefully studied the early stages of interpunc- 
tella and are equally familiar with those of Gelechia cerealella, the early 
stages of both species being represented in large series in the National 
Museum collection. 


REPORT ON A LOCAL OUTBREAK OF GRASSHOPPERS IN IDAHO. 


By LAWRENCE BRUNER. 


LINCOLN, NEBR., September 1, 1890. 
Prof. C. V. RiLey, 
U. S. Entomologist, Washington, D. C.: 

Str: I submit herewith a brief report on my recent trip into the Northwest, for the 
purpose of investigating the reported locust or grasshopper plague in portions of 
Idaho, Montana, and Utah. The trip was made in company with Mr. T. H. Marsland, 
of this city, who acted as an assistant while in the field. 

Respecifully, 
LAWRENCE BRUNER, 
Special Agent. 


We left Lincoln on the 7th of August and proceded to Soda Springs, 
Idaho, where the first stop was made. Here inquiry was made of the 
settlers as to any possible locust depredations within that immediate 
vicinity or in outlying regions. The country round about was also vis- 
ited by us, and careful collections made of such locusts and other in- 
sects as were to be obtained. After three days had been spent in this 
work, and no locust plague discovered east of the Utah and Northern 
Railroad, either through report or by actual observation, we proceeded 
to Pocatello, Idaho. Here we remained a day, busying ourselves in 
interviewing various persons belonging to the immediate locality, as 
well as others who lived in Montana and other portions of the North- 
west. Collections were also made in the valley of the Portnuff and 
among the foot-hills adjoining, but none of the destructive locusts were 
obtained. 

During the day spent here a miner from Butte, Mont., was inter- 
viewed, who informed us that several weeks previously he had seen 
large numbers of grasshoppers in the vicinity of Red Rock Lake, Mon. 
tana, and Henry Lake, Idaho, but was not certain as to the kind. His 
description of the insects, however, lead me to believe they were 
“natives,” and not the much-dreaded Rocky Mountain Locust. 

From Pocatello we proceeded westward to Shoshone, Idaho, the near- 
est point on the Oregon Short Line of the Union Pacific Railway, to the 
Camas Prairie of Logan County, Idaho, and where we had become 
pretty well satisfied the grasshoppers of which we had come in quest 
would be found. Upon arriving at Shoshone we accordingly began 
immediately to investigate, and soon found a number of specimens of 


136 


Camnula pellucida, which we were assured was the insect that was 
doing all the damage on the prairie and the entire farming region 
about. The few straggling hoppers that we found in the streets and 
among the fields along the railroads just outside of town were said to 
have been carried down from the regions above on the locomotive and 
cars running between Shoshone and Ketchum. Be this as it may, we 
were now certainly very close to a region invaded by a locust plague, 
either of local or foreign origin, but most probably the former. 

On the following morning we arranged with several ranchers who 
were ip from Soldier, a town situated in the prairie about 40 miles north- 
west of Shoshone, to accompany them to theregion. The owner of the 
team was accordingly engaged to transport us across the lava-beds and 
intervening divide which separates Shoshone from the Camas prairie, 
or upper valley of the Malad River, an exceedingly beautiful and fer- 
tile valley through which flow many clear mountain streams. Like 
many of the other fertile valleys of the region bordering the great in- 
terior basin, this valley is the remains of an ancient lake that was pro- 
duced at the time of the lava outflow, and afterwards drained by the 
wearing away by erosion of the comparatively narrow ledge of lava at 
its lower end. 

About 22 miles out of Shoshone we stopped at a rancher’s over night, 
and at his place found the first signs of the hoppers. Here we were 
taken over a meadow of about 80 or 100 acres in extent, which was 
pretty well covered with the Camnula pellucida, which we were informed 
had bred in the adjoining hills. These had not, however, done any 
great amount of injury, since they had not come down into the valley 
until quite recently, nor had they at any time during the summer ~ 
shown much activity or voraciousness. Up to the time of our visit no 
eggs had been observed to have been deposited by them, and but few 
of the locusts were seen in copulation. Other small areas in the imme- 
diate neighborhood were infested by similar isolated swarms that had 
originated from stragglers which left the prairie during the summer of 
1889, in small swarms that entered the hills in every direction. On 
the following morning we started across the ridge afoot for the next 
ranch, 6 miles away, while the team went around, about 20 miles. Dur- 
ing this walk we encountered several small swarms of the same locust, 
all of which were observed to be gathering in the vicinity of water or 
meadow grounds. Some of these latter hoppers were copulating, but 
most of them were sitting singly or in groups upon the ground or veg- 
etation. None of them appeared to me to possess the usual activity 
belonging to the species as I had seen it previously. 

When we arrived at the ranch for which we had been making, the 
hoppers were found in large numbers all over the meadows and along 
the lower slopes of the cafion walls where the vegetation showed the 
presence of considerable moisture. Here, too, we noticed the seeming 
lack of activity among the hoppers. Nowhere did they exhibit that 


137 


voraciousness and desire to be on the move that I had been so often 

accustomed to see in them on previous occasions. After joining the 
team and proceeding up the valley towards the divide separating the 

Snake River plains from the Camas prairie, we encountered still other © 
scattered swarms of this same locust. Some of these swarms were 
quite small, while others were of respectable size. All of them were 
confined to the valley or lower slopes of the foot-hills and showed a 
tendency to keep as close as possible to water or green vegetation. 
Just before reaching the divide a small swarm of them was encount- 
ered which appeared quite active, and which were engaged in deposit- 
ing eggs. These were gathered on a low gravelly flat which covered 
possibly one-half an acre in extent. Only a small per cent. of the lo- 
custs thus gathered here were actually engaged in depositing eggs, and 
but few eggs had thus far been placed. 

Beyond the divide, 7. ¢., on the prairie side, the locusts became quite 
general in their dispersion, but were by no means abundant until we 
arrived upon the prairie proper and came to the vicinity of fields of 
grain. Here they were everywhere, and their work of destruction be- 
came apparent on all sides. Fields of grain had been stripped to the 
bare soil in places, while the prairie grasses were greatly damaged. 
Even the weeds of the country occasionally showed their ravages. 
Some wheat-fields still had the bare stalks standing rigid, looking like 
80 many porcupine quills stuck perpendicularly into the ground. Occa- 
siovially a field would be passed where but little damage had occurred. 
In but few instances, however, was the injury complete, for almost 
every farmer in the valley, so far at least as we visited it, had a por- 
tion of some or all of his crops spared by the ravaging hordes. 

After establishing ourselves in the valley we soon began our work of 
investigation by inquiry and personal observation, and in this manner 
in two days had obtained a pretty thorough knowledge of the hopper, 
both for the past and present, with some notions as to its possible 
future also. We ascertained that it first made its appearance in 
numbers sufficiently great to attract the attention of the settlers about 
four years ago, when some injury was done to gardens, and here and 
there to fields of grain about the edges along road-sides. The follow- 
ing year larger areas were infested and more extensive inroads made 
into the cultivated crops. Even at this time no especial attention was 
paid to the enemy, for all the farmers and ranchmen had an abundance 
and did not miss the comparatively small per cent. which fell to the 
hoppers. Last year was a very dry one, and the greatly increased 
hordes of the locust soon worked their way through field after field, 
which they left almost bare. This, together with the scarcity of wild 
grasses upon the meadows and foot-hills, occasioned partly by the 
drouth and partly by the ravages of the locusts, very quickly attracted 
the attention of the settlers. Then, too, to make the ravages appear 

more complete, these depredations were followed by a very severe 


138 


winter, with deep snows and but little wind to bare the hill-sides, so 
that stock might secure feed. 

Early in the summer of 1889, soon after the locusts attained their 
growth and became fledged, they left the valley for the foot-hills and 
mountains, where their eggs were left in great quantities in all avail- 
able places. In this migration the prevailing direction taken by the 
hoppers was easterly, varying from northeast to southeast. A few of 
them also went to the north and south, according to the position they 
occupied upon the prairie in relation to the surrounding and adjoining 
hills and mountains. Instead of remaining upon the low grounds 
where there is moisture, they left for the apparently arid hill-slopes—a 
trait not usually supposed to belong to this particular species of locust. 
On the following spring, that is, the spring of 1890, the deep snows 
disappeared, and the young first hatched on the hill-slopes exposed to 
the sun’s direct rays, the water ran off, and by the time the hoppers 
were grown was normal on the valleys and low ground, where it was in 
excess early in the season on account of the deeper snows than usual. 
Instead of continuing on their course away from the prairie, the 
hoppers now turned in their tracks and came back to the valley, with its 
greener grasses, moister ground, and fields of succulent grain; and 
here they have for the most part remained. This year eggs were de- 
posited upon gravelly spots in the valley. In many cases these are 
of considerable extent, but usually do not cover an area of more than 
a few acres. 

Such is the outline history of this particular locust outbreak as nearly 
as could be ascertained in so brief a time as we had at our command, 
and with so little opportunity to travel overthe region embraced in the 
area overrun. This area now extends over a strip of country commenc- 
ing at a point to the westward of Soldier, Logan County, about 30 miles 
and extending as far to the westward as Lost River and Birch Creek. 
It occupies a strip of country about 30 to 50 miles in width and about 
140 miles in length. The place of greatest abundance appears to be 
that region usually called the Camas Prairie, on the Malad River and 
the valley of Wood River below Halley. These regions are shown ap- 
proximately on the accompanying map of Idaho, which I inclose with 
the report. 

AS nearly as I could ascertain no efforts were made during the past’ 
four years to keep the insect in check or to prevent its ravages, save in 
a singleinstance. This was done by a Mr. Fred Hastings, who flooded 
his grain field while the hoppers were still quite small, with the result 
that as soon as he turned off the water and the fields began to dry the 
little fellows left. The reason why nothing was tried in the line of 
remedies is to be laid to discouragement on the part of the settlers, 
rather than to any other single reason. After we had been in the region 
and had talked with a number of the ranchmen they felt much en- 
couraged and have decided to see what can be done since the General 


139 


Government has shown an interestin their afflictions. What they want. 
is directions as to how to proceed, and they will do the work cheer- 
fully and thoroughly as far ascan be donein a hilly and mixed country 
by a small population. 


NATURAL ENEMIES AND PARASITES. 


Prior to this summer but few of the locusts appeared to be troubled 
by any insect or other enemy, nor have any been observed to succumb 
to fungus diseases, and perhaps but few to other contagious ailments. 
During the month of August and also near the close of July many of 
the hoppers were found to contain maggots of some Tachina fly, which 
eventually killedthem. Some contained as many as threeor four of these 
grubs each. Others were attacked by the locust-mite, while a host of 
them were captured by digger- wasps and robber-flies, these latter being 
exceedingly numerous in individuals at the time we were in the country. 
In looking over a number of fields and portions of the prairies we were 
surprised to see how many of the hoppers had really been destroyed by 
these agencies. In some localities as many as one-half dozen dead were 
counted on a square yard; and taking the prairie over it was estimated 
that there were enough dead on the ground at the time to make one to each 
square yard. Aside from the insect enemies noticeable there were evi- 
dently many others at work in thinning outits ranks. Birds, fowls, and 
small mammals, together with the few reptiles that are native to the re- 
gion also did much towards their diminution. In addition to all these 
there appeared to be some disease extant among the hordes, which ren- 
dered the victims sluggish of movement, and dark in color, containing a 
sort of viscid brownish substance throughout the body. Avery large per- 
centage of all the hoppers seen upon the prairies appeared to be affected 
in a greater or less degree by this disease. It was probably due to this 
disease that the majority of all the hoppers of the region owed their 
torpidity. 

FUTURE OUTLOOK. 


My impression, after having visited the region and having carefully 
looked over the entire field, is that this plague is rapidly on the 
decline, and that with ordinary climatic conditions but little fear need 
be entertained forthe future. As we have observed, the locusts have 
become diseased the present year, numerous insects and other enemies 
are at work on them, and the eggs arefor the most part laid in the 
valleys. Many of these egg-areas will be flooded with water from the | 
ditches during this month so as to cause them to swell this fall, and 
the young will accordingly hatch earlier in spring, and can be handled 
with water when water is abundant, and before the grain has started 
much. Then, too, we must no forget to mention the almost miraculous 
appearance of toads that came so universally and numerously over the 
region during the past summer. Millions of these batrachians hatched 


140 


in the valleys and foot-hills wherever water stood in pools, and after 
they had feet began spreading over the country. These will, if they 
winter favorably and come out again in spring, of themselves be nearly 
sufficient to clear away a moderately extensive grasshopper plague. 

Should the inhabitants then lend a hand and assist these natural 
enemies in their efforts to check the plague, the summer of 1891 will 
end the grasshopper plague in that part of the State at least. 

Leaving Soldier we were driven 30 miles into Haley by W. T. Perkins, 
who was untiring in his efforts to aid us in securing all the knowledge 
available concerning the locusts in the prairie and surrounding country. 
From Haley we proceeded by rail to Shoshone and Boise City. At this 
latter point collections were made of the different locusts that were to 
be met with. Here the short-winged form of Melanoplus flavo-annulatus 
Thos., known as Pezotettix enigma Scudd., was taken in large numbers ; 
in fact it was so common at one point that it had become a nuisance, if 
not a pest. But, as the species prefers open country to the cultivated 
fields and low meadows, it may never prove injurious tocrops. Aside 
from this hopper several other locusts were also present in larger num- 
bers than usual in the foot-hills back of town. None of the Camnula 
pellucida were found or reported within less than 25 or 30 miles to the 
eastward. 

Aside from these insects it was noticed that the codling moth and the 
apple-tree aphis hold almost complete sway in the beautiful orchards 
with which the region abounds. Almost every apple and pear is punct- 
ured by the larve of the former, while the latter cover nearly every 
apple-tree in the city, and what is to be most regretted is that noth- 
ing is done to check these enemies. Thousands of bushels of valuable 
fruit fall to the ground and are permitted to lie there and rot and propo- 
gate the future broods of the worm. None of the “ wind-falls” are gath- 
ered and fed to hogs or even dumped into the river. 

From Boise City we returned to Pocatello, where we took train for 
Beaver Cajion, one of the points to be visited as indicated in the letter 
of instructions. Arriving at this latter place, we soon learned that 
locusts were not present in more than ordinary numbers either here or 
across the divide in the vicinity of Red Rock and Henry’s Lakes. This 
we learned from a rancher and guide to Yellowstone National Park who 
makes his headquarters at Henry’s Lake. He said the ’hoppers were | 
not at all common about either lake, in fact hardly plentiful enough for 
fish-bait. After spending a day here we went south to Ugden and Salt 
Lake City, at both of which points collections were made. 

Upon inquiry among the railroad men who pass through there, it was 
not thought necessary to proceed to Nephi, the seat of last year’s grass- 
hopper injuries. We accordingly started for home, stopping over one 
train at Cheyenne, Wyo. While here we were informed that there were 
a great many grasshoppers along the line of the Cheyenne and Northern, 
a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad. These locusts our informant 


141 


claimed were the old style migratory species which he had so often. 
‘cherded off” the garden ‘when he was a kid.” They cover a strip of 
country about 20 miles in extent, or from Uva to Wendover, near old 

Fort Laramie. He had not noticed them flying nor migrating; said 

they were quite plentiful, but nothing like when they visited Nebraska 

years ago. Had also noticed large numbers of the long-billed curlew 

among them allsummer. Not having the authority to do so, we did not 

visit this region; hence can give no more detailed information concern- 

ing these insects than what has just been said. 

Unless other swarms of locusts are present in portions of country not 
visited, there need be but little apprehension of invasions during next 
year. True, the extended drought for several successive years has been 
quite favorable generally to the increase of this class of insects, and we 
may expect local injuries at many points throughout the United States. 
But, as far as the migratory species are concerned, little danger is to be 
looked for. 


ON THE USE OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES IN CONTENDING WITH 
INJURIOUS INSECTS.* 


By HERBERT OSBORN. 


Four years ago I presented a paper before the Eastern Iowa Horti- 
cultural Society in which I discussed the possibilities of treating inju- 
rious insects by means of their various contagious diseases and the lim- 
itations which seemed to me must be recognized in such treatment. 
Further observation has impressed me with the correctness of the 
ground then taken, and the subject seems to me of such importance that 
I venture to bring it up here and repeat, in part, the substance of my 
earlier paper. 

Considering the possibilities of the subject and the importance evi- 
dent even after a brief study of it, it seems strange that these diseases 
have received so little attention as they have. 

This may have been in part due to the fact that there seemed so little 
hope of making any practical use of such diseases, but, probably, more 
on account of the difficulties involved in the study and the lack of pos- 
itive knowledge as to the nature of all diseases of an epidemic character. 
Of late years, however, and largely on account of the stimulus given to 
the study by the progress of the germ theory of disease, this subject 
has been claiming wide attention and is receiving extended study at 
the hands of a number of investigators. 

While there can be no question that the subject has been too much 
neglected in the past, there seems at present some danger of the other 


* Read before the Entomological Club of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, at Indianapolis, August 22, 1890. 


142 


extreme, or rather that from an exaggerated idea of what may be ex- 
pected from this new means of contending with insects disappointment. 
must inevitably follow, and then abandonment of a method which, taken © 
in its proper limit, may prove of very great advantage. 

It is my object in this paper to bring together some tacts to show 
what may reasonably be expected from this source and to point out as 
far as possible the limits, as they appear to me, of its applicability. 

Naturally the only diseases over which we can have any practical 
control, and which can therefore be encouraged at our pleasure, are 
those of a contagious nature, or we may probably say with safety those 
due to the spread and multiplication of specific disease germs. 

Bearing this in mind three inquiries will naturally arise: First, 
what diseases have we as a basis upon which to work? Second, to 
what extent can we control, encourage, and disseminate such diseases, 
what limit will naturally surround their distribution, and what insects 
can be reached? Third, how will such methods compare in cost and 
effectiveness with other methods of destroying injurious species? 

As regards the first point we are well aware of various diseases that. 
attack and destroy many species of insects, some of the most commen of 
which have been characterized under the names of Muscardine; Gras- 
serie, Jaunes or Jaundice; Pébrine; Flaccidity, Flacherie or Schlaff- 
sucht, and Foul Brood, as well as the various kinds of Entomophthora 
affecting flies, locusts, cicadas, and the Chinch Bug. These diseases are 
so well known and their characteristics have been stated so often that 
a repetition here is unnecessary. It may be stated, however, that care- 
ful descriptions of some of the most important are given by Prof. C. V. 
Riley in the Report of the United States Entomologist for 1885, and by 
Prof. S. A. Forbes in a pamphlet entitled “Studies on the Contagious 
Diseases of Insects;” also a summary of them in my paper already 
mentioned, Transactions Eastern Iowa Horticultural Society, in report 
Iowa State Horticultural Society for 1886, pages 400-405. 

Summing up these diseases, I think no one will deny their great 
economic importance, on the one hand, as destructive agents to very im- 
portant industries, such as sericulture and apiculture, and on the other 
hand as natural checks working more or less constantly as efficient 
agents in destroying insects of an injurious nature. Nevertheless, in 
order that our knowledge should give us a really practical advantage, 
it is necessary that it should provide us with means for controlling the 
multiplication and spread of the various forms so that we may prevent 
the destruction of insects of domestic value and encourage and hasten 
their action where used as agents in preventing or counteracting in- 
juries of destructive species. It is exceedingly fortunate and profita- 
ble when a suddenepidemic carries off hosts of chinch-bugs or cabbage- 
worms, but until we can start the disease in localities where it is not 
at work, and carry it over from year to year so as to set it to work at 
our pleasure, we can not consider that our knowledge of the disease or 


4 143 


the germs producing it has reached the point of practical applicability. | 
Let us see, then, to what extent these conditions have been met or are 
likely to be met by future investigation. 

The investigations of Pasteur upon the pébrine, etc., of silk-worms 
and the measures recommended by him resulted in restoring the silk 
industry of France from a state of probable annihilation to a most 
prosperous condition. The same measures will protect the silk industry 
of the United States if it ever assumes important proportions, while 
there can be little doubt that measures equally effective must result 
from a knowledge of the foul brood of bees.* From this side, therefore, 
we can be assured of practical advantage from the studies of insect 
diseases. As regards the control of these diseases in the other direc- 
tion there appears to be more difficulty. The disease appears, for in- 
stance, in a brood of insects that is present in great abundance and 
kills them off at a tremendous rate, until, perhaps, there is no material 
for it to feed upon, and it is checked by the destruction itself has 
wrought. How, then, shall the germ be preserved to start anew in 
subsequent years? Or the disease may be raging furiously on certain 
insects in one locality, while healthy insects in countless numbers may 
be causing their usual havoc in another. How shall the disease be 
transported and how can it be so spread as to quickly affect the in- 
sects ? 

To show how these conditions occur in practice I may be allowed to 
repeat briefly an actual trial in the direction of introduction of one 
form of disease. During the fall of 1883 I learned that the cabbage- 
worm disease was raging in Illinois, while at the same time healthy 
worms were plenty here, there being no evidence of disease. I at once 
wrote to Professor Forbes, asking him to send me some of the diseased 
worms. He did so, and in due time they arrived, and I at once placed 
some of the diseased worms on cabbage plants infested with worms, 
and also sprinkled some of the plants with water in which I had mixed 
fluids from the bodies of dead worms. Later I found one dead worm, 
apparently from effects of the disease. The cabbages being gathered 
sooner than I expected put an end to the trial out of doors, but I fed 
some worms in confinement upon cabbage leaves and exposed them to 
the disease. A number of these died with all the characteristics of the 
disease, and microscopic examinations showed them to contain the same 
micrococcus as recognized by Professor Forbes to be the specific form 
of this disease. Last fall, however, the disease commenced at a point 
very near where I started the experiment two years before, and spread 
rapidly until, during the latter part of the fall, cabbage worms all over 
the neighborhood were dying rapidly from its ettects. 

While it is unsafe to affirm that this resulted from the introduction 
two years previously, it is not improbable that such is the fact, and I 


* A point which is now considered as fully reached. 


144 


feel considerable confidence that this disease may readily be transferred — 
from place to place. 

As to the possibility of preserving the germs from year to year, Pro- © 
fessor Forbes has succeeded in one instance in carrying a species of 
micrococcus in culture-tubes over winter, inoculating with these the fol- 
lowing summer and producing apparently the specific disease of that 
organism. We may consider, then, leaving out of the question the 
difficulties of the process, that it is possible to both hold the germs for 
a limited time and to start the disease anew in the same or another 
locality. 

Admitting, however, the possibility of preserving and transporting 
the disease, we have still the problem of how to make the disease spread 
with that certainty and rapidity necessary to make it of practical value. 
Moreover, any remedy to be of general utility must be of such a nature 
as to be easily and properly applied by people unacquainted with the 
methods of germ-culture. It might be quite impracticable to send a 
trained bacteriologist into every county in a State to inoculate the 
chinch bug with flacherie. 

The slowness with which the disease operates, even at best, makes 
it doubtful whether the method can ever be used where immediate re- 
sults are desired. This is particularly true of all but the bacterial 
forms, and even with these a period of incubation must elapse after the 
first introduction, and a further period before the disease will spread 
from those first infected to other individuals. We can scarcely look 
to it, therefore, as a source of relief from sudden and unexpected in- 
vasions of insects. When successfully introduced its spread will de- 
pend upon a number of variable conditions, abundance of material upon 
which to feed, amount of communication among insects, atmospheric 
conditions, ete., so that final results would be uncertain. The applica- 
tion of such diseases may, therefore, be considered as limited to the 
power of preserving temporarily and introducing into different local- 
ities, and not embracing the power to regulate the conditions which 
control the spread of the disease once introduced. 

Naturally such diseases spread most rapidly among gregarious in- 
sects and least rapidly among solitary species, and of solitary species 
most rapidly among those most numerous in individuals and least rap- 
idly among those that are rare. The remedy, therefore, will be limited | 
in general to wide spread gregarious insects or those occurring con- 
stantly or periodically in great numbers. Of these we may mention as 
examples the tent caterpillars, web-worms, cabbage-worms, chinch- 
bugs, locusts, May beetles, army worms, etc. 

The final test will, of course, be the cost as compared with other rem- 
edies equally effective. But cost will depend almost entirely upon the 
time in which the results are desired. In a cabbage-patch the disease 
could be introduced in a single spot at slight cost, and in time it might 
spread over the entire patch. Or, if introduced so as to cover the en- 


145 


tire patch at once, the cost would probably be greater than that of some 
other remedies, but this might be more than compensated for in this 
case by effectiveness, since we are all aware of the difficulties of apply- 
ing liquid remedies for this pest. With potato bugs, however, it is ex- 
tremely doubtful whether any disease could be artificially introduced 
which would begin to compare with the arsenical applications when cost 
and efficiency are taken into consideration. To sum up, I think we are 
justified in the following inferences: 

First. That there are diseases amply. sufficient as a basis for economic 
work, the bacterial forms giving the most promise for all cases where 
early results are desired, while those due to fungi, so far as present 
knowledge goes, propagating slowly, can only be used as slow but 
efficient checks to injurious forms, the most we can do with them being 
to introduce them in localities where not already found. 

Second. That the diseases can be controlled to the extent of preserv- 
ing the germs for a season and transporting them from place to place 
to use for inoculation, but that its spread in nature will be affected by 
conditions beyond our control, while only such insects as occur gregari- 
ously or live in mingled hosts can be attacked to advantage. . 

Third. That the cost of application would prevent its adoption ex- 
cept in certain forms. 

Finally, we must consider this method of contending with insects at 
best as but one of a number of profitable methods to be used in certain 
cases where other methods are insufficient and to supplement other 
methods where it can be done to advantage. With this end in view 
the diseases of insects are worthy of the most careful study, and will 
not, I think, disappoint us in their final results. 


A NEW AND REMARKABLE ENCYRTID: IS IT PARASITIC? 
By L. O. HOWARD. 


In September, 1890, Dr. J. N. Rose, of the Botanical Division of this 
Department, brought to the Division some herbarium specimens of the 
twigs and flowers of Coursetia (?) mexicana, Watson, a rare leguminous 
tree collected in the Alamos Mountains of Mexico early in 1890, by 
Dr. Edward Palmer. The plant was in full bloom, and fully half of 
the flowers had the petals pierced with a small round hole opposite the 
stalked ovary. The hole extended through into the ovary, which was 
abnormally swollen, and which was found to contain in many instanees 
a perfect adult of a very abnormal Chalcidid just ready to emerge. 
Other unperforated flowers were examined, and in similar swollen 
ovaries the same insect in an advanced pupa state was found. Out of 
over fifty flowers which I examined I was unable to find one which was 
_ not infested in this peculiar way, and in one case the base of the pistil 


12746—No, 4——2 


146 


was similarly swollen and contained another specimen of the insect. 
Dr. Rose however was more fortunate, and after some search found a 
single uninfested ovary, from which he was able to count the ovules 
and thus to identify the plant. 


Fic. 20. Tanaostigma coursetiw ; a, ovary of Coursetia mexicana with the Tanaostigma just issuing; 
b, adult male—enlarged; c, male antenna; d, female antenna; e, veins of fore wing; /, tip of middle 
tibia and tarsus—still more enlarged (original). 


The specimens of the insect which had issued and were found in the 
papers which contained the plants were badly broken, and it was im- 
possible to extract perfect specimens from the swellings, but from such 
as could be found it was at once evident that the insect was a very ex- 
traordinary Encyrtid, the large and undivided mesopleura, five-jointed 
tarsi, and the large mesotibial spur conclusively placing it in this sub- 
family. 

Now, all the species of the Enecyrtine are parasitic so far as their 
habits are known, and consequently the most careful examination was 
made to decide whether some other insect had previously occupied the 
swellings. The cavities were uniform, with no apparent opening, and 
not a trace could be found, even upon microscopic examination, of any 
insect other than the Encyrtid. The pupal exuvium of this last was 
found, together with the characteristic little mass of excremental pellets 
discharged just before pupation, but nothing else. It is conceivable 
that the parasitic larva might have devoured its host ‘hide and hoof,” 
but hardly conceivable that it should have eaten its excrement, yet of 
this not a trace was to be found.* 


* Had this excrement been found, there would have been no difficulty in distin- 
guishing it, as chalcidid larve void no feces in the course of their growth, but only 
at the moment of transformation, when it invariably, so far as I have observed, takes 
the form of a few (6-12) rather large pellets, grouped together, and of a grayish color. 


ua neal 


147 


A series of cross sections was made of the stalk below the ovarian 
cavity to ascertain whether it had been burrowed by this or any other 
larva, with the result that the plant tissue below this point was found 
to be intact. 

So far as appearances go, then, this Chaicidid is phytophagous rather 
than parasitic, yet from the perfect uniformity of habit in the sub- 
family to which it belongs this state of 
affairs is almost incredible. We must leave 
it for future field observations upon this 
species or upon some congeneric species to 
definitely settle this most interesting point. 

Not alone from its habits, but also from 
its structure, is this insect of great interest. 
It is closely related to the abnormal and 
long-misunderstood genus Tetracnemus of 
Westwood, originally described in the Mag- 
azine of Natural History for 1837, page 7 ape ei yb ncaa hs 
from the male sex only, and from a specimen captured upon oak in 
Coombe woods, in July, 1835. We reproduce here Westwood’s figure of 
this abnormal insect, and it will be seen from the ramose antenne that 
it closely resembles certain members of the subfamily Hulophine. 
Walker in fact placed Tetracnemus in this latter subfamily, consid- 
ering that Westwood had miscounted the tarsal joints in his species. 
Ashmead, however, on the strength of a species captured in Florida, 
has confirmed (Proc. Entom. Soc., Washington, i, 203) the accuracy of 
Westwood’s conclusion, as does also the form which we are about to de- 
scribe, in so far as it shows that there are Encyrtine with branched 
antenne. Upto the present time, then, the only members of this great 
subfamily having this striking peculiarity are Westwood’s Tetracnemus 
diversicornis, the undescribed species mentioned by Ashmead and the 
insect we are now treating, the latter possessing particular interest from 
the fact that we have the female sex, which is not knownin Tetracnemus. 


TANAOSTIGMA*® gen. nov. 


Male.—Resembles somewhat closely Tetracnemus Westwood. Antenne 11-jointed+ 
2 ring-joints; scape with a slight expansion below, the expansion faintly serrate; 
pedicel one-third as long as scape, narrowed at base; joints 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the funi- 
cle (not counting ring-joints) each with a single long hairy dorsal apical ramus, each 
ramus bent forward and reaching to base of club; joints 1 and 2 short, subequal in 
length, and considerably broader than long; joint 3 one-third longer than 2; joint 4 
rather more than twice as long as 3; joint 5 rather more than three times as‘long as 4, grad- 
ually widening towards tip; joint 6a little longer than 4, gradually widening from 5; 
club oval, somewhat flattened, twice as long as joint 6 of the funicle and slightly 
wider. joints plain. Face sunken in and shriveled in death: ocelli forming a straight 
line. Mesocutum with a faint transverse, slightly oblique impressed line just anterior to 


* Greek, T&vaos+oriyu7). 


148 


and almost parallel with the scuto-scapular furrow, and connected with this by a faint me- 
dian longitudinal impressed line; scapule just meeting at tip, the mesoscutellum therefore 
pointed anteriorly, rounded posteriorly. Wings hyaline, not ciliate; marginal vein 
long; postmarginal less than one-third as long as marginal; stigmal a trifle more than 
twice as long as postmarginal and descending almost vertically into the wing, the club bend- 
ing abruptly outwards. Abdomen very short, almost truncate behind. Middle tarsi 
short, two-thirds the length of the short tibie ; mesotibial spur rather slender for this 
group, but longer than the first tarsal joint and acutely pointed. 

Female.—Antennz with the same number of joints as in the male; scape with a 
rather broad leaf-like expansion below; pedicel short and rounded ; flagellum broad, 


flattened, slightly clavate, the joints of the funicle all broader than long, convex 


basally, concave apically, gradually increasing in length and width from 1 to 6; club 
as long as the first four funicle joints together. Face short; cheeks scarcely rounded; 
antennal grooves very sharp; ocelli in a straight line or the middle one is very 
slightly anterior to the lateral ones. Thoracic and wing characters asin male. Ab- 
domen punctate, turned upward at tip; ovipositor slightly extruded and pointed 
upward. 


Tanaostigma coursetie sp. nov. 


Female.—Length 1.8™™; expanse 4™™; greatest width of fore-wing 0.64™™. Head, 
face, thorax, and abdomen finely, closely, and evenly punctured. General color blue- 
black ; palpi white; a narrow black band above mouth; just above this a broad yel- 
low-white band extending across the face around the base of the eyes to a short dis- 
tance behind the gene; above this a narrow black transverse band from eye to eye 
at base of antennz; above this a yellow-white band of about the same width, from 
eye to eye; antennal groove yellow-white; a light-yellowish spot behind the eyes 
and above the first-mentioned yellow band, and a narrow line of the same color 
across occipital margin between the eyes; propleura and mesopleura edged above 
and in front by a narrow yellowish band; antenne black; front coxe edged with 
yellowish-white ; other coxe and all femora and tibiz black, lighter at joints; front 
tarsi dusky; middle tarsi yellow-white; hind tarsi yellow-white; last joint black, 
first joint dusky at base. Thorax and abdomen with sparse silvery scale-like pu- 
bescence, easily rubbed off. 

Male.—Length 1.4™™; expanse 3.2™™; greatest width of fore-wing 0.62™™. Gen- 
eral color uniform metallic blue-black. Head, thorax, and abdomen very faintly 
shagreened, shining, almost smooth. Coloration of legs as in female. 


Described from 32,9 é specimens, all more or less mutilated, taken 
from ovaries of Coursetia (?) mexicana collected in the Alamos Mount- 
ains, Mexico, by Dr. Edward Palmer. 


NOTES ON GARDEN INSECTS. 


By F. M. WEBSTER. 


Pieris rape was not observed during trip through southern Indiana | 


in June of the present year, and did not appear about La Fayette until 
after the 10th of July. When it came, however, it was excessively 
abundant and was repeatedly observed ovipositing on cabbage dis- 
played by grocers in front of their places of business in the most 
crowded portions of the city. 


‘ 
att ane a ee 


149 


Spilosoma virginica.—Larve exceedingly abundant in June and was 
a serious cabbage pest. These larve were also very destructive to 
young peas, and were also observed feeding on the foliage of the goose- 
berry. During September, 1888, these caterpillars were observed feed- 
ing on the silk of corn and on the leaves of the cotton plant. 

Mamestra picta.—Larve observed during September, 1888, denuding 
the ears of growing corn of their silk. 

Agrotis saucia.—In St. Francis County, Arkansas, early in May, 
1888, the larve were excessively abundant in fields of potatoes, where, 
in connection with the following species, they committed serious depre- 
dations by devouring the foliage. They did not appear to attack the 
stems, although at the same time, in gardens, they were cutting off 
both cabbage and tomato plants. 

Prodenia lineatella.—On April 25, 1888, the larve were observed in 
considerable numbers in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, depredating upon 
young corn. They varied in length from one-fourth to a full inch, the 
smaller individuals being engaged in eating the parenchyma from the 
lower leaves, while the larger individuals seemed to have crawled up 
the plant and made their way down the “spindle” among tie unfolding 
leaves, and were eating out elongate holes in those which were the 
youngest and most tender. The following day we found them engaged 
in riddling the leaves of cabbage in gardens. A few days later, in St. 
Francis County, Arkansas, associated with the preceding and in about 
equal numbers, they were ravaging fields of potatoes, not attacking 
the stalk, but eating every vestige of a leaf from them. On June 26 
of same year, in the vicinity of La Fayette, Ind., several young larve 
were observed feeding on the parenchyma of the leaves of wheat in 
fields, and a few days later a much larger individual was observed eating 
into the head of an early set cabbage. Still later they were found on 
late planted corn feeding on the foliage. 

Pionea rimosalis larve were observed near Mitchell, Lawrence County, 
destroying cabbage in the garden of Mr. J. A. Burton. They were 
abundant and working serious injury. 

Silpha inequalis.—While I do not present this as a garden pest, any 
facts relating to the vegetal food habits of members of this genus of 
beetles can not fail to be of interest. For myself, until this season, not 
a single member of the genus has been taken under circumstances 
which would indicate other than a diet of decaying animal matter. On 
June 18, in a small decomposing head of cabbage, in a garden, I found 
one of these beetles under circumstances which strongly indicated that 
it was feeding upon the diseased tissue. 

Systena blanda.—In June of present year these beetles seriously dam- 
aged a small field of beets on the grounds of the Indiana Experiment 
Station by riddling the leaves with holes to such an extent that the 
foliage was well nigh destroyed. 

Diabrotica vittata—These beetles were excessively abundant the 
present season, and varied their usual food by devouring the silk of 


150 


corn. A common species of spider (No. 649) was observed to prey 
upon both this and the Tarnished Piant-Bug, Lygus pratensis. 

Diabrotica 12-punctata.—As stated in my report for the year 1887,* 
the larve of this species sometimes become seriously injurious to young 
corn in Louisiana. In accordance with the suspicions expressed at 
that time, viz, that the species would soon be heard from farther north, 
the same habit and method of attack were the following year noticed 
in both Arkansas and Indiana. In the former State we observed the 
ravages of the larve in St. Francis County early in May, and in the 
latter State they were found in the fields of the experiment station on 
July 12. In Louisiana the depredations of these larve were studied in 
fields of corn, preceded the year before by acrop of cotton. In Indiana 
the field had been for severai years devoted to timothy meadow, and 
had been plowed in the fall and again in June, some time before the 
crop (which was intended for the truck market) was planted. 

When first observed at La Fayette, on July 12, the larve varied in 
length from 0.5™™ to 15™™ in length, the latter being, doubtless, nearly 
full-grown, as examples placed in a breeding-cage, fed for some time 
after and developed to adults August 2 to 5. Adults were observed 
pairing on August 9 and during the season until October; yet we 
failed to get larve originating from eggs from adults confined in breed- 
ing-cage, On growing corn, during this entire period. Nevertheless, as 
adult beetles and larve occurred simultaneously in both Louisiana and 
Indiana, it seemed probable that there are at least two broods North 
and possibly more in the South. 

The largest larve observed were 15™™ in length, body gradually in- 
creasing in size from head to posterior extremity. Head small, brown 
above, darker at sides; jaws, dark brown; antenne, white, three-jointed ; 
head beneath, nearly white; mouth parts, other than the jaws, nearly 
white. On the head are many bristles, these being shorter and more 
closely placed in the vicinity of the mouth; eyes wanting. The three 
thoracic segments are shorter and better defined than the others, the 
first being coriaceous and yellowish-brown above. The legs, six in 
number, are nearly white, short, fleshy at base, and armed with short 
bristles. Encircling the base of each leg is a loop-shaped, dark line, 
with the stem of the loop extending upwards on the outer side to a 


small, poorly defined, semi-circular brown patch, whose base is formed — 


by a distinct dark line. There are sparsely placed bristles on the body, 
the last segment of which is obtuse and provided beneath with a pair 
of tubercles or false prolegs and above with a circular brown leathery 
patch, which forms a conspicuous feature of Diabrotica larve. _In this 
case the posterior margin of this patch is produced, forming a slight 
ridge and bearing a long, erect bristle. Color of body white, with tinge 
of yellow; wholly opaque. ‘ 


* Report of Commissioner of Agriculture, 1887, pp. 148, 150. See, also, Mr. H. 
Garman, in INSECT LIFE, Vol. II, p. 179. 1889. 


—s oe 


151 


Of the food plants of the adult in the South I know but little. 
congener, D. longicornis, is very fond of the blossoms of the cotton 


ts, 


plant, which may be also the case with this species. 
Phorodon mahaleb.—This appeared at La Fayette the present season 
on potato vines, and several generations were reared from the infested 


plants. 


Smynthurus hortense.—These active little insects were extremely 


abundant in Indiana the present season. 


About La Fayette ! observed 


them feeding upon young cucumber-plants. the injured parts of plant 


not being affected by other insects or fungus. 


They were also reported 


by Mr. C. G. Boemer as injuring young tobacco in Switzerland County 


during the month of May. 


SOME OF THE BRED PARASITIC HYMENOPTERA IN THE NATIONAL 


COLLE 


(Continued 


CTION. 


from p. 18). 


Family ICHNEUMONID 2. 


Subfamily Ichneumonine. 


Parasites. 
Ichneumon ceruleus Cr......----- 
Ichneumon malachus Say 


eeore eee eee ee ee oe 
-< 


Ichneumon subcyaneus Cr............-.-. 


Ichneumon unifasciatus Say.............. 


PCM POUCTHIN CF = 2. - = 2c. --- 22. 
Ichneumon rufiventris Brullé 


Ichneumon pravus Cr 


..-.-.-Undetermined pupa (4rctia ?). 


Hoats. 
St. Louis, 
Mo., April 4, 1872. 


Spilosoma virginica F. St. Louis, Mo., April 


17 and March 29, 1871; January 12, 1874. 
Spilosoma virginica F. St. Louis,Mo.,April. 
Nematus ventralis Say. Washington, D.C., 

August 2, 1886. 

Collected also in North Carolina, New York, 

New Jersey. 

Acronycta oblinitaSm.and Abb. St. Louis, 


Mo., 1870. 
Arctia sp. St. Louis, Mo., April 28, 1874. 


Received also from Wisconsin and Illinois. 

Noctuid? Washington, D. C., April 28, 1874. 

Pyrameis cardui L. St. Louis, Mo., Sep- 
tember 1870. 

Collected also in Virginia and Pennsyl- 
Vania. 

Spilosoma virginica F. St. Louis, Mo., June 
6, 1867; September 1870. 

Arctia sp. St. Louis, Mo., May 30, 1870. 

Hadena devastatrix Brace. La Fayette, Ind., 
July 23, 1886. 

Collected also in District of Columbia, Vir- 
ginia, and Montana. 
Fidonia faronaria Minot. 

June 6, 1878. 


St. Louis, Mo., 


Ichneumon wilsonii Cr. ................-. Acronycta on black birch. March 14, 1884. 


152 


Ichneumon brevipennis Cr. ..--.. ..-..-. Leucania albilinea Guen. St. Louis, Mo., 
(?),. July 28, 1876. 
Collected in Colorado. 


Ichneumon facetus Cr.. ...-..- pee ee ieee Lepid. pupa. St. Louis, Mo., June 23. 
Collected in Virginia. 
Ichneumon leucopsis Ashm..-..-......--.- Tortricid pupa on oak. Alameda County, 
Cal., March. 
Amblyteles subrufasCr ....--..-.:...-.-- Hesperid pupa. Placer County, Cal. 
Collected also in Michigan. 
Amblyteles nubivagus Cr ......-.....--.- Cucullia intermedia Speyer. Washington, 


D.C., February 21, 1889. 
Collected also in Wisconsin. 
Trogus exesorius Brullé.-.-.-.-.-. SEAL Be ees Papilio asterias F. St. Louis, several dates. 
Washington, D. C., May 8, 1883; May 10, 
1883. 
Papilio turnus L. August 6, 1883. 
Collected in New York and Texas. 


Pheogenes ater Cr..........-..--..---.-.Aigeria tipuliformis L. Michigan. (C. M. 
Weed). 
Aigeria exitiosa Say. Missouri, July 22, 
1872. 
Collected in Wisconsin and Illinois. 
Pheogenes gelechi# Ashm .........-......Gelechia galle-solidaginis Riley. New 
Hampshire, August, 1880. (Mary Treat.) 
Pheogenes exiguus Cr .........-.-..-..--Lophoderus velutinana Walk. Missouri, 


June 24, 1886. 
Collected in Colorado. 


Phzogenes hemitiloides Ashm ....--.---- Saw-fly on Betula nigra. Washington, D. 
C., Marck 12, 1884. 

iphwogenes vyinecibilis Cr 2222-2 2os24 52. 52 Pyralid on Thistle. Washington, D. C. 

Collected in Indiana. 

IPpheorenes 6.2. 2. sass ae = see Saw-fly on Black Birch. Washington, D. 
C., March, 1884. 

Centeterus sutularis Ashm .............-.. Chloridea rhexice (?) West. 

Colpognathus euryptychie Ashm.....-.-. Euryptychia saligneana Clem. July 5 and 
18, 1884. 

Herpestomus plutelle Ashm...-.-......... Plutella cruciferarum Zell. Indiana. 

IGICOBIOtUS SP o\-2/- 0 cast cae Saw-fly on Betula nigra. Washington, D. 


C., March 15 and 28, 1884. 


Subfamily Cryptine. 


Exolytus celechiz Ashm ...22. 522-572-282 Gelechia on potato tuber. Alameda Coun- 
ty, Cal., November, 1887. 
Hemiteles thyridopterigis Riley ....-.---. Thyridopteryx ephemereformis Haw. St. 


Louis, Mo., Florida, and Georgia. 
Hemiteles thyridopterigis var. leucozo- Thyridopteryx ephemereformis Haw. St. 


natus Ashm. Louis, Mo., April 26, 1874. 
Hemiteles thyridopterigis, var. fuscus Thyridopteryx ephemereformis Haw. Talu- 
Riley MS. lah, Fla., January 18, 1888. 
Hemiteles melitez Ashm .............--. Melitea chalcedon Bd. Alameda County, 
Cal., July, 1887. 
Hemiteles coleophore Ashm...-.......--- Coleophora sp. Los Angeles County, Cal., 
July, 1886. 
Hemiteles variegatus Ashm .............. Bucculatriz on Oak (Q. agrifolia). Alameda 


County, Cal., October 14, 1885. 
Collected in New York. (Linftner.) 


‘ 
4 


) 
. 


153 


Hemiteles selmz Riley MS ... -..-..-----. 


Hemiteles gracilarie Ashm.-....---..----- 
Hemiteles bucculatricis Ashm..-.-.....--. 


Hemiteles cryptiformis Riley MS. ---.-.--- 
Hemiteles mesochoridis Riley MS 


Hemiteles mandibularis Prov 


Hemiteles annulatus Ashm............... 
Hemiteles columbiana Ashm ..........-.. 
Hemiteles hemerobiicola Ashm ........--. 


Hemiteles townsendi Ashm..._.........-. 


Hemiteles syrphicola Ashm...--.......-.-- 


Hemiteles alefasciatus Riley MS 
Hemiteles sordidus Riley MS ...........-. 
Hemiteles periliti Riley MS 


Hemiteles rufiventris Riley MS..... eee 


Hemiteles minutus Riley MS 


Hemiteles ashmeadii Riley MS 


Hemiteles laticinctus Riley MS. .-.-....--. 


Phygadeuon pubescens Prov 


Phygadeuon walshie Riley MS. .-.....---.. 
Mesostenus gracilis Cr 


Mesostenus thoracicus Cr ..........-....- 


Aletia xylina Say. Selma, Ala., Septem- 
ber, 1880. (Schwarz.) 

Dipterous root-gall on Oak. Cadet, Mo., 
June 21, 1885. 

Collected in South Carolina. (Atkinson.) 

Gracilaria packardella Chamb. Kirkwood, 
Mo., July 16, 1886. 

Bucculatriz on Oak. Washington, D. C., 
July 19, 1884. 

Acronycta betule Riley. Maryland. 

Apanteles congregatus Say, infesting Philam- 
pelus pandorus Hiibn. Norwalk, Conn., 
August 3, 1887. 

Collected in Missouri. 

Gracillaria purpuriella Chamb. Kirkwood, 
Mo. 

Tineid pupa. Los Angeles, Cal., April, 1887. 

Coleophora sp. Washington, D. C. 

Hemerobius sp. Grand Ledge, Mich., July, 
1881. 

Puparium of Diptera (Muscid). 
ton, D. C., December 30, 1889. 

Collected also in Michigan (Townsend). 

Allograpta obliqua Say, found on wheat. 
Washington, D. C., July 3, 1884. 

Psyche confederata G. & R. 

Orgyia leucostigma A. & S. St. Louis, Mo. 

Meteorus communis Cr.? Washington, D. 
C., August 21, 1882. 

Chrysopa feeding on Lecanium on Pine. St. 
Louis, Mo., July 8, 1876. 

Empretia stimulea Clem. Washington, D. 
C., May 14, 1883. ; 


Washing- 


Phryganidia californica Pack. Alameda, 
Cal., July. 

Leucania unipuncta. New Haven, Conn., 
June, 1880. 


Nematus similaris Norton. 
D. C., February 14, 1880. 

Walshia amorphella Clem. Fairbury, IU. 

Dakruma coccidivora Comstock. Maryland 
(?) July 24, 1880. 

Collected in Connecticut and Texas. 


Washington, 


-Pyralid on Hickory. Kirkwood, Mo. 


Collected in New York, Virginia, Michigan, 
Texas, and District of Columbia. 


Mesostenus albomaculatus Cr. .........--. Crambus sp. Texas (Belfrage). 
Collected in New York. 
MerGsvents ArVvalig CE 25.222 27 ~.- 2.5: Polistes sp. Kansas, September, 1872. 
Collected in Texas. 
Cryptus alamedensis Ashm..-..........-. Lepidopteron. Alameda County, Cal., April, 
1887. 
erypius americanugCr: 2... 222... .-...--: Pyrrharctia isabella Abb. & Sm. May, 1882. 


Grapta comma Harr (Westcott). 
Collected in Texas, Virginia, Illinois, and 
Colorado. 


154 


Cryptus mundus Prov 
Cryptus nuncius Say (C. extrematis?).... 


erceec ce ee ee ee ee eee ee 


Cryptus bellus Cr 
Cryptus extrematis Cr 


Cryptus ultimus Cr 


Cryptus sp 


seer eee ee we ee se oe wm aw - ee ee wees ewe « 


Cryptus atricollaris Walsh 


Cryptus carpocapse Riley MS 


Cryptus cyaniventris Riley MS 


Orthopelma americana Riley MS 


Orthopelma bedelliz Ashm 


Orthopelma minutum Ashm 


Orthopelma occidentalis Ashm 


Orthopelma roszcola Ashm 


Orthopelma americanum Riley MS 


Orthopelma californicum Ashm 


Catalytus pallipes Ashm 


Stibeutes pettitii Cr 


Stibeutes gentilis Cr 
Pegolochus bucculatricis Ashm 


Pezomachus minimus Walsh 


Crambus vulgivagellus Clem. 

Platysamia cecropia (Li). Missouri, May, 
1868; Nebraska, July and August, 1885, 
and June, 1889; Brookings, Dak., June 
18, 1889; Philadelphia, Pa., 1822. 

Callosamia promethea Drury. 

Collected in Texas. 

Tolype vellida Stoll. New York (Fuller). 

Bombycid? on Gnaphalium. Bluffton, S. 
C., December 4, 1889; February, 1890. 


Willow swellings (Luura s.-nodosa Walsh). 


St. Louis, Mo., January, 1872. 
Saw-fly on Black Birch. Washington, D. 
C., March 12-15, 1884. 
Leaf-roller on Plum.? St. Louis, Mo. 
Collected in Missouri and Illinois. 
Carpocapsa saltitans Westwood? in seeds 
of Euphorbia. Mexico, August 29, 1887. 
Hydrocampa proprialis Fern.? on Water 
Lily. Florida, March 26, 1888. 

Rhodites galls on wild rose. West Cliff, 
Colo., March 25, 1888. 
Bedellia somnulentella Zell. 

October 24, 1870. 


St. Louis, Mo., 


Rhodites erythrogaster galls. Jamaica Plains, 


Mass., May 21, 1884. 
Rhodites similis Bass. gall. 
Idaho, November 28, 1883. 
Collected in Montana. 
Rhodites ignota O. S. gall. Pariah, Utah, 
April 25, 1882, and June 15, 1882. 


Salmon City, 


Rhodites ignota O. S. galls. West Cliff, 
Colo, 

Rose gall. Alameda County, Cal., May, - 
1887. 


Saw-fly larve, external parasites. Wash- 
ington, D. C., May, 1881. 
Bucculatrix found on _ stone. 

April 5. 
Leucania unipuncta Haw. August, 1875. 
Bucculatriz on Beech. Washington, D. C., 
April 18, 1884. 
Leucania unipuncta Haw. August, 1875. 


Virginia, 


Subfamily Ophionine. 


Ophion macrurum Linn 


Telea polyphemus Cramer. March 18, 1882. 
May 8, 1874. 

Platysamia cecropia L. Missouri. 
3, 1869. 

P. cecropia L. (Treat). 

Apatelodes torrefacta Sm. (?) Virginia, 
July 3, 1884. 

Collected in D. C. August 27, 1878. 


October 


a 155 


Ophion arctiw Riley MS....-...-...--.---- Pyrrharctia isabella Abb. & Sm. Thomas-. 
ville, Ga., February 12, 1879. 
Ecpantheria scribonia Stoll. Columbia, 8. 
C., February 8, 1879. 
Hyperchiria io Fabr. by Mrs, Treat. 
Collected in Alameda County, Cal. 
Ophion bilineatus Say........---.-.--...- Viburnum Noctuid (Glea [Orrhodia] in- 
. ulta? Grt.) Virginia, April 22, 1885. 
Agrotis morrisoniana Riley. Washington, 
D. C., January 14, 1881. 
Collected in Texas, Missouri, Custer 
County, Colo., Michigan, Louisiana, 
Montana, and Florida. 
Ophion purgatus Say.-.......--...--.---- Mamestra trifolii Rott. Parksville, Mo. 
July 10 and August 12, 1876. 
Celodasys unicornis Abb. & Sm. Missouri, 
July 10, 1871. 
Lepidopterous larva. 
Dipterous Solidago gall. St. Louis, Mo. 
Noctuid. Alameda, Cal., July 28, 1585. 
Collected in Virginia, Arizona, Selma, Ala. 
Ophion glabratum Say............. ee Hyphantria cunea Drury. July 22, 1880. 
Eeyroodon morio Kabr-..- 2. -.------------ Sphinx coniferarum Abb. St. Louis, Mo. ? 
Collected in Connecticut, Missouri, District 
of Columbia, Massachusetts. 


Anomalon flavicorne Say-..-............---- Geometer on Black Oak. St. Louis, Mo., 
June 7, 1876. 
Anomalon apicola Cr...-....-..- .-.------- Leucania albilinea Guen. Lawrence, Kans., 


September 23, 1876. 
Collected in Florida, Texas, Missouri. ? 


nuemaion exile? Prov. -.. .25.-- ..--.--; Platysamia gloveri? Strecker. Fairbury, 
Il. 
Collected in New York. 
Opheltes glaucopterus Linn............-.. Cimbex americanus Leach. South Dakota. 
Agrypon puparum Ashm.................. Noctuid pupa. Alameda County, Cal. 
Sarstns tiie Crs < - 522. 2)2b =. - - Tortricid ? 
LST Ea ee CS ee ee MeliteaaniciaDoub. Placer County, Cal. 
July (?), 1887. 
Charops apature Riley MS.............-. Apatura clyton Bois.-Lec. Fairbury, Ill. 
Exochilum acronycte Riley MS...-....-.. Acronycta hastulifera A. & S. on Alder. 


Virginia, June 8, 1883. 
Acronycta lupina Behr. Placer County, 
Cal., May 30, 1886. 
Exochilum tenuipes Norton...-.........--- Spilosoma virginica Fab. St. Louis, Mo., 
May 31, 1867. 
Collected in Texas and New Jersey. 


Heteropelma datane Riley..-.-..----.---- Datana on Walnut. Washington, D. C., 
August 19-21, 1880. 
Heteropelma flavicorne Brallé.........--. Datanaon Witchhazel. Washington, D.C., 
September 2, 1881. 
Campoplex assitus Norton..........-..... Noctuid ? Los Angeles, Cal. March. 
Collected in Vermont. 
Mesochorus americanus Cr..........-.---- Microgaster cocoons. Washington, D. C., 


September 1, 1882. 


156 


Mesochorus obliquus Cr.....-.....--.-... Euchetes egle Drury. Maryland, February 
12, 1884. 
Collected Washington, D. C., September 
1, 1882.* 
Mesochorus scitulus Cr--.. ..2-22 225.2252: Leucania unipuncta Haw. Sheldon, IIl., 
August, 1881. Rutland.Ind., July 27, 
1880. 
Mesochorus aprilinus Riley MS .........-. Apanteles congregatus Say on Phlegethontius 
carolina L. Washington, D.C., October 
20, 1880, and April 4, 1881. 
Phlegethontius carolina L. (Secondary.) 
Washington, D. C., September 20 and 
October 21, 1889. 
Microgaster utilis French on Sphinz carolina 
L. Washington, D. C., April 12-18, 
1881. 
Mesochorus microgasteris Riley MS -.-..-.--. Microgaster cocoon on Empretia stimulea 
Clem. May 14, 1883 
Microgaster cocoons. St. Louis, Mo., Sep- 
tember 10, 1876. 


Mesochorus luteipes Cr. var -.---...--.-.-. Notodonta on Aspen. Boscawen, N. H., 
July 18, 1883. 

Mesochorus (?) chrysope Ashm........... Chrysopa cocoon. 

Mesochorus spss..22s5 2.232 str. eee ioen Sek Rotten grape berry. September 11, 1886. 

MeLODOLISESp).2-acat eaee Se escae tee Soe Pyralid on Nettle. Virginia, July 31, 1882. 

Collected in Texas. 

Cremastus mellipes Prov.....-...-.....--- Depressaria pulvipennella Clem. Kirkwood, 

Mo. 


Lepid. Rose leaf-roller. St. Louis, Mo.? 
Collected in Michigan. 
Cremastus' retiniz.) Crs. !.c 22 sta see ess Retinia (R. comstockiana Fernald) on Pinue 

rigida. Ithaca, N. Y., November 18, 1879. 

Gelechia beneficentella Murt. Kirkwood, 
Mo. 

Lepid. Stem borer in Polygonum. Kirk- 
wood, Mo., August 19, 1884. 


Cremastus missouriensis Riley MS ....---. Lepid. larva? Kirkwood, Mo. 

Cremastus cookii Weed .........----..-.- Phoxopteris comptana Frohl. Lansing, 
Mich. (A.J. Cook.) 

Eiphosoma pyralidis Riley MS..-...-.---.- Pyralid on Solidago. Kirkwood, Mo., May 
12, 1885. 

Pristomerus mellethorax Riley MS...-.. Pedisca scudderiana Clem. Kirkwood, 
Mo., May 19, 1884. 

Thersilochus conotracheli (Riley)......--- Conotrachelus nenuphar Herbst. New Jersey, 
May 26-28, 1870. 

PachyMerusisp)s22-:4-sse- 2 Sees es ee ke Eurycreon rantalis Guen. on cotton. Boyce, 
Ellis County, Texas, July 24, 1888. 

Angitia pediscx Riley MS .---.......--.-- Anchylophora nubeculana Clem. on apples. 


Ithaca, N. Y., March 23, 1877. 

Lepid. on roots of grape. Fortress Monroe, 
Va., July 10, 1884. 

Pedisca n. sp. Wals. on Myrica cerifera. 
Fortress Monroe, Va., July 2-10, 1884. 

Collected in Texas. 


* Has same label as preceding sp. (M. americanus) and was probably reared from 
& 8p 
8amMe6 COCOONS. 


157 


ee 


Angitia sp 


Casinaria compressa Cr 


Casinaria major Cr 


Eamneria rufa Riley MS: .-2-:.--..--- +... 


Limneria nigricincta Ashm,..-.... 


Limneria nolz Ashm 


Limneria oxylus Cr 


Limneria tibiator Cr 


Limneria dimidiatus Cr 


Limneria annulipes Cr 


Limneria pterophore Ashm 


Limneria fura Cr 


ee ee | 


Limneria fugitiva Say 


eee st tee eee te wees owes 


Limneria edemasiz Ashm 


“ere er eee eee te we 


=e e eet eee eee ee ee eee wes 


Thalpochares carmelite(?) Morr. on Gnapha- 
lium, Bluffton, S. C., January 7, 1870. _ 

Lepid. larva. Hazlewood, Ohio, August 
10, 1885. 

Grape-vine larva. (Mrs. Treat.) 

Collected also in Texas. 

Aplodes (Synchlora) rubivora Riley. South 
Pass, Ill., July 17, 1869. 


.. Tenthredinid larve on black birch. Wash- 


ington, D. C., March 12-15, 1884. 

Tineid on black birch. Washington, D. 
C., April 14, 1884. 

Collected also in North Carolina. 

Nola sp. on willow. Los Angeles, Cal. 
1886. 

Collected in Massachusetts. 

Leucania unipuncta Haw. Huntsville, Ala. 
May 20, 1882. 

Plutella cruciferarum Zell. Los Angeles 
County, Cal., April; St. Louis, Mo., July, 
1870, December, 1871; Virginia, Novem- 
ber 17, 1882; Rock Ledge, Fla., March 
29-A pril 6, 1880. 

Acrobasis indiginella Zell. 
May 10, 1871. 

Plusia brassice Riley. Washington, D. C., 
November 13, 1882. 

Collected also in Texas. 

Gelechia gallesolidaginis Riley. LaFayette, 
Ind., March 25, 1887. 

Mamestra picta Harr. 
(Fletcher). 

Gelechia pseudacaciella Chamb. on Locust. 
Washington, D. C., September 24, 1879. 

Acrobasis indiginella Zell. Ames, Iowa, 
May 10, 1871. 

Pterophora on apple. 
Cal., August. 

Collected also in Texas. 

Tortricid (?). Crescent City, Fla. 

Collected also in Texas. 

Euchetes egle Harr. St. Louis, Mo., July, 
1867. , 

Clisiocampa sylvatica Harr. St. Louis, 
Mo.,? May 19 and May 21, 1871, and 
June 17, 1883. 

Anisota pellucida Abb. & Sm. St. Louis, 
Mo., September, 1876. 

Acrobasis indiginella Zell. 

Lepid. larve on grass. Washington, D.C., 
March 25, 1874. 

Anisota rubicunda Fab. Missouri, Decem 
ber, 1872. 

Collected also in Virginia. 

(Edemasia concinna Abb, & Sm. 
ton, D. C., August 5, 1889. 


Ames, lowa, 


Ottawa, Canada 


Alameda County, 


Washing- 


158 } 

Limneria oligiw Ashm............-.....-- Oligia versicolor Grt. Washington, D.C., 
July 19, 1884. | 

Limneria ephestie Riley MS..........-.. Ephestia interpunctella Zell. feeding on wax. — 


Missouri, May, 1873. 
Noctuid pupa. Texas. (Belfrage). 


Himneriatlophyri Riley® .2225.7.245-..5:<22 Lophyrus abbottii Leach. Valparaiso, Ind., 
May and June, 1871. 

Limneria euryptychiz Riley MS ......... Euryptychia saligneana Clem. June 25, 
1884. 

Limneria gelechiaw Ashm..............-. Gelechia celtisella Murtf. Kirkwood, Mo., 
August 19, 1884. 

Limneria argentifrons Cr...-....-....-.. Crambus zeellus Clem. Indiana, June 14?, 
1886. 

Kimnenaaubitata Cr. s,s: assess eens Laphygma frugiperda? Abb. & Sm. In- 


diana, October 9, 1884. 
Collected also in Massachusetts and Texas. 


Limneria solenobiz Ashm............-.. Solenobia walshella Clem. Kirkwood, Mo., 
April 27, 1887. 

Limnerta eaure cAshmi: 24.06 -25...6ce tenes Euura sp.on willow. Pariah, Utah, April 
16, 1887. 

Limneria pattoni Ashm.................. Cocoon on cotton-leaf. Selma, Ala., Sep- 
tember, 1880. 

Limneria eurycreontis Ashm-............- Eurycreon rantalisGuen. Cowley County, 


Kansas, July 6-9, 1888. 
Collected also in District of Columbia. 


himneria rutipes Proy.:2. i. 2226s o.oo Tortrix on oak. Washington, D. C., Au- 
gust 19, 1884. 
Limneria salicicola Ashm--.....-........ Inquilinous Lepid. larve in willow gall, 


London, Ontario, March, 1872. 
Collected also in Texas. 


Limneria cupressi Ashm ...............-- Dipterous gall on Cupressus macrocarpus. 
Marin County, Cal., December 6, 1885. 

Limneria obliterata Cress.......--...---- Gelechia rubidella? Clem. Kirkwood Mo., 
October 15, 1&81 

Limneria noctuz Ashm ........---.....-- Noctuid pupa found on black birch. 
Washington, D. C., July 12, 1884. 

Limneria helie Riley MS......-.--..----. Helia aemula, on hickory, dead leaves of. 
Virginia, April 28, 1884. 

Limneria nephelodis Riley MS .........-.Nephelodes violans Guen. On grass. St. 
Louis, Mo., May 1, 1872. 

Exetastes rufofemoratus Prov.....-.----- Agrotis alternata Grt. Washington, D. C., 


October 21, 1884. 


NOTES UPON EPHESTIA INTERPUNCTELLA (HUBN.) ZELLER. 


By WM. HAMPTON PATTON, Hartford, Conn. 


Syn. Ephestia kiihniella Zeller. 
Syn. Ephestia zee Fitch. 


In InsEcT LiF#, Vol. II, No. 6, Dec., 1889, pp. 166-171, this insect 
is treated in an interesting article by Messrs. Riley and Howard. Two 
important errors occur, and should be corrected. Karsch had al- 


159 


ready shown that kiihniella and interpunctella were only dimorphic 
forms of one species. The larve figured and described by Professor 
Riley as those of interpunctella (Fig. 30, a 6d) are in reality those of 
the Angoumois Moth (Gelechia cerealella? Oliv.), with which they agree 
(see Report Commissioner Agriculture, 1884). That they do not repre- 
sent Ephestia is shown by their not having the long bristles so charac- 
teristic of deltoid larve. | 
The dark form, INSEcT LIFE, Fig. 30, should be known as kihniella, 
-the light form, ibid., Fig. 28, as interpunctella (zee). 


NOTES UPON SOME INSECTS AFFECTING CORN. 
By F. M. WEBSTER. 


Clivina impressifrons.—Under date of June 11, 1890, I received from 
Mr. William E. Lawrence, of Whitley County, Ind., a considerable 
number of these beetles with the statement that “they were found ina 
piece of ground which had been broken the preceding spring, the field 
being swampy and of a black soil, like those infested by wire-worms. 
The beetles attacked the seed grains as soon as the latter became 
moistened.” 

When received one of the beetles had burrowed into a kernel of corn, 
in the vicinity of the germ, and was engaged in devouring the sub- 
stance. 

Tigyrus rugiceps.—On April 25, 1888, this beetle was observed de- 
stroying corn in Tensas Parish, La., and on May 14 still greater num- 
bers were observed working a like injury in St. Francis County, Ark. 
Considerable damage had been done by the pest in this last locality, 
and the beetles, at night, were literally swarming about the lighted 
lamps. In both instances the injury occurred on clay soils. 

Euphoria sepulchralis.—This beetle was observed at La Fayette, on 
August 16 of the present year, eating into the kernels of corn, on the 
tips of ears, in the fields. Mr. L. O. Howard states that he observed 
this same insect depredating upon corn in the same manner in Georgia 
in 1881. 

Sphenophorus ochreus.—The finding of eggs in the stems of Scirpus, 
growing in fields where the beetle was very abundant, and these eggs 
seeming to agree with those dissected by myself from the ovaries of 
females, would appear to indicate that the egg may be deposited in the 
stem of the pliant after the manner of other species of Sphenophorus, 
and not always in the root. 

Calocoris rapidus.—In a former report I stated that these insects were 
sometimes to be found attacking the kernels of ripening wheat. Dur- 
ing the fall of 1888 they were observed at La Fayette, Ind., engaged 
in puncturing the exposed kernels on the tips of ears of corn, and ex- 


160 


tracting the milky substance. As many as ten individuals were ob-— 
served thus employed on a single ear at the same time. 

Nysius angustatus.—On November 2, 1885, we observed the sexes of 
this species in great numbers in coitu under Huphorbia maculata, and a 
week later obtained eggs from females taken at the time, and also 
found them under the Huphorbia. Prof. Herbert Osborn secured 
adults (pairing) and pupz on November 15, 1887.* As neither Pro- 
fessor Osborn nor myself have observed adults in the spring, and my 
eggs did not hatch during the autumn of 1885, it would appear prob- 
able that the species winters over in the egg. I was absent from home 
during the spring of 1886, and lost track of tne matter. 

Orchelimum vulgare.—An adult male was observed September 4, 

1888, engaged in feeding upon the substance of kernels of corn at tip 
of ears in field near La Fayette, Ind. In November, 1886, stalks of 
corn were received from Mexico, Mo., with that part below the tassel 
and above the upper joint fairly riddled with the egg punctures of 
O. glaberrimum. Sonumerous were these eggs that the farmers errone- 
ously supposed them to cause sickness among horses fed upon the 
stalks. 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
The Green-striped Maple-worm. 


I received the Bulletin from your Department for March, 1890 (Vol. II, No. 9, IN- 
sECT LIFE), containing my letter and your reply about the Dryocampa rubicunda ~ 
(Maple Worms). Having some additional experience to give that I hope is worth 
something, I write again. Last year the worms appearing again as abundantly as 
before, we determined to see what could be done. So when the second crop of 
moths came we followed your advice and destroyed as many as possible, trampling 
them down as they came out of the ground tuwards evening. Then when they had 
hatched out and were still small, by the advice of Prof. W. A. Kellerman, of Kansas 
State Agricultural College, and Professor Tracy, formerly of this State University, 
now of Mississippi, we sprayed the trees with Paris green, 2 ounces of poison to 5 
gallons of water. Some of the trees were sprayed but once, others twice, but the 
result was the same—no worms, and our trees were green while all around us the 
trees were stripped bare as before. This spring (the fifth season) in many yards it 
seemed as if every blade of grass was covered with the moths. By dint of watching 
we found fifteen only in our own yard, while by stirring up the people through the 
papers we have persuaded many to try the spraying, and those who have done so 
are happy in freedom from the pest, with green trees, while others are, as heretofore, 
bare of leaves and trees, walks, fences, and houses covered with the disgusting things. 
I am persuaded that in this way the trees may be saved.—[Mary F. McCluney, 214 
East Sixth street, Sedalia, Mo., July 3, 1890. 


London Purple for the Rose Chafer. 


I have the honor to report that about the 15th of May last, the Rose Bug appeared 
and swarmed in my vineyard in countless thousands. They proved very destructive, 
feeding not only upon the foliage but also attacking the fruit clusters just then 


* Rep. Commissioner Agriculture, 1887, p. 162. Indiana Farmer, November 27, 1886. 


161 


blooming on some varieties of grapes. Jarring the vines and catching and destroy- 
ing the bugs made no perceptible diminution in numbers. I thought my entire crop 
of grapes was doomed. I concluded to spray the vines with London purple. On 
May 291 sprayed a row of one hundred Massasoits, using at the rate of 1 pound of 
purple to 150 gallons of water. I sprayed with the Eureka Sprayer and awaited 
events. On the next day but few bugs could be found on the treated vines, and on 
the second day following they had entirely deserted the row. The foliage received 
no injury from the spraying.—[John K. Hoyt, Luther, N. C., July 21, 1890. 


Maple-tree Borers. 


I should like to be informed by what name a borer which bores through the center 
(longitudinally) of the maple tree is designated and what means are adopted to 
destroy it. I have some young maple trees suffering from this pest. They first seem 
to girdle the trees with a series of holes not far from the ground, rendering them so 
weak that they are easily blown over in the wind, and then eat or bore upwards 
through the heart of the tree.—[ Thomas R. Clark, ‘‘ Riverside Park,” New York, June 
25, 1890. 

ReEPLy.—It will be impossible to certainly name the insect which has been attack- 
ing your young maple trees without seeing specimens, as there are a number of 
species which are known to work in general as described by you. It is more than 
probable that you have confused two of the common pests of the maple. The Lepi- 
dopterous Maple Borer (4geria acerni) occurs very commonly throughout the coun- 
try and is frequently a most serious pest. A full account of this insect is given in 
Riley’s Sixth Missouri Report, pages 107 to 110. The larva girdles the trees but 
does not puncture the hard wood, confining its work to the sap wood. 

Another maple borer frequently met with is the beetle generally known as the 
Flat-Headed Apple-Tree Borer (Chrysobothris femorata). The larva of this insect in 
young trees would be very apt to penetrate to the heart of the tree as you describe. 

There are no entirely satisfactory remedies against either of these insects. 

The Flat-headed Borer, which appears in May and June, as also does the moth of 
the Ageria, may be deterred from depositing its eggs on the trunks of trees by coat- 
ing the trunks with a strong soap solution or with kerosene emulsion. The same 
treatment may be of value against the Zgeria. Whitewashing the trunks of the 
trees has been recommended. It will be a good plan also to burn trees badly in- 
fested early in the spring before moths or beetles have issued.—[June 26, 1890. } 


A Bot-fly infesting Hogs. 


““Mr. S. S. Cook came up from his farm last evening and brought with him a speci- 
men of a worm that is making trouble among his hogs. He hasa drove of about fifty 
as fine hogs as there are in the county. Several days ago he noticed one of them 
wheezing badly, scarcely able to draw its breath, and thinking it had some obstruc- 
tion in its wind-pipe, he determined to investigate. As he was sure the hog would 
die, he had it killed. In making an examination for the cause of the trouble, he 
found that several peculiar looking worms, about an inch in length and abouta 
quarter of an inch in width, had eaten a hole from the outside of the neck clear 
through the windpipe, and were slowly but surely strangling the animal. He se- 
cured one of the worms, and has it with him. He says that several of his hogs are 
affected in the same way and he is afraid he will lose the whole lot.” 

Please find inclosed a worm and clipping from newspaper sent me by Mr. S. S. 
Cook, of Parkersburg, Wood County, W. Va. He respectfully requests that the sub- 
ject be examined and a report made to him as to whether he should have the hogs 
killed or if there is any remedy which can be applied inthe case. The drove con- 
sists of fifty head and are of a superior breed.— [D. R. Neal, jr., Bureau of Provis- 
ious and Clothing, Navy Department, Washington, D. C., July 28, 1890. 

12746—No. 4——3 


162 


RepLy.—The newspaper clipping and a specimen of an insect which is infecting 
your hogs has been received. This matter proves to be one of great interest, and so 
far as I know is the first case on record where hogs have been affected by Bot flies. 
Examination of the larva which you sent shows that it belongs to one of the internal 
bots which can only be determined specifically by rearing the adult fly. From the 
study of the characteristics of this larva it seems to belong to the genus Cephenomyia, 
the species of which ordinarily infest deer. Did you save any other specimens, and 
if so were you thoughtful enough to put them in alcohol? If so we should be very 
glad to receive additional material, and if any more of your hogs are taken with the 
same symptoms and you conduct a post mortem, please send us some of the worms in 
situ with a good piece of the wind-pipe and surrounding tissues.—[ August 1, 1890, to 
Mr. 8. S. Cook, Parkersburg, W. Va.] 


A Peach-tree Leaf-beetle. 


I send in a separate package some beetles found eating in a moderate degree the 
leaves of young peach trees from the pit this spring. They are not common and we 
wonder if they are liable to do any damage. Will you please tell us what they are 
and the prospects of their being injurious ?—[ Henry A. Brainard, San José, Cal., July 
22, 1890. 

REPLY.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22d instant, to- 
gether with the accompanying specimens of an insect which is eating the leaves of 
young peach trees. This insect is one of the leaf-beetles, and is known as Chrysochus 
cobaltinus. It hasnocommonname. Like all of the other beetles of the same family 
it feeds upen the foliage of different plants, and any of them may at times increase so 
as to do some damage. This insect, however, is not known as a pest, and we should 
therefore like to be notified in case it increases to any great extent. It can always 
be kept in subjection by spraying the trees with a very dilute arsenical solution. It 
should be remembered that the peach is particularly susceptible to the action of ar- 
senic, strong solution burning the leaves to a greater or less extent. For a trial ap- 
plication I would not advise the use of a larger proportion than one-half of a pound 
to 225 gallons of water.—[July 30, 1890.] 


Mites in a Warm-house. 


I send you the insects on the prunes in this glass; they are too small to catch and 
put ina vial. Hold the glass in the sunshine and you can see them move with the 
naked eye. They are very small. Thisis whatI know aboutthem: I built a warm- 
house three years ago on a brick wall 16 inches through, sided and ceiled with dressed 
pine lumber, and painted inside and out. The space between the ceiling and siding 
(16 inches) was filled with sawdust fresh from the saw and the floor was laid with 
brick. In three weeks after this house was completed the insect made its appear- 
ance and staid until cold weather, and each year in April it has come and staid 
until cold weather. The color of some of them is red. They seem to want to get 
about milk and things sweet, like jellies and prunes, and meal seems to be a favorite 
food for them. They got on the meal in a barrel in the warm-house by the millions, 
until the top seemed to be covered with dust, and we put the barrel, without cover, 
out in the sun, in August last, and they kept multiplying as we would skim the top: 
of the meal off, taking the most of the bugs (or what) away, but they would be just 
as thick again in a day or two. They even crawl across the porch into the kitchen. 
Now, what I most want to know is will they be likely to bother in an underground 
cellar dug on the same spot as the warm-house? We burned sulphur and tobacco in 
this warm-house by the pound at atime, but it seemed to do no good, and we even 
washed it inside with diluted carbolic acid, but they were on hand again in a few 
days. I would like to know all about them, as the little pests have cost me about 
$200 and lots of vexation. They seemed to come with the warm-house, and now that 
I have torn it out I don’t want to build something else to harbor them.—[ Albert 
Pound, Soonover, Ind., July 25, 1890, to F. M. Webster, La Fayette. 


163 


REepLy.—Yonur letter of July 25, with the accompanying specimens of mites, has 
been forwarded to us by special agent F. M. Webster, for reply. The mites are prob- 
ably the species known as Tyroglyphus siro L., a species which, together with an 
allied form 7. longior, is frequently reported as infesting granaries and grocery sup- 
plies, such as cheese, flour, and meal. Your account of their occurrence in your 
warm-honse is interesting, and it would seem that the measures you have taken to 
rid the place should have been successful. If the warm house could have been 
tightly closed, the fumes of burning sulphur maintained a sufficient time, ought to 
have been effective in destroying the mites. The use of bisulphide of carbon would 
have been attended with more satisfactory results. ‘This substance will vaporize 
readily and is a powerful insecticide, but very inflammable, and on that account care 
should be takenin its use. Itsdisagreeable odor may be easily dispelled by thorough 
airing. Where benzine can be used it will also prove an efficient means of destroy- 
ing these pests. I can not understand why the mites should have been so numerous 
and persistent in your case, unless they were repeatedly introduced with some of the 
material (meal, etc.) stored in the warm-house. I think that you will run no risk 
in constructing an underground cellar on the spot formerly occupied by the warm- 
house, if precautions are taken not to introduce mites with old meal or other ma- 
terial. [August 5, 1890. ] 


A Beetle in Stramonium. 


I found these evidences of the ravages of the beetle you kindly described for me 
at Mr. W. 8. Thompson’s drug store, 703 Fifteenth street, to-day. The stramonium 
had been in a tightly closed can too.—[A. H. Hoehling, Washington, D. C., May 6, 
1890. 

REpPLY.—The beetles which you sent from Mr. Thompson’s drug store in stramo- 
nium proved upon examination to be Sitodrepa panicea, well known to affect all sorts 
of preserved drugs.—[July 5, 1890. 


The Pear-slug on Plum. 


I send you a box per express containing cuts from plum trees that are being de- 
stroyed by an insect that is new to the foliage of this tree in this vicinity. I have 
never before seen them. The effect is the same that is often seen on my rose-bush 
foliage, but I think the enemy is not thesame. The samples sent show the leaves 
after the insect has finished the tree; also the green leaves where they are now at 
work. I have not been able to determine the origin, but evidently they come from 
an egg laid. After the substance is all eaten frum the leaf the insect is seen going to 
the ground. Further than that I have not been able to trace them or find their de- 
velopment. I hope to see a history of the enemy and its parentage and habits in 
your valuable publication, Insect Lire. An unusually cold, backward, and at times 
wet season has seemed to diminish the usual quantity of most varieties of vegetable 
enemies, except the cut-worm and white grub, which are rather more plenty than 
usual. Twice spraying with Paris green has saved a fine crop of growing plums on 
all the trees where fruit set after full blossom, but some trees with profusion of blos- 
soms show no fruit at all. At full growth the worm is one-fourth of an inch long, 
and under a glass looks like jelly, smooth and glossy, generally a dark stripe along 
the back. I hope some may be alive, that you may see them under a more powerful 
glass than I have.—[W. S. Wood, Shawano, Wis., June 23, 1890. 

Repiy.—Your favor of the 23d inst. was duly received, accompanied with speci- 
mens. You areright in believing that the larva on the plum is distinct from the 
rose-slug. It is, however, closely allied to the rose-slug, and belongs with very lit- 
tle doubt to the pear-tree slug (Eriocampa (Selandria) cerasi), the larva of which is 
known to feed on pear, quince, and plum. The eggs are deposited by the parent 
saw-fly early in June in little slits in the skin of the leaf. The young larve soon 


164 


hatch and feed on the softer parts of the leaf, skeletonizing it. Full growth is 
reached in June and the larva crawls or falls to the ground and buries itself in the 
earth. The flies appear in July and deposit eggs for a second brood. The larvez of 
this brood enter the ground about the last of August and do not transform until the 
spring following. They may be easily destroyed by spraying with hellebore, which 
may be mixed with water in the proportion of one ounce to two gallons of water, or 
by spraying with the arsenicals, London purple and Paris green. These may be used 
in the proportion of 1 pound of the poison to 100 or 125 gallons of water.—[ June 27, 
1890. ] 


The Black-locust Hispa. 


I inclose some locust leaves (which are stung or eaten by a worm or insect) for the 
purpose of ascertaining if possible what it is that is doing the mischief, and if a rem- 
edy can be suggested to prevent it. Nearly all the locust timber has been affected in 
this manner in this section for about three years past. If it continues one or two 
years more it will doubtless destroy all that kind of timber in this part of the coun- 
try. It seems to blight nearly all the leaves on each tree. —[ Heary Haymond, Clarks- 
burgh, W. Va., August 4, 1890. 

REPLY.—Your favor of August 4, together with inclosed specimens, was duly re- 
ceived. The specimens in question are the common locust Hispa (Hispa dorsalis), a 
very widely distributed beetle and one that frequently occurs in injurious numbers. 
The injury is chiefly occasioned by the small, flattened larva which mines the locust 
leaves. The beetle, which is of a tawny orange color, marked with black, and about 
a quarter of an inch long, also feeds on leaves of the locust. ‘The beetles that are now 


appearing will hibernate through winter, and will deposit their eggs on the locust 


leaves as soon as they are expanded the following spring. The fact that the larve are 
leaf-miners makes it difficult, if not impossible, to reach them with any of the ordinary 
insecticides. The beetles, however, may be destroyed by spraying with Paris green 
or London purple, and these poisons may best be applied in spring as soon as the 
leaves are expanded. The adult beetles feeding on the leaves wiil be destroyed be- 
fore they have deposited their eggs. This treatment is impracticable over extensive 
forests.—[ August 7, 1890. ] 


Importation of Hessian Fly Parasites. 


I mail you to-day a tin box containing about three hundred Semiotellus nigripes (the 
actual numbers are 114g and 1739) some of them bred since last Thursday—seven 
days old—but the greater part bred since Sunuay last. I hope many of them will 


arrive alive and kicking and in laying condition. Isent one dozen and a half last — 


week. Next year I will try and send a package of screenings, for I think this would 
be the surest way of introducing these parasites. So far my experimenting has been 
successful, for out of 10,000 Puparia I have bred but asingle pair of Hessian Flies 
and about 700 parasites, which I am distributing in certain districts. Many of the 
Semiotelli have been bred from screenings, and I am inclined to think there are two 


species.—[Fred. Enock, 11 Parolles Road, Upper ceed 2 London E., England, - 


June 11, 1890. 

REep.Ly.—Your letter of the 11th instant, with accompanying specimens of Semiotel- 
lus nigripes, came duly to hand. Unfortunately the insects were, without exception, 
all dead, as were also a former lot received from you a few days since. I trust that 
better luck will attend the sending of screenings which you promise for next year. 
I shall be very glad if this parasite can be successfully introduced here.—[{June 20, 
1890. ] 

Insects determined. 


You will find inclosed a few specimens of insects, which I would be glad to have 
you identify through the columns of INsEcT Lire. They were all taken from a wheat 


—-_——- -- 


165 
field, except the moth, which is quite commonly met this spring. No.3 and the larva - 
5 were observed to feed upon the Grain Aphis; the others were found in considerable 
numbers on the heads of wheat, except No. 4.—[C. C. Fenwick, St. Joseph, IIl., 
June 23, 1890. 

REPLy.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours of June 23 with accompanying 
specimens. No.1 is Melanectes puncticollis, family Elateride ; its larval habits are 
unknown and it is a tolerably rare beetle. No. 2 is Anomala undulata and belongs to 
the family Scarabeide. This beetle is not infrequently injurious to wheat and other 
grains. No. 3 is Coccinella 9-notata, family Coccinellide, one of the common Lady- 
birds. No.4 is Tetraopes tetraopthalmus, family Cerambycide. This borer lives on 
milkweed. No. 5d is the larva of No.3. The moth sent is Platysamia cecropia.—[ June 


27, 1890. ] 
Cheese Mite. 


I have inclosed a fungus found on cheese for the first time, as it is something new. 
Is there any preventive ?—[ Frank H. Follensbie, Enfield, N. H., June 13, 1890. 

RepLy.—Your favor of the 13th instant, with the accompanying specimens, has 
been received. The supposed fungus found on cheese is the common Cheese Mite 
(Tyroglyphus siro). The brown, powdery mass is composed of the particles of cheese 
aud the shed skins of the mites. If you examine this material with a hand lens you 
will find the minute whitish mites scattered through it. This mite lives on all kinds 
of cheese, especially if it is a little decayed, and particularly on the rind or harder 
parts. It also infests flour, grain, and other substances. In your case the only pre- 
ventive would seem to be to keep the shelves thoroughly cleaned of all particles of 
cheese and to destroy or remove the stale cheese.—[ June 19, 1890. ] 


Fighting the Rose Chafer. 


Reading in April number of INsEcT LIFE on Macrodactylus subspinosus, I would say 
that at present I have an attack of them in my vineyard, that I have tried pyreth- 
rum, 4 ounces to five gallons of water, applied with a Eureka sprayer, and found it 
of no use. The solution, or mixture, seems to affect them so that they fall off on the 
ground and after a time fly away. Later I used 2 ounces of hellebore and 4 of py- 
rethrum, and sprayed it, but find that also of no avail, so I have tried shaking on 
stretchers saturated in petroleum, and I destroy hundreds that way. Therefore, I 
am able tosay that pyrethrum in my case was useless. Do you think a spraying of 
carbolic acid would be of any use in driving them off? I would also state that I have 
picked hundreds and crushed them in my hand, and consequently I do not believe the 
poisonous theory, unless there be an abrasion of the skin or asore.—[E. H. Wynkoop, 
Catskill, N. Y., June 19, 1890. 

Rep.Ly.—Your letter of June 19 duly received. Your experience with the Macro- 
dactylus subspinosus is certainly in harmony with the article to which you refer in IN- 
sEcT LIFE£, and you will see that I have stated that hellebore and pyrethrum are of 
doubtful efficacy, the former being the most effective against the beetles. I am glad 
to learn of your success with the use of stretchers saturated with kerosene, and I be- 
lieve that this is the most practical of the remedies yet proposed. General Pearson, 
who is quoted in the article referred to as recommending eau celeste as a means 
against the Rose Beetle, now reports that the present year he finds this remedy una- 
vailable.—[June: 3, 1890. ] 

SEcOND LETTER.—Yours of the 23d instant at hand. Would say that I find a 
stretcher saturated with crude petroleum quite effective, and after saturating a few 
times the bugs stick to it so that it does not require any shaking into a receptacle. 
I received to-day a trial package of Nicotina from the Farmers’ Fertilizing Company, 
Syracuse, N. Y., but as the bugs have left my vineyard, I can not indorse it. I think 
it must prove effective, for it so strongly smells of gas-tar, and is in a very fine 
powder, and I find anything that has a strong odor distasteful to them. In fact one 


. 166 
man told me he had driven them from his vineyard by burning pieces of ota rubber 
between the rows. The manufacturers are responsible and claim Nicotina to be the 
best insecticide in the world. The sample 5 pounds was sent me to try and neperin — 
[E. H. Wynkoop, Catskill, N. Y., June 27, 1890. 

ANOTHER LETTER.—] poseived: a line from you last year to try the Bordeaux Mixt- 
ure. We have had no rot or mildew, but have something just as bad, that is, the Rose 
Bugs. They have stripped a good many large vineyards this year. I have been 
spraying about 18 acres out of 20 with good results. I used lime-water as strong as 
I could use in the spray pump, about 1 bushel of unslaked stone lime to 50 gallons of 
water and 1 pint of crude carbolic acid. Two acres that I did not treat gave an en- 
tire loss of fruit. Our apples, pears, and peaches are an entire failure this year on 
account of late frosts. The clay lands south of us were troubled with the black rot 
last year; the Rose bugs are confined mostly to the ridge land. I have tried London 
purple and Paris green and Hellebore without any effect on them. Some have used 
the dry lime, but the solution is far better. Will give you the results at the close of 
the season if you desire it. I have made a specialty of fruit for forty-six years. The 
lime does not kill the Rose bug, only prevents it from eating. If there is anything 
that will kill them let us know before another year. I tried the same formula on 
one-half of my cherry-trees, saved a good crop, while the half not treated did not 
have a cherry left—a good test.—[S. Justus, Mentor, Lake County, Ohio, June 22, 
1890, to B. T. Galloway. 

ReEepLy.—Your letter of June 22, with specimens, duly received and referred to this 
Division by Mr. Galloway. This insect has been fully discussed in a recent number 
of INSECT LIFE, a copy of which has been sent to you. The lime-water treatment 
which you report as being very satisfactory, is one of the more efficient of the reme- 
dies against this insect. Other remedies of even greater value are mentioned in the 
article referred to, but they are all of little avail against an exceptional onslaught. 
We shall be pleased to receive the report of the results of any other experiments 
_ you may make.—[June 25, 1890. ] 


Wire-worm Damage to Onions. 


I send by to-day’s mail a small box containing some worms that are doing a great 
amount of damage to the onion crop in this part of Washington (w:st). I found a 
number of the onions turning yellow and found the worms working on the plants 
below the surface, from one to four worms at each infested plant. If you could give 
us the name and tell us the best way of destroying them you would be doing us a 
great kindness.—[Nicholas Vipond, Minter, Pierce County, Wash., June 18, 1890. 

REPLY.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours of June 18, together with the 
accompanying larve found infesting onions. The larve belong to the click or spring 
beetles, the particular species of which can not be determined from the larve, as the 
latter are scarcely distinct in allied forms. The larve sent, however, may be referred 
to the genera Drasterius and Agriotes. The larve of the family Elateridz, which in- 
cludes the genera mentioned, are the well known wire-worms, which are known to 
injure a large number of cultivated crops. The beetles, however, may be trapped ~ 
successfully before they have deposited their eggs in the spring by means of poisoned 
bait. Professor Comstock, of the Cornell experiment station, has obtained excellent 
results by using the same remedy which I found so effectual for cut-worms, i. e., by 
taking bunches of clover dipped in a moderately strong solution of Paris green or 
London purple and placed at different parts of the infested fields. These baits 
should be renewed once or twice a week during the early part of the summer, or the 
period during which the eggs are deposited.—[ June 25, 1890. ] 


Orange-tree Bark-borers. 


Since the freeze last winter which killed so many of our orange trees a great many 
bugs are boring into them, mostly into the dead wood, but some into the sound wood. 


167 


Isend you a piece of the woud with some of the bugs in it and some of them ina. 
quill. I have found them three-quarters of an inch deep in the wood. I would like 
to know if they will kill the trees.—[B. Foster, Daytona, Fla., June 16, 1890. 

Repiy.—The beetle which accompanied your letter and which you found boring 
in orange trees is one of the family of Bark-boring Beetles, Scolytide, which includes 
a number of our most injurious insects. Thespecies in question is Xyleborus pubescens 
and breeds in oak and other semi-tropical trees. The mature beetles burrow in trees 
of all sorts but have never been known to infest healthy living orange trees, but 
when found in the orange always occurs in the dead or diseased wood. It can not, 
therefore, be considered injurious to the orange. The freeze of last winter, which 
you say killed many of the orange trees, accounts for the presence of numbers of 
this insect.—[ June 20, 1890. ] 


Rhizococcus on grass. 


Isend you by mail this day some Coccids. I found them yesterday in the same 
field referred to in INSEcT LIFE, Vol. II, No. 10, April, 1890, page 326. This is the first 
time I have seen them since about February 1. ‘They are on the same field and about 
the same numbers. They have not been observed in any other place. I fail to see 
that they have affected the grass in any way.—[James Powers, Lexington, Ind., 
June 16, 1890. 

ReEpLy.—I have just received your letter of June 16, together with the accompany- 
ing specimens of Rhizococcus on grass. I am glad to get additional information on 
this interesting Coccid and will file it for future use.—[June 18, 1890. ] 


The Grape Curculio. 


Is there anything that will destroy that most abominable pest, the Grape Curculio 
( Celiodes inequalis), which is on my grounds in countless numbers, doing more harm 
than all else combined ?[G. R. Wood, Lyndon, Ky., July 23, 1890. 

REPLy.—Your letter of the 23d, regarding the damage done in your vineyards by 
the Grape Curculio, has been received. I fear very much that I can not help you in 
this matter. I published a short account of this insect in my first Missouri report, 
and Mr. B. D. Walsh is the author of a more elaborate account in his first report as 
acting State entomologist of Illinois, published in the Transactions of the Illinois 
Horticultural Society for 1367. No suggestions of any great value have ever been 
made. Mr. Walsh thought that at the time the eggs were being deposited, say about 
the middle of June, some good could be done by shaking the beetles from the vines 
upon sheets, as is done in the case of the Plum Curculio. If it can be ascertained by 
observation just when the beetle begins to be abundant upon the vines, a spraying 
with a kerosene emulsion will doubtless destroy many of them. In order to make 
these of any avail, you will have to familiarize yourself with the appearance of the 
beetle, if you do not know it already. It would be interesting to make some obser- 
vations on the feeding habits of the beetles early in the season, as it may be that 
they feed upon the grape leaves or stems, in which case we should have a ready 
remedy in the application of an arsenical mixture, as in the case of the Plum Cur- 
culio. Does this insect appear in numbers upon your grounds every year and is it 
very common in your neighborhood? I have rarely heard of it of late years, or I 
should otherwise have made further observations in the lines which I have just sug- 
gested.—[July 26, 1890. ] 


Scale-insects in California. 
Isend with the same post as this a small scale found in an orchard bere two weeks 


ago. I sent specimens to Professor Coquillett, but he could not nameit. The tree 
it is on is commonly called the box-elder. It seems to me to be a species of Acer. I 


168 


have not been able to find any eggs under any of the scales, nor have I seen any of 
the young. The scale seems a species of Lecanium, and I have only found it on the 
one tree. I will keep a close watch on it and observe future developments. We are 
busy inspecting the orchards here for Lecanium olew and Lecanium hesperidium. One or 
two patches of Aspidiotus aurantii have made their appearance here, but these were 
quickly cut out and burned and the infested trees and those surrounding them sprayed 
with a strong caustic-soda solution. I have been only a few months at the work of 
inspection, but it is interesting me greatly. I have been for many years a diligent 
natural-history student in Scotland, so possess an advantage of long training to 
observe over the other inspectors here. I find great difference of opinion existing 
regarding the black and brown scales, some maintaining that they will do the tree 
and fruit no harm, others that they will in the end kill the tree. Some say that they 
will not increase, but will die out in this hot and dry climate; others say that they 
will soon be over all our orchards. Then, the same difference of opinion exists about 
the effects of the various solutions for spraying and the time they should be used. 
Several instances of injury done, both to the fruit and trees, have occurred by spray- 
ing according to the orders of the commissiuners ; so that some other remedy is being 
sought after by the orchardists. So much difference of opinion is confusing to a 
novice, but I have set about trying to find out for myself. 

In the district assigned to me I go over each orchard carefully, noting the percent- 
age of trees infected with either scale, so that by next year I will be able to say 
whether it increases. I have tried the effect of some of the washes on the young of 
the black scale, and find a potash wash the most effective in killing them: The 
alkali in the solutions seems to me to be the active agent in killing. We recommend 
in the mean time a solution composed of 1 pound pearlash and 2 pounds resin to 1 gal- 
lon of water; then one part of the mixture to from six to eighteen parts of water, accord- 
ingtothestrengthrequired. Insome cases theresin sticks onthe fruit. Iintend trying 
oil instead of the resin to see how it willdo. Black scale is very generally distributed 
over our apricot and orange orchards, but not in large quantity. I found the eggs 
under the scales beginning to hatch in June. They are céntinuing the hatching 
process yet. Though the great majority of them are hatched, only in very few cases 
have I found young scales forming on the stems or leaves. In many cases I find both 
the young and eggs killed under the scale seemingly with the dryness or heat. The 
killing of the scale was more apparent in an instance where the trees had been 
trimmed up. In one case I found what seemed a parasite inside of a scale. It was 
three times the length of the young scale, had wings appressed to its body evidently 
in an immature state and scarcely so long as its body, jointed antennz one-third the 
length of its body, a small head, and prominent eyes. I recently examined three 
orchards that had been sprayed for black scale, two of them with a caustic soda 
solution consisting of 8 pounds of caustic soda, 25 pounds of resin, 2 gallons of oil, 
and 200 gallons of water. I found about 5 per cent. of the scale still alive on the 
trees three weeks after the spraying had been done; the trees were partially defoliated 
and a small percentage of the fruit defaced by the action of drops of the solution in 


the two orchards sprayed with the soda. In the one done with the pearlash solution ~ 


I found about the same percentage of the scale alive, no leaves having fallen from 
the trees and the fruit being quite uninjured. I made some experiments with kero- 
sene emulsion, but was convinced that the kerosene had little effect on the scales. 
Young scales lived for half an hour in pure kerosene. They died almost instantly in 
a weak potash solution. Another disputed point among the orchardists here is the 
influence of ants on brown scale; many say they eat the scale. I have never seen 
an instance of an ant tearing off a scale from a leaf or twig, but when the scale is 
torn off by some other means they greedily carry away whatever is under it. Some 
orchardists assert that the ants nurse the scale for the food it affords them. Another 
difficulty is when to spray an orchard. Some have sprayed them now, and intend 
spraying again in October, but the general opinion is that the heat will accomplish 
what the spraying will do at this season and that all that is necessary is to spray in 


a 


169 


October. Theextent and rapid increase of our orange orchards make it of the utmost. _ 
importance that a sure means of keeping them clean and free from all injurious insects 
is discovered and applied. There is an effort being made just now to get a gasing 
apparatus to apply the hydrocyanic gas to scale-infested orchards. We are compara- 
tively free from pests in the mean time, but there are a few, and the fear that they 
may spread is directing attention to increased efforts to get rid of them. The scare. 
from Florida scale has led to increased vigilance and closer observation. I found a 
few live purple scale on young Florida trees newly planted out this spring and made 
it known, calling attention to the danger. But no live Florida scale have been found 
on trees planted for one or two years. A few live wax scale were shown me from 
young Florida trees that were imported this season, but with these exceptions, as far 
as I have heard, the Florida scale now found is dead. My time for research and in- 
vestigation is rather limited. Inspectors are not paid for such work, and it must be 
done after the usual working hours. I think sometimes money could be profitably 
spent in paying for observation. Another difficulty I have is in mounting specimens. 
for the microscope. I have not been able to find a suitable material for preserving 
the specimens on the slides, but perseverence will in the end insure success. San 
José scale ( Aspidiotus perniciosus) is abundant on all our deciduous trees except apri-. 
cots, and a few were found on them this season, but it is not getting so much atten- 
tion, asthe deciduous trees are no source of income here, so they are being generally 
rooted out to make room for orange trees. I have seen many deciduous trees nearly 
killed with this scale. While getting specimens to send I found plenty of young set- 
tled on the leaves.—[D. Gregorson, Riverside, San Bernardino County, Cal., July 30, 
1890. 

REpLY.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 30th ultimo, together 
with the accompanying specimens. The scale insect which you find on the box-elder 
(Negundo aceroides) is a new specimen of Lecanium, which we have had from Califor- 
nia on many occasions, but on a variety of plants. Your letter is very interesting, 
and I shall take the liberty of publishing portions of it in Insecr Lire. The black 
scale has in some portions of California a moderately effective parasite known as. 
Dilophogaster californica, which may account for its not spreading with you. The 
orchardists who contend that ants nurse the scale insects are undoubtedly correct. 
Your experience with kerosene emulsion is exceptional, and probably ill-founded.— 
[August 6, 1890.] 


Household Pests. 


I am in receipt of your favor of the 17th instant ; also of INsEcT LIFE. I find these 
periodical bulletins quite interesting, and am much obliged to you for them, Per- 
haps the reason the bug did not reach you was that it was put in a glass vial, and the 
vial was packed in a sardine box, the glass being interdicted. Iam sorry you did not 
receive it. Reading on page 211 of INsecT LirE I find your article ‘‘ The true clothes 
moth,” and I am surprised to find that you and I differ on this point, and while I don’t 
boast of any science or learning on the subject, I feel like defending my opinion, for 
I have a life-long experience at my back, and my business—an old merchant—re- 
quired me to be on the alert for this little household pest. In the old times, away 
back here in the mountains, where the merchant kept everything and when store 
clothes were the exception, the apartment was not complete without a piece of sat- 
inet and a few yards of broadcloth on the shelves—old English-made cloth, just the 
thing to get damaged—$6 to $7 per yard. We used to be shocked occasionally by 
finding that the moths had cut dozens of holes in the best pieces of goods we had. 
Then search had to be made, and it resulted in finding a diminutive hair-worm very 
much after the order and style of that larger cousin of his, the terror of the furrier 
and the dealer in peltries—the ordinary hair-worm. But this little fellow differs in 
shape frum that cousin of his, as well as in size, for he tapers more rapidly from the 
head to the tail, and to that appendage has an arrangement of hairs upon it giving 
it a forked appearance. (See specimens, which I send you by this mail, of this true 


170 


moth.) The history of these specimens is curious, and I will give it to you. They 
were found a year ago in a parcel of ground black pepper which I had left over in 
my old store—adulterated pepper, which being found to be worthless, was shoved 
aside years before, and I put them away in the trash—the pepper and the paper in 
which it was packed, intending to send them to you. To-day to my surprise I found 
surviving —the progeny of course—several of them, and I fixed them up for the mail. 
I also found specimens of the book moth, a slick, lively fellow, associating with them, 
and I packed them all up together. He riddles the edges of well-sized paper stowed 
away in trunks, boxes, etc., where not often handled. In the trash I found still 
another household pest—a flour worm—attracted to the pile by the meal it contained, 
meal put in to make the paper weigh, andI just leave him ‘‘to fill.” And now I 
am puzzled to know what all these moths were doing in this pepper, for there were 
hundreds of them, continuing in the haunt for years. Hoping my contribution may 
reach you safely and prove interesting.—[Calvin J. Cowles, Wilkesboro, N. C., June 
20, 1890. 

REpPLY.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours of June 20, together with the 
accompanying specimens. You do not make it very clear in what particular your ex- 
perience does not agree with the facts given in the article in INSECT LIFE on the ‘‘ True 
Clothes Moths.’’ The larva which you style the “ Hair Worm” is the larva of Atta- 
genus megatoma, one of the Dermestids and somewhat closely allied to the common 
form which infests furs, and dried specimens of animals, insects, etc. This insect is 
not amoth at all, but abeetle. The true clothes moths described in the article referred 
to by you are so called to distinguish them from the Carpet Beetle or popularly styled 
Buffalo Moth ( Anthrenus scrophularie), which is also a near aliy of A. megatoma. The 
Fish Moth, or ‘‘slick, lively fellow” of your letter, is with little doubt a Lepisma, 
although none of them were found in the package. The Flour Worm, also found in 
the package, is the larva of Tenebrio obscurus. The Fish Moth and Tenebrio larva 
would find in the mixed pepper and flour a suitable fvod, especially if the pepper was 
without strength. The Dermestid may have been attracted by the dead insects or 
other animal matter in the adulterated pepper. —[June 26, 1890. ] 


The Rose Chafer on Clay Lands. 


Your favor of the 27th ultimo was duly received. No one of whom I have asked 
the question in this section has ever known of the Rose Beetle attacking vegetation on 
clay lands. In fact some of our local savants have recommended placing clay 
around the roots of our grape-vines, etc., as a protection from the beetle. I have 
never heard of its being done, and of course can not answer as to efficacy. I have 
inserted in our county paper of this week a request to the people living on clay lands 
in this county to let me know if they have ever known of the beetle committing rav- 
ages on their lands and 1 will send you a copy of the paper marked. I am no ento- 
mologist, but am interested in anything of the kind.—[J. S. Strayer, Port Republic, 
Va., July 2, 1890. 

REPLY.—The question as to whether vegetation growing in clay soil is exempt 
from the ravages of the Rose Chafer is entirely one of proximity to the breeding places 
of the insect. It is often stated that this pest is most abundant upon crops growing 
in a light or sandy soil, but this simply proves (and my experience as given at 
the bottom of page 296 confirms it) that the beetles breed in such soil and not in stiff 
clay land. Naturally on issuing from the ground as beetles they attack the nearest 
appropriate food. Crops growing on clay land, then, are exempt or partially exempt 
simply for the reason that the insect does not breed in such soil. Given a case when 
a clay soil immediately adjoins a light soil, you will find that the beetles will freely 
attack the crops growing in the former soil, provided there is not sufficient food imme- 
diately at hand and growing in the sandy soil orloam. The idea of your “local savants” 
that placing clay around the roots of the grape-vines will prove a protection from the 
beetles is, in this view of the case, entirely erroneous.—[ July 8, 1890. } 


171 


Tomato Worm. 


For four years the tomato vines in my garden have been nearly ruined by along green 
worm about the size of a cigar cut in half. This insect has a most voracious appetite 
and lives on the leaves of the vine, and makes its appearance some time in July when 
the fruit isyoung. When and how does this worm originate? Ard above all, is there 
no solution, ablution, or deglution that can destroy this pest? Ifso, please send me 
the way and means.—[ Alexander Hunter, Washington, D. C., June 13, 1890. 

ReEpLy.—Yours of the 15th instant has been received. The insect which you de- 
scribe as injuring your tomatoes isthe common Tomato Worm (Sphing quinque-macu- 
lata). If it should become abundant before the tomatoes have attained any size it 
will be perfectly safe and effective to spray the vines with London purple or Paris 
green in the proportions of one-quarter of a pound to 100 gallons of water. If, how- 
ever, it does not putin appearance until after the tomatoes have attained some size 
it will hardly besafe to apply these poisons. Ordinarily hand-picking is the best 
method. The large size of the worms and the marked defoliation of the vines render 
it easy to detect them. The winter is passed in the chrysalis state in the earth, and 
if care is taken during the spring plowing to collect and destroy all the chrysalids 
turned up, the numbers of larve will be greatly reduced for the coming summer.— 
{June 17, 1890. ] 


The Pear-slug on Quince. 


I send you some specimens of some kind of a ‘‘ yarmint” that I noticed for the first 
time last summer on my Quince bushes, but I destroyed them all with insect powder 
and Paris green before I thought of sending you aspecimen. To-day I was trimming 
my pear tree and discovered some of the same kind of slugs, so after consulting 
neighbor Kellogg I thought best to send you a collection and askif it is anything 
that may do much harmif let alone to propagate and multiply and replenish the 
foliage of the Quince and Pear trees. Where do they come from and where do they 
go to, and have they a father and mother, or are they natural-born orphans? They 
_ don’t look to be very ferocious; but you see how they eat the pulp or soft parts out 
of the leaves. Neighbor Kellogg and I examined the things with a magnifying glass 
and could not discover any legs, horns, hair, teeth, toe-nails, tail, ears, or topknot, 
but came to the conclusion that you would know all about them as soon as you saw 
them, and would tell us something about them, and whether it would be best to spray 
them with Paris green. J send specimens from the Pear and Quince; they all look 
alike tome. As the INSEcT LIFE comes to me regularly, I will look in it for what 
you may be pleased to say about my big catch.—_[L. W. Ewing, Oneida, Il., June 24, 
1890. 

REpLy.—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of June 24, together with 
accompanying specimens. Thespecimens sent prove to be the larve of the Pear Tree 
Slug (ELriocampa [Selandria] cerasi), one of the Saw-flies (Tenthredinid@). They are 
frequently abundant on the Pear and also known to attack Quince. The larva de- 
scends to the earth to transform, hibernating in a little cavity and producing the 
next summer a black four-winged fly. They may be destroyed by the use of helle- 
bore or slaked lime, or either of the arsenicals, Paris green or London purple. It 
would be advisable to spray your trees early as there is danger of their becoming suf- 
ficiently numerous to do much harm.—[June 27, 1890. ] 


172 


GENERAL NOTES. 
DESTRUCTIVE LOCUSIS IN MESOPOTAMIA. 


Mr. Constantine C. Metaxas, delegate to the French Société Nationale 
@Acclimation at Bagdad, publishes* an account of injurious grasshop- 
pers in the district of Irak-Arabi, of the province of Mesopotamia, in 
Turkish Asia. Since the year 1884 this region has suffered terribly 
from the ravages of two species of locusts, but it seems that a period of 
immunity began last year. One of the species is the well-known Mi- 
gratory Locust of the Old World, Acridium peregrinum, the other, not 
named, is a non-migratory species of the same family. The former 
hatches in Mesopotamia usually toward the middle of March, becomes 
winged within a month, and disappears under the influence of the tor- 
rid heat towards the middle of June. All efforts to combat this species 
were, up to 1889, frustrated to a great extent by the invasion of fresh 
swarms in April. These always come from the southeast, and would 
appear to originate in southern Persia, or in Beloochistan, or still far- 
ther east. The non-migratory species hatches later than the Acridium 
peregrinum, and becomes destructive at the time when this species dis- 
appears. 

Since the Cypriote locust machinet+t does not seem to be adapted to 
the conditions of the country, the Turkish Government ordered a whole- 
sale destruction of the egg-capsules. Every inhabitant of the cities was 
required to deliver each winter 25 kilograms of egg-capsules, and for 
every plow in the country a similar tax of 50 kilograms was imposed. 
As a consequence a lively trade in locust egg-capsules sprang up each 
winter. The poor people industriously collected the capsules and sold 
them to the richer classes at 1 or 2 centimes (one-fifth to two-fifths of a 
cent) per kilogram. An ingenious tribe of nomadic Arabs even went so 
far as to manufacture and sell artificial egg-capsules. 

Mr. Metaxas thinks that this measure, which was continued year 
after year, had a great deal to do with the cessation of the locust 
plague, but upon reading his account it appears to us that natural 
causes were much more potent in the desired result. The early part of 
the winter of 188889 was an unusually mild one. The eggs hatched 
in January and the young locusts were killed by frosts in February. 
Since the same conditions seem to have prevailed farther east, there 
were no fresh invading swarms in 1889. The soil throughout Mesopo- 
tamia contains a great deal of sulphate of lime, and the locust egg- 
capsules consequently acquire a greater hardness and consistency than 
elsewhere. Spring rains are absolutely necessary to enable the young 
locusts to break through the operculum of the capsule. The year 1889 
was an extremely dry one, no rain falling after January. and thus the 


—— 


*Revue des Sciences Naturelles Appliquées, 37, No. 12, June, 1890, pp. 584-590. 
t Mentioned by us on p. 60, Vol. II. 


173 


eggs failed to hatch, except in irrigated districts. Also, in consequence 
of the great drought and the drying up of all swamps, the birds, espe- 
cially the ‘“‘mouettes” congregated in enormous swarms on the irri- 
gated fields and speedily destroyed the young locusts. 


PHOSPHORESCENT CENTIPEDES. 


That there are luminous Myriopods has been known for many years, 
as also the fact that they occur only among the family Geophilide of 
the Chilopod Myriopoda. Both sexes are luminous, sometimes quite 
intensely so, and the luminosity spreads out over the whole ventral 
surface of the animal. If one of these Geophilids is taken up the lumi- 
nous matter communicates to the hand of the observer or to anything 
else with which the specimen comes into contact. 

There is considerable dispute regarding the origin of this phos- 
phorescent matter. According to Dr. R. Dubois it is contained in 
the epithelial cell of the digestive tube and the emission of the light 
depends on the moulting of the digestive tube. Mr. Macé, on the 
contrary, contends that the luminous matter is a glandular excretion, 
and that these glands (glandes préanales) are situated on the last two 
segments of the animal. Mr. J. Gazagnaire has satisfied himself that 
the luminous matter is secreted from glands situated on the sternal - 
and episternal plates. Upon pressure these glands secrete a yellowish, 
viscous substance, having a peculiar odor and which is highly phospho- 
rescent. 

In a more recent article (Mém. de la Soc. Zool. de France, v. iii, 1890, 
pp. 136-146) Mr. Gazagnaire reviews all previous observations on lu- 
minous Geophilids, and finds that, so far as the European fauna is con- 
cerned, luminous specimens were found only between the end of Sep- 
tember and beginning of November. The luminosity appears, there- 
fore, only at a certain epoch in the life history of these Myriopods. Fur- 
ther, in all more carefully recorded cases, luminous specimens were 
never found singly, but always in pairs or in companies of three or more 
specimens. The few and fragmentary observations that have hitherto 
been made on the mode of reproduction in these animals seem to prove 
that the fecundation of the female takes place in autumn, or just at the 
time when the luminous specimens are found, and Mr. Gazagnaire is 
thus fully justified in connecting the appearance of luminosity with the 
excitement caused by sexual instinct. 

In Algiers, Mr. Gazagnaire observed luminous specimens of Orya bar- 
barica in the month of April, and he concludes that in other countries 
and in consequence of altered climatic conditions the period of lumi- 
nosity probably differs from that observed in Europe. 


174 
FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE PARASITISM OF DATANA ANGUSII. 


Apropos to Mr. D. B. Wier’s* criticism of a previous note of mine upon 
this subject, I may state that while I did not observe caterpillars being 
driven off the tree by Tachina flies, and was very careful not to say so, 
nevertheless, I did think such was the case. 

The present season these larve have occurred in greater numbers 
than before for many years. The walnut tree, mentioned in my former 
note, has been again denuded of its foliage, not a leaf being left on its 
twigs or branches. The most critical search has failed to reveal a 
single Tachinid about this tree, nor did an examination of several 
hundred of the larve develop a single individual, with the eggs on 
its body. Another enemy to the pests entered the field, and, so far as 
could be observed, held undisputed sway. This was an Ichneumon, 
Anomalon relictum, and they were present in considerable numbers. 
The oviposition of these last parasites was frequently witnessed, but the 
parasitized host was seldom knocked or driven from the tree thereby. 
The favorite method of attack appeared to partake of the nature of still 
hunting, and, while isolated individuals were not ignored, particular 
attention seemed to be paid to those caterpillars which were bunched 
together on the trunk, in the act of moulting. From one to five of the 
Anomalons were observed abont these masses of helpless larve, each 
walking about in search of a favorable opportunity to place her egg in 
the body of the host. If the eggs had been placed at random, those 
on the outer side of the mass would have received them to the protec- 
tion of those whose bodies were nearer the center of the mass. There- 
fore, the parasites seemed to be on the watch for fresh hosts for their 
young, and would edge up to the mass, as new forms were exposed, 
and by throwing the abdomen beneath the thorax between the legs, 
they would with the rapidity of lightning thrust the ovipositor into 
the body of their victim, apparently without regard to locality. They 
did not appear to possess any great amount of courage, for when a 
larva made any movement, they quickly withdrew to a placeof greater 
safety. —F. M. WEBSTER. 


BIRD ENEMIES OF THE COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE. 


In the report of the Ornithologist, Annual Report of the Department 
of Agriculture for 1889, page 369, Dr. Merriam gives the following note: 


Further attention has been given to the bird enemies of the potato-bug, or Colo- 
rado Beetle, and a few species beside the Rose-breasted Grosbeak have been found to 
eat the pest occasionally. Among these is the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, already known 
as a valuable friend of the farmer because of its habit of feeding upon caterpillars, 
both smooth and hairy. With the Grosbeak the habit of eating potato-bugs proves 
to be fairly constant, but unfortunately the bird does not seem to be very abundant 
anywhere, and hence the resulting benefits have not been generally noticed. Some 
of our correspondents have suggested that the scarcity of this bird, and perhaps of 


* INSECT LIFE, Vol. 3, p. 26. 


175 


others, may be due to the habit of eating insects in places where Paris green has been - 
used, but after careful inquiry we find no warrant for believing such to be the case. 
We have not been able to Jearn of a single instance in which any undomesticated 
bird has been found dead in the vicinity of potato fields under circumstances pointing 
to this cause. Birds certainly exercise much judgment in selecting their food, and 
it is not probable that they would eat sickly or dying insects so long as healthy ones. 
were to be found. 


In our studies upon the Colorado Potato-beetle many years ago we 
mentioned the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, which was extremely abundant 
in various localities in the west in 1872, and we are pleased to notice 
that in Dr. Merriam’s opinion the apparent diminution in the number 
of this beautiful bird is not due to feeding upon Doryphoras which had 
been poisoned by Paris green. We also mentioned the Crow and the 
common Quail as feeders upon the beetle, and are glad to note the 
Yellow-billed Cuckoo as a new enemy to it. 


PROF. L. H. BAILEY’S SPRAYING DEVICE. 


Prof. L. H. Bailey,in Bulletin No. 18 of the Agricultural Experiment 
Station of Cornell University, has recommended the adoption of ‘a 
spraying nozzle which is no nozzle at all.” It consists simply of a de- 
vice for pinching the mouth of the hose. A string pulls a lever which 
presses an arm against the end of the tube, flattening it against a 
stationary bit of metal opposite. The device is not patented, and it is 
expected that in the form of a little brass attachment it will be offered 
for sale by seedsmen. This arrangement will answer for certain kinds 
of spraying, but it will hardly answer for the application of certain 
insecticides where experiment has shown that the finer the spray the 
more satisfactory is the result. 


SILK-WORM DISEASE IN CHINA. 


The total silk crop in China last year was 25 to 30 per cent. larger than 
the previous one, a fact which warrants the belief that the silk-worm 
disease in North China is not spreading, and that there is no necessity 
for adopting the measures for its extirpation which were in contempla- 
tion last. That the disease exists has, however, been abundantly 
proved ; but, according to the last consular report from Shanghai, ex- 
periments have shown that the Chinese silk-worms are constitutionally 
much stronger than their European congeners, and that even when the 
worms are diseased eggs may be produced, when under like cireum- 
stances it would be almost impossible to obtain them from European 
silk-worms. It is feared by experts that in districts where silk-worm 
disease spreads silk will in time cease to be produced. Meanwhile 
those who urge the necessity of preventive measures such as have been 
taken in Japan state that the quality of Chinese silk is deteriorating and 
that of Japanese is improving. In addition to the advisability of ex- 
tirpating disease by selecting the best silk-worms and securing the sur- 


176 


vival of the fittest, improvements in the method of reeling silk have 
been strongly recommended, but hitherto little or nothing has been 
done by the Chinese Government to introduce these improvements, 
which would not only benefit the people, but augment the revenue. 
The foreigners who have established filatures at Shanghai are confer- 
ring a benefit on the country generally, and it is believed that good 
‘Chinese silk properly reeled in these filatures is the best in the world.— 
Bells Messenger [London, England], August 25, 1890. 


FUMIGATING FOR SCALE INSECTS. 


The process of fumigation for the Red Scale in California seems to 
be growing in popularity. We quote the following from the proceed- 
ings of the Orange County Board of Horticulture at its meeting of 
July 30, from the correspondence of the Pacific Rural Press : 


Mr. Preble, of the Tustin district, reported that the work of Red Scale killing was 
going bravely on; that every rig for fumigation was in demand; that orchardists 
‘were each anxious to secure their turns; that a large number of groves had been com- 
pleted; that the results of the work were not entirely uniform, owing, in part, to 
inferior cyanide used. A uniform grade of this article is necessary to secure the best 
results. The Commission has opened correspondence with every known manufactur- 
ing establishment in the United States to ascertain the percentage of cyanogen indi- 
cated by each brand. 

Mr. Hamilton reported the same condition of things in his district. No compul- 
‘sion has yet been found necessary. Each grower is anxious to learn the surest and 
‘most economical method of destroying the scale. 

Mr. Keith reported a very different state of public sentiment obtained in his dis- 
trict (Anaheim). He stated that there were about fifty men in that district, the 
owners of trees badly infested with Red Scale, and that no one was willing to do any- 
thing for their destruction. Some claim that a perfect killing of every scale on every 
tree must be done, and that if the Commissioner would furnish such a remedy, then,- 
-and not till then, they would employ him to kill them. But no such remedy has yet 
been found and probably never will be. But the scale are on the trees just the same, 
-and it is only a question of time when the trees will be destroyed, and that time is 
very short. 

Others claim that they can not afford to kill the scale on account of the expense, 
unless their neighbors do the same; and so each makes excuse and nothing is done. 

The unreasonableness of the demand for a perfect remedy needs discussion. If a 
remedy were ever so perfect the application of it must necessarily be imperfect. The 
causes are various and need no discussion. The Red Scale has come and that to stay. 
‘The best that can be hoped for it is to so reduce it as to make orange growing profita- 
ble. This can be done either with spraying or with fumigation. But skillful and 
thorough work must be done, po matter which remedy is used. . 


SWARMING OF A CRICKET AND A GROUND BEETLE IN TEXAS. 


A letter, dated September 12, 1890, from Mr. G. H. Ragsdale, Gaines- 
ville, Tex., conveyed the information that a flight of crickets, accom- 
panied by a small dark beetle about a half inch in length, visited his 
locality about the 9th and 10th of the month, particularly in the cities, 
appearing to drift in an easterly direction and showing themselves 
abundantly on the west walls of buildings. A second letter, dated Sep- 


_ 


177 


tember 19, from Mr. J. Reverchon, Rose Cottage, Dallas, Tex., reported 
them to have been very numerous in Dallas, and inclosed two clippings 
from the Dallas News, both dated September 11, which showed Fort 
Worth and Waco to have been particularly infested. They were espe- 
cially attracted to the clectric lights, and in Waco the stone base of the 
city hall was black with their moving masses. It was said that there 
were enough to make several cart loads. All-night restaurants were 
compelled to close. Large quantities of the crickets having been swept 
into the gutters, both there and in Fort Worth, they produced a nau- 
seating stench. 

Under date of October 4 Mr. Ragsdale sent us specimens of the 
cricket and of the beetle in question. The cricket belongs to an un- 
determined species of Gryllus, which we have had in the collection 
some time, both from Dallas, Tex., and New Orleans, La., and the beetle 
proves to be Harpalus gravis, Lee. Our first impression was that the 
Harpalus was attracted by the great numbers of the crickets and 
was feeding upon them, but it appears that in September, 1887, we re- 
ceived the same beetle from Fort Worth, from Mr. H. C. Edrington, 
with the statement that these beetles had made their appearance in the 
same part of Texas about the same time of the year for the past two 
years in immense numbers. Mr. Edrington made no remark about the 
accompanying crickets, and the occurrence of the Harpalus remains as 
much of a mystery as the swarming of the “overflow bug” (Platynus 
maculicollis) in California. We published an account of the swarming of 
this latter insect in Fresno County in the American Naturalist for 
August, 1882, page 681. 


A PARASITE OF THE WILLOW CIMBEX. 


Among a lot of specimens recently determined for Mr. Bruner was a 
specimen of Opheltes glaucopterus, a very large and handsome Ophionid, 
which we had previously collected and which Mr. Bruner had received 
from Mr. J. M. Aldrich, of South Dakota, who observed it ovipositing 
in Cimbex americana. The interesting point of this rearing, aside from 
the fact that the Cimbex has a parasite, is that this same parasite oc- 
curs alsoin Europe and is there an enemy of Cimbex humeralis, C. femo- 
rata, and C. connata. 


ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


Nov. 6th, 1890.—Mr. Erwin F. Smith was elected a member of the society. 

Mr. Schwarz exhibited a larva of the genus Carabus with deformed maxillary palpi. 
The right palpus is normally formed except that the suture between the first and 
second joints is nearly obliterated ; the left palpus is only 3-jointed with the joints 
nearly transverse as in Calosoma. : 

Mr. Marlatt exhibited three female specimens of a species of the Tryphonid genus 
Metopius. The strikingly large and peculiar ovipositor of this species was described 
and reference was made to the literature relating to this genus from whichit appears 
that the female has never been properly characterized if indeed it has ever been de- 
scribed at all. 


12746—No. 4——4 


178 


Dr. Marx gave some additional notes on his experiments with the bite of Lathro- 
dectus but stated that the results had been wholly negative. 

Mr. Howard read a paper entitled ‘‘ The Habits of Pachyneuron,” in which he re- 
ferred to the breeding records of this genus of Chalcididz, recording twenty distinct 
rearings in North America, and made anumber of interesting deductions therefrom. 

Mr. Schwarz read a paper on the food habits of Corthylus punctatissimus. This Scoly- 
tid, previously known to infest the subterranean part of the stems of Sugar Maple sap- 
lings, was found in large numbers in the roots and subterranean stems of the common 
huckleberry, Gaylussacia resinosa, in the vicinity of Washington during September 
and October. In this connection Mr. Schwarz presented the description of a second 

North American Corthylus, C. spinifer, from semitropical Florida. 

Mr. Marlatt presented a paper on the final molting of Tenthredinid larvae, in which 
he described the molting undergone by the larva of nearly all saw-flies after full- 
growth is reached and just prior to spinning up or entering the ground to pupate, 
describing also the accompanying change of color. Reference was made to the scanty 
literature of the subject and the explanation of this molt by Cameron on the ground 
of protection. 

Mr. Townsend read a paper on the Leptid (Dipterous) genera Triptotricha Lw. and 
Agnotomyia Will. Mr. Townsend does not believe that the species of Triptotricha 
with only one front tibial spur should, without other distinguishing characters, be 
generically separated from those possessing two. 

Mr. Fernow called attention to the ravages of Gastropacha monacha, particularly in 
Bavaria, stating that it has probably been introduced in the present instance from 
Italy. 

General discussion followed on a novel method employed in Europe of collecting 
and destroying this Bombycid. 

C. L. MarRuatTT, 
kecording Secretary. 


Valitse 


Vol. Lil, No. 5.] NS ne EE Lite Ee: [issued January, 1891. 


EDITORIAL NOTE. 


In submitting for publication this number of INSEcT LIFE, which is 
devoted entirely to the minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Associa- 
tion of Economic Entomologists, held at Champaign, Ill., November 11 
to 14, 1890, we desire to state that its snbmittal for publication in this 
form is by the particular request of the association, which passed a 
resolution to that effect. The papers presented are of great and varied 
interest, the meeting was a most successful one, and, as the objects of the 
Association bear directly upon the subject to which this publication 
is devoted, we cheerfully comply with the resolution. It goes without 
Saying that the editors of InSEcT LIFE assume no responsibility for in- 
dividual views and opinions in the papers presented at the meeting. 

Number 6 of [INSEct LIFE will be published almost simultaneously 
and will similarly contain the minutes of the section or committee of 
entomology of the Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experi- 


ment Stations. 
179 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION 
QF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS, 


The association met, pursuant to adjournment from the Washington 
meeting, at Champaign, IIl., in room 6 in the State University. Meet- 
ings were held on the 11th, 12th, and 13th, four sessions in all. The fol- 
lowing officers and members were present during the meeting : 


President/2oce seca eee seee ea ert C. V. Riley, Washington, D.C. 
First vice president 2-2. 2-6 4: S. A. Forbes, Illinois. 

Second vice president........--.. A. J. Cook, Michigan. 
Secretary +ls2s-.scteess ce eee John B. Smith, New Jersey. 


J.M. Aldrich, South Dakota; W. B. Alwood, Virginia; George F. Atkinson, Alabama; 
M. H. Beckwith, Delaware ; Lawrence Bruner, Nebraska; James Fletcher, Canada; 
H. Garman, Kentucky; C. P. Gillette, lowa; F. W. Goding, Illinois; Charles A. 
Hart, Illinois; F. L. Harvey, Maine ; L. O. Howard, Washington, D. C.; John Mar- 
ten, Illinois; Herbert Osborn, Iowa; F. H. Snow, Kansas; H. E. Summers, Ten- 
nessee ; Roland Thaxter, Connecticut: F. M. Webster, Indiana; C. M. Weed, Ohio; 
C. W. Woodworth, Arkansas ; also a number of others interested attended at times 
during the meetings, giving an average attendance of twenty-one. 


MEETING OF NOVEMBER 11. 


Dr. Riley in the chair; seventeen members present. The secretary 
reported the correspondence had during the year and leading to the pro- 
gramme for the present meeting. - He also read a letter from Alda M. 
Sharp, asking membership in the association. A statement that certain 
expenses had been incurred and would necessitate an assessment was 
made and submitted for action. 


On motion of Mr. Cook, thereport was accepted, and an assessment of 


25 cents was made on each member present to pay the expenses NG 
and to be incurred. 

Mr. Forbes, from the Committee on Cooperation, presented a report 
of progress; a full report could not be presented, because there was no 
committee of the main association to confer with. Until that body 
made some change in the organization of these permanent committees, 


giving them more time and scope, they recommended that the present | 
status be retained and our organization be kept up. The committee had — 
expressed the desire to codperate, and in that respect its work was done. | 


On motion of Mr. Weed, the report was accepted as a report of pro- 
gress and the committee was continued. 
180 


| 


| 


181 


Considerabie discussion was had as to the qualification of persons to 
be elected to associate membership. Messrs. Weed, Forbes, Smith, Al- 
wood, Gillette, and Woodworth participated in this discussion. In the 
case of Dr. Packard, referred to a committee at the Washington meet- 
ing, the secretary was directed to enter his name on the list of mem)hers. 

lt was also decided that Dr. Kellicott was eligible to active member- 
ship; and, on motion of Mr, Cook, the secretary was directed to enter his 
name. 

On motion of Mr. Weed, Mr. E. W. Doran was elected as associa e 
member, having ceased since the time of his application for membership 
to hold an official position. . 

Mr. A. D. Hopkins, special agent of the West Virginia Station, was 
decided eligible to active membership, and his name was directed to be 
entered. 

Messrs. J. M. Aldrich, Brookings, 8S. Dak. ; E. V. Wilcox, assistant 
at the Ohio Station ; and C. A. Hart, assistant at the Illinois State Lab- 
oratory, were entered as members at the suggestions of Messrs. Cook, 
Weed, and Forbes respectively. 

The amendment to the constitution proposed by Mr. Forbes at the 
Washington meeting was taken up, discussed, and,on motion of Mr. 
Cook, adopted. Section 5 now reads as follows: 

Sec. 5. The annual meeting shall be held at such place and time as may be decided 
upon by the association at the previous aunual meeting, and special meetings may 
be called by a majority of the officers. Eight members shall constitute a quorum for 
the transaction of business. 

The amendment relating to the change of the title of the Association, 
proposed at the Washington meeting by Mr. Lintner was taken up, 
discussed, and laid over for future action. 

The association then adjourned. 


MEETING OF NOVEMBER 12. 


Twenty-nine persons present in the course of the session. The presi- 
dent read his annual address, as follows: 


THE OUTLOOK FOR APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY. 


GENTLEMEN: You have made it the duty of your presiding officer to 
give an annual address, a duty the less easy to perform for a new or- 
ganization than for one which has a history behind it, and not facili- 
tated by my absence in Europe at the time of your organization. 

I had thrown together a sort of résumé of the results obtained during 
the year in economic entomology, more particularly by the entomolo- 
gists of the different State stations, in the belief that this would be one 
of the most appropriate themes to present; but when I learned, from 
his circular of September 15, that Professor Forbes intended covering 
Substantially the same ground, and that it was expected of him as 


_ one of his duties as chairman of the committee on entomology of the As- 


- 


182 


sociation of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, it became — 
evident that what I might present in that direction would be substan- 
tially anticipating and repeating what we may expect and hope to hear 
from him. I will endeavor, therefore, to touch upon a few matters un- 
connected with station work. 


SOME RESULTS FROM THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT AT WASHINGTON. 


The hydroecyanic acid gas treatment against scale-insects is becoming 
more and more common in California, and has, to a certain extent, su- 
perseded the use of washes, especially against the Red Scale (Aspidiotus 
aurantit). This is largely due to the fact that recent experiments, car- 
ried on through Mr. Coquillett, have resulted in a great cheapening of 
the process. The expense has been reduced one-third, and the bulky 
machinery mentioned in my report for 1887 has been, for the most part, 
dispensed with. It has also been found that the use of the process at 
night is safer and more beneficial, in that it lessens the effect of the gas 
upon the foliage. 

The repeated importation of scale-insects from Florida into Cali- 
fornia has attracted much attention. Thespecies concerned are princi- 
pally the Purple Scale (Mytilaspis citricola), the Long Scale (M. gloverit), 
and the Chaff Scale (Parlatoria pergandei). ‘The fact that these insects 
must have been repeatedly imported into the State in past years without 
obtaining a foothold has been used as an argument against a quaran- 
tine, and a great deal of discussion on the subject has been had in the 
California papers. From my own observations in the State I am con. 
vinced that where the proper conditions of shade and moisture obtain 
there is no‘reason why these scale insects should not get a foothold, but 
that they will probably die out in the hotter, drier, and less shaded 
localities. An agent who was sent to Pomona to investigate certain — 
newly planted orange groves of Florida trees found that while the trees 
were planted a year previously and had been dipped according to cus- 
tom there in a caustic solution, every tree examined by him bore a few 
specimens of the purple scale. The excitement on this subject in Cali- 
fornia has been fostered by the claims of rival nurserymen engaged 
either in the importation of Florida stock or dealing in varieties grown 
at home, and from such contrary claims from persons prejudiced by 
their business interests it is difficult to extract the truth. <A rigid quar- 
antine not absolutely prohibitive were wisest, for great injustice might 
be worked by absolutely prohibitive restrictions. Careful inspection 
and thorough treatment, if they could be guarantied, would prove an — 
effective safeguard, but it were unsafe to trust to them without a rigid 
quarantine. 

I have commenced a series of experiments upon the Black Scale (Le- 
canium olec), a species which, ordinarily occurring upon the Olive, has 
long damaged citrus fruits in California. The horticulturist of the Wis- 
consin Station, Mr. E. 8. Goff, has modified the Nixon pump by adding © 


a 


183 


a tube so that kerosene may be drawn from one receptacle and a mix- 
ture of soap and water from another, thus forming a mechanical mixture 
in the act of spraying. This modification, at the request of Professor 
Henry, I have had tried in this series of experiments, and although it 
is too early to state the results, it may be said that so little time and 
labor are required in preparing a stable emulsion that this mechanical 
substitute will probably not come into general use. In this connection 
it may be observed that the formule recommended by some of our most 
voluminous writers are very misleading, and are calculated to produce 
only a mechanical mixture more or less unstable. The use of kerosene 
temporarily combined with water or soapsuds by mechanical means 
dates from many years back; it was a favorite remedy of my friend 
Thomas Meehan, who urged it in 1871 in the Gardener’s Monthly ; it was 
experimented with by others, and I used it successfully in 1872 against 
an undescribed Lecanium on Austrian pine, as also against Aphides on 
the place of Mr. Julius Pitman, of St. Louis, and in 1874 and 1875 
against the congregated young of the Rocky Mountain locust. But 
the true and stable kerosene emulsion, which now forms one of the 
most satisfactory and widely used insecticides, and which requires two 
parts of the oil to one of the emulsifying agent, violently churned until 
a stable, butter-like emulsion results, was the outgrowth of my efforts 
in the investigation of the Cotton Worm, the milk having been first sug- 
gested in 1878 by the late Dr. W. S. Baruard while working at Selma, 
Ala., and the most satisfactory formula in 1880, from experiments which 
I had continued over two years by Mr. H. G. Hubbard on orange trees. 


A locust outbreak of some interest has occurred in parts cf Idaho and 
Utah and has been investigated by Mr. Bruner, the Nebraska agent of 
the Division. Thespecies involved proved to be Camnula pellucida, which 
has overrun the strip of country 140 miles in length by from 15 to 30 
in width, commencing at a point about 30 miles westward of Soldier, 
Idaho, and extending east as far as East River and Birch Creek. The 
people in these sections are quite willing to do whatever can be done to 
destroy these insects ; but theyneed instruction. Thecountry has been 
largely settled since the publication of the early reports of the U. S. 
Entomological Commission and the new settlers lack experience in deal- 


‘ing with locusts; for fifteen years make great changes in the rapidly 


—_—: 


growing West. [I have, therefore, in preparation a bulletin treating of 
the several species of locusts which are responsible for these frequent 
scares and which will include, at the same time, a summary of the prac- 
tical portions of the earlier reports of the Entomological Commission on 
Caloptenus spretus, long since out of print. 


The Army Worm proved injurious in several localities during the past 
year, particularly in Maryland and Indiana. The Maryland occurrence 
is of considerable interest, owing to the fact that the preceding year 
was one of unusual precipitation throughout the Atlantic States, though 
with some remarkable local exceptions. Indeed one of the parties who 


184 


suffered from the Army Worm in Maryland reported the previous sum- 
mer as dry in his locality, and these local outbreaks, if we could get at 
all the circumstances, would doubtless be found not to conflict with the 
general laws governing Army Worm increase, which I have stated in — 
the third report of the U. S. Entomological Commission, and were pro- 
moted by the extremely mild winter, which promoted the constant 
growth and development of the hibernating larve. 


The notices in INSECT LIFE and the Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 
of the damage caused by a new bark-louse to the gardens of Alexandria, 
Egypt, have attracted considerable attention and Mr. J. W. Douglas 
has described the new depredator as Crossotosoma cegyptiacum. A 
study of Mr. Douglas’s description and figures has convinced me that 
this insect is an Jcerya and that its spread is greatly to be feared, judg- 
ing from our experience with I. purchasi. Moreover, three additional 
species of this genus have been brought to my notice during the year; 
one occurring in Mexico on grapevine, another in Key West, Fla., upon 
roses and other garden plants, and the third in the island of Montser- 
rat, West Indies, upon the cocoa palm, the banana, and a species of 
Chrysophyllum. These interesting and injurious insects have been in- 
vestigated so far as could be done by correspondence, and descriptions, 
with figures, will be published in the forthcoming number of INSECT 
LIFE. 


The sugar-beet industry, after a quarter of a century’s vicissitude, has 
begun a substantial and permanent growth, especially in Nebraska. 
It has been found that the crop is speedily attacked by insects, and 
Mr. Bruner, being advantageously located for work of this kind, has 
during the past summer paid some attention to the insect enemies of 
this crop and has already a list of sixty-four species, most of them being 
leaf-eaters and such as are commonly tound upon various allied succu- 
lent plants—one of the worst being the Garden Web-worm (Hurycreon 
rantalis). 


THE HOP PHORODON. 


One of the most interesting facts of the year has been the occurrence 
of the Hop Fly (Phorodon humult) in the extreme Northwest, especially 
in Oregon and Washington, so soon after my note of warning as to the 
danger of its introduction to the hop fields of that section, and the 
need of precautionary measures that might prevent such a calamity. 
The soil and climate of southern Oregon seem particularly adapted to 
the growth of the Hop, as it is already the leading crop in Lane, 
Marion, Polk, and other counties. 

There can be no doubt about the species, because Mr. F. L. Wash- 
burn, the entomologist of the experiment station, has given it some 
attention, and I have also received specimens from him and from Mr. 
A. Todd, of Eugene, Oregon, as also from Mr. Giles Farmin and Mr. 
G. M. Stratton, of Puyallup, Wash. 


185 


Mr. Washburn, from the fact that it has been noticed that hops— 
were sometimes not so much affected in the immediate vicinity of plum 
trees as some distance away, and from the further fact that some of the 
growers reported that they never saw the insect on the Plum, indicates 
that there must be a different state of affairs in Oregon, so far as the 
life-cycle of the insect is concerned, from that which prevails in the 
Eastern States and in Europe. Absolute and experimental proof of 
facts obtained after long and persistent investigation should never be 
lightly questioned. It is by no means an uncommon experience that 
hop plants in the immediate vicinity of plum trees are not more affected 
than, or as much as, others at a distance, and this may depend on the 
direction of the wind or on local circumstances, or on the variety of 
plum, whether wild or cultivated. I have examined in vain certain 
cultivated plum trees for evidence of Phorodon, whereas I have invari- 
ably found it upon other varieties in the same vicinity. Phorodon 
humuli, in common with all other Aphidids, preferably chooses, when 
migrating, certain genial days, and often fills the air, flying great dis- 
tances. In perfectly calm weather the migrants settle almost every- 
where, but they are easily affected by the least breeze and are wafted 
in different directions. The invasion of a hop-yard may be from plum 
trees miles away to windward, and we may depend upon it that the 
species will migrate to and from Prunus in the Northwest as it does in 
the East. 


PHYLLOXERA. 


The Grape Phylloxera has continued to attract the attention not 
only of most European Governments but also of those ot Australia and 
New Zealand. It continues its spread in France, having at last invaded 
the more valuable champagne districts. Thelast report of the Superior 
Phylloxera Commission of that country shows that about 240,000 acres 
have undergone defensive measures, submersion being employed in 
72,000, bisulphide of carbon in 145,000, and sulphocarbonate of potas- 
sium in 23,000. The work is practically at an end in such Departments 
as Hérault, Gard, and Gironde, where the American resistant vines have 
most effectually been used; while the wine growers of Algeria, Spain, 
Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Austria, and Switzerland are all battling 
against it, and are all more or less aided by their respective govern- 
ments. 

The advent of the insect in New Zealand has been the cause of much 
writing and of much legislation there, and the government has been 
quite anxious to get the best and latest information on the subject. 
There is very little that is available in the way of published experience 
in this country, as my Missouri reports are now very Gifficult to obtain. 
I would repeat here in substance what I have recently written to Mr. 
I’. D. Bell, agent-general at London for New Zealand, because the de- 
mand for the information is continuous, and our own people are, to a 
great extent, unfamiliar with the facts. 


186 


During the more than twenty years’ struggle in France against the — 
Species innumerable remedies have been proposed, most of which have ~ 
proved to be absolutely valueless. A few measures have been devised, — 
however, which, under proper conditions, give fairly satisfactory re- 
sults. These consist in (1) methods which avoid the necessity of direct 
treatment, comprising the use of American stocks and planting in 
sandy soils; (2) the employment of insecticides (bisulphide of carbon, 
sulphocarbonate of potassium, and the kerosene emulsion); and (3) 
submersion. 

It was early found in the history of this Phylloxera that most of the 
cultivated varieties of American grapevines, as also the wild species, 
resisted, or were littie subject to, the attacks of the root form (radiciéola) 
of the Phylloxera, although the leaf gall form (gallicola), which in point 
of fact does little if any permanent damage, occurs in greater numbers 
on many of our wild and cultivated sorts than on the Huropean grape- — 
vines, which are all derived from the single species, Vitis vinifera, and — 
which are so exceedingly subject to the attacks of the rootform. This 
fact was first noticed in France by M. Laliman, of Bordeaux, and later 
by Gaston Bazille, of Montpellier, and was independently proved on a 
more extended scale by my earlier investigations in the United States. 
The use of American stocks upon which to cultivate the suspectible — 
European varieties has resulted in an enormous trade in certain Ameri- — 
can seeds and cuttings and now supersedes all other methods against — 
the insect. 

It was my privilege and pleasure to spend a week in August, 1889, 
among the world-renowned Médoc and Sauterne vineyards of the Bor- 
deaux district in France. Here, by virtue of the rich alluvial soil and 
the ease with which the chief vineyards can be submerged, the Phyllox- — 
era has made slower head way, and the opposition to the use of American — 
resistant stocks has been greatest. Yet they have finally vanquished 
prejudice and are, either from necessity or choice, rapidly coming into ~ 
general use. When I say choice, I mean that even where the French 
vines yet do well and the Phylloxera is kept in subjection by other means 
it is found that great vigor of growth and increase in healthfulness and 
yield of fruit result at once from the use of American stocks. 

Without going into a lengthy discussion of the subject of wild Ameri- 
can species, those of practical importance to the grape-grower are the 
following: Vitis estivalis, V. riparia, and V. labrusca. 

The varieties derived from V. estivalis are of value for their fruit as 
well as for their resistant qualities, and, being easily propagated from 
cuttings, they are very often used in France as stocks. The most im- 
portant varieties are Jacquez, Herbemont, Black July, and Cunning- 
ham. . 

The varieties of Vitis riparia, both wild and cultivated, are, on ac- — 
count of their special fitness, almost exclusively employed in France as _ 
resistant stocks, for which they easily take first rank. The varieties — 


187 


used are, first, the wild forms; and, second, the cultivated varieties. 
Solonis, Clinton, and Taylor. Of the cultivated varieties, the Clinton 
was one of the first vines tried for this purpose and has been extensively 
used with fair satisfaction. The Solonis now ranks above it, but is 
valueless for any other purpose on account of the acidity of its grapes. 
In California, the Lenoir, Herbemont, and Elvira have been used, but 
late experience shows that the wild Riparia is most satisfactory there, 
as it isin France. 

The different varieties of Vitis labrusca are less resistant to the Phyl- 
loxera than those above mentioned. Certain varieties have, however, 
been grown successfully in France, and of these the Concord has given 
much the best results; but others, Isabella and Catawba for example, 
succumb there to the root-louse, as indeed they do in many sections of 
this country. 

Of the many valuable hybrids obtained from the American species of 
Vitis which are serviceable as stocks, the more important are the Elvira, 
Noah, and Viala. The lastnamed, perhaps of all the resistant varieties, 
gives the greatest percentage of successful grafts, and is admirably 
adapted for grafting on cuttings. 

Early in the study of the subject it was found that the nature of the 
soil has a very marked influence on the success of the different stocks. 
The subject has now been quite fully investigated in France, and the 
latest researches are formulated by the experimental school at Mont- 
pellier in the statement quoted below, which will beof interest as giving 
the various classes of soils, together with the American vines best 
adapted to each. 


(1) New, deep, fertile soils: Riparia (tomentous and glabrous), Jacquez,-Solonis, 
Viala, Taylor, and Cunningham. 

(2) Deep soils, somewhat strong, not wet: Jacquez, Riparia, Solonis, Cunningham, 
Viala, Taylor. 

(3) Deep soils of medium consistency, new and not dry in summer: Riparia, Jac- 
quez, Solonis, Viala, Taylor, Black July. 

(4) Light pebbly soils, deep, well drained, and not too dry in summer: Jacquez, Ri- 
paria (wild), Taylor, Rupestris. 

(5) Calcareous soils, with subsoil shallow or granitic: Solonis, Rupestris. 

(6) Argillaceous soils, white or gray: Cunningham. 

(7) Argillaceous soils, deep and very wet: J. cinerea. 

(8) Deep, sandy, fertile soils: Riparia (wild), Solonis, Jacquez, Cunningham, Black 
July, Rupestris. 

(9) Light pebbly soils, dry and barren: Rupestris, York, Madeira, Riparia (wild). 

(10) Deep soils, with a tufa base and salt lands: Solonis. 

(11) Soils formed of débris of tufa, but sufficiently deep: Taylor. 

(12) Ferruginous soils, containing red pebbles of silicia, deep and somewhat strong, 
well drained, but freshin summer. All the varieties indicated, and in addition: 
Herbemont, Clinton, Cynthiana, Marion, Concord, Herman. 


188 


The accompanying table from the last report of the Superior Phyl- : 
loxera Commission indicates, better than words can tell, the steady — 
growth in the use of American vines. 


American 
Years. vines peur 
covered. ALS 
Acres 

PSB Ne eek aciceic ns ldialeristelcicinee cinco 22, 000 17 j 
SSO eee ao co eee oe ere Oe cee 42, 700 22 
71S: 6 ani ek Eee, Ree AD ald Ve aah rg 0 70, 000 28 
PRBS ole” She css Guin bose weaesce es 131, 909 34 
WSS 5io53\Scoretejree tee ioaiele caro meicieloenieisiese 188, 200 34 
TE f(a Rape BANU Men cats SPB LAE ay bo 276, 900 37 
AGT ee Sa Mae en fh ee eee 413, 700 38 
US 8S ss we a aek mie sere aaye Some ae eee 536, 900 43 
geo ees Pe ty Alot ee Se PA be | 719, 500 44 


On the subject of direct remedies the value of the kerosene emulsion 
for this purpose has not been properly realized in France, because of 
the relatively high price of petroleum in her grape-growing Départe- 
ments. A series of experiments which I made in 1883 showed conclu- 
sively its great value for this purpose, as it not only destroys the in- 
sect in all stages, but also stimulates root growth. 

In this connection I have recently had a series of experiments made 
through Mr. Albert Koebele’s agency, in the Sonoma Valley, California, 
to ascertain the effect upon the Phylloxera of certain of the resin 
washes which proved so valuable when used against the Fluted and 
other scale-insects. The results have been quite encouraging and the 
experiments have already shown that in the use of those washes we 
have a valuable addition to the underground remedies. Soaps were 
made by the use of bicarbonate of soda, sal soda, and caustic soda, 
each mixed with resin. In the earlier experiments the earth was re- 
moved about the base of the vine toa depth of 6 inches and for a diam- 
eter of 4 feet. Ten gallons of the mixture were poured into each hole 
and found to penetrate from 12 to 16 inches or from 18 to 22 inches 
from the original surface of the ground. Most of the insects, as also 
the eggs, were destroyed to a depth of 16 inches. In the later experi- 
ments the holes were made only about 2 feet in diameter, and nearly, if 
not quite, the same results were obtained with half the amount, or 5 
gallons of the mixture. The plan, which I have previously adopted for — 
the application of insecticides to underground insects, of washing the 
mixture in with pure water was tried with good success. Soon after 
the first application 5 gallons of water were added, and 5 gallons more 
the following day. This would indicate that in the spring, when rains. 
are frequent (occurring almost every day) in the Sonoma Valley, only a 
small amount of the mixture need be applied, and the rains will do the 
rest, aS examination has shown that up to acertain point each applica- 
tion of water intensifies and extends the action of the original insecti- 
cide. The best soap was made with bicarbonate of soda, but the re- 


189 


sults of that made with caustic soda are so little inferior, while the 
price is so much less, that the caustic soda and resin soap mixture is the 
one which I would recommend. The formula which was found prefer- 
able is as follows: 


Pounds. 
Catstic Seda 71 per Celt.) \.-...).6 cee -k ace es - eb tee see. 5 
ROH ses ee ceee oe Seo PS Soe SAI SOA? Sees, Sie ee 40 


Water to make 50 gallons. 


The soda should be dissolved, over a fire, in 4 gallons of water, then 
the resin should be added and dissolved. After this the required water 
- ean be added slowly, while boiling, to make the 50 gallons of the com- 
pound. To this water may be added at the rate of 9 gallons for 1, 
making 500 gallons of the dilute compound, sufficient for one hundred 
large vines, at a cost of only 84 cents, or less than a cent a vine. 

Considering the effective way in which the ravaged vineyards of 
France have been, and are being, redeemed by the use of resistant 
American stocks, and considering the efficacy of some of the direct 
remedies discovered, it is passing strange that no disposition has ever 
been made of the premium of 300,000 francs offered in the early history 
of the trouble by the French Government. It can not be awarded to 
any one person, but should be distributed among those whose labors 
and discoveries resulted in the several feasible and satisfactory methods 
of coping with the insect. 


INTRODUCTION OF PARASITES AND PREDACEOUS SPECIES. 


The success which has attended the introduction from Australia of 
Vedalia cardinalis has been phenomenal. Indeed, few who have not 
kept in knowledge of the reports and the actual condition of things can 
appreciate the remarkable character of the results, not only because 
of the brief period required therefor, but because of the thoroughness 
of the work of the little ladybird and the moral and financial benefit to 
orange growers which have followed in its wake. 

The striking success of the experiment has served to fix attention, 
not only of entomologists, but of fruit growers and farmers, to this — 
mode of dealing with injurious insects, and there is no question but 
that the cases in which the experiment may be more or less success- 
fully repeated are numerous. Let us hope, therefore, that the moral 
effect will be as great as its practical effect in opening up means and 
ways 1n the future, as it should serve to remove the disposition to de- 
ride any expenditure having such results for its object. Many fears 
have been expressed lest after sweeping off the Icerya the Vedalia, be. 
ing so far as we now know confined to that species for food, should 
perish and that the Icerya, preserved in some restricted places undis- 
covered by its enemy, would again multiply and become destructive. 


190 


I firmly believe what I wrotein my last annual report as United States 
Entomolgist, viz: 

We may hardly hope, however, that the last chapter in the story is written. On 
the contrary, it is more than probable, and in fact we strongly anticipate that the 
Icerya will partially recuperate; that the Vedalia will, after its first victorious 
spread, gradually decrease for lack of food, and that the remnants of the Fluted 
Scale will in the interim multiply and spread again. This contest between the 
plant-feeder and its deadliest enemy will go on with alternate fluctuations in the 
supremacy of either, varying from year to year according to locality or conditions; 
but there is no reason to doubt that the Vedalia will continue substantially victori- 
ous, and that the power for serious harm, such as the Icerya has done in the past, has 
been forever destroyed. We have learned, also, that it will always be easy to secure 
new colonizations of the Vedalia where such may prove necessary, or even new im- 
portations should these become desirable. 

During the year I have endeavored to return the favors received 
from Australia and New Zealand by sending there some of the natural 
enemies of the Codling Moth, and from last accounts, though jeopard- 
ized by the action of the custom-house authorities, the experiment prom- 
ised success so far as a species of Raphidia from California is con- 
cerned. Ihave also endeavored to introduce some of the parasites which 
attack the Hessian Fly in Europe, and which do not yet occur in this 
country. These efforts have been made by correspondence, for you will 
be surprised to learn that the restrictive clause in the appropriations to 
the Department of Agriculture for entomological work, which limits 
traveling expenses to the United States, is still maintained in the face 
of the Vedalia experience, where by the expenditure of $1,500 many 
millions were saved. The maintenance of this restricting clause in the 
last appropriation bill, under these circumstances, is a travesty on leg- 
islative wisdem, and all the more remarkable because done by the Sen- 
ate in opposition to the House and the recommendations of both the 
Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. 

While there is much to be done in this direction in future I can not 
let this occasion pass without giving a note of warning. Success will 
only come in any particular case when exact knowledge is first obtained 
and the most thorough scientific methods are then adopted; and we 
can not too severely condemn everything that savors of bunkum and 
ignorance. During the year the press of the country has prominently 
heralded the fact that a gentleman from San Francisco, especially 


charged to study certain entomological matters in the East, found, 


while in Washington, the Two-spotted Ladybird (Coccinella bipunctata) 
feeding on ‘the Aphis” right under the windows of the Division of 
Entomology of the Department of Agriculture, the inference intended 
being that the entomologist and his assistants were ignorant of the cir- 
cumstance. Indeed a writer in one of the California papers of recent 
date announced this discovery under the sensational heading ‘Another 
good bug—the Woolly Aphis has found its Sedan.” How supremely 
ridiculous this sort of thing appears to the well-informed entomologist 


J 
¥ 
Ba 
Z 
. 
¥ 


——- 


ase 


ot 


I need not tell you, but it may be well for the information of the public - 
to say (as I have not alluded to the matter elsewhere) that a number 
of differeut species of ladybirds feed upon the Woolly Aphis and that 
it is a rule with the insects of this family not to be select as to the 
particular Aphid they prey upon. Hippodamia convergens (the species 
referred to as the Sedan of the Woolly Aphis) feeds over nearly the 
whole extent of the United States upon this particular Schizoneura, 
among others, and the fact that both the species referred to feed upon 
various aphides is well known. That one of the species is also com- 
mon upon the Pacific coast and that its being carried there from the 
East is like “carrying coals to Newcastle” may not, however, be so 
generally known. All such efforts as this carried on by persons unfit, 
from want of any special knowledge, for the mission, must invariably 
do harm, not only because of the negative results which follow, but 
because of the lack of confidence in such work which they will engen- 
der in the minds of our legislators. 

I should not think of holding any one responsible for newspaper par- 
agraphs, but in this case the party has substantially confirmed them 
in statements over his own name and in interviews which (as announced) 
he has himself revised. 


METHOD OF USING BISUI.PHIDE OF CARBON AGAINST GRAIN WEEVILS. 


The use of bisulphide of carbon against different insects attacking 
stored grain has greatly increased in this country since I first recom- 
mended it some thirteen years ago.* There is, however, considerable 
diversity in the method of using it and the recommendations of some of 
our writers have evidently been made with no sense of the fact that: the 
fumes are heavier than air and descend rather than ascend. Prof. A. 
H. Church in a recent number of the Kew Bulletin records that he found 
that 14 pounds of the bisulphide is enough to each ton of grain. He 
advises that it be applied in the following way: 

A ball of tow is tied to a stick of such a length that it can reach the 
middie of the vessel containing the grain. The tow receives the charge 
of bisulphide, like a sponge, and is then at once plunged into the ves. 
sel and left there, the mouth or opening of the vessel then being tightly 
closed. When necessary, the stick may be withdrawn and the charge 
(of 1 ounce to 100 pounds of grain) may be renewed. 

The action of carbon bisulphide lasts in ordinary cases six weeks, 
after which period a fresh charge is required. The bisulphide does no 
harm to the grain as regards its color, smell, or cooking properties and 
the germinating power of most seeds is not appreciably affected, pro- 
vided that not too much is used, nor its action continued for too long a 
period. 


* 


* Farmers Review (Chicago), March, 1879. 


so cine 


192 


The assistant director of agriculture of Burmah is reported to have — 
used naphthaline instead of bisulphide in the following way, but [should — 
not expect anything like as good results from the naphthaline as from 
the bisulphide : 

A hollow bamboo cylinder 14 inches in diameter with a stick fitted 
into the cavity is pushed down to the bottom of the bin, the stick is 
then withdrawn and afew teapoonfuls of naphthalin powder is poured 
into the bamboo, which is then drawn out leaving the naphthalin at 
the bottom of the bin. Ifthe bins are very large this should be done 
once to every 10 feet square and the application should be repeated 
every fifteen or twenty days. 


INSECTICIDE MACHINERY. 


A profitable hour might be devoted to the subject of insecticide ma- 
chinery, but I must content myself with a few words. Ata trial ofsuch 
machinery at the Mareil-Marly vineyards during the late Paris Expo- 
sition I had an excellent opportunity of witnessing the latest advances 
made in France in this direction, and it was extremely gratifying to 
note that, with whatever modification of the power employed (and many 
of the machines were very ingenious), all other forms of spraying tip had 
been abandoned for vineyard purposes in favor of modifications of the 
Riley or Cyclone nozzle. The superiority for most practical purposes of 
the portable knapsack pumps of V. Vermorel, of Viilefranche (Rhoéne), 
France, was sufficiently evident. Mr. Vermorel has indentified himself 
with the regeneration and improvement of French grape culture in many 
directions, and is, withal, an enthusiastic student of insect life. I spent 
a very profitable day with him last year, both at the factory and at his 
home, where he has established a virtual experiment station in the 
midst of a fine vineyard on American roots, and with every facility for 
various fields of investigations, none of which are deemed more impor- 
tant than the work in entomology, for he fully realizes how much there 
is yet to learn of some of the commonest insects destructive to the vine 
even in an old country like France. But in no direction has he accom- 
plished as much good as in his work with insecticide and fungicide ma- 
chinery. His sprayer with independent pump, his diaphragm pump— 
L’Eclair —and his reservoir with suction and force pump are all admira- 
bly adapted for the purpose they were invented for and may be obtained 
in France at a cost from $5 to $7 which is tripled before reaching this 
country, thanks to our present tariff system. 

The last number of the Journal of Mycology, the serial publication 
of the Division of Vegetable Pathology of the Department of Agri- 
culture, gives full description, with figures, of a knapsack spraying 
apparatus, for which the special merit claimed is cheapness, and which 
is named the Galloway Sprayer. 

The combination of a suction and a force pump with knapsack reser- 
voir has been frequently made in France, as illustrated by the appara- 


193 


tus styled the ‘‘ Cyclone” of Vermorel; the Japy, Vigeroux, Nougés | 
and Perrin sprayers, and the sprayer of the society ‘‘ L’Avenir Viti- 
cole.” A number of pumps manufactured in this country of this style 
were mentioned or described in the Fourth Report of the U.S. Ento- 
mologicai Commission. These, in general, are much inferior to the 
French pumps named, which are, however, modeled after those earlier 
and cruder forms. There are a host of other French knapsack spray- 
ing machines which differ from those mentioned, by propelling the 
liquid by means either of air pumps, diaphragm pumps, or devices in 
which the pump is attached to the reservoir by means of a rubber hose. 

In 1888 Mr. Adam Weaber, of Vineland, N. J., brought out the 
Eureka sprayer, a very serviceable knapsack pump modeled after the 
French machines. The French sprayers will cost, including duty, 
shipping, etc., from $18 to $25; the Weaber sprayer is sold for $21, 
which is but little more than the cost of manufacture. Professor Gallo- 
way’s machine is sold for $14, or from one-fourth to one-third less than 
the Weaber or the French sprayers. ’ 

In the first announcement of this pump in No. I, vol. 6, of the pub- 
lication cited, and in the later full description, no statement is made 
of the indebtedness of the inventor to these older machines, except in 
the case of the original description of the lance and nozzle (op. cit. vol. 
5, No. IL), where credit is given. This naturally gives the impression 
that the apparatus is novel in many or all its features. 

When compared with the French machines the following facts be- 
come apparent: 

1. The reservoir is practically identical with that of the Vermorel, 
Japy, and other French machines, and the opening tor introducing the 
liquid with strainer and lid presents no new features. 

2. The pump is an ordinary double cylinder (or hollow piston) force 
pump; the hollow piston furnishing an air chamber which causes the 
liquid to be forced out in a continuous stream. 

3. The lance and nozzle combination consists of the Riley nozzle fit- 
ted to a lance and provided with a degorging apparatus, which also 
acts as a stop cock model exactly after Raveneau’s apparatus, and is 
practically the same as the Japy degorger and stop cock, except that 

the action is reserved. In the latter (see INSECT LIFE, vol. 1, p. 265, 
fig. 61) the spring normally closes the discharge orifice, and in the for- 
mer the orifice is normally open and is closed by the action of a lever in 
the spring. 

That this modification of the foreign knapsack sprayers will prove a 
serviceable one for vineyard work, and by reason of its cheapness and 
availability come into general use, I have little doubt. 


STRAWSON’s AIR-POWER DISTRIBUTOR. 


__ A new and distinct type of insecticide machine, the invertion of Mr. 
G. F. Strawson, Newbury, Berks, England, has attracted no little at- 
d 15738—No. 5 2 

; 


194 


tention and has received numerous awards during the past two years at 
various agricultural shows in England, and has been very favorably — 
noticed and recommended by competent judges. It was shown at the 
late Paris Exposition and was thoroughly tested before a select jury, — 
from which it received the highest praise and was awarded a gold — 
medal. IL had occasion to study it thoroughly not only at Paris but at 
the Royal Show at Windsor, and am under obligations to the inventor — 
for courtesies and facilities afforded. 

In common with all the heavier and more expensive machines, it will — 
have to contend with the more popular and less expensive portable ma- — 
chines. It has many advantages in the control of the volume and char- — 
acter of what it disseminates ; and with some modifications and adapta- 
tions for nether spraying, it would prove extremely serviceable in ex- 
tensive fields of any crop that needs such spray and where the rows are 
relatively straight and the plants low. The principle also is a good one, 
and applicable, with modifications, to many other uses. ) 

The machine is called the *‘ Strawsonizer,” and is a pneumatic or air- | 
blast distributor, and may be adapted to a variety of uses, such as — 
broadcast sowing of grains, distribution of fertilizers or of disinfect- — 
ants in cities, and of dry or liquid insecticides. f 

The machine is light, simple in construction, and easily operated by 
one man, the larger sizes being drawn by one horse and the smaller by 
hand power. It is constructed largely of wood, and is mounted on two 
iron wheels. The distributing power is obtained by a blast of air pro- 
duced by a revolving fan worked by the traveling wheels of the ma- 
chine. : 

The essential part consists of a suitable receptacle or hopper, either 
for liquid or dry substances, from which the material is fed automat- 
ically and regularly to the blast generated by the revolving fan, the 
whole operated by suitable gearing. A receptacle for either dry or’ 
liquid material can be employed in connection with suitable nozzles or 
deflecting devices on all the machines, so that with practically one ap- 
paratus all the kinds of work indicated above can be accomplished. 

For solids a metal spreader is used, while for liquids nozzles of the 
direct discharge type, but variously arranged to suit different require- 
ments, are employed. 

Very uniform and rapid work may be done with this machine in broad- 
cast sowing of wheat, oats, and smaller seeds. These are distributed 
with great regularity over a track 18 to 20 feet wide, giving a rate of 
30 to 40 acres per day. It is especially serviceable as a distributor of 
fertilizers (phosphates, nitrate of soda, lime, etc.), and all insecticide 
powders, which latter may frequently be applied in connection with the 
former substances. | 

Liquid insecticides are distributed broadcast at a rate of from 1 gal-— 
lon upwards per acre, and by the action of the powerful blast of air are 
broken up into a fine mist, which spreads uniformly to a width of 20: 


195 


feet. Nozzles for upright or lateral spraying would adapt the machine 
for work in hop-fields or orchards. 

A patent for the apparatus has recently been taken out in this coun- 
try, but its manufacture here has not so far been inaugurated. 

The one-horse power machine for broadcasting grains, fertilizers, and 
either solid or liquid insecticides with suitable receptacles and nozzles 
is retailed in England for £30 sterling, or $150. If fitted with special 
nozzles for vertical work £2 extra are charged. Hand-power machines 
are sold for £12 and £14. These prices would be even greater in this 
country, and would doubtless interfere with its adoption were is not 
that it combines the other advantages indicated. 


INTERNATIONAL INTERESTS. 


With the constantly increasing facilities for intercommunication be- 
tween different parts of the globe the results obtained and experiences 
had in one part are soon available for the rest of the world. Thus 
France has more than repaid the United States for the good—however 
vast and important—that has resulted to her by the use of American 
resistant stocks, Her experience with these American vines has reacted 
beneficially upon our own viticulture in many directions, but particu- 
larly in the great advance which her sons have made in insecticides and 
fungicides and in convenient, portable insecticides, and fungicide appli- 
ances. It has often been said of the French that they are not an orig- 
inating people; however that may be, they are very quick at adopting 
and improving ideas and discoveries once brought to their notice, and 
no nation is more appreciative of the immense practical benefits to be 
received by the adoption of the most scientific methods. In fact no na- 
tion has given greater Government incentive to the pursuit of science 
in its bearings upon the welfare of mankind, and we may study with 
profit what she has of late years done in our own line. 

I had a delightful visit last August from Mr. John West, who came to 
this country as a delegate from Victoria to ascertain all he could of our 
methods; also from Mr. W. Catton Gasby, of Adelaide, who came to 
this country in a similar capacity. Economic entomology in their part 
of the world is extremely interesting to us; for while the seasons are 
reversed aS compared with ours many of the same injurious insects 
occur in both countries. Thus I was glad to get perfect confirmation 
from Mr. West of the fact that the Northern Spy and the Winter Majetin 
are found to protect the apples grafted upon them from the Woolly 
Aphis. A great deal has been published of late years in the New Zea- 
land and Australian papers on “ blight proof” apple stock, and they 
have had an important experience, the outcome of sore necessity, for 
Schizoneura lanigera has there been one of the most serious drawbacks 

to apple culture. 

There can be no question but that this experience will prove of value 
_ to our apple-growers wherever these varieties grow well and the woolly 


196 


aphis abounds. The use as stocks of such varieties as enjoy immunity 
from the Woolly Aphis has occurred to our own people, but no such ex- 
tended experience has been had in regard to any particular resistant 


varieties. Some of our injurious insects are often worse in Australia — 


than they are with us, and we may expect to reap the benefit of the ex- 
perience had there with regard tothem. This will doubtless be true 
not only of the Codling Moth but of their peach aphis, which, from all 
that I can learn, is substantially the same species as that which does so 
much damage in our lighter soils along the Atlantic coast, and which 
Dr. Erwin F. Smith, of the Division of Mycology of the Department at 
Washington, has carefully studied lately and described in great detail 
as anew species under the name of Aphis persice-niger, but which I 
have reason to believe is the Aphis prunicola of Kaltenbach. 

The Italians have been making a very interesting fight against an 
insect which has threatened their very important and extensive silk in- 
dustry, by its attacks upon the mulberry tree. This insect was de- 
scribed by Targioni Tozzetti in 1885 as Diaspis pentagona. It occurs 
upon a number of different trees, among them the paper mulberry, the 
spindle tree, the peach, the cherry, laurel, and certain willows, as well 


as upon the cultivated white mulberry, and it would seem that its taste — 


for the latter tree is one recently acquired, judging from the late date 
at which the habit has attracted attention. The energetic director 
of the entomological experiment station at Florence investigated the 
pest in 1886 and recommended the use of mechanical means at the time 
of hatching of the young, viz, the scrubbing of the trunks and iarger 


dso diel 


branches with stiff brushes and a subsequent application of a mixture ~ 


of soap and water with 4 or 5 per cent. of kerosene. 


Professor Franceschini, the editor of the Rivistade Bacchicoltura, rec. ; 
ommended the adoption of the Balbiani formula as used against Phyl- — 
loxera and consisting of crude tar oil, naphthalin, quick lime, and © 


water, the naphthalin being dissolved in the tar oil, and the water and 
lime afterward added together. The insect appeared first in several 


cantons of the province of Como and speedily spread to the adjoining — 
localities. The matter was brought to the attention of the Ministry of © 
Agriculture and a commission was appointed,consisting of Prof. Targioni _ 
Tozzetti, Dr. Alpe, and Dr. Andres, who immediately familiarized them- | 


selves with the methods in use in this country and have made extensive | 
experiments with our kerosene emulsion, with our fumigating processes, | 
and with other new remedies. The subject has been taken in hand with | 
great vigor and the Government has interested itself to the extent of | 


appointing inspectors in the different communes in the infested territory — 


and establishing regulations which oblige the immediate report of new | 
localities and the adoption of measures of extinction when ordered by | 
inspectors. These regulations also provide that the inspectors must do_ 


the work at the expense of proprietors when the latter refuse to do so; 
they prohibit the exportation of leaves from infested localities to others, 


a 


Ce) ee 


197 


and provide for indemnity to owners for the destruction of trees when 
the degree of infection is such as not to threaten the ultimate life of the 
trees. Expenses for experiments of all kinds and for the watching and 
care exercised by agents are borne by the State, while the expense for 
the execution of certain of the regulations are borne one-third by the 
proprietor and two-thirds by the local society. A fine for disobedience 
of the regulations is also provided for. The laws, as published, are 
none too severe considering the urgency of the case, and it is refresh- 
ing to notice the energy with which the Government has met the threat- 
ened danger, and at the same time gratifying to note the appreciation 
shown of our own means and methods. 


USE OF CONTAGIOUS GERMS IN THE FIELD. 


Most of you are aware that I have not had the greatest faith in the 
availability of contagious disease germs as a means of battling with in- 
jurious insects in field, garden, orchard, or forest; there are so many 
delicate questions involved and so many obstacles in the way of prac- 
tically carrying out any plan, however plausible theoretically or true in 
principle. Our ability to contaminate healthy by diseased specimens 
is but a short step and leaves many important questions, as of rapid 
dissemination, untouched. The theory is very tempting and has been 
particularly dwelt upon by some who were essentially closet- workers, 
having but faint realization of the practical necessities of the case. 
Theoretically, with those insect diseases of a cryptogamic nature, hav- 
ing a complex life-history and a resting spore, the difficulties are greater 
than with those of a bacterial origin, and it is to these last that we should 
look for important aid if it be available. Yet if the work of Messrs. 
Lugger and Snow should be fully substantiated, the best results have 
so far been obtained with the entomophthora of the Chinch Bug. No one 
will be more pleased to have his doubts dissipated by some tangible 
evidence of the practicability of this method than myself. Success, if 
possible, will come only by investigation upon thoroughly careful and 
scientific lines, such as those begun and still pursued by Professor 
Forbes. The ease with which he conveyed the Silk Worm pebrine to other 
larve; his conveying the Cabbage Worm Micrococcus to other larve, 
and his carrying this Micrococcusin cultures over winter are promising 
facts, as is also Professor Osborn’s contaminating cabbage worms in 
lowa with specimens brought from Illinois. Congress, having at its 
last session appropriated $2,500 for some further investigation of the 
Boll Worm, the possibilities in this direction for this particular insect 
have caused me to plan investigations having for their object thorough 
field experiment with some of these disease germs. 

Heliothis armigera is one of those cosmopolitan insects which has be- 
come more injurious in the United States than in any other part of the 
world, by virtue of its partiality for green corn, green cotton bolls, and 
green tomatoes. The polyphagous and partially endophytous habit of 


198 


the larva renders its destruction difficult except during the earlier free- 
living stages by the fine spraying of the arsenites on the under surface 
of the leaves. The ideal treatment for the larger burrowing worms 
were some rapidly spreading disease germ that would penetrate and 
destroy them in their hidden recesses. The insect was reported as ex- 
tremely abundant in cotton bollsduring the summer, especially in Texas ; 
but by the time the appropriation became available its numbers had 
decreased, and it was too late in the season to do much more than pre- 
pare for nextyear. We may expect, as a result of special investigation 
much additional fact and experience both as to habits, natural enemies 
and means of control; but itis my desire to make the trial of these 
disease germs the special feature of the investigation. Of those em- 
ployed in the investigation, Mr. F. W. Mally was a former assistant to 
Professor Forbes and has some experience in the study and culture 
of disease germs, while Dr. A. BR. Booth is something of an enthusiast 
on the subject and has already established the susceptibility, through 
contact, of the Boll Worm to the Cabbage Worm Micrococcus (M. pieri- 
dis) of Burrill. Wehope to carry the germs through the winter so as 
to continue the experiment as early as possible next year. 

I have had in mind as probably the most promising germ, that which 
affects Nephelodes violans in a similar epidemic way, but which, as Pro- 
fessor Forbes informs me, is a quite distinct Micrococcus, and I shall be 
pleased to have any of you cooperate with me next year, by informing 
me of any disease of this character that may prevail in your several lo- 
calities. 


APICULTURE. 


While little attention has so far been given by the different stations 
to the subject of apiculture, except at Lansing, it is nevertheless an im- 
portant branch of economic entomology, and there is much promise of 
good results yet to come from careful experiment and investigation. 
One of the most inviting fields is the search for and introduction of new 
varieties or species of bees; for just as American apiculture has prof- 
ited in the past by the importation of races like the Italians, Syrians, 
and Carniolans, there is every prospect of further improvement by the 
study and introduction of such promising races as are either known to 
occur or may be found in parts of Africa and Asia. Apis dorsata is 
believed to have many desirable qualities, and private efforts have al- 
ready been made to introduce it and have failed chiefly for want of 
means. The further study of desirable bee forage plants and the in- 
troduction and acclimatization of such as are known to be valuable to 
parts of the country where they do not yet occur, are very desirable. 

Much has yet to be done also in the line of systematic breeding, and 
we should be able to make rapid advances in the amelioration of existing 
races by proper selection, if we could assume practical and ready con- 
trol of the fertilization of the queen. In these directions we are now plan- 


4 
! 
| 
| 


=. ee a 


199 


ning, with Prof. Cook’s aid, some effective work, but the introduction of | 
foreign bees, which the Department should be able to undertake to bet- 
ter advantage than any private individual or State institution, is ren- 
dered more difficult by virtue of the restrictions in the appropriation 
already alluded to in discussing the subject of the introduction of par- 
asites; and whatever is done in the other directions by the National 
Department will be done most advantageously through the codpera- 
tion of one or more of the State stations, many of which are far better 
equipped and more favorably situated for apicultural work than the 
Department at Washington. 


SILK CULTURE. 


This, again, is an important part of applied entomology, and, as most 
of you know, I have for many years worked toward the establishment 
of silk culture in this country. The result of these efforts has served 
only to convince me of the utter impossibility of successfully entering 
upon the enterprise on a business basis without protective duty on the 
reeled, or misnamed “raw” silk. Some five years ago, largely through 


_ the then Commissioner’s appeal, based on my own report and assurances, 


Congress appropriated $15,000 for the express purpose of giving a thor- 
ough test to the Serrell automatic reeling machinery, in the hope that by 
its means the question of labor might be minimized and we could reel silk 
ata profit. The previous attempts of the Department, which it had been 
my lot todirect, to establish such reeling or market centers at San Fran- 
cisco, New Urleans, and Philadelphia had proved unsuccessful, and the 
promise was made to Congress that two years of experimentation under 
my immediate direction at Washington would permit a definite decision 
of the question. Two years passed, and the appropriation was increased 
and continued a third year for various reasons stated at the time. At 
the end of the third year I became convinced of the futility of continu- 
ing the experiments indicated without protective duty, and so stated in 
my report. While in Europe, in 1889, I paid particular attention to the 
question, and visited the Serrell works at the Serrell establishment at 
Chabeuil, where [ found that Mr. Serrell had abandoned his own reel- 
ing machinery, which was stored in the cellar, and had gone back to the 
use of the ordinary non-automatic reeling machines, though employing 
improved automatic brushers and cleaners of his own invention, which 
have such advantages that they are fast coming into use in France and 
Italy. I felt more convinced than ever of the futility of continuing the 
experiments at Washington, except with the protection indicated, es- 
pecially as any improvement or valuable outcome of such experiments 
would redound primarily to the advantage of a private corporation. and 
doubtless benefit other countries more than our own. The hope of im- 
provement and the attractiveness of the machinery to the average Vis- 
itor, among other reasons to which I need not now refer, have caused 
continuation of the special reeling work against my advice. From the 


200 


foregoing you will naturally draw the conclusion that I do not at present 


favor any time being wasted on the subject at the State stations, since 


Congress declined to put a duty on “raw” silk—a striking illustration | 
of the inconsistencies of the tariff schedule. | 


LEGISLATION. 


The amount of legislation in different countries that has of late years 
been deemed necessary or sufficiently important, in view of injurious 
insects, is a striking evidence of the increased attention paid to applied 
entomology; and while modern legislation of this kind has been, on the 
whole, far more intelligent than similar efforts in years gone by, many 
of the laws passed have nevertheless been unwise, futile, and imprac- 
ticable, and even unnecessarily oppressive to other interests. The chief 
danger here is the intervention of politics or political methods. Expert 
counsel should guide our legislators and the steps taken should be thor- 
ough in order to be effective. We have had of late years in Germany 
very good evidence of the excellent results flowing from thorough 
methods, and the recent legislation in Massachusetts against the gipsy 
moth (Ocneria dispar), which at one time threatened to become farcical, 
has, fortunately, proved more than usually successful, the commission 
appointed to deal with the subject having worked with energy and fol- 
lowed competent advice. 


PUBLICATION. 


On the question of publication of the results of our labors it is per- 
haps premature to dwell at length. Hach of the experiment stations is 
publishing its own bulletins and reports quite independently of the 
others, but after a uniform plan, recommended by the Association with 
which we meet here, and with few exceptions that have come to my 
notice, another important recommendation of the same Association— 
that these publications shall be void of all personal matter—has been 
kept in mind. The office of Experiment Stations at Washington is 
doing what it can with the means at command to further the general 
work by issuing the Experiment Station Record, devoted chiefly to 
digests of the State station bulletins. There is a serious question in 
my mind as to the utility of State digests by the national department 
of results already published extensively by the different States, and dis- 
tributed, under Government frank, to all similar institutions and to 
whomsoever is interested enough to ask for them. Such digests may 
or may not be intelligently made, and, even under the most favorable 
circumstances, will hardly serve any other purpose than as references 
to the original articles, and this could undoubtedly be done more sat- 
isfactorily to the stations and to the people at large by general and 
classified indexes to all the State documents, made as full as possible 
and issued at stated intervals. Only asmall proportion of the bulletins 


201 


have been so far noticed by digest in this record, with no particular rule, | 
so far as I can see, in the selection. This is perhaps inevitable under 

presentarrangements. Complete and satisfactory digests of all, if in- 

telligent and critical, imply a far greater force than is at present at 

Professor Atwater’s command, and it is doubtful whether, even with 

increased facilities, they could be satisfactorily made without the assist- 

ance of the different specialists. 

Under these circumstances it would seem wiser to devote all the en- 
ergies of the Bureau to digests of the similar literature of other coun- 
tries, which would be of immense advantage to our people and to the 
different station workers. Judging from the recommendations and 
resolutions of the general association this is the view very generally 
held, but except in chemistry and special industries, like that of beet 
Sugar, very little of that kind of work has yet been attempted. 

What is true of the station publications in general is equally true of 
special publications. As Entomologist of the Department I have been 
urged to bring together, at stated intervals, digests of the entomolo- 
gical publications of the different stations. Such digests, to be of any 
value, however, should also be critical; but it is at best a thankless 
task for any one to be critic or censor even of that which needs correc- 
tion or criticism, and also difficult to maintain the judicial and imper- 
sonal attitude which should characterize official expression, in face of 
the severe criticism that some publications provoke. Moreover, to do 
this work intelligently would require the increase of the Divisional 
force, which at present is more advantageously employed; for, as already 
intimated, I should have grave doubts of the utility of such digests. 

I believe, however, that the Division should strive for such increase 
of means as would justify the periodic publication, either independ- 
ently or asa part of the Department record, of general and classified 
indexes tothe entomological matter of the station bulletins, and should 
work more and more toward giving results from other parts of the 
world. This could perhaps best be done by titles of subject and of 
author so spaced and printed on stout paper that they could be cut and 
used in the ordinary card catalogue. The recipient could cut and sys- 
tematically place the titles as fast as received. 

As to the character of the matter of the entomological bulletins, it 
will inevitably be influenced by the needs and demands of the peo- 
ple of the respective States, and while originality should be kept in 
mind, there must needs be in the earlier years of the work much re- 
statement of what is already well known. Thatsome results have been 
published of work which reflects no particular credit upon our calling 
is a mere incident of the new positions created. Yet we may expect 
marked improvement from year to year in this direction, and without 
being invidious, I would cite those of Professor Gillette on his spraying 
experiments and on the Plum Curculio and Plum Gouger, as models of 
what such bulletins should be. 


202 


Although the resolution offered at our last meeting by Professor Cook, 
to the effect that purely descriptive matter should be excluded from 
the station bulletins, met with no favor, but was laid on the table by 
the general association, I am in full sympathy with this position and 
am strongly of the opinion that in the ordinary bulletins such purely 
technical and descriptive matter should be reduced to the necessary 
minimum, consistent with clearness of statement and accuracy, and that 
if it is desired on the part of the station entomologists to issue tech- 
nical and descriptive papers, a separate series of bulletins were better 
instituted for this class of matter. 

Finally, for results which it is desired to get promptly before the peo- 
ple, the agricultural press is at our disposal, and so far as the entomo- 
logical work of the Department of Agriculture is concerned, the period- 


ical bulletin, INSECT LIFE, was established for this purpose. Its col- 


umns are open to all station workers, and I would here appeal to the 
members of the Association to help make it, as far as possible, national, 
by sending brief notes and digests of their work asit progresses. Hith- 
erto we have been unable to make as much effort in this direction as 
we desired, but in future it is our hope to make the bulletin, as far as 


circumstances will permit, a national medium through which the re- 


sults of work done in all parts of the country may quickly be put on 
record and distributed not only to all parts of our own country, but to 
all parts of the world. 

The rapid growth and development of the national Department and 
the multiplication of its Divisions have necessitated special modes of 
publication and rendered the annual report almost an anachronism, so 


far as it pretends to be what il at one time was—a pretty complete re- 


port of the scientific and other work of the Department. The attempts 
which I have made through the proper authorities to get Congress to 
order quarto volumes similar to those issued by other Departments of 
the Government, for well illustrated scientific memoirs or monographs 
have not met with encouragement, and in this direction many of the 
stations will, let us hope, be able to do better. 


COOPERATION. 


Every other subject that might be considered on this occasion must 
be subordinate to the one great question of codperation. With the large 
increase of actual workers in our favorite field, distributed all over the 
country, the necessity for some coGdperation and codrdination must be 
apparent to every one. Just how this should be brought about or in 
what direction we may work toward it, will be for this Association in 
its deliberations to decide. Nor will I venture to anticipate the delib- 
erations and conclusions of the special committee appointed to take the 
matter into consideration, beyond the statement that there are many 
directions in which we can adopt plans for mutual benefit. Take, for 
instance, the introduction and dissemination of parasites. How much 


2s 


greater will be the chance of success in any particular case if we have | 
all the different station entomologists interested in some specific plan 
to be carried out in codperation with the national Department, which 
ought to have better facilities for introducing specimens to foreign coun- 
tries or to different sections of our own country than any of the State 
stations. Let us suppose that the fruit-growers of one section of the 
country, comprising several States in area, need the benefit in their war- 
fare against any particularly injurious insect of such natural enemy or 
enemies as are known to help the fruit-growers of some other section. 

There will certainly be much greater chances of success in the carrying 
out of any scheme of introduction, if all the workers in the one section 
may be called upon through some central or national body to help in the 
introduction and disposition of the desired material into the other sec- 
tion. Or take the case of the Boll Worm investigation, already alluded 
to. The chances of success would be much greater if the entomologists 
in all the States interested were to give some attention to such Lepidop- 
terous larve as are found to be affected with contagious diseases and 
to follow out some specific plan of cultivating and transmitting them to 
the party or parties with whom the actual trials are entrusted. The 
argument applies with still greater force to any international efforts. 
I need hardly multiply instances. There is, it is true, nothing to pre- 
vent any individual station entomologist from requesting codperation 
of the other stations; nor is there anything to prevent the national 
Department from doing likewise; but in all organization results are 
more apt to flow from the power to direct rather than from mere liberty 
to request or plead. The station entomologist may be engrossed in 
some line of research which he deems of more importance to the people 
of his State and may resent being called upon to divert his energies, 
and with no central or national power to decide upon plans of codpera- 
tion for the common weal, we are left to voluntary methods, mutually 
devised, and it is here that this Association can, it seems to me, most 
fully justify its organization. And this brings me to the question of 


THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND THE STATE STATIONS. 


Immediately connected with the question of codperation is the rela- 
tion of the National Department of Agriculture and the State experi- 
ment stations. The relation, instead of being vital and authoritative, 
is in reality a subordinate one. Many persons interested in the ad- 
vancement of agriculture foresaw the advantage of having experiment 
stations attached to the State agricultural colleges founded under the 
Morrill act of 1862; but I think that in the minds of most persons the 
establishment of these stations implied some such connection with 
the National Department as that outlined in an address on agricultural 
advancement in the United States, which I had the honor to deliver in 


P 
; 


| 


204 


1879 before the National Agricultural Congress at Rochester, and in~ . 
which the following language was used : 


In the light of the past history of the Germau experiment stations and their 
work, or of that in our own State of Connecticut, the expediency of purchasing an 
experimental farm of large dimensions in the vicinity of Washington is very, ques- 
tionable. There can be no doubt, however, of the value of a good experiment — 
station there, that shall have its branches in every State of the Union. The results — 
to flow from such stations will not depend upon the number of acres at command, 
and it will be far wiser and more economical for the Commissioner to make each 
agricultural college that accepted the Government endowment auxiliary to the 
national bureau, so that the experimental farm that is now, or should be, connected 
with each of these institutions might be at its service and under the general man- 
agement of the superintendent of the main station. There is reason to believe that 
the directors of these colleges would cheerfully have them constituted as experi- 
ment stations under the direction of the Department, and thus help to make it 
really nationa]—the head of a vast system that should ramify through all parts of 
sheland: 22 po. - 

With the different State agricultural colleges and the State agricultural societies, 
or boards, we have every advantage for building up a National Bureau of Agricul- 
ture worthy of the country and its vast productive interests, and on a thoroughly ~ 


economical basis, such as that of Prussia for instance. 


In short, the view in mind was something in the nature of that which 
has since been adopted by our neighbors of the North, where there is 
a central or national station or farm at Ottawa and substations or 
branch farms at Nappon, Nova Scotia, Brandon, Manitoba, Indian 
Head, Northwest Territories, and Agassiz, British Columbia, all under 
the able direction of Mr. William Saunders, one of our esteemed fel- 
low-workers. It was my privilege to be a good deal with Mr. Saunders 
when he was in Europe studying the experience of other countries in 
this matter, and the policy finally adopted in Canada as a result of his 
labors is an eminently wise one, presenting none of the difficulties and — 
dangers which beset our plan, whether as between State and nation or 
college and station. 

Under the present laws, and with the vast influence which the Asso- 
ciation of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations will wield, 
both in Congress and in the different States, there is great danger of 
transposition in this agricultural body politic of those parts which in 
the animal body are denominated head and tail; and the old saw to 
the effect that ‘‘the dog wags the tail because the tail can not wag the 
dog” will find another application. So far as the law goes the national 
Department, which should hold a truly national position toward State 
agricultural institutions depending on Federal support, can do little © 
except by suggestion, whether in the line of directing plans or in any 
way coordinating or controlling the work of the different stations 
throughout the country. The men who influenced and shaped the leg- 
islation which resulted in the Hatch bill were careful that the Depart- 
ment’s function should be to indicate, not to dictate; to advise and as- 
sist, not to govern or regulate. We have, therefore, to depend on such 


+ ene 


205 


relationships and such plans of codperation as will appear advanta- 
geous to all concerned, and these can best be brought about through such 

associations as are now in convention here. Without such plans there 

is great danger of such waste of energy and means and duplication of 

results as will bring the work into popular disfavor and invite disin- 

tegration, for already there is a growing feeling that agricultural ex- 

periment is and will be subordinated to the ordinary college work in 

the disposition of the Federal appropriations. 

What is true of the national Department as a whole in its connection 
with the State stations is true in a greater or less degree of the differ- 
ent Divisions of the Department in connection with the different special- 
ists of the stations. With the multiplicity of workers in any given di- 
rection in the different States the necessity for national work lessens. 
A favorite scheme of mine in the past, for instance (and one I am glad 
to say fully indorsed by Professor Willits), was to endeavor to have a 
permanent agent located in every section of the country that was suf- 
ficiently distinctive in its agricultural resources and climate, or, aS a yet 
further elaboration of the same plan, one in each of the more important 
agricultural States. The necessity for such State agents has been les- 
sened, if not obviated, by the Hatch bill and the subsequent moditica- 
tions looking to permanent appropriations to the State stations or col- 
leges which give no central power at Washington. The question then 
arises: What function shall the national Department perform? Its in- 
fluence and field for usefulness have been iessened rather than aug- 
mented in the lines of actual investigation in very many directions. 
Many a State is already far better equipped both as to valuable sur- 
rounding land, laboratory and library facilities, more liberal salaries 
and greater freedom from red tape, administrative routine and restric- 
tions as to expenditures than we are at Washington; and I caf not see 
how the Department’s influence is to be augmented outside of those 
Federal functions which are executive, except as a directing agent and 
a useful servant. Just what that directing influence is to be is the 
question of the hour, not only in the broader but in the special sense. 

The same question in a narrower sense had arisen in the case of the 
few States which employed State entomologists. In the event, for in- 
stance, of an outbreak of some injurious insect, or in the event of any 
particular economic entomological question within the limits of the 
State having such an officer, the United States entomologist would nat- 
urally feel that any effort on his part would be unnecessary or might 
even be looked upon as an interference. He would feel that there was 
always danger of mere duplication of observation or experiment except 
where appealed to for aid or cOoperation. This is perhaps true only of 
insects which are local or sectional, and is rather a narrow view of the 
matter; but itis one brought home from experience, and is certainly to be 
- considered in our future plans. The favor with which the museum 
work of the national Division was viewed by you at the meeting last 


206 


November and the amount of material sent on for determination would ~ 


indicate that the building up of a grand national reference collection 


will be most useful to the station workers; but to do this satisfactorily 


we need your cooperation, and I appeal to all entomologists to aid in 
this effort by sending duplicates of their types to Washington, and 
thus more fully insuring against ultimate loss thereof. 


STATUS OF OUR SOCIETY. 


This train of thought brings up the question of the status of our so- 
ciety with the station entomologists as represented by the committee of 
the general Association. Those of us who had desired a national asso- 
ciation for the various purposes for which such associations are formed 
felt, I believe, if I may speak for them, that the creation of the different. 
experiment stations rendered such an organization feasible. Your or- 
ganization at Toronto and the constitution adopted and amended at the 
meeting at Washington all indicate that the chief object was the ad- 
vancement of our chosen work and that the strength of the association 
would come from the experiment station entomologists. There was. 
then no other organization of the kind, nor any intimation that such an 
one would be founded. Some of us, therefore, were surprised to learn 
from the circular sent out by Professor Forbes, its chairman, that the 
committee appointed by the Association of Agricultural Colleges and 
Hxperiment Stations, and throngh which we had hoped to communicate 
and codperate with that Association, was not in the proper sense a com- 
mittee, but a section which has prepared (and in fact was required by 
the executive committee and the rules of the superior body to prepare) 
a program of papers and discussions for the meeting to be held at the 
same time and place with our own. I can not but feel that this is, in 
some respects, a misfortune, and it will devolve upon you, as a conse- 
quence, to decide upon several questions of importance that will ma- 
terially affect our future existence. 

That there is not room for two national organizations having the 
same objects in view and meeting at the same time and place goes, L 
think, without saying; and if the committee of the general Association 
is to be anything more than a committee in the proper sense of the 
word, or if it is to assume, with or without formal constitution, the fune- 


tions of our own Association, then our own must necessarily be crippled, | 


and to do any good at all must meet at a different time and a different. 
place. A committee or section, or whatever it may be called, of the gen- 
eral Association with which we meet would preclude active membership 
of any but those who come within the constitution of that body. Our 
Canadian friends, and many others who. have identified themselves 
with applied entomology and do not belong to any of our State or Gov- 
ernment institutions, would be debarred from active representation, 
however liberal the Association may have been in inviting such to par- 
ticipate, without power to vote, in its deliberations. Our own Associa- 


i) ay 


_” © 


207 


tion has, or should have, no such limitations. Some of us who are 
entitled to membership in both bodies may feel indifferent as to the 
course finally decided upon, and that it will not make any difference 
whether we have an outside and independent organization as that of 
the Association of Official Chemists, or whether we do, as did the bot- 
anists and horticulturists, waive independence in favor of more direct 
connection with the general Association, providing there is some way 
whereby the committees of the general Association are given sufficient 
latitude and time to properly present their papers and deliberate; but 
there are others who feel more sensitive as to their action and are more 
immediately influenced by the feelings of the main body. I hope that 
whatever action be taken at this meeting the general good and the pro- 
motion of economic entomology will be kept in mind and that no sec- 
tional or personal feeling will be allowed to influence our deliberations. 


SUGGESTION AND COMMENT. 


You will, I know, pardon me if before concluding these remarks I ven- 
ture to make a few comments which, though not altogether agreeable, 
are made in all sincerity and in the hope of doing good. The question 
as to how far purely technical and especially descriptive and mono- 
graphic work should be done by the different stations or by the national 
Department is one which I have already alluded to and upon which we 
shall probably hold differing opinions and which will be settled accord- 
ing to the views of the authorities at the different stations. Individ- 
ualiy I have ever felt that one ostensibly engaged in applied entomol- 
ogy and paid by the State or national Government to the end that he 
may benefit the agricultural community can be true to his trust only by 
largely overcoming the pleasure of purely entomological work having 
no practical bearing. I would, therefore, draw the line at descriptive 
work except where it is incidental to the economic work and for the 
purpose of giving accuracy to the popular and economic statements. 
This would make our work esssentially biological, for all biologic inves- 
tigation would be justified, not only because the life-habits of any in- 
sect, once ascertained, throw light on those of species which are closely 
related to it, but because we can never know when aspecies, at present 
harmless, may subsequently prove harmful and have to be classed 
among the species injurious to agriculture. 

On the question of credit to their original sources of results already 
on record it is hardly necessary for me to advise, because good sense 
and the consensus of opinion will in the end justify or condemn a writer 
according as he prove just and conscientious in this regard. 

There is one principle that should guide every careful writer, viz., that 
in any publications whatever where facts or opinions are put forth it 
should always be made clear as to which are based upon the author’s 
personal experience and which are compiled or stated upon the authority 
of others. We should have no patience with a very common tendency 


208 


to set forth facts, even those relating to the most common and best 
known species, without the indications to which I have referred. The 
tendency belittles our calling and is generally misleading and confus- 
ing, especially for bibliographic work, and can not be too strongly dep- 
recated. 

On this point there will hardly be any difference of opinion; but I 
will allude toanother question of credit upon which there prevails a 
good deal of loose opinion and custom. It is the habit of using illustra- 
tions of other authors without any indication of their original source. 
This is an equally vicious custom and one to be condemned, though I 
know that some have fallen into the habit without appreciation of its 
evil effect. It is, in my judgment, almost as blameworthy as to use the 
language or the facts of another without citing the authority. Every 
member of this Association who has due appreciation of the time and 
labor and special knowledge required to produce a good and true illus- 
tration of the transformations and chief characteristics of an insect 
will appreciate this criticism. However pardonable in fugitive news- 
paper articles in respect of cuts which, from repeated use, have become 
common, or which have no individuality, the habit inevitably gives a 
certain spurious character to more serious and official publications; for 


assumption of originality, whether intended or not, goes with uncred- 


ited matter, whether of text or figure. Nor is mere acknowledgment 
of loan or purchase, to the publisher, institution, or individual who may 
own the block or stone what I refer to; but that acknowledgement to 
the author of the figure or to the work in which it first appears which 
is part of conscientious writing, and often a valuable index as to the 
reliability of the figure. 

It were supererogation to point out to a body of this kind the value of 
the most careful and thorough work in connection with life-histories and 
habits often involving, as it does, much microscopic study of structure. 
The officers of our institutions who control the funds, and more or less 
fully our conduct, are apt to be somewhat impatient and inappreciative 
-of the time given to anatomic work, and where it is given for the pur- 
pose of describing species and of synopsising or monographing higher 
groups, without reference to agriculture, I am firmly of the belief that 
it diverts one from economic work; but where pursued for a definite 


economic purpose it can not be too careful or too thorough, and I know ~ 


of no instances better calculated to appeal to and modify the views of 
those inclined to belittle such structural study than Phylloxera and 
Icerya. On the careful comparison of the European and American speci- 
mens of Phylloxera vastatriz, involving the most minute structures and 
details, depended originally those important economic questions which 
have resulted in legislation by many different nations and the regenera- 
tion of the affected vineyards of Europe, of our own Pacific coast, and 
of other parts of the world by the use of American resistant stocks. In 
the case of Icerya purchasi the possibilities of success in checking it by its 


4 
| 
= | 


| 


209 


natural enemies from Australia hung at one time upon a question of 
specific difference between it and the Icerya sacchari of Signoret—a 
question of minute structure which the descriptions left unsettled and 
which could only be settled by the most careful structural study and 
the comparison of the types, involving a trip to Europe. 


CONCLUSION. 


I have thus touched, gentlemen, upon a few of the many subjects 
that crowd upon the mind for consideration on an occasion like this—a 
few gleanings from a field which is passing rich in promise and possi- 
bility. It isa field that some of us have cultivated for many years and 
yet have only scratched the surface; and if I have ventured to suggest 
or admonish, it is with the feeling that my own labors in this field are 
ere long about to end, and that I may not have another occasion. At no 
time in the history of the world has there, I trow, been gathered to- 
gether such a body of devoted and capable workers in applied ento- 
mology. It marks an era in our calling, and looking back at the prog- 
ress of the past fifteen years, we may well ponder the possibilities of 
the next fifteen. They will be fruitful of grand results in proportion 
as we persistently and combinedly pursue the yet unsolved problems, 
and are not tempted to the immediate presentation of separate facts 


_ which are so innumerable and so easily observed that their very wealth 


- 


, 


7 


becomes an element of weakness. Epoch-making discoveries result 
only from this power of following up unswervingly any given problem 
or any fixed ideal. The kerosene emulsion, the cyclone nozzle, the his- 
tory of Phylloxera vastatriz, of Phorodon humuli, of Vedalia cardinalis, 
are illustrations in point; and while we may not expect frequent results 
as striking or of as wide application as these, there is no end of im- 
portant problems yet to be solved, and from the solution of which we 
may look for similar beneficial results. Applied entomology is often 
considered a sordid pursuit, but it oniy becomes so when the object is 
sordid. When pursued with unselfish enthusiasm born of the love of 
investigation and the delight in benefiting our fellow men it is inspiring, 
and there are few pursuits more deservedly so, considering the vast 
losses to our farmers from insect injury and the pressing need that the 
distressed husbandman has for every aid that can be given him. Our 
work is elevating in its sympathies for the struggles and suffering of 
others. Our standard should be high—the pursuit of knowledge for 
the advancement of agriculture. No official entomologist should lower 
it by sordid aims. 

During the recent political campaign the farmer must have been 
sorely puzzled to know whether his interests needed protection or not. 
On the abstract question of tariff protection to his products we, as en- 
tomologists, may no more agree than do the politicians, or than does 
the farmer himself; but oursis a case of protection from injurious in- 
sects and upon that there can nowhere be division of opinion. It is 

15738—No. 5——-3 


210 


our duty to see that he gets it with as little tax for the means as pos- 
sible. 
Gentlemen, I thank you. 


In the discussion which followed this address Mr. Cook expressed his 
hearty concurrence in the general tendency of the recommendations 
made. He had heen especially interested in the subject of codperation 
among workers. He considers that there is a great field for this in the 
indexing of the entomological writings of the country, so that it would 
be easy to find what had been done. In reference to the status of mem- 
bers in the Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Sta- 
tions, he supposed that Canadian members would have the same rights. 
in committees of the association that others had when they occupied 
similar official positions. 

Mr. Smith agreed as to the desirability of some scheme for indexing 
literature ; but as to codperation in other lines of work he thinks the 
time has not yet come. There is too much work coming on year after 

year which must be at once attended to. It was impossible to do very 

much planning ahead under present circumstances. His plans for the 
year had been almost entirely upset by unexpected invasions of insect 
pests, which he was compelled to study and report upon. The prime 
necessity is to supply our constituency with that information which 
they demand; and until almost all of the more common forms are treated 
we can not so command our time as to engage in any cooperative work 
requiring close or continuous observation and study. 

Mr. James Fletcher, Dominion entomologist of Canada, spoke in high 
terms of the excellence of the presidential address. He said: 

‘¢You have drawn our attention to the fact, Mr. President, that this 
is the most remarkable meeting of economic entomologists which has 
ever met together, and I feel sure, sir, that every one present will agree 
with me that your address is one of the most remarkable we have ever 
had the privilege of listening to. You have covered so much ground 
and spoken upon so many subjects upon which we know you to be the 
highest authority, not only from the exceptional advantages you pos- 
sess from your official position, but also from the experience you have 
gained from earnest and close attention for a quarter of a century to 
this special subject which we have gathered together to-day to discuss, 


that if we heard nothing else we should be well repaid for the trouble | 


of attending this meeting. This great knowledge makes you facile 
princeps the most eminent living economic entomologist—a title to which, 
on account of the work you have done in developing the science of 
practical entomology, no one will dispute your claim. The present 
meeting, being a joint one of the Association of Economic Entomolo- 
gists and of the Entomological Committee of the United States Ex- 
periment Stations, leads me to make these remarks, because probably 
the question which is most engaging the attention of many of us at the 
present time is whether any good purpose will be served by maintaining 
both of these organizations. 


ve 


211 


‘*We know that the committee of the experiment stations must. 
meet, if the directors of stations order it; but I feel confident that the 
necessarily limited number of entomologists iu that committee, even if 
every Station eventually employs such an officer, cannot do such good 
work for the science and givethem equal opportunities with those offered 
by an organization of the nature of the Association of Economic Ento- 
mologists, which will include many eminent men who are excluded from 
active membership by the rules of the committee. I refer to such men 
as Professor Riley and his assistants, Dr. Packard, Mr. French, Dr. 
Lintner, and hosts of other economic entomologists in the United 
States, as well as the Canadian entomologists, and many others who 
would be pleased to join in various parts of the world. I submit to 
the meeting that there is room for good work from both of these organ- 
izations, and that it would be extremely ill-advised to let either of them 
drop to the ground, for each should be of the greatest assistance to the 
other. I believe, too, that to no one can the association be of more 
use than to the experiment station entomologists; and therefore they 
should make every effort to sustain an association at the meeting of 
which they must always have greater freedom than they can have in 
the committee, where the proceedings will always be subject to a certain 
degree of restraint, both as to the time allowed for discussion and the 
subjects brought forward. The entomological committee is specially 
a meeting of the entomologists of the experiment stations, and any 
one else will always to a certain extent feel himself an outsider, no 
matter how cordially the hand of friendship may be extended to him. 
The president has stated that he does not care where the work is done 
so that it is carried on vigorously. This is probably the case, and the 
gentlemen I have mentioned have very little to learn from the meeting 
compared with the advantages which will accrue to us from having such 
men present at the meetings. I cannot help thinking that we shall 
make a serious mistake if we allow an organization todrop which will 
insure us their sympathy, attendance, and services, and will at the same 
time form a bond of union between the economic entomologists of the 
whole world.” 

Mr. Smith thought it an absurdity that there should be two bodies 
composed of nearly the same members, meeting on the same days, at 
the same place, and covering the same ground. Hestrongly advocated 
an effort to gain in the committee of the main association all those ad- 
vantages that the present association offered, and suggested that this 
would be of advantage to station workers at least, as it gave them a 
recognized place in the official body of agricultural colleges and experi- 
ment stations. 

Mr. Weed thought the status of some of the men had been misunder- 
stood. The Canadian station was represented in the main body, and 
its various officers have the same rights and standing in committees as 
have those of the other stations. The Department of Agriculture is 
equally represented both in the main body and in the committees. 


212 
Mr. Cook then read the following paper: 
WORK OF THE ENTOMOLOGISTS IN THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 
By A. J. Coox. 


The Congressional act creating the experiment stations and appro- 
priating money for their support was an extraordinary measure, and 
should be, in its results, of exceeding importance to the agriculture of 
the country. Never before in the history of the world has action been 
taken that promised so much in the direction of the advance and quick- 
ening of scientific research, especially research in the line of applied 
science. Never before was there legislation that seemed to offer so much 
to promote the interests of our leading industrial pursuit. Indeed, the’ 
chief danger and peril of this new scheme arises from the fact of its 
extraordinary character and the large work which it contemplates. 
Great institutions, like great reforms, develop slowly. A mushroom 
growth of such enterprises is contrary to nature’s methods, and is to be 
feared. If we attempt to produce such a growth, caution should be our 
watchword at every step. 

There are four special dangers I[ think that confront our experiment 
stations: First, the danger of neglecting the practical in our work, or 
of making our work so technical that it will fail to interest or benefit the 
practical man. President Mendenhall, in his admirable address at In- 
dianapolis last August, argued that this is a somewhat common fault 
with scientists, and is greatly to be regretted. How much more the 
fault, and how much more serious in its results, if we the scientists of 
the stations err in this direction. Secondly, the people, knowing of the 
large appropriations, will expect a great deal in the way of results, if 
the fruits are not soon forthcoming, and quite generous, criticism will 
likely follow. Such criticisms will do harm if they do not place the 
whole scheme in jeopardy. Again the very fear of the above may lead 
to hasty work—attempts at too much—so we shall be unable to do good 
work. This will lead to more just criticism, and may endanger the law 
and call for its repeal. The fourth danger is one common to all govern- 
ment work—the misappropriation of funds. From the very nature of 
the work, its magnitude and associations, this danger is not small, and 
its magnitude should make us all exceedingly cautious. . 

As entomologists of the stations we are in part responsible for the 
reputation of this measure. Our work will tend to make the law pop- 
ular or bring it into disrepute; as we work faithfully and wisely or as 
we work carelessly or in directions not contemplated by those who 
framed the act. As we all well know, entomology has a wide practical 
side, and may and should give substantial aid in every station. We 
may do much to give the experiment stations character, and make the — 
law establishing them popular. 

I believe we should consider well how we may best promote the inter- 


213 


ests of the stations and the reputation of the whole scheme. It is with 


the desire to call forth discussion to this end, rather than any expecta- 
tion uf adding any valuable or new suggestions, that I prepare this 


paper. 


NEW OR STRANGE INSECTS. 


It occurs to me that one of the most important duties that wiil de- 
volve upon us is to keep ourselves and the farmers informed in relation 
to new insect pests. Every year will doubtless bring insects new to our 
localities if not to the country. A few years ago Agrotis fennica, until 
then a very rare insect in all sections of our country, appeared in various 
parts of Michigan in overwhelming numbers. Its ravages were some- 
thing alarming, and the people were in despair. By advising in such 
cases, explaining the habits and natural history of the insects, and in- 
forming as to the probabilities, which we are usually able to do, we 
allay fear, restore quiet, and make new and strong friends for the 
stations. We may also work out the life history of the insect, experi- 
ment regarding its destruction, and so do works that will benefit other 
States as well as our own. The present season several injurious insects 
have, for the first time, attracted attention in Michigan by their ravages, 
which in some cases, as with the linden span worm, Hybernia tiliaria, 
were very serious. These insects attacked the apple, elm, and bass- 
wood in devastating numbers. It was easy to suggest aremedy, and the 
people appreciate such information most heartily as it oftens means 
bread and butter to them. Every State needs and should have an ad- 
viser of this kind. The practical results are patent and immediate. I 
believe that such work will tell as strongly towards making the stations 
popular as any that may be attempted. 


STUDYING LIFE HISTORIES, 


This is scientific as well as practical work, and is so important that 
no word of commendation is necessary. A full description if presented 
in a non-technical style will interest the general reader as weil as bene- 
fit science. Thus our best work will be constantly educating our read- 
ers, making them more and more competent to study, observe, and con- 
quer the insect pests. We see that this best work that will fall to our 
hands will bring a triple blessing. It will develop science, show us 
how to overcome the enemies—for to know an insect’s full life history 
and affinities is often the major part in its destruction if it is an 
enemy—and will interest and instruct the public as nothing else can. 

A bulletin discussing a species that threatens some important crop 
will be read and reread. Men will always thoroughly study that which 
touches their pocket books. Thus, if carefully done, we can weave much 
of science into our reports which will not only be palatable, but eagerly 
sought after. We issued large editions of my bulletins on the grain 


214 


louse and its enemies. Yet they were all called for, and awakened strong — 


interest in the subject, especially in the part relating to beneficial 
insects, as I know from the many letters received, asking for further 
information. 

I believe no station can do more to arouse interest and incite to valu- 
able study to give real valuable results to the people, and so to make 
friends, than to engage vigorously in this important work. We can 
hardly appreciate the value of this kind of work done by Dr. Riley, our 
president. This generation will never appreciate the debt of gratitude 


which they owe him. I believe that this part of our duties, carefully - 


studying the life histories of all our insects, will take no second place in 
importance. How much we owe to Dr. Harris and to Thomas Say, for 
the admirable work they did in this direction. With the numerous 
workers now in the field, we ought to make great progress in this direc- 
tion. Such work will not be ephemeral in its influence, but will keep 
on blessing mankind in all the coming years. 


DIRECT HXPERIMENTATION. 


In the discovery of new insecticides, and new uses of old ones, and 
of new and better methods of application of such substances, we 


have a simple means of conferring, it may be, an exceeding benefit upon ~ 


the farming population. So numerous are our insect foes, and so dif- 
ferent are their susceptibilities to various insecticides that very exten- 
sive and careful experimentation is called for in this direction. The 
arsenites, so fatal to most mandibulate insects, seem impotent as weapons 
against the rose chafer or the flea beetles. Tobacco decoction, though it 
fails to exterminate most beetles, is our best specific against the destruc- 
tive flea beetles. Successful work in this direction may and surely will 
bring great aid to the farmers and fruit growers, and can but be thor- 
oughly appreciated. 

Thousands of experiments are needed for each insecticide now known 
and yet to be discovered, for each must be used on every noxious insect. 
To many this will seem an uninviting field, and yet I can not but think 


that he who fails to put earnest thought and work into this department 


of our duties will miss a rich opportunity to do just what the law con- 


templates, to confer much practical benefit on the farmers, and to ad- | 


vance the popularity of his station, and so of the whole scheme. Such 
experiments have given us remedies that are of immense benefit. We 
can not believe but that such discoveries are yet to be made; far more 
and very likely far better than we yet have. This then is a very desir- 
able line of work which gives full opportunity for us all. We can also 


improve or suggest improvements in our apparatus for applying insecti- 


cides. We must have simple spraying apparatus that shall be conven- 
ient and durable. If we could arrange to have gravity do our pump- 
ing, how much labor and expense might be saved. 


| 


215 
GENERALIZATIONS. 


As scientists constantly in the field, we surely ought to be able to 
arrive at some valuable conclusions or to formulate laws that others 
could not discover. Such generalizations may be of great practical 
value. Last winter was exceptionally warm throughout our Northern 
States. The succeeding spring and summer were remarkable for the 
numbers of cutworms—larve of species of Agrotis and Hadena—and 
slugs, or larve of sawflies. If there is the relation of cause and effect 
between these two facts—mild winter and prosperity of such insects as 
pupate in the earth—further observation will prove it. If this is true, 
a knowledge of the fact would be very valuable, as a mild winter would 
warn farmers and fruit-growers of these terrible foes, and protective 
measures would be in readiness to check the evil at the onset. 


THE WORK MUST BE PRACTICAL. 


To many, purely scientific work will be more inviting than work look- 
ing towards practical results. The entomologist will note the great field, 
and his limited time, and may plan to work only in physiological, an- 
atomical, or systematic entomology, arguing that such work in the end 
will do more for science, reputation, and possibly for the arts, than ex- 
periments in appliedentomology. Is there not great danger here? Did 
not the act which established the stations contemplate that all our work 
should look towards economy or economic ends? If any of us ignore the 
practical, do we not run the risk of injuring our own influence and use- 
fulness, and also of placing the whole grand scheme in peril? Akin to 
this danger, is the one of making our reports too technical. While it is 
desirable to incorporate all the science that can be made palatable, we 
should be very cautious not to go too far, lest we send out reports that 
shall not be read or understood. Then our work goes for naught, and 
we are subject to very severe and very just criticism. Dr. Harris and 
the late B. D. Walsh made real science appetizing to all. Happy for 
our stations if we are able to copy them in this respect. 


OUR BULLETINS. 


Just what our bulletins should contain is a matter of greatest impor- 
tance, and worthy of exhaustive discussion at this meeting. There is 
something inspiring in the thought that we can gain the attention of 
thousands several times each year. How careful must we be that we 
win and keep the public ear; and that we doour readers good. These 
bulletins will, for the most part, be read and laid aside. Should not 
the main thought then be immediate good; must we confine ourselves 
to presenting only new matters,or only to the results of our experi- 
ments? Will it not be better to study the needs and condition of our 
readers, and then give them just what we believe will do them the most 
good, even if wesend out information that is old, providing we know 


216 


that it will be new and valuable to the majority of our readers? We — 
have experimented with new methods to protect our plums from the ecur- 
culio. In publishing the results we act under the knowledge that 
many, perhaps most, who will read our bulletins do not know or prac- 
tice the best methods to defend against this pest, though long and well 
known to the few. Should we not briefly but plainly explain these 
methods ? 

At our station there is a sort of a partnership between the State and 
the United States Government. The Government pays for the work 
and franks the bulletins, while the State pays for printing them. Thus 
I am free to say that in writing every bulletin, I keep in mind as the 
leading thought, what will do our people the most good? This ques- 
tion settled, and I send out the consequent information, even though 
some of the facts were known and taught by Aristotle. IfIam wrong, 
I will gladly accept criticism. , 


MUTUAL AID AND SUGGESTIONS. 


In closing, let me say that it seems to me that such meetings each 
year as this one will do much to exalt our work andinfluenee. Kindly 
suggestion and criticism, and a full discussion of work and methods 
must lead to such harmony of action as will greatly augment the value 
of our work. Our yearly meetings will give freedom to our inquiries 
and consultations, which should be very free and helpful at all times. 
The ready help which we all get from the Division of Entomology of 
the Agricultural Department, at Washington, tells, ina magnified way, 
what we may-each do for the other. Indeed many of our older workers 
have shown us repeatedly in the past how much we may receive, through 
suggestion and information from our brother workers. 


Mr. Woodworth said that his station had been publishing just such 
material as Mr. Cook had mentioned, but he did not believe this was. 
the real work of the stations. There should be lines of original re- 
search of general utility, and the results of these should appear in the 
bulletins. He thought that the newspapers should be utilized so far as. 
possible to spread the information already known. 

Mr. Harvey objected, that the farmers did not all take the same 
paper. They are constantly asking questions or calling for informa- 
tion on all kinds of insects, known as well as unknown. He does not 
think newspaper work the best in all cases. 

Mr. Weed thinks this depends somewhat on the facilities possessed. 
by the station. In Ohio they have what they call a newspaper bulle- 
tin sent to the manufacturers of ‘‘ patent insides,” through which they 
reach half the county papers in the State. The matter is sent out reg- 
ularly by a central publishing house, and alsoin printed form to all the 
papers, bythe States. These were also condensed into short naragraphs. 
suitable for press dispatches, and thus obtained a wide circulation. 


217 


Mr. Webster thought there were two or three ways of getting at the 
public. A very good one is to publish the letter and reply in the local 
paper whence the letter is received. In that way it reaches the point 
where the information is most needed. 

Mr. Smith thinks the best way to reach the farmer is to go and talk 
to him. Bulletins are not always read; but if you can meet the man 
personally at farmer’s clubs, county board meetings, or institutes, you 
can interest him and tell him exactiy what he wants to know. He 
can see the bearing of the recommendations made, and is more apt to 
follow the advice given in the bulletins. He believes in treating the 
farmers as intelligent men, capable of understanding the bearing of 
facts, and he does not hesitate to give them such anatomical or physi- 
ological facts as may be necessary to show the reasons for the recom- 
mendations made. He finds that in New Jersey at least they are able 
to follow him and appreciate argument. He believed in making a 
good many of the experiments on the farms of leading growers. By 
convincing these men the station obtained most powerful allies. 

Mr. Cook suggests that our thought must be to do the people most 
good, whether this means the publication of old or new matter. 

Mr. Harvey believes in issuing old matter in the most favorable form 
for use. In the reports and bulletins it would be permanent and could 
be referred to when needed. 

Mr. Aldrich inquired whether the entomologist was usually charged 
with the practical work of keeping farm and garden free of insects. At 
his station they had been expected to take charge of the campaign. 

Mr. Smith read the following: 


FERTILIZERS AS INSECTICIDES. 


By J. B. SMITH. 


During the past season my attention was called to this subject by a 
farmer, who told me he cleared his pear trees of the scurfy scale by 
washing with water in which muriate of potash had been dissolved. 
He stated that this had been perfectly effective, and had entirely cleared 
the washed parts even when no scrubbing had been done. This led me 
to experiment a little with the potash salts, and to make inquiries of 
farmers who had used them in fertilizing quantities. I found the uni- 
versal testimony to be that wherever potash was used on corn there 
was no trouble with cutworms or wireworms. Mr. E. B. Voorhees, the 
senior chemist of the station, is very positive on this point. He says 
that on his father’s farm they were greatly troubled with cutworms and 
wireworms, especially on corn after sod; but since using the potash 
salts there is no further trouble on that score. Other testimony is to 
the same effect and is unanimous. In Salem County, N. J., in which I 

recommended kainit for peach-tree aphides, I was informed that young 
9 set in ground prepared with this substance grew well where pre- 


; 
218 % 


viously they died off. I attribute this as much to the insecticide quality | 
of the salts as to the fertilizing effect. I alsolearned from some farmers — : 
who used the potash that they were not troubled with the root Jouse, — | 
which in some parts of South Jersey is quite a serious pest. 

My experiments were made to test the killing power of the substance. 
Kainit and muriate were dissolved in water at the rate of 1 ounce tol — 
pint and sprayed on various species of aphides, against all of which it | 
proved effective. It killed all the mealy bugs on greenhouse camellias — 
without injury to the plants, and was effective against Julus sp., which — 
were injuring potatoes. Larve of thecabbage maggot died when placed 
in soil moistened with the mixture, where those in a pure-water moist- 
ened soil were unaffected. Against hairy larve the applications were 
ineffective. | 

I tested it for injury to plants, and found the muriate somewhat inju- 
rious to tender leaves, where kainit did not affect them at all. The 
kainit, on the other hand, is slightly more effective against the insects. — 
I would not recommend this against insects in general, but to reach 
underground species I think it will prove an effective remedy. 

A number of growers have this year kept their cabbage clear of the 
larvee of Pieris rape by using lime, either fresh, air-slaked, or in the form 
of a dry hydrate, first sifting it and then dusting on the plants when wet. — 
Lime makes a good fertilizer, and almost every farmer hasit. Itisthe 

simplest way we have of keeping this species in bounds. 


The president stated that the use of fertilizers as insecticides was not 
new. Lime, salt, etc., had been used extensively abroad and in this 
country, while caustic soda and the potash salts were extensively used 
of late years against scale insects, especially in California. It is inter- 
esting to have a confirmation of older experience, and to draw attention 
once more to the subject by such valuable local trials as those enumer- 
ated by Mr. Smith. 

Mr. Howard read a paper entitled: 


THE HABITS OF PACHYNEURON. 
By L. O. Howarp. 


[This paper is withheld for publication in No. 1, Vol. II of the Proceedings of the 
Entomological Society of Washington. } 

In discussing this paper Mr. Harvey said that the gray birch in his 
locality was badly infested by a scale which seemed largely parasitized. 
He asked how these might best be bred. 

Mr. Howard replied that these parasites were very easily reared. 
Their period of development is short and there are many broods in the 
course of the season. By confining a lot of the infested scales the para- 
sites would soon make their appearance. 

Mr. Woodworth asked how these parasites should be prepared or 
whether for purpose of identification they are best left unmounted. 


219 


Mr. Howard replied that they are best mounted on card points and 
preferably on the left side, at right angles to the point, the head for- 
ward and the dorsum outward (away from the pin). 

Mr. Fletcher asked what would be the best mounting medium ? 

Mr. Howard said that shellac is used at Washington. 

Mr. Summers uses yellow shellac; he finds it more satisfactory than 
white. 

Mr. Cook thought the white shellac excellent if of good quality. But 
it was not always good. He also finds Spalding’s glue excellent. 

Mr. Fletcher had seen some recommendation of shellacin naphtha 
had any one tried that? 

Mr. Smith then read the following : 


NOTES ON THE PLUM CURCULIO. 
By J. B. SMITH. 


No attempts at such experimentations as have been made by Messrs. 
Cook, Weed, and Gillette have been undertaken, and only a single line 
of investigation, which suggested itself early in the season, was followed 
out. 

First, I noticed a new food habit—new to meat least. In beating 
some bushes of the June or service berry (Amelanchier canadensis) 
I noticed the peculiar crescent marks of this plum curculio on the half- 
grown fruit. Closer search turned up also the beetles, so that there 
was no doubt as to the author of the punctures. The berries were very 
generally infested by a coleopterous larva which was not of this 
species and which [I failed to bring to maturity. It is interesting that 
we should have this food pliant forthe species. The experiments were 
made with the view of determining to what extent the insects would 
come to maturity in apples. Early in the season. when the apples were 
allset and as large as a nut, a number of stung plumsand apples were 
picked up beneath the trees and placed in jars on moist soil. From 
some of the most heavily loaded branches apples with several fresh 
punctures were picked and divided into two lots—one was placed on 
moist soil, the other in a dry jar, in which their position was frequently 
changed to prevent decay. Another lot of older apples with older 
punctures was placed on moist soil. 

As a result, in the plums and apples picked from the ground nearly 
all the larve came to maturity; there was a larva for nearly every 
puncture. In one small apple there were nine mature larve. In the 
young apples picked from the branches and laid on moist soil the pro- 
portion of maturing larve was almost or quite as great. In those 
placed in the dry jars very few hatched and none came to maturity, as 
none of the apples rotted. In the older apples with old punctures, 
which were placed on moist soil, a few of the larve hatched and 
reached maturity. 


220 | ; 


During this pcriod I had been examining apples remaininy on the 
trees, and cutting down on the punctures. In only a few cases had 
any larvee developed at all and in no case did any come to maturity. 

The bearing of the investigation was, that if an orchard is kept clear 
of fallen fruit there would be no development of curculio on apple trees, 
Since they require a decaying or fermenting mess to feed upon. Great 
stress should be placed on this point of picking fallen fruit, as itis fuliy 
as important as spraying. | 


Mr. Fletcher asked whether the curculio punctures did not cause the 
falling of the attacked apples. 

Mr. Smith replied that they did not. 

Mr. Beckwith said that in his experience the curculio is very abun- 
dant in apple orchards. He has noticed them flying out of the trees when 
spraying, on many occasions. 

Mr. Harvey understood Mr. Smith to say that the plum curculio found 
in the fallen apples was the best condition for development, and for this 
reason he was pleased to have another argument for picking and de- 
stroying fallen fruit. It is the only way to get the better of the Trypeta 
pomonella, but he can not persuade farmers to go tothe trouble. If 
there are two points to be gained, it may be easier to induce them to 
act. He thought that in his experience the punctured apple dropped 
early, but that very few larve matured. He had found many dead 
larve in punctured apples, and from one hundred only two beeties were 
reared. 

Mr. Woodworth thinks that not all the larve in growing apples die. 

Mr. Cook thinks that the development in growing apples is extremely 
rare. He remembers it as a great triumph when on one occasion he 
was able to show a living larva in a growing apple. 

Dr. Goding stated that he had been unable to prepare a paper for the 
meeting as he had intended, and stated that he was at present collect- 
ing and studying Membracide. He asked all who might have material 
in this family to send to him for determination and study. 

Mr. Smith read the followixg: 


AN EXPERIENCE WITH THE ROSE BUG. 


By J. B. SMITH. 


It really was an experience. I had never seen insects in such num- 
bers, in such constantly increasing swarms, and of such enormous in- 
dustry. There was lots of fun in experimenting; but the fun was on 
the part of the rose bug, and not on the part of the experimenter. I 
spent a few days during the invasion at Vineland, and it was simply 
awful. Every cherry was cleared off, and many leaves were devoured. 
Apple trees presented a great mass of sprawling rose bugs burdening 
each apple. The fruit itself was not visible, but its situation was 


221 


marked by the clumps of beetles. Nothing escaped them except peaches, 
and they only escaped because there were none anyway! But even 
peach foliage was attached. Pears were infested as badly as apples; 
but quinces were nut such favorites. Of the small fruits, the black- 
berries seemed very attractive. They were on each blossom and ate 
-the petals but left the green, forming fruit.. Last year they ate the 
leaves as well and left only the canes. This year they left the leaves, 
Raspberries were totally destroyed. Last season they were in such force 
on Colonel Pearson’s strawberry patches that the field looked a yellow 
mass of moving insects. Magnolias are immense favorites and the 
trees were loaded. Millions of them swarmed in a couple of sour-gum 
trees on the road. In the woods a number of trees and shrubs were 
defoliated, and sumach was neatly scraped, the upper surface only of 
the leaves being eaten. In Mrs. Treat’s garden her flowers suffered 
greatly. Poppies were great favorites, while hollyhocks bore heavy 
burdens; not only flowers and buds were eaten, but masses of them 
ate even into the stem. The foxglove was also attacked ; but this was 
fatal to those that ate, as a circle of dead beetles around each plant 
proved. The plant was not a favorite, however, and could never prove 
a protection. 

Larkspur only seemed exempt, no beetles being seen on this and no 
plants were found injured. Roses are well known favorites, and blos- 
soms and buds were completely devoured. In the vineyard the havoe 
was woeful. Dozens of them were on each bunch of blossoms and their 
fate was sealed. There were not enough blossoms to go around and the 
_ leaves were attacked. On Clintons they ate the entire substance of the 
leaf; on Concords they ate only the top, leaving the woolly underside. 
The destruction of the leaf was equally complete either way, for the 
shaved leaves dried and withered. Concord blossoms were rather the 
favorites, being in better condition for food than the Clintons, on which 
considerable fruit had set. 

The contemplation of such enormous swarms induced a feeling of 
helplessness that was discouraging. Colonel Pearson has done con- 
siderable experimenting ou his own account, and I acccepted his experi- 
ence as conclusive, knowing the Colonel’s reliability on such matters. 
He had used the various copper compounds and found none of them 
effective. Vines completely coated with the Bordeaux mixture were 
just as badly attacked as were those where none was applied. Lon- 
don purple had been applied to some vines, and while it was effective 
so far as killing some of the insects is concerned, it was not protective 
at all, since all the buds and blossoms were eaten before the poison 
began to work. Here is our most serious problem. The insects come 
in immense swarms and come suddenly ; they attack at once the very 
heart of the crop—i. e., the blossoms—and do the injury long before the 
applied internal poisons can have any chance to prove effective. Then, 
even if the first column is overthrown and destroyed, new forces are 


222 


constantly arriving, and whatever is left by the first lot is sure to be 
found by the second or third or some other of the twenty or more armies 
that make their appearance day by day. 

To try the effect of repellants I used carbolated lime on a row of vines, 
putting it on very thoroughly with a Leggett ‘“‘gun.” The stuff was 
certainly repugnant enough to all but rosebugs, and they did not mind 
it in the least. Fresh air-slacked lime dusted into the vines proved 
equally ineffective in other hands, and whitewashing, or what practi- 
cally amounted to it, was equally bare of results in Colonel Pearson’s 
experience. This was to be expected, where the Bordeaux mixture 
itself was eaten. Copper evidently added nothing to the lime, and 
neither did the carbolic acid. I had some hope of naphthalin, and 
dusted a row with the powdered substance, mixed with precipitated 


carbonate of lime in equal parts. The odor was plainly perceptible for — 


10 feet either side of the row, and yet the beetles minded it not in the 
least. They ate the leaves less, but to the buds and flowers the powder 
formed only an agreeable relish. 

I tried it with tobacce with equally barren results. I put on the 
tobacco powder dry, and the insects seemed to take it greedily. X. O. 
dust was equally ineffective. Then I got up early in the morning and 
dusted a couple of rows while yet everything was wet with dew. The 
result was the same. Tobavco evidently agrees with this species and 
forms only an appetizer. But I tried it again. I made a decoction of 
1 pound of ground tobacco to 1 gallon of water, using 2 quarts of boil- 
ing hot water and pouring through the tobacco and adding two quarts 
of cold water. Then I stirred in the dust itself and sprayed on a row 
of blackberries. I selected these because the beetles were very numer- 
ous and easy to reach. The leaves and blossoms were coated with the 
brown mixture, which soon became viscid by evaporation and ought to 
have been repugnant to all well regulated insects. But the rosebugs 
did not mind it in the least and seemed to feed with increased relish. 
Tobacco was evidently no good. Pyrethrum had been highly recom- 
mended, and I gave this also a good trial. I used it first at the rate of 
1 ounce to 1 gailon on blackberry bushes. A few of the beetles dropped, 
kicked about for a few minutes until dry, and then flew back to the 
plants and resumed their feeding, apparently none the worse. I jumped 
from this to one-fourth pound to 1 gallon of water, using a fresh article 
both of the Persian powder and of the Buhach in two different experi- 
ments, Stirring in the powder after extracting with boiling hot water. 
This promised well. A few minutes after the application the beetles 
were dropping from the plants in every direction, and in ten minutes 
scarcely a beetle was left on the bushes. They lay on the ground, 
struggling at first and then quiet and motionless. They were, however, 
still alive, and I waited patiently for their death. But they had not 
the slightest inteution of obliging me, and at the end of half an hour 
began to recover from their stupor. From a feeble motion, as though 


223 


awakening after a souud nap, they rapidly recovered activity, and at 
the end of another fifteen minutes they were again back upon the : 
flowers. These were coated with the yellow powder and this was 
readily eaten without any obvious bad effects. 

This was discouraging; but one more test was made. Colonel Pear- 
son had paid $2 per pound for an article guaranteed fresh, pure, and 
“more powerful than any other, and of this we used an ounce in 2 quarts 
of water, adding a cup of molasses to make it more sticky and lasting. 
This was sprayed on a rosebush near the house. It had rained during 
the night, the bush was in the shade, the insects were cold and slug- 
gish, and all conditions were favorabie. The insects showed the usual 
effect at once. Most of them dropped, and many hung on by their toe- 
nails only. The ground was wet and cold, and there they lay for hours, 
apparently dead. But I am always suspicious of a rosebug, and I gath- 
ered a handful and placed them inthe sun. My suspicions proved well 
founded, and all these insects, as soon as they became warm and dry, 
recovered and flew away. This also happened, though more slowly, 
where the insects were not laid in the sun, but only removed to a dry 
place. Pyrethrum was a failure. But even were it not so the cost of 
protecting a vineyard with pyrethrum would be greater than the mar- 
gin of profit on the grapes. 

Quassia was tried in the form of a strong decoction, bitter as gall. 
But the rosebug has the organs of taste very imperfectly developed, 
and did not seem to object to quassia at all. It probably acted as a 
gentle stimulant. 

Colonel Pearson thought he had noticed that acetate of copper was 
at least distasteful to them, and we stained a lot of white roses green by 
spraying with this substance. They. were not quite so attractive as 
others that were left unsprayed, but were also eaten. 

Digitalis was tried and proved ineffective. Acetic acid also failed. 
Colonel Pearson had used kerosene emulsion with the effect of driving 
them away temporarily; but they soon returned and it was not really 
effective. 

I had about concluded that the only thing that rose bugs ever died of 
was nervous debility; for besides eating, their chief business in life 
seemed to be copulating, and this they attended to “‘ with a persistence 
that was worthy a better cause.” It made no difference that towards 
the end of their stay the females had not an egg remaining in the ova- 
ries; this business suffered no abatement. 

About the time when the period of their stay was near its end, we 
received from the Columbia Chemical Works, Brooklyn, N. Y.,a sludge 
oil soap which Colonel Pearson reports successful in killing these insects. 
It needs further trial before being positively recommended. As to my 
other experiments with these insects, are they not written in my annual 
report? This will appear in time for the next invasion, and I need only 
add a few words concerning their breeding places. I find that these 


224 


occupy the whole of the sand district in South Jersey, and that the | 
larve are in great abundance everywhere in the brush lands, even down | 
to the shore. Itis utterly impractical from this fact to take any meas- | 
ures to destroy the larve, since thousands of acres of uncultivated land — 
are infested to areally startling extent! 


Mr. Alwood said that he was also in the rose-bug region, but that he | 
never met them in such numbers as were described by Mr. Smith. In — 
his experience the kerosene emulsion would kill them readily, and he 
was able to keep them down by the use of arsenites. He stated that he 
‘was not fully satisfied as to methods of treating this insect, but fully 
expected to master it in the future. 

Mr. Howard asked where the pyrethrum for these experiments was 
obtained. 

Mr. Smith replied that he had been at special pains to get a fresh mate- _ 
rial in New York City, both of Buhach and of the Persian powder, and 
that Colonel Pearson, in his determination to get the best, paid $2 fora 
pound of a guaranteed article in Philadelphia. 


NOVEMBER i3—MORNING MEETING. 


Twenty-one persons present, Dr. Riley in the chair. 

The assessment imposed at the previous meeting was called for by 
the president, and $4.25 was paid over to the Secretary to reimburse him 
for expenses incurred and to be incurred. 

The election of officers for the next meeting was then taken up, and 
resulted as follows: 


HorP resid enh 2 occ. em inrstae eon eer: cee James Fletcher. 
Kor Vice -Eresident) =. 52,20. ssc nae cer eer F. H. Snow, 
For’ Second. Vice President..: 22. .2<ces4e acc. se Herbert Osborn. 
Hor Secretary «222522222 cae 2A) eae ee ie ae La Ol Oars 


On motion of Mr. Howard, the committee on codperation was con- 
tinued. 

Mr. Smith stated that many of the bulletins of the stations did not 
reach him, and he asked rather than moved that each member of the 
association mail to each other member a copy of every bulletin so is- 
sued, and also that each member receiving such copy acknowledge 
receipt to the sender. 

Mr. Forbes agreed to this proposition. It was not until he attempted 
to gain a review of the work of the year that he found how many bulle- 
tins he lacked. 

Mr. Woodworth asked that each member of the association be fur- 
nished with a list of the members. 

Mr. Howard asked that the members of the staff of the Entomological 
Division be included. ; 

Mr. Forbes moved that the invitation of Entomological Club of the 
A. A. A.S., that this association meet with them next year at Wash- 
ington be accepted. 


225 


Mr. Osborn explained that it was intended that the meeting of this 
association should be called a day or two before the meeting of the 
association, the exact day and time to be left to the committee. 

Mr. Smith called attention to the fact that we were about to get into 
the same snarl we were in this year. The Association of Agricultural 
Colleges and Experiment Stations expected to meet at the same place 
and time, and we would then have three clubs of the same members all 
meeting at about the same time, two of them more or less in opposition. 
It seemed to him that one strong body was much the best. 

Mr. Forbes stated that at last accounts the Association of Colleges 
and Stations had voted not to go to Washington. Mr. Smith there- 
upon withdrew his objection, and the motion was carried. 

Mr. Howard asked the present status of Mr. Lintner’s amendment. 

Mr. Smith moved that in view of the practical separation of this body 
from the official organization, Mr. Lintner’s amendment be taken up 
and passed. The motion was carried, and section 1 of the constitution 
now reads as follows: 


Sec. 1. This association shall be known as the Association of Economic Ento- 
mologists. 


Mr. Summers asked how this affects the standing of members. 

Mr. Smith read the provision of the constitution defining member- 
ship, and stated that the omission of the word ‘ official” from the title 
changed the nature of the association so that there was no necessity 
for the distinction between official and nonofficial entomologists. 

Mr. Summers moved that section 3 of the constitution be amended to 
read as follows: 

Sec. 3. The membership shall be confined to workers in economic entomology. All 
economic entomologists employed by the general or State governments, or by the 
State experiment stations, or by any agricultural or horticultural association, and 
all teachers of economic entomology in educational institutes, may become members 
of the association by transmitting the proper credentials to the secretary, and by 
authorizing him to sign their names to this constitution. Other persons engaged in 
practical work in economic entomology may be elected by a two-thirds vote of the 
members present at any regular meeting of the association. Members residing out 
of the United States or Canada shall be designated foreign members. Foreign mem- 
bers shall not be entitled to hold office or to vote. 


Under the law this amendment lies over until the next regular meet- 
ing. 

Mr. Cook moved that a committee of three of the best men be ap- 
pointed by the president to make arrangements for a program that 
would represent the entomologists before section F of the A. A. A. S. 

Mr. Smith seconded the motion, and suggested that Mr. Cook desig- 
nate the committee to relieve the president from the task of selecting 
the three best men. But he opposed the motion on the ground that 
our association had absolutely no standing in the A. A. A. S., while 
there did exist an entomological club of that association through whom, 
if at all, such an arrangement should be made. He thought the officers 

15738—No. 5——4 


226 


of that club the proper persons to look out for the entomological interests 
at the A. A. A.S. 

Mr. Osborn said that the club of the association was not a part of it 
by official connection, any more than this asssociation was. It was re- 
cognized and provided for, but was not a part of it. 

The president thought the purpose of the motion a good one, and 
hoped that in some way it would be carried out. 

Mr. Smith stated that the club was a part of the association to this. 
extent, that it was furnished badges and its proceedings had been pub- 


lished in the proceedings of the A. A. A. 8.; it consisted primarily of — 


members of the association, and that the matters to come before our 
body were not matters to go before the association anyway. 

Mr. Osborn suggested that the committee to be appointed by the 
president be composed of members of the A. A. A.S. 

Mr. Woodworth asked what the meaning of the proposition was; 
whether the matter to be presented was to be scientific or economic. 

Mr. Webster said that last year the botanists had discussed the dis- 
tribution of plants, and that a great deal of interest had been mani- 
fested in their meetings. 

Mr. Cook had intended to leave the selection of the topic entirely to 
the members of the committee. 

Mr. Forbes thought we should not present economic matters before 
Section F. 

Mr. Fletcher suggested that the committee be appointed to confer 
with the officers of the club or to suggest a programme. 

Mr. Howard thought with Mr. Smith, that the whole matter was very 
much out of place here. 

The motion was put and lost. 

Mr. Smith read the following paper: 


SOME QUESTIONS RELATING TO APHIDIDZ. 


By J. B. SMITH. 


I have practically stated the points of my paper in the discussion of 
Mr. Weed’s paper in the committee on entomology, and will therefore 
touch on the matter but very briefly. 


I think more attention should be paid to the structure of the porifer-_ 


ous system of the antenne in the separation of species. I have found 
this character invariable in the specimens examined, and believe it to 


be of great value for specific determination. <A fact of some importance ~ 
is also brought out in this examination, the poriferous system remains ~ 


the same from birth to the pupa stage—and only when the winged in- 
dividual appears does the typical or specific system appear. I think 


that this is important evidence as bearing on the question of whether — | 
the wingless viviparous females are larve or are really mature forms. 
I think that this is simply an arrest of development, and that itis a_ 


m4 ew 


: 


H. 


r - 


227 


true larval reproduction; that these forms are not in any sense mature 
insects. Finally, what function do these pits fulfill? Iam not at all 
satisfied with any of the explanations thus far made. 


Mr. Webster asked why it is that some young of the same female 
will obtain wings and others not, and why those females possessing 
wings were the least prolific. 

Mr. Smith did not pretend to answer this question; the fact was 
known to him and had been frequently observed; the wingless, vivipa- 
rous forms seemed for some reason to be interrupted in their develop- 
ment. 

Mr. Osborn said that the poriferous system in the sexed individuals 
in species familiar to him is much more simple than in the winged vivip- 
arous forms; but he could not say that it was the same as in the lar- 
val forms. 

Mr. Webster had observed that the wingless female is much more 
quiet and docile and not easily disturbed, while the winged female is 
wild and sometimes entirely unmanageable. 

Mr. Gillette read a paper entitled : 


NOTES ON THE PLUM CURCULIO AND PLUM GOUGER. 


©. P. GiLbetTre. 
EGG-LAYING RECORD OF THE PLUM‘ GOUGER. 


On the ist of June last a male and female geuger were taken in 
copula and placed under a bell jar in my study, where they were kept 
supplied with fresh plums. A complete daily record of the number of 
punctures made by these beetles, and also of the number of eggs de- 
posited by the female, was kept. The first eggs were deposited during 
the night of June 2 and the last eggs were deposited on June 22, mak- 
ing the period of oviposition in this case twenty days. 

In order to economize space I will give the record in periods of five 
days each, beginning on June 2. I will also give the whole number of 
punctures made by both beetles for food and oviposition in each period. 
First period, 366 punctures and 136 eggs; second period, 318 punctures 
and 136 eggs; third period, 321 punctures and 125 eggs; fourth period, 
161 punctures and 51 eggs; fifth period, 96 punctures and 2 eggs; sixth 
period (three days), 4 punctures and no eggs. This makes a. total of 
1,266 punctures and 450 eggs, or about 2.8 punctures peregg. This 
makes no account of the large number of punctures made by the beetles 
for food in buds and blossoms before oviposition began. From the time 
egg-laying began there were no omissions of a single day to the time 
the last eggs were laid, on June 22. The largest number of eggs de- 
posited in one day (twenty-four hours) is 49 for June 3. Up to June 20 
the smallest number deposited in one day was 12, the number found 


228 


June 18. As the deposition of eggs is so rapid, especially at the first, 
it is very important that the beetles be checked in their operations as 
early as possible in the season. 

The eggs were counted between 7 and 8 o’clock each morning and 
about 6 o’clock each evening. A few more eggs were laid during the 
night than during the day as thus divided. The beetles took no food 
after June 28 and died about July 12. Up to and inciuding June 7 the 
beetles were seen pairing not less than fourteen times, but not once 
after that date. 


EGG-LAYING RECORD OF A PLUM CURCULIO. 


A single female curculio that was brought into the laboratory on 
June 7 and daily supplied with fresh plums made 426 punctures and 
deposited 167 eggs up to July 17. The largest number of eggs laid in 
twenty-four hours was 11. Itis highly probable that this beetle had 
laid many eggs before being captured, but I give these figures because 
I believe no statements based upon an actual count has ever been 
made as to the number of eggs deposited by the curculio or the length 
of time covered by a single female in the period of oviposition. 


LONDON PURPLE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CURCULIO AND 
GOUGER.. 


Ten minor plum trees standing in a row, and isolated from all other 
plum trees by about 60 rods, were used in an experiment to test the 
value of London purple for the destruction of the plum curculio and the 
plum gouger. Five trees at one end of the row were thoroughly treated 
with London purple in water in the following proportions and on the 
following dates: May 1,1 pound to 200 gallons; May 10,1 pound to 
250 gallons; May 14, 1 pound to 300 gallons; May 26,1 pound to 250 
gallons; June 2, 1 pound to 256 gallons; June 7,1 pound to 256 gal- 
lons. Trees 6,7,and 8 were treated like the above, but with pure water 
that they might be proper checks. It was thought necessary to spray 
these trees with water for fear that the curculios and gougers, which 
are timid creatures, might be driven by the spraying from the treated 
trees to accumulate unduly upon the checks. Trees 9 and 10 were 
untreated. It rained very frequently during the period that the appli- — 
cations were made, and although a considerable burning of the leaves © 
was apparent where the London purple was used, the injury to the 
foliage was not serious. All fallen fruit was gathered and examined, 
and the plums remaining on the trees were all examined before they 
were ripe. Forty-five per cent. of all the fruit of the trees treated with 
London purple was injured by the curculio, and 64 per cent. by the 
gouger. . 

The trees treated with water had 48 per cent. of their fruit injured by 
the curculio and 75 per cent. by the gauger. This shows a slight sav- 
ing in favor of the London purple treatment. The two untreated trees 


‘ 


229 


had 13 per cent. of their fruit injured by the curculio and 52 per cent. 
by the gouger, an injury far less, especially in case of the curculio, than 
in either of the previous lots. These last trees, however, were rather 
near the house, and were so located that they were frequently passed 
by persons going into the garden and probably were not good checks, 
but I can see no reason why the trees sprayed with water were not good 
checks for the trees treated with London purple. However this may 
be, the experiment shows that a large percentage of the fruit may be de- 
stroyed by the curculio and gouger upon trees thoroughly and repeat- 
edly sprayed with London purple. It is also true that these trees were 
much worse attacked by curculio this year than they were last. Ina 
large number of untreated native varieties in my experiments this 
year none were worse attacked than the above lot treated with London > 
purple. 

Mr. Bruner presented a paper entitled : 


NOTES ON BEET INSECTS. 
By LAWRENCE BRUNER. 


[ Author’s abstract. ] 


Mr. Bruner gave a brief account of the insect enemies of the beet 
about as follows: 

‘* Ever since the sugar beet question has been agitated in the West, 
and now particularly that a large factory for the manufacture of sugar 
from that plant has been built at Grand Island, in Nebraska, there is 
much interest taken in the subject. Every gathering of farmers or other 
tillers of the soil makes it a point to discuss the different features of the 
sugar-beet question. Even the subject of insect attacks upon the beet 
has received some attention from these gatherings. 

‘‘This last feature of the subject is by no means the least important of 
the matters connected with the culture of the beet for sugar. I have 
made a casual study of the insect enemies of the beet during the past 
Summer and have reported in a preliminary way to Professor Riley as 
a part of my work under the Division of Entomology. My studies have 
resulted in finding at least sixty-four distinct species that feed upon 
that plant, either upon the leaves or on the root. These are as follows: 


Spilosoma virginice. Melanoplus femur-rubrum. 
isabella. atlanis. 
Mamestra picta. spretus. 
; chenopodii. differentialis. 


Eurycreon rantalis. 
Plusia brassice. 


bivittatus. 
Dissosteira carolina. 


Deilephila lineata. Trimerotropis latifasciata. 
Copidryas gloveri. Spharagemon equale. 
Agrotis, several species. Pezotettix olivaceus. 
Leucania unipuncta. Ligyrus gibbosus. 


7 Botis posticata. Lachnosterna fusca, and others. 


Wire worms, several species. 


Unknown Coleopterous larva. 


Silpha opaca. 
Diabrotica 12-punctata. 
Disonycha triangularis. 
cervicalis. 
xanthomelena. 
crenicollis. 
Systena frontalis. 
teniata. 
Psylliodes convexior. 
-Chaetocnema denticulata. 
Epitrix cucumeris. 
Epicauta pennsylvanica. 
sp. 
maculata. 
vittata. 
Macrobasis sp. 
Cantharis nuttalli. 
Colaspis brunneus. 
Epicerus imbricatus. 


230 


Centrinus penicellus. 
perscitus. 

Apion sp. 

Doryphora 10-lineata, 

Micropus leucopterus. 

Piesma cinera. 

Nysius angustatus. 

Geocoris bullata. 


Trapezonotus nebulosus. 


Emblethis arenarius. 
Lygus pratensis. 
Euthoctha galeator. 
Agallia siccifolia. 
sp. 
Allygus sp. 
Erythroneura sp. 
sp. 
Liburnia intertexta. 
Aphis atriplicis. 
cucumeris. 
Siphonophora pisi. 


‘In the study ofthe beet insects it was found that the most common 
species that are usually known as ‘ weed-feeding’ forms were the first 
to attack the beet. All these that attack the common garden as well as 
field weeds also attack the beet. These are such as feed upon the‘ pig- 
weed,’ the Amarantus, the purslane, ‘ tumble-weed,’ etc.” 

In closing, Mr. Bruner requested that all entomologists assist in the 
further study of these beet insects by sending him the names of, or any 
notes in relation to, such species as are not included in his list given 
above. He expects to continue the study the coming year with a view 
of publishing results in the formof a special bulletin from the Nebraska 
Agricultural Experiment Station. 


Mr. Fletcher asked whether there was any practical remedy for the 
Anthomyia attacking beet-root leaves. 

Mr. Howard asked whether Silpha opaca has been found feeding on 
beets in this country ; it is a well known enemy to this crop in Europe. 

Mr. Bruner did not know that this was so from personal observation. 

Mr. Fletcher expressed interest in the habits of Collops. He had 
taken it by sweeping grasses. 

Mr. Smith had found it commonly on golden rod. 

Mr. Smith related the following: 


a 
7 
E 
% 
x 


231 


AN INVASION BY THE CLOVER-LEAF BEETLE. 


. By J. B. SMITH. 


This insect has not been heretofore known as a troublesome species 
in New Jersey. During the season of 1889 larve and pup were sent 
from the northern part of the State, and there was an abnormal increase 
all around the State. In Philadelphia,where most of the collectors had 
never taken it, it became suddenly the most common species. Every- 
thing pointed to an injurious invasion of the species, and such I pre- 
dicted in my report for 1889. Early in the season of 1890 I received 
complaints of a caterpillar on cloverin enormous numbers. Specimens 
sent, in response to my request, reached me in a defunct condition, evi- 
dently killed by a fungus disease. Meanwhile the same complaints 
were made in other parts of the State, and the newspapers reported 
them as being gathered by the bushel. I could not get hold of a 
living specimen, and all the reports stated that they crawled up to the 
tops of grass blades and coiled themselves up. In Gloucester County I 
finally found the larve myself, and after some search found also a few 
living specimens which I recognized as_ the larve of the clover-leaf 
beetle; but before I could get them home they were killed by the fun- 
gus, and some put in weak alcohol were discolored by the disease and 
distorted so as to be useless as specimens of the species. 

Afterward I found the remains of these same larve in clover fields 
in all parts of the State visited by me, but nowhere a living larva. The 
specific effect of the disease caused by Empusa spherosperma seems 
to be inducing the larva to crawl to the tops of grass blades and coiling 
themselves around the extreme tips or as near as they could get to it. 
What promised to be a terrible destructive attack was happily pre- 
vented by the effects of this disease, which almost completely exter- 
minated thelarve. There were tworemarkable things: First, the enor- 
mous numbers in which the larve appeared all over the State where 
no beetles were observed last year—I did not find one near New 
Brunswick—and yet the larve were here in destructive numbers this 
spring; and second, the equally widespread disease, which was in all 
places at the same time. 

That some larvee escaped is proved by the fact that at Long Branch 

- Beach I found the beetle very common in midsummer. Near Philadel- 
phia, | am informed, the beetle has been very rarely seen this year. 


Mr. Howard mentioned a similar attack in Lancaster County, Pa., 
and stated that Professor Riley had recently received a larva indistin- 
guishable from this which had been found feeding on timothy. 

Mr. Woodworth said that he had in Arkansas observed three epi- 
demics among insects which seemed to stamp out. the infested species 

_ almost entirely. On one occasion the tomato worm was utterly exter- 
minated. 


232 


Mr. Fletcher asked whether Phytonomus nigrirostris had been ob- 
served as injurious to clover. He had often taken the larva feeding on 
clover in different parts of Canada, and in one instance, as recorded in 
his report for 1884, it was injuriously abundant in New Brunswick. 

Mr. Smith replied that it is also not uncommon on clover in New Jer- 
sey, but did not do damage enough to attract attention. 

Mr. Gillette said that he had found a small yellow caterpillar in con- 
siderable numbers on clover, feeding at the base of leaves, in Septem- 
ber, at Ames, and asked whether any one else had noticed it. 

Mr. Smith said that he had been experimenting for some time with 
preservative media, looking to some substance which should preserve 
greens, and general form better than alcohol. He had best success with 
acetic acid. The histological action of this is to swell the cell and 
nucleus, and insects preserved in this, extended limbs, antenne, and 
mouth parts, and left them in excellent condition for examination. In 
some cases it distorted by extending insects preserved init. It does 
not dissolve chlorophyll, but does not prevent bleaching to some ex- 
tent at least. Reds do not do so well. Mixed with alcohol in equal 
parts it preserves form perfectly, and in general color also much better 
than alcohol alone. He has found this the most satisfactory medium 
thus far used. 

Mr. Howard asked how long specimens had been so preserved and 
how many times the liquid had been changed. 

Mr. Smith replied that he had none longer than six months, and that 
there had been no change of liquid. He found this especially useful 
for aphides, the form of which it preserved perfectly. 

Mr. Woodworth gave as the best preservative process killing in 
water at 90° centigrade, leaving from one to five minutes. Then put 
into alcohol, 35 per cent. one to two hours, 50 per cent. from six to 
eight hours, 75 per cent. for twenty-four hours or more, and then to ab- 
solute alcohol. This would usually preserve perfectly, and was a recog- 
nized process for hardening and preserving for histological purposes. 

Mr. Fletcher asked whether, in the case of large Sphingid larve, 
there should be any puncturing of the epidermis to facilitate penetra- 
tion by the preservative media. 

Mr. Woodworth replied that a certain amount of discretion and judg- 
ment must be exercised, but that puncturing was not often necessary. 

Mr. Fletcher said that he had taken a lot of S. chersis larve on ash. 
They varied remarkably in color and maculation and were blotched and 
spotted in various ways. He had a fine series of about forty specimens, 
all different, but that all at the top of the jar were much discolored, 
They were all right at the bottom, but at the top they became black and 


discolored. He thinks that discoloration is frequently due to decay of © 


the central portions of large larve. 
Mr. Forbes said that they use the method described by Mr. Wood- 
worth in the laboratory, and that they have some very fine specimens. 


Th 


oe 
«x 


— 


233 


It does not preserve greens, but the browns are preserved and the 
markings are well brought out. 

Mr. Marten said that hot alcohol is equally good for all but green 
larve, and that the boiling water is not a necessity. They have some 
very fine specimens preserved in this way. 

Mr. Forbes read the following: 


A SUMMARY HISTORY OF THE CORN-ROOT APHIS. 
By S. A. FORBEs. 


The points of special interest in the history of the corn-root louse are 
the time and place of oviposition, the stage and place of hibernation, 
the relations of the root louse to the leaf louse of corn, the alternative 
food plants of each, and the relations of the root lice to ants. The ac- 
count here given is based upon observations and experiments made by 
myself and my assistants at the office, beginning with the year 1882. 
The facts concerning oviposition were ascertained by simple observation 

of the oviparous female in the field and in the laboratory. The method 
of hibernation was ascertained by field observations late in fall and early 
in spring. The statements made concerning food plants other than 
corn depend in part upon collections of the corn-root louse made on 
various plants (the identity of the species being verified in each case 
by successful maintenance and propagation on corn), and in part by the 
incidental transfer of corn lice to other vegetation in our breeding 
cages. 
The relations of the root lice to ants have been made out by very 
many and careful explorations of formicaries in the field, by watching the 
operations of ants among the lice, by laboratory experiments with artifi- 
cial formicaries, and by various indoor experiments with ants deprived 
: of lice, with lice deprived of ants, and the like. 
| The connection between root and aérial forms has been studied by 
means of field observations intended to trace the first origin of the 
latter in summer and their fatein autumn ; and especially by oft-repeated 
breeding experiments with corn inclosed under cloth covered frames. 
if In our latest experiments of this sort, the cloth inclosures were very 
large, to prevent the possible introduction of the leaf louse by the 
_ females’ producing young upon the cloth where the corn leaves tonched it. 

The earth within these inclosures was thoroughly disinfected, and 
; _ planted to corn in the spring, and colonies of ants were started here 
and kept continuously supplied with corn-root lice throughout the 
season, the object being to ascertain whether the evolution of the aérial 
louse would occur under these strict conditions. We have also re- 

_ peatedly tried the direct transfer of root lice of various generations to 
the corn leaf, inciosed in a way to preclude outside interference. 

The principal facts arrived at can be most conveniently given in the 
form. of a biographical narrative extending through the year. 


234 


The root louse hihernates as an egg in the earth, and, as far as known, | 
only in the nests of ants of a species identified for me by August Forel as 
Lasius brunneus, var. alienus. This ant is host and constant companion 
of the root louse throughout the year. It is equally devoted, however, © 
to the common grass-root louse (Schizoneura corni, by Osborn’s deter- 
mination). The formicaries containing the corn-louse eggs are most 
frequently to be found in old hills of corn, late in autumn or in early 
spring, at a time when the ants are torpid within the earth, and when, © 
consequently, their mining operations do not betray their presence. 
They should be sought by digging or plowing up the corn stubble in 
the field, when, if ants be found, a thorough searchof the burrows will 
commonly show the aphis eggs, piled together in larger or smaller 
quantities, the depth below the surface varying according to the sea- 
son, and even the time of day. We have found them at adepth of 6 
or 7 inches, and, again, scarcely more than half an inch below the 
surface. In spring especially, when hatching time draws near, the ants 
convey the eggs to the upper galleries of their nests during the heat of 
the day (particularly if the weather be fine), but withdraw them for 
the night and during cold wet days. 

The ants themselves pass the winter as adult workers, and as larve in 
various stages from the minute young to those nearly full grown. The 
time of hatching of the plant-louse eggs varies, of course, with the sea- 
son, ranging, according to our observations, from the 10th to the 30th 
of April. The commencement of the hatching season is fairly well in- 
dicated by the opening of the radical leaves of the common smartweed 
or heartweed (Polygonum persicarium) in the fields. The greater part of 
the eggs are commonly hatched a week or ten days before corn planting 
is fairly under way. 

The aphids of the first generation, that hatching from the eggs, are, 
of course, wingless, oviparous females—the form commonly known as 
the stem-mother, or, by Lichtenstein’s system, as the Pseudogyne fun- 
datrix. This generation is readily distinguished by characters of form 
and color from all that follow. Hatching commonly before the corn ap- 
pears it is dependent at first in our region almost wholly upon young 
plants of Polygonum. The roots of these are laid bare by the burrows 
of the ants, and upon these roots within their narrow tunnels the lice will 
usually be found thickly clustered. Later, if the field be not planted 
to corn, our common species of Setaria divides the attention of the lice, 
offering, in fact, for a little time, a more succulent herbage than the 
rapidly growing smartweed. 

The second generation begins to appear about the 10th of May, and, 
by the 20th of that month may be itself mature. Many of this genera- 
tion are winged, and others certainly wingless, as careful breeding ex- 
periments upon isolated individuals have proven again and again. Our 
earliest observation of the winged form of the root louse was dated May 
13. This generation—the Pseudogyne emigrans of Lichtenstein—may 


235 


live at first like the other upon Polygonum and Setaria, but is most com- 
monly transferred to corn, either in the same field or by flying to a dis- — 
tanee. Itis beyond all possible question a fact that the ants burrow the 
hills of corn industriously in advance of the appearance of these lice, 
and when they themselves have none in their possession with which to 
stock their burrows. That they will eagerly seize and convey to their 
cornfield formicaries root lice exposed to them we have repeatedly dem- 
oustrated by experiment. They seem, however, to be not wholly depend- 
ent upon this louse for food, since in the early spring, before the root lice 
make their start, the Lasius often captures small larve and various 
soft-bodied insects, which it kills and carries to its nest. 

The third generation may appear from May 15to 20. Itis more gen- 
erally winged than the second, so far as is indicated by our rather scanty 
observation. 

The fourth and fifth generations were brought out late in May and 
early in June in the single experiment which we carried to that length, 
but the subsequent history of the louse has not been followed through 
the season in detail. It is only certain that successive broods appear 
throughout the summer until fall, breeding continuously upon the roots, 
and both winged and wingless viviparous females occur in variable pro- 
portions, seemingly determined in part by the condition of the plant 
upon which they feed, the winged lice being rapidly evolved as the corn 
plant suffers from the attack. The midsummer generations become, 
consequently, widely scattered, and the lice may almost disappear in 
fields where earlier in the season they were excessively abundant. Colo- 
nies started in old cornfields which have been planted to some other 
crop thus abandon them, after living for a time on smartweed, pigeon 
grass, and the like, and resort to the growing corn; but in midsummer 
the roots of many other plants become infested—purslane, Panicum, 
Setaria, and possibly squash, although our attempts to breed on corn 
root lice from this last plant were quite unsuccessful. 

Even ragweed will support these lice at least temporarily, as we 
proved in 1889 by transferring half-grown young of the second genera- 
tien from smartweed roots to ragweed, where they lived and fed until 
they acquired wings, five days later. In autumn we have found the 
last viviparous generation and the oviparous female following, on purs- 
lane, dock (Rumez crispa), fleabane (Erigeron canadense), black mustard, 
sorrel (Oxalis stricta), and the common plantain (Plantago major), not 
to mention two other plants not recognized or determined at the time. 

The bisexual generation of root lice makes its appearance in corn- 
fields as early as October 1, and continues there througiout the month, 
pairing and depositing eggs. Our only observation of the sexes in cop- 
ula was dated October 21. We have not found the oviparous female 
anywhere in the earth except in the burrows of ants, and there, doubt- 
less, the eggs are laid. Certainly they are collected at that season in 
the chambers of the ants’ nests, and carried through the winter there 


236 
as already described. The assiduous industry with which the worker 
ants will search every crack and cranny of old corn hills in spring leads — 
me to think, however, that they may perhaps find there scattered plant 
louse eggs, lost or overlooked in autumn. 

The ants, in the meantime, have continued their development in their 
small and scattered. colonies, the larve beginning to pupate by the mid- 
dle of May and the sexes emerging early in August. Just when and 
where the eggs are laid by the fertilized female we have not yet deter- 
mined, but specimens of this sex have been found in the earth, alive, as — 
late as Nov. 1, and the continual appearance of young larve in the 
home nests until the middle of the following summer shows that eggs 
are laid, apparently by workers, at frequent intervals through the early 
part of the season. 

The life history of the aérial corn louse, including its relation to the 
root form, has proven a particularly refractory subject, and is not yet 
complete. The connection of this form and the root louse as different 
stages of the same species was assumed without proof by the early ob- 
servers, and has not yet been experimentally demonstrated ; but, on the 
contrary, agreatnumber of attempts at demonstration have almost com- 
pletely failed. The leaf louse has never been certainly brought out of 
the root form, nor has the root louse been bred from the aérial form, 
and the evidence of a connection between the two is indirect and cir- 
cumstantial; while the proverbial difficulty of proving a negative, and 
the fact that the annual origin of the aérial louse and the method of its 
hibernation are both unknown make a present conclusion unwarranted. 

The winged root louse has been frequently taken on the leaves of 
corn during the month of June—from the 9th to the 24th precisely— 
and in the latter instances has been frequently found breeding there to 
some small extent; but attempts toraise these young on corn or broom 
corn, or to follow them in the field to the adult condition, have all thus 
far failed. On the other hand, the first observed appearances of the 
aérial louse (during the latter part of July) come after just about the 
interval required by the hypothesis of an origin from the winged root 
form. 

The aérial aphis grows much more freely on sorghum and broom corn— 
especially the former—than on maize itself, but no experiments have as 
yet been made with the transfer of the corn root louse to the leaves of 
either of these plants. 

In our large cloth-covered breeding cages inclosing corn abundantly 
stocked with root lice and ants, we have occasionally got an appearance 
and temporary continuance of the root form on the stalks or leaves, 
running up to a week with the usual production of young, and in two 
instances, out of about thirty experiments tried, aérial lice appeared 
later on the corn plants thus inclosed. A possible source of error ap- 
peared, however, in the fact that where the leaves of the growing corn 
pressed against the cheese-cloth covering, winged viviparous aérial lice 


237 


were seen crawling about outside, where their young might easily have 
passed through the meshes of the cloth and reached the plant within. 
This year, with a very large cage covering four planted hills thoroughly 
stocked with root lice there has not been a trace of the aérial louse; and 
all attempts to evolve it by directly transferring the root louse to the 


leaves have failed. 


Passing now to the other end of the season, we find that the aérial 


lice continue to breed generation after generation of both winged and 


; 
7 


wingless viviparous females until the autumnal cold and the perishing 


of their food plants destroy them en masse, leaving behind no trace or 


remnant of a hibernating brood, nor evolving, so far as we have been 


able to discover, any oviparous generation. These aérial lice pass rap- 


idly and freely from plant to plant in the fall. concentrating thus on the 
latest remnants of green vegetation about the corn, and spreading 
likewise to the perennial grasses around the borders of the field. We 
have dissected them by the hundred at this season, finding only fe- 
males and these all viviparous, and have bred them in warm breeding 
rooms throughout the winter, no less than nine generations in succes- 
sion occurring between October 7 and the 8th of March. In all these 
winter generations no trace of oviparous females occurred, and no va- 
riation of temperature or exposure made any appreciable change in the 
form or habit of the louse. 

The aérial louse is extremely like the apple louse (Aphis mali), and its 


general disappearance in autumn from the corn at atime when this 


Jast species is laying its eggs freely on the apple twigs, led us to test 
the hypothesis of a migration between these plants. These experi- 
ments, persistently repeated, were, however, quite without result. The 
corn lice inclosed in autumn under bell jars with fresh apple twigs 
neither bred nor fed upon them, and invariably perished. Similar ex- 
periments have not been made, however, with either grass or wheat, al- 
though the aérial louse has been foundin fall upon both. Besides a 
repetition of these and similar experiments, the most promising still 
to be made are those for the transfer of successive generations of the 


‘winged root lice in June and July tothe leaves and springing tassels 


of corn and sorghum. 

As long as the connection between root and aérialforms remains in 
doubt, all economic discussion must be of a provisional and tentative 
character. Some observations and experiments on the root louse are, 
however, worth reporting. 

In the first place, a long list of observations in the field in early 
spring unite in showing that the corn-root aphis takes its start only in 
fields where it occurred the year before, and that such fields are, as a 
rule, most likely to suffer severely from the attack. The early evolu- 
tion of a partly winged brood provides, however, for so general a dis- 
persal that the expedient of rotation of crops can have only a second- 
ary value. 


238 


Secondly, the fact that the plant-louse eggs hatch, asa rule, some 
days in advance of the growth of corn in the fields oul a week or — 


more before corn planting), and that in the meantime the liceare depend. 
ent on young weeds in the earth, gave the hint for some starvation — 
experiments tried in two successive years. From these we learned that 


young lice just hatched will perish within five days if deprived of food, 
whether attended by ants or not. It seems possible, consequently, 
that their numbers might be greatly diminished in early spring by such 


a thorough stirring of the soil with disk harrows or other similar ap- | 


paratus, as would keep down the sprouting herbage in the cornfield. 
Any treatment of the field the preceding summer or fall which should 
diminish the number of seeds of pigeon grass or smartweed maturing 
in the corn would diminish likewise the chances of survival of young 
root lice the following year. I am told that these conditions are agri- 
culturally manageable, and have arranged for field experiments to test. 
these methods. 

A simpler and perhaps more promising expedient is based upon the 


care of the eggs of the common small brown ant, so frequently referred 


to. The attention which these eggs receive both in winter and spring 
makes it seem likely that the care of the ants is essential, and as these 
insects become torpid early, rarely working beyond November 1, it 
seems quite likely that late fall plowing of fields infested by them and 
their guests, the root lice, to be followed possibly by harrowing, would so 
break up their homes and seatter their treasures as to make it impos- 
sible for the ants to reéstablish themselves or to collect the plant-louse 
eggs again. This supposition we shall presently test by treating in this 

manner a strip of land through an infested field and watching develop- 
ments next spring. 

In conclusion, I ought to say that in reporting these results I am act- 
ing only as the spokesman of the office, and that the main credit for the 
work done and much of that for the selection of methods and the de- 
vising of expedients should be distributed among Messrs. Garman, 
Weed, Hart, Marten, and Mally, all of whom, while acting as my 
assistants, have made important contributions to this subject. 


NOVEMBER 13.—AFTERNOON MEETING. 


Highteen persons present. Dr. Riley in the chair. 

The discussion on Mr. Forbes’s paper was announced as in order. 

Mr. Howard asked whether Mr. Forbes considered the apple-louse 
experiment a satisfactory piece of work. 

Mr. Forbes thought it satisfactory as far as it goes, but hesitated to 
say that the negative was actually proven. Still the experiments were 
many times repeated, in doors and out, for two years. 

Mr. Fletcher asked about the habits of the different broods of lice, 
and asked Mr. Riley whether the hop-inhabiting forms of Phorodon 
humuli, for instance, would live upon plum, if placed there artificially. 


239 


Mr. Riley said that experience showed that none of the generations 
on hop would live on plum, except the winged female destined to mi- 
grate to plum. He thought that we often can not do artificially what 
nature does in her own time and in her own way. That sometimes a 
species can not or will not colonize on another plant, to which it takes 
readily at another season. He thought that many of the species have 
an underground form during the summer, and that these forms in the 
same genus resemble each other very closely, much more than do the 
normal aérial types. Conclusions based upon comparisons merely are 
often unreliable. Were the experiments on the root forms so made that 
there was no danger of a mistake ? 

_ Mr. Forbes thought there was no chance of a mistake. They always 
bred these root forms upon corn, and so brought the biological method to 
bear, to supplement thesystematic result.» Often in the fall, where the 
root louse was on purslane, it would leave the roots and get upon the 
stem, which they covered thickly. 

Mr. Riley said there was nothing more baffling than the study of 
these insects. That from the same parthenogenetic female may come 
divergent forms resulting in either apterous parthenogenetic individuals 
like the immediate parent, or in winged or wingless sexupare, and we 
often fail where we try to treat them just alike. Species vary in color 
and in characters, according to season or food plant, and comparisons and 
descriptions that take no account of these changes are of little value. 

Mr. Forbes said the hypothesis that the apple and corn louse were 
forms of one species was a Very alluring one, owing to the fact that the 
one seemed to disappear when the otherarrived. The two species also 
very closely resemble each other, except in the poriforous system of the 
antenna. 

Mr. Riley said that the apple louse (mali) has a summer form on the 
roots of grasses, and is found also on wheat in autumn. 

Mr. Forbes thought it would be through the leaf lice or aérial forms 
that the apple and corn lice would be connected, if at all. 

Mr. Riley thought it would be more likely, from analogy, through the 
root forms. 

Mr. Forbes presented a paper entitled: 


ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE WHITE GRUBS. 
By S. A. FoRBEs. 


Although there is a very great and steadily growing loss to the agri- 
culture of this State (and doubtless in many others) due to the white 
grubs or “ grub worms,” there is among both farmers and entomologists 
a curious lack of self-consistent and trustworthy information concern- 
ing their life histories. In fact, some studies of their transformations 
begun by me in 1886 have led to the discovery that the biography 
of these insects most generally current in entomological literature is 


240 


erroneous and misleading in some important particulars, and that agri- 
cultural practices based on this inaccurate biography must be largely — 
without beneficial effect. 

If I were to say that the white grub lives for three years in the earth, 
counting from the May or June when the eggs are laid; that the grub 
or larva gets its growth in its third autumn, hibernates in the earth 
without transforming, pupates in the third spring of its life, and pres- 
ently emerges as an adult, I should repeat in substance what has been > 
many times said before, and my statement would probably pass even 
now without serious challenge. But this account would be quite in-— 
accurate, at least as to the period of maturity and the time of trans- 
formation of the great mass of our white grubs, and might lead to un- 
fortunate practical mistakes. 

In fact, all the species of Lachnosterna which I have observed (to 
which genus the great majority of these grubs belong) get their full 
growth in spring and early summer, pupate in summer and early au- 
tumn, change in the earth to the adult beetle in fall, and hibernate there 
in that stage without escaping, finally crawling out of the earth for 
their brief life as ‘‘ June beetles ” in May or June, or rarely in July. 

One practical bearing of this difference in history is easily seen. If 
the first account were correct, ground which contained full grown, act- 
ive, and destructive grubs in Jate summer and fall might always be 
safely planted, so far as the grubs were concerned, to corn or potatoes 
or any other of the numerous crops subject to their attack, since by 
spring the insects would be too far advanced towards pupation to do 
any further injury; but in fact this is far from being the case, for a 
grub active in fall will also, if nothing interferes with it, be destructive 
in spring and well on towards or into the summer, and will thus have 
time the following year, before reaching the term of its larval life, to 
completely destroy either corn or small grain. 

Furthermore, if the first account were correct, a farmer who finds his 
erop destroyed by full-grown grubs in spring need not hope to raise 
anything not grub proof on that ground that year; while the truth is 
that he may expect to see his field practically deserted by his enemies 
by July or even by late June, and may consequently plant some time 
previous to that without fear of harm. 

The current and most authoritative statements of the life history of 
the white grubs are incomplete and more or less contradictory. . 

Dr. Harris says that “the habits and transformations of the common 
ockchafer of Europe have been carefully observed, and will serve to 
exemplify those of the other insects of this family, which, as far as they 
are known, seem to be nearly the same,” and continues with a compiled 
account of the history of the European species* to the effect that the 


* Several standard European authorities give quite a different account of the trans- 
formations of the European cockchafer from that quoted by Harris. Ratzeburg, 
Maurice Girard, and Taschenberg give for it a life history essentially like that of 
Lachnosterna, as here established. 


241 


larva gets its growth at the close of its last summer, penetrates about 
2 feet into the earth, remains a pupa there until February, at which time 
it transforms to the beetle, and three months afterwards emerges to the 
light.* Referring to one of our most common species, now known as 
Lachnosterna fusca, he further says:t *‘ In the course of the spring these 
beetles are often thrown from the earth by the spade and plow in vari- 
ous states of maturity, some being soft and nearly white, their supera- 
bundant juices not having evaporated, while others exhibit the true 
color and texture of the perfect insect.” 

In along account of the same species, Dr. Fitch remarks? that ‘*‘ early 
in spring, in spading or plowing the ground, these beetles are frequently 
exhumed, or sometimes in turning over a large stone one of them will 
-be found beneath, lying in a smooth cavity or little round hollow in the 
dirt, like a chicken in its shell. This cavity or cell is formed by the 
grub the preceding autumn. Turning itself around and around, it 
presses upon and compacts the dirt and molds it into this cell for its 
winter residence; and in this cell it changes first to a pupa, in which the 
legs and wing-cases of the insect are seen in their rudimentary state, and 
afterwards to a beetle, such as we have above described. This beetle 
lies dormant in its cell until the warmth of the incoming summer pene- 
trates the ground sufficiently to awaken it into activity. It then breaks 
from its prison and works its way out of the ground.” Onanother page 
he adds,§ ‘‘ The history of our May beetle and its transformations have 
never been fully observed, but everything known respecting it concurs to 
show thatit isexactly analogous to the cockchafer, or May bug of Europe 
(Polyphylla melolontha, Linn.), and occupies the place of that species 
upon this continent.” 

Mr. Walsh, the first State entomologist of Lllinois, says concerning 
the ‘‘ white grub”||: ‘‘ It lives several years in the larva state, and 
finally, in the early spring, changes into a dark chestnut-colored beetle.” 

The fullest and most detailed of these earlier accounts, is that given 
by Dr. Riley, in 1869, in his first report as State entomologist of Mis- 
souri (p. 157): 

Soon after pairing, the female beetle creeps into the earth, especially wherever the 
soil is loose and rough, and after depositing her eggs, to the number of forty or fifty, 
dies. These hatch in the course of a month, and the grubs, growing slowly, do not 
attain full size till the early spring of the third year, when they construct an ovoid 
chamber, lined with a gelatinous fluid, change into pup, and soon afterwards into 
beetles. These last are at first white, and all the parts soft, as in the pupa, and they 
frequently remain in the earth for weeks at a time, till thoroughly hardened, and 


then, on some favorable night in May, they rise in swarms and fill the air. 
This is their history, though it is very probable, as with the European cockchafer 


* Insects Injurious to Vegetation, 2d ed. (1862), pp. 27, 28. 
t Ibid, p. 31. 
¢ Third Report on the Noxious and Beneficial Insects of New York (1859), p. 53. 
§ Ibid., p. 55. 
|| Practical Entomologist, vol. i (1866), p. 60. 
15738—No. 5——5 


ee 


242 


(a closely allied species), that, under favorable conditions, some of the grubs become 
pupe, and even beetles, the fall subsequent to their second spring; but growing 
torpid on approach of winter, remain in this state in the earth, and do not quit it 
any sooner than those transformed in spring. On this hypothesis, their being occa- 
sionally turned up in the fresh beetle state at fall plowing, becomes intelligible. 


Dr. Thomas gives no life history of the grubs in his Entomological 
Reports, but implies the transformation to the imago in spring in the 
following words:* ‘‘In April, when the ground is being plowed or 
spaded, often hundreds of them are cast out already in the perfect state, 
but then they are of a pale, creamy color;” and in an article on these in- 
sects published in the Farmer’s Review of Chicago, for 1881, he expresses 
the opinion that full-grown larve destructive that fall will do no further 
harm, but will transform to the perfect insect the following spring. 

According to Mr. Saunders, ‘at the close of the third summer they 
cease feeding, and bury themselves sometimes 2 feet deep in the earth, 
and there, in an oval cavity formed by the motions of the larva from 
side to side, the change to chrysalis takes place, the beetle digging its 
way through and appearing at the surface in due season. Sometimes 
the transformation to the beetle state takes place in the fall, for we 
have several times found fresh specimens at this season, showing by 
their softness that they had but lately escaped from the pupa eéase. 
Such perfect insects secrete themselves under ground during winter, * 
and appear with the rest of their troop in spring.” 

My own contribution to this history of error was made in 1883 in a 
brief account of the white grubs as strawberry insects.t “The grubs 
hatch in the course of a month, and, growing slowly, do not commonly 
attain full size until the early spring of the third year, when they con- 
struct an ovoid chamber lined with a gelatinous fluid, change into pup, 
and soon after into beetles. Occasionally, however, individuals com- 
plete their transformation in the ground in autumn, and hibernate in ~ 
the aduit condition, without leaving their pupal cells, until the follow- 
ing spring.” 

General accounts of the life history of the white grub consistent with 
the conclusions of this paper have been published, without distinction 
of species or other particulars, by Mr. David L. Bernard, in the Patent | 
Office Report for 1852, and by Prof. G. H. Perkins, in the Second Annual | 
Report of the Vermont Experiment Station (1888).§ 

The criticism to be made on most of these statements is substantially | 
that the rule has been regarded as the exception and the exception as 
the rule. The only white grubs agriculturally destructive which we 


* Sixth Report State Entomologist of Dlinois (1876), p. 98. 

t Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario, 1872, p. 18. 

t Thirteenth Report State Entomologist of Illinois, p. 145. 

§ Prof. John B. Smith has also noted, in the proceedings of the U. S. National Mu- 
seum for 1888 (p. 487), the occurrence in October, 1887, of imagos of Lachnosterna 
arcuata, already perfectly colored and matured. 


243 


have so far found to pupate in spring belong to the genus Cyclocephala 
and, I need not say, are much less common than those of species of 
Lachnosterna, all of which, so far as I know, reach the imago stage in 
fall. 

The following are the observations on which this statement is based: 

(1) White grubs obtained from a timothy meadow at Champaign, 
March 24, 1886, had formed the pupa July 29, and September 17 were 
imagos of Lachnosterna inversa, in the earth of their breeding cage. 

(2) Others obtained from a corn field at Anna, IIl., April 22, 1886, 
were found July 28 still unchanged, in their prepupal earthen cells, at 
the bottom of the breeding cage, but September 17 had transformed to 
the pupa, and October 9 were in part adult beetles, still in earth, of 
LI. implicita, the remainder continuing as pupe. These pupe were 
placed in alcohol for specific description. 

(3) Grubs obtained from plowed corn-ground April 27, 1886, at Urbana, 
Ill., and kept in a breeding cage, were finally examined September 17, 
by which time they had transformed to beetles still living in the earth 
in their pupal cells. These were identified as L. inversa. 

(4) Grubs collected from the earth in a corn field at Champaign May 
1, 1886, kept in the earth in a breeding cage and regularly supplied 
with food, had begun to pupate June 28, and had transformed in the 
earth to the imago of L. inversa by September 17. 

(5) Specimens collected in June, 1886, from the university lawn at 
Champaign, where they had done immense damage to the turf, had 
pupated in part by July 28, but were not carried through. The larve 
are indistinguishable from those bred to inversa. 

(6) Larvee were collected at Champaign from the fields at intervals 
from April 2 to 22, 1890, and placed in a large breeding cage with earth 
and food. A trench was dug to a depth of 14 feet, inclosed by boards 
set to that depth in the earth and projecting 5 inches above it, and di- 
vided by board partitions into six compartments—all the joints being 
made quite insect-tight. The earth at the bottom of this trench was. 
pounded very hard, and the whole refilled. A lot of larve from the 
above collections was put into one of these compartments April 24, the 
top of the inclosure being then covered with cheese cloth, and April 29 
one more grub was added. July 24 one pupa and several larve were 
found in the cage; September 5 adults of inversa, rugosa, and hirticula, 
and a single pupa were taken from the earthin it; and, finally, Septem- 
ber 26, when the compartment was cleaned out, three more examples 
of adult hirticula were found. 

(7) Another selected lot of the same grubs were placed, April 24, 
in another compartment of this trench, and to thesea single larva from 
a corn field was added May 7. Nothing was seen of this lot until Sep- 
tember 7, when two adults of LZ. gibbosa were found 8 inches below the 
surface, beneath the pounded earth bottom of the cage. 


244 


(8) April 28, 1890, a large lot of grubs was collected from a field of | 


growing corn 3 miles west of Champaign, 2 or 3 acres of which had been 
completely destroyed. The next day ninety-three of these grubs were 
put into the trenchcage. Thislotof larve was examined May 31, June 
23 (at which time five were separated for more frequent observation), 
and July 1 and 2, the larve all continuing active until the latter date, 
at which time one was shortened in its earthen cell. This larva was 
separately watched, and found dead, as a pupa, July 18. July 15 and 
18, no pup had appeared in either of the other lots, but July 24 two 
of the five, separated as above, had pupated, two others had formed their 
cells and shortened up, and one was dead. August 5, these were all 
dead without further change. In the main lot, the first pupz were 
found July 25. August 12, larve and pupe were seen, but no imagos, 
and September 4 the cage contained several dead pup and two adults. 
of rugosa, four more of which were taken out September 26. 

(9) In a compartment of the breeding trench, just described, in 
which no grubs were put, two pup and one larva were seen July 24, 
(apparently having made their way under the partition from a cage 
adjoining,) and September 25, two of these were beetles of L. inversa, 
and one was a pupa of the same species. 

(10) Collections made September 15, 1890, from the same field from 
which the larve were taken in April for the above experiments, were 
all larve and adults (no pup occurring), the latter both rugosa and 
inversa. | | 

Generalizing the above breeding-cage experiments, we learn that 
pups Lachnosterna implicita, inversa, rugosa, hirticula, and gibbosa have 
been found by us in the earth from June 28 to October 9, but not earlier 
and not later; and that imagos of these species have occurred in the 
same experiments from September 5 (their earliest noted appearance 
there) to October 9, beyond which date the breeding-cage work was not. 
continued. 

The dates at which the adults of Lachnosterna have been observed 
by us in the earth outside bear out in every case the manifest teaching 
of these breeding-cage results. LD. fusca we have found as an imago, still 
in its pupal cell, August 11, October 25, November 28, March 24 and 
28, April 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 21, 23, and 27, and May 
1. L. fraterna, June 6; gibbosa, August 11, May 6 and 8; hirticula, 


August 12, March 27, April 5, and May 1; ¢licis, only April 12; inversa, 


October 28 and March 27, April 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, and 
May 8; rugosa, September 15, October 28, March 24, and April 22 and 
23; tristis, March 28, April 8, 12,14, 16,20, and May 1 and 16; arcuata 
we have taken from the earth only December 4. 

Taking into account, now, the fact that in all our collections of these 
imagos, extending through five years, not a single pupa was discovered 
except in the interval between June 28 and October 9, as stated above, 
we see that all the observations made by us on the transformations of 


245 


Lachnosterna show that the common species of this genus pupate and 
emerge in the latter half of the growing season, as adults in the earth. 

The genus Cyclocephala, on the other hand, has the other habit, if we 
may judge from our own observations on C. immaculata, made in 1887, 
1888, and 1890. 

For example, grubs of this species collected in grass lands at Urbana, 
April, 1887, had all emerged as adults July 19; others collected from 
cornfields April 25, 1888, had pupated, at least in part, June 20, and 
afterwards gave the imago—at what date is not known. 

In April, 1890, grubs were collected from the 6th to the 29th, all of 
which but one had pupated by June 4, and all had emerged July 19. 

A dozen of the imagos of this collection being placed in a breeding- 
cage and furnished regularly with fresh sods, had laid numerous eggs 
among the grass roots July 2, and five days later one of these had 
hatched. July 26 several young larve were living and doing well, but 
by August 10 all had died. 

Distinguishing larval characters, at least of genera and subdivisions 
of genera, are to be found in the last segment of the abdomen. Cyclo- 
cephala may be told at a glance from Lachnosterna by the fact that its 
supra-anal plate is very much larger and that its vent is a transverse slit, 
while in Lachnosterna this opens beneath a triangular flap, making a 
large V-shaped slit. Larve of the latter genus may be subdivided to a 
considerable extent, although not always as to species, by differences in 
the hairy clothing of the under surface of the last segment, in front of 
the vent. There is here a median longitudinal avenue of short blunt 
spines (lacking in Cyclocephala), which differ constantly in respect to 
the size of the spines, their number and distance in a row, their direc- 
tion, and the distance of the rows from each other. 

There are also differences here in the extent and density of the coat 
of bristle-like hairs, many of them hooked at tip, which largely clothe 
the surface on each side of these median rows. By these means my 
assistant, Mr. Hart, whose duty it has been to assort the white grubs 
collected into provisional species for the breeding cages, has clearly 
discriminated five groups, the differences in which appear constant at 
all ages. One of these groups was subsequently bred to both hirticula 
and rugosa, one to inversa and one to gibbosa, but the other two we have 
not yet brought to the adult. The form from which we have obtained 
inversa almost certainly represents fusca also, as it is much the com- 
monest grub, and this is the commonest imago with us; but, curiously, 
Jusca has not yet appeared in our breeding cages. 


Mr. Smith said that he had made the same observations relative to 
the transformations of the white grubs in fall some years since and 
published it in his Lachnosterna paper in the proceedings of the U. S. 
National Museum. It was also announced at the time at a meeting of 
the Entomological Society of Washington. 


246 


Mr. Howard stated that he remembered Mr. Smith’s announcement 
and the general expression of opinion at the meeting that this fall 
transformation is a very common thing. 

Mr. Forbes admitted that the matter had been observed before, but 
that it seemed to have been considered the exception rather than the 
rule. 

Mr. Riley said he had published in his later writings that fusca com- 
monly transformed in autumn, but thinks it not the invariable rule. 
He has also bred Cyclocephala immaculata, and had reached the same 
result as to period of transformations that was reached by Mr. Forbes. 
He had tried to find differences between the larve, but had sought 
them in the mouth parts. 

Mr. Forbes had examined the mouth parts until he was nearly dis- 
tracted. There were differences, but they were not constant and he 
had abandoned that line of research. 

Mr. Hart read the following paper: 


THE LIFE HISTORY OF WIREWORMS. 
By C. A. HART. 
[ Author’s abstract. ] 


Mr. C. A. Hart then read a paper on the ‘“‘ Life History and Imma- 
ture Stages of Elateride,” the material for which was drawn from the 
collections and notes of the State entomologist’s office. Hight species 
of Melanotus were mentioned as occurring in these Illinois collections— 
most of them tolerably common—viz, americanus, infaustus, pertinaa, 
parumpunctatus, depressus, cribulosus, communis, and fissilis. Larvee of 
Elateridz are divisible into about three principal groups according to 
their general form and the shape, finish, structure, and armature of the 


last abdominal segment. Larval characters were given for Alaus, Car- — 


diophorus, Elater, Drasterius, Ludius, Agriotes, Melanotus, Corymbites, 
and Asaphes. Use was made of the so-called muscular impressions in 
separating species of Melanotus, among which communis, fissilis, cribu- 
losus, and americanus were recognized in the larva. 

A larva, doubtfully identified as Lacon rectangulus was found injuri- 


ous to corn, as were also those bred to Agriotes mancus and pubescens, 


and Melanotus communis, fissilis, cribulosus, and infaustus. 

Biographical memoranda were given for Ludius attenuatus, and for 
the species of Melanotus, Agriotes, and Asaphes. 

This paper will be published in an elaborated form, with illustrations, 
in the bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. 


Mr. Cook said he planted buckwheat one year in an infested field, and 
it was not injured at all; but next year they injured theoats planted in 
the same field. Evidently one year will not suffice to starve them out. 


ie Ni ait il: 5s 


247 


Mr. Gillette thought that the characters of the anal plates relied 
upon by Mr. Hart should be figured when the paper is published. He 
has found wire-worms predaceous on the potato stalk weevil. 

Mr. Bruner had taken several different forms of wire-worms out of 
rotten wood at West Point, Nebr. He has also found them killed by 
the white grub fungus, Cordiceps. 

Mr. Fletcher presented the following : 


NOTES UPON INJURIOUS INSECTS OF THE YEAR IN CANADA. 
By JAMES FLETCHER. 


[Author’s abstract. ] 


Cutworms of various kinds had been locally abundant. Agrotis turris 
had been destructive in gardens to flowers and vegetables. Hadena 
arctica and H. devastatrix had injured fall wheat and grasses in the 
spring. He was more than ever in favor of the poisoned trap remedy 
for cutworms. The caterpillar of Pieris rape had been very trouble- 
some but was easily destroyed with pyrethrum powder diluted with 
four times its quantity of common flour or slacked lime. Plute/la cru- 
ciferarum had also done much harm to cabbages in the northwest ter- 
ritories and in British Columbia. This had been much more difficult 
to destroy with pyrethrum than the last named. The cabbage-root 
maggot had attacked cabbages severely; but had been successfully 
destroyed by syringing about half a cupful of hellebore tea round each 
root and then hoeing the soil well up round the stem. He had made 
some interesting studies of the Hessian fly, which agreed in the main 
with those published by Prof. Forbes in a recent bulletin. Spring 
wheat, sown in the end of April, had been attacked at Ottawa at the 
root in the same way as wheat is injured by the autumn brood. From 
these same wheat plants he had bred the Hessian fly, the wheat-bulb 
worm, and Oscinis variabilis. Insects injurious to fruit trees had been 
represented by the plum curculio, the codling moth, the leaf roller of 
the apple, and the cankerworm. All of these had been successfully 
treated with Paris green. 

Some observations on forest insects had shown him that the large 
cerambycid larvae from eggs laid early in the season produced the per- 
fect insects the next year; but those laid late passed two years before 
coming to maturity. He had taken a female of Monohammus confusor 
with the abdomen filled with eggs as late as the middle of September. 
The attacks of Nematus erichsonii on larches in the Provinces ef Quebec 
and New Brunswick were described. 


Mr. Webster asked whether Mr. Fletcher had ever seen the larva of 
Agrotis fennica feeding on grains? 

Mr. Fletcher replied that it feeds primarily on clover: but when oc- 
curring in numbers is almost omnivorous ; asparagus beds, raspberries 


248 


and strawberries were injured by it; some young forest trees in the 
nursery had the terminal buds attacked. 

Mr. Cook said the larva eats everything. It becomes fully developed 
on blue grass and timothy; he does not know positively that grain was 
attacked ; all garden produce was eaten. 

Mr. Smith replied to Mr. Fletcher’s query as to the best method of -_ 
using pyrethrum, that he had found it most satisfactory in water.. 

Mr. Beckwith had used it very successfully with lime. 

Mr. Fletcher asked whether the powder was not as a rule better 
than the water mixture. He had found it so in his experience. 

Mr. Cook had found the water mixture of pyrethrum more effective. 

Mr. Gillette said that he had found the dry pyrethrum much more 
effective than the water mixtures, especially if applied in the cool of 
the day. 

Mr. Summers found that the difficulty with the water mixtures seemed 
to be in making them stick; he asked whether the addition of soap 
would make them adhere better. 

Mr. Fletcher said it would for such plants as threw off liquids by 
reason of waxy coatings on the leaves, etc. 

Mr. Cook asked in reference to traps for cutworms, whether Mr. 
Fletcher still makes up his lures in bundles. He has found it most 
satisfactory to put aiternate layers of grass and poison on a platform 
wagon, and then pitch it off with a fork. 

Mr. Fletcher said, yes, he not only still tied it up in bundles, but even 
went to the trouble of putting a shingle uponit. It keeps fresh so much 
longer and seems to be more attractive. The arsenic acts very slowly, 
but very surely. The worms will burrow out of sight if they feel them- 
selves sick, and the bait may seem to have done no good. But if the 
earth beneath the bundle be scraped away the worms will be found dead 
or dying. They sometimes wander away todie; some were found 4 feet 
away from the bundles, the Paris green being distinctly visible in the 
alimentary canal. He described how he checked damage in a turnip 
field by these lures. Three quarts were gathered next day from a few 
of the traps, all of which died in a few hours. 

Mr. Cook said one practice is to spray a patch of clover and then mow 
it. He uses clover very largely. 

Mr. Fletcher said clover was a very unsatisfactory plant for him. It 
is often not possible to get it early in the season when needed, and the 
poison does not stick so well as it does to other plants. He always rec- 
ommends succulent plants, but is careful to tell the farmers that they 
can use almost any weed growing around fence corners. He had found 
pepper grass (Lepidium virginicum) a very attractive plant. Lambs’ 
quarters (Chenopodium album) is also greedily eaten by cutworms, but 
it is difficult to make Paris green adhere toit. For such plants it is 
necessary to rub a little soap in the water before mixing it with the 
Paris green with which the traps are to be poisoned. 


249 


Mr. Cook said he had found mullein about as attractive as could be 
for cutworms; they will take it in preference to anything else. 

Mr. Beckwith asked about the pupating habit of the cankerworm. 
He has seen the statement that they pupate in a cocoon ; the specimens 
bred by him all formed naked pupe. 

Mr. Riley said it depends on the species of cankerworm. Paleacrita 
vernata, if he recollects aright, has no cocoon, ora very fragile one; but 
the autumnal species (Anisopteryx pometeria) has quite a tough cocoon. 
For the former, fall plowing is a good remedy. 

Mr. Harvey confirmed the statement that the fall species forms a 
cocoon, and stated that it is rather a thin covering of silk covered with 
grains of sand or earth. In this connection he remembered that some 
of the orchardists in his State claim that they prevent injury from the 
borers by rubbing the base of the tree with the hand. 

Mr. Smith said that in his experience S. candida is by no means con- 
fined to the base of the trees. He finds them in all parts of the trunk 
of quince, entering apparently from some distance above ground. 

Mr. Riley thought they very rarely oviposit much above the base, 
though when they get into the trunk they often bore upward some dis- 
tance. } 

Mr. Cook said that he had taken both candida and cretata even in 
the branches. 

Mr. Osborn said that he also finds cretata in the branches. 

Mr. Riley said this preference of cretata for branches agreed also 
with his experience. 

Mr. Harvey said that he finds both roundheaded and flatheaded 
borers at the base of the trees. There has been considerable injury 
caused during the year on the branches of blackberry by a larva which 
seems to be that of Tmetocera ocellana. He has found no record of this 
species attacking blackberry and this habit is apparently new. 

On motion of Mr. Howard it was resolved that the proceedings be 
published in INSEcT LIFE. 

The association then adjourned. 


JOHN B. SMITH, 
Recording Secretary. 


250 


LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOL- 
OGISTS. 


William B. Alwood, Blacksburgh, Va. 

J. M. Aldrich, Brookings, 8. Dak. 

William H. Ashmead, Jacksonville, Fla. 

George F. Atkinson, Auburn, Ala. 

M. H. Beckwith, Newark, Del. 

Charles J. S. Bethune, Port Hope, Ontavio, Canada. 

Lawrence Bruner, West Point, Nebr. 

John P. Campbell, Athens, Ga. 

T. D. A. Cockerell, 3 Fairfax Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick, London, Eng- 
land. 

J. H. Comstock, Ithaca, N. Y. 

A. J. Cook, Agricultural College, Michigan. 

D. W. Coquillet, Los Angeles, Cal. 

K. W. Doran, Mattoon, III. 

C. H. Fernald, Amherst, Mass. 

James Fletcher, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 

S. A. Forbes, Champaign, III. 

H. Garman, Lexington, Ky. 

C. P. Gillette, Ames, Iowa. 

F. W. Goding, Rutland, Ill. 

C. W. Hargitt, Oxford, Ohio. 

Charles A. Hart, Champaign, III. 

F. L. Harvey, Orono, Me. 

F. H. Hillman, Reno, Nev. 

A. D. Hopkins, Kanawha Station, W. Va. 

George D. Hulst, 15 Himrod street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

L. O. Howard, Department Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

D. S. Kellicott. Columbus, Ohio. 

J.A. Lintner, State House, Albany, N. Y. 

Otto Lugger, St. Anthony Park, Minn. 

C. L. Marlatt, Department Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

John Marten, Champaign, III. 

Eleanor A. Ormerod, Torrington House, St. Albans, England. 

A. S. Packard, Providence, R. I. 

Theo. Pergande, Department Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

C. H. Perkins, Burlington, Vt. 

E. A. Popenoe, Manhattan, Kans. 

E. Baynes Reed, London, Ontario, Canada. 

C. V. Riley, Department Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

Arthur E. Shipley, Cambridge, England. 

John B. Smith, New Brunswick, N. J. 

E. B. Southwick, Arsenal Building, Central Park, New York. 

J. M. Stedman, Department Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

F. H. Snow, Lawrence, Kans. 

H. E. Summers, Knoxville, Tenn. 

Roland Thaxter, New Haven, Con. 

C. H. Tyler Townsend, Department Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

Clarence M. Weed, Columbus, Ohio. 

EK. V. Wilcox, Columbus, Ohio. 

C. W. Woodworth, Fayetteville, Ark. 


o) 


Vol. HI, No.6.) T[NSECT LIFE. [tssued, March, 1891. 


Poe Ri 
<< = 
~—-- - 


~ 


SPECIAL NOTES. 


We had hoped, as announced in No. 5, that the present number 
would be issued almost simultaneously with that number, in order that 
the reports of the two Champaign meetings might appear about the same 
time. The delay in publishing the current number results from circum- 
‘stances which could not then have been anticipated. 


Entomology at the Iowa Station.*—In Bulletin No. 11 Mr. Gillette hasfour 
entomological articles. He summarizes what is known concerning the 
Potato Stalk-weevil ( Trichobaris trinotata), and states that this insect has 
been one of the worst insect pests of the pastseason. He believes that 
half a million dollars will fall far short of making good the loss it has 
occasioned the State of Iowa in the past year, from its injuries to the 
potatocrop. He also publishes some remarks upon the Apple Curculio 
(Anthonomus 4-gibbus), recording some original and careful observations 
upon the methods of egg-laying. He also records a new Currant stem- 
borer. Thisis Hyperplatys aspersus, a longicorn beetle, which has long 
been known as an enemy to Cottonwood. The principal article of the 
Bulletin, however, is a consideration of kerosene emulsion as a sheep 
dip and as a destroyer of parasites upon domestic animals. Mr. Gil- 
lette has already made some experiments in this direction, and we 
have noticed his previous reports. He has recently experimented upon 
sheep on a large scale, drawing tbe conclusion that a good kerosene 
emulsion, of sufficient strength to kill parasitic insects, can be used 
safely upon sheep without removing or injuring the fleece, but that an 
emulsion of poor quality should not be used, as it would probably cause 
the sheep to lose much of their wool. He has also applied the emulsion 
to horses, cattle, and hogs, with the result that, in every case, the coat 
has been either unchanged in appearance or made more sleek and 
glossy, while the skin is left clean and soft. The experiments are of 
value principally in that the kerosene emulsion, as ordinarily prepared, 
costs not over 90 cents per 100 gallons, and is, on an average, about 
one-fourth cheaper than any of the patented sheep-dips. 


* Bulletin No. 11, November, 1890. Des Moines, Iowa, 1890. 


rw) 
on 
—_ 


252 


Fossil insects.*—We have recently received under one cover four papers 
by Mr. Seudder, giving the results of his studies upon fossil insects. 
The titles are as follows: New Types of Cockroaches from the Car- 
boniferous Deposits of the United States; New Carboniferous Myria- 
poda from Illinois; Llustrations of the Carboniferous Arachnida of 
North America, of the Orders Anthracomarti and Pedipalpi; and The 
Insects of the Triassic Beds at Fairplay, Colorado. 

Two very handsome lithographic plates illustrate the first paper, 6 
are devoted to the second, 3 to the third, and 2 to the fourth. 

The papers are purely descriptive and contain few or no generali- 
zations. 


Dr. Lintner’s sixth report.;— Although shorter than his previous reports, 
with the exception of the third, Dr. Lintner’s sixth report brings to- 
gether a number of well-illustrated and attractively written articles 
upon the insects which have been brought to his attention since the 
publication of his previous report. The principal insects considered 
are the Ox Warble-fly, the Bacon Beetle, the Pea Weevil, several Blis- 
ter Beetles, the Cottony Maple Scale, the Mole Cricket, and the Red- 
legged Grasshopper. One of the most interesting points brought out 
is the further damage to honeycomb by Dermestes lardarius, the only 
previous mention of which was published by Dr. Riley in the second 
volume of the American Entomologist. 

Dr. Lintner exhibits his customary care in reviewing the literature of 
each insect considered, and in this, as in many other respects, his re- 
ports are models which could be followed to advantage by many of our 
younger writers. 

He also publishes as usual, in appendix form, the useful list of his 
publications during the year. The report covers about one hundred 
pages and is illustrated with twenty-five cuts, most of which we are 
glad to notice are duly acknowledged. 


Maskell on Coccidide, Psyllide and Aleurodide.—We have recently re- 
ceived from the author the following valuable papers, read before the 
Wellington Philosophical Society, October 2, 1889, and published in 
the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, vol. xx1I, 1889: Art. 
XVI, Further Notes on Coccidide, with Descriptions of New Species 
from Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand; Art. xvir: On some Species of 
Psyllide in New Zealand; and Art. xv11r: On some Aleurodidz from 


*Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. IV, No. 9. Boston, Sep- 
tember, 1890. 

tSixth Report of the Injurious and other Insects of the State of New York, by J. 
A. Lintner, PH. D., State Entomologist, Albany, N. Y., 1890. Extracted from the 
forty-third report of the New York State Museum of Natural History. 


253 


New Zealand and Fiji. The first paper is supplementary to the au- 
thor’s book on the Scale Insects of New Zealand, and comprises de- . 
scriptions of new species and notes on those formerly described or on 
introduced species, among which is mentioned Mytilaspis citricola Pack., 
which was found on oranges received from Fiji. Six plates illustrate 
this paper. Four new Psyllide# are described in the second paper, 
which is illustrated by three plates, and in the third six new species of 
Aleurodes, with one plate. 

We regret to notice the confusion which Mr. Maskell has introduced 
into the now well-settled matter of arbitrary terminations for the higher 
groups and his abandonment of the accepted names “ sub-tamily” and 
‘ tribe,” for the extremely indefinite terms “ group” and “subdivision.” 
He also and quite unaccountably calls the Coccide “ Coccidide.” He 
has apparently adopted the plan of giving each of his group (subfam- 
ily) names the termination “ idine” regardless of the declension of the 
noun from which it was derived. This would not be noticed in the case 
of ‘‘ Diaspidine,” which has hitherto been incorrectly written ‘ Dia- 
spine,” but it becomes an absurdity in the case of *“* Lecanidine” and 
‘“Coccidine.” Worse still is his use of the universally accepted family 
termination ‘ ide” for his ‘‘ subdivisions” (tribes), bringing about such 
names as “ Lecanidz” and *“‘Acanthococcide,” which in his own signifi- 
cation have only tribal value. There is no danger that anyone will 
follow Mr. Maskell in such eccentricities, and we call attention to them 
simply to obviate a possible misconstruction of any of his shorter writ- 
ings in which these terms may be used. 


ee 


Professor Harvey’s Bulletin on the Apple Maggot.”—O ne of the best pieces 
of work which has been done by the experiment station entomolo- 
gists in the past year has resulted in the publication of this paper by 
Professor Harvey. He has outlined a careful investigation and carried 
it through successfully, and has presented his results in a straightfor- 
ward, scientific, and readable way. He gives for the first time accurate 
observations upon the eggs, careful studies of the reproductive system, 
observations upon the act of oviposition, and a list of sixty-six varieties 
of apples infested by the maggot, with comparative statements as to 
damage. His summary of the life-history is very careful, and his con- 
sideration of the remedies includes an account of the useless methods, 
the preventive measures, and the direct methods. He follows with 
some critical remarks upon the anatomy of Trypeta, and a summary of 
the previous writings upon this insect, correcting the numerous errors 


*The Apple Maggot: A consideration of the literature, history, distribution, trans- 
formation, life history, and habits of this insect; also remedies. The results of in- 
vestigations made in 1888 and 1889, by F. L. Harvey, M. S. Extracted from the 
Annual Report of the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, 1890. 


254 


which have occurred in print. He rightly claims for himself the credit | 


of recording for the first time— 

(a) The discovery of the eggs; the numoer of eggs the female de- 
posits; that the eggs are inserted from time to time, one in a place, by 
means of a sharp ovipositor, through the skin of the apple; that the 
eggs are deposited in the fruit before it is ripe and in early fruit in early 
July; the time required for the eggs to hatch. 

(b) That the larva becomes full grown in from 4 to 6 weeks; that 
they leave the apple through characteristic openings in the skin, 
and on grassy ground probably hibernate about the grass roots; that 


the larve stored in fruit leave it and assume the pupa statein the bins 


or barrels; that they occur in the fruit earlier and during a longer time 
than before recorded. 

(c) That the flies are on the wing longer than before recorded; that 
the later races of flies affect the later fruit. 

The article is illustrated by four plates, upon which are several new and 
interesting figures. We reproduce his figures of the egg puncture; of 
the channels made by the half-grown and full-grown larve; of the exit 
hole of the larve; of the egg; of the female ovipositor and of the ex- 
ternal genital apparatus of the male. 


Miscellaneous Notes from the Ohio Station.*—In the September, 1890, 
Bulletin of the Ohio Station, Mr. Weed has four short entomological 
notes, entitled (xIx) Plum Curculio Experiments, (xx) Remedies for 
Striped Cucumber Beetle, (xx1) The Rhubarb Curculio, and (xxi), The 
Clover Stem Borer. In Article x1x he details a commercial experiment 
on a large scale, half of an orchard of nine hundred five-year-old plum 
trees being sprayed and the other half jarred, the writer concluding 
that the spraying was as efficient as the jarring while it is much cheaper 
and easier of application. Moreover, the sprayed trees seemed free 
from the plum-leaf fungus (Septoria cerasina) and the Brown Rot (Mo- 
nilia fructigena). In Article XxX an account is given of experiments 


with certain insecticides and with two gauze net frames, Mr. Weed con- — 


cluding that tobacco powder, liberally applied, is the most promising 
insecticide, while the simple methods of mechanical exclusion are prac- 
tical and efficient. In Article xxI the life-history of Lixus concavus is 


given, and our note on p. 294 of Vol. 11 of INSEcT LIFE is heeded to the | 


extent of a republication of the references to previous accounts of the 
food-habits of this weevil. Article xxII adds ten food-plants to the list of 
those previously recorded for the Clover Stem- borer (Languria mozardi). 
These are: Melilotus alba, Hrigeron philadelphicus, E. canadensis, Cnicus 
altissimus, Lactuca canadensis, L. floridana, Rudbeckia laciniata, Achillea 
millefolium, Campanula americana, and Urtica gracilis. 


* Bulletin of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, second series, Vol. 111, No. 8, 
September 1890. 


259 


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elle 
ae 


AEE 


~~ 


¥ — 


sitor—enlarged 30 times; 
-grown larve—nat. size; 


Fic. 22.—Trypeta pomonella: a, Apple peel showing puncture by female ovipo 


--x 5; c, work of half-grown larve; d, work of full 


we 


larv 
é, Ovipositor from below; g, seen from side; /, 


b, exit hole of 
{after Harvey). 


ed; 


y enlarg 


egg—greatl) 


i, 


I 


genitalia—x 30; 


male 


“ 


256 


Some hitherto unnoticed publications of the Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tions —Bulletin 10, of the Minnesota Station for March, 1890, contains 
on article by Professor Lugger on ‘‘Oak Caterpillars,” eight species 
being mentioned, with an account of the life-history of each and two 
original plates showing the larva and moth of each species. These in 
the order of their importance are: Anisota senatoria, A. virginiensis, — 
Datana ministra, Edema albifrons, Janassa lignicolor, Perophora mels- 
heimeri, Apatela. brumosa, and Gastropacha americana. The article 
contains, besides the plates, five other original figures and presents 
the matter in an admirable way. The same bulletin also contains an 
article by Prof. Samuel B. Green on syringing with London purple for 
the Curculio on native plums, his experiment having proved very 
satisfactory and showing that the crop of native plums can be as much 
improved by the proper use of insecticides as any of the European 
stock varieties. 


Bulletin 5 of the Oregon Station for April, 1890, gives a resumé of 
injurious insects by Prof. I’. L. Washburn, the most important treated 
being the Codling Moth, Woolly Apple-louse, Pear Slug, Peach Borer, 
San José Seale, Flat-headed Apple-borer, Gooseberry Fruit-worm, 
Currant-borer, Pea Weevil, Cut Worms, and Grain-beetles. Remedies. 
are outlined and details of rather elaborate experiments given for rid- 
ding granaries of Griain-beetles (Silvanus surinamensis). The article is. 
accompanied with many illustrations, and is followed by an article from 
the same author on gophers and rabbits with remedies and poisons for 
the same. 

Bulletin 9, of the Florida Station, for April, 1890, is entitled ‘* Entomo- 
logical Notes” by Dr. James C. Neal. He treats among others the Root- 
knot Worm, Cut Worms, Cotton Worm, Boll Worm, Cotton Stainer,. 
Leafy-legged Plant-bug, Orange Seale insects, Cabbage Butterfly, and a. 
number of insects injurious to forest trees. Formule for spray solu- 
tions and powders are published, and the bulletin closes with a notice. 
of certain insects not yet reported but which are liable at any time to 
make their appearance in the State. 

Prof. A. J. Cook presents Bulletin 58, March, 1890, of the Michigan 
Station, a rather full account of the leading substances used as insec- 
ticides. The arsenites, kerosene emulsion and ointment, pyrethrum,. 
carbolic acid emulsion, carbolized plaster, Bordeaux mixture, white helle- 
bore, bisulphide of carbon, tobacco decoction and cyanogen are con- 
sidered, and the bulletin will be of great use to the practical farmer and 
grain dealer. Under a misapprehension, the author claims credit for 
the first use of kerosene emulsion. The true status of this claim was. 
shown at the late meeting at Champaign, the proceedings of which are 
published in this number. 

Prof. John B. Smith has published a two-page bulletin, giving two. 
spray solutions to be used against the Wheat Aphis in cases of extreme 


257 


damage (Bulletin 67, New Jersey Station, May 3, 1890). One of these 
is a kerosene emulsion and the other a fish-oil soap, which it is claimed © 
will also kill the Cabbage Aphis. 


The Effects of Arsenites upon plants.*_Mr.C. W. Woodworth, the ento- 
mologist of the Arkansas Experiment Station, has published a little 
fourteen-page bulletin under this head. His methods seem to have 
been careful and his conclusions appear justified from his experiments, 
although in some respects they differ from those reached by Gillette and 
other recent experimenters. We give his conclusions in full: 


(1) The injury from white arsenic is seen comparatively very soon after if is ap- 
plied. London purple is almost as active. 

'(2) Paris green does its injury much more slowly. 

(3) Young leaves are affected much more quickly than are the old ones. 

(4) Applications to the lower side of a leaf produce injury more quickly than if 
the poison is applied above. 

(5) Except in the case of young leaves, it seems to be the rule that where the great- 
est injury is produced, a greater proportion is early apparent. 

There are certain conclusions of practical importance that deserve to be emphasized. 

Where the plant is easily injured, and the choice is between Paris green and Lon- 
don purple, Paris green is better in every particular. 

Spraying with the arsenites has become a recognized part of the culture of some 
plants. With such plants varieties could be produced by selection to which strong poison- 
ing would do no injury. 

When as is often the case it would be as effectual, it should be remembered that a 
light spraying from above is the safest. 

Plants can be sprayed with equal or more safety when the leaves are young than 
later in the season. 

Freshly mixed white arsenic promises to be one of the very best of the arsenites. 
and at the same time the cheapest. 


*Arkansas Industrial University Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 14, 
September, 1890. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON ENTOMOLOGY OF 
THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EX- 
PERIMENT STATIONS, 


CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS, November 11, 1890. 
Called to order by the chairman, S. A. Forbes. 
C. P. Gillette was elected secretary. 
The committee proceeded at once to the reading of papers, the first 
being by C. P. Gillette as follows: 


NOTES ON CERTAIN EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS AT THE 
IOWA EXPERIMENT STATION. 


By C. P. GILLETTE. 
TO PREVENT SQUIRRELS FROM PULLING CORN. 


A series of experiments in treating corn with various substances to 
prevent its being taken by the striped squirrels were carried on at the 
Iowa Experiment Station, last spring. The corn was treated in the 
following manner: Smoked with meat in anordinary smoke-house until 
the kernels were black; smoked in a barrel with tobacco dust; smoked 
over night in strong decoctions of tobacco and of quassia chips; soaked 
in a dilute carbolic acid mixture, in strong alum water, in salt water, and 
in kerosene. The squirrels would take the corn treated in any of these 
ways, though the carbolic acid treatment and the smoking with tobacco 
made the corn distasteful, and when in the vicinity of other grain would 
be left till the last. The best remedy seems to be to harrow the ground 
immediately after planting to cover the planter tracks, and then to 


scatter corn about the border of the fields and in the vicinity of the 


squirrel holes as soon as the corn begins to come up. 


KEROSENE EMULSION AS A SHEEP DIP. 


An 8 per cent. kerosene emulsion was used, in which to dip the sheep 
on the college farm the past summer, and it was fully proven that a 
good emulsion can be safely used for this purpose, even when sheep 
have considerable wool upon their backs. As the kerosene emuision 
is much cheaper than the commercial sheep dips, this seems to be a mat- 


ter of considerable importance to sheep growers. 
258 


ae 


259 
THE SCURFY BARK-LOUSE. 


The Scurfy Bark-louse, Chionaspis furfurus, was very abundant in the 
college orchard last fall. In the spring kerosene emulsion and rosin 
mixture, the latter prepared according to the formula given by Mr. D. 
NP Coquillett in the Report of the Department of Agriculture for 1888, 
were used to test their effects upon the scales and the newly hatched 
lice. The application did not destroy the eggs beneath the scales, but 
when applied to the newly hatched lice both were very effectual in de- 
stroying them. Two lady birds, Chilocorus bivulnerus and Hyperaspidius 
sp., were constantly preying upon the scales in large numbers. 


EXPERIMENTS WITH THE ARSENITES. 


The experiments with the arsenites were so fully reported in Bulletin 
10 of the Experiment Station that I will only call attention to them here, 
and state that several applications of London purple and of Paris 
green in lime water and in Bordeaux mixture have been made upon 
tender foliage since the experiments reported in Bulletin 10 and with 
the same results. 


CUT-WORM PARASITES. 


The following parasites have been bred from cut-worms the past 
year: three species of Tachina flies, one species of Anthrax, A. serobicu- 
laria?, determined by Dr. Riley; Ichneumon wilsoni, determined by Dr. 
Riley, Lampronota americana, Rhogas rileyi, Apanteles ryline, determined 
by Dr. Riley, Liothorax melanocera, determined by Mr. Ashmead, and 
a species of [chneumon not yet determined. 


INSECT DISEASES. 


The larve of Nephelodes violan and of Pieris rape have been very 
largely destroyed at Ames, Iowa, the past year by bacterial diseases. 
Diseased larve of Danais archippus and of Plusia brassice were also 
seen. 

THE POTATO STALK-WEEVIL. 


The Potato Stalk-weevil, Trichobaris trinotata. has been extremely 
abundant in central and eastern Iowa, at least the past summer. No 
patches could be found that had not suffered from a severeattack, and 
in gardens nearly every potato stalk was infested. 


PYRETHRUM EXPERIMENTS. 


Two years ago I put a small quantity of pyrethrum in an open box 
and covered it with cheese cloth, and this box has been left exposed ever 
since. This fall I used the old pyrethrum alongside of a fresh article 
to letermine their comparative effects for the destruction of the ecab- 


260 


bage worm, Pieris rape. The old powder had settled together into a 
sort of brick, and there seemed to be very little of the fine floating dust 
in it, and when applied dry to the larve would seldom kill one, but 
when applied in water it did nearly as well, but not as well as the fresh 
powder. This old pyrethrum was then ground very fine in a mill used 
in the chemical laboratory for the purpose of grinding vegetable fibers, 
and then applied to other larve and nearly every one that was well 
dusted with this powder was destroyed, but it was not as powerful in its 
action as the fresh powder. I give the results of the experiments to 
show that pyrethrum exposed to the air does not deteriorate so rapidly 
as we would be led to suppose by the statements commonly made con- 
cerning the extreme volatility of its essential oil. Althoughit is always. 
best to get a fresh article and keep it in a closed vessel, pyrethrum that 
has been long on hand and much exposed is still valuable, and may be im- 
proved by thoroughly regrinding. It was also found, by experiment, 
that pyrethrum freshly mixed in cold water was as effectual in destroy- 
ing the larve of the cabbage worm as when allowed to stand over night 
or when prepared with boiling water. 


KEROSENE EXTRACT OF PYRETHRUM AS AN INSECTICIDE. 


In the summer of 1888, while experimenting with various substances 
for the destruction of the chinch bug, it occurred to me that a combina- 
tion of kerosene and pyrethru m might form a most powerful insecticide 
for external applications. The combinations were made by mixing the 
dry pyrethrum into a previously prepared kerosene emulsion, by using 
pyrethrum tea instead of pure water to dilute the emulsion, and by 
extracting the powdered pyrethrum with kerosene and then emulsifying 
this extract. I have used such an emulsion in comparison with an 
ordinary kerosene emulsion for the destruction of the Chinch Bug, the 
False Chinch Bug, Nysius anygustatus, the Red Spider, plant lice, and 
cabbage worms, and it has been veryuniformly more successful than the 
latter, but it will be necessary to experiment farther before drawing 
definite conclusions as to the real value of the compound for the destrue- 
tion of insects. I referred to my use of these substances in combina- 
tion in Bulletin 5 of the towa Experiment Station, page 184. 


In discussing this paper, Mr. C. V. Riley called attention to the fact. 
that Mr. Albert Koebele should have the credit of first using success- — 
fully the resin compound in experiments which the former had planned 
and directed. Mr. Riley also spoke of the varying results reached by 
different experimenters in the use of kerosene emulsion, and said that 
he thought these differences were largely due to the manner in which 
the emulsion was prepared. He said: “In this connection I am 
tempted to give a prominent illustration of this fact. No one has writ- 
ten more of late years upon the subject than Mr. Cook, and yet from 
his writings I had become convinced that he had never made a perfect 
emulsion, as no one following his directions could, as the oil should be 


261 


used in twice the quantity of the emulsifying agent to obtain the best 
results. In a recent pleasant visit to Lansing | drew Mr. Cook’s atten- 
tion to this fact in conjunction with his claim of having first recom- 
mended the emulsion in a paper published in the Bulletin of the Michi- 
gan State Board of Agriculture for 1878. This paper referred to the 
mechanical mixture of soapsuds and kerosene used by others years 
before. Upon Mr. Cook’s showing me a vial of this so-called emulsion 
it confirmed what I have said, in that the oil was entirely separated 
from the soap.” 

Mr. Gillette remarked, in confirmation of what was said by Mr. Riley, 
that he did not know what a kerosene emulsion was until he learned to 
make it by the Hubbard formula at Ames, Iowa. 

Mr. W. B. Alwood said he had spoken of the best method of prepar- 
ing the emulsion in Bulletin 14 of the Division of Entomology. Mr. Al- 
wood also spoke of kerosene emulsion as a new remedy for the Horn 
Fly. An emulsion made according to the Hubbard formula, and diluted 
with 10 parts of water, he found amply strong for the destruction of the 
flies. Mr. J. B. Smith said he had found a dilution of 1 to 12 to be 
sufficiently strong for most insects, and 1 to 15 was strong enough for 
plant lice. For the destruction of scale insects he had found it neces- 
sary to use the emulsion as strong as 1 to 10 with water. Mr. Smith 
said that the mixture should be boiling hot when emulsified, and then 
if kept in a cool place, free from sudden jars, it would last for a year or 
more without separating. He had found that a high temperature or 
sudden jar would cause the oil to separate and rise to the surface. 

In regard to the combination of lime and London purple in water 
mixtures Mr. Smith had found that when thus mixed no arsenic would 
be deposited on copper, but if no lime was put in the water with the 
London purple there would be an abundant deposit, showing that the 
lime actually has the effect to hold the arsenic in an insoluble condi- 
tion. 

Mr. Alwood stated that he had found the kerosene emulsion effectual 
in destroying plant lice when diluted with 20 or even 25 parts of water. 

The next paper was by Mr. C. M. Weed on the life history of Baris 
confinis Lec. Mr. Weed stated that he had found this insect abundant 
in both the larval and pupa state in the stems.of the Spanish needle, 
Bidens frondosa. This paper is to be published elsewhere, and no ab- 
stract has been furnished for this report. 

The committee adjourned to meet again in the evening. 


EVENING SESSION. 


The committee was called to order by the chairman, S. A. Forbes. 
The first paper was by Mr. G. F. Atkinson, on a new root-rot disease 
of cotton. 


262 


A NEW ROOT-ROT DISEASE OF COTTON. 


In response to a circular letter issued from the Alabama Agricultural 
Experiment Station during the early part of the summer of 1890, re- 
questing specimens of cotton affected with the so-called “ black rust,” 
‘‘red rust,” ‘root rot,” etc., I received specimens of rotted roots of cot- 
ton from Saville, Alabama. The specimens were sent by Mr. G. W. 
Rhodes, of that place, on whose farm they were collected. The disease 
was called by him “ root rot,” and the roots were certainly in quite an 
advanced stage of decay. The two roots sent were taproots and were 
probably pulled up so that the decayed lateral roots were broken away. 

I expected to find the Ozoniuwm described by L. H. Pammel as being 
the cause of a root-rot disease of cotton in Texas. (Bulletins Nos. 4 
and 7, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.) There were no ex- 
ternal signs of the mycelium of a fungus visible to the unaided eye, 
and my examination was made by taking cross-sections. 

In all the preparations fungus threads were present, having penetra- 
ted the dead tissue. I supposed these were probably connected with 
the Ozonium, though we would expect to find various saprophytic fungi 
attacking such tissues. In one preparation, however, peculiar fat glob- 
ules were present in quantity in enlarged cavities. Upon close exami- 
nation I found also pieces of a thin membrane marked with irregular 
rugosities and striez. 

This at oncesuggested to me the presence of the female cysts of Heter- 
odera radicicola, a root-gall Nematode, which was made the subject of 
a special study by myself one year ago, and is knewn to be very inju- 
rious to many plants. 

The subject now possessed a new interest and I made a special trip 
to Saville the early part of September to thoroughly investigate the 
disease and to make careful collections of plants in various stages. 
Although I possessed the faint suggestions of the presence of Hetero- 
dera in the material sent me I was quite surprised to find that this 
worm was the cause of the disease. 

There were perhaps 2 or 3 acres in the field that were more or less 
affected. In some places there were spots several square rods in extent 
on which the cotton was entirely dead. These spots were often con- 
nected by areas more or less affected, and in some places an apparently 
healthy plant was surrounded by dead ones. The plants I examined 
were carefully dug up with a shovel. At first I selected those entirely 
dead. Only a portion of the taproot remained attached to the stem, 
the lower portion having rotted away. To the plants which had re- 
cently died portions of the lateral roots remained in connection, the 
majority, however, easily breaking away. 

In afew cases, even though the roots were well rotted, the charac- 
teristic galls could be seen on some of tlre lateral roots, being oval and 
somewhat one-sided enlargements. On the decayed taproots no galls 


263 


could be found since the tissues were well broken down. A few plants 
which had been badly diseased showed evidences of partial recovery, 
young branches growing from the lower part of thestem. Such plants 
yielded unmistakable evidences of the work of Heterodera. While the 
lower end of the taproot had rotted away the plant had succeeded in 
putting out a number of roots near the surface of the ground, which 
had given it the first impetus for growth. These lateral roots possessed 
an abundance of the galls, and the peculiar cracked and scabby lateral 
galls in the upper portion of the taproot showed how thoroughly in- 
fected the plant had been. But the richest specimens were found in 
plants which showed the first external signs of the disease. In these 
specimens not only was there a profuse development of the galls on the 
lateral roots, but nearly the entire lower portion of the taproot was 
affected, having large lateral galls, which from age were cracked and 
scabby inappearance. This is the appearance of the old larger galls on 
all plants, and lays these parts under contribution to various putrefac- 
tive bacteria and saprophytic fungi, so that the roots of many plants 
literally rot off. The presence of the worm has this effect in the case 
of the tomato plants that are badly diseased. The taproot is always 
very freely attacked and rots off below. Tomato plants seldom die out- 
right as a result of the decay of the lower part of the taproot, for they 
are capable of quickly sending out numerous lateral roots above the 
point of injury, and thus tide the plant along. Cotton plants do not 
have the power of sending out lateral roots so readily near the surface 
of the ground when the stem becomes rather old, and are therefore more 
liable to serious injury when badly diseased. 

Mr. Rhodes was not acquainted with the characteristics of Nematode 
root-galls and was not aware that any plants in his neighborhood were 
affected by such a disease. I noticed one old peach tree still in the 
cotton field, and was informed that a peach orchard occupied the ground 
about 20 years ago. At my request we visited the garden and upon 
pulling up tomato and okra plants found them very badly diseased. 
This was sufficient evidence that portions of the ground there were 
very badly infected. 

The external manifestations of the disease in cotton are strikingly 
similar to those of the root-rot disease caused by Ozonium as de- 
scribed by Pammel, the irregular distribution of the spots as well as 
the tendency to increase in size and sometimes the changing of the 
spots. Also, asin the case of Ozonium, the first external sign of the 
disease is the sudden wilting of a plant on a hot, sunshiny day, espe- 
cially after rain. This similarity in external appearance is easily ac- 
counted for from the nature of the disease since the condition of the 
roots prevents the absorption of water in quantities equal to that 
transpired by the leaves, though there may be an abundance of water 
in the soil. From this time the plant rapidly declines. 

The diseased plants begin to die about the time of “ chopping out” 


264 ee . 


the cotton in May, when the plants are quite small and the disease con- — 
tinues throughout the season. ; 

In my studies last autumn I found cotton affected at Auburn, but 
not seriously. Some cotton planted in September of the present year 
for experimental purposes was, in some cases, seriously attacked while — 
yet only one or two leaves above the cotyledons were developed. 

The worms are able to live and develop in the roots of a great variety 
of plants, though some plants are more subject to serious attack. There 
are indications that they may become somewhat provincialized in their 
tastes, in some localities attacking more seriously plants which in other 
localities are not much injured. If deprived for some time of the food 
plants they prefer they will affect more seriously the ones which for- 
merly nearly escaped their injuries. That the worm can produce a seri- 
ous disease of cotton, and is more widely and thoroughly distributed 
than is generally known, increases the gravity of an already serious 
question. 

Do we know how many nurseries, market gardens, propagating houses, 
and less pretentious places for growing such plants as the peach, grape, 
tomato, cabbage, Irish potato, etc., for sale, or even to give away to 
be transplanted, are infected with this worm? There are certainly 
some. ; 

If it is within the limits of wise legislation to pass laws to prevent 
the spread of animal diseases, why not quarantine these centers for the 
distribution of this Nematode? It seems to me the first and most im- 
portant action in reference to this enemy of agriculture is to prevent 
the present reckless policy of distribution, which could easily be done 
by proper legislation and inspection. 

In discussing this paper Mr. Smith spoke of a root disease, probably 
the work of a Nematode, injuring oats in New Jersey, and supposed by 
some to be the work of a plant louse. Mr. Atkinson thought this 
injury to the oats was due to the attacks of a Tylenchus sp., and 
requested all who might find this disease to send him specimens. _ 

Mr. Forbes said that the radishes growing on the university grounds 
were quite severely attacked by a Nematode, and that specimens could 
now be obtained from them. 

Mr. C. M. Weed then read a paper on the Life Histories of Certain 
Aphidid.* 

In discussing the paper, Mr. F. M. Webster said he thought in one of 
the species of Aphidide he had been able to distinguish the oviparous and _ 
viviparous females by their positions on the plants, as the latter have 
the habit of throwing their abdomens out nearly perpendicular to the 
surface on which they are standing. Mr. Weed had not noticed sucha 
distinction. 

Mr. Smith had not found any two species of plant lice with the same 


4, 


* The substance of this paper is given in the article by Mr. Weed in this number of 
INSECT LIFF, entitled ‘‘ Fifth Contribution,” ete. 


265 


poriferous system, and said it was fully developed only in the winged 
viviparous forms; he therefore considered reproduction by wingless 
females examples of true larval reproduction. Mr. Weed did not think 
so much importance should be placed on wing development. He said 
that lice born the same day might in some cases become winged and in 
others not, but all would begin reproducing at the same time. 

Mr. Howard stated that the idea just advanced by Mr. Smith as to 
the larval homology of wingless viviparous females of Aphidide had 
been advanced more than once by European writers. 

Mr. Smith stated that his point was in proof afforded by the antennz 
and not on the general arguments used by others to prove or disprove 
maturity. 

Mr. Forbes said that in his studies of the plant lice he had found that 
the poriferous system presented good specific characters. 

Mr. A. J. Cook had studied very carefully the antennal structure of 
bees and believes that the differences in the development of their sense 
organs can be fully accounted for on the theory of the survival of the 
fittest. 

On motion of Mr. Weed the committee extended a cordial invitation 
to all entomologists present to take an active part in the meeting. 

Mr. John Marten then read a paper reporting the results of observa- 
tions and experiments upon the Hessian fly, made at the office of the 
Illinois State Entomologist during the year 1890, after which the com- 
mittee adjourned to 10 a. m., November 12. 


NEW NOTES ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE HESSIAN FLY. 


By JNO. MARTEN. 


[Author’s abstract. ] 


From 1,000 “ flaxseeds” collected March 13 and placed in large in- 
sectary breeding cages stocked with wheat, imagos emerged from March 
31 to May 1, the greater number about the middle of April. From these 
were derived larve and “flaxseeds” in growing wheat by the 9th of 
May, males and females of this second spring brood appearing from May 
28 to June14. These insectary experiments were confirmed by field ob- 
servations carried on as acheck. Both in the field and in the laboratory 
the tillers of the wheat were much more heavily infested than the orig- 
inal stalk. 

Out-of door cages of wheat were stocked June 20 with “ flaxseeds” 
from the above-mentioned second spring brood, but yielded nothing 
until September 19, when imagos began to appear. This experiment, 
paralleled also by fieid observations, was held to demonstrate xstiva- 
tion of the insect in the puparium. 


22595—No. 6——2 


266 


Careful experiments made to test the susceptibility of timothy, blue 
grass, red top, foxtail, and orchard grass to injury by the Hessian Fly, 
gave only negative naeT ke. 

The breeding-cage methods were described as follows: 

Cages 2 by 3 by 3 feet were built of light wooden frames covered with Swiss. They 
were left open at the bottom, and a door sufficiently large to admit of an insect net’s 
passing through it was made on one side. These cages were placed over growing 
wheat and the lower edges of the frames sunk into the soil sufficiently to prevent 
communication between the inside and outside. At first the cages were placed inside 
the insectary, over wheat either sown or transplanted from the field. 

“‘Flaxseeds”’ to be placed among the wheat in these cages were at first removed 
from the wheat in which they grew; later they were left in the stalks, with seem- 
ingly better results. The wheat was watered frequently by means of a hose with a 
spray nozzle, and grew well, except in one cage, which was shaded by a wall and 
suffered from fungus attack. 

Great care was taken to keep the broods separate. Assoon as imagos ceased emerg- 
ing for a few days all remaining unchanged puparia, etc., were removed, that there 
might be no confusion. 

After the cages were removed out of doors they were stocked with puparia, and a 
constant growth of wheat was kept in them by transplanting and by sowing wheat 
in them, so that had the midsummer flies appeared at any time they would have 
found a place in which to oviposit. As the season was dry, only sufficient water was 
used to prevent the wheat’s dying. Material in the cages was disturbed as little as 
possible in noting its condition. 


CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS, November 12, 1890 

The meeting was called to order by Chairman S. A. Forbes. ; 
minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. 

On motion of Mr. J. B. Smith a subcommittee of three was appointed 
by the chair to confer with the committee on codperation of the Associ- 
ation of Economic Entomologists for the purpose of recommending 
means of getting more time and liberty allowed us in which to hold 
our meetings and increase our membership, if possible, in the future. 
Messrs. J. B. Smith, C. M. Weed, and H. Garman were appointed upon 
this subcommittee. 

Mr. Woodworth read the following paper: 


THE LABORATORY METHOD OF EXPERIMENTATION.* 
By C. W. WOODWORTH. 


The work of Harris, Fitch, and Walsh and many of our own day is 
chiefly along the line of simple observation, but there is opening a new 
era for economic entomology, for we as Experiment Station officers are 
or should be especially concerned with experimentation. This will 
soon come to be recognized as the only means for laying a sure founda- 
tion for the science of economic entomology. 


*This paper was illustrated by large diagrams, which can not be introduced here. 


267 


Two methods of experimentation may be distinguished. One we 
may call the field method and the other the laboratory method. The 
first method is exemplified in the splendid sets of experiments con- 
ducted by the United States Division of Entomology. They are to 
test practical questions by practical methods; that is, they take the 
conditions as they occur in nature and apply remedies with methods 
by which they could be applied in practical work. The laboratory 
method may produce conditions that seldom or never occur in nature, 
and may use remedies by methods entirely impractical in the field. It 
is essential to the field method that we take things as they are; that 
we do everything in arough way. The laboratory method, on the other 
hand, is especially characterized by the greatest possible accuracy in its 
detail and by the elimination as far as possible of all sources of error. 
The results obtained by the former method are practical, but almost 
wholly empirical, while the latter gives theoretical information. Both 
methods are valuable, both are essential to economic entomology. The 
field method heretofore has been chiefly followed, so that the practice, 
though often of a very doubtful character, is far in advance of the 
_ theoretical knowledge of this science. It is te call your attention to 
the value and importance of the laboratory method that this paper is 
prepared. 

That part of the therapeutics of economic entomology that deals 
with the effects the insecticides have on plants is deservedly receiving 
considerable attention. The arsenites are the most important insecti- 
cides from this point of view, both on account of their extensive use and 
because of the great injury to the plants for which they are sometimes 
accountable. 

The injury they do to vegetable tissue seems to depend toa great ex- 
tent upon their absorption by the plant. The critical points are the 
time of application [when the poison is applied wet] and each subse- 
quent rain or dew.. A kuowledge therefore of the conditions favoring 
rapid absorption is of great importance. Some experiments made by 
us on oak leaves prove that the leaf in drying increases its power 
to absorb water up toa certain point and then decreases it. Is this the 
case with other plants? If so, the best time to spray ona clear day is 
in the afternoon, but on a less clear one, in the morning. There is need 
of a large amount of experimentation along this line. 

In making applications of the insecticides to the leaf to determine the 
injury produced it is essential that we be enabled to make a uniform 
application, that is to apply the same amount of poison each time. The 
use of water as a dilutant seems more accurate than if the poison is 
used in the dry way, and dipping is the mode of application which in 
my hands has been most satisfactory. 

To compare different insecticides it is essential that we make our solu- 
tions of some standard strength. Unquestionably the standard for 
comparison should be their effectiveness in killing insects. This will 


268 


differ for different insects, and perhaps the insecticides will even have a 
different ratio. Therefore the standard for experiment must be made 
arbitrarily and calculated to the comparison standard for each insect. 
The past season we have made the experiment standard for our work 
approximately the amount of arsenic in the insecticides. Next season 
we intend to use the same standard, but first have the substance ana- 
lyzed and make our mixtures as accurately as possible. In preparing 
for a set of experiments we have invariably made but one strength of 
the poison and obtained the other strengths by dilution, both for the 
sake of speed and accuracy. 

Not only must the strength of the mixture be brought to a standard, 
but the method of its preparation must be uniform. The addition of 
any substance, as lime, may entirely change the nature of the mixture, 
and if water from different sources be used, it must be proven by experi- 
ment that no variation in the resultsis produced. The length of time 
after the preparation is made has a great influence. As tested.on sor- 
_-ghum leaves, London purple is but little if any changed by standing, 
while Paris green becomes fully twice as injurious and the injury from 
white arsenic is increased perhaps a hundred fold. The Paris green 
mixture used on the oak, even when fresh, is more injurious than Lon- 
don purple, a fact hard to account for. 

There is so much difterence in the action of the poison on different 
leaves that it is necessary to carefully select leaves that are uniform 
for experimental purposes. I believe that individual leaves are most 
desirable for several reasons. Among the things that are proven to 
cause variation in the results are, age, physical condition, and exposure. 
Uniformity in these conditions at least must be secured when experi- 
ments are to be compared. 

For marking the leaves, I have tried a number of methods. Tags at- 
tached by fine wire are quite quickly applied, but injure the petioles of 
some plants. Tying is a rather tedious operation, but without other 
objections. A faster way is the use of artist’s oil paints, putting a mark © 
or number on the leaf. I think thata set of conductor’s punches would 
make the quickest and most satisfactory mark. 

A most important thing is the reading of the results of the experi- 
ments. Figures are for all reasons better than the use of such terms as 
much and little. My plan is to read in tenths. I find I can do this 
very uniformly. It is my habit to occasionally test myself by rereading © 
sets of experiments. With a higher number, as twenty, I can not read 
satisfactorily. Ten is a most convenient number for calculations. 

It is best to take more than one reading, perhaps as often as daily, 
and to trace the injury carefully. This will enable one to note excep- 
tional leaves and perhaps discover the cause. The difference observ- 
able between early and late reading suggests the possibility of arresting 
injury by athorough washing with water, or better, by applying water 
containing iron rust, and would not the use of the latter remove the 
objections to the use of the arsenic on fruits ? 


269 


There is more than one kind of injury produced by arsenites. One 
form generally shows itself as a spotting of the leaf. Itis this form 
that is usually observed and written about, but on certain plants it is 
doubtful if the most injury be not produced in another way which I have 
denominated chronic poisoning. This does not show itself immediately 
according to my experience, but unless the leaf has also acute local 
poisoning there is for some time no effect observable. Later the leaf 
passes through the same process as is normal later in the year, becoming 
dryer, generally coloring red or yellow and dropping. In the summer 
or fall, after the spring growth has ceased, the limbs to which an appli- 
cation is made will sometimes be left entirely bare from this cause, while 
the other parts of the tree retain their foliage. Chronic poisoning is 
most severe on peach of any plant with which I have experimented, 
apple perhaps being the next. A similar thing occurs in the use of the 
alkalies. 

Cross-section paper is a great requisite when this kind of experimenta- 
tion is conducted. Each reading should be plotted so as to give the 
investigator a clear idea of his results. Any deviation from a regular 
curve, any exceptional maximum or minimum reading should be inves- 
tigated, for itis only by attention to such details that we can be able 
to find the cause of variation and to eliminate in subsequent experi- 
ments that source of error. In reporting the experiments, the detailed 
figures will be of little value, but the averages, the number of experi- 
ments, and the maximum and minimum readings will give one an idea 
not only of the results, but also of the trustworthiness of the work. 

Such experimentation as I have outlined presents a promising field 
for cooperative work, and, as before stated. it is this kind of experi- 
mentation that is at present most needed. We must have a theoretical 
knowledge of the subject, a rational for our practice; for with eco- 
nomic entomology, as with any other science, all investigation is hin- 
dered and of a more or less transient value until the fundamental prin- 
ciples are well established. 

Mr. Beckwith then read the following paper : 


PRACTICAL NOTES ON THE USE OF INSECTICIDES. 
By M. H. BECKWITH. 


So much has already been written concerning this subject that it 
would seem to be scarcely worth while to attempt to add anything that 
will be of value. Although I may not be able to give you any new 
method of using insecticides, the work in this line that I have been 
able to accomplish during the past season may prove interesting. 

It is not always those experiments that are the most successful that 
prove most valuable. Frequently it is our failures that finally produce 
the best results. Thus it is with the use of insecticides; in attempting 
to prevent the ravages of certain insects by the method that appears 


270 


at the time the most feasible, we find that it is entirely impracticable 
and at once proceed to accomplish the desired result by some other 
means until a method is found that proves to be a complete success. 
The complete failure of the first method, while it may be very dis- 
couraging, puts us on our metal to discover something that will 
prove effectual; whereas if a partial success had been secured in the 
first instance, we would in all probability have been content to rest on 
our laurels and have adopted that method as the best one available; at 
least such has been my experience during the past season. 

Early in the spring a letter was received from Col. J. J. Ross, an ex- 
tensive fruit grower residing in the vicinity of Seaford, Delaware, stat- 
ing that the peach trees in his young orchard were being destroyed by 
the Aphis, and requesting me to visit his place and see what could be 
done to destroy the insects. Upon arriving there I found a large num- 
ber of the trees literally covered with the-species now known as Aphis 
persice-niger, the name and description having since been published 
by Dr. Erwin F. Smith, in Entomologica Americana. These Aphids 
may be found in an infested orchard at all seasons of the year, located 
either upon the roots or upon the limbs and twigs of the trees. 

The trees were from 4 to 5 feet in height and the leaves upon many of 
them were already withered, and in some instances entirely destroyed. 
I began spraying the trees in the afternoon with kerosene emulsion in 
proportion of 1 part to 15 parts of water, using the Nixon Little Giant 
Spraying machine and Nixon nozzle. An examination of the sprayed 
trees the next morning gave such assurance of the effectiveness of the 
treatment that Colonel Ross immediately ordered one of the Lockport 
machines by telegraph. After showing method of preparing the emul- 
sion, I returned to the Experiment Station to attend to other work. 
Subsequent sprayings under Colonel Ross’s direction he informed me 
did not succeed in destroying the Aphids. Whether the failure was 
_ due to faulty preparation of the emulsion or the lack of thoroughness 
in the application, I am unable to say. 

Upon hearing of this failure, I at once sprayed with the emulsion 
several badly infested trees in an orchard near Dover, and upon exam- 
ining twigs from the sprayed trees about 20 hours after treatment, 
by actual count I found that 80 per cent. of the Aphids had been de- 
stroyed by a single treatment. Upon my recommendation, Dr. Hugh 


ee 


Martin used the kerosene emulsion upon infested trees in his orchard ~ 


near Bridgeville and one application resulted in entirely freeing the 
trees from the insects. ; 

J advised several other parties to use a decoction of tobacco and water. 
Mr. E. G. Packard, of Dover, Delaware, took 5 pounds of tobacco stems 
and steeped them in 3 galions of water for 3 hours. After straining 
the decoction, he added sufficient water to make 7 gallons. This 
amount was sufficient to spray two hundred two-years-old peach trees 
that were badly infested with the Aphids. One treatment proved ef- 
fectual. 


271 


From my experience I am confident that either the kerosene emulsion 
or the tobacco decoction will prove a certain remedy for the Black Aphis 
of the peach tree if thoroughly applied in the form of a strong, fine 
spray while the insects are above the surface of the soil. 

The Rose Chafer, or Rose-bug, as it is commonly known with us, Mac- 
rodactylus subspinosus, is one of our most troublesome insect pests. It 
usually makes its appearance about the 24th of May; I captured afew 
specimens this season on the 22d. In sections where the Stagger- 
bush, or Kill Deer, Andromeda sp., is abundant, the Rose Chafer feeds 
upon the fragrant blossoms of this plant as long as a flower remains in 
preference to anything else; when these are gone, it attacks the blos- 
som buds of the grape and in avery short time will destroy every 
bunch of buds in a vineyard and frequently the leaves also. 

They do not stop with the grape vines, but attack and destroy the 
fruit of the Apple, Peach, Pear, and, in the case of the Plum and Cherry, 
both fruit and leaves. They are also very partial to the young, green 
Walnuts upon the trees of Juglans nigra. 

My first experience with this insect was in the vineyard of Mr. E. H. 
Brancroft near Camden, Delaware—the finest and best kept vineyard 
that I have seen in Delaware. There were six hundred Concord grape 
vines, planted 8 feet apart with a post about 64 feet high at each vine, 
and with single wires at the top of the posts extending in both directions 
and crossing each other at right angles upon which the vines were 
trained. 

When I began work in this vineyard the beetles had just commenced 
feeding upon the blossom buds. At first I hung small vials containing 
bisulphide of carbon among the vines, to test the effect of the odor in 
keeping the insects away from the vines, but soon found that it would 
not prove effectual. 

I sprayed a portion of the vineyard with London purple at the rate 
of 1 pound of London purple to 200 gallons of water, thoroughly 
drenching the vines until the liquid dripped from them. A thorough 
examination of the treated vines about 12 hours afterward fully con- 
vinced me that the treatment was entirely useless. Not a dead Rose- 
bug could be found. In feeding upon the blossom buds the Rose-bugs 
merely bite through the outer covering of the buds and then feed upon 
the inner parts. Finally I sprayed several rows with a thin whitewash, 
completely covering the foliage with a coating of lime. At first this 
appeared distasteful to the insects, and I began to think that it would 
succeed in preventing their ravages ; but after a few hours it was evi- 
dent that they were feeding in that part of the vineyard in as great 
numbers as upon the untreated portion. 

By this time I found that nearly every cluster of blossom buds upon 
the vines was destroyed, and having devoted the greater part of two 
days to the experiment, I returned to the station almost completely 
discouraged. 


272 


The next morning a lady residing near Newark informed me that the 
Rose Chafers were destroying her roses. I made up my mind that I 
would not give up the fight without at least another effort, and, pre- 
paring a supply of kerosene emulsion, gave the rose bushes a thorough 
spraying, using at the rate of one part of emulsion to nine parts of water. 
As soon as the spray struck the insects many of them released their 
hold and fell to the ground. The application was made just at evening, 
and the next day I found many dead insects upon the ground under- 
neath the bushes. There were numerous Rose Chafers upon the roses 
at this time, but to all appearance they had come upon them after the 
application of the emulsion. The same evening I applied the emulsion 
upon some infested rose bushes in my own garden, and afterwards 
picked a number of the roses upon which were a large number of the 
insects and placed them in a well-ventilated breeding cage, The next 
morning every bug was found to have been killed by the treatment. 
Of course the treatment would probably have to be repeated every 
day for some days in order to destroy the insects that had just hatched 
out or had come from some other feeding ground. 

From my experience with the Rose Chafer I feel very confident that 
it ean be controlled by the use of the kerosene emulsion. I have 
planned for the coming season an experiment to compare the efficacy 
of the emulsion and the new insecticide Zomonia. 

Several persons have informed me that they have noticed large num- 
bers of dead Rose Chafers upon the ground under Ailanthus and Linden 
trees when the trees were in full bloom. From this fact they con- 
cluded that there was something about the blossoms that poisoned the 
insects. I thought it possible that the Ailanthus blossom might con- 
tain something that would prove valuable as an insecticide ; but know- 
ing that the Linden was the source of our finest honey, I was some- 
what puzzled to account for the death of the insects. After carefully 
watching an Ailanthus tree that was located near the college campus, 
I found that the blossoms were frequented by !arge numbers of insects 
of different species, the most numerous of which were the soldier bee- 
tles, Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus, none of which were injuriously 
affected. 

After considerable study, I arrived at the conclusion that the Rose _ 
Chafers were attracted by the blossoms and fed upon them until the 
females were ready to enter the soil to deposit their eggs, and the males, 
dying a natural death, dropped from the trees. Unfortunately I did 
not have the opportunity to visit Ailanthus trees while in bloom in lo- 
calities where the insects were abundant, and consequently was un- 
able to verify my conclusion. 

My work the past season with remedies for the Codling Moth has 
been confined to a comparison of the efficacy of London purple and 
Paris green. The experiment was conducted in a large apple orchard 
belonging to the Randolph Peter’s Nursery Company, located about 2 


273 


miles from the Experiment Station. The only variety available for the 
purpose was the Early Harvest, nearly all the fruit of other varieties. | 
having been destroyed by frost and cold, wet weather. The fruit upon 
a number of the sprayed trees was destroyed, and the plan of the ex- 
periment was in consequence somewhat disarranged. 

The Nixon Little Giant spraying machine and the No. 3 Nixon nozzle 
were used in spraying the trees. Instead of attaching a pole to the 
hose, a section of three-eighths inch iron gas-pipe 10 feet long was con- 
nected with it and the nozzle screwed upon the end of the iron pipe. 

I find that itis much more convenient than a pole, and at the same time 
every part of the tree can be reached with the spray. 

Six rows of trees were selected, and each row was given a different 
treatment. Three rows were treated with London purple and three 
with Paris green. The first row in each case was sprayed with water 
containing the insecticide in the proportion of 1 pound to 200 gallons of 
water, the second 1 pound to 300 gallons, and the third 1 pound to 400 
gallons. <A portion of the trees in each row was treated at two differ- 
ent dates, May 16 and 31. Another portion was treated at the same 
time, and again on June 14. Still another portion was treated May 
31 and June 14. 

The fruit was picked from the trees July 8, 9, and 10. Each apple 
was carefully examined and the percentage of the yield containing Cod. 
ling larve and recorded as wormy was as follows: 

Two trees sprayed May 16 and 31,-at the rate of 1 pound of London 
purple to 200 gallons of water, produced 2,618 apples, of which 272 or 
9.7 per cent. were wormy. 

The two trees sprayed with Paris green at the same rate produced 
3,120 apples, of which 149 or 4.5 per cent. were wormy ; Or 5.2 per cent. 
less wormy fruit from the trees sprayed with Paris green. 

Two trees sprayed May 16 and 31 at the rate of 1 pound London pur- 
ple to 300 gallons of water produced 170 apples, of which 21 or 15.1 per 
cent. were wormy, and two trees sprayed with Paris green at the same 
rate produced 740 apples, of which 28 or 7 per cent. were wormy ; a 
difference of 8.1 per cent. in favor of Paris green. 

Two trees sprayed May 16 and 31 at the rate of 1 pound of London 
purple to 400 gallons of water produced 189 apples, of which 23 or 12.1 
per cent. were wormy. 

One tree sprayed with Paris green at the same rate produced 732 
apples, of which 45 or 6.1 per cent. were wormy; a difference of 6 per 
cent. in favor of Paris green. 

Combining the above treatments of each insecticide, we find that 12.3 
per cent. of the total yield of the six trees treated with London purple 
were infested with the Codling larva, and only 5.8 per cent. of the total 
yield of the five trees treated with Paris green were infested, giving 
6.5 per cent. less wormy fruit from trees receiving the Paris green 
treatment. 


274 


Comparing the trees that received three sprayings on May 16, 31, 
and June 14, we find that two trees treated with London purple at the 
rate of 1 pound to 200 gallons of water produced 1,615 apples, 27 of 
which, or 1.4 per cent of the yield, were wormy. The three trees treated 
with Paris green at the same time and in the same proportion produced 
2,035 apples of which 36, or 1.5 percent of the yield, were wormy. In 
this case we have one-tenth of 1 per cent less wormy fruit from trees 
treated with London purple—practically no difference. 

Three trees that were treated with London purple at the rate of 1 
pound to 300 gallons of water produced 1,057 apples, 31, or 6.5 per cent, — 
of which were wormy, and three trees treated with Paris green at the 
same rate produced 2,852 apples, 97 of which, or only 4.6 per cent of 
the yield, were wormy; thus showing 1.9 per cent less wormy fruit from 
the trees treated with Paris green. 

In comparing the fruit from the trees treated at the rate of 1 pound 
to 400 gallons of water, we find that the two trees treated with London 
purple produced 806 apples, 39 of which, or 4.5 per cent, were wormy; 
and that two trees treated with Paris green produced 4,204 apples, 58 
of which, or only 1.2 per cent, were wormy ; a difference of 3.3 per cent 
in favor of Paris green treatment. 

Combining the treatment of each insecticide, we have 4.1 per cent of 
the yield of the trees treated with London purple that are wormy, and 
only 2.6 per cent trom trees treated with Paris green; a difference of 
1.5 per cent in favor of the Paris green. 

Comparing the fruit from trees treated May 31 and June 14, we obtain 
the following data: 

The two trees treated with London purple at the rate of 1 pound to 
200 gallons of water produced so little fruit that no record of the yield 
was kept. ‘Two trees treated with Paris green produced 464 apple 53 
of which, or 11.3 per cent, were wormy. 

One tree treated with Wander purple at the rate of 1 pound to 300 
gallons of water produced 985 apples, 58 of which, or 5.8 per cent, were 
wormy. ‘Two trees treated with Paris green in the same proportion 
produced 1,646 apples, 70 of which, or 5.2 per cent, were wormy ; a dif- 
ference of six-tenths of 1 per cent in favor of the Paris green. 

Two trees treated with London purple at the rate of 1 pound to 400 
gallons of water produced 847 apples, 40 of which, or 5.3 per cent, were 
wormy, and one tree treated with Paris green at thesame rate produced 
985 apples, 58 of which, or 5.9 per cent, were wormy ; a difference of six- 
tenths of 1 per cent in favor of London purple. 

Comparing the several treatments of London purple and Paris green 
we find that 5.5 per cent of the yield of the three trees treated with 
London purple were wormy, and 7.4 per cent of the yield of the five 
trees treated with Paris green were wormy ; a difference of 1.9 per cent 
in favor of London purple. 


275 


The apples from two trees that were not treated were counted and 
examined with the following results: 

One produced 846 apples, 297 of which, or 35.1 per cent, were wormy, 
and the other produced 751 apples, 278 of which, or 37 per cent, were 
wormy. 

Summarizing the results of the experiment, we find that the foliage 
of the trees was entirely uninjured by any of the treatments; that in 
nine comparisons of the treatments of London purple and Paris green 
seven resulted in favor of using Paris green. The two treatments gave 
in one instance only one-tenth of 1 per cent and in the other six-tenths 
of 1 per cent in favor of London purple; that in every instance except 
one the use of insecticides at the rate of 1 pound to 200 gallons of water 
gave the best results. 

That 7.6 per cent of the fruit from all trees sprayed with London 
purple was infested with the codling larva, and only 4.4 per cent from 
those sprayed with Paris green; a difference of 3.2 per cent in favor of 
the latter. 

I deem it unnecessary to enlarge upon the utility of the treatments, 
as it is generally conceded that the ravages of the codling larva can be 
prevented. Heretofore I have been prejudiced in favor of London 
purple, but this experiment proves conclusively that Paris green is the 
more effectual. 

The next paper was by Mr. C. M. Weed: 


LIFE HISTORY OF PIMPLA INQUISITOR. 
By C. M. WEED. 
[Author’s abstract. ] 


The author reported rearing this species from larve externally para- 
sitic on an unknown Lepidopterous larva living within the stems of 
Evening Primrose ((nothera biennis). Figures of all stages of the par- 
asite were Shown.* The eggs had been found several times attached 
to dead lepidopterous larve, suggesting the surmise that these larve 
were stung by the adult Pimpla before oviposition. | 

In the discussion of this paper Mr. F. L. Harvey inquired if Pimpla 
species Oviposit in larve already dead. Mr. Weed said that it was pos- 
sible that they did, but he did not know. 

Mr. Howard asked how many eggs Mr. Weed found on a single larva, 
to which Mr. Weed replied that he usually found but one, but occa- 
sionally two. 


* Dr. Weed has submitted a specimen of this larva, which proves to be Laverna 
eloisella Clem, the only Lepidopteron which we know to breed in the stems of (Enothera, 
the and which we reared many years ago at St. Louis. Of the other species of 
Same genus affecting (nothera and which Miss Murtfedt has reared for us, L, murt- 
feldtiella Ch. feeds in the flower buds; and L. brevivitella Clem and L. circumserip- 
tiella Zeller, in the seed capsules.—C. V. R. 


276 


Mr. Howard said that the fact that Pimpla inquisitor, ordinarily an 
internal feeder, becomes here external, is an interesting confirmation 


of a generalization recently made by Professor Riley, to the effect that 


nearly all parasites of endophytic insects are external. 

Mr. Riley remarked, in view of what had just been said, that this 
generalization would hold good not only in reference to endophytic 
larve but also in reference to many external feeders, especially such as 
in transforming spin a cocoon. He had shown that Thalessa fed ex- 
ternally, the egg being probably laid on or near the Tremex larva. 
The Ophion larva was known to feed externally, the egg being strongly 
fastened to the skin of the victim. The same was true of most of the 
Digger wasps so far as his observations went, and particularly in the 
Scoliide, Pompilide, Sphecide,and Bembecide. In some cases of external 
parasites the egg of the parent would seem to be necessarily laid in the 
burrow of the plant-feeder, the young larva being obliged to find its 
victim, but in most cases the egg was attached by the parent. 

Mr. Aldrich showed specimens of Opheltes glaucopterus that he had 
bred from larve of Cimbex americana. He also stated that it had been 
bred from C. americana by Mr. O. Lugger, of Minnesota. 

Mr. Howard stated that this same species is a common parasite in 
Europe on Cimbex larve. . 

Mr. James Fletcher said he had bred the same insect in Canada. 

Adjourned until evening. 


EVENING SESSION. 


After being called to order by Chairman 8, A. Forbes, the following 
officers were elected for the ensuing year: Chairman, Mr. A. J. Cook; 
secretary, Mr. C. P. Gillette. 

The subcommittee appointed to confer with the committee on codper- 
ation of the Association of Official Economic Entomologists then made 
its report through its chairman, Mr. J. B. Smith. After making certain 
amendments the report was adopted as follows: The committee on ento- 
mology respectfully begs to state to the general association that the pa- 
pers presented by its members have been of such general interest to the 
station workers and teachers and that so much advantage has resulted 
to individuals, all of which will redound to the benefit of the stations 
and colleges, that they are encouraged to ask that, if possible, the pro- 
grams be so arranged hereafter that more time shall be given for the 
consideration of special topics by the permanent committees. 

Mr. C. Woodworth moved that one member of the committee be ap- 
pointed to act conjointly with two other persons, one from the perma- 
nent committee on botany and one from the permanent committee on 
horticulture, to secure, if possible, a set of standard, uniform connec- 
tions for nozzles and pipe fixtures used in spraying machinery. Mr. 
Alwood was appointed by the chair to act in this capacity. 

On motion of Mr. A. J. Cook the committee decided that in the cir- 


277 


culars sent out to call the next annual meeting a cordial invitation 


should be extended to any not members to be present and take part in. 
the meetings. 


Mr. Howard then read the following paper: 


THE HOST RELATIONS OF PARASITIC HYMENOPTERA. 
By L. O. Howarp. 


So many instances of the importance of the Hymenopterous parasites 
of injurious insects are on record that there is no necessity of dwell- 
ing upon it before a meeting of working entomologists. 

They are of greatly more importance to us than Dipterous parasites 
not only on account of their vastly superior numbers, but in the ex- 
tremely important point of rapid breeding. Had Lestophonus, the 
Australian Dipterous parasite of Icerya purchasi, which Professor Riley 
sent Mr. Koebele to Australia to bring over alive, been a Hymenopter- 
ous parasite like Huplectrus, for example, which Schwarz has shown 
may occupy in the Southern States in summer the almost incredibly 
short time of 8 days for a single generation, there would have been no 
necessity for the now famous Vedalia cardinalis, as even this rapid 
breeder occupies 30 days in its life round, even under the most favorable 
circumstances. 

With this advantage over Dipterous parasites, as well as over preda- 
ceous insects, they have still another over the latter class of bene- 
ficial insects, in that they are never cannibals, a habit which is often a 
serious drawback to the otherwise fair characters of many predaceous 
species. 

The importance of their work admitted, the importance of their study 
follows as a necessary corollary, and perhaps the most important feature 
of the results of such study is the attainment of that knowledge which 
will enable us to recognize the limitations of each parasitic species ; 
given a certain parasite, to know upon what it is lable to prey, or, 
given a certain injurious insect, to know what parasites will probably 
attack it. More precise knowledge will be gained when our rearings 
will enable us to bring forth an accessible volume in which we may see 
at a glance just what parasites have been reared from a certain injuri- 
ous species, just what species have been reared from congeneric forms, 
and, by a converse arrangement, just what hosts a certain parasite pos- 
sesses. Grouping such facts will enable the most important generali- 
zations and systematic classification will undoubtedly be affected. 

Our published knowledge in these directious is so far slight in this 
country, nor have the isolated records and shorter lists been brought 
together in Europe. Some 4 years ago I began, as a basis for general- 
ization as to the habits of restricted groups, the lumping of the Euro- 
pean lists by means of a card catalogue. The task proved a much 
greater one than [ anticipated, and later Dr. Riley kindly afforded me 


278 


assistance through some of the clerks of the Division of Entomology at 
odd moments. I have now accumulated about20,000 cards, each one re- 
ferring to a recorded rearing of a hymenopterous parasite in Europe. 
I am now engaged upon the work of arranging these cards according 
to the latest accepted classification of the host insects, and it proves a 
task of equal magnitude to the original preparation of the cards, but 
already I can see unsuspected generalizations ahead, and already I feel 
myself much better acquainted with group habits. I have been able to 
draw up a Short table of the American and European parasites of in- 
sects common to both continents, and in the case of several recently 
imported pests have been able to tabulate atonceand without search of 
the literature lists of the European parasites, thus indicating the best 
species for importation, and also showing which of our own forms will 
be most likely to attack the newcomer. 

When it comes to the host relations of our own parasites, however— 
and this, for our purposes, as constant students of insects in the breed- 
ing cage, is by far the most important side of the work—the poor show- 
ing which we make is most deplorable. In 1885 I published a short 
list of about 60 rearings of Chalcidids, in 1889 a compiled list of less 
than 100 rearings and in the same year a list of 116 rearings of butter- 
fly parasites. During the present year the editors of INSECT LIFE have 
been publishing the rearings of Hymenopterous parasites indicated in ~ 
the notes and collections of the Division of Entomology and National 
Museum, largely from Professor Riley’s earlier notes, and have recorded 
some 30€ rearings of Braconide and have ready for publication about 
30¢ of the family Ichneumonide. Lists of rearings in the Chalcidide 
Proctotrupide and in the parasitic Cynipide which will follow will be 
much shorter, not from lack of material, but from the incompleteness 
with which the collections in these families are determined. 

As to the scattered records, in the reports of economic entomologists 
and in our entomological journals, most of you would probably be sur- 
prised, as I have been, at the extremely small size of a list based upon 
such records. It will certainly not equal in size the short combined 
lists already published, so that altogether from published records we 
shall have a total of less than 1,500 American rearings. This as against 
20,000, which I estimate for European records, is such an unfavorable 
contrast that I am anxious to improve it greatly before publishing, and 
I am satisfied that this can be done by enlisting the active codperation — 
of the members of this association. 

What I would urge you to do is this: (1) prepare and publish lists of 
your rearings of such parasites as you have named in your collections 5 
(2) if you have neither the time nor the facilities for naming the un- 
named species send them to Professor Riley at Washington, and I have 
his authority for the promise that he will name them or have them 
named by comparison with the National collection. (In such case send 
duplicates, when possible, which need not be returned ; butif necessary 


279 


the specimens will be sent back). If you donot care to take the trouble 
to list such rearings, if you will send breeding memoranda with the 
specimens, we will have them listed for you and then, if you desire, will 
publish them in Insect LIFE. (3) Pay as much attention as possible 
to this matter of parasites, and save carefully everything reared. 

If this course is followed for say two or three seasons, I feel satisfied 
that a most creditable and extremely valuable compilation can be made, 
which 1 am confident will be one of the works mostoften referred to by 
the working economic entomologist. 

Mr. Snow then presented the following: 


EXPERIMENTS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF CHINCH BUGS IN THE 
FIELD BY THE ARTIFICIAL INTRODUCTION OF CONTAGIOUS 
DISEASES. 

By F. H. Snow. 


These experiments have been continued through the two seasons of 
1889 and 1890, and have been remarkably successful. As Entomologist 
to the Kansas State Board of Agriculture I had prepared an article for 
the annual meeting of that Board in January, 1889, stating what was 
known at that time upon the subject, and calling attention to the in- 
vestigations of Professors Forbes, Burrili, and Lugger. In June, 1889, 
a letter was received from Dr. J. T. Curtiss, of Dwight, Morris County, 
Kansas, announcing that one of the diseases mentioned in the article 
(Entomophthora) was raging in various fields in that region, and stating 
that in many places in fields of oats and wheat the ground was fairly 
white with the dead bugs. Some of these dead bugs were at once ob- 
tained and experiments were begun in the entomological laboratory of 
the university. It was found that living, healthy bugs, when placed in 
the same jar with the dead bugs from Morris County were sickened and 
killed within 10 days. A Lawrence newspaper reporter, learning of this 
tact, published the statement that any farmers who were troubled by 
chinch bugs might easily destroy them from their entire farms by sending 
to me for some diseased bugs. This announcement was published all over 
the country, and in afew days I received applications from Agricultural 
Experiment Stations and farmers in nine different States, praying for 
a few ‘“ diseased and deceased” bugs with which to inoculate the de- 
stroying pests with a fatal disease. Some fifty packages were sent out 
during the season of 1889, and the results were in the main highly 
favorable. 

It was my belief that sick bugs would prove more serviceable in the 
dissemination of disease than dead bugs. I accordingly sent out a cir- 
cular letter with each package, instructing the receiver to place the 
dead bugs in a jar for 48 hours, with from ten to twenty times as many 
live bugs from the field, In this way the disease would be communi- 
cated to the live bugs in the jar. These sick bugs being deposited in 


280 | | 


different portions of the field of experiment would communicate the : 
disease more thoroughly while moving about among the healthy bugs 
by which they would be surrounded. This belief was corroborated by 
the results. The disease was successfully introduced from my labora- 
tory into the States of Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio, and Minne- 
sota, and into various counties in the State of Kansas. A report of my 
observations and experiments in 1889 has been published in the Trans- 
actions of the Kansas Academy of Science, vol. XII, pp. 34-37, also in 
the Report of the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Kansas 
State Board of Agriculture in January, 1890. 

The next point to be attained was the preservation of the disease 
through the winter in order that it might be under my control] and be 
available for use in the season of 1890. To accomplish this result, I 
placed fresh, healthy bugs in the infection jar late in November, 1889, 
and was pleased to note that they contracted the disease and died in 
the same way as in the earlier part of the season. I was not able to 
obtain fresh material for the purpose of testing the vitality of the dis- 
ease germs in the spring of 1890 until the month of April, and then only 
a limited supply of live bugs could be secured. I quote the following 
from my laboratory notes: 

April 10, twenty-five chinch bugs that had hibernated in the field were put in the 
infection jars. They were supplied with young wheat plants. The bugs appeared 
lively and healthy. 

April 16, some of the bugs were dead and all appeared stupid. 

April 20, all of the bugs were dead. 

One week later a new supply of fourteen bugs was put into the jar; they were sup- 
plied with growing wheat. They ran substantially the same course as the first 


twenty-five. Some had died at the end first week and all were dead by the end of 
_ the thirteenth day. 


The chinch bug seemed to have been very generally exterminated in 
Kansas in 1889 and only three applications for diseased bugs were re- 
ceived in 1890 up to the middle of July. On account of the limited 
amount of infection material on hand I required each applicant to send 
me a box of live bugs, which I placed in the infection jars, returning in 
a few days a portion of the sick bugs to the sender. The three appli- 
cants above noted reported the complete success of the experiments. 
I give the following letter from Mr. M. F. Mattocks, of Wauneta, Chau- 
tauqua County, Kansas: 


WAUNETA, Kawsas, July 7, 1290. 
Professor SNow, Lawrence, Kansas : 

DEAR Sir: I received from you a few days since a box of diseased chinch bugs. I 
‘treated them according to instructions, and I have watched them closely and find 
that they have conveyed the disease almost all over my farm, and the bugs are dying 
at arapid rate. I have not found any dead bugs on farms adjoining me. [I here in- 
‘close you box of healthy bugs that I gathered 13 miles from my place. I do not think 
they are diseased. 

Yours, 
M. F. MATTOCKS. 


281 


I also quote the following clipping from the Cedarvale Star: 
INFECTING CHINCH BUGS. 


There is no longer any need of having our crops destroyed by chinch bugs. A 
remedy that is sure as death and that costs nothing has been discovered and is 
used in this country with complete success. Mr. M. F. Mattocks, living a mile and 
a half east of Wauneta, on the H. P. Moser farm, is entitled to the credit of demon- 
strating in this part the efficiency of the remedy: He was about to lose his corn crop 
by the bugs that were swarming into it from the stubble. He sent to Chancellor F. 
H. Snow, of the State University at Lawrence, and from him received a box contain- 
ing ahalf dozen diseased bugs. With them he exterminated a 40-acre field fall of 
the pests. They have died by the millions; in fact, they have about all died from 
the infection of those six bugs. A little circular of instructions, which he followed 
out, came with them. The six bugs were placed in a bottle with three or four hun- 
dred from the field, and were left together 36 hours and then turned loose, both the 
living ones and the dead, in the field. Devastation followed, and Mr. Mattocks will 
be troubled no more with chinch bugs this year. If your crop is in danger you can 
save it by the same means of getting the diseased bugs in your field. It will cost you 
nothing, and is a dead sure remedy. He has been sending dead and infected bugs to 
others in the country and to Professor Snow, whose supply was running down. 


I personally visited Mr. Mattock’s farm and verified the above state- 
ments. 

The difficulty of obtaining enough live bugs to experiment with in the 
laboratory led to the sending out of the following advertisement, which 
was forwarded to twenty prominent papers on August 14, with requests 
for its publication: 


WANTED! CHINCH BUGS! 


Prof. F. H. Snow, of the University of Kansas, is in great need of some live and 
healthy chinch bugs with which to carry on his experiments in chinch-bug infection. 
Anyone who will send a small lot of bugs to Professor Snow, University of Kansas, 
Lawrence, Kansas, will confer a favor on the investigator, and, it is hoped, on the 
farmers of Kansas. 

This request for live bugs was given wide circulation and resulted in 
keeping the laboratory fairly well supplied with material for experi- 
ment. 

Before the close of the season of 1890 it became evident that there 
were at least three diseases at work in our infection jars, the “ white 
fungus” (Entomophthora or Empusa), a bacterial disease (Micrococcus), 
and a fungus considered by Dr. Roland Thaxter to be Jsaria, or per- 
haps more properly Trichoderma. 

The following report which describes the bugs as “ collecting in clus- 
ters” points to the bacterial disease as the cause of destruction in the 
field : 

Pigua, Kansas, July 12, 1890. 

DEAR Sir: Since writing you from Humboldt, Kansas, the 6th instant, I have made 
the happy discovery that the germs of contagious disease sent me were vital. On Sun- 
day last upon examination of the millet field I found millions of dead bugs. They were 
collected in clusters. My idea is that dampness facilitates the spread of the conta- 
gion. The first distribution of diseased bugs 2 days after I received the package 


22595—No. 6 3 


282 


by mail apparently produced no results. A part of them were retained in the infec- 
tion jar (quart Mason fruit jar); one-half pint of bugs were collected from the field, 3 
days later a foul stench was found to emanate from the jar, and a part of the bugs in 
it weredead. Only July 3, I took advantage of the cool, damp evening and took a ~ 
few buckets of cold water and sprinkled the edge of the millet and distributed more 
infected bugs. On the 6th I found millions of dead bugs. I think the night and 
sprinkling the millet caused the disease to spread—we have had no rain in this neigh- 
borhood since June 17, if Iremember correctly. The depredations of chinch bugs 
are always more serious in dry, hot weather. Have not had my mail since writing 
you from Humboldt the 5th. 

You have conferred a lasting benefit on the farming interests of the United States 
the value of which can not be estimated in dollars and cents. It was estimated that 
during one of the visitation years of this insect the damage in the Mississippi Val- 
ley amounted to $10,000,000. I have no doubt that by a proper manipulation of the 
contagious disease in the hands of intelligent persons it will prove an eftective rem- 
edy. I think the contagion should be introduced among them early to prevent the 
migration of the young brood. In my case I received it too late. Early sown millet 
presents a favorable place to infect the bugs, as they seem to collect in the shade and 
die. Hoping that when the next legislature meets an appreciating public will suita- 
bly reward you for your beneficent discovery, 


I am, gratefully, yours, 
J. W. G. McCormick. 


The field experiments were apparently equally successful in the 
months of July, August, and September. 

The following August field report is inserted as a fair sample of the 
manner it which the farmers themselves regard these experiments : 


FLORENCE, KANSAS, November 1, 1890. 
Prot. 2. Hea SNow : 

DEAR Sir: On the 20th of August (I think it was) I wrote to you to send me some 
infected chinch bugs, and on the 30th of the same month you sent me a small lot of 
infected bugs (I suppose about thirty in all). I then put with these about twenty 
times as many healthy ones, and kept them 48 hours, and then deposited them in and 
_through my field. (I have about 55 acres under cultivation.) At the timeI wrote for 
bugs my place was all in corn and a very large crop of chinch bugs. I am safe in 
saying that there were more bugs on my farm than any two with the same amount 
of land under cultivation. At the time of sending to you for bugs I told two of my 
neighbors of my intention, and they laughed at the idea; neverthelessI sent. When 
I put them in my field it had rained fully a half day, and after noon I commenced 
to place them about in different places in my field. I noticed no change in the bugs 
for three days, it being cold; and on the fourth and fifth days the weather was more 
warm, and it was then that the destruction of the enemy commenced, with great 
satisfaction to myself and great surprise to my laughing neighbors. One of my 
neighbors, Mr. George Winchester, said that there ought to be a subscription raised ~ 
and donated tome. I told him not to me but to you the praise belonged. 

I think that it took about 8 days after the five from the time that I placed them in 
my field before they were all destroyed. The fifth day after I put out the diseased 
bugs I noticed that a great many bugs were flying away from my place. I can not 
say if the disease spread in this way or not, or ifit spread at all. Three or four per- 
sons said that they would come and procure of me some of the dead bugs, but no 
one came. . 

This much I can say, with me this experiment has been a complete success. It has 
done me a great deal of good. I can not give it a money value, but am satisfied that 
had it not been for the infected bugs obtained of you I would have lost 27 acres 
of wheat and 8 acres of rye, and when I wrote to you for bugs I then contemplated 


283 


putting out considerable wheat; and I was at that time considerably troubled about 
the bugs in my corn, thinking that if I put out any wheat at all it would be destroyed 
by bugs; but, thanks to you, my wheat is now safe from bugs, at least those that 
were on my place before sowing my wheat. I only wish I had written to you sooner 
than this. 

I will send by express one bottle of bugs that I gathered after they commenced 
to die. 

Respectfully, 
JOHN F. KNOBLE. 


The following report from R. L. Stangaard is inserted as being of a 
more scientifically circumstantial character than most of the other re- 


ports: 
FLORENCE, KANSAS, August 22, 1890. 
Prof. F. H. SNow. 
Lawrence, Kansas: 

DEAR Sir: In reply to your favor of July 27, last month, would say that infected 
bugs were applied after they were kept with live ones about 42 hours. They were 
applied as follows: 

Most of the bugs mixed were dead when taken out of the box. They were applied 
in seven different hills, being put intoevery ninth hill. I marked every hill with a 
number so as to be better able to watch the progress. 

Examined after 48 hours application with the following results: No.1, mostly dead; 
No. 2, bugs mostly alive, seemingly very restless; No. 3, bugs seem to be sick; No. 
4, bugs mostly dead (on hills around the bugs seem restless); No. 5, not exam- 
ined (on hills around it the bugs seem to be affected, sick). Examination 8 days 
after application with the following results, to wit: No. 3, bugs seemingly ina dying 
condition. On the hills around it the bugs seem to be well, with exception of one 
hill, where they seem to be dying and some dead. No. 4, not a live bug in the hill. 
No. 5, apparently dying, also dying in the hills around this. No. 6, bugs dying in hill. 
No. 7, apparently not dying. 

On August 16, 12 days after application, I found the bugs to be dying and dead all 
through the field (12 acres). 

On August 20, I again found the bugs to be dying rapidly. A field, being 40 rods 
distant, had sure marks of bugs in a dying condition. What I mean by bugs being 
in a dying condition is this: They lay on their backs, almost motionless, and others 
lay in same position, moving limbs violently. 

This remedy was applied on A. G. Rosiere’s farm, on Bruno Creek, Marion County, 
Kansas, being 9 miles east and 3 miles south of Marion. 

Thanking you for your favors, I remain, yours, truly, 
R. L. STANGAARD. 


October 16, many of the bugs were dead; the others apparently 
lively. The dead bugs were found to contain hyphal bodies similar to 
those with which they were infected. A live chinch bug from the same 
jar was crushed and found to contain round hyphal bodies ; but these 
refused to germinate. 

November 5, not all of the bugs are yet dead. The few remainirg are 
apparently lively. 

The following is a summary of the results of the field experiments in 
the season of 1890: 

Number of boxes of diseased bugs sent out, thirty-eight. Seven of 
these lots were either not received or received aud not used. Reports 


284 


were received from twenty-six of the thirty-one remaining cases. Of 
these twenty-six reports three were unfavorable, nineteen favorable, and 
four doubtful concerning the success of the experiment. These doubt- 
ful cases are not to be looked upon as unfavorable, but more evidence 
is needed to transfer them to the list of favorable reports. Thus nine- 
teen out of twenty-six reports, or 73 per cent., were decidedly favor- 
_ able. The experiments will be continued during the season of 1891. 
In presenting this paper I wish to acknowledge the in valuable aid con- 
tinually received during the progress of the work from my assistants, 
Messrs. W. C. Stevens and V. L. Kellogg. 

The laboratory experiments have been continued through the sea- 
son. Of the three diseases indentified, that produced by the Tricho- 
derma appears to be less fatal than the other two, as is indicated by 
the following laboratory notes: 

September 28, dead chinch bugs, showing no signs of fungus exter- 
nally, were taken from the infection jars and crushed on a glass slide in 
distilled water. Oval hyphal bodies of a fungus (Trichoderma) were 
found in considerable number. These were put under a bell jar. 

September 29, some of the hyphal bodies had put out slender myce- 
lial growths, others in immense numbers were multiplying by division. 

October 1, the hyphal bodies were still multiplying by division. The 
mycelial growths had become much longer, and in some instances had 
variously branched. 

October 3, a dead chinch bug taken from an infected field was crushed 
on a glass slide in distilled water. Both round and oval hyphal bodies 
were found in considerable number. These were put under a bell jar to 
prevent drying. 

October 4, both round and oval hyphal bodies were multiplying by 
division, and were putting out mycelial growths. 

October 5, fresh chinch bugs from an uninfected field were immersed 
in the liquid containing the above fungi, and were put in a new jar 
with young corn plants. 

To Mr. Riley’s question as to which of the three diseases mentioned 
was most common in destroying the bugs in the field experiments, Mr. 
Snow said during the dry summer of the present year he thought the 
bacterial disease did most of the work, but in 1889 he thought the fun- 
gous diseases were most destructive. 

Mr. Riley thought that the fact that Mr. Snow had been able to carry 
healthy bugs through the season without infection in the same room 
with diseased bugs was a rather discouraging one, as it would indicate 
either that the germs were easily kept from reaching the bugs or that 
they were not carried long distances. Close proximity to, or actual 
contact with, diseased individuals, if necessary, would materially lessen 
the value of their use in the field, while the evidence of farmers’ expe- 
rience in the field needed very careful weighing, because of the possi- 
bilities of error. 


285 


Mr. Snow said that it had been found by his experiments that the 
diseases would spread over large fields and destroy nearly ali the bugs. 
within 10 or 12 days after the diseased bugs had been introduced, and 
that the expense was very slight. 

Mr. Webster stated that it had been his experience that the spread 
of the Entomophthora was entirely dependent upon proper atmospheric 
conditions, and that he thought the disease might be continued from | 
year to year by massing the bugs on small patches of some favorite 
food plant or millet where they are to be infected and destroyed and 
then growing upon this ground some crop to which the bugs are par- 
tial the next year. In this manner the bugs the following year accu- 
mulate on the ground where the germs are most abundant and most 
favorable natural conditions would be offered for starting the disease 
when proper atmospheric conditions were present. Mr. Webster did 
not think actual contact necessary for the communication of the fungous 
diseases, neither did he think that corn fields present favorable situa- 
tions for the spread of the infection. - 

Mr. Snow thought none of the germs would live over winter under 
ordinary outdoor conditions, but only in protected situations, and it 
was his opinion that such an attempt as Mr. Webster proposed to carry 
the germs over from one season to another would not succeed. His 
own experiments had shown that the diseases can be kept alive in the 
laboratory through the winter and sent out the next season on demand 
as explained in his paper. 

Mr. Cook stated that foul brood was readily carried over winter in a 
beehive and he thought it not unlikely that the chinch bug diseases 
might be carried over in the same way. Mr. Fletcher thought that 
where the disease has been it is liable to appear again when proper 
conditions are present. 

On motion of Mr. F. L. Harvey the committee tendered Mr. Snow a 
vote of thanks for his interesting and valuable paper. 

Mr. Smith moved that the paper and discussions of the committee be 
sent to INSEcT LIFE for publication. The motion prevailed. 

The committee adjourned. 

C. P. GILLETTE, Secretary. 


FIFTH CONTRIBUTION TO A KNOWLEDGE OF CERTAIN LITTLE. 
KNOWN APHIDIDZ.* 


By CLARENCE M. WEED. 


It is evident that before our knowledge of the Aphides can be said 
to be in a fairly satisfactory condition we must have descriptions, and 


* The first contribution of this series was published in Psyche, vol. v, pp. 123-134; 
the second in Psyche, vol. v, pp. 208-210; the third in Bull. Ohio Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station, 2d series, vol. I, pp. 148-152; and the fourth in the technical series of 
the same bulletin, vol. 1, pp. 111-120. 


286 


_ so far as possible, illustrations of at least five stages of each species, viz: 
(1) The egg; (2) the apterous viviparous female; (3) the winged vivip- 
arous female; (4) the male; and (5) the oviparous female. Of course, 
an acquaintance with these forms does not necessarily involve a knowl- 
edge of the complete life-history of a given species, especially in those 
cases where seasonal migrations from one host plant to another occur, 
but such information will at least furnish a basis for systematic mono- 
graphic work, and will also prove helpful in tracing the life-cycles. 


The studies upon which this series of contributions is based were | 


undertaken especially to learn the autumn and winter history of Ameri- 
ean Aphidida. Previous writers have as arule been content to de- 
scribe the viviparous forms, and until recently our knowledge of the 
sexed forms and hibernating stages of nearly all our species was very 
limited. 

The observations upon which the present paper is based were made as 
a part of the work of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, mostly 
upon the station farm during the autumn of 1890. The drawings for 
the illustrations accompanying it were prepared by my assistant, Miss 
Freda Detmers, from freshly killed specimens, while the descriptions 
are all drawn up from the living insects. 


The Sycamore Lachnus (Lachnus platanicola Riley), 


This species was described in 1883 by Dr. C. V. Riley in a short note 
in the American Naturalist (vol. 17, pp. 197-198). Itis said to have 
been excessively abundant in 1882 on Sycamore trees over a large part 
of the United States. The male, oviparous female, and egg are very 
briefly characterized. 

During the present season this insect has been extraordinarily abun- 
dant in central Ohio. During the summer and early autumn months 
nearly every Sycamore tree was thickly infested, and the eggs were 
deposited on the bark of the twigs and branches in enormous numbers. 
The sexed forms appeared late in September and throughout October. 
The deposition of eggs began early in October, continuing for more than 
a month. 

The different stages of the Sycamore Lachnus are shown much mag- 
nified at Plate 1. Fig. 1 represents the winged male, Fig. 2, the apter- 
ous viviparous female, Fig. 3 the winged viviparous female, and Fig. 
4, the eggs. All except the eggs are shown much magnified, the 
straight line at the right indicating the natural size of each. 

Like the other species of the genus these insects have the habit of 
waving their long hind legs in the air when alarmed. 


DESCRIPTION. 


4 


APTEROUS VIVIPAROUS FEMALE (Plate 1, Fig. 2, 2a).—Body 6 millimeters long by 
3.5 millimeters wide across middle of abdomen ; antenne, 3 millimeters long; pos- 
terior legs, 9 millimeters long. 

General color light brown, with a glaucous bloom. Antenne, eyes, most of head, two 


) 
4 
| 
j 
: 


287 


triangular spots united basally on middle of pronotum, a large quadrangular spot on 

middle of mesonotum, one row of small spots on each side of the dorso-meson on the 

segments posterior to this, another row along each side margin of all the dorsal seg- — 
ments, and a few smaller spots between the middle abdominal terga, together with 

cornicles, black; coxz dusky ; trochanters and femora, except tips, reddish brown; 

tips of femora, together with tibie and tarsi, black, except that the middle of the 

tibia is often reddish-brown. Cornicles very short, conical, truncate. Ventral sur- 

face dusky, with aglaucous bloom. Rostrum dusky,reaching posterior coxx. Body, 

legs, and antenn# furnished with rather long, light-brown hairs. Antenne rough- 

ened; joint 111 very long, equal to Iv plus V, the latter being subequal, though V is 

slightly longer than Iv; vi short, with a well developed thumb, forming vil; Vv 

slightly enlarged near tips by a distinct sensorium ; and another on VI at the base of 
the projecting thumb. 

WINGED VIVIPAROUS FEMALE. (Plate 1, Fig. 3, 3a).—Body 6 millimeters long, by 
3.5 millimeters wide across middle of abdumeu; head to tip of folded wings, 10 milli- 
mneters; wing expanse, 18 millimeters; antennz, 3 millimeters; posterior legs, 11 
millimeters. 

Head and thorax bluish-black with a glaucous bloom; antennz and cornicles 
black; dorsum of abdomen whitish, with two rows of biack spots on each side of 
median line, and a transverse series of small, black, indented dots on each segment. 
Cornicles short, couical, truncate. Ventral surface of abdomen yellowish-brown, 
with a glaucous bloom. Cox concolorous with thorax; trochanters and femora ex- 
cept tips, reddish-brown; tips of femora, together with tibiw and tarsi, black. 
Rostrum dusky, reaching posterior coxx#. Body, legs, and antenne clothed with 
rather long, light brown hairs. Joints of antennz of same relative length as in ap- 
terous viviparousform. Wingsclouded, especially towards base; insertions reddish- 
brown; veins piceous. 

OvIPAROUS FEMALE.—This form does not differ in external appearance from the 
apterous viviparous female. 

WINGED MALE (Plate 1, Fig. 1, la).—Body 5 millimeterslong, by 2 millimeters 
wide, across middle of abdomen; head to tip of folded wings, 9 millimeters; wing 
expanse, 16 millimeters; antennz, 2.4 millimeters; posterior legs, 8 millimeters. 

Head and thorax bluish-black, with a glaucous bloom; antennz# piceous; eyes 
black. Abdomen small, dorsum whitish, but nearly covered with two rows of large 
black spots on each side of dorso-meson, and having transverse rows of less distinct 
indented black dots. Ventral surface of abdomen yellowish-brown, with a glaucous 
bloom, except posterior extremity, which is black. Coxz concolorous with thorax ; 
trochanters and femora, except tips, reddish-brown; tips of femora together with 
tibie and tarsi black. Rostrum dusky, reaching slightly behind posterior coxe. 
Cornicles black, conical, truncate. Body, legs, and antennz clothed with rather long, 
light-brown hairs. Antenne roughened; joints of same relative length as in apter- 
ous viviparous female. Eyes as seen from above subtriangular in form. Wings 
clouded ; insertions light yellowish-brown; veins piceous. 

THE Eag@ (Plate 1, Fig. 4).—Length, 1.8 millimeters; width, 0.5 millimeter. Elon- 
gate-ovoid. Orange-brown at first, but changing on exposure to shining black. 
Covered when first laid with a viscid substance by which it is securely attached to 
the bark of the twig or limb. Great numbers deposited together. 


The Box Elder Chaitophorus (Chaitophorus negundinis Thomas). 


This species has been abundant the past season on certain trees in 
this vicinity. After the leaves fall off the insects congregate upon the 
twigs where the eggs are deposited. The sexed forms appear early in 
October. The male is apterous, and is represented magnified at a, Fig. 
23. The oviparous female is shown at D of the same figure, while the 
eggs are represented at c and d. 


288 


DESCRIPTION. 


WINGED VIVIPAROUS FEMALE.—Body 2 millimetres long by 1 wide across the ab- 
domen ; head to tip of wings, 4.5 millimetres; wing expanse 8 millimetres; antennz 
1.6 millimetres. 

Head and thorax dull yellowish-brown; abdomen olive-green; base of antennz 
yellowish-brown, remainder piceous; coxe, trochanters and proximal half of femora 
yellowish-brown, rest of legs piceous. Wings transparent; veins yellowish-brown ; 
stigmadusky. Body, legs, and antenne furnished withrather long light-brown hairs. 

APTEROUS MALE (Fig. 23, a).—Body slender, flattened; dorsal surface tubercu-- 
late, each tubercle surmounted by a long, slender, light-brown hair. General color 
greenish-black, with an indistinct olive-green patch at the base of the cornicles; and 
in some specimens with the head and prothorax more or less tinged with brown; 
antenne piceous, except at base, where they are often greenish ; eyes reddish-brown ; 
cox, trochanters, and proximal one-third of femora greenish, remainder of legs 
piceous. Legs hairy. Antenne hairy; joint 111 long, equal to Iv plus Vv, these two 
being subequal, although Iv is very slightly the longer; vi short, about one-third as 
long as the slender vil. Cauda short. Cornicles short. Prothorax with a tubercle 
on each side, near the posterior border. 

OVIPAROUS FEMALE (Fig. 23, b).—Body 3 millimetres long by 1.5 wide across mid- 
dle of abdomen ; antennz 1.4 millimetres long. 


Fic. 23.—Chaitophorus negundinis: a, apterous male; 6, oviparous female; d, egg; all greatly en. 
larged; c, eggs on twig, natural size (original). 


Body somewhat flattened. General color greenish or greenish-brown; head and 
prothorax brownish; sides of abdomen and cornicles olive-green, with central por- 
tion brownish ; first two and half of third joints of antennx light brown, remainder 
dusky ; central portion of entire ventral surface of body, including rostrum, brown- 
ish, sides greenish; coxe, trochanters, and about half of femora yellowish-brown or 
greenish-brown ; rest of femora, together with tibie and tarsi, piceous. Eyes dusky. 
Body, legs, and antenne thickly clothed with long brown hairs. Joint 111 of anten- 
ne long, not quite equalto Iv plus Vv; Iv slightly longer than v, which is longer than 
VI; Vil twice asiong as VI. Cornicles short, flanged at tip. 


289 


THE EGG (Fig. 23, c,d).—Length 0.8 millimetre. Elliptical ovoid, greenish or 
yellowish-brown when first laid, but gradually changing to a shining black. Depos- 
ited on the twigs, preferably about the buds, but often on the bark away from them. 


The Cabbage Aphis. (Aphis brassice L.) 


Although this insect has been known both in Europe and America 
for more than a century, the sexed forms and eggs seem never to have 
been described. Early in November I found on the Cabbage leaves, in 
company with colonies of winged and apterous viviparous females, the 
eggs, oviparous females, winged males, and a form which I conjectured 
to be the wingiess male. The winged males were observed in copula 
with oviparous females a number of times, and the eggs were obtained 
’ both on the leaves and from Aphides in confinement. 

The winged male is shown at Fig. 24, a. It differs from the winged 
viviparous form principally in the smaller size of its abdomen. The 
oviparous female is represented at b of the same figure. It is easily 
distinguished. from the apterous, viviparous form by its more slender 
body and tapering abdomen. 


DESCRIPTION. 


WINGED MALE (Fig. 24,a).—Body, 1.2 millimetres long; head to tip of folded 
wings, 3 millimetres; wing expanse, 5 millimetres; antenne, 1.6 millimetres. 

Body small; head and thorax brown or black; abdomen light greenish-brown, 
with rows of black spots arranged transversely on dorsum. Legs black, except proxi- 
mal portions of femora, which are brown. Cornicles dusky, rather short, subcylin- 


F. Detmers, del. 


Fic. 24.—Aphis brassice: a, winged male, magnified; b, head and antenna of same, more magnified; 
c, viviparous female, magnified; d, head and antenna of same, more magnified (original). 


290 


drical. Antenne black; joint 11 long, as iong as Iv plus v, which are subequal; vr 
short, slightly more than half as long v; vii very long, longer than 111; all cf the 
joints much roughened. Cauda distinct, dusky. Wings subhyaline, insertions 
greenish-brown ; base of veins and stigma light-brown or greenish-brown; rest of 
veins dusky. Body more or less covered with a glaucous bloom. Rostrum reaching 
second coz, dusky at tip. 


OVIPAROUS FEMALE (Fig. 24, c., d).—One and eight-tenths millimetres long by 1 mil- 
limetre wide across middle of abdomen. Antenne 1.2 millimetres long. 

Body elongate oval, tapering both ways from the middle, the abdomen being almost 
acutely pointed. General color pale-green; head dusky; a rowof indistinct dusky 
spots on dorsum of thorax each side the median line; three longitudinal rows of in- 
distinct small blackish spots on dorsum of abdomen as far back as cornicles; similar 
spots between cornicles; a transverse dusky patch on last two abdominal segments; 
cauda dusky. Cornicles short, cylindrical, black. Legs dusky, lighter proximally. 
Antenne dusky; joint 111 longest, equal to Iv plus v, which are subequal; vi short; 
vii rather long, twice as longas vi. All joints roughened. 

THE EGG.—Length 0.8 millimetre. Elongate oval. Light-green when first said, 
but becoming black on exposure to air. Sometimes more or less covered with a glau- 
cous bloom. Deposited on the cabbage leaves, especially iu crevices and depressions. 


The Willow Grove Melanoxanthus. (Melanoxanthus salicti Harr.) 


In previous articles of this series I have described the various stages 
of this insect, and have now to add only one or two recent observations. 
The occurrence of this species upon Maple and Poplar was mentioned 
in the last account as probably accidental, but this season’s observa- 
tions show that in some species of Poplar, at least, the insect finds a 
congenial food plant. Colonies of these lice have repeatedly been ob- 
served upon Cottonwood (Populus monilifera) at various times during 
the season, apparently flourishing as well as upon Willow. 

To show that the finding of the sexes mating is not always proof 
that the two forms belong to the same species, mention may be made 
of an observation during October when a male M. salictti was found in 
copula with an oviparous Lachnus platanicola. 


The Bicolored Melanoxanthus. (Melanoxanthus bicolor Oestlund.) 


The sexed forms of a Melanoxanthus that appear to belong to the 
species recently described by Professor Oestlund* as M. bicolor oc- 
curred rather commonly during October and November on the twigs of 
various willows in company with M. salicti Harr. The male is winged, 
and differs considerably from the male of UW. salicis or M. salicti. The 
oviparous female represented magnified at Fig. 25, a, is at once distin- 
guished from this form of either of the species named, by its general 
brown color. Its eggs are laid upon the twigs, generally about the buds, 
in the same situation as the eggs of M. salicti. A couple of them are 
shown at Fig. 25, ec. 


* Synopsis Aphididz of Minnesota, p. 36. 


291 


DESCRIPTION. . 


WINGED MALE.—Body, 2.8 millimetres long; head to tip of folded wings, 5. mailli- 
metres; wing expanse, 10 millimetres; antenne, 1.5 millimetres. 

Head and thorax blackish or bluish black, with a slight glaucous bloom ; dorsum 
of abdomen yellowish brown, with large blackish quadrangular spots arranged in 
two longitudinal rows, one on each side the median line; ventral surface of abdo- 
men yeliowish brown. Legs piceous, except bases of femora, which are lighter. 
Cornicles yellowish, rather long for this genus, vasiform. Autennz# piceous, hairy, 
much roughened ; joint 111 long, but shorter than Iv plus Vv; Iv slightly longer than 
V; vi about one-half as long as Vv, with the thumbs like viI, very short. Wings sub- 
hyaline, with the insertions, veins, and stigma dull yellowish-brown. Cauda and 
anal plates blackish. 

OVIPAROUS FEMALE (Fig. 25, a, b).—Body, 4. 5 millimetres long by 2.5 wide across 
middle of abdomen; antennz, 1.5 millimetres long. 

General color, yellowish brown, with the head tawny yellow, and middle of ab- 
dominal dorsum almost olive green; a longitudinal row of indented black dots on 
each side near margins. Body, legs, and antenne very hairy. Cornicles, yellowish- 
brown, often slightly dusky at the tip, vasiform. Two front pairs of legs, yellowish- 
brown, with tips of femora and tibiz, together with tarsi, blackish; third pair, 
yellowish-brown, withtips of femora and all of tibiz, and tarsi blackish. Antenne, 
yellowish-brown proximally, blackish apically ; joint 111, long; Iv and V, subequal; 
VI, slightly shorter than vir. Rostrum reaching middle cox, dusky at tip. 


F. Detmers, del. 


Fic. 25. Melanoxanthus bicolor: a, oviparous female, enlarged ; b, head and antennxw of same, more 
enlarged; c, eggs on willow twig, slightly enlarged (original). 


THE EGG (Fig. 25 c).—Length 1.2 millimetre; oblong oval; yellowish brown at 
first, but becoming shining black on exposure to air; deposited « on the twigs, espe- 
cialiy about the buds. 


The Flocculent Melanoxanthus. (Melanoranthus flocculosus, n. sp.) 


Early in October I saw colonies of a very tlocculent piant-louse on 
Willow bushes in a ravine near Columbus. I recognized it as a Melan- 
oxanthus, different from any of the described species, but at the time 
was unable to make descriptive notes of the viviparous forms then pres- 
ent. The place was not again visited until November 19, when the only 


292 


& 


forms present, so far as seen, were the oviparous females and eggs. 
Wherever colonies had developed upon the stems, there was a whiten- 
ing of the bark, due to the flocculence of the insects. One or two re- 
mains of colonies, with the oviparous females still present in some 
numbers, were found on the lower portion of certain stems where the 
flood débris of the creek was piled up fora foot or two. In these places 
the flocculent matter had developed enormously, so that it looked like 
a coating of cotton. . 

This species appears to be more closely related to M. salicis L. than 
either of the others. Its eggs are covered with a gray coating like 
those of M. salicis, and the cornicles are of the same bright orange-red 
color. 


DESCRIPTION. 


OVIPAROUS FEMALE (Fig. 26, a, b).—Body 3.5 milimetres long by 2 wide across 
middle of abdomen ; antenne 2.3 milimetres long. 

General color dull yellowish-brown, with a longitudinal row of indistinct black 
spots on each side of dorso-meson; cornicles bright orange red; antennz dusky, ex- 
cept basal portion of third joint, which is yellowish-brown; legs dusky, with basal 
portion of femora, and sometimes more or less of tibia, dark yellowish-brown. Body, 
legs, and antenne pilose. Joint 111 of antennz long, but shorter than Iv plus v, 
which are subequal; vi and vil each rather long, the latter the longer of the two. 
Cornicles long for this genus; swollen in the middle. 

THe EGG (Fig. 26, c).—Length, 1.2 millimetres ; oblong eral coated with a thin 
gray substance like fee on the egg of M. salicis ; depeuted on ine bark, about the 
buds and axils, especially where the surface is roughened. 


ai 


Ta 
= 


>, 
> 


Saas! 
PS 


eee 


F. Detmers, del. 


Fic. 26.—Melanoxanthus flocculosus: a, oviparous female—enlarged; b, head and antennsz of same— 
greatly enlarged; c, eggs on willow bark—one-half larger than natural sizes (original.) 


PLATE lI. 


No 6. 


ili, 


Insect Life, Vo 


id 


A Wa 


Wade icrenenase nena ~ 


=. 


= Be . 
Pg oor na S ater dee 
Tih scene 5 


F Detmers, del. 


LACHNUS PLATANICOLA Riley. 


pt aye 
J 


et 
‘we 


i 


hie 


i 


293 


EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 


Lachnus platanicola Riley. 
Fig 1. Male. Enlarged. 

la. Head and antenna of male. Greatly enlarged. 

2. Apterous viviparous female. Enlarged. 

2a. Head and antenna ofsame. Greatly enlarged. 

3. Winged viviparous female. Enlarged. 

3a. Head and antenna of same. Greatly enlarged. 

4, Eggs on Sycamore twig, and oviparous females engaged in oviposition. Nat- 

ural size. 
CoLuMBws, OHI0, November, 1890. 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 


The Clover-Seed Midge in England, the use of Paris green, and other notes 


I think it may be of some interest to you to mention that after 2 years or more of 

watching J have been able to report your ‘‘American Clover-Seed Midge,” Cecidomyia 
leguminicola Lintner, as present here detrimentally in clover heads. I have now seen it 
in its normal larval locality doing plenty of mischief. also at (or rather by) clover roots 
in the earth in winter, and from this hibernating presence of larva reared the imago 
myself. I do not like, in a case of such minute identification, to rest solely on my 
own opinion, so I submitted it to Mr. Meade, who examined it very thoroughly and 
‘confirmed my view. I have endeavored to find trifolii. As yet, however, although 
there is another Cecidomyidous larva present with that of leguminicola at clover roots, 
I have no evidence of trifolii being present. I can not find the leaf-galls and I do not 
know that trifolii leave them, but I want very much to make out what the second 
kind of Cecidomyiidous larve are. They have a somewhat pointed breastbone or an- 
chor process, whereas that of leguminicola is bifid. 

Amongst new observations of plant attack is serious mischief in one place by 
infestation of Stem Eelworm (Tylenchus devastatriz) in field-vean plants. This was 
in bean plants after oats, and a sample of the plants sent me (of which the normal 
height should apparently, from specimen sent, have been 3 to 4 feet) were stunted 
down to from about 4 to 10 or 12 inches, and many of the pods also greatly stunted 
and deformed in growth, but not all, and the laden shoots thickly placed together 
on the central shortened stem had a curious appearance. 

Our orchard work with Paris green proved a great success where the directions 
were properly carried out. Of course we had immense opposition to figbt against, 
but at the Toddington fruit grounds the work resulted in a glorious crop of plums, 
and in one of the last letters of Captain Corbett (whose decease we all greatly regret) 
he mentioned that now he thought we could keep the caterpillars in check, and he 
was truly grateful. Now we are finding the benefit which I hoped for but did not 
venture to say much on prospectively. We are having reports of a very much lessened 
amount of presence of wingless moths where treatment was applied. From Todding- 
ton, where 3 years ago as many as five hundred moths were caught on one tree trunk 
by our sticky bands, I have been informed that up to date of observation nine was 
now the largest number. This satisfactory result is confirmed from elsewhere, as 
partly, or sometimes, the effect of both banding and Paris green spraying, but some- 
times quite demonstrably the effect of the spraying. I hope to give details of this 
in my next annual report.—[Eleanor A. Ormerod, Torrington House, St. Albans, Eng- 
land, November 24, 1890. 


294 


REPLY.—It is very interesting to know that our Clover-Seed Midge is found with 
you. Ihave already had some correspondence with Mr. Inchbald on this subject 
and have loaned him specimens of our form for comparison. He feels quite sure of 
the identity of the two, but had not at the time of his last letter reared the adult 
from the maggots found in England. He has promised to send me specimens of the 
adult when they appear, but if you already have them and can send me a spare 
male and female it will enable me to compare with my material at once. From the 
large series of reared specimens which I have seen I should probably be able to de- 
cide the matter. 

The other Cecidomyiid larve which you found at the roots of clover is not C. trifolii, 
as the larva of the latter has adivided breastbone somewhat like that of leguminicola. 

I had already learned through the newspapers of your success in having Paris 
green used in your orchards. I can understand the opposition as we have had to 
overcome somewhat the same feeling in this country. As you know, however, the 
arsenical mixtures are now 1n almost universal use here.—[ December 17, 1890. ] 


The Mantis not poisonous. 


A miner friend has just brought me a Mantis. He says it lives on grass in 
the desert, is eaten by horses and mules, and causes death in 10 hours.- The insect is 
1 inches long, with very short wing covers and enormous abdomen, probably filled 
with eggs. The eyes are chocolate color, prothorax buff, fore legs green, wing 
covers green, abdomen brownish. The finder is positive of its posonous qualities. I 
occasionally see other species of Mantis; have never before heard of their being 
poisonous, and of course do not believe it.—[W. G. Wright, San Bernardino, Califor- 
nia, October 19, 1890. 

REPLy.—You are perfectly right in considering that none of these insects are 


poisonous. The idea, however, that they cause death to horses and mules when feed- . 


ing upon grass is not new, and you will find a note upon page 199, Vol. 1, INsEcT 
LIF£, under the caption, ‘‘A remarkable insect enemy to live stock,” where the same 
statement is published as coming from Texas. If one of these insects was swallowed 
whole it might for a few moments cause the animal considerable trouble by its strug- 
gles, but that it should cause death is, I think, perfectly incredible.—| October 27, 
1890. ] 


A Rose Cecidomyiid. 


I send you by this mail a box of buds from the Wooton Rose, afflicted with colonies 
of a little white grub that destroys whole bunches of these rose buds under glass, so 
that no bloom ig secured after all the pains and expense of a season’s work. A per- 
son largely engaged in growing cut flowers tells me that for a year past these grubs 
caused him much loss, and only a few days back was he able to find anything that he 
could fix as their progenitor, when he discovered the black fly in the bottle. This 
fellow seems to have a peculiarity that I have not noticed in any insect before, that 
of rolling up its wings into a little bundle. I am told that in this shape they wil! 


go head first into the ground about the plants.—[ Benjamin Hammond, Fishkill, New ~ 


York, October 25, 1890. 

REPLY.—I believe that this little insect is a pew enemy tothe Rose; atall events I 
can find no notice of it in the hurried search whichI have given. It will be necessary 
to study its habits pretty carefully before a remedy can be suggested, and I would 
therefore beg you tosend me as much material as possible. The little white maggot 
is the larva of a two-winged fly of the family Cecidomyiide, to which the Hessian Fly, 
the Wheat Midge, and a number of other injuriousinsects belong. The insect in the 
bottle has nothing whatever to do with the maggot. It is oneof the rove-beetles known 
as Oxytelus insignitus, and feeds upon decaying vegetation. The true adult of the 
maggot isa very delicate fly somewhat resembling a mosquito. Why does not the 


295 


gentleman whose roses are troubled with this pest pick off and burn every bud which 
he finds to be infested? He ought soon to be able to control the insect in this way, © 
or, if he can ascertain the time when the flies are laying their eggs or are issuing 
from their cocoons, if he will shut his rose house up and puff California Buhach in- 
dustriously about the place he will certainly kill them all. When the maggots reach 
full growth they will doubtless crawl out of the buds and drop to the ground and 
transform to pupe at or just beneath the surface of the earth, probably in little 
round delicate cocoons from which the flies will eventually issue.—[ October 23,1890. ] 


The habits of Phorodon in Oregon. 


On examining some plum trees yesterday in the vicinity of (what had been) an in- 
fested hop field, I found a few specimens of Phorodon. From the statement of a Mr. 
Smeed earlier in the season, who declared positively that they had not touched his 
Plum trees, I thought it possible that in Oregon they might have chosen a different 
habitat for autumn, but it now appears that their habits are apparently the same as 
in the section in which you and your assistants worked. I shall follow the matter up 
closely, as it is one of considerable financial importance to some of our counties.—[F. 
L. Washburn, Corvallis, Oregon, October 20, 1890. 


Schizoneura tessellata. 


I send inclosed some insects which I believe to be the same as those mentioned in 
Lintner’s Fourth Report, page 179, seventh paragraph. I found them on a branch of 
Swamp Alder September 12, from the woolly appearance of which I was led to think 
that the branch was attacked by some species of fungus altogether new to me. Upon 
breaking off the branch I was surprised to see some of the fungus walk off. The in- 
closed specimens have shrunk to about one-half of their natural size. Am I correct 
in supposing them to be Schizoneura tessellata Fitch ?—[John D. Lyons, Monticello, 
New York, October 20, 1890. 

REPLY.—The specimens have been examined and you are perfectly right in consid- 
ering that the species is Schizoneura tessellata Fitch.—| October 27, 1890. 


Woodpeckers vs. the Tussock Moth. 


In the summer of 1680 the Elms along Euclid avenue, especially in my vicinity, were 
attacked by the ‘‘ New Haven Elm-tree Caterpillar.” Fearing a repetition of their 
trouble, numbers of us fought the cocoons in the fall and destroyed thousands, but 
when winter set in tens of thousands still remained on the outer branches beyond 
reach. About the first of December a pair of hairy woodpeckers (Picus villosus) made 
their appearance and fed daily off the grubs; in the course of that month and the next 
over a dozen of the birds were added to the number and by their industry on this par- 
ticular pest attracted the attention of all who passed. Suffice it to say that when 
March came not a cocoon was to be seen in those places where the branches were 
literally white with them before; and more, this is the last we ever saw of the New 
Haven visitor.—[Dr. E. Sterling, Cleveland, Ohio, October 25, 1890. 

REPLY.—You speak of the insect as the New Haven Elm-tree Caterpillar, but the 
_ commonest pests of this tree in New Haven are the larva of the imported Elm-leaf 
Beetle and the Canker-worm, neither of which spins a cocoon. It is probable that the 
insect with you was the Tussock Moth caterpillar, since you speak of the branches 
being ‘‘ white” with the cocoons.—[ October 30, 1890. 

SECOND LETTER.—The caterpillar mentioned in my last was, as you surmised, that 
of the ‘‘Tussock-moth.” * * * The Woodpecker, however, did the work for them, 
as they have never troubled the trees here since, though always a few are to be seen 
in their season. I have always found the native Woodpecker family the greatest 
destroyers of insects in every stage of their development, and these birds should be 
protected by the farmer and orchardist in particular, be it the maligned “‘ sap-sucker” 


296 


orthe more conspicuous yellow-hammer. A few old ham or beef-bones, with a little | | 


meat on them, bung up on the orchard trees in fail and winter time will keep these 
birds in the neighborhood during the season, if not the year round, and will pay the 
owner many fold for his trouble. The imported Sparrow will not touch these larve, 
while the Orioles and Jays fatten on them. A pair of pet toads would devour a dozen 
or more at a sitting that fall to them. 


Abnormal Oviposition of the Angular-winged Katydid. 


I have the honor to inclose herewith something that may or may not be of inter- 
est. I have never-seen such things before, and if eggs of any injurious insect, will 
thank you for information thereabout.—[H. B. Osgood, captain and commissary of 
Subsistence U. S. Army, depot quartermaster, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, August 
18, 1890. 

REPLY.—The eggs which, as indicated on the box, you found glued upon your col- 
lar when taken from the laundry, are those of the big, angular-winged Katydid (Mi- 
crocentrum retinerve). This is an extraordinary position for these eggs, as they are 
ordinarily glued to the stems or twigs of different plants. The Katydid is a leaf- 
feeder through all its stages of existence, but seldom occurs in sufficient numbers to 
do any appreciable damage.—[ August 25, 1390. 


Dimorphism in Butterflies and Miscellaneous Notes. 


Your note on page 35 of volume t1, INSEcT LIFE, on Mr. Oberthiir’s views about 
dimorphic females of butterflies, is very interesting, and especially so to me, because 
J have held a similar opinion myself. If you will turn to the Entomologist, 1889, p.5, 
you will see that my theory on the subject is very similar to that of Mr. Oberthiir, so 
that indeed it can hardly be said that he has suggested a new hypothesis. I do not 
know whether you intended to imply that he had, but that seems the tendency of the 
note. However, Mr. Oberthiir’s opinion on such a matter is certainly more valuable 
than mine, and I do not wish to seem to undervalue it or to detract from the impor- 
tance of his observations. Some other naturalists who are very competent disagree 
with the theory of Mr. Oberthiir and myself altogether, but as to who is right only 
time and observations can prove. 

You willremember Mr. Howard’s notes on the food of Carpocapsa pomonella and the 
question about Mr. W. West’s observations as to its feeding on Walnut. I haveasked 
Mr. West about it, and he assures me that he has bred the true pomonella from Walnut. 
He has also bred it from Chestnut (Castanea), as he stated at a meeting of the South 
London Entomological Society at which I was present. * * * 

The Globe (published in London) of October 9, 1890, has a long article headea 
‘‘Disease among Cocoanuts.” It states that the Cocoanut plantations in St. Iago de 
Cuba have been ravaged by a disease which appeared at Matanzas after the cyclone 
of 1870. It was supposed to be due toa Uredo, but Dr. Galves declared that a Coccid 
was the culprit, and this Coccid he named Diaspis vandalicus. Very likely all this 
is known to you, so I won’t enter into details.—|T. D. A. Cockerel, 3 Fairfax Road, 
Bedford Park, Chiswick, London, West, England, November 1, 1890. 

ReEpty.—I had overlooked your note in the Entomologist for 1889, page 5, but so 


far as indorsing Mr. Oberthiirs theory, the question towards the end of the para- 


graph has an indication that I do not necessarily believe with him that we shall in 
all cases find the original form from which the divergent form has in time developed. 
On the contrary I do not accept it, and such is certainly not to be looked for in the 
case of ourown Argynnis diana. 

In reference to Carpocapsa pomonella on Walnut, Iam not inclined to change the 
opinion arrived at by Mr. Howard, a conclusion which was based on notes which I 
had made when considering the subject in years gone by, and before changing that 
opinion I should like very much to have the specimens Mr. West bred submitted to 
Lord Walsingham or some other good authority, as the chances are they would be 
found to be putaminana Staudinger.—[ December 13, 1890. 


ee ee 


297 


Kerosene Emulsion against the Sheep Scab, 


I have read with great interest Prof. C. P. Giliette’s interesting and valuable article 
reviewed in the last number of INSEcT LIFE on the application of kerosene emulsion 
asa sheep-dip. Professor Gillette has most thoroughly treated the subject from an 
economic standpoint and shown the adaptability of the dip tosheep. Following Mr. 
Joseph Harris, I suggested in ‘‘ Animal Parasites of Sheep,” its use as a dip against 
sheep ticks and lice but not against the scab insects. I think that Professor Gillette 
goes too far in advising its use at present against ‘‘ oter parasitic insects that annoy ” 
the sheep, for until its use is thoroughly demonstrated in the scab diseases by some one 
with means enough to try the experiment, whether it succeeds or not, its utility asa 
scab-dip is uncertain, as scab yields only to the most thorough treatment. He who 
tries the kerosene dip should appreciate that he is making an experiment the success 
of which is doubtful. Should the application of this dip in the scab diseases be suc- 
cessful we will have a remedy at once comparatively harmless, sufficient, and cheap. 
Professor Gillette is to be congratulated for the success of his experiment.—[ Cooper 
Curtice, Department of Agriculture, Washington, Deceiuber 10, 1899. 


On Nola sexmaculata and the Japanese Gipsy-moth. 


In INseEcT LIFE, Vol. 111, No. 2, p.61, I note the name Nola sexmaculata Grote as still 
in use. If not generally known in America, it may interest Lepidopterists to learn 
that the species is identical with Walker’s Lebena trinotata ; strictly speaking it is not 
a typical Nola, the costa of the primaries being relatively longer, and the outer margin 
consequently more oblique; probably there are better characters for separating it from 
Nola, but just at present I am in the thick of the most difficult genera of Noctuide and 
have no time to look forthem. I wonder which of the Japanese gypsy moths is the spe- 
cies intended by M. Loomis. Porthetria dispar is represented in Japan by at least four 
species, none of which correspond exactly with the European insect; P. japonica 
Motsch. is considerably larger, more uniformly colored and with fewer markings: 
P. umbrosa Butl. is decidedly smaller and differs in the same way; it may be a 
natural form of P. japonica. P. hadina, and eurydice Btl. are described from males 
only and are almost black, without dark border to secondaries; the former larger 
than males of P. dispar, the latter much smaller and very different in pattern of 
primaries. Allied species, all smaller and referred to a distinct genus, Enome, by 
Walker and others, occur in India; in one or two of these the females appear to be 
practically apterous, the wings being aborted as in Orgyia; but Porthretia (Enome) 
obfuscata has a winged female differing in coloration, asin P. dispar. We hatched 
eggs of the latter sent from India and reared a number of males on Hawthorn one 
spring, and as this food did not belong (I believe) to the same natural order as the 
plant on which it feeds in India, all the specimens were small.—[A. G. Butler, 
British Museum, London, England, November 21, 1890. ] 


GENERAL NOTES. 
A FIG LEAF BEETLE IN AUSTRALIA. 


_ We notice from an unlabelled newspaper clipping sent us by our 

esteemed correspondent, Mr. C. O. Montrose, of Shepparton, New South 

Wales, that Mr. W. W. Froggatt has recently worked up a Leaf-beetle 

which is doing serious damage to the fig trees in the gardens of Sydney, 

New South Wales. It is a Chrysomelid closely allied to our common 

imported Elm Leaf-beetle which it closely resembles in its method of 
. 22595—No. 6——4 


298 


work. Itis Galeruca semipullata Clark. The eggs are pale, cylindrical 
in shape and are placed in little patches on the underside of the leaves. 
The larve when first hatched are pale and evlindrical and cluster close 
tovether when feeding, covering themselves with fine particles of dust 
from the leaves. They become full grown in 14 days and then descend 
to the surface of the ground to transtorm to pupe under leaves and 
rubbish. ; 


A GRAPE VINE PEST. 


A cosmopolitan leaf-beetle known as Adozus vitis has recently been 
found by Mr. J. R. Dobbins to be doing considerable damage to a vine- 
yard near Healdsburg, California. ‘The insect was determined by Mr. 
L. E. Ricksecker, and we have also received specimens. This insect cus- 
tomarily feeds upon the vine as its name indicates, but this is the first 
case that has come to our notice of its attracting particular attention. 


TIN CANS VS. CRICKETS. 


In Florida, where crickets often seriously damage choice plants just 
set out, the plan has been adopted of cutting off the top and bottom of 
3-pound fruit cans and placing the resulting cylinder over the very 
small rose bushes, cuttings and othersmall choice plants liable to attack. 


NOTES ON FRUIT-TREE INSECTS. 


Sannina exiticsa.—So far as known to me, the larva of this species 
has not before been recorded as attacking the cherry. From the trunk 
of a cherry tree growing in the yard of Mr. T. W. Nolte, at Mount Ver- 
non, Indiana, I took four chrysalids, the adults emerging from these Au- 
gust 10 to 15. These chrysalids were found August 7, and besides 
cherry there were both peach and plum trees growing in the same yard. 

Oberea bimaculata.—Beetles belonging to this species were sent to me 
by Mr. E. S. Hallett, of New Providence, Indiana, with the statement 
that they had been given him by a fruit grower, who complained that 
they were girdling the twigs of his peach and cherry trees. The depre 
dations were committed early in June, and do not appear to have been 
very serious. 

Scolytus rugulosus.—Although this insect has probably been a resi- 
dent of the State for several years, it was not until the present season 
brought to my notice. On June 13 the beetles were observed burrow- 
ing into the trunks and bases of the larger limbs of peach trees, in the 
garden of Mr. T. W. Nolte, at Mount Vernon, Indiana, and apparently 
working serious injury. There were five rows of these trees, and the 
first tree in the second, third, and fourth rows, had, one after another, 
dropped their foliage and died. The first tree of the first row, stand- 
ing in a fence corner, had remained uninjured, although the first 
of the second row had been the first to sustain attack and die. The 


299 


affected tree in the fourth row was not at the time fully. dead, but the 
foliage was turning yellow and falling, while hundreds of beetles were 
busily at work burrowing into the bark. Others of these rows of trees 
were also being attacked, but to a much less degree. The three trees 
most seriously infested were saturated with coal oil and burned as they 
stood, while those less infested were recommended for treatment with 
a wash composed of soft soap and carbolic acid. 

On July 31 specimens of the beetle and sections of infested apple 
tree were received from Mr. E. E. Wilkinson, of Princeton, Indiana, 
with complaints of the ravages of the insects among both apple and 
pear trees. August 4 and 5 the orchard of Mr. Wilkinson was exam- 
ined, and a considerable number of trees, both apple and pear, found to 
be infested by the insect in all of its stages. The orchard comprised 
1,000 Ben Davis apple trees set alternately in rows with the same 
number of Keifer Hybrid pear, the trees having been planted in 1883. 
The ground had, for the most part, been but recently cleared before the 
trees were planted, some of it having been cultivated and other por- 
tions not. At the time of my visit the land was badly overgrown with 
weeds and underbrush, and was being pastured with hogs and horses. 
The owner stated that one tree had been attacked and died in 1888, 
fifteen or twenty in 1889, and forty or fifty the present year. After 
considerable time spent in the examination of infested trees, Mr. Wil- 
kinson called my attention to the condition of the roots of infested trees, 
claiming that the roots of trees attacked in his orchard had been dis- 
eased, he was quite sure, prior to their becoming infested by the borers. 
A further study of his orchard did not prove the correctness of his 
theory, but did reveal the fact that all trees seriously injured by the 
insects in question were either diseased at the root, or else had sus. 
tained some injury tending to destroy the free circulation of the sap, 
although the tree itself might appear in a healthy condition. 

The orchard of Hon. C. A. Buskirk was next examined. This com- 
prised 500 Keifer Pear trees, 500 Peach trees alternated with 500 Ben 
Davis Apple trees, and 1,100 miscellaneous Pear trees, all except the 
last having been purchased of the same dealer, and set out at the same 
time as Mr. Wilkinson’s. The condition of this orchard was entirely dif- 
ferent from the one previously examined. Nearly every tree was vig- 
orous and healthy, showing the best of care and attention. The soil 
above the roots, except where treated with lime and ashes. had been 
fertilized with stable manure. The land had been thoroughly culti- 
vated, but not cropped between the rows, and no cultivation was given 
during the latter part of summer. The fatalities from all causes up to 
date of examination amounted to one Pear and two Peach trees, only 
the latter having been attacked by Scolytus, although the roots of the 
Pear tree had been attacked by the same fungus to which Mr. Wilkin- 
son attached so much significance. One of the Peach trees had been 
dug up several weeks before, and from lving out in the hot sun and 
wind the bark had become thoroughly dead, except that on some of the 


300 


larger branches. In this were found great numbers of young larvea,. 


mostly in burrows in the dead bark, the larve being alsodead. In the 
still living bark, on the branches, nearly full-grown living larve were 
found. 

The second tree was dug up by Mr. Buskirk and myself, and the roots 
found to be dead but not covered by the fungus. With the owner, I 
spent considerable time examining trees in this and other orchards, but 
found only a single Scolytus, which was crawling over the branch of a 
Peach tree. Returning to the orchard of Mr. Wilkinson with Mr. Bus- 
kirk, we spent some hours in a further examination of trees, but in no 
case found the borers attacking healthy trees, although many of these 
were having a severe battle for life in their uncongenial environment 

August 7 the trees belonging to Mr. Nolte, at Mount Vernon, were 
again examined, and no additional attacks observed among the Peach 
trees. The vigorous growing trees which I saw being attacked in 
June were as yet uninjured, although the bark on the trunks had been 
punctured in many places. The female borers had evidently punctured 
the bark and attempted to burrow beneath it and construct the egg 
chamber, or cradle, as it is sometimes called, but for some reason gave 
up in despair. I found them attacking Cherry trees, but the roots were 
dead, except in case of the one being killed by Sannina exitiosa, as de- 
tailed at the beginning of this paper. The shoots on very old Apple 
trees in the process of dying out were-.also being attacked. No borers 
could now be found on or about healthy trees of any variety. 

In summing up the results of observations on this insect, it would 
appear (1) that the species attacks only such trees as are already in the 
process of dying, either from diseased roots or some injury to the trunk, 
whereby the circulation of the sap is wholly or in part destroyed ; (2) 
the larve can not live in wholly dead bark; (3) the adults can not ovi- 
posit in a healthy, vigorous tree, but are attracted to trees giving off 
odors of fermenting or sour sap; (4) they do not appear to be attracted 
to trees affected by Pear blight; (5) the species is double-brooded, the 
eggs being deposited in June and August, the insect passing the winter 
in one or more of its stages in the bark. 

Melanoplus differentialis.—Serious depredations to orchards by lo- 
custs were reported from several counties in southern Indiana, and I 
also observed such in Posey and Gibson Counties, the method of attack 


i -% 
ees 


consisting, aside from the devouring of the leaves, in gnawing of the ~ 


bark from the smaller branches. This species is the only one which I 
have been able to detect in connection with the ravages.—F. M. WEB- 
STER, November 1, 1890. 


GALL-PRODUCING HETEROPTERA. 


The receipt of a short paper* by our valued corespondent Dr. Fr. 
Thomas, of Ohrdruf, Germany, reminds us of the fact that although 


*Ueber das Heteropterocecidiuin von Teucrium capitatum und anderen Arten (Ab- 
handl.d.bot. Ver d. Prov. Brandenburg, v. 31, pp. 103-107.) 


wee ghos 


301 


our own fauna is very rich in gall-producing insects—richer, perhaps, 
than the European fauna—we do not seem to have in North America 
any gall-producing Heteroptera. In Europe the galls produced by two 
species of Laccometopus Fieber (family Tingitide) on the flower buds 
of Teucrium chamedrys were first described by Réaumur in 1738, and 
since that time these galls have been found on various other species of 
Teucrium. Dr. Thomas gives a full review of the literature on this 
subject. 


THRIPIDZ INJURIOUS TO CULTIVATED PLANTS. 


In the annual report of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment 
Station for 1889 (1890), p. 180, are two short preliminary notices, appar- 
ently written by Dr. Roland Thaxter, on two injurious species of 
Thripide. The “rust” of oats which was much complained of in 1889 
throughout Connecticut proved on examination to be caused, in most 
cases, not by the fungus rusts (Puccinia coronata and P. graminis) but 
by a Thrips which is probably identical with Fitch’s Thrips 3-fasciata, 
now referred to the genus Coleothrips. The so-called ‘** white blast” of 
market onions, a disease which prevailed to a serious extent in allonion 
growing districts of the State, is caused by an undescribed species of the 
genus Thrips. In the latter case an application of kerosene emulsion 
would be a good remedy; for the species injurious to Oats no direct 
remedy can be suggested. 

It is to be hoped that Dr. Thaxter will soon publish in full his obser- 
vations on this interesting and important subject. 


WILL RAMIE SUPPORT THE SILKWORM OF COMMERCE. 


A recent number of the Prairie Farmer quotes from the American 
Druggist to the effect that a lady of Columbia, South Carolina, reared 
a brood of young silkworms on Ramie leaves for the reason the worms 
hatched before the Mulberry or Osage Orange had put forth leaves. The 
worms fed ravenously and were kept upon this diet until the Osage 
orange leaves appeared. The worms were then divided equally, one set 
being fed with Ramie and the other with Osage Orange, with the result 
that the former produced larger cocoons and a finer quality of silk. We 
should be glad to receive an authoritativeaccount of such an experiment, 
as the discovery is a valuable one if true. We have endeavored to se- 
cure an authentication, but have not succeeded as yet. In spite of the 
fact that Ramie is closely related to the Mulberry, botanically speak- 
ing, we rather incline to the opinion that the published statement is a 
canard. The editor of the American Druggist writes us that the item 
must have been published in his advertising pages, and that he can not 
vouch for the reliability of the statement. 


302 
DAMAGE BY THE RED SCALE GROWING LESS. 


We have received no announcement of the fact from official or thor- 
oughly reliable sources, but notice in a recent number of the California 
Fruit Grower that the Red Scale is said to be rapidly disappearing in 
the San Gabriel Valley, and that this is accounted for by the unusual 
prevalence this season of parasites and predaceous insects. 


A SYSTEMATIC WORK ON GALL-MITES. 


In the Botanisches Centralblatt (vol. 41, Nos. 3-4, 1890, pp. 115-118) 
Dr. F. Thomas reviews Mr. Alfred Nalepa’s recent work entitled 
“ Beitrige zur Systematik der Phytopten.”* Although we have not 
yet seen this work, it is, so far as we are aware, the first attempt at 
a classification of these mites. Nalepa distinguishes four genera of 
Phytoptide, three of which are gall-makers. So far as we can gather 
from Dr. Thomas’s review the work is importait from the systematic as 
well as the biologic standpoint. 


MORE FACTS CONCERNING THE KATIPO. 


The following statements are taken from an abstract of a paper by 
Prof. T. W. Kirk, read before the Wellington Field Naturalists’ Club 
December 18, 1889, and from the published discussion: 


The author said: We hear a great deal about the Katipo, and yet it is surprising 
how few persons know one when they see it. Such being the case, he ventured to 
introduce a specimen or two to the members of the club. He stated that the Katipo 
was exceedingly common along the seashore of the Wellington district. It may be 
found in abundance under the stunted bushes that grow between the water’s edge 
and the base of the hills at Lyell Bay; indeed, the specimens exhibited were collected 
there on the occasion of the club’s excursion. There are said to be two distint varie- 
ties, but he thought it had yet to be proved that the differences are not due to age 
and sex, for he would be able to show that not only do the sexes differ considerably, 
but also that the Katipo, during the various stages of existence, presents most remark- 
able variations. Though so plentiful, it is seldom that persons are bitten by the 
Katipo; and this is the more remarkable when we remember the great numbers of 
people who throng the seabeach on holidays. The reason: The explanation will 
probably be found in the fact that this spider is much more active at night than dur- 
ing the day; indeed, the native name is said to mean ‘‘night stinger ;” and so long 
as he is not molested, during daylight, he seldom interferes with anyone. The chief 
food is a species of black beetle, thousands of the wing cases of which may be found 
under the bushes where Katipos are pientiful. That the bite is very venomous there 
can be no doubt; and, although the writer was not aware of any European having 
actually died from the effects of one, there are a number of well authenticated cases 
in which strong, active persons have been rendered ill for periods varying from a few 
hours to several months. 

The Maoris have a decided dread of the Katipo, and the bite appears to have a much 
greater effect on a native than on a white man. 

The female Katipo is much larger thanthe male; she is black with a bright orange- 
red stripe down the middle of the body ; sometimes the red is bordered with yellow, 


* Published in Sitzber. d. K. Acad. d. Wiss. Wien, 1889, No. 16, p. 162 ff. 


yates sat tl 


303 


in others (generally, I believe, in old specimens) the red widens out in the center, so 
as to present the appearance of across; others have red and white dots at irregular 
intervals along the margins of the red stripe. 

The male has a narrow line of yellow on the back, usually flanked by a similar 
but less distinct line on each side. 

The cocoon exhibited was a fair specimen of that ordinarily produced by the Kat- 
ipo; it was spun two days after the specimens were captured. 

The author had frequently reared young spiders of this species and found that the 
breeding season appeared to extend from September to March. The young usnally 
escape from the cocoon in about sixty days after the eggs are laid. When first 
hatched they are white, with dark brown spots on the body; these spots vary in 
uumber, but are generally arranged in two distinct lines. As the animals grow, the 
body assumes a yellowish color, and the red stripe appears on the back, but not so 
well defined as in the adult specimen. 

During the whole of the time from the day the eggs are laid to the appearance of 
the young brood, the female keeps near the cocoon, and, although she kills any in- 
sects that come within reach, seldom eats any of them; but, following a practice 
common amongst some groups of spiders, she generally devours her husband. The 
author supposed that was her way of preventing marriage being a failure. 

Sir James Hector remarked that he had kept Katipos alive for a long time ; cocoons 
were spun and young brought out, but as soon as they appeared the female ate most of 
them, so that it was evident her cannibalistic practices were not contined to eating her 
husband. The poison of the Katipo had some very peculiar properties which had not 
yet been fully investigated. The spider was common in the northern part of the col- 
ony, and had been heard of as far south as Foveaux Strait. He had heard of a person 
who was bitten being paralyzed for six weeks afterwards. It seemed that a gen- 
eral constitutional change was produced by the bite, not merely a local inflammation, 
and the numbed feeling extends all over the body for even months. The Tarantula 
produced intoxication by its bite, quite a different effect from the Katipo sting. He 
urged members to pursue a systematic course of investigation in regard to the nature 
of the poison, and the way in which it acted, but to be very careful not to operate 
on human subjects. 


We may also state that in a recent conversation, Mr. Henry Edwards, 
who has spent many years in Australia, and has just returned from a 
year’s sojourn there, declared that he had no doubt of the poisonous na- 
ture of the Katipo, of which he has had personal evidence. 


POPULAR NAMES OF INSECTS. 


We should be glad to learn from our correspondents in different parts 
of the country concerning the popular names in vogue in their respec- 
tive localities for the following insects, each of which seems to have a 
multiplicity of local designations: The Praying or Carolina Mantis 
(Stagmomantis carolina), the Wheel Bug (Prionidus cristatus), the Hell- 
grammite Fly (Corydalus cornutus), the Walking-stick (Diapheromera 
Femorata), and any of the Dragon Flies. 


OBITUARY. 


It is with great regret that we learn of the recent death of our corre- 
spondent, Mr. E. T. Atkinson, accountant-general of Bengal, and 
president of the board of trustees of the Indian museum, who died at 
Calcutta on September 15, after a short illness from Bright’s disease. 


304 


We have frequently had occasion in these pages to refer to the ento- 
mological work which Mr. Atkinson has been doing in India and most 
of our readers are familiar with his name and reputation. The follow- 
ing notice fram the December number of the Hntomologist’s Monthly 
Magazine succinctly represents our own sentiment. ; 


Mr. Atkinson was born at Tipperary on September 6, 1840, and passed into the In- 
dian civil service in 1862. He held many important official appointments in India. 
amongst others that, for a time, of financial secretary to the Indian Government. 
Between 1874 and 1879 he published a gazetteer of the northwestern provinces of 
India, and was also the author of works on Indian law and kindred subjects. As an 
entomologist he published two series of papers on Indian Rhynchota from 1885 to 
1490, in the Journal of tbe Asiatic Society of Bengal, and a series of catalogues of 
the insects of the Oriental region. One of his latest works wasa bulky catalogue of 
the Capside of the world. Furthermore, he started the ‘‘ Indian Museum Notes,” 
dealing largely with Indian economic entomology, which he was doing his best to 
reduce to something like order by collecting information from native and other 
sources, naturally often very crude, but of the greatest use for future working out. 
It is most unfortunate for this latter department in particular, and for Indian en- 
tomology in general, that he has been cut off just as he kad accumulated the knowl- 
edge of what was required, and had commenced to place that knowledge to public 
advantage, and with remarkable energy. This energy of character asserted itself 
in all his official duties, and his private virtues endeared him to all with whom he 
came in contact. 


) 


Vol. III, Nos.7 and 8.] INSECT LIFE. [Issued April, 1891. 


SPECIAL NOTES. 


Some new Insecticides.*"_-Mr. G. C. Davis, who has been acting as spe- 
cial agent of the Arkansas Experiment Station during the absence, 
through illness, of the entomologist, Mr. C. W. Woodworth, reports 
upon the action of some new insecticides on the Cotton Worm in Bulle- 
tin No. 15 of that station. The substances experimented with were: 
Petroleum sludge, a kerosene extract of pyrethrum, Santonin, oxalic 
acid, benzoic acid, mercuric chloride, tartar emetic, salicylic acid, cin- 
chonin, bi-chromate of potash, hellebore, lead acetate, and veratrin. 
All of these substances except the first two were applied in powder in 
the proportion of from one-fourth ounce to 8 ounces of the insecticide to 
1 pound of flour, and none of them proved satisfactory except the vera- 
trin which acts both externally and internally and which, although used 
in the proportion of one-fourth pound to 1 pound of flour, proved nearly 
if not entirely equal to Paris Green, costing about the same. 

The most important conclusion of the bulletin is, however, the efii- 
cacy of the kerosene extract of pyrethrum, which the author states 
‘‘ from present indications seems to be one of the most efficacious and 
at the same time inexpensive and harmless remedies that we have.” 
The proportions were 24 pounds of pyrethrum to 13 gallons of kerosene, 
~ which is then emulsified with soap and water. One part of the resultant 
emulsion to 450 or 500 parts of water is said to be effectual. Ata 
strength of from 500 to 900 parts of water to one of the emulsion, the 
half grown and smaller worms ‘“ seldom escape death.” The applica- 
tion of 1 part to 500 of water causes the worms to die in from 12 hours 
to 2 days according to size. This mixture will kill pupe when any 
opening in the loose cocoon allows them to become wet. Itis an ex- 
tremely cheap mixture, and according to the formula given by Mr. 
Davis, cotton fields can be sprayed at an expense of 5 cents per acre 
for material. 


* Some new insecticides and their effect on cotton worms. Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Fayetteville, Ark. Bulletin No. 15, December, 1890. 
305 


306 


In a prefatory note to the bulletin Mr. Albert E. Menke, the director 
of the station, states that the substances experimented with were sug- 
gested by himself, the kerosene extract of pyrethrum having been ob- 
tained by him in the.course of experiments to determine the active 
principle of pyrethrum. In a letter to us, dated October 28, Mr. Menke 
announces the discovery of this extract as also the use of veratrin as 
an insecticide and claims priority for both. Regarding the combination 
of kerosene and pyrethrum, however, we may call attention to the fact 
that while it is a matter which we have long had in mind and have 
suggested to some of our agents, Prof. C. P. Gillette was the first to 
give it public mention (p. 184, Bulletin No. 5, lowa Experiment Station, 
May, 1889), though his method of preparing it may differ in detail from 
that of Mr. Menke. Prof. Jerome McNeill, one of our temporary agents, 
writes us that the idea of using the combination of these two substan- 
ces was given to Dr. Menke by him,in conversation soon after the 
latter’s appointment as an agent of this Division, as one of the substan- 
ces which he intended to experiment with upon Boll Worms. 

A few interesting notes concerning the natural enemies of the Cotton 
Worm are published on pages 9 and 10 of the Bulletin. From these it 
appears that Mr. Davis has noticed a species of Panorpa preying upon 
the worm, that Trichogramma pretiosa Riley probably destroyed nearly 
one-fourth of the eggs after the latter part of September, while fully 
one-fourth of the worms subsequent to the second brood were attacked 
by Huplectruscom stockiti Howard. 


The Hessian Fly attacking Grasses in California—According to Linde- 
mann the Hessian Fly has been found upon Phleum pratense and Agro- 
pyrum repens in Russia, but up to the present year it had not been re- 
corded as occurring in this country upon any wild grasses. 

We are in position now, however, to add four grasses to the list of its 
food plants in the United States. In 1887 Mr. Koebele sent us from 
Alameda, California, specimens of Hlymus americanus and of a species of 
Agrostis which bore puparia supposed to be those of this insect. The 
adults were not reared, however, and the question remained unsettled. 
On page 71 of the current volume we published, under the head of 
‘California Notes,” a letter from Mr. Koebele in which he mentioned 
finding Hessian Fly puparia in a grass in the Santa Cruz Mountains. — 
This fact was called in question by Mr. James Fletcher and we wrote 
Mr. Koebele for specimens and received from him Bromus ciliatus and 
a species of Agropyrum both carrying puparia. These were very much 
like the normal puparia of the Hessian Fly, but were smoother and 
more plump, showing little trace of the longitudinal ridges. Flies were 
obtained from these and others also obtained from the grasses were 
sent on by Mr. Koebele, and after comparing these very carefully with 
specimens from wheat from different parts of the country we find that 


307 


they are not to be separated, although from the specimens first received 
a variation in the number of the antennal joints raised some doubt. 
We find, however, after the examination of nearly one hundred speci- 
meus of individuals reared from wheat from various sections that the 
joints of the antenne in the male range from 16 to 20 and in the female 
from 16 to 19. : 


Introduction of Icerya into Honolulu and its Extermination through the 
Vedalia—We call attention to some interesting facts in the Extracts 
from Correspondence, showing the introduction, doubtless from Cali- 
fornia, into Honolulu, of the Icerya, and the effective manner in which 
the Vedalia, also purposely introduced to destroy it, succeeded in its 
mission, as it did in California. This second illustration of the effec- 
tive work in this particular direction done by the Vedalia lends great 
probability to the similar extermination of Iceryas in Egypt and in the 
West Indies by the introduction of the Vedalia, which we are now at- 
tempting to bring about. 


The Plum Gouger and the Cuculio.— We have hitherto made no mention 
of the results of Prof. C. P. Gillette’s experiments as detailed in Bul- 
letin No. 9 of the lowa Agricultural Experiment Station. Yet so far as 
they relate to the Plum Gouger they are rovel and well worth record 
in these columns. The author has adopted the excellent plan of bring- 
ing together his conclusions at the end of his paper and these are in 
such shape that we quote them: 


1. The gouger appears upon the trees much earlier in the spring than does the cur- 
culio. 

2. The gouger is much more injurious than the curculio to native plums on the 
grounds of the Iowa Agricultural College. 

3. The gouger very much prefers the native to the domestic variety. 

4, The examination of over 24,000 native plums, from not less than eighteen dif- 
ferent trees of many varieties, showed a little over 27 per cent. of their fruit to be 
injured by the gouger. 

5. The gougers take no food in the fall after emerging from the plums. 

6. The gouger has at least one parasite that preys upon it while in the pupa state. 
The parasite is Sigalphus canadensis. 

7. The season’s experiments indicate that London purple, as recommended for the 
destruction of the curculio, is of little value for the destruction of the gouger. 

8. The gouger is not able to come to maturity in fruit that falls from the trees be- 
fore the middle of July. 

9. Fruit infested by the gouger does not ripen or fall prematurely. 

10. About 26 per cent. of the punctures of the gouger result in the production of a 
beetle. 

11. Jarring the trees and collecting the beetles and gathering stung fruit from the 
trees before the 1st of August are the best remedies at present known for the gouger. 

12. The curculio prefers the domesticated to the native varieties of plums. 

13. When eggs are deposited in native plums, the curculio develops as well in them 
as in the domestic varieties. 


308 


14. Native varieties are not a protection to domestic varieties. The fact that two 
Yellow Mira Belle trees growing in the immediate vicinity of many natives had 65 
per cent. of their plums destroyed by the curculio, while the natives had less than 
10 per cent. of their fruit punctured, is sufficient proof of this. 

15. That succulent, quick-growing plums are not less attacked than slow-growing 
varieties. 

16. The curculio develops readily in the Duchess apple. 

17. The curculio is not double brooded in Iowa, but the eggs deposited late in July 
and August are from belated females. . 

18. The two applications of London purple in water, although not made at the 
time best suited to destroy the curculio, apparently gave a protection of 44 per cent. 
against the ravages of this insect. 

19. London purple in water in proportion of 1 pound to 120 gallons is much too 
strong a mixture for plum trees. One-half this strength is as strong a mixture as 
should be used. 


Bulletin XXIII of the Cornell Station.*—Prof. J. H. Comstock and his 
assistant, Mr. M. V. Slingerland, publish this bulletin as joint authors 
and devote it to the consideration of certain insects injuring the Pear, 
Apple, Cherry, Current, Blackberry, and Raspberry. The insects 
treated are the Pear-Leaf Blister Mite (Phytoptus pyri), the Stag Beetle 
Borer on Pear (Dorcus parallelus), the Apple Bucculatrix, (Bucculatrix 
pomifoliella), the Cherry-tree Tortrix (Cacecia cerasivorana), the Cherry- 
tree Scallop Shell Moth (Hydria undulata), a Leaf-roller on Currant 
(Cacecia rosaceana), and a Blackberry Cane-borer (Oberea bimaculata). 

The bulletin is illustrated by sixteen figures, all but one of which 
are new. The opening article is perhaps the most important contribu- 
tion. The authors show that the mites live within the galls until the 
drying of the leaves in the autumn, when they migrate to the leaf buds 
at the ends of the twigs, where, after working their way beneath the 
leaf scales, they remain through the winter. The remedy proposed is 
to carefully prune and burn the young wood. This pruning should be 
supplemented by carefully burning the fallen leaves and rubbish in the 
orchard. The second article records the feeding of Dorcus parallelus 
upon the tap root of a pear tree. The article upon the Apple Buccu- 
latrix reprints the life-history traced by Mr. Brunn in 1881, and recom- 
mends the spraying of kerosene upon the cocoons in winter and of Paris 
green during June for the larve. Under the head of the Blackberry 
Cane-borer the fact is recorded that, after a careful pruning of infested 
canes as soon as they had begun to droop, the insect was so completely 
exterminated as to afford a perfect exemption for two years. 


* Cornell University, College of Agriculture. Bulletin of the Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station. Entomological Division. XXIII. December, 1390. Insects injuri- 
ous to fruits. 


309 


Evolution of Bristles, Spines, and Tubercles with caterpillars.*— Papers of 
this character always interest the working entomologist. Dr. Packard, 
from his broad knowledge of forms, is well qualified to generalize, as 
he has done in this instance. His paper is confessedly suggested by 
the “epoch-making work of Weissman” and by the more recent papers 
of Meldola and Poulton. His thesis is announced in the fall title given 
in our foot-note, and he brings a vast number of observations to bear 
in its support. He discusses not only the bristles, spines, and tuber- 
cles, but also the colorational markings, and incidentally introduces 
more or less complete descriptions of eighteen Notodontid larve, and 
adds a grouping of these larve according to their affinities and also 
according to their adaptation to arboreal life. The subject is largely 
speculative, and we give Dr. Packard’s conclusions in brief. 


1. The more prominent tubercles, and spines or bristles arising from them, are hy- 
pertrophied piliferous warts, the warts with the seta or hair which they bear being 
common to all caterpillars. 

2. The hypertrophy or enlargement was arias primarily due to a change of sta- 
tion from herbs to trees, involving better air, a more equable temperature, perhaps a 
different and better food. 

3. The enlarged and specialized tubercles develope more rapidly on certain seg- 
ments than others, especially the more prominent segments, because the nutritive 
fluids would tend to more freely supply parts most exposed to external stimuli. 

4. The stimuli were in great part due to the visits of insects and birds, resulting 
in a mimicry of the spines and projections on the trees; the colors (lines and spots) 
were due to Jight or shade, with the general result of protective mimicry or adapta- 
tion to tree life. 

5. As the result of some unknown factor some of the nypodermic cells at the base 
of the spines became in certain forms specialized so as to secrete a poisonous fluid. 

6. Aftersuch primitive forms, members of different families, had become established 
on trees, a process of arboreal segregation or isolation would set in, and intercross- 
ing with low feeders would cease. 

7. Heredity, or the unknown factors of which heredity is the result, would go on 
uninterruptedly ; the result being a succession of generations perfectly adapted to 
arboreal life. 

8. Finally the conservative agency of natural selection would operate, constantly 
tending towards the preservation of the new varieties, species, and genera, and would 
not cease to act, in a given direction, so long as the environment remained the same. 

9. Thus in order to account for the origin of a species, genus, family, order, or even 
a class, the first steps causing the origination of variations were in the beginning due 
to the primary (direct and indirect) factors of evolution (Neolamarckism), and the 
final stages were due to the secondary factors, segregation and natural selection 
(Darwinism). 


*Notes on the evolntion of bristles, spines, and tubercles of certain caterpillars, 
apparently resulting from a change from low feeding to arboreal habits; illustrated 
by the life-histories of certain notodontians. By Alpheus S. Packard. Extracted 
from the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. xxiv, 1890, 
pp. 493-560. Plates mi and Iv. 


310 

A study in Insect Embryology.*—-Mr. Wheeler has in this paper given 
us a most interesting review of a very interesting subject. It is a re- 
sumé of facts and theories up to the close of 1889 and gives, moreover, 
an account of his own investigations of the embryonic appendages of 
the first abdominal segment in Phyllodromia germanica, Periplaneta 
orientalis, Mantis carolina, Xiphidium ensiferum, Cicada septendecim, 
Zaitha fluminea, and Sialis infumata. Upon the question as to the origi- 
nal functions of these pleuropodia, Mr. Wheeler summarizes the views 
of investigators who have held that they may have been respiratory 
organs, -sense organs, or glands, and gives in full his reasons for main- 
taining his previous conclusion, following Patten, that they originally 
‘possessed a glandular function. He follows then with a consideration 
of the odoriferous glands in insects and inclines to the supposition 
that with primitive forms the pleuropodia were functional as odorifer- 
ous organs. 


The relationship of Arthropods.t—In a recent paper with this title Dr. 
H. T. Fernald has given us careful studies of the anatomy of Anurida 
maritima, a degenerate Collembolan, and Lepisma saccharina of the 
Cinura, together with a careful review of the existing views as to the 


relationship of Arthropods and an ancestral tree embodying his con- 


clusions. 

The study of the anatomy of the two forms mentioned is made on 
account of its bearing upon the theory of Brauer and Lubbock that in- 
sects are derived from a Campodea-like ancestor. 


Changes in the Force of the Division of Entomology.—One of our assistants, 
Mr. C. H. Tyler Townsend, has resigned his position to accept the post 
of Entomologist of the State Experiment Station of New Mexico. The 
insect fauna in this region is very interesting, and Mr. Townsend will 
have an admirable opportunity for work in a comparatively new field. 

Prof. A. J. Cook, of Lansing, and Mr. J. H. Larrabee, of Vermont, 
have been appointed special agents of the Division, with special refer- 
ence to experiments in bee-culture. : 


Some odd Lepidoptera,— We have recently received several interesting 
Lepidopterological contributions from our esteemed friend, Mr. W. J. 


*On the appendages of the first abdominal segmentof embryo insects. By William 
M. Wheeler. Extracted from the Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, 
Arts and Letters. Vol. vi11, September 20, 1890. 

t The Relationship of Arthropods, by H. T. Fernald, M.s. A thesis for the degree 
of Doctor of Philosophy at the Johns Hopkins University. Reprinted from Studies 
from the Biological Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Vol. 1v, No. 7, Baltimore, 
Md. 1890. 


311 


Elwes, of Preston House, Cirencester, England. One of these is a bro- 
chure on a very anomalous and interesting group of moths having pecu- > 
liarly elongated and narrowed hind wings, the title being ‘On some 
Moths allied to Himantopterus.” There has been great difficulty in 
placing these moths in the proper systematic position, but from Mr. 
Elwes’ paper there can be little doubt that they are closely allied to the 
Procride, having many characteristics in common with our American 
species of Procris. No less than two subfamilies and five genera have 
been proposed for this group consisting of nine supposed species, ‘ of 
which,” as Mr. Elwes says, ‘* one or two may not be distinct, and only 
three are known from sufficiently good specimens of both sexes to enable 
them to be fully described.” We commend the following expression to 
Lepidopterists, because it fully comports with our own feeling: 

It seems to me that descriptions of new species which are to be certainly identified 
by future workers must be accompanied either by a correct illustration or by such 
a comparison with their allies as may enable their distinctive characters to be appre- 
ciated. I have found that the difficulty of acquiring a correct knowledge of Lepi- 
doptera is greatly increased by the non-comparative descriptions which are often 
given, so that it is not surprising that few workers have studied exotic moths, or that 
still fewer of those who have studied them have done so in a thorough and careful 
way. 


On the Lists of Coleoptera published by the Geological Survey of Canada, 
1842~88s.—Under this title Mr. W. H. Harrington has brought together 
in accessible form a somewhat revised compilation of these hitherto 
almost inaccessible lists, which, although short, derive value from the 
fact that the specimens were collected in many instances in remote dis- 
tricts and before the influx of settlers,and from the further fact that 
all but three short recent lists were furnished by Dr. Le Conte. The 
paper is published in the Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XX11, 1890, p. 
135, and the author has sent out specially bound extras. 


A new Wheat Fly.*—Mr. H. Garman, in Bulletin No.30 of the Kentucky 
Station, describes the different stages of Oscinis variabilis (?) Loew., 
which he finds quite abundant in Kentucky, feeding, in the larval state, 
on young wheat. In the fall it especially infests wheat growing upon 
spots where the shocks had stood during the summer, and the author has 
also found the adult in the spring in wheat and grasses, and later in the 
latter alone. Hedwells on the importance of the destruction of volun- 
teer wheat and oats in the fall and winter, on account of the great num- 
ber of grain insects which they harbor. 


* Kentucky Agricultural Experimental Station, Bulletin No. 30, Lexington, August, 
1890. 


O12 


THE XANTHIUM TRYPETA. 
(Trypeta equalis Lw.) 
By C. L. MARwATT. 


The species of Xanthium are such pestiferous weeds and are so wide- 
spread in the United States that a knowledge of any insect enemy of 
importance becomes interesting. The plants of this genus are rank, 
strong growers, and possess a pungent odor which seems to protect 
them in a measure from insect attack, as but few insects are known to 
feed on them as compared with other similarly widely distributed and 
abundant plants. 

But two insects, I believe, have been hitherto recorded to feed upon 
the Xanthium. These are Rhodobenus tredecimpunctatus I). (-Spheno- - 
prerus pulchellus Schoen.), an account of which, with figures, is given 
in Riley’s Third Report on the Insects of 
Missouri, p. 60, and Syphocoryne xanthi 
(Hst., an aphid which occurs on the leaves, 
and which was described by Cistlund in 
the Fourteenth Report of the Geological 
Survey of Minnesota, p. 36. In addition 
to these, Professor Riley has reared Gor- 
tyna nitela Guen. from the stems, and has, 
from Mr. Webster, Cecidomyiid larve 
from the roots. Mr. Schwarz informs me 
that he has reared an undescribed Cur- 

Fic, 27.—Lrypeta equalis: a, section CUlionid (Baris sp.) from the roots, and 
view of the Xanthitm bur, showirg larva I have taken a very handsome Ceram- 
Et cate wanda byeid (Deetes spinosus Say) on the plant 
details of the anal and anterior stigmata IN Kansas under circumstances which 
(original). leave no doubt but that the Xanthium is 
its normal food plant. I have also found infesting the seed-pods of 
this plant a microlepidopterous larva, which I have been unable to rear. 

Of greater promise of economic importance, perhaps, than any of these 
is the Trypeta named above, the larve of which I have known for a 
number of years to infest the Xanthium seeds, but which, until the last 
summer, I have not succeeded in rearing to the adult stage. A full ac- 
count of this insect is given in No.1, Vol. 11, of the Proceedings of the — 
Entomological Society of Washington (pp. 40-44). 

It seems to be as widely distributed as its food-plant, as I have found 
the larve both at Manhattan, Kans., and in the District of Columbia, 
and the adult is recorded from [linois, Ohio, and Maryland, and spec- 
imens slightly differing but probably of the same species have been 
taken in Colorado. A single female was also recently sent to Professor 
Riley, for determination, by Professor Gillette, of Iowa. 

The accompanying illustrations will give a good idea of the habit and 
appearance of the larva. (Fig. 27d ) 


013 


When fall grown the larva is about 5 millimetres long by 2 millime- 
tres wide, is considerably flattened, and is light yellowish or resinous 
in color. All of the many specimens examined, some of which were 
apparently immature, had the 
appearance given in the illus- 
tration, which, however, seems 
toapproach the contracted con- 
dition of the puparium. The 
larva has never been found to 
occur in more than one of the 
two seeds normally contained 
in the Xanthium bur. 

It reaches full growth in 
September or October, and 
passes the winter in the bur 
unchanged, as represented at 
Fig.27a. In July the transfor- 
mation to puparium and adult Fic. 28.—Trypeta equalis. Female fly, enlarged 
takes place, the latter emerging fexemo), 
late in July or early in August, and doubtless effects its escape from 
the tough pod by the opening of the latter incident to the germination 
of the uninjured seed. The new burs are at this season green and 
succulent, and can readily be pierced by the female in oviposition. 

The adult insect, the female of which is shown at Fig. 28, is uniformly 
yellowish in color, and has the characteristic brownish maculation of 
the wings indicated in the illustration. 


VARIATIONS IN THE BRACONID GENUS LYSIPHLEBUS. 
By D. W. CoqQuim“LeETrt. 


In the proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 1888, pages 664 to 
669, Mr. W. H. Ashmead has published descriptions of twelve supposed 
new species of Lysiphlebus, and makes mention of three other species, 
all of which are included in a synoptical table of the North American 
species. The types of four of these supposed new species were fur- 
nished by myself, and before submitting them to Professor Riley I care- 
fully examined them, and reached the conclusion that they all belonged 
to one and the same species. I was therefore not a little surprised to 
learn that Mr. Ashmead had made four distinct species out of them. 
After perusing the above paper, for a copy of which I am indebted toits 
energetic author, I determined to investigate the subject still further; 
accordingly, on the 14th of December, 1889, I collected a colony of par- 
asitized aphids from a single bush of Baccharis viminalis and confined 
them in one of my breeding cages. Between December 18 and January 4 
121 specimens of Lysiphlebus had issued: of which number 57 were 


314 


males and 64 females. Separating these according to the number ef 
antennal joints (a character upon which Mr. Ashmead lays great stress) — 
gave the following results: | 
Males: 

14 antennal joints, 18 specimens. 

15 antennal joints, 37 specimens. 

16 antennal joints, 1 specimen. 

15 joints in one antenna and 16 in the other, 1 specimen. 
Females: 

12 antennal joints, 7 specimens. 

13 antennal joints, 54 specimens. 

14 antennal joints, 1 specimen. 

12 joints in one antenna and 13 in the other, 2 specimens. } 

From this it will be seen that the normal number of antennal joints 
in these specimens is fifteen for the male and thirteen for the female, in 
each sex the number varying by one joint more or one less than the 
usual number, the tendency being in the direction of aless number of 
joints. In those having an unequal number of joints in the antenne 
of the same individual this is evidently the result of a consolidation of 
the last two joints in one of the antenns, since the last joint in the an- 
tenna containing the fewest joints is always longer than the last joint 
in the opposite antenna. This process, however, will not account for 
the varying number of antennal joints in the different individuals ofthe 
same sex; thus, in the male with sixteen antennal joints the last joint 
is comparatively as long as it isin the males with only fourteen antennal 
joints. As a rule, the specimens with the fewest antennal joints are 
smaller than the others, and this is also the case with the specimens 
examined by Mr. Ashmead. 

Taking the 37 males with 15-jointed antennez above referred to, I am 
unable to discover any character or characters by which they can be 
separated into distinct species, or even into varieties. The last anten- 
nal joint varies all the way from slightly shorter to one-half longer than 
the preceding joint; petiole of abdomen usually yellowish, sometimes 
with a dusky spot above posteriorly, this spot becoming larger in dif- 
ferent specimens until the entire upper side of the petiole is blackish, 
and this color is rarely still further extended until the entire petiole, 
except a small spot on either side, is blackish; middle coxe usually 
blackish, except the apex, but this color varies in extent in the differ- 
ent individuals until only the extreme base of the coxe is black; hind | 
tarsi vary all the way from as long as to much longer than their tibiz; 
the second section of the radius varies from one-half as long to nearly 
as long as the first section; the transverse cubital nervure is sometimes 
hyaline in the middle or is wholly hyaline, and in one specimen it is 
entirely wanting in one wing, while in the opposite wing only a frag- 
ment of it remains, but in another specimen it is entirely absent in each 
wing. 

The 54 females with 13-jointed antennz above referred to vary to the 


315 


same extent as do the above males; the last antennal joint varies all 
the way from once and a half to twice as long as the preceding joint. 

Besides the above, I also bred 58 specimens of Lysiphlebus from a 
single colony of aphids found on a tame rose bush. Separating these 
as the preceding, gives the following results: 

Males: 

14 antennal joints, 10 specimens. 

15 antennal joints, 19 specimens. 

14 joints in one antenna and 15 in the other, 2 specimens. 
Females: 

12 antennal joints, 2 specimens. 

13 antennal joints, 25 specimens. 

These specimens varied in the same manner and nearly to the same 
extent as did those bred from the aphids on Baccharis, and [ am un- 
able to separate them specifically from the latter. 

In my collection are 5 specimens'from the same lotof Lysiphlebusas Mr. 
Ashmead described his LZ. abutilaphidis from; one of the males and one 
of the females have the antenne as in the described specimens, but in 
another male the antenne are 15-jointed, while in two of the females 
they are only 13 -jointed. 

From the above it seems very evident that the number of joints in the 
antenne varies in the different specimens belonging to the same species 
of Lysiphlebus. If aform with a given number of antennal joints would 
only confine its attacks to a single species of aphis there might then be 
some room for believing that this form represented a species distinct 
from those having a greater or less number of antennal joints ; but when 
the same form is bred from different kinds of aphids, and the different 
forms are bred from the same colony of aphids, not in a single instance, 
but in nearly every instance, there is very little room to doubt that the 
number of antennal joints varies in the different individuals belonging 
to the same species of Lysiphlebus. 

From a careful study of a large series of specimens of Lysiphlebus 
from this locality I am firmly convinced that the forms described by 
Mr. Ashmead under the name of Lysiphlebus piciventris, L. eragrosta- 
phidis, L. coquilletti, L. abutilaphidis, and L. baccharaphidis, all refer 
to one and the same species. To this category also belongs the Aphi- 
daria basilaris of Provancher, specimens from the same lot as Mr. Ash- 
mead described his L. eragrostaphidis having been referred to the above 
species by L’Abbé Provancher himself. In the paper above referred 
to Mr. Ashmead considers A. basilaris as being identical with his own 
previously described Aphidius citraphis, so that the name and syn- 
onymy of this species, so far as at present determined, will stand about 


as follows: 
/ Lysiphlebus citraphis (Ashm.). 


Aphidius citraphis Ashm. L. coquilletti Ashm. 
Aphidaria basilaris Prov. | L. abutilaphidis Ashm. 


Lysiphlebus piciventris Ashm. | L. baccharaphidis Ashm. 
L. eragrostaphidis Ashm. | 


316 


BIRTH OF A BEAUTIFUL EXOTIC LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECT IN 
NEW YORK. 


By HENRY Epwarps, New York City. 


Some years since Mr. William Grey, of Albany, called my attention to 
a most beautiful Castnia of which he had raised both ¢ and 2 from 
the roots of an orchid in the hot-house of Erastus Corning, esq., of 
Albany, and was so good as to furnish me with an excellent drawing 
of the ¢ insect, as well as to allow mea sight of the specimens, from 
which I made at the time a full de- 
scription, intended for publication 
in ‘¢ Papilio.” By some means, how- 
ever, my notes were mislaid, and 
have only now been recovered. I 
hasten, therefore, to place on record 
the facts with reference to the spe- 
cies, and if these lines should reach 
the growers of orchids or lilaceous 
plants, to beg them to look eare- 
ae fully in their plant-houses for any 

Fic. 29. — Oastnia cronis, var. corningti, male 2s 
(original). such strange visitors as the pres- 
ent. The larve of the Castnias and those of the allied genus Synemon 
are internal feeders, and are found in the stems or roots of plants belong- 
ing to the natural orders Bromeliacee, Iridacee, Lilacece, Amaryllidacec, 
and Orchidacee. The pupa, like that of Cossus, and Hepialus, is fur- 
nished with a series of small hooked spines on the segments of the abdo- 
men, and when ready to undergo its change to the imago state works 
itself by aid of these spines close to the entrance of its burrow, the 
pupa being protruded beyond it on the emergence of the insect. In the 
excellent, but too brief, monograph of the group by Prof. J. O. West- 
wood are given excellent figures of the transformations of a Chilian 
species, C. eudesmis Gray, which will give a clear idea of the structure 
of the early stages. The species in question differs considerably from 
the type to which it must be referred, and I propose, therefore, to dis- 

tinguish it by a varietal name, viz: 

CASTNIA CRONIS Cram., var. CORNINGII.—Ground color of the wing, velvety black. 


ye 


Disk with a clear white mark, running parallel with internal margin, and reaching © 


nearly to the base, whence it is separated by a narrow black line from another white 
triangular spot which touches the thorax, at-the extreme base of the wing. On the 
upper edge this mark runs obliquely but almost parallel with costa, to about the cen- 
ter of the wing; there it is cut off straight along the corner of the median vein. The 
space thus inclosed covers about one-third of the whole wing. On the costa is a 
large ovate spot, and along the margin, only near the internal angle, are 5 sub 

triangular spots, and 2 oblong spots at the apex, all clear white. The costa is reddish 
at the base. Secondaries yellow-white, with rather narrow black margin slightly 
dentate on the inner edge. Beneath, the markings are repeated, but the ovate-mark 
on costa of primaries, is here triangular, and there is a second triangular mark nearer 


+. oe 


317 


the apex. Head black, with 2 white spots at the base of the antennz, and 1 in front. 
Thorax also black, with red line at the sides, and 4 transverse white dashes. The | 
red line at base of costa is also carried on tothe thorax. Abdomencream white, with 
the tip orange. Beneath, the abdomen and thorax are clear white, the cox# and 
tibie black. Exp. wings, 62 millimetres. Length of body, 25 milometres. 1 2, 
1°. Raised from roots of Lelia majalis in the hot-house of Erastus Corning, esq., 
Albany, N. Y., by Mr. W. Grey. 

Habitat, Oaxaca, Mexico. 

In Cramer, in which C. cronis is figured, the locality is given as Suri- 
nam, and in Herrich-Schaffer, Samml.-ausser. Schm., Fig. 142, C. 
cronida, which is believed by Westwood to be but a form of cronis, the 
country is quoted as ‘“ Guyane francaise.” It is, therefore, probable 
that our species is a strongly marked local form of the same insect: 
The figure of Cramer, Vol. 1, Pl. 60, Fig. C, differs from the Albany 
specimeus in having the large subtriangular discal mark smaller, and 
by the presence of a broad white basal dash above this mark, 7. ¢., 
between itand the costa. The submarginal spots are also much larger 
and more sharply defined than in corningii, those in the apex of the 
latter being lost in the brown cloud of the ground color. The sec- 
ondaries, too, in Cramer’s figure, are wholly without the marginal black 
band, and are represented as pure white. In H.-Schaffer’s figure of 
C. cronida, another system of marking prevails on the secondaries. 
The marginal band is very broad, occupying one-third of the wing, is 
waved inwardly about the middle, and incloses a series of six small 
white spots, mostly ovate in shape. The primaries bear a greater re- 
semblance to Corningii than they do to cronis Cramer. 


THE STRAWBERRY-LEAF FLEA BEETLE (Haltica ignita) IN INDIANA. 
By F. M. WEBSTER. 


As a pest of the strawberry field this insect has this year, in Indiana 
at least, preven itself to be of no smallimportance. The first report of 
its depredations came from Mr. J. Beard, of New Albany, in extreme 
southern Indiana, who wrote early in September that the insect had 
been very destructive, beginning its work soon after the mulch was 
burned (probably as early at least as July), and was exceedingly abun- 
dant, often as many as twenty or more beetles being found on a single 
plant, nearly all of the old plants being destroyed. Mr. Beard was of 
the opinion that they were nothing new, only a little more numerous 
than usual. Similar reports of injury to the strawberry came later 
from various localities and extending as far north as Indianapolis. in 
all cases reported the method of attack appeared to agree almost ex- 
actly with thatdescribed as occurring at Orlando, Florida. (See INSECT | 
LIFE, vol. I1, p. 369.) 


318 


I have not been able to secure information in regard to the occurrence | 
of these beetles early in the season, and they seemed to disappear from 
the fields about the 1st of September. At any rate, so far as reported» — 
July and-August are the months during which they are the most de- — 
structive. The burning over of the strawberry fields after the crop of — 
fruit has been removed, has become very popular among strawberry 
growers, and it is upon the young plants or foliage which appear after 
this that the beetle is most destructive. However, even where no burn- 
ing has been done, portions of fields have been attacked and the plants | 
destroyed. From what is now known, it would seem that arsenical 
poisons might be used to destroy the beetles after the fruit has been 
removed, but whether this will prove an efficient preventive or not 
yet remains to be learned. One thing is certain, the insect is too im- 
portant to ignore, and the sooner we can learn its life history, and what 
remedies to apply, the better it will be for the strawberry grower. 

DECEMBER 8, 1890. 


ANOTHER PARASITIC ROVE BEETLE. 
By D. W. CoQuiLLeTT, Los Angeles, Cal. 


Up to the present time but very little has been published concerning 
the early stages of the Staphylinide, a family of beetles commonly known 
by the name of “ rove beetles.” Until quite recently they were generally 
supposed to feed upon decayed vegetable and animal substances, or 
upon excrementitious matter, but recent investigations prove that at 
least a few of the species are predaceous, attacting small, soft-bodied — 
Dipterous larvee. 

On one occasion I saw a Staphylinid larva feeding upon a Dipterous 
larva in a decayed apple; and I find by referring to my note book that 
on the 19th of February, 1889, I saw three beetles belonging to the 
genus Homalota, and each of them had a Dipterous larva in its jaws. 

Some kinds of rove beetles while in the larva state burrow into the 
puparia of certain species of Diptera, and feed upon the internal parts. 
The only other insects known to have a similar habit belong to the 
orders Hymenoptera and Diptera. Among the literature at my com- 
mand I find only two instances recorded where rove beetles have been 
bred from Dipterous puparia: Aleochara nitida Grav., bred by Mr. P. S. 
Sprague from a puparium of Anthomyia brassice Bouché. (American 
Entomologist, 11, 370.) ; and an undetermined species of Aleochara bred 
from a puparium of Anthomyia ceparum Meigen, presumably by Mr. 
James Fletcher (Sixteenth Annual Rept. Ent. Soc. of Ontario, p. 11). 
So far as I am aware these two are the only published instances of beetles — 
of any kind having lived in the larva state within the bodies of other 
insects. 


319 


On the 2d of December, !888, I found a small Coleopterous larva that 
was at that moment busily engaged in gnawing its way into a pupa- . 
rium of a Syrphid fly (Copestylum marginatum Say), which, in the larva 
state, lives in the semiliquid substance in the interior of decayed 
cactus leaves (Opuntia engelmanni Salm.). The larva was only 2.5 milli- | 
meters long, and worked very actively, appearing to stand on its head 
and waving its abdomen about in its efforts to penetrate the skin of the 
puparium. At the expiration of 24 hours it had completely buried itself 
in the interior of the puparium, and I saw nothing more of it for a 
whole month, when it issued through an irregular hole in the upper 
side of the puparium and soon afterwards spun an irregular, thin, tough, 
white cocoon in the bottom of the breeding cage. The beetle issued 
about 11 weeks later. 

After the discovery of this larva and its curious habits I collected 
quite a number of the puparia of this fly and succeeded in obtaining 
from them over two dozen larve similar to the one reterred to above; 
all of these in due time spun their cocoons, entered the pupa state, and 
were finaily changed to beetles. Some of these were submitted to Pro- 
fessor Riley who identified them as belonging to Maseochara valida 
Leconte; and they agree very well with specimens of this species named 
for me a few years ago by Dr. Horn. This species is quite common 
around Los Angeles in early spring, but I can not find any mention of 
it in the various published lists of Coleoptera occurring east of the 
Rocky Mountains. 

The full-grown larva, after issuing from the puparium in which it has 
lived, very closely resembles Figure 393, page 447, of Packard’s well- 
_known “ Guide to the Study of Insects.” In his figures of Staphylinid 
larve (i.e., Figures 386, 387, and 388), and also in Schaupp’s figure of the 
larva of Staphylinus vulpinus (Bulletin Brooklyn Ent. Soce., vol. 11, 
Plate 10, Fig. F), the head is larger in proportion to the body, the latter 
is more slender and elongated, and the structure of the last abdominal 
segment is altogether different from that of the Maseochara larva above 
referred to. None of these species, however, belong to the same tribe 
as the latter. 

It is interesting to note that all of the rove beetles referred to above 
as being predaceous or parasitic belong to only three very closely re- 
lated genera, and that all of the insects preyed upon by them belong 
to the Diptera, and that, too, to the group which pupate within the 
hardened skins of the larve. 


PHOSPHORESCENT MYRIOPODS. 
By LAWRENCE BRUNER. 
The note on ‘‘ Phosphorescent Centipedes” in the November number 
of InsEcT LIFE (Vol. 111, No. 4, p. 173) calls to mind a very interesting 


experience which the writer had with these light-emitting myriopods 
24998—No. 7-——2 


320 


during the summer of 1877. At the time in question he was living on — 
a farm about 3 miles west of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, and de- — 
voting some time to collecting insects. One night, a damp one and — 
rather cool, during the month of June, or possibly later in the summer, 

as he was walking through a pasture that had not been burnt over for a 

number of years, something that looked like a double series of small 

beads of fire was observed crawling about among the dead grass. This 

was certainly something new and needed investigation. An investiga- 

tion was accordingly made and resulted in the taking of three or four 

moderately large myriopods which were producing the light. These 

were carried to the house, and next day transferred to an ordinary tin 

cigar box where they were placed between layers of fresh green moss, 

and put away in a Shady nook behind the house. In this locality they 

were kept alive for a week or more, and examined carefully day after 

day. 

That these were not the larve of some Elaterid, but true Myriopods 
there can be nodoubt. They were a many-jointed affair, with two pairs 
of legs to each joint. Then, too, they laid a dozen or more eggs while 
confined in the cigar box between the layers of moss. These eggs were 
globular, of a semitransparent whitish color; and were, as nearly as 
remembered now, about 1.75 to 2 millimetres in diameter. The full- 
erown myriopods were very Similar in their general appearance to our 
common prairie ‘‘many-leg” that often occurs by the millions and is 
then known as the “army worm.” The luminous species now under 
consideration is, however, a trifle the larger form. As nearly as mem- 
ory serves, they must have been fully 14 to 1? inches in length and one- 
fourth inch in width. In color they were yellowish brown, and had the 
edges of each segment margined with a narrow yellow line above. There 
were also two small round yellow marks upon each segment dorsally, 
one near each lateral edge. These latter were about 1 millimetre in 
diameter, and were the source of the phosphorescence when the animal 
was placed inthedark. The light that was emitted was whitish and, if 
it is remembered correctly, more marked or intense at one time than 
another. i 

Just what has become of these few specimens of luminous myriopods 
is not known; but it is the writer’s impression that they were put in 
alcohol with a lot of other things and put away for ‘‘keeps,” since all 
efforts to discover them since have proved fruitless. Neither has the 
old farm been visited since at the right time of the year to secure other 
Specimens. 

If it is correctly remembered, the fact of finding these light-produc- 
ing myriopods was mentioned to Professor Riley, who seemed to doubt 
the determination, suggesting that they might be the larva of Melanac- 
tes piceus,* or some other closely reiated Elaterid or Lampyrid. That 
they were not these latter it is positively known, from the fact that at 


*Now known to be Lampyrid (Phengodes and Zarhipis).—Eds. 


321 


_the time a copy of Le Baron’s Fourth Illinois Report was referred 
to and a careful comparison made with the figure of that insect. Then, 
too, the writer has always (that is from a period as far back in life as 
he can recollect) known the difference between a “thousand-legged ” 
worm and a *‘ worm.” 

Everything being favorable the coming summer, it is the present in- 
tention to secure specimens of this luminous Nebraska myriopod that 
will speak for themselves. In the meanwhile let us hear from other 
American entomologists who may have seen light-producing myriopods 
in this country. 

The animal is, without doubt, exclusively a nocturnal form, since a 
careful search during daytime failed to reveal any specimens of it. 


THE PREPARATORY STAGES OF EUSTROTIA CADUCA. 
By D. S. KELLIcOoTT, Columbus, Ohio. 


At Rives Junction, Jackson County, Michigan, in July, 1876, I ob- 
tained from a larva found eating the fruit of Nuphar advena, a specie- 
of EHustrotia which Mr. Grote described and named in Canadian Ento- 
mologist, Vol. VII, p. 207, Hustrotia caduca. I have since sought for 
this larva in many localities without success until July of this year at 
Corunna, Michigan, where it occurred, not uncommonly, on the yellow 
-pond lily growing in the Shiawassee River. At the time of the first 
finding I had but recently commenced to observe insects, and very im- 
perfect notes were made; the more favorable opportunity of last month 
has enabled me to give more exact data concerning its characters and 
habits. 

The eggs.—These are placed on the upper side of floating leaves, in 
irregular patches of a few in number, and at a little distance from one 
another. They are hemispherical, 1 millimetre in diameter, and with a 
waxy hue; the surface is beset with about thirty meridional, nodular 
ridges. 

The young escape by cutting nearly off a round lid which it lifts on 
a hinge. Soon after escaping the larve are 2 millimetres in length with 
large head and slender body; the skin is green with numerous pilifer- 
ous spots. The first molt occurred the third day; after this event the 
jength was 7 millimetres; the black spots had disappeared leaving the 
general color pale green with faint white dorsal and subdorsal lines, head 
lustrous and immaculate. The subsequent growth was rapid and there 
was no other notable change until the last molt, so I will only describe 
before and after this change. Those under observation reached this 
period July 11. They were then 20 millimetres in length, elongated, 
tapering slightly from the middle to the extremities; head narrow, 
smooth, pale luteous with faint brown dots, body naked, pale yellow- 


322 


green markings almost obsolete; there are, however, faint dorsal, sub- 
dorsal and stigmatal lines; legs and feet concolorous or paler; stigmata 
elliptical, white with dark rings. | 

By July 15 maturity was attained; an average larva was then 32 
milllmetres long, of the same general form, but the coloration was 
darker and the ornamentation quite decided. In this respect there 
were two easily distinguished varieties, a darker and a lighter. The 
subdorsal and stigmatal lines were reénforced by interrupted reddishs 
brown stripes, or in the lighter ones by rows of reddish spots on the 
posterior edges of the rings in place of the stripes; in the darker ones the 
dorsal lines often have the spots on either side. Several mature larve 


were seen without a trace of the red marks. The head at this stage ~ 


was strongly speckled with small brown spots. 

The cocoon consists of a delicate gauze of white silk through which 
the pupa may be seen and to which it is firmly fastened by the cremas- 
tral hooklets. | : 

The pupa measures 14 millimetres; the color dark brown and black; 
there are no distinguishing features. Cocoons upon the leaves. 

The imago began to issue after a pupal period of 8 days. 

Those found in 1876, as before said, were feeding in the fruit; in the 
present instance they were invariably found devouring the leaves. In 
case these are floating, they were found exposed on the upper surface ; 
in other cases they were beneath or concealed in folds. When at rest 
or when disturbed the head is thrown round—usually to the left—op- 
posite the middle of the body, so that the animal has the form of an 
inverted J. 

It doubtless becomes necessary for larve feeding, as this one does, to 
swim freely. Thatof Arzama obliquata, for instance, swims powerfully 
by horizontal undulations of its body, while that of Hustrotia caduca 
swims strongly, but by an entirely different motion, 7. ¢., the posterior 
third of the body is bent downwards, like the tail of a crayfish, then 
quickly pushed backward, thus kicking the water and driving itself 
ahead by jerks. 


A LIST OF SPHINGIDA AND BOMBYCIDAH TAKEN BY ELEUTRIC 
LAMPS AT POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y. 


By HARRISON G. DyarR. 


The specimens enumerated in the following list were taken from the 
globes of part of the electric lamps at Poughkeepsie at intervals of 
about a week during the summer of 1890, from June 14 to August 14, 
inclusive. In many instances the moths were left in the globes from 
after one visit to the next, so that the numbers given under the head- 


jng of a certain day often include those of the preceding 6 or 7 days. 


Before June 14 no large number of specimens were caught, and after 


323 


August 14 they had almost ceased to come in, partly because of the 
lateness of the season, but more on account of the cold and rainy 
weather that followed. 

The Sphingide were comparatively few in number, being most abun- 
dant from July 9 to 17; 21 species were taken in 122 examples. The 
most abundant species was Paonias myops, followed by P. excecatus and 
Protoparce celeus, as may be seen from the list. 

The Bombycidz were much more numerous, 93 species being taken 
in 7,871 examples. The three species, Halisidota tesselata, Clisiocampa 
americana, and Hyphantria cunea were most abundant, comprising 82 
per cent. of the whole. 4H. tesselata and C. americana comprise 65 per 
cent.. while H. cunea forms 48 per cent. of the remainder, leaving only 
18 per cent. for the other 90 species. It will be seen that the number 
of specimens captured increases rapidly to a maximum on June 24 and 
then decreases regularly, with the exception of July 28, when but a 
small lot were taken. The numbers represent the number of each spe- 
cies that was taken sufficiently well preserved for identification. Ina 
few instances they are followed by an interrogation mark (?) when the 
identification was at best doubtful. 

From a consideration of the figures I think at a fair estimate the 
electric lights of Poughkeepsie must destroy annually 25,000 Bomby- 
cid «2, of which fully 8,000 are Halisidota tesselata. I wish to express 
my thanks to Mr. James H. Van Norstrand, of Poughkeepsie, who has 
charge of trimming the lamps that I visited, for his kind coéperation 
in the collection of these moths. 


| 4) |S 
~~ | © _ P _ ~ 
Name of species. 2 S OM nN o < a 5 3 Ar, 
Bee eo) cas ree hae (tee es Pena earn 
= 5 e ES ° 
ars rs = | 5 = | 5 ek eee 4 iS 
Sphingide. 
Deilephila chameenerii Harr ......-...- 1 AE, eee [Pio te ata ec eS ce | ie a 2 
Deilephila lineata Fabr ............... Pesos neo acme etal coker elicise eae Seance lssiseee | 1 2 
et Mp CMUANPRMUOEUN LP Be oon. =- 5102 cmcre| wma fone be- |aamie~liaciccne| sn o-ea|-ceo- | 1 vy 2 
Philampelus achemon Drur........... A pene a erersisteiloseieiors Py Neco aa||baces | Wsscsoc 4 
Ampelophaga choerilusCr.........--. A | esas Ce esine oaee ee lieecews Dleanese |e ccratcherel|(bickerato oi 2 
Ampelophaga myron Cr..............|.----- 1 i eee 1 3 | Ls} Tiere 8 
Ampelophaga versicolor H. .......--.|..-.-- ere a eee eRee Ase ae ee kaos fee ee ee 1 
PLovepaccocelous BUrmisle .-ceie cee soe s leckacn|emcc oe | eer 5 2 2 | 3 | 1 14 
Protoparce carolina Linn ........-...-.|...<<- |Rosenr tise eaalitcermse Dries ear aloeee eae ee eres 2 
ReRAR I MERAH SE IIS NS aCe AN meets ala seia'a alietae ecto al nsec [hn Sace|enemsllesomes Pleats Di ietsicrer 3 
SPUN se CCM PlLeTARUMG Ss Oe AS: ten: a1<)a\\|/ooemiaellls cm amici! se) eet MP ete reresi lars ata leretmmeetaal we weeeileeeciete if 
Spninx Cordius Cram... 600-2220. LP ee eoe |p See lieekaictale Sececlliccec ~ | leinaties laee Salosaese 1 
Pepe CH OTSIR, EID Fina s)o sintore's ei ales al socio <| rajamnciel\sawe as fvooe aie 1 1 ts ee 1 2 | 5 
Chienocrammayasminearum Bd’ -..-.|sssccc|e-c-ac|cacece|secccs|sccece! 1 | eee eae eee eee 1 
Peas AID YNGOI ED Ac eccaccccectallnas =*|cenccal conn 1 1 eto 2r |e: Be Sao 4 
PEON AT ISA LOM <1 2)- ancora clays mien joe sara (an comet outa seams oe Hip cs Dea ener tee i es ise ee | 1 
PEMIPLOOOH MNOGCRtA MALT. . 5. i. ctdenien|. cocina) cine aenlGowaee 1 | Baliwenaiats poh) Seley NCS) 3 
SMEMINTMUSy COMINALUSISAY » -an- -saeis|insee ca licesies|L oe ce aleccs cllac oe is 1 4 | 2 7 
Beastie OX CUB EUG AC PAN 3. m0, ccm ohialll aetna ale = amines <om|s on. as 6 5 1 6 | 3 } 21 
Phewiasmyops’S.6 Ae. osicc..62.. |e. ecemeode arity Gk 26t| 29 £ fl nae 
Paonias MSty ls DUP. 2 akc oes cece van 1 a eee eRe 3 Se eae 12]. 5 A ilces ah seg 2 
LUCE a es = ee 6 6 3 8 30 22 8 23 16 122 
Bombycide. | | | | 
Prambidia pada Pele. oo 5 Semiocs Sealy ceenlccwcns | See Nee eee ps | De lecews hatte. 5 
eiypoOpropia tUGOEA HUD: .scencesess f-locos cine ace |kecccelleccces | 9 | 8 5 6 4 32 
Euphanessa mendica W1k............|...... ea 1 3 3 | eee lehanjeks a lGamaen Roee e 8 


Name of species. 


Bombycide—Continued. 


Crocota sp< 
Crocota sp* 
Utetheisa bella Linn 
PAT. ChIA VETS OMIGINM Ee aretaoceiatee rete seine 
FA TCtiamalSs OUR sess ctnoseeer eee 

Arctia virguncula K 
Arctia arge Dur 
Pyrrharctia isabella A. &S 
Phragmatobia rubricosa H 
Leucarctia acrea Dur 
Spilosoma virginica F................ 
Spilosoma latipennis St 
Spilosoma antigone Streck 
Hyphantria cunea Drur 
Huchestesverle Dure 225-2 ss4-s-eeee ee 
Euchetes collaris Fitch 
Eepantheria scribonia S 
Halisidota tesselata A. &S 
Halisidota cary Harr 
Halisidota maculata H 
Orgyia definita Pack 
Orgyia leucostigma 
Parorgyia clintonii G. & R 
Parorgyia parallela G. & R 
Parorgyia cinamomea G. & R 
Lagoa crispata Pack 
Euclea querceti H.-S 
Parasa fraterna Gr 
Empretia stimulea Cl 
Limacodes scapha H 
Limacodes biguttata P........... eae 
Limacodes y-inversa P 
Limacodes fasciola H.-S 
Limacodes flexuosa Gr 
Limacodes czsonia Gr 
Sisvrosea inornata G.& R 
Adoneta spinnloides H.-S 
Ichthyura inclusa Hb 
Ichthyura albosignea F 
Ichthyura vau Fiteh 
Apatelodes torrefacta A. & S 
Apatelodes augelica Gr 
Watanaministiay Duro eee seers 
Datana drexelii Hy. Edw.............. 
Datana augusii G. & R 
Datana major |G. wih eseeee see seeeeeee 
Datana integerrimaG & R 
DatanaspalmiivBewbe---2- esos ee eeeee 
Datana perspicuaG. & R 
Nadata gibbosa A. &S 
Notodonta stragula Gr 
Lophodonta ferruginea P 
Lophodonta georgica H-S 
Pheosia rimosa Pack 


i 


sence ce cee ee 
eer cceccces 
cece ee se ee ee ee ee 
cee eer ees cc eoe eee 
weer treme eee eee ee 

cee eee eee ee - 
i 
ee 

este cee cee eet cee eee 
eececeasaeeese---- 


+22 + - eee ee, 
weececor sees e eee 
ee ee ed 
- eee eee eee ee 
es 


CGidemasia eximnia Gr ..---. .......... 
Dasylophia anguinaA.&§ 
Schizura ipomex# Dbd..............--. 
Schizura unicornis A. &S 
Schizura leptinoides Gr 
Ianassa liquicolor W1k 
Heterocampa obliqua P 
Heterocampa subrotata H .- 

Heterocaiupa elongata G. & R 
Heterocampa biundata W 

Heterocampa unicolor Pack 
Heterocampa mantes Dbd 
Cerurajborealis Bdls-2~ 0-2 cee -e=-- 
Cerura occidentalis Lint 
Ceruraicinerea Walk ose--- +2 seree 
Cerura multiscripta R 
Dryopteris rosea W1k 
Actias luna Linn 


pees tees eeeeee 


*T have not identified the species of Crocota. 


| 2, 676 
4 


sea he Sa aed 
= | & | a a 3 = x z 2 
S| | ee. tase = Sa Ia tees | 
Ses =| S E = = S| 5 
me |S 5 & > & a <q <q 
Era | eaves eos Oe se S| Sees Qh sacesallascoee 18 
See BES Baleacses Ul (Pee sen ieee ae ee ee 1 
ens Balle eens 1 1 5 (| eetsetee| [eae 2 
ee es [ee tes ith nao eed dees |b ey 1 1 4 eae 
5 9 3 We issee 7 Eee el eae: 3 14 
Ol cea gAlyamsiea eens pee encase |e aes eee ee 
Seen : Cees tan en se ea eee 1 2 qf 
8 10 15 6 9 1G ee a sae 34 
Nae ai Pere fell setae 1 6 10 il 13 14 
1 10 4 2 Fil IESeiren 1 1 26 
6 S | 4 9 5 | 5 Neh 72! 60 
seayek aeh Mi 3 Theta | tee Baek 
8 167 ol 543 140 16 14 180 197 
Dae 8 il 2 3 Bil aarseialtsteeee ib 
: 4 5 12 3 Tales. 1 5 
15 67 | 65] 204| 712] 865} 117/| 576 55 
11 24 | 6 Ab he SEL AL, e Satt a ie are 
Peaate lee Geen te wena pr SC AE Ie | 
See We 5 olan fa eae a, Fe | ec (| DF ||Caeeeere 
Deas eee a pesos 5 9 20 4 qe 
Beret Mani ate Oih Siete se 24 cooee |e oe ean 
BLAS EN ii aba al a a. bl Reed || eee (praemeenee Lilet} Sele 
Se Sece laancaallpeaaee eA ch Go SE ae ees peed 
2 5 | 2 4 De ces eee ais See el eae 
3 5 | Uf 8 di TN Soe eS aol Paes 
ee Mah ok a A ile pas SIN ara 1 Deco ole Sal ees 
ee el eaeate Fai eee 3 Fa eae er Ree 
Peta poaeaa Roamer: 1 6 2 1 5 eee 
BSS ee ee te - 1 AH oe Allis Shc | ae or en | ee 
ep her SiN | ie atk 1 5 | Dil tac PAS ia eee 
soece.ll SateeitelleSoeiers 2 Qiijewe te dl eeeeina eee 1 
Ss eatiti| Rene) [MOS Spr Fs 2 2 1 SU Sales 
Sar Se SNE SURE SE Wi Weds Joelle e eal Ee ee 
Be cecal eae eases 2 5 ips aioe ee ey | ete! 
Seeman sca Le jem lNepeeerek h  n  [ e e  | ee 1e} | eee 
Sener | ee A Sete TD aces ea BES Bas | ee | eee 
ee Vile cy ll ca nana |e ee : eee 5 A ee 
Basa By) (pee ane Le ae (eee ea ee A A Se 15 
1 Dpiiiee pieeas 1 i ie epee es ee eRe AE. - 
LL TAR ee eel ees 1] 4 Dito es | see ee ee 
6 Shlesee 2 11 19 3 eimeseee 
Beer P| eke een 18 oeny ccat sal le aie ae 1252. alee 
Ped Ere Sila eee ene ae | ; Ea aoe al ene en eee (ether Se 
Ee aleseacelleeeeee ae ape [eae sareaoeas pA eoeees or 
1 1 1 1 5 yaleeeese [a ee 
BERS ee Raed. eset Pg eerie es eee ale ihe 
Psi tale aco ees Perea || Se 27 2 9 5 
1 IMP CUS at ee Ljs* Soules oleae 
me see |e Eryseai || Seneeree api ct a epee coilee + 1 1 
PS al ast |e tala ate 1.) ook. hbo eo ee 
SS ee DN ee ie cal [aes a ae Spoeco|esasaalscesan|isca=. |[-tsoc 
ete al lesa eee espe wert pean er | gee Mm | De eee UB es it 2 
a es Fae Ae AR we Re BFE nea 5 3 
3 Pe Pad 2 Stl geckes 2: | eeee 
3 2 2 6 4 1 seekers 3 | 
Pe We |eocobel seeGer|[sotece|(eceee sl) oocee Dalgoees 
Sco Vt ecece ah Cee toe Ee Tease alee ee 
eagle ape Veer gel ee Pee Toles ee oa | eee ae 
Se oe eee \eoeece Lali oes eee 1 
ee eee Pee ee es oe 1S | actealeee ae 6 
Beste 1 Uap ee ee Pel aS eee:nliacaces 
Qiteeaeealtemone 1 Pe aeios Dil eee 5 1 
Se a Wea | Na toe Beer i ea gel et og a Dil sarees 
sa0SuS z Pee ee nee ne Wo era nse 6 al| score 2 2 
say ps es (ees ores Sty ha oles 
2 Ailes | 5 ae oe |i Sh eee | pees ate 
Pct! CAGES Sie cee | eee ane eee aah 1 2 
eS A ee | estes eae | ee 1 rE lla 
Erato enone eee peer A Rl Le Ss oe 12 en eee 
“ie sae tes [foie as | Aaa es fem 1 1 10 3 
SH ssoy ate | Sed ll aa Siege 1 1 Ce beset nl eo oe 1 
Simi’ | hisses Hiesemtoee a base ae | Pca ce es |e | 1 
eee dae 8 Eee Ve 02 8 Ecce cal noose beeen eee 
eee | Be es 1 |. Sct cleeeee cleo ees eee ee ee 
iL 1 3 Oeioelaey 7 | 4 14 2 


At least two occurred, probably more. 


Total. 


i 


fez} woe 
PNB BOME WOVE PW RINE HW RODWH RENATO NE NE NOOR Ee WH OV ON AANA AMMO 


ry 


on 


_ non 


a 


on 


. 
¥ 
. 


| iG oe 
a= - | [eee Re: = 
—) =i S we re 
Name of species. = es a | od o = | & £ £ = 
Petem arsenic tees, |, esd ea A ee ea he 
is ey tS me op. | yy | ee ates 
Bombycide —Continued. | | | 
| | 
Calosamia promethea D ......... .--.{..... | Re We he eee She ll. 8 ig Steen ele ies 4 
Palosamiajangulifera W ......2-.2-.--|..25.- ASSOC ae &| BS 1 ee) Se bak te [echoes 
Platysamia cecropia Linn -.........-. re 3 4 23° | 15 19 wae ote, ena tee 49 
Hyperchiria io Fabr*................. PS TE | OP 951 FS Ie 9 ||| | ee | 106 
Haglesumporalis: Dur -o5 32-25-5525). -2.| 02-5. 2 1 5 16 | 7 | 5 4 (|g 40 
Citheronia regalis Fab.-.-........... eee 2 1 1 4 | 1) 1 See 14 
Anisota stigma Fab ........-..... 1 Ne ee oe ere 3 3 | 2, ||| eee ale cae 9 
Dryocampa rubicunda F....-.-.. Sule cleans 3 8 8 2 2 | 2 28 
Clisiocampa americana H..........-. 15 | 508 {1,382 | 429 82 Sa eee), eee loons 2, 419 
Clisiocampa disstria Hb -.---..... .. HEE 1 | Baeeoe ean S2 29g | eee oe 1 Bil) eases 118 
GaNiropacharmmoricanam: 89 2 Foo | eso |e oa) este 1 dea Pere CS And eee 2 
oly pelanicis Mitch ys o eaten s5ao: Foes ekcs|eskeicn|Soeece fetes ooeees| Masses eeossel Beeson 4 4 
Prionoxystus robiniz Peck ..-.........|...... 1 iL 2 2 Ba Seees Masae il 10 
PRO UMn: sees aoe Steere oes es ain 118 | 881 |1, 578 (es 1,198 |1,074 | 178 | 917) 503 | 7,87) 
| | 
i | | I 


* Male and female specimens occurred in this species in the following proportion, which is typical 
ofall. Beginning with about 8 per cent 9 the proportion increases as the specimens taken are older. 


JG a a a oe ee ee ee 11 12 12.) 418 
MS aO MP oo) 5 5 SY hne RNS EEE | i 1) 2 | 2 


28 | 8 | 7 
eit ity) 2 


STEPS TOWARDS A REVISION OF CHAMBERS’ INDEX, WITH 
NOTES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 


By Lorp WALSINGHAM. 


[Continued from p. 326 of vol. 1. ] 
LITHOCOLLETIS, Z. 


_ lL have lately had the advantage of purchasing the types of North 
American Tineide which were used by Professor Frey for the descrip- 
tions contained in three papers published in the Stettiner Entomolo- 
gische Zeitung. They confirm with very few exceptions the conclu- 
sions arrived at trom independent evidence as to the synonymy of the 
numerous species lately noticed in *‘ Steps towards a Revision of Cham- 
bers’ Index.” In one or two instances it is necessary to make slight 
corrections and as these should not be delayed I submit herewith a 
revised list of the recognized American species of the genus Lithocolle- 
tis in what appears to be their natural sequence according to their re- 
lationship with the European species as arranged in Staudinger and 
Wocke’s Catalogue. 
This list embodies the following corrections : 

1. Lithocolletis argentifimbriella, Clem. (1859). 

= fuscocostella, Chamb. (1875). 
2. Lithocolletis quercialbella, Fitch, (1859). 

= longestriata, F. § B. (1873). 

=quercibella, Chamb. (1875). 
3. Lithocolletis subaureola, Frey, (1878). 


326 


2 4 
The type of longestriata F. & B. has enabled me to recognize Chambers’ description i 
of quercibella as more applicable to it than to subaureola Frey, with which I had pre: — 
viously placed it. L. subaureola Frey must for the present be regarded as a good spe- — 
cies, but longestriata F. & B. and quercibella Chamb. must give way to quercialbella Fitch, 
of which they are synonyms. UL. fuscocostella Chamb. has already been rightly iden- 
tified as a synonym of argentifimbriella Clem. 

L. quercialbella Fitch is distinguished from argentifimbriella Clem. by having three 
instead of four dark margined costal streaks and by the first of these streaks being 
only slightly oblique and almost exactly opposite to the first dorsal streak, whereas — 
in argentifimbriella the second costal is opposite the first dorsal and the first costal iS 
very oblique and decidedly precedesit. Inhisdescription Fitch writes ‘‘ three or four” 
costal streaks; it is possible that he may have had both species before him, but his 
further remark that the costal and dorsal streaks radiate from a common center ap- 
plies with far more correctness to longestriata F. & B. than to argentifimbriella Clem., 
in which the oblique first costal streak is very decidedly separate from the others. 


Lithocolletis fragilella F. & B. 
= trifasciella (? Hw.) F. & B. 

The single specimen on which Frey and Boll founded their announcement (with a 
“?”) of the occurrence of trifasciella Hw. in America is now before me, and although 
it contirms my opinion that it is distinct from the European form its greater size may 
possibly separate it from fragilella should its life history be worked ont, but there is 
apparently nothing in its markings to distinguish it, and it will be safer to regard it 
as a form of that species, at least until a series of specimens can be examined. 


Lithocolletis alni. 
= alnivorella, Chamb. 

Chambers’ description of Lithocollelis alnivorella appeared in the Cincinnati Quar- 
terly Journal of Science, vol. 11, p. 302, No. 4, which contains the description, is 
dated October, 1875. 3 

In the Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, Bulletin No. 51, p. 112, issued 
on the 14th of April, 1875, Ragonot described a new European species as Lithocolletis 
alnivorella. 

The name alnivorella is consequently preoccupied in this genus and I would sug- 
gest that the American species should in future be known as Lithocolletis alni. 


Lithocolletis fasciella. 


= unifasciella Chamb. 

Lithocolletis unifasciella Chamb. was described in the Cincinnati Quarterly Journal 
of Science, vol. 11, pp. 103-4 (1375). This name is also preoccupied by a European 
species described by Tengstrém in 1865. I propose that the American species be 
known as Lithocolletis fasciella. 


Lithocolletis betulivora sp. n. 


Antenne, grayish above, white beneath. 

Palpi, white. ~ 

Head and face, white, crown tufted with reddish-saffron. 

Thorax, reddish, saffron. 

Fore wings, shining reddish-saffron, no basal streak, a small costal spot at one-fourth 
the wing length and a small dorsal spot nearer to the base dull white, a slender 
fascia at the middle of the wing angulated outwardly near the costal margin has 
one or two black scales on its outer edge; beyond this a small costal streak and 
an opposite dorsal streak, both dull white, with a few blackish scales on their 
outer edges. A group of black scales at the apex of the wing is preceded on the 
costal and dorsal margins by dull white, not sufficiently conspicuous to be called 
costal and dorsal streaks; cilia grayish, their bases tinged with saffron, a slender 
blackish line along their middle, passing round the apex. 


327 


Hind wings, dark gray; cilia gray. 

Abdomen, gray tinged with saffron posteriorly. 

Hind legs, whitish, with a very faint indication of darker scaling on the penultimate 
tarsal joint. 

Exp. : al. :—7 millimetres. 

Hab.—United States. 

Type 2 Mus. Wism. 


% 
Received from Dr. Riley, bred from birch, 1884. This species can not be confounded 
with any of the birch-feeding species of Europe, among which cavella Z. approaches 
it more nearly than others. 


Lithocolletis grindeliella, sp. n. 


Antenne, dull gray, with slightly paler annulations. 

Palpi, grayish. 

Head, crown tufted with mixed iron gray and reddish brown scales; face grayish. 

Thoraz, ferruginous. 

Fore wings, pale ferruginous, dusted with iron gray and clouded with blackish scales 
beyond the middle of the wing to the apex; three whitish costal streaks, very 
indistinct, at about equal distances apart, the first and second of which are out- 
wardly oblique and are met at a somewhat acute angle on the middle of the 
wing by two even less distinct dorsal streaks, faintly dark margined externally : 
the third is a mere spot, opposite which is a small spot at the base of the cilia at 
the anal angle; immediately preceding the apex is a conspicuous curved white 
costal spot divided from a smaller and less conspicuous one below it by the 
cloudy streak of black scales which runs to the apex; cilia with a ferruginous 
tinge, becoming gray at and within the anal angle, and having a few black 
scales below the apex. 

Hind wings and cilia, grey. 

Abdomen, dull grey ; anal tuft pale. 

Legs, whitish, tarsal joints unspotted, tibiw barred with gray externally. 

Exp.:al.: 8 millimetres. 

Hab., Alameda County, California. 

Type 3 Mus. Wlism. 

This description taken from a specimen given me by Dr. Riley was bred from Grin- 
delia robusta in October. It is nearly allied to solidaginis F. & B. but is somewhat 
more suffused with dark scaies along the costal portion of the wing. 


Lithocolletis faginella Z. 


In my previous paper, while I mentioned this species in the list of larve and their 
food plants [Ins. Life 11. p. 120 (1889)] I forgot to record its occurrence in Americaon 
the evidence of a specimen in Dr. Riley’s collection which can not be separated from 
the European forms of thisspecies. I have no information as to the exact locality 
whence it was obtained. | 


NO OO 


15. 
16. 


ye 


18. 


ifs) 


20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 


24. 


328 


LITHOCOLLETIS. 


. hagenii, F. & B. (1873). 


= necopinusella Chamb. (1878). 


. fitchella, Clem. (1860). 


= § quercifoliella, Fitch, (1859), [ Ar- 


gyromiges |. 
= quercitorum F. § B. (1873). 


. rileyella, (Chamb. 1875). 


= tenuistrigata, F. § B. (1876). 


. insignis, Wlsm. (1889). 

. clemenselia, Chamb. (1&71). 

. lucidicostella, Clem. (1859). 

. argentifimbriella, Clem. (1859). 


= fuscocostella, Chamb. (1875). 


. quercialbella, Fitch, (1859). 


= longestriata, F. § B. (1873). 
== quercibella, Chamb. (1875) 
= quercipulchella, Chamb. (1878), MS. 


. subaureola, Frey, (1878). 
. caryalbella, Chamb. (1871). 
. lucetiella, Clem. (1859). 


== enigmatella I’. § B. (1873). 


. albanotella, Chamb. (1875). 


Palmela (2? Zi.) 18460); bid Bs) IN: 
America (1873). 
. ostensackenella, Fitch (1859). [Argy- 
romiges. | 
— robiniella, Fitch (1859). [Ana- 
campsis, larva only. | 
= ornatella, Chamb. (1871). [Leu- 


canthiza. } 
gemmea, F. & B. (1873). 
robiniella, Clem. (1858). 


= pseudacaciella, Fitch (1859). [Ar- | 


gyromiges. | 
uhlerella, Fitch (1859). 
ages. | 
= amorpheella, Chamb. (1877). 
= amorphe, Frey (1878). 
morrisella, Fitch (1859). 
ges. | 
= robiniella, Clem. (1859-partim). 
= texanella, Z. (1875). 
= amphicarpeella, Chamb. (1877). 
pomifoliella, Z. (1839). 
= crategella, Clem. (1859). 
= deceptusella, Chamb. (1879). 
faginella, Z. (1846). 
inearnella, Wism. (1889). 
alnicolella, Wlsm. (1889). 
alni, Wlsm. (1890). 
= § alnivorella, Chamb. (1875). 
ostryefoliella, Clem. (1859). 
= mirijica, F. § B. (1873). 


[ Argyrom- 


[ Argyrom- | 


| 20. 
26. 

| 27. scudderella, F. & B. (1873). 

. obsoleta, F. &. B. (1873). 

. obscuricostella, Clem. (1859). 


| 
| 


58. 


59. 


minutella, Frey (1878). 
diaphanella, Frey (1878). 


= virginiella, Chamb. (1871). 


. eriferella, Clem. (1859). 

. sexnotella, Chamb. (1880). 

. argentinotella, Clem. (1859). 
. occitanica, F. & B. (1876). 

. amoena, Frey (1878). 

. celtifoliella, Chamb. (1871). 


= nonfasciella, Chamb. (1871). 
= celtisella, Chamb. (1871). 
= pusillifoliella F. § B. (1876). 


. cincinnatiella, Chamb. (1871). 
. caryefoliella, Clem. (1859). 


= juglandiella, Clem. (1861), larvae. 


. macrocarpella, Frey (1878). 


umbellulariz, Wlism. (1889). 
gaultheriella, Wlsm. (1889). 


. ledella, Wlsm. (1889). 
. nemoris, Wlsm. (1889). 
. ulmella, Chamb. (1871). 


— modesta, F. §- B. (1876). 


. conglomeratella, Z. (1875). 


= bicolorella, Chamb. (1878). 
= obtusilobe, Frey (1878). 


. quercivorella, Chamb. (1879). 
. australisella, Chamb. (1878). 
. solidaginis, F. & B. (1875). 


= solidaginisella, Chamb. (1880). 


. grindeliella, Wlsm. (1890). 
. chambersella, Wlsm. (1889). 


= § quinquenotella, Chamb.(1880). 


. basistrigella, Clem. (1859). 


= intermedia, F. § B. (1873). 


. auronitens, F. & B. (1874). 
. desmodiella, Clem. (1859). 


= gregariella, Mrt. (1881). 


. toxicodendri, Frey, (1878). 
. aceriella, Clem. (1859). 


. guttifinitella, Clem. (1859). 


var, a. guttifinitella, Clem. +-escu- 
lella, Chamb. (1871). Var. 
an. 3p.? 


. obstrictella, Clem. (1859). 
. coryliella, Chamb. (1871). 


var. a. coryliella, Chamb. -+ostry- 
ella, Chamb. (1871). 


oregonensis, Wlsm. (1889). 
tiliella, Chamb. (1871). 


60. symphoricarpella, Chamb. | 69. ambrosiella, Chamb. (1871). 
symphoricarpeella, Cham. (1875). = nobilissima, Frey (1878). MS. 
= symphoricarpella, Frey. (1878). | 70, elephantopodella, Frey (1878). 
61. fragilella, Frey. (1978). 71. actinomeridis, Frey (1878). 
= trifasciella (? Hw.), F. & B.- 72, eppelsheimii, Frey (1878). 
(1873). ? Syn. an. sp. nov. 73. bethuniella, Chamb. (1871). 
62. affinis, F. & B. (1876). 74. lebertella, Frey (1878). 
63. mariella, Chamb. (1875). 75. betulivora, Wlsm. (1890). 
64. triteniella, Chamb. (1871). 76. bifasciella, Chamb. (1878). 
= consimilella, F. § B. (1873). 77. tubiferella, Clem. (1860). 
65. fasciella, Wlsm. (1890). 78. populiella, Chamb. (1878). 
=§ unifasciella, Chamb. (1875). 79. atomariella, Z. (1875). 


66. castanella, Chamb. (1875). | Serr pe a 
Be hosteniea! ¥. & 3B. (1873). | 80. salicifoliella, Chamb., (1871). 


ge igh aie 2 ; 
68. ignota, F. & B. (1873). { ?=salicifoliella, Clem. (1861)larva. ] 
= helianthisella, Chamb. (1874). | 81. hamadryadella, Clem. (1859). 
= helianthivorella, Chamb. (1875). ! =alternatella, Z. (1875). 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 


The Icerya in Honolulu. 


Yours of the 18th instant in regard to the Jcerya at Honolulu is received. Some- 
thing over 3 years ago I sent a letter of inquiry and inclosed specimens of the 
Icerya and Red Scale to Mr. Irwin, of Honolulu, but heard nothing from it until the 
past summer, when I received a letter from Mr. A. Jaeger, to whom my letter of in- 
quiry had been shown. Among other things Mr. Jaeger writes me under date of May 
17, 1890, as follows: 

* * * “The rest of them (scales) have made their appearance, one after the other, 
and last but not least, the cottony scale, about 9 months or perhaps a year ago. 
When in September last my attention was first called to this new insect I had noidea 
of its destructiveness. As a matter of fact we have this curse on fifty or more prem- 
ises (gardens) in the neighborhood of Honolulu, and if we do not make great efforts 
to destroy the same our gardens and perhaps the whole country may be ruined.” 
Before writing to me Mr. Jaeger had sent specimens of the pest to Dr. H. W. Hark- 
ness, the President of the California Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Harkness pro- 
nounced it the genuine Icerya purchasi, and advised Mr. Jaeger to write to me for 
some of the Vedalias. President Kercheval, of our county board of horticulture, 
and Inspector Weis, of this city, collected a colony of the Vedalias and I put them up 
for shipment to Honolulu, where they arrived in good condition and were colonized 
upon the Jcerya infested trees and plants. 

This is all the information that I possess upon this subject, but will make further 
inquiries, and apprise you of the result.—[D. W. Coquillett, Los Angeles, Cal., Nov. 
24. 1890. 

Mr. JAEGER’S ANSWER TO INQUIRIES JUST MENTIONED.—Your letterof November 
25, has duly come to hand, and I am glad to be able to answer your questions. 

1. Locality where the Icerya was found.—Seaboard of Honolulu, including Waiki and 
Kalihi, distance about 7 miles, the whole stretch being say from 2 to 4 miles in width. 
No reports have been received from other districts or from any of the other Islands. 

2. First introduction.—Spring orsummer of 1859; first specimeusseen by myself and 
othersin September; looked upon them as curiosities. In April, 1890, however, awoke 
to a sense of danger. Ata meeting held during the month a gentleman asserted that 
he had not planted a new tree or shrub on his premises for years, and still they were 


330 


infested worse with IJcerya than any of his neighbors, and attributed it to the bring- 
ing home of boxes of California fruit at the arrival of every steamer. 

This gave me a clew as to how the Jcerya might have come here. I found that all 
the trees (principally samang) on the leeward side of the California Fruit Store (so- 
called) were very badly infested with this scale, whilst within a quarter of a mile 
distant none could be found, and even trees of the same kind (samang) about 60 feet 
to windward I found perfectly clean ; the same results with other fruit stores, only 
there were not so many treesnear by. This wasin May. I have no doubt that we 
are indebted to our California friends for this pest, but as they have been otherwise 
kind to us we readily forgive. . 

3. Damage.—None to speak of; a few of course; have cut down some good trees, 
although they were advised not to. ; 

4. Planis attacked.—Ali of the citrus family, samang, casuarina, mesquite, ban- 
yan, bread-fruit, mango, vi; various shrubs, such as roses, hibiscus, crotons, etc., in fact, 
nearly everything except eucalyptus, palms and sugar-cane. An experiment to in- 
fest the latter with Icerya failed on account of the arrival of the Vedalia shortly 
afterwards. ; 

5. What remains of the Icerya.—T wo boys who have been supplying my Vedalia cage 
with Icerya all along, told me on November 15, 1890, that no more of the food could 
be found anywhere. The boys have their own horses and were only too anxious to 
earn their 25 cents a day, but I knew from my own observations that they were cor- 
rect and I gave up the cage. Since then some few of the Icerya have been noticed, 
but I don’t think that they ever will become a pest again. 

There is this, however, to be said: That for some months past nobody has seen a 
Vedalia here, and it would be impossible for me to-day to produce a specimen of this 
insect in any of its stages. During August and September last they were so abun- 
dant under many of the trees that one might have scooped them up with a shovel. 
The probability is that the Vedalia will make its appearance again shortly.—[A. 
Jaeger, Honolulu, December 26, 1890, to D. W. Coquillett. 


List of Coleopterous Larve sent by C. V. Riley to F. Meinert of Copen- 
hagen, for the University Museum, in exchange for Huropean Specimens 
from the Schiodte Collection. 


1. Calosoma externum Say, young larve, | 13. Anatis 15-punctata Oliv., larve and 


Alabaina. pups, Washington, D. C. 
2. Amara obesa Say, larve, Kansas. 14. Psyllobora 20-maculata Say, larvae, 
3. Galerita janus, Fabr., larva, Wash- Michigan. 
ington, D.C. 15. Chilocorus bivulnerus Muls., larve, 
4. Hydrophilus triangularis Say, young pup, imago, Louisiana. 
larve, Missouri. 16. Epilachna borealis Fabr., larve, im- 
5. Silpha inequalis Fabr., larve and ago, Alabama. 
pupa, Missouri. 17. Epilachna corrupta Muls., larve, im- 
6. Adelops hirtus Tellk., larve, Mam- ago, New Mexico. 
moth Cave, Kentucky. 18. Olibrus ergoti (Walsh) Casey, larve, 
7. Maseochara valida Lec., larva, Cali- imago, Indiana. 
fornia. 19. Aphorista vittata Fabr., larva, Wash- 
8. Stilicus angularis Lec., larve, Texas. ington, D. C. 
9. Olophrum obtectum Er., larva and | 20. Stenotarsus hispidus Herbst., larvie, 
pupa, Washington, D. C. pupa, imago, Washington, D. C. 
10. Megilla maculata DeG., larve and | 21. Endomychus biguttatus Say, larva, 
imago, Washington, D. C. Tennessee. 
11. Hippodamia convergens De Geer, lar- | 22. Triplax unicolor Say, larve, pupa, 
ve and pup, Missouri. Missouri. 
12. Coccinella 9-notata Hbst., larve, pupa, | 23. Hrotylus Boisduvali Chevr., larve, 


imago, Indiana. New Mexico. 


33. 


. Stelidota geminata Say, larve, 


dl 


. Murmidius ovalis Beck, larve, pupz, 


(attached to kernels of rice, )Wash- 
ington, D. C. 


. Silvanus cassie Reiche, larve, pupa, 


imago, Alabama. 


Florida. 


. Mycetophagus obsoletus Melsh., larva, 


pupz, Washington, D. C. 


. Carpophilus hemipterus Linn., larva. 
. Carpophilus dimidiatus Fabr., larve, 


imago, South Carolina. 
Mis- 
souri. 


. Phenoliagrossa Fabr., larve, Missouri. 
. Psephenus LeContei Lec., larve, New 


York. 
Macronychus glabratus Say, 
Michigan. 


larve, 


. Hemipeplus marginipennis Lec., larva, | 


334. Nemosoma parallelum Melsh., larve, | 


34. 


35. 


36. 


37. 


38. 


39. 


40. 


41. 


42. 
43. 


44, 


45. 


46. 


Washington, D.C. 

Trogosita virescens Fabr., larve, Cali- 
fornia. 

Alaus oculatus Linn., larva, puna, 
Florida and Missouri. 

Hemirhipus fascicularis Fabr., larva, 
Missouri. 

Drasterius dorsalis Say, (=elegans 
Fabr.), larve, Indiana. 


Agriotes mancus Say, larva, imago, In- | 


diana. 


LIudius hepaticus Germ., half-grown | 


larva, Florida. 

Melanotus communis Gylh., 
pupa, imago, Indiana. 

Dicerca obscura Fabr., 
York. 

Buprestis rufipes Oliv., larva, Florida. 


larva, 


larve, New 


Chrysobothris femorata Fabr., larve, | 


pupa, Missouri. 
Photinus pyralis Linn., larva, Mis- 
souri. 


Photuris pennsylvanica DeG., larve, 


Washington, D. C. 
Chauliognathus marginatus 
larva, New York. 


Fabr., | 


46}. Thanasimus dubius Fabr.,larve,Mich- 


47. 


48. 


49, 


igan. 


Ernobius granulatus Lec., iarva, Flor- — 


ida. ; 

Hemiptychus punctatus Lec., larve, 
New Jersey. 

Vrilletta expansa Lec., larva, Califor- 
nia. 


50. 


. Arhopalus fulminans Fabr., 


. Graphops pubescens Melsh., 


. Chrysomela_ disrupta Rog., 


. Gastroidea 


Sinoxylon declive Lec., larva, Califor- 
nia. 


. Psoa maculata Lec., larve, California. . 
. Canthon levis Drury, larva, Missouri. 
. Euparia castanea Serv., larve, imago, 


Alabama. 


. Polyphylla occidentalis Linn., larva, 


New Hampshire. 


. Chalepus trachypygus Burm., larve, 


Georgia. 


. Euphoria inda Linn., larvee, Washing- 


ton, D. C. 


. Allorhina nitida Linn., larva, New 


Jersey. 


. Parandra brunnea Fabr., larve, New 


York. 


. Elaphidion inerme Newm., larva, F lor- 


ida. 

larve, 
pupa, Washington, D. C. 

Neoclytus caprea Say, larva, pupa, 
Kansas. 


. Cyllene picta Drury, larva, pupa, im- 


ago, Missouri. 


. Rhagium lineatum Oliv., larva, pupa, 


New Jersey. 


. Steirostoma depressum, larve, Surinam, 


South America. 


. Liopus haldemani Lec., larve, pupa, 


Georgia. 


. Saperda calcarata Say, larva, Kansas. 
. Saperda vestita Say, larva, Michigan. 
. Saperda tridentata Oliv., larve, pupe, 


imago, Michigan. 
Tetraopes tetraophthalmus Forst., lar- 
ve, New Hampshire. 


. Donacia piscatrix Lac., larva, pupa, 


Michigan. 


. Lema trilineata Oliv., larva, imago, 


Missouri. 


. Coscinoptera dominicana Fabr., larva, 


pupa, Missouri. 
larve, 
Ohio. 


. Doryphora 10-lineata Say, larve, Mis- 


sourl. 


. Doryphora juncta Germ., larve, Mary- 


land. 
larve, 
Texas. 


. Lina scripta Fabr., larve, pupa, im- 


ago, Pennsylvania. 
cyanea Melsh., 
pupa, Washington, D.C. 


larve, 


70. 
80. 


81. 


82. 


83 


84. 


8D. 


86. 


87. 


&8. 
89. 


90. 
91. 


92. 


93. 


332 


Monocesta coryli Say, larvze, Missouri. 
Diabrotica longicornis Say, larve, 
Missouri. 
Trirhabda tomentosa Linn., larve, 
pupa, Missouri. 
Galeruca decora Say, larve, Washing- 
tonsa Ce 
Disonycha alternata I))., larve, pupa, 
Missouri. 
Graptodera chalybea Ill., larve, New 
York. 
Graptodera JOereeD Lec., larve, Colo- 
rado. 
Dibolia werea Melsh., larvee, pupe, im- 
agos, New York. 
Microrhopala vittata Fabr., 
pupa, Washington, D. C. 
Cassida texana Crotch, larva, Texas. 
Coptocycla aurichalcea Fabr., 
Virginia. 
Chelymorphaargus Licht, larve,Iowa. 
Bruchus obsoletus Say, larve, pupa, 
imago, Indian Territory. 
Scotobates calcaratus Fabr., 
Washington, D. C. 
Diaperis hydni Fabr., 
New Jersey. 


larve, 


larvee, 


larva, 


larve, imago, 


934. Hypophleus parallelus Melsh, lar- 


94. 


95. 


96. 


Wi 


98. 


99: 
100. 


101. 


102. 


ve, imago, Michigan. 
Platydema ellipticum Fabr., larve, 
pupa, imago, Washington, D. C. 
Bolitotherus bifurcus Fabr., larva, 
Massachusetts. 

Hymenorus rufipes Lec., larva, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

Synchroa punetata Newm., larve, 
Missouri. 

Penthe pimelia Fabr., 
gan. 

Oxacis dorsalis Melsh., pupa, Florida. 

Mordella 8-punctata Fabr., larva, 
Missouri. 

Hornia minutipennis Riley, triungu- 
lins, Washington, D.C. 

Aramigus fullert Horn, larvee, pupa, 
New Jersey. 


larve, Michi- 


103. 
104, 
105. 
106. 
LOZ. 
108. 
109. 
110. 
111. 
112. 
113. 
114. 
115. 


116. 
ee, 
118. 

119. 
120. 
121. 
122. 
128. 


124. 


Pissodes strobi Peck, larve, Wash- 
ington, D. U. 

Lissorhoptrus simplex Say, larve, 
Georgia. 

Authonomus grandis Gyllb.?, larve, 
pupa, imago, Mexico. 

Magdalis armicollis Say, larve, pupa, 
imago, Michigan. 

Conotrachelus nenuphar Herbst, lar- 
ve, Ohio. 


Tyloderma foveolatum Say, larva, 
pupa, Indiana. 
Chalcodermus wneus Boh., larve, 


Florida. 

Balaninus nasicus Say, larvee, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

Centrinus picumnus Herbst, larve, 
indiana. 


Rhynchophorus cruentatus Fabr., 
larva, Florida. 
Scyphophorus yucce Horn, larva, 


pupa, California. 

Sphenophorus robustus Horn, larva, 
pupa, California. 

Eupsalis minuta Drury, larve, pupa, 
Missouri. 

Scolytus 4-spinosus Say, larve, pupe, 
Missouri. 


Phleotribus liminaris Harris, larve, 
New York. 

Phenicobius chameropis Lec., larve, 
Georgia. 

Sinoxylon basilare Say, larve, imago, 
Washington, D. C. 

Litargus tetraspilotus Lec., larve, 
West Virginia. 

Mordellistena floridensis Smith, Tato 
pupa, imago, Florida. 

Tenebrio tenebrioides Beauv., 
imago, Michigan. 


larve, 


Disonycha  collaris 
Michigan. 


Fabr., larva, 


Paratenetus punctatus Sol., larve, 


imago, Washington, D. C. 


Eggs of the American Meromyza: a Correction. 


Kindly allow me space in your journal for a correction of the proceedings of the 
Entomological Club of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
as reported in Vol. 111, No. 2, of INSEcT LIFE. 

I am made to say that according to my experience the eggs of Meromyza americana 


are placed above the ensheathing parts of the blades of wheat. 


What I did state 


was, that I had very generally found them wpon the ensheathing parts, not above. 


333 


Following the reading of Professor Osborn’s paper on insect diseases, some one stated 
that experiments were under way looking to the destruction of the Boll Worm by 
means of the bacteria which accompany a disease of larval Pieris rape. Without giv-. 
ing my reasons in detail, I stated that this disease did not seem to me a promising 
one for the purpose, and suggested that diseases which affect the Forest tent cater- 
pillar (not the ‘‘Tent caterpillar”), or the striped cut worm, might prove more avail- 
able. In justification of this opinion I may uow add that with a good deal of expe- 
rience with the disease of P. rape, in the laboratory and out, I have yet to see an 
unquestionable instance of the transfer of the disease to another species. Here at 
Lexington the two species, P. rape and P. protodice, are about equally common and 
occurtogether. A field in which fully 75 per cent. of P. rape were affected was under 
close observation during the past summer, and not a case of the disease in P. protodice 
was observed. With the dead larve of P. rape abundant in the cabbage, and their 
fluids constantly spread over the leaves by dews and rains, a better test, on a large 
scale, of the communicability of this disease could scarcely have been devised. Ap- 
plied to the case of the Boll Worm this is negative evidence, but none the less worth 
considering where it is important to get prompt returns for labor.—[ UH. Garman, 
Lexington, Ky., November, 1890. 


Beetles and Moths infesting Stored Corn in Venezuela. 


I take the liberty ot forwarding by mail a small insect which causes great damage 
to Indian corn when shelled and warehoused, with the request that it be examined 
and given its proper designation. This insect attacks the ripe corn after being shelled 
and stored and causes great fluctuations in the market price, and from this cause 
alone the cereal in question has frequently risen from $1 to $9 or $10 per “‘ fanega” 
(240 pounds).—[E. H. Plumacher, U. S. consul, Maracaibo, Venezuela, August 11, 
1890. 

REPLY. The insects prove to belong to the following species: 

Calandra oryze L., Echocerus mazillosus Fab., Trogosita mauritanca L., Tribolium 
ferrugineum Fab., and one of the grain moths, Ephestia sp., of which a few specimens 
were found, but all too badly damaged to be specifically determined. The first four 
insects mentioned are cosmopolitan beetles and infest stored grain the world over. 
The first mentioned, C. oryz@, was by far the most abundant in the sample sent and 
doubtless causes the major part of the injury. A closely allied insect, Calandra 
granaria, also widely distributed, has been reported to be very injurious to stored 
grain in Chili and doubtless also occurs with you. 

The larva of the Trogosita is now doubtfully supposed to be carnivorous in habit 
and to feed on the larve of other insects. It was long supposed to feed on the grain, 
and its carnivorous nature is still somewhat of a mooted question. The habits of 
the other three beetles are similar. The early stages and also the adult forms feed 
on the grain, as does also the adult of the Trogosita. . 

The species of Ephestia is either E. kiihniella or E. interpunctella, both well known 
grain pests. It wiil be very desirable for you to send us additional samples of the 
grain, containing, if possible, the larve and pupe of this moth, so that the species 
can be positively determined. The matter is one of considerable interest as it may 
throw some light on the origin of the so-called Mediterranean Flour Moth (Ephestia 
kiihniella), which is still in doubt. 

No complete remedy for these insects has yet been devised, although considerable 
effort has been made in this direction both in this country and Europe. Preventive 
* measures of value consist in maintaining the utmost cleanliness about granaries, in 
keeping the walls freshly whitewashed, and in shifting the grain from time to time. 

Of the direct remedies the most satisfactory and available one is the use ot bisul- 
phide of carbon, which may be satisfactorily employed if the grain is kept in tight 
granaries and bins. After all the cracks have been closed as tightly as possible, an 


334 


open vessel containing the bisulphide of carbon should be placed on the grain. This 
substance is extremely volatile, and the vapor is heavier than air and will permeate 
the entire mass of grain. Great care must be taken in the use of this substance, as 
it is extremely inflammable. The carbon bisulphide does no harm to the grain what- 
ever and the odor is soon lost upon airing, and experiments seem to show that the 
germinating power is not affected by its use. If the grain can be tightly inclosed 
for this experiment the amount necessary is small, not more than 14 pounds to each 
ton of grain being required. Of course in more open bins or cribs a larger amount 
will be necessary, and the application will have to be repeated at much shorter 
intervals. 

Naphthaline and benzine may also be employed, and as the latter is also highly in- 
flammable, the same precautions are necessary in its use as with the bisulphide. Its 
action is somewhat slower and larger quantities will need to be used. It will be 
best to place the naphthaline powder or benzine at the bottom of the bin or bulk of 
grain. This can be accomplished by the use of tubes. In India hollow bamboo 
rods are used for this purpose. The naphthaline acts as a repellant, and also has 
insecticide properties. Benzine acts in the same way, and its insecticide valne is 
much greater, butis inferior to the bisulphide. The use of naphthaline, however, is 
objectionable, because it gives a more or less permanent odor to the grain.—[ Oct. 14, 
1890. ] 

Sweet Potato Root-borer. 


I inclose you in a small tin box some pieces of sweet potato and the bug and worm 
that has destroyed our sweet potato crop for 3 years in this neighborhood. The bug 
or worm goes down the vine from above the ground. I find asmall hole down through 
the middle of the vine into the potato. If there is any way to destroy this bug which 
the Department knows of, it would be a great blessing to this community.—[T. H. 
Edwards, Bay View, Harris County, Tex. 

REpLy.—The insect in question is known as the sweet potato root-borer (Cylas 
formicarius). This insect is treated in the report of the Entomologist, in the annual 
report of this Department for 1879, page 249. It is a widely distributed insect and 
has been reported from China, India, Madagascar, Cuba, Louisiana, and Florida, and 
was doubtless introduced into the United States through Cuba. The early stages are 
passed in the sweet potato, the eggs being deposited in cavities eaten out by the 
parent beetles. The larve burrow in the rootin all directions. When full grown the 
pupal state is assumed in cavities near the end of the larval burrow and the mature 
beetle on emerging continues to feed on the potatoes. No remedy has been suggested 
except the one given in the report cited, which is to dig the potatoes as soon as they 
are found to be infested and feed those containing insects to stock.—[ October 13, 1890. ] 


The Whip-tail Scorpion. 


Yours of the 3d instant duly to hand. In reply will say Iam very cautious not to 
handle the Whip-tail Scorpions with my bare hands. I have neverseen the eggs. I 
found the young specimens under the rain tubs, old wood, etc. They generally have a 
hole they hide in when I look for them, but dig them out. I often smell the acid odor 
you mention when I find the large old ones. On one occasion several years ago I was © 
holding one on a large chip, taking a good look at him, when he ejected astream at least _ 
afoot upwards, and it fell upon my sleeve about the elbow. I was afraid it would go 
into my face. I was very careful that he did not turn the hose on me any more. That 
was the only time I ever saw that operation, and I have handled dozens of them. 
I do not know if that is one of their means of defense, or whether it was just acci- 
dental that it so happened. People here mostly are afraid of them. The colored 
man I referred to in a former letter was the first person I ever heard of that took 
them in the hand. He said he saw some one handle them, but was afraid of them 
himself. Some say they apply the poison with the tail after cutting with the big 


335 


claws. I am glad the specimens arrived in as good order as they did. I would like 
to know if they are really poisonous or hurtful. If you should wish any more I can 
furnish them to you. We have plenty of the common Scorpions—stinging kind. I 
saw an old one with six or eight young ones on her back, riding them around. My 
wife was stung several times with these. It is like a wasp sting only.—[Dr. L. B. 
Rowland, Silver Springs Park, Marion County, Fla., October, 1890. 


Horse flies in Texas. 


I have specimens of the insects mentioned in my last letter. The little fly that 
bites the horses’ ears you will find in the cap box; I captured two of them. They were 
so gorged with blood that they rotted in two days, but perhaps you will recognize 
them. In the same box you will find flies that bite the horses’ legs and belly; 
you will perhaps notice two different kinds of these small flies; the one with the 
green eyes bite the belly and the gray-eyed ones the legs; you will also find another 
big black fly which looks Ccifferent from the one I sent you before. In that bottle 
you will find the gray Tabanus and the green-eyed one, also some Hymenoptera. In 
the square bottle your will find some beetles. The beetles come in at the window at 
night, but the flies I captured on the horses. [F. W. Thurow, Hockley, Harris County, 
Tex., June 20, 1890. 

REepLy.—The specimens have been determined as follows: 

Chrysops vittatus Wied. is the species mentioned in your former letter and also 
inclosed in your last letter. 

Chrysops sp. is the little fly which bites the ears of horses. Itis too badly damaged 
to determine specifically. 

4 Tabanus lineola and T. costalis? are the gray-eyed flies which infest the legs of the 
orses. 

Tabanus sp. is the green-eyed fly mentioned. It is too badly injured to be deter- - 
mined. 

Tabanus americanus is the large black fly. 

Tabanus molestus? is the gray fly. 

Chrysis sp. is the Hymenopteron, also too much injured to be further determined.— 
[June 26, 1890. ] 

A Borer in a Tree Fungus. 


I send you by mail to-day what may be a peculiar study of insect life, a piece of 
fungus growth which I secured for the purpose of painting, thereon a landscape. 
While standing on a mantel awaiting the convenience of the artist, the holes you 
will find in it appeared, evidently spoiling it for artistic effect. I noticed about them 
a number of minute flies but no larva, but a few days ago I detected the operation 
of some individual inside. I have closed up the holes and send it to some one better 
able to investigate than self. I don’t know that it will be new or interesting but 
concluded no serious harm would be done by forwarding it to you.—[T. P. Hen- 
derson, Hulton, Pa., September 3, 1890. 

REpLy.—-* * * This fungus of the genus Polyporus has been bored by one of 
the common fungus beetles known as Boletotherus bifurcus. It is a common insect, 
but is seldom noticed except by those who aresearching forit. Careful examination 
of the fungus sent shows three living beetles, but no larve or pupx.—[September 4, 
1890. ] 


Migration of Callidryas eubule. 


I send you inclosed a butterfly that has been attracting a great deal of attention 
in this part of Alabama. 

They are flying over our country by millions, from a northwesterly direction in a 
southeasterly course. When they come to trees or houses they rise gradually and fly 
overthem. They light but for a short time on leaves and flowers and then hasten: 


24998—No. 7-——3 ‘ ; 


i 

336 | | 
onward. What is the name of this butterfly? What is the worm called ? Upoall 
what does it feed ?—[John M. Davis, Fayette Court-House, Alabama, September 12, 
1890. | 
REpPLy.—The butterfly which you send is known as Cullidryas eubule, and we are | 
very glad to get your note upon the migration of this species. It feeds upon the dif- 
ferent plants of the genus Cassia, the most common of which in your ——— is, I 


believe C. grandiflora.—[ September 16, 1590. ] 
The Brassy Flea Beetle injuring Corn. 


Inclosed you willplease find an envelope in which are some insects which I will call 
the corn flea. They have infested the corn in this locality pretty generally the present | 
season. It attacked the plant when not more than two blades high, and has kept at 
work on it all the season up to the present time. As the corn grew they seemed to. 
increase in numbers until there would be as many as a dozen or more to the blade. 

It keeps on the underside of the leaf most of the time and will jump if disturbed 
in the least, and sometimes will jump at the mere approach of a person. From this) 
habit, it seems to have escaped the notice of nearly every farmer until his attention 
is called toit. I have asked a number what they thought was the cause of the | 
blight of the corn blades, and, with but one exception, they have attributed it to the | 
dry weather, until their attentions were called to the little pest. I alsoinclose a 
corn blade that you may see the effect as it appears. Can you tell who the little 
stranger is, and something of his history and habits ?—[J. J. Baldwin, Westfield, Ind. | 
October 6, 1890. | 

REpLY.—The little insect which you call the ‘‘ corn flea” is known to entomologists | 
as the Brassy Flea Beetle (Chetocnema pulicaria). This insect is often observed feed- 
ing as you describe it both upon corn and grasses, but its life history is not known 
nor has it ever been reported in sufficient numbers to make it worth while to look | 
into the matter of remedies.—[ October 10, 1890. ] 


The Banded Sand Cricket. 


Having discovered the ‘missing link” which connects the Crustacea with the Or- 
thopterous insects, I send it to you to-day by mail in a tin box. Some one left this 
insect for me at my office, and as yet I have been unable to say where it was cap- 
tured. It is safe to conjecture, however, that it was found at Miles City or vicinity 
about September 28, 1890, as it was alive and in an open tin can when I arrived at 
my office. Never having seen this insect before, I write to ask what it is?—[C. A. 
Wiley, Miles City, Montana, September 29, 1890. | 

Repty: The insect which you send is a specimen of the Banded Sand Cricket 
(Stenuvpelmatus fasciatus). This insect is found not uncommonly under stones and 
in a loose soil from Idaho to the Pacific coast avd southward. It is carnivorons, 
feeding upon other insects, and in the Southwest is greatly feared by the Mexicans, 
who consider its bite to be extremely poisonous. This is, however, unquestionably a 
mistake, and probably arises from the fact that Arachnids of the poisonous genus 
Galeodes somewhat resemble these sand crickets and are found in similar locations. 
With regard to your suggestion that this species forms a connecting link between the 
Crustacea and the Orthoptera, I may state that it belongs to the Orthopterous family 
Locustide, which includes the long-horn grasshoppers, the Syne and the stone 
crickets.—[ October 4, 1890. ] 


A curious Bedbug find. 


Referring to page 21, Vol. III, the article on bedbugs in unusual places reminds 
me of a find made by myself some time ago late in October. Passing a swamp, I saw 
some cat-tails in the distance, which I procured after some tall wading. What was my 
surprise, after placing them in the carriage, to find the heads of each spike crammed 


337 


with bedbugs; leastwise the woman said they were such, as they looked and smelt 
‘like them. But the mystery to me was, how on earth did they get there, a mile from 
any house, and in the midst of a pond, always known to be full to the banks with . 
water. Perhaps they crossed in the winter on the ice. At all events, as the poet says, 
‘‘They got there all the same.” [Dr. E. Sterling, Cleveland, Ohio, September 26, 
1890. . 
REPLY. It is altogether probable thatthe bug which you found upon the reeds was 
a different species although resembling the bedbug. * * * —[September 27, 1890.] 


The poisonous Spider of Australia. 


Mr. G. B. Federli, viticultural expert, writes: ‘‘ I made inquiries about the bites of 
the Lathrodectus, and the following information will very likely be of some interest to 
you. T. W. Taylor, a miner, residing at Wooragee, Beechworth, was bitten by the 
Lathrodectus on the first joint of the first finger. Immediately afterward a darting, 
painful sensation, followed by rapid swelling and severe pain, were experienced. He 
applied to a doctor, who amputated the first joint of the finger. The Italians, who 
are working in the bush at Chiltera and elsewhere, I am told, in the case of bites of 
the Lathrodectus or by the bull-ant, apply at once soft earth, with a preference for 
black soil, if close at hand, and I am assured with successful results.” 

Mr. C. McPherson, of Shepparton, who was bitten by one of these spiders in the 
foot, says: ‘‘At first it is just like the prick of a pin. Then for a time the pain in- 
creases until it becomes unbearable and excruciating. The time I was bitten was 
about 4 o’clock in the morning. The spider evidently fell from the ceiling. I was 
bitten on the toe and suffered for about 4 or 5 hours. A chemist gave me a prescrip- 
tion that stopped the pain. After the pain ceased perspiration broke out right up 
the calf of the leg. 

‘‘T know a man who was bitten in a closet and suffered for some weeks. He ran - 
about like a mad person. Mrs. Dennis, of Cosgrove, was bitten on the finger, and a 
doctor scarified the joint. 

‘¢The spiders take up their abode in deserted houses, sometimes in the walls or ceil- 
ing cf unoccupied houses. They frequent outhouses. 

‘‘T have known some cases where symptoms of the pain have reoccurred at regular 
seasons.”—[C. O. Montrose, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia. 


Notes from Mississippi. 


The Cabbage Pionea (Pionea rimosalis, G.).—This worm has been more numerous 
than last season, and has been more destructive as a garden pest than any of the other 

~worms named below. 

The Cabbage Plusia ( Plusia brassicw, R.).—Quite abundant in every garden in this 
locality, doing some injury. 

The Southern Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris protodice, B.).—Not as injurious as the 
above-named worms. 

The Greasy Cut-Worm (larva of dgrotis ypsilon, R.)—More numerous than last 
season ; very destructive in all gardens during April and May to young cabbage and 
tomato plants. . 

The Tomato Worm (Sphinz quirquemaculata).—This worm has been quite numerous 
and very damaging to tomato vines and its fruit. Captured one specimen well sup- 
plied with little cocoons of Apanteles congregatus, like Fig. 73, page 105, Bulletin Ag- 
ricultural Experiment Station of Nebraska, Volume III, Article No. 2. 

The Striped Cucumber-Beetle (Diabrotica vittata).—Very damaging to squash and 
cucumber vines; also observed feeding upon bush beans. 

The Squash-Vine Borer ( Melittia ceto, W.).—Very injurious to squash, cucumber, 
and cashaw vines. 

The Melon Worm (Phakellura hyalinatalis, L.).—Very destructive the past season, 
eating cavities into melons, cucumbers, and cashaws; also devouring their foliage. 


338 


Proconia undata. Found specimens feeding on okra during August. 


The Celery Worm (Papilio asterias, C.).—This is the first season I observed this cat- | 


erpillar in this locality, feeding on De and carrots in large numbers. 
The Boll Worm, (Heliothis armigera, H.).—Reported from every district in this 


county as the chief enemy known to cotton this season; its damage will reduce the 


_ yield fully two-fifths. The general injury to the corn crop is not as great as common. 

The Corn-root Worm (Diabrotica 12-punctata).—The larva of the same very destruc- 
tive to young corn plants during April. 

The Granulated Cutworm (larva of Agrotis annexa).—Reported from all parts of 
this county quite numerous and very destructive to young cotton plants during April 
and May. 

The Tobacco Worm (Sphinx carolina).—Very common, as usual. 

The Garden Web-worm (Hurycreon rantalis, G.). —Quite numerous on cotton and 
sweet-potato vines, injuring the same to some extent. 

The Spotted Grapevine Beetle (Pelidnota punctata, F.).—This insect doing some 
damage to grapevines, but are yet in limited numbers in this locality. 

The Satellite Sphinx.—This insect found feeding on grapevines during June anu 
July. 

The Grape-leaf Folder (Desmia maculalis).—Very numerous and destructive to grape7 
vines this past season. 

The Common Yellow Bear (Spilosoma virginica).—Doing some injury to grapevines. 

The Yellow-necked Apple-tree Caterpillar (Datana ministra) observed in large 
numbers on apple trees in this locality. 

The Fall Web-worm (Hyphantria cunea, D.)—This insect has been more numerous 
than common, defoliating a great number of trees in this county, chiefly amongst 
them the following: Apple, pear, plum, crab apple, wild plum, pecan, persimmon, 
mulberry, sweet gum, black or sour gum, sycamore, sourwood, black locust, shell-bark 
hickory, and also observed them devouring cotton plants. 

The White-marked Tussock Caterpillar ( Orgyia leucostigma, S.).—Captured several 
specimens defoliating apple tiees. 

The Green-striped Maple-worm (Anisota rubicunda, F.).—This caterpillar stripping 
the foliage of maples in this county to some extent. 

The Catalpa Sphinx (Sphinx catalpe, B.).—Quite numerous and destructive to the 
foliage of every tree in this locality. 

The American Silkworm (Antherea polyphemus, L.).—This insect found feeding on 
the foliage of several forest trees in this county. 

The Antiopa (Huvanessa antiopa, L.).—This caterpillar has been quite numerous in 
this section of our county, feeding chiefly on the foliage of the slippery-elm tree. 

The yellow and black Swallow-tail Butterfly (Papilio turnus, L.)—This insect has 
been numerous and very damaging to some forest trees. 


The Cottonwood Leaf: beetle (Lina scripta. F.).—Quite numerous and destructive to ~ 


the Cottonwood in this county. 
The Twig Girdler (Oncideres cingulatus).—Very common on hickory, pecan, and per- 
simmon trees. [Geo. H. Kent, Roxie, Miss., September 20, 1890. 


Carnivorous Habits of Locusts. 


Is it common for the iocusts to be carnivorous? Yesterday in picking off some 
Zebra caterpillars from cauliflowers in my garden I noticed a common red-legged 
grasshopper whose actions arrested my attention. Examining him I fuund he was 
eating an insect. He was so occupied he allowed me to take him up in my hand 
when I saw that he was chewing away at the abdomen of the striped bug, such as 
eats cucumber vines. Replacing him ou the plant he completed his meal, leaving 
nothing but the wings. This was a surprise to me, as I supposed all the grasshoppers 
were strictly vegetarians. I have noticed that the common fire-fly is carnivorous. 
[George L. Clark, Boston, Mass., October 1, 1890. 


339 


REpPLY.—It is not common for locusts to be carnivorous, but instances such as that 
which you mention are occasionally observed not only with locusts but with other ~ 


_plant-feeding insects.—[ October 2, 1890. ] 


Citheronia injuring Cotton. 


I send you a worm that has this year for the first time made its attack on the cotton 
plant. Please examine him and tell us something about him and what we are to 
expect from him in the future. He has destroyed considerable cotton plant in some 
places. He attacksand eats the plant much the same as the small cotton worm does, 
only he eats stalk as well as leaves —[ D.C. Scarborough, Natchitoches, La., October 
2, 1890. i 

ReEpLy.—The caterpillar which you send is the so-called Royal-horned Walnut 
caterpillar, and is the larva of a handsome moth known as the Regal Walnut 
moth (Citheronia regalis). This caterpillar has been recorded as feeding upon quite 
a variety of trees and shrubs, among them walnut, hickory, butternut, persimmon, 
and sumach, but so far as known it has never been recorded as feeding upon cotton. 
It is a comparatively rare species and has never been recorded in sufficient numbers 
to do any appreciable damage. Its large size and brilliant coloration render it easily 
seen, and the few which will be found upon cotton plants may be killed by hand with- 
out taking any other precautions.—[ October 6, 1890. ] 


Gelechia cerealella in Virginia. 


We send with this sample of wheat raised in Virginia near Gunston which has a 
new kind of abuginittous. At first we thought it was the black weevil, as it cats 
out the heart of the grain, but as you see it producesa fly. We are finding it ina 
large number of samples offering, but have never had quantity enough to tell how it 
will affect the flour, or if the grain will heat if in bulk as weevil will do.—[{W. H. 
Tenney & Sons, Georgetown, D. C., September 18, 1890. 

ReEpLy.—The pest is the Angoumois grain-moth (Gelechia cerealella). You will 
find an account of this insect in the annual report of this Department for 1884, pages 
345 to 355, which contains a digest of the information which we have concerning it. 
We are not informed as to whether the grain will be more apt to heat in bulkif at- 
tacked by this insect. The quality of the flour, however, is unquestionably damaged 
by its presence in numbers, and it will pay you to adopt stringent measures to pre- 
vent this insect getting a fo thold in your mills. The best method of destroying it 
will be to quarantine all infested grain in tight bins and disinfect it by means of the 
carbon bisulphide treatment. Of this substance not more than1} pound toa ton 
should be used.—[October 7, 1890. ] 


Appearance of wheat infested with Hessian fly. 


* * * In my report on Hessian fly I shall deal with the effect of larve on young 
plants. I think you havenever quite agreed with me as to the appearance of affected 
plants. I send to-day two boxes, one of injured and one of healthy plants. Now I 
have not myself touched these, but Professor Plumb went to the field with me, dug 
up whatI told him to. Isend these, 4 being infested and B healthy plants. This 
is pure guesswork. I want you to look these over and tell me the result. How many 
mistakes have I made?—[ F. M. Webster, La Fayette, Ind., September 20, 1890. 

REpLyY.—Of the lot 4 (infested plants) 37 were infested and 1 was healthy. Of the 
lot B (healthy plants) 6 were infested and 35 healthy. The difference in the general 
color of the two lots is quite marked but I strongly suspect that the common wheat 
rust has something to do with this, since the yellowing of the less infested plants is 
evidently due to the greater abundance of rust on them than on the plants more 
attacked by Hessian fly. * * * The stooling or fasciation of the plants is just 
what one would expect, as this tendency to stooling is the common result of any 


340 


pense s a Ds 


influence which depletes or checks the growth of the plant. Aninteresting question 
arises in this connection, namely, whether a mild attack of Hessian fly may not be | 
an actual benefit, because I believe that effective stooling isa desideratum in all winter | 
wheat regions. At least it used to be so in my farming days, and the policy of sowing | 
thin rather than thick was based upon the tendency to stool. 1 believe that two. 
months hence, or during the winter season, the appearance of the plants badly 
infested and those but little affected by Hessian fly will be totally changed; i. e. the | 
badly infested field will be much more yellow in appearance than the non-infested. | 
This is what I meant, and what has probably led you to believe that I did not agree | 
with you in the appearance of affected plants. It will be very interesting to have 
this experiment repeated, of Professor Plumb’s choosing, in a field not affected by 
rust. In such case you would have to depend entirely on the greater tendency to 
stooling of the infested plants, and not be guided very much by color. Is this not 
so, or do you claim that the work of the Hessian fly, in addition to causing the stool- 
ing, also induces a darker color of leaf ?—[September 24, 1890. ] 


House-fly Parasites. 


* * * Inclosed you will find some common house flies which are infested with 
parasites. I first discovered them last season and not infrequently find a fly upon 
which I can count a dozen with my naked eye, and, as soon as the fly is killed, they 
walk off briskly on their six legs. It has been a matter of remark that flies are 
scarce this year and can it be possible that these mites are decimating the pests ?— 
[Miss Sarah Parker, Gouverneur, St. Lawrence County, New York, September 22, 
1890. 

REPLyY.—* * * The mites which you found upon the common house fly are the 
young forms of the species which Professor Riley described in the first report of the 
United States Entomological Commission as Trombidium muscarum, and it is very 
common in this country as well as in Europe, where the larval form was previously 
described as Astoma parasiticum by the French entomologist Latreille. This six- 
legged form which you have noticed is a larval form. After leaving the fly it crawls 
away and sheds a skin, coming out asa reddish colored eight-legged mite.—[Septem- 
ber 25, 1890. ] 


Night Swarming of Lace-wing Flies. 


Inclosed you will find an insect that has fairly taken possession of our little islands. 
It works in the night, and at daylight hides in cracks and out of the way places 
where the sun’s rays do not penetrate. * * * [James J. W. Doyles, first assistant 
keeper, Cape Flattery Light Station, Washington, Aug. 30, 1290. 

REPLY * * * The matter proves to be one of considerable interest, as the insect 
is one of suspected abnormal habits. It is one of the lace-winged flies and is known 
as Polystechotes punctatus. While the majority of the insects of this family are air- 
breathers in their larval states, it has been suspected that the larve of this creature 
are aquatic, but in all of them the larve are predaceous and carnivorous and as they 
feed very little or not at all as adults, they are beneficial rather than injurious in- 
sects. If the supposition concerning this species is correct, it should be breeding in 
great numbers in some fresh-water stream or pond near your light, or possibly at 
some distance, as they are strong fliers. It is a matter which would be very interest- 
ing to investigate as they are present in such large numbers, and it seems that with 
careful watching you ought to see the females lay theireggs. It ought not to be 
much trouble to watch the eggs hatch, and thus ascertain the habits of the larva. 
The place of oviposition would indicate a good deal. 

We should be very glad to have you look into the matter a little and to repens any 
observations which you may make.—[September 11, 1890.1 


341 


GENERAL NOTES. 
RECENT PAPERS ON EUROPEAN GRAPE INSECTS. 


Our energetic and enterprising friend, M. V. Vermorel, the founder 
and owner of the Viticultural Experiment Station at Villefranche, 
France, which we ‘Visited last year, has just published the first two 
numbers (iu one volume) of anew quarterly journal* devoted to viti- 
eulture. The volume is almost entirely taken up by two excellent en- 
tomological papers. The first is entitled ‘* Contributions a l’étude du 
Gribouri,” by E. Dupont, and gives careful original observations on the 
oviposition and iarval injury of Adorus vitis, a Chrysomelid beetle 
which is very injurious to the grape in Europe, and which occurs also 
in the boreal! portion of North America. A colored plate illustrates the 
egg and the young larva, while two other plates illustrate contrivances 
to observe the working of the larva on the roots of living plants. The 
second paper is a very complete monograph of ‘* La Cochyle” which is 
a Tortricid moth (Cochylis ambiguella Hiibn.), and next to the Phylloxera 
perhaps the most important grape insect in France. The chapter on 
the various remedial measures is especially full and will be found of 
great interest to our own economic entomologists, although the insect 
itself fortunately does not occur in North America. Three well exe- 
cuted colored plates illustrate the various stages of the Cochylis and the 
work of the larva on the blossoms and berries. 


CODLING MOTH LEGISLATION IN NEW ZEALAND. 


During the past two or three years there has been a great deal of 
talk in New Zealand with regard to instituting some legislation against 
the Codling Moth and several acts have been proposed inthe house of 
representatives. So far as we know, however, no actual laws are yet 
enforced. Inthe New Zealand Farmer for August 18, 1890, we notice 
that Mr. Wight has published some very pertinent criticisms on the pro- 
posed legislation. He shows that the marked differences between the 
Phylloxera and the Codling Moth consists in that with the latter insect 
the tree is not destroyed nor even injured, and that there are many 
remedies by which the insect may be killed. With the Phylloxera, there- 
fore, severe measures are to be employed, while with the Codling Moth 
too severe measures will lead to unnecessary loss and to no ultimate 
good results. As arule orchardists may be trusted to look after their 
orchards, requiring only protection from their careless neighbors. Mr. 
Wight seems to think that these latter should not be fined, but that 
some working gardener should be induced to go into the business and 
should be permitted to spray trees with Paris green ata fixed rate. The 
owners of the trees would soon find that the value of the apples saved 


* Revue Trimestrielle de la Station Viticole de Villefranche (Rhéne), 1890, Nos. 1-2. 


342 3 ; 


would so far exceed the cost of spraying that no one would neglect the j 
opportunity and very little compulsion would be necessary. With im- 
provident orchardists, and even with others, the cost of the appliances, | 
the lack of time to use them, the lack of knowledge as to actually what | 
to do is the main trouble. The proposed inspectors should simply have _ 
to see that the trees were sprayed at the proper time. Mr. Wight holds | 
up to ridicule the suggestion that heavy fines should be imposed upon © 
the giving away, selling, or otherwise disposing of diseased apples. He 
shows how impossible it is to exterminate the insect and how univer- — 
sally it is carried about in articles of import. He has seen a larva car- | 
ried over 100 miles on the leg of a pair of trousers, and shows how it is | 
sent in packages of groceries and in cases of hardware and other articles — 
of trade. He calls attention to the important point that there is no 
clause in the last proposed act to protect mere tenants for short terms. — 
He shows that there are a great many orchards that have been let to — 
tenants on short leases and that many of these orchards-have become 
badly infested before the present occupants were tenants. The result 
of the last proposed act then would be to place upon the shoulders of 
tenants the whole expense of cleaning another man’s trees, and even in ~ 
some cases where their term of occupancy would cease before the next 
crop is harvested. He mentions one case where it would cost more than 
the trees were worth to cure them and where the tenant would not have 
have been in occupation to receive a single apple resulting. 


FEEDING HABITS OF THE BEE MOTH. 


A dispute regarding the feeding habits of the Bee Moth (Galleria 
cereana) has arisen between Messrs. George Balding and C. G. Barrett 
(see Entomologists’ Monthly Magazine, vol. 26, 1890, pp. 19-20, and 157}, 
the former believing that the larva feeds as freely on new as onold comb, 
the latter asserting that it attacks only old comb. From our own obser- 
vations we think there can be no doubt that neither is wholly right or 
wholly wrong, as the age of the comb does not affect the Galleria’s work 
so much as the strength of the colony, which is apt to be least vigorous 
when the comb is old. 


e 


TINEID MOTHS WITH PIERCING OVIPOSITOR. 


As a most interesting result of careful observations, Mr. J. H. Wood 
announces in the Hntomologists’ Monthly Magazine for June, 1890 (pp. 
148-150), that in certain species of the genus Micropteryx and in other 
genera (Mr. Wood only mentions Incurvaria by name) the female “ lays 
her eggs like a sawfly, within the substance of the leaf.” The oviposi- 
tion in M. semipurpurella was watched by Mr. Wood, and when the leaf 
was examined “it was seen that a small incision had been made-on the 
under side, which led to a rather deep oval chamber or pocket, at the 
bottom of which the egg lay.” For a description of the intricate pierc- 
ing apparatus the reader is referred to Mr. Wood’s description. It suf- 


343 


fices to say here that the cutting instrument proper resembles a sur- 
geon’s lancet, the two edges of which are armed with a saw, and that 
the modification of the typical Lepidopterous ovipositor is in the same 
lines as shown by us in Pronuba and Prodoxus. The sawing or piere- 
ing ovipositor is more common in Microlepidoptera than is generally 
supposed. 


ALTERATIONS IN THE FORM OF PLANTS DUE TO COCCID&. 


On this subject Mr. W. M. Maskell has an interesting article in the 
November, 1890, number of the Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine. After 
stating that the great majority of Coccids do not materially alter the 
form of the plants they infest, he discusses briefly the few species that 
are known as gall makers. The usual explanation that these galls are 
produced ‘by irritation of the tissue consequent on the suction of the 
plant juices through the rostral tubes of the insect” Mr. Maskell thinks 
insufficient, for the reason that, since all Coccids work in precisely the 
same way, the absence of galls in the majority of species is not ac- 
counted for. More space is devoted to the *‘ burrowing” Coceids, 7. e., 
those species which produce on the leaves or twigs they infest shal- 
lower or deeper cavities, until we come to such species as are more or 
less completely buried in the substance of the leaf or the bark. Since 
most of these burrowing species are apodous, the legs can play no part 
in producing the excavations, nor is it known that Coccids secrete any 
acrid or acid fluid. The explanation that the excavations “ are merely 
due to the increasing growth of the insect, which, passively as it were, 
prevents the growth of the plant from filling up its usual form,” would 
seem to be most plausible if the excavations occurred only on young 
and soft leaves or twigs; but since they occur also on the harder and 
older leaves of bark, Mr. Maskell is inclined to admit that “ the action 
of the Coccid is not merely one of passive obstruction but one of active 
excavation.” We should argue here as we have done in discussing the 
same subject in Aphids, which produce galls or other deformations of 
plant tissue, that a poisonous principle must exist, however difficult to 
detect. 


INSECT INJURY TO BARREL STAVES. 


An interesting case is reported in the September number of the Kew 
Bulletin, in which some barrels which were shipped to Calcutta from the 
Indian store department were found on their arrival at Calcutta to have 
been spoiled, owing to the work of some insect in the staves. A question 
arose as to whether the casks were unsound when they were shipped 
from England, or whether they were attacked on board ship on the 
voyage out, and we can readily imagine that litigation would have 
arisen had this been a private matter rather than one of government 
concern. The circumstance was investigated by Mr. W. F. H. Bland- 
ford, lecturer on entomology at the Indian Civil Engineering College, 


344 


at Cooper’s Hill, who ascertained that the insect producing the damage 
was a Scolytid beetle—Trypodendron signatum—a European species 
that feeds in oak, birch, beech, and hazel. The borings of the beetle 
must have been already commenced at the time of the construction of 
the casks, and the latter were unsound when filled with beer; and fur-. 
ther, the injury received by insects on board ship has noth*ng whatever 
to do with it. In other words, had this been a commercial case, the 
shippers of the beer would have been responsible, and they could have 
recovered from the makers of the casks. 


COCAINE FOR INSECT STINGS. 


The city of Srinagar, in Garwal, East India, swarms with scorpions, 
and people often get stung by them. From a note in Hardwicke’s 
Science Gossip for November, 1890, we learn that Assistant Surgeon H. D. 
Tait, of that city, successfully uses cocaine hydrochlorate as a remedy. 
A hypodermic injection at or near the wound of one-half to one grain 
of cocaine in ten to fifteen drops of water is said to immediately stop 
the pain, with no subsequent inflammation. 


DERMESTES VULPINUS DAMAGING WOODWORK. 


Another instance of injury to woodwork by this Dermestid beetle 
(the natural history of which was given by us in the Agricultural Report 
for 1885, pp. 258-264) was recently brought to the knowledge of the 
members of the London Entomological Society by Mr. W. H. F. Bland- 
ford, at the meeting held October 1, 1890. In this case the insect 
damaged the roof of certain soap works near London, England, where 
it had no doubt been introduced with bones and fat. 


BIRDS PREYING UPON THE WALNUT CATERPILLAR. 


In the Journal of the Columbus Horticultural Society, vol. V, No. 3, 
September, 1890, is published an article by Mr. EK. V. Wilcox, read at 
the August meeting of the Society, upon this subject. He mentions the 
fact that he observed the Yellow-billed and Black-bilied Cuckoos, the 
Red-headed Woodpecker and the Blue Jay feeding upon the larva of 
Datana angusu. His observations were made in the vicinity of Colum- 
bus and he noticed that where the Cuckoos destroved their thousands 
the Blue Jays destroyed their tens of thousands. He noticed a flock 
of 20 or 30 of the latter bird feeding upon the caterpillars. He also 
noticed that they had a peculiar habit of picking the caterpillars from 
the leaves and dropping them to the ground. 


ATTEMPTED INTRODUCTION OF AN INSECTIVOROUS BIRD INTO ALGERIA. 


There is a common East Indian bird, Acridotheres tristis, called 
‘‘Meina” by the natives and ‘“ Martin triste” by the French. It does 
not fear man and builds under the roofs of houses. On account of its 


045 


very marked insectivorous habits it was introduced toward the middle 
of the last century into the island of Mauritius where, protected by an 
efficient law, it was easily acclimated. To this bird is credited the com- 
plete cessation of the locust irruptions in Mauritius as well as the sub- 
sequent immunity enjoyed there from various other insect pests. In 
view of this experience, efforts have been made to introduce this useful 
bird into Algeria, where, in spite of all efforts the locust depredations 
threaten to become permanent. In the Revue des Sciences Naturelles 
Appliquées (vol. 37, No.9, May, 1890, pp. 404-415), Mr. L. Magaud d’Au- 
busson gives an account of the attempts undertaken in 1867 and 1868, 
bunt more especially of a third one undertaken on a large scale by order 
the French secretary of agriculture. These attempts have hith- 
erto ended in failure, the principal reason being the rigor of the Alge- 
rian winter. In spite of all possible care, only a few of the birds 
survived the first winter, and these died during the second winter. 
Moreover, during these two years, no pairing and no nest building took 
place among the birds. Mr. d’Aubusson strongly advocates a contin- 
uation of these efforts to acclimatize the Meina, or to substitute for it 
another insectivorous bird, the Pastor roseus, which is widely distrib- 
uted in Central Asia and Southeastern Europe. We hope that these 
efforts will ultimately be crowned with success, for it is possible that in 
their success there may be some practical outcome for our country, 
where, also, the severity of the winter would prevent the simple intro- 
duction and acclimatization of this semi-tropical bird. 


NOTES ON MISCELLANEOUS FRUIT INSECTS. 


The following insects have been observed depredating upon the Straw- 
berry, they not having been previously recorded, so far as known to the 
writer, as affecting this plant. 

Anomala binotata: Observed feeding on the blossoms in May. Pyro- 
philapyramidoides: Larve observed feeding on the underside of leaves, 
May 13. These larve were quite young, but were fed in confinement 
on strawberry leaves, until nearly full grown. Arctia isabella: Cater- 
pillars observed during September, in considerable numbers, feeding on 
the foliage. 

Emphytus maculatus: The females were observed at La Fayette. ovi- 
positing in plants, April 18, and in the same place where this occurred, 
larve were found on May 20... At La Porte, Indiana, about 70 miles north 
of La Fayette, larvee were found in the garden of Hon. E. H. Scott, in 
great abundance on July 4. 

Ayphantria textor: Larve found feeding on the fruit of raspberries at 
Franklin, Indiana,onJune25. Hupitheciamiserulata: Larvee eating into 
the fruit of raspberry were repeatedly observed at La Fayette during 
June, some times in considerable numbers. CMcanthus niveus: In March 
a quantity of raspberry canes, containing great numbers of eggs of this 
species, were collected and placed in breeding cage. Late in May, a 


346 


very limited number of parasites belonging to the genus Idris were 
reared from these eggs. The young Gcanthus were found to be exceed- 
ingly fond of Toxoptera. Hudryas unio: Dr. Fitch, in his third report, 
gave the larve of this species as injurious to the foliage of the Grape, 
at the same time calling attention to the close resemblance between them 
and the larve of #. grata. From the fact that Dr. Lintner found that 
the larve of H. unio fed upon Huphorbia coloratum, Mr. Saunders, in 
his Insects Injurious to Fruits, first edition, page 261, considers it doubt- 
ful if H. unio was really a grapeinsect. During June we received from 
Knox County, Indiana, specimens of the larve of unto which were at that 
time destroying the foliage of grapes, thus leaving no doubt as to the 
correctness of Dr. Fitch’s statement.—F. M. WEBSTER, October 25, 1890. 


THE CODLING MOTH AS A FRIEND. 


Itis very interesting tosee what different views people take of the 
same thing, according to the effect it has upon their own individual in- 
terests. Most persons would have thought that the Codling Moth was 
to have been universally condemned as an unmitigated nuisance, but 
this does not appear to be the case. One evening when a certain geu- 
tleman attended a fruit-growers’ meeting at the Thames, in the Auck- 
land Province, for the purpose of giving a lecture on the Codling Moth, 
he observed one man amongst the audience, who, after the lecture was 
over and a general meeting was being held, was particularly eloquent 
in denouncing the little insect. He was a fruit grower and fruit-seller, 
having a very good orchard, and a thriving retail business in fruit. 
Next day when passing the shop the lecturer was called in and had a 
look at tbe apples, which appeared unusually fine and all perfectly 
_ free from the moth. He remarked that the fruiterer need not have 
been so bitter against a pest that certainly did not seem, judging from 
the condition of the fruit, to be very troublesome in his orchard. The 
_ retailer said he would explain it by-and-by, but they would have a glass 
of cider first. The bottle was produced, ‘‘no sooner said than done,” 
but before drinking a toast was proposed that astonished the visiter. 
‘¢ Here’s to the codling moth. Long may it live, and may its shadow 
never grow less!” ‘How do you like the cider, is the flavor good?” 
‘¢ Yes, it is splendid ; the flavor is excellent.” And now came the ex- 
planation. This man was an old, experienced American fruit-grower, 
and he kept his orchard well sprayed with Paris green and in conse- 
quence of that and other precautions lost but very few of his apples 
even cheaply, and his customers preferred giving him good prices to 
buying other people’s wormy fruit at lower rate. ‘‘Then why waste 
them in making cider?” ‘Oh, that is the best of it. I buy their apples 
and make the cider from them. Have another glass?” ‘No, thank 
you; not now [know what is in it.” *“* In America,” said the fruit mer- 
chant, ‘we set about curing an evil, but here they go to meetings to 
talk about it and abuse the Government. What you advised them to 


A ty 
v prea tele » 


347 


do was right enough, but it was only waste of time. In this country 
they have their ‘ British growl,’ as they call it, but they don’t roll up 
their sleeves and go at it the way we do in America, and it will be a 
long time before any governments do anything to help them to mind 
what it is fairly their own business to attend to. But it is all the bet- 
ter for the few that do.”—-ORCHARDIST in the New Zealand Farmer. 


A WINTER WASH FOR SCALE INSECTS. 


We learn from the Pacific Rural Press of December 13, 1890, that the 
horticultural commissioners of Sutter County, California, are recommend- 
ing the following formula for use during the winter months on all decidu- 
ous trees infested with the San José scale. It is said that the formula 
has been used with great success throughout the State: 

40 pounds unslacked lime. 

20 pounds sulphur. 

15 pounds commen stock salt. 
Water to make 60 gallons. 

Boil 10 pounds of lime and the 20 pounds of sulphur in 20 gallons o* water for 
half an hour or more, or until both lime and sulphur are dissolved. ‘fhe sulphur 
must be thoroughly dissolved and mixed with the lime; the mixture will then be of 
an ambercolor. Then slack in an empty half barrel 40 pounds of lime, with soft 
hot water, using enough water to thoroughly slacken the lime and keep it in liquid 
form. After the lime is slacked, add 15 pounds of common stock salt, while the ma- 
terialis still hot. 

When the salt is well dissolved, mix the two lots together with sufficient water to 
make 60 gallons of spraying material, which will then be a thin whitewash. The 
material should be strained, after being thoroughly mixed, through a fine wire strainer. 

Apply the wash milk-warm or warmer, with a spray pump. 

Use either a New Bean nozzle or a San José nozzle. If the latter is used the usual 
brass disk accompanying it should be replaced with a rubber disk to prevent the 
material clogging the nozzle. Use only when foliage is off the tree. 

With the exception of the salt this formula corresponds very well 
with the * Eureka Insecticide” manufactured by Mr. E. Bean, Jackson- 
ville, Florida, which is of considerable use against the rust-mite on the 
orange and the six-spotted mite. It is by no means efficacious in the 
same degree against scale insects. 


LADY BIRDS VERSUS SCALE-INSECTS. 


Mr. Dudley W. Adams, in the Florida Farmer and Fruit Grower for 
October 9, 1890, gives a very interesting and charmingly written account 
of his experience in orange raising at Tangerine, Orange County, Flor- 
ida, showing that a native Lady Bird, the species of which is not men- 
tioned, completely cleared his trees from scales as soon as he had stopped 
applying washes. Mr. Adams was extremely fortunate, and his expe- 
rience wasexceptional. In general, the advice given by Mr. S. Sanders 
Neck, in the issue of the same journal for September 11, should be fol- 
lowed in Florida. He says concerning kerosene emulsions: 


If they kill the lady bugs, never mind; it isa poorly managed grove that depends 
on these insects to destroy scale. Nothing short of kerosene emulsion is effective. 


348 
THE TARNISHED PLANT BUG DAMAGING CELERY. 


We have not before called attention to the fact that, according to the 
American Garden for June, 1890, this well-known polyphagous insect 
has varied its diet of late by putting celery on its bill of fare. An ex- 
tensive gardener and fruit grower in Kansas writes to the editor that 
unless he can find some effective remedy, he will have to give up grow- 
ing celery. The bugs appear on the plants by the thousands, and ruin 
the leaves by sucking the sap. Pyrethrum and kerosene emulsion are 
- recommended. 


THE DOWNY WOODPECKER FEEDING ON THE LARVZ OF THE COD- 
LING MOTH. 


That these birds feed upon the larve of the Codling Moth has been 
known for many years, Trimble* having shot individuals with such 
larvee in their stomachs. The method of feeding has, I believe, never 
been described in print. At a farmers’ institute, held at Auburn, Ind., 
Mrs. 8. H. Hine, an elderly lady residing at Sedan, Ind., presented a 
very interesting paper on the habits of woodpeckers. In this paper 


Mrs. Hine, whois a most careful observer of birds, stated that she © 


had seen this species feeding on these larve, extracting them from, 
the apple while the latter was hanging to the tree. In a conversation 
with this lady, following the presentation of her paper, she stated 
that she had observed a downy woodpecker busying itself about 
young apples, on a tree in her yard, and that she had watched it care- 
fully until it worked upon an apple within her reach, and, keeping her 
eye on this identical apple, she approached the tree and picked it. She 
found that the young larve had evidently made some progress into the 
fruit, starting from the calyx, but that it had as clearly been deftly ex- 
tracted by the woodpecker, and without any injury to the fruit. She 
had also observed the birds searching the underside of the leaves of 
apple trees, and apparently seeking for something concealed there, and 
which she thought might be the adult moths. 

In a conversation with Judge McBride, of Elkhart, Ind., who is 
also a careful observer of birds and their ways, he stated that he had 
also observed downy woodpeckers extracting the worms from young 
apples, and he had never observed that, in so doing, the birds in any 
way injured the fruit. It seems, then, that the labors of this bird act 
not only as a preventive, but also afford actual and immediate relief to 
the infested fruit.—F. M. WEBSTER, December 8, 1890. 


OVIPOSITION IN ADOXUS VITIS. 


This is a rather small, blackish or brownish leaf-beetle which occurs 
in Europe as well as in northern North America. In Europe it is in- 
jurious to the Grape, the larva feeding on the roots and the beetle 


* A treatise on the insect enemies of fruit and fruit trees, by Isaac P. Trimble, p. 
113, PY. 10; 1868. 


349 


destroying the leaves, whereas in America it is only known to attack 
a wild plant (? Epilobium). Since it is in Europe and especially in 
_ France a very serious pest of the grapevine, even more injurious than 
the Grapevine Flea Beetle is with us,its natural history has often 
been treated, especially by the French entomologists, Lichtenstein, 
Valery-Mayet, Girard, and others. The mode of oviposition, however, 
has been in some dispute, some authors asserting that the eggs are laid 
under the old bark near the ground, others that they are deposited on 
the leaves. Mr. E. Dupont has recently investigated the subject and 
finds (Progrés Agricole at Viticole, vol. X, No. 37, Sept. 15, 1889, pp. 576- 
578) that oviposition takes place only on the foliage, the young larve 
afterwards entering the ground. Thelife history of the Adowus is thus 
in conformity with that of an allied species, Chrysochus auratus which 
lives with us on Apocynum androsemifolium. Wehave found the eggs 
on the leaves and the larve underground feeding on the roots. The 
nearest North American allies of Adoxus, viz, the species of Fidia, also 
infest the grapevine, but their life histories have never been investi- 
gated. 
A CATERPILLAR DESCRIBED AS A COCCID. 


Mr. E. E. Greene furnishes the following information (Ann. and Mag. 
of Natural History for December, 1890, p. 503): From an examination 
of type specimens in the British Museum it was found that the Aspidi- 
otus bicarinatus described by thelate F. Walker (Catalogue of Homop- 
tera, etc., Supplement, p. 306) is in reality the dried-up larva of a Lim- 
acodid moth allied to the Indian Narosa conspersa. This caterpillar with 
its coriaceous integument and two well-marked dorsal ridges has a 
superficial resemblance to a Coccid, but, as Mr. Greene remarks, it is 
difficult to understand how Walker could have made such a mistake. 


INJURY OF THE HOP CROP ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE IN 1890 BY THE 
HOP LOUSE. 


Mr. Aurelius Todd furnishes in Hntomological News for February, 
1891 (vol. 11, No. 2, p. 34), some interesting statistics on the hop crop 
on the Pacific slope in 1890, and the amount of damage done that year 
by Phorodon humuli. The hop crop for 1890 in the State of Washing- 
ton was estimated at 38.000 bales, that of Oregon at 20,000 bales ; total, 
58,000 bales. Estimating 200 pounds to each bale, and each pound 
worth 30 cents, we have a total value of $3,480,000. Mr. Todd esti- 
mates that the loss from the hop louse amounted to at least one-fourth of 
what was gathered, or one-fifth of the entire crop, or to at least $870,000 
in a single year. The depredations were not evenly distributed over 
the entire hop-growing area. The places ** exposed to the morning sun 
and sheltered from the wind by woods, ete., suffered most, the upper 
river bottoms in general next, while some places were entirely free from 
them.” 


350 
THE HOP LOUSE IN OREGON. 


Mr. F. L. Washburn, the entomologist of the Oregon Experiment 
Station, has just issued a circular asking for information regarding 
this insect. He asks ef the growers whether there are cultivated plums 
or prunes or any wild plums or plum seedlings near their hops, and 
also requests information as to the exact distance of such plants from 
the hop fieids. He pretaces his questions by the following remarks: 

Since the presence of the Hop Louse (Phorodon humuli) in Oregon has been reported, 
- careful examinations of affected yards have been made and the results apparently 
corroborate the results of observations made in Europe and America contempora- 
neously by the Department at Washington. These results are summarized in the 
statement that ‘‘ the eggs of the Hop Louse are laid in the autumn on plums and 
prunes, more particularly the former.” 

This is now borne out by personal observations in this State, thousands of eggs 
having been found on seedling thickets of plums near an infested hop yard, while 
cultivated prunes in the vicinity were not affected. 

It is for the pursse of gathering statistics upon this matter, i. e., the varieties of 
plums preferred, ana situation of plums with regard to hop yards that this circular 
is issued, in order to record such facts in bulletin report, to be shortly issued, treat- 
ing of remedies, etc. 

It is hoped and expected that every progressive hop-grower will interest himself in 
answering the following questions. The greatest accuracy in the replies is necessary. 


COLLECTIONS OF COLEOPTERA—A RECENT IMPORTANT SALE. 


We are indebted to a well-known English entomologist, and valued 
correspondent, for the following information, which will be of great in- 
terest to all of our readers who are students of the Coleoptera: 

An important collection of one of the chief families of insects has re- 
cently changed owners, Dr. Sharp, of Dartford, England, having ceded 
his collection of Lamellicorns to his friend M. René Oberthur, of Rennes, 
France. The collection of beetles, now in the possession of Mr. Ober- 
thur, is richer than any other, and resulting as it does from the amal- 
gamation of several important collections, contains so many types and 
authenticated specimens that we have no doubt the following particu- 
lars as to some parts of it will be found of interest to savants as well as 
to those who are not aware of the great numbers of species of insects 
that have been already described, and which it is necessary to accumu- 
late as the foundation of a general collection of insects of the world. 
- For many years the collection of the late Count Mnizech, of Paris, 
was the most renowned private accumulation of Coleoptera in the world. 
This collection shortly before the death of the Count passed into the 
possession of Meinheer von Lansberge, governor-general of the Dutch 
East Indies, who added very largely to it by purchases and by collec- 
tions formed under his supervision in the East Indies and has now 
recently parted with it to M. Oberthur. 

The latter gentleman was also fortunate in obtaining the collection 
of Carabide of the late Baron Chaudoir, containing the greater part of 
the types resulting from a lifetime of work in descriptive entomology. 


ool 


Still more lately the magnificent collection of Coleoptera of Mr. James 
Thomson found its way to swellthe ranks at Rennes. Some minor por- 
tions of this collection had however been previously disposed of to 
other museums, bnt nearly all the more important parts—especially the 
Cetoniidex, Buprestidz, and Longicornia—have gone to M. Oberthur. 

Quite recently M. Raffray, of Singapore, has ceded his collection of 
Pausside to the same gentleman, who now possesses the richest collec 
tion in the world in this small but recherché group; it comprises 110 
species. Confining our attention to a few of the more important divi- 
sions of Coleoptera we may say that the collection formed in the way we 
have mentioned contains about 11,000 species of Carabide, about 13,000 
species of Lamellicorns, more than 4,000 of Buprestide and about 10,000 
of Longicorns. 

The department in which the collection is most advanced is probably 
that of the Lamellicorns. It is made up of the collections of Mnizech, 
Castelnau, Harold, Lansberge, Thomson, and Sharp, to say nothing of 
others of smaller extent, such as those of Semper and Thorey. Sharp’s 
collection included the greater part of Baron Dejean’s original collec- 
tion, which in the earlier years of descriptive entomology was looked on 
as the collection of Coleoptera and was contributed to by naturalists in 
various parts of the world. It contained, for example, many specimens 
sent from North America to Dejean by the first Le Conte. By the addi- 
tion of the numerous types of more recent writers contained in the 
collections of Harold, Lansberge, and Thomson, the Oberthur Lamelli- 
corns are thoroughly representative of the results of descriptive ento- 
molegists in this family ; indeed, in all probability this part of the col- 
lection approaches nearer to perfection than does any other existing 
collection of an extensive group of insects. The number of species 
may be said to be certainly 12,000, and more probably is nearer 13,000; 
the subfamily Cetoniide comprising upwards of 1,600 species, repre- 
sented by fully 16,000 specimens. 


DISEASES OF CHRYSANTHEMUMS CAUSED BY INSECTS. 


Mr. J. G. Jack, in the September 10, 1890, number of Garden and | 
Forest, discusses Cicadula quadrilineata, Lygus lineolaris, Lygaeus linea- 
tus, Triphleps insidiosus, Plagiognathus obscurus, Phytomyza chrysan. 
themi, and Eristalis tenax and their damage to cultivated chrysanthe- 
mums. The Plant bugs and Leaf-hoppers, he thinks, are responsible 
for the trouble known to gardeners as “blinding” or ‘“ disbudding.” 
The Phytomyza is the common Dipterous Leaf-miner of the Chrysanthe- 
mum, while Hristalis is discussed simply in connection with its sup- 
posed influence in the pollenization of these plants. 

24998—No. 7-——4 


002 
INSECT WAX. 


Mr. J. R. Jackson, of the Kew Gardens, has recently published an 
article on the subject of “African Insect Wax,” which we have seen 
reprinted in the Scientific American Supplement for June 21, 1890. 
Mr. Jackson calls attention to the fact that insect wax exists in large 
quantities in South Africa and is used among the natives as a cement 
for calabashes and among the Zulu warriors for head rings. It is 
stated that any quantity of the wax is procurable in Natal, and that 
it would be quite worth the while of some manufacturer to test it. 
The insect which causes this wax is not known, but it is doubtless 
a Coccid. Mr. Jackson suggests that Icerya might be utilized in the 
manufacture of commercial wax, and this suggestion may possibly 
be worth something to the people at Cape Colony. Just at present 
this erstwhile dreaded pest is practically not existant in California, 
New Zealand, or Aastralia. The egg-sac of Icerya, moreover, is so 
full of eggs that it is doubtful whether it could be practically used. 
Some years ago we were able to secure a large quantity of insect wax 
from Lachnus longistigma by scraping the insects from the trees into a 
sieve and shaking it until the wax had all passed through. We ob- 
tained nearly 2 pounds with very little trouble and handed it to the 
Chemist of the Department for examination. The wax was lost, how- 
ever, through some accident before it could be tested, and we have 
never had the opportunity since to collect it on so large ascale. Some 
of these Plant-lice, however, where they occur in numbers, can be 
utilized and a purer quality of wax can be obtained from them more 
easily than from any of the Coccids for the reason that the bodies and 
eggs of the latter can not be got rid of with the same ease. 


COCCINELLA NOVA-ZEALANDICA A SYNONYM. 


In Bulletin No. 21 of the Division we have figured this well known 
New Zealand Lady-bird, and Mr. Koebele states upon page 24 that he 
found it at Napier feeding upon the Cabbage Aphis in large numbers. 
Fifty-one specimens were collected and placed in empty pill boxes, and 
upon arrival in California 21 were still alive and were liberated. 
Apropos of this figure, Dr. Sharp has written us, under date of Decem- 


ber 24, 1890, to the effect that it has enabled him to decide what he had 


previously suspected from a perusal of Mr. Colenso’s original descrip- 
tion of the species, namely, that it is identical with the common Euro- 
pean Coccinella undecimpunctata. 


AUSTRALIAN FRUIT-GROWERS AND VINE-GROWERS IN CONVENTION. 


The fruit-growers and vine-growers of New South Wales held a 
largely attended and apparently enthusiastic conference at Sydney last 
June, the full report of which has just reached us in the shape of a pam- 
phlet of some 250 pages, published as Bulletin No.1 of the department of 


353 


agriculture of New South Wales. Much was naturally said on the sub- 
ject of insect pests, the now cosmopolitan Grape Phylloxera, Codling 
Moth, and Wooly Root Louse of the Apple leading the list in the impor- 
tance of their consideration. Very little that is new to students of econ- 
omic entomology in America was brought out, and much of the informa- 
tion of the best informed persons present seems to have been derived 
from American sources. Many practical men were there and spoke, but, 
as is so often the case, the difficulty of determining exactly what insect 
they were discussing rendered their remarks of comparatively slight 
value, especially at this distance. The so-called fly-bug received some 
attention, but this important insect is not yet scientifically determined. 
Mr. A. Sidney Oliff read a general paper on the subject of Insect Pests 
and Australian Agriculture and a series of interesting experiments by 
Mr. P. J. Feidler with creosote against the Phylloxera was reported. 
This substance is used in a pure state by placing tubular poles between 
the vines and pouring down the liquid. It can be mixed with water in 
the proportion of one part of creosote to from five to twenty-five or more 
of water and applied by means of a sprinkler. Mr. J. Patterson recom- 
mended the use of starch in the proportion of 2 pounds to 16 gallons of 
water for Red Scale. He stated that this mixture will adhere to the 
foliage and fruit and smother the scale, coming off in flakes after a few 
days bringing the scales with it and leaving the leaves and fruit as 
bright and clean as if they had never been infested with scale insects. 

Mr. A. G. Hamilton gavea long list of Australian birds which are ex- 
clusively insectivorous and another list of those which feed partly on 
small vertebrates but to a large extent on insects, and another shorter 
list of those which eat fruit as well as insects and are more or less harm- 
ful. A list of birds living on grain and fruit is summoned up in the 
one word * Parrots.” 

The horticuturists of Victoria have not been behind their confreres in 
New South Wales and Bulletin No. 10 of the department of agriculture 
of Victoria, for September 1890 gives an account of a conference re- 
specting a means for suppression of insect pests injurious to vegetation 
held August 6, 1890. The discussion of a bill submitted to the legis- 
lative council <o prevent the introduction and to provide for the de- 
struction of certain insects which injuriously affect vegetation, and for 
other purposes was the principal order of business. The insects speci- 
fically mentioned in the interpretation of the bill are the Codling 
Moth, the Round Orange Scale (Aspidiotus aurantii), the Hessian Fly, 
the Migrating Locust (designated as Gidipoda musica) and the Colorado 
Potato Beetle. | 


A NEW PHYLLOXERA STATION IN BRAZIL. 


Dr. John C. Branner, State Geologist of Arkansas, has kindly sent 
us a note to the effect that his copy of the Revista de Engenharia (Rio 
de Janeiro, Brazil), received November 14, 1890, states that it has been 


354 


ordered that 4,000 milreis (about $2,000) be advanced to José Watzl to 
defray expenses of organizing the Phylloxera Station which the secre- 
tary of agriculture has ordered established at Fazenda Grande. The 
amount is small, but it is a beginning in the right direction, and is the 
first step which the Brazilian Government has taken regarding the 
investigation of injurious insects since many years. 


WINTER PROTECTION FOR THE VEDALIA. 


The last report of the California State Board of Horticulture contains 
an illustration of two glass houses erected by the board for the pur- 
- pose of insuring the hibernation of the Vedalia in numbers, as during 
the winter of 1889-’90, the wet weather almost extérminated them. 
The houses are 16 feet in diameter by 18 feet high. Every part is care- 
fully fitted and ventilation is secured by wire netting. They are octag- 
onal in shape and so designed that they present as much surface_to 
the sun as possible. They are placed at San Gabriel in the orchard-0: 


Col. J. R. Dobbin. 
OBITUARY. 


It is with a sense of personal loss that we record the death of Frazer 
S. Crawford, of Adelaide, South Australia. He has been a constant 
correspondent since 1885 and showed deep interest in agricultural mat- 
ters and particularly in applied entomology and mycology. He was 
connected with the surveyor-general’s office in Adelaide as a lithograper 
and had a considerable aptitude for illustrating insects. He-had etched 
a number of plates (principally scale insects) and distributed them 
among his correspondents. Although more or less of an invalid for a 
number of years past his energy was surprising and his name has be- 
come known through his correspondence and his published papers in 
many parts of the world. Fora few years past he conducted a depart- 
ment of the Garden and Field, a sound agricultural journal published 
in Adelaide, and his views were always read from month to month with 
great interest. Americans have good reason to cherish memory of him 
for the part he took in the introduction of the Australian enemies of 
Icerya, the results of which have proved such a boen to California 
fruit-growers. It was chiefly through correspondence with him that we 
became convinced of the advisability of the mission, and both of our 
agents, Mr. Koebele and Mr. Webster, on the occasion of their visit to 
Australia, were received by him with the utmost kindness and hospi- 
tality, and he seriously inconvenienced himself to make their mission a 
success. Mr. Crawford showed in his writings that large experience 
and those qualities of care and caution which are essential in scientific 
work. His death is a distinct loss to Australian applied science. 


IMPORTED PARASITES OF THE HESSIAN FLY. 


We have just received from Mr. Fred. Enock, of London, a supply 
of Hessian Fly puparia parasitized by Semiotellus. We hope to accli- 
matize this parasite in this country, and in order to do so successfully 


355 


would like to hear from any of the station entomologists who are 
advantageously situated and who would be willing to take charge of 
a few of these puparia, with the idea of liberating the adults in wheat 
fields which are badly infested with the Hessian Fly. 


TEE AUSTRALIAN “FLY-BUG.” 


On page 381 of Volume II, and page 30 of the current volume we 
have mentioned the damage done by an insect which is popularly 
known by the name of * fly-bug,” in different parts of Australia. This 
insect seems to have made its appearance as a marked pest in 1889, 
although Mr. Tepper writes us that he has known it to occur in great 
numbers in wheat fields in Australia since 1853. In 1889 and 1890 it 
seriously damaged the vineyards, orchards, and gardens of New South 
Wales. It attacks particularly the fruit-stems of the Grape, Plum, and 
the Apple, causing the fruit to dry up instead of ripening. It is, in 
fact, practically omnivorous, causing great injury to all common fruits, 
cereals, and vegetables. We suspected from accounts and figures that 
this insect was the False Chinch-bug of this country, (Nysius angusta- 
tus);and wrote Mr. Fraser 8. Crawford last fall to the following effect: 

I am particularly interested in the insect which you call the ‘‘fly-bug,” and 
which Mr. Tepper places in the genus Pachymerus. Your figure very much resembles 
our American Nysius angustatus, and on the supposition that it is this insect accident- 
ally imported into your country from the United States, I am desirous of seeing speci- 
mens. Can you not send me some? I did not receive it from Koebele. 

Mr. Crawford’s sending as well as a subsequent one from Mr. Tepper 
were, unfortunately, lost in the mail. In the letter accompanying the 
lost specimens Mr. Crawford wrote that the insect was considered by 
Mr. Tepper and himseif to be one of the Lygaeide, but that Mr. Skuse 
thought it a Capsid. Mr. Skuse, in fact, determined it, as we have 
shown upon page 30 of the present volume, as a species of Phytocoris. 
Later Mr. Crawford sent two specimens from which we are able to de- 
termine unhesitatingly that our surmise is correct as to the genus and 
that the insect is very close indeed to our Nysius angustatus, which feeds 
on a variety of plants in this country, (principally on Crucifere) and 
has been reported from California on Grape. 

In the meantime, in the March number of the Entomologists’ Monthly 
Magazine, Dr. E. Bergroth has an interesting article referring to the 
accounts of this insect’s injuries in Australia and describing it as Nysius 
vinitor,n. sp. He does this after having, as he states, compared it with 
the descriptions of all hitherto described species of Nysius. A careful 
comparison of the two rather poor specimens from Australia with Amer- 
ican specimens, in the light of Bergroth’s description, would indicate 
that vinitor differs from angustatus in being somewhat narrower, in the 
absence of pubescence above, the more slender and longer basal joint 
of hind tarsi, and the shorter, more bulbous basal joint of antenne. 
It is also a darker species. But what we stated in our description (as 


356 


destructor) of angustatus, (Fifth Report Insects of Missouri, p. 113,) 
viz, that ‘‘the species is so variable that it is difficult to see wherein 
some of the specimens differ from the European thymi or from angusta- 
tus Uhler” will probably hold true. 


THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


December 4, 1890.—The corresponding secretary read a paper by Mr. P. R. Uhler, 
entitled ‘‘Observations on some remarkable forms of Capsidz,” in which were de- 
scribed two new genera, Heidemannia and Peritropius, represented by one species 
each, viz, H. cixiiformis and P. saldeformis. The paper also contained a note on the 
recent discovery by Mr. Heidemann in the District of one of Say’s long-lost species, 
Cylapus tenuicornis. 

Mr. Howard read a paper on the ‘‘ Parasites of the Hemerobiineg,” in which he 
spoke of the known Hymenopterous parasites and added the Encyrtid genus [sodromus 
as the only known primary parasite in the country, with the single exception of the 
egg-parasite mentioned by him on page 10, vol. 1 of the society’s proceedings. 

Mr. Marlatt presented a note, in which he proposed the specific name wnicolor for 
a species of Monoctenus, the larva of which feeds onthe red cedar. This saw-fly had 
been described by him as M. juniperi (see Trans. Kans. Acad. of Sci., vol. x, p. 82), 
which name was preoccupied by a European species of the genus. 

Mr. Banks read a paper on Thalamia parietalis Hentz, a spider which he had taken 
in Texas and which had been lost since Hentz’s time. In studying this species in 
connection with the Pholcide, Scytodide, Filistatidz, Urocteide, Enyoide, and 
Hersilidz, he reached the conclusion that these spiders are closely related and ought 
to be included in one group of family importance, for which he proposes Dugés’ 
name Micrognathes changed to Micrognathide. 

Mr. Townsend read some notes on Tachinide sens. lat., synonymical and critical, 
with particular reference to the confusion of the sexes by early describers. A num- 
ber of species were noticed and several new ones were described. 

Professor Riley read and commented on letters from Mr, William H. Ashmead, now 
studying in Berlin, and Mr. S.S. Rathvon, of Lancaster, Pa: He then read a note on 
an exotic roach (Panchlora viridis), which he had recently received from Dr. C. F. Giss- 
ler, of Brooklyn, N. Y. The remarkable feature was that the roach was certainly 
viviparous, a habit believed not to have been hitherto recorded of any species of 
the family Blattide. Figures of the parent roach and of its young greatly enlarged 
were shown. Professor Riley gave an account also of his additional study of Platy- 
psyllus, in which he mentioned the discovery of a large number of insects (and some 
mites and myriapods) which are associated with the beaver either accidentally or as 
parasites or guests. He also called attention to the curious larve exhibited by 
C. J. Gahan at the October 1, 1890, meeting of the London Entomological Society. 
Professor Riley thought from the short description that they must belong to the 
Blepharoceride. He also referred to the undetermined larva described by Mrs. Julia 
P. Ballard in the October number of Entomological News, p. 124, and said that it was 
without doubt the larva of Citheronia sepulchralis G. & R. He then called attention 
to an interesting paper read by Professor Forbes at the recent meeting of the Associa- 
tion of Economic Entomologists, relating to the periods of transformation and to the 
specific characters of Lachnosterna larve. These matters were discussed at consid- 
erable length by Professor Riley, and two new parasites of Lachnosterna were 
added to those hitherto known. 

Mr. Schwarz presented a note ‘‘On the feeding habits of Empidz,” in which he 
described the habits in this regard of a species of the genus Syneches, which was very 
abundant in the mountains at Fort Pendleton, Maryland, during the first part of 
July. Their vertical position in flight and peculiar method of holding their prey 


307 


and of hanging by one fore-leg while devouring it were described. He also dis- 
cussed the recent publication by Ed. Fleutiaux and A. Sallé, on the Coleoptera from © 
the Island of Gaudeloupe, West Indies, Ann. Soc. Ent. de France, 1889 (1890). The 
relation of the species enumerated to the fauna of the United States was particularly 
dwelt upon. 

January 8, 1891.—The annual meeting of the society was held at the residence of 
Prof. C. V. Riley, and the officers for the past year were re-elected, as follows: 

President, George Marx; vice-presidents, C. V. Riley and L. 0. Howard; corre- 
sponding secretary, C. H. Tyler Townsend; recording secretary, C. L. Marlatt; 
treasurer, B. P. Mann; executive committee, E. A. Schwarz, Otto Heidemann, W. H. 
Fox. The president, Dr. Marx, delivered an address on ‘The spiders of the District 
of Columbia,” in which he discussed at length the value of local lists as a means of 
forming a comprehensive knowledge of the fauna of a country. He referred to the 
somewhat scanty literature in this country of this nature as compared with that of 
Europe, giving also a bibliography of the more important writings on Aranez of both 
this country and Europe, and concluded with a list of the spiders found to occur in 
the District. 

The address was discussed by Messrs. Riley, Fernow, Marx, Schwarz, Smith, Dodge, 
Banks, and others. 

February 5, 1891.—Mr. Schwarz called attention to certain Micro-Lepidoptera which 
breed in the fruit of Solanum carolinense, stating that he had bred Gelechia beneficentella 
and referred to the fact that no similar insects were known to breed in the fruit of 
the cultivated potato. 

Dr. Marx spoke of the spiders of the genus Pholeus of which nine species occur in 
this country as against one or two found in Europe. He exhibited specimens of the 
American snecies. 

Mr. Schwarz exhibited specimens of Casnonia ludoviciana, found this winter in great 
abundance near Washington, D. C., and remarked on the distribution and habits of 
this insect. 

Professor Riley laid before the society an interesting card which he had recently 
received from Mr. McLachlan referring to the Blepharocerid larve mentioned at the 
previous meeting of the society. Mr. McLachlan fully confirmed Professor Riley’s 
reference of the larve in question. 

Mr. Townsend read a paper on a remarkable new Hippoboscid received from Dr. 
Alfredo Dugeés, Guanajuato, Mexico, which had been taken ona bat. It was de- 
scribed as Trichobius n. gen. dugésii n. sp. 

Mr. Townsend also presented a paper on a Muscid, bred from swine dung, which 
he described in its larval and imago states as Cleigastra suisterci n. sp. This case of 
breeding had shown a larval hibernation, and Mr. Townsend expressed the belief 
that in more northern latitudes most Coprophagus Diptera (Hematobia Lucilia, etc.), 
winter equally as larve or pups, and only exceptionally as perfect flies. 

These papers were discussed by Messrs. Riley, Fox, Banks, Schwarz, Marlatt, and 
Townsend. Mr. Schwarz presented for publication descriptions of two North Amer- 
ican species of the Cuculionid genus Phytobius and one of them he considered to be 
identical with the European Phytobius velatus. The other is described under the 
name of Ph. griseomicans. Mr.-Schwarz also spoke of the difficulty in recognizing 
from the descriptions the North American species of Pityophthorus and pointed out 
that only secondary sexual characters seemed to offer a satisfactory criterion for the 
separation of many closely allied species. The Pityophthorus so common under bark 
of Liquidambar is not P. annectens, as formerly assumed by him, but is identical with 
the species occurring under bark of Sumach and which is named in collections P. 


consimilis. 
C. L. MARLATT, 


Recording Secretary. 


Vol. III, Nos. 9 and 10.] 1G ht AO Me A De [Issued June, 1891. 


SPECIAL NOTES. 


Economic Entomology in Canada.—The reports of the officials of the 
Experiment Farms of Canada for 1890, have just reached us in the form 
of a compact document of some 300 pages. Mr. James Fletcher, as En- 
tomologist and Botanist, covers pages 154 to 188. The insects treated 
are the American Frit Fly ( Oscinis variabilis), the Cabbage Maggot, the 
Cabbage Plutella, the Mediterranean Flour Moth, the Pea Weevil, the 
Strawberry Weevil (Anthonomus musculus) and the Vancouver Island 
Oak-looper (£llopia somniaria). All of the articles are treated from an 
original standpoint, and include the results of original experimental 
work. He shows the differences in the effects of the attack of the Frit 
Fly, the American Meromyza, and the Hessian Fly, differentiating care- 
fully between the three species in all stages. A new remedy for the 
Cabbage Maggot has been carefully tried and might answer on a small 
scale. It consists in watering the cabbages with a decoction of 2 
ounces of white hellebore in 3 gallons of water, a half teacupful being 
syringed forcibly around the roots of each plant after the surface of 
the soil has been removed by the hand. The liquid seems to act by 
contact. Kerosene emulsion is, after experiment with a number of sub- 
stances, unhesitatingly recommended for the Cabbage Plutella. It is 
stated that Canadian seedsmen use bisulphide of carbon as a remedy 
for the Pea Weevil very extensively. 

The statement is made that nearly every large grower has a build- 
ing for the purpose, made perfectly tight with tin or cement. The 
building is filled with bags, and a pan 10 feet across and 4 inches deep 
is hung up close to the ceiling. It is then filled with the bisulphide, 
the doors are tightly closed, and the building left for forty-eight hours. 
The remedy is effectual when tried in warm weather. Exactly what 
Canadians understand by the expression ‘‘ warm weather” is then ex- 
plained by the remark: “It does not work well when colder than 10 
degrees above zero!” Against the Strawberry Weevil (Anthonomus 
musculus) Mr. Fletcher suggests covering the beds, after the flower 
buds are formed, with old newspapers, held down at the edges with a 
few handfuls of earth, or with strips of cheese-cloth or muslin, to be put 
on at the first appearance of the beetles and kept on until the flower has 

359 


360 


expanded. _ This, it seems to us, would be of little advantage in wet 
weather. The article on the Vancouver Island Oak-looper possesses 
much interest on account of its novelty. This insect defoliates the 
oaks in the vicinity of Victoria every 3 or 4 years. The larve are most 
abundant about the middle of August, pupate the latter part of this 
month, and emerge as moths from the 20th of September on into Oc- 
tober. We quote from the account given by Mr. W. H. Danby, a cor- 
respondent of Mr. Fletcher’s (page 176): 

On 20th September the moths were emerging in every direction, and crawling up 
the trees to find a favorable spot to expand their wings. I now counted one hundred 
and twenty-seven, and this was the beginning of one of the most wonderful entomo- 
logical sights I have ever seen. By 5th October the moths were in myriads, the tree: 
being literally covered, not only on the trunks, but on every limb and branch as fai 
as the eye could discern, so close together that the wings overlapped. On shakinga 
branch they would fly off in such numbers that you could positively hear them fly. 
When the moths first appeared the males averaged 90 per cent of the whole, but on 
24th October the females bore the same proportion to the whole. About this time 
heavy fogs set in, and the ground around was strewn with dead bodies. 

The insect hibernates in the egg state, and is destroved by three para- 
sites: Ichneumon cestus, Pimpla,n.sp.,and aTachina. The eggs should 
be sprayed in winter with kerosene emulsion, and the caterpillars may 
be killed by the arsenical mixtures. 

We are pleased to notice that this year the report is printed on bet- 
ter paper than the previous reports. 


The Mouth-parts of Diptera.*—In his recently published (November, 
1890), paper on this subject, Professor Smith criticises the hitherto 
accepted homologies of the dipterous mouth-parts, and concludes that 
the accepted terminology of these parts should be radically modified. 
He has examined a large number of forms representing the main fam- 
ilies of the Diptera, and claims that he shows that the mandible of pre- 
vious authors is in reality the maxillary palpifer (or perhaps the stipes, 
he is not certain which) ; that the so-called labium is really a modifica- 
tion of the galea, while the so-called maxille are, in point of fact, the 
lacinie, and the epipharynx and hypopharynx are ligula and para- 
glosse. He has also indicated what he believes to be the mentum and 
the labial palpi, and he has found the true mandibles only in Simulium. 

Conclusions of so radical a character should be accepted or rejected 
only after the most careful review of the entire ground, and cautious 
and critical study of the types examined by Professor Smith, as well as 
of forms of other groups. His work will doubtless cause a reéxamina- 
tion of the whole question. 

Professor Smith has put forth his paper in a A eeeaate! straightforward 
way, has illustrated all of his important dissections, has deposited his 
slides in the National Museum, and thus invites investigation. 


* A contribution toward a knowledge of the mouth-parts of the Diptera. By Prof. 
John B. Smith, Author’s Extra from Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., XVII, 319-339. 


ope i nla de on! king aged ome ad 


361 


We would call his attention to the fact that the mere showing of the 
original paired character of the organ previously known as the labium 
is by no means an argument in favor of its galear homology, as would 
be inferred from his statement on page 338, since the labium is in reality 
typically a paired organ. The author refers in the foot-note upon page 
324 to our figure of the head of Simulium in the report for 1886-as very 
accurate and as showing the mandibles properly. ‘‘ But,” he adds, ‘‘the 
meaning of the structure was not recognized by either author or artist.” 
This last is a pure assumption, and the stricture is not justified because 
the article accompanying the figure was purely economic and specific, 
and in no way raised or discussed the question of oral homologies. We 
might, with just as much relevance, follow a reference to his figure of 
Aphidius, on page 10 of his Bulletin No. 72, with the assertion that 
Professor Smith does not understand the homologies of the thoracic 
sclerites. 


Insecticide Experiments in New Jersey.”—In this 34-page bulletin Pro- 
fessor Smith has recorded his experience with different insecticides dur- 
ing the year 1890. Such records of actual experience are always inter- 
esting and frequently of great value, even when the results are negative 
in their character. The author devotes some space to generalizations 
and accounts of the best machinery, and then considers the following 
insecticides: Arsenites, potash salts, tobacco, naphthaline, fish-oil soaps, 
kerosene emulsion, Paris green, lime, white hellebore, tar water, gas 
tar, carbonate of lime, Eureka insecticide, and sludge-oil soap. He 
recommends a combination of London purple with Bordeaux mixture 
where both fungicide and insecticide effects are wanted and states that 
the lime in the Bordeaux mixture is sufficient to neutralize any burning 
effect of the purple. (Compare with this Mr. Maynard’s results below.) 
He recommends the use of potash salts, preferably kainit, against Cut- 
worms and Wire-worms in corn. 

The tobacco experiments were effectual against Flea-beetles and Rose 
Aphides. The tobacco preparation known as X. O. Dust kiiled Leaf- 
beetle larve and Cabbage Worms. It does not affect hairy larve or 
hard-shelled insects. The addition of enough carbolic acid to moisten 
and discolor tobacco powders increases their efficiency 50 per cent. 
Under this head the entirely erroneous statement is made that X. O. 
Dust has been said by Mr. Howard to be a specific for the Potato Flea- 
beetle. Mr. Howard has never made this statement, nor has he exper- 
imented with this substance upon this insect. Fish-oil soap solutions 
were found very efficacious against Plant-lice whenever these could be 
reached. The difficulty was one of application simply. Kerosene 
emulsion, made according to the Hubbard formula, killed the Cottony 


* Insecticides and how to apply them. Experiment Record for 1890, by John B. 
Smith. New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 75, November 7, 1890. 


362 


Maple-scale when diluted 12 times. It was also efficacious against the 


Cabbage Maggot. Eureka insecticide was found to bea specific against : 


the Red Spider, but was unsuccessful against everything else. Sludge- 
oil soap, manufactured by the Columbia Chemical Works, Brooklyn, 


killed the Rose Chafer, the Striped Cucumber-beetle, and the Elm Leaf- — 


beetle. . 


The Screw-worm again.— We have not yet noticed the bulletin from the 
Texas Agricultural Experiment Station upon the subject of this cattle 
pest, prepared by Dr. M. Francis. Dr. Francis goes carefully over the 
ground recently treated by Professor Morgan, of the Louisiana Station, 
and gives a very good summary of the habits of this insect, illustrated 
by very fair figures. Dr. Francis’s observations lead him to believe 
that the egg may hatch within 24 hours after oviposition, and that the 
larve require about a week for full growth, while the pupa state occn- 
pies from 9 to 12 days. There is great confusion of generations, and 
while the larve are developing in the wounds other flies are continually 
laying fresh eggs in the same spot, thus keeping up a constant progressive 
irritation and loss of tissue. They grow in wounds from horns, castrat- 
ing, spaying, branding, dehorning, barbed-wire injuries, and often where 
ticks have burst on the brisket or flank, and just behind the udder of 
cows. They often grow in the vulve of fresh cows, especially if there 
has been a retention of the placenta after birth. Young calves are al- 
most invariably affected in the navel and often in the mouth, causing 
the teeth to fall out. He records an interesting case in which twenty- 
five full-grown larve were found in hair balls in the stomach. The 
explanation is that the calf had licked sores upon his legs containing 
worms. Hogs are often badly attacked, horses and mules less often, 
while sheep are comparatively free, except where they have been bitten 
by dogs. The treatment consists in killing the larve with cresylic 
ointment, calomel, chloroform, or carbolic acid. The wound is after- 
wards filled with oakum and the edges are annointed with tar, to pre- 
vent further oviposition. 


The Sugar-Cane Borer.*—-Professor Morgan has just published a short 
account of Chilo saccharalis and its damage to sugar cane and sorghum 


in Louisiana. He is of the opinion that the damage caused by this in- 


sect is much greater than the planters really suspect. The article con- 
tains little that is definitely original beyond the finding of the larva of 
one of the Soldier-beetles (Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus) in the bur- 
rows feeding upon the borer larve. The bulletin ends with a series of 
questions to planters calculated to draw out fuller information during 
the coming season. 


*Bulletin of the Louisiana State Experiment Station. Second series No. 9. _ 


‘‘Sugar Cane Borer and its Parasite,” by H. A. Morgan, Baton Rouge, 1891. 


363 


The fact that this insect has, since 1880, been known to seriously in- 
fect corn as well as sugar cane and the fact that recent experiments in 
the cultivation of sorghum in Louisiana have shown that this crop is 
even more badly damaged than the corn crop, renders the destruction 
of this insect a more complicated matter in our Southern States, per- 
haps, than in other cane-growing countries. In our 1881 experience 
the proportion of borers found in the tops was comparatively small; 
yet we recommended the burning of these tops as a necessary step in the 
way of prevention. The large majority of borers we found in the por- 
tion of the cane which is crushed in the mill, so that in ordinary seasons 
the planters keep the insects in comparative subjection without effort. 
The principal place of hibernation on the plantation which we visited 
(Dr. Wilkinson’s) was in seed cane which was laid downin “ flat mat,” 
and we have every reason to believe that if our three recommendations 
of selecting the seed cane from that least damaged by borers, laying it 
down in furrows, and burning all infested tops, are followed, the dam- 
age from this insect will be reduced to a minimum. Where much corn 
is grown upon the same plantation great care must be taken to burn 
the stalks and stubble during winter. 


Paris Green in England,—The conservatism of English fruit-growers 
seems at last to bein a fair way to beovercome, largely through Miss Orm- 
erod’s energetic efforts. She has just put out an eight-page leaflet entitled 
“Paris Green (or Emerald Green): its uses and methods for its appli- 
cation as a means of destruction of the Orchard Moth Caterpillars.” 
It seems that a conference of fruit-growers was held at Evesham in 
February, 1890, and a committee of experiment was formed of gentle- 
men personally interested in the subject in order to try the effect of 
different sprays on Orchard Caterpillars. At the several meetings of 
the committee held at different times during the year, the experiences 
related showed a great deal of uncertainty regarding the effect of all 
the applications tried except Paris green. Miss Ormerod has brought 
together from the accounts of these experiments, from the reports of this 
Department and of the experiment stations,and more particularly from 
matter communicated to her by Mr. James Fletcher, Dominion Entomolo- 
gist of Canada, a very handy little summary of the best methods of 
application, precautions to be taken, and proportions to be used, from 
which it appears that the foliage in England is, on the average, compar- 
atively nonsusceptible to the effects of the arsenic, and that the pro- 
portions which should be used are about the same as those which have 
been found best for Canada and our Northeastern States. 


Insecticide Experiments in Massachusetts.—Mr, 8. T. Maynard, Horti- 
culturist of the Massachusetts Experiment Station, in Bulletin No. 11 


364 


(January, 1891), records some interesting experiments with fungicides 
and insecticides on the Apple, Pear, and Plum. Two series of experi- 
ments are of interest to entomologists, as they combine fungicides and 
insecticides in the same solution, namely, ammoniacal carbonate of 
copper with Paris green, and the Bordeaux mixture with Paris green. 
The first series of experiments resulted in a saving of 41 per cent of 
apples from Codling-Moth injuries, while the fungicide results were 
entirely unsatisfactory, although the application of ammoniacal car- 
bonate of copper without the addition of Paris green is reported by 
other stations to have given remarkable results. With the combination 
of Bordeaux mixture with Paris green no favorable results were ob- 
tained, although as the applications were not begun until May 29, the 
failure may have been due to this fact. With regard to the fungicides, 
Mr. Maynard noted that the amount of scab was larger in every case 
where they were used than where they were not used. This result, 
however, he states, may have been in part due to the damage by the 
Paris green, which was especially noticeable where it was used at the 
rate of 1 pound to 200 or 300 gallons of the liquid. 


Some Strawberry Pests.*—Mr. H. Garman, Entomologist and Botanist 
of the Kentucky Experiment Station, writes in a recent bulletin of a num- 
ber of insect enemies of the Strawberry, and also of the Strawberry 
Leaf-blight Fungus (Ramularia tulasnet). The insects treated are the 
Strawberry-leaf roller (Phoxopteris comptana Frohl.) which in Kentucky 
is shown to have at least three annual broods—the last one wintering 
as larvee; the Strawberry Crown-borer (Tyloderma fragarice Riley); the 
Strawberry False-worm (Hmphytus maculatus Norton); White grubs 
(Lachnosterna spp.) ; the June bug (Allorhina nitida Linn.); the Straw- 
berry Root-worms, larve of the following Chrysomelids: Paria canella 
Fab., Graphops nebulosus Lec., and Colaspis brunnea Fab.; the Smeared 
Dagger (Apatela oblinita Smith and Abbott), the larva of which is re- 
ported to be a common enemy of this plant in Kentucky; and the Tar- 
nished Plant bug (Lygus pratensis L.). 


Efforts to stamp out the Gypsy Moth—Hconomic entomologists, and 
for that matter the people of the country at large, are watching with 
much interest the efforts of the State of Massachusetts to control or 
stamp out the Gypsy Moth, which, since Professor Fernald’s announce- 
ment of its widespread injuries, has attracted special attention. Upon 
urgent request, we attended a conference called for the discussion of 
ways and means of dealing with the subject, which was held at Boston 
on the 4th of March last, and we publish in this number a stenographie 
report of said conference. We also include an interesting article by 


* Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin, No. 31, December, 1890. 


a ala a a a th oc A a 


365 


Prof. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Forestry Division of this Department, 
which summarizes some of the more important facts connected with — 
the management of an allied pest in the northern parts of Europe. 
Without going into detail, we may state that the special commission 
appointed by the Governor to investigate, and if possible exterminate 
the insect, became, as we feared it would from the manner in which it 
was formed, very unpopular, and its work has been very severely crit- 
icised. The present Governor has re-formed the commission, constitu- 
ting it chiefly from the membership of the State Board of Agriculture, 
and there is reason to believe that whatever can be done by man’s 
agency will now be done. Since the conference was held, we have 
learned that a great deal of good preliminary work has been done by 
the new commission, and that it is going on bravely. The commission 
have thirty spraying teams, each with a pump running two lines of hose, 
and gangs of carefully selected men, numbering in all 175. The eggs 
have been found on a wider extent of territory than had been supposed, 
or than had been estimated at the time of the conference, and in all cases 
the caterpillars seem to have been carried by teams, usually in manure, 
particularly from the infested territory. The commission is cutting and 
burning brushlands, and useless trees and has asked for further sup- 
port from the legislature. The task is a formidable one, but we are still 
firmly of the belief that an energetic effort, at whatever cost, to stamp 
it out entirely, is justified. One of the difficulties which the commis- 
sion seems to be meeting with, is the popular prejudice against the use 
of Paris green. The fruit-growers of Massachusetts are evidently not 
as progressive or well informed as many of their brethren in other parts 
of the country, or they would know that, properly applied, there is no 
danger whatever and that, in addition to preventing the injury from 
this Gypsy Moth, the treatment will also protect their orchards from 
other insect pests. Experiments have fully proved that, even where a 
large quantity of the insecticide drops upon the grass below and stock 
feed upon such grass, no injury is done to them. However, there is no 
need of such reckless use of the poison. It may be used so that it cau 
not do any possible harm to anything and yet be thoroughly beneficial 
to the trees treated. 


A Massachusetts Bulletin.*—Professor Fernald takes up in this bul- 
letin a number of the commoner fruit and garden pests, giving popular 
summaries of life histories and remedies. The species treated are the 
Bud Moth (Zmetocera ocellana), Spittle Insects, the Squash Bug, the 
Pea and Bean Weevils, the May Beetle, the Plum Curculio, the Onion 
Maggot, the Cabbage Butterfly, the Tent Caterpillars, the Stalk Borer. 
the Pyramidal Grape-vine Caterpillar, the Grape Berry Moth, the Cod- 
ling Moth, the Cabbage Plutella, and the Gartered Plume Moth. The 


* Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 12. Report on in- 
sects. Amherst, April, 1891. 


366 


numerous figures are borrowed without acknowledgment to original 
sources. The most original article is that upon the Bud Moth, which, 
it is stated, has done a vast amount of damage to fruit trees in Mas- 
sachusetts by eating out the inside of both leaf and flower buds. It is 
a frequent cause of the failure of grafted scions. The remedy sug- 
gested is to gather all the leaves in the fall, burn them, and to spray 
with Paris green and water in the spring when the buds begin to swell. 
A full technical account is given, including the history of the literature, 
descriptions of the different stages, and an account of the life history. 
He reared the Ichneumonid Phytodietus vulgaris from the larva of this 
insect, and has proved it to be an external parasite. Under the head 
of Spittle Insects he gives some account of the species common upon 
grass in Massachusetts. The other articles are, in the main, compiled, 
with no reference to authorities, and need no further mention. 


Miss Ormerod’s Fourteenth Report.*—Miss Ormerod continues her ad- 
mirable work with the publication of her fourteenth report which sus- 
tains the reputation which these reports have already gained for care, 
accuracy, and practicalness, combined with a most agreeable and lueid 
Style of presentation. The principal subjects treated this year are the 
so-called American Blight, the Apple Chermes, the Stem Eelworm and 
its damage to beans and clover, the American Clover-seed Midge, which, 
as we have already stated in INSECT LIFE, has made its appearance in 
England, the Hessian Fly damage during 1890, the Mediterranean Flour 
Moth and its recent work in England, the Orchard Moth Caterpillars, 
including an extended consideration of Paris green and London purple 
as remedies, and the Horse Bot Fly. Several other subjects are treated 
in more or less detail. The report contains nearly 150 pages and is, 
as usual, fully illustrated. 


Economic Entomology in Indiana.t—Under the caption ‘ Entomological 
Notes,” Mr. F. M. Webster publishes a number of articles in a late 
bulletin of the Indiana Experiment Station, some of which are reprints 
of articles previously published in INSECT LiFE. The latter are ‘ Ex- 
periments with the Plum Curculio” (INSECT LIFE, II, pp. 305-310), and 
‘Some hitherto unrecorded Enemies of Raspberries and Blackberries” - 
(INSECT LIFE, II, p. 257). In addition to these are short articles on 
the Strawberry Crown-borer (Tyloderma fragaria, Riley), the common 
Field Cricket as an enemy of the fruit of the Strawberry, and Haltica 
ignita, Illig, which has recently become known as a strawberry pest. 
(See INSECT LIFE, II, p. 369.) 


* Report of Observations of Injurious Insects and Common Farm Pests during the 
year 1890, with Methods of Prevention and Remedy, by Eleanor A. Ormerod. London. 
Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., limited. 1891. 

t Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station, Bull. 33, vol. ii, October, 1890. 


367 


The Glassy-winged Soldier-bug.*—Under this title Prof. H. E. Summers 
has published a short account of Hyaliodes vitripennis Say, a little Cap- 
sid which preys in Tennessee upon the Grape Leaf-hopper and becomes 
an important factor in the destruction of this well known pest. In our 
Third Report on the Insects of Missouri we have given a similar account 
of the work of this insect in Missouri. 


Importation of Hessian Fly Parasites.—We have received an additional 
lot of Hessian Fly puparia infested with the European parasite Semiotel- 
lus nigripes, from Mr. Fred. Enock, of London. The parasites began 
issuing the last week in April, and we have divided them into three lots 
and sent them to Mr. F. M. Webster, at La Fayette, Indiana, Prof. A.J. 
Cook, at Agricultural College, Michigan, and Prof. 8S. A. Forbes, at 
Champaign, Illinois, deeming this course the best, not only on account of 
the advantageous localities, but on account of the excellent care which 
the specimens will be sure to receive at the hands of these gentlemen. 


Recent Publications of the Division of Entomology.—During the last two 
months several publications of greater or less value have been issued 
by this Division. March 12 the Fifth Report of the’U. S. Entomologi- 
cal Commission made its appearance. This is the final report of the 
Commission and is a revised and enlarged edition of Bulletin No. 7. 
Like the latter publication it was prepared by Dr. A. S. Packard, and 
includes a consideration of the insects affecting forest and shade trees. 
It is a large volume of 965 pages and is illustrated by 306 text figures 
and 40 plates. . 

Bulletin No. 7 of the Division on the Pediculi and Mallophaga affect- 
ing man and the lower animals, by Prof. Herbert Osborn was issued 
April 1. No. 7 of the series of Divisional Bulletins has been held open 
for some time for a monograph of the genus Acronycta, the manuscript 
and figures for which have been for the most part in hand for several 
years. Continued postponement, however, has been caused by press 
of other work and it has been deemed best to fill up the series by sub- 
stituting the present bulletin. This consideration of the Pediculi and 
Mallophaga was written to form part of a report upon the insects affect- 
ing vertebrate animals by Dr. Riley and Professor Osborn. Various 
causes having delayed the publication of the report, it was deemed 
advisable to publish this chapter in advance. 

Bulletin No. 24 of the Division on the Boll Worm of Cotton, a report 
of progress in the investigation of this insect, by Mr. F. W. Mally, was 
issued from the press May1l. This is simply a preliminary report and 
we hope to follow it at the close of the supplementary investigation of 
this insect with a fuller consideration of the subject than has yet 
appeared. 


* Bull. Agric. Exper. Station, Tenn., Iv., 1, pp. 32, 33. 


368 


Circular No. 1, New Series, was also published May 11. It includes 
certain condensed information concerning the more important insecti- 
cides and is for use in correspondence chiefly. It is the first of a series 
of this character which we hope to publish in order to meet those ques- 
tions which experience has shown us to be most often asked by the 
correspondents of the Division. 

Before this number of INSECT LIFE appears Bulletins 23 and 25 of 
the regular series will undoubtedly have been published. Bulletin No. 
23 includes the reports of the field work of the agents of the Division 
during the year 1890. It is prepared on the same plan as Bulletin No. 
22 of this series. Bulletin No. 25 takes up the subject of destructive 
locusts and is a popular consideration of a few of the most injurious 
locusts of the United States together with the best means of destroy- 
ing them. It is an emergency Bulletin published chiefly for distribu- — 
tion at present in those portions of Idaho, Utah, and Montana which 
were overrun last season by non-migratory locusts, but it will also 
meet the demand for practical information, whenever local or migratory 
species may appear in destructive numbers. Its publication was neces- 
sitated by the fact that the First Report of the U. S. Entomological 
Commission and the Annual Report of this Department for 1877 are 
out of print. 


——$———— 


Recent changes in the force of the Division —We announced on page 310 
that Mr. C. H. Tyler Townsend had resigned his position in the Division 
to accept the post of Entomologist to the State Experiment Station of 
New Mexico. By a competitive civil service examination, held during 
May, his place has been filled by Mr. F. H. Chittenden, of New York, 

formerly editor of Entomologica Americana, and curator and correspond- 

ing secretary of the Brooklyn Entomological Society. Mr. A. B. Cord- 
ley, formerly Entomologist of the Agricultural Experiment Station of 
Vermont, has also been appointed to a position in this Division. 


REPORT OF A DISCUSSION ON THE GYPSY MOTH. 


' [At a Conference held in the rooms of the Committee on Agriculture, Boston, Mass., March 4, 1891.] 


Present, Prof. N. 8. Shaler, Mr. F. H. Appleton, and Mr. Wm. R. Sessions, of the 
State Board of Agriculture, Profs. C. V. Riley and C. H. Fernald, Mayor Craig of 
Medford, Mayor Gould of Melrose, Mayor Pierce of Arlington, and Mayor Wiggins 
of Malden, and others. Mr. S. H. Scudder came in later. 

Professor SHALER. You know that about 20 years ago an interesting Frenchman 
brought an interesting bug to this country. His name was Trouvelot, and he broughtthe 
creature thinking to introduce it asa valuable silkworm. I begged him to destroy his 
specimens, and at one time he said he had. It appears, however, that they got away 
from him. Last year I went before the legislature and begged for some money, ad- 
vising them to put $100,000 at the disposition of a trustworthy commission. They 
appropriated $50,000 and appointed a commission which did a good deal of work and 
expended a good deal of money and energy. I begged them to bend their energies to 


369 


bringing in the boundaries as far as possible, to pay the market price for eggs and 
grubs, and to put their inspection work in progress, but they went into a miscella- - 
neous sprinkling and burning over the whole territory. The result now is that, as 
nearly as I can ascertain, it would take a line 30 miles long to inclose the area these 
insects occupy. They are found in a territory of not far from 50 square miles, though 
not all overit. I should think that not more than 10 square miles were solidly occu- 
pied. On the rest of it there are colonies here and there. 

The situation seems to me discouraging in a certain way, but it is an encouraging 
fact that in about 20 years they have not occupied more than about 50 square miles, 
and itshows that they are not to be readily transported toa great distance. Another 
encouraging fact is that as far as I can learn, save at two or three very limited points 
south of Charles River, the creature may be inclosed in this line on this side the river 
[a map was shown], which it does not seem to have passed easily. It passed those 
few points probably in hauling manure. 

Professor FERNALD. Are you quite sure of the boundaries? They are reported in 
Maine and western Massachusetts. 

Professor SHALER. I know they are, but putting the worst face upon it, as I am at 
present doing, I think an area of something like 5 by 10 miles is the region that has 
got to be closely studied. There is a reasonable suspicion of it over an area of, say, 50 
square miles, and the work has got to be done over that area. One of the discourag- 
ing features is that there is a great traffic through this territory. Railroads and 
wagon roads go through it, and there is a pretty large traffic in manure out of the 
district. We have $24,000 to spend, for certain, and I am sure the legislature will 
give us anything in reason we ask for. 

Mr. APPLETON. It seems to me the situation is this: Can we eradicate this thing; 
and, if so, how? If we can not eradicate it entirely, what is the best we can do? 
Now, the first question to consider, it seems to me, is, can we eradicate it or not? 

Professor SHALER. We should like to have the opinion of experts on that point. 
Professor Riley, will you give us your word ? 

Professor RILEY. I will be very glad to give you whatever suggestions I can on 
the subject. I have taken the same interest in this matter since it was so promi- 
nently announced that I do in all matters of applied entomology, and I have felt that 
in the main, Professor Fernald’s original suggestions were very wise. The insect, as 
Professor Shaler has well said, has but limited powers of spreading. While the fe- 
male has wings, it is heavy-bodied and flies but little, and the history of the past 20 
years shows that its spread has been very gradual. Therefore we have a condition of 
affairs totally different from that prevailing in the insect’s native home, Europe, and 
we are justified in making a strong effort to undo the harm that has beendone. That 
brings up, first of all, the question, is it practicable to exterminate it or not? In 
view of Professor Shaler’s statements, I have serious doubts; because if it may be 
said to occur in an area of, say, 50 square miles, if it is found even in a number of cen- 
tral points of distribution in that area, there is great danger, in my judgment. My 
own fears would be that it has got into the woods and onto trees that are not so easily 
treated. So long asit was confined to cultivated trees and plants under cultivation 
I think there would have been no difficulty at all, and the authorities would have 
been blameworthy in allowing it to go out from Massachusetts over the rest of the 
country. 

Professor SHALER. I don’t think it has gotten into the woods. I think it is still 
confinea to the artificial grounds as yet. 

Mr. APPLETON. Don’t you think it would be a good plan to ask these gentlemen 
representing the different towns what their experience is in that direction ? 

Mr. CraiGc thought in a general way that they did not attack forest trees; were 
confined as a rule to orchard trees and trees surrounding houses. Thought the reason 
the spread was not greater the last 20 years was because the people took the insect 
for some kind of canker worm and took pains to burn them off the trees, which they 
did until they became too numerous to control. He recommended the use of tarred 


OS ee 7 


paper tied round the trees with a string. Undoubdtealy the commissioners had de- 
stroyed a great many of the insects. 

Professor RILEY. It is well known to feed upon a number of different forest trees 
that grow with us, and in the event of its getting beyond cultivated plants I should, 
as I said, have very little hope of its ultimate extermination. I am not an alarmist, 
and I do not believe that our people need to be so very seriously affected if it is not 
exterminated, but, aside from that, the loss would go on increasing annually, and it 
would become a very grievous additional pest to those the farmer and fruit-grower 
already have to contend with. The thing you have to consider is this: From what 
I could gather from the accounts in the newspapers, three measures were adopted: 
First, by attempting to destroy the eggs; secondly, by attempting to destroy the 
caterpillars after they had hatched, by means of arsenical spraying; thirdly, by en- 
deavoring to stop the artificial spread of the pest on vehicles, manure wagons, etc. 

Individually I have always felt, and so expressed myself, and still feel, that the 
proper way would be to use whatever funds the State will give you during a limited 
time and concentrate all effort and all expenditure in the month of June on the de- 
struction of the caterpillars, and not to bother about the destruction of the eggs or 
the prevention of the spread of the insect. These latter methods, necessarily intrusted 
to persons who may be efficient or who may not, are apt to bring the whole subject 
into popular disrepute and disfavor. You may reduce the numbers but you will 
never exterminate it by destroying the eggs. Therefore, as a single spraying of a 
tree will kill five thousand caterpillars just as well as one, there is nothing to be 
gained by the work of destroying theeggs. Moreover, I do not believe there is much 
to be gained in the work of preventing its spread by the examination of vehicles on 
the main thoroughfares and on the railroads. On the contrary, I believe that the 
only way to accomplish that end is by a very strict law which the legislature should 
pass, giving the power to some committee to absolutely prohibit the sending of nur- 


sery stock or any plant growth or material, probably including manure, out of anin- | 
fected district without inspection. My belief is that a rigid quarantine law making ~ 


it a penal offense for a nurseryman to send cuttings or trees from any given infected 
area without first having the sanction of this Commission would be effective in pre- 
venting the spread. That is to say, there should be a competent person or persons 
appointed to whom all such shipments should be submitted, and only upon their ap- 
proval should such shipment be allowed to pass out from that area. That would be 
the only simple and efficient way of preventing its spread. 

My impression is that the danger is far greater from overlooking a batch of eggs 


during the months of the year when such a thing is possible, and of the insects being © 


transmitted in that way, than there would be in the mere carrying of the caterpillars. 
I would therefore concentrate all efforts on the destruction of the caterpillars. I 
believe that even in an area as extended as Professor Shaler indicates, if the legis- 
lature would appropriate $100,000, the thing could be done. Let it be used under the 
intelligent guidance of some one who kas had experience, who knows practically how 
to spray, who can go to work intelligently and instruct his men and have a sufficient 
force to examine every tree.and cultivated plant upon which this insect is known to 
feed, and make sure that wherever it is it will be destroyed before the change into 
the chrysalis state takes place. In other words, I do not see why, with $100,000, a 
single year ought not to suffice to stamp it out from the area in which you know it 
to be found. I believe it can be done, and that the State of Massachusetts would be 
justified in making the attempt. In Europe this injury is at times not great; at other 
times it is quite extensive; but it is chiefly notable in those places where there are 
very large areas of cultivated forests. Bavaria, for instance, has lately suffered 
greatly from it. Experience there has shown that it is easily checked by the use of 
sticky bands, very much the same methods as you have employed here for the canker 
worm. They use several kinds of glue (manufactured, and some of them patented 
by different firms), which is procured in large quantities and smeared on the trees, 


71 


| being made in such a way that it does not dry. I presume it comes nearest to our 
printer’s roller glue. Thecaterpillars never pass above it from below.- Coming down _ 
the tree they jump overit. The devices for putting it on are very simple. That is 
the method which experience has shown to be the most satisfactory there; but it is a 
preventive method and chiefly to be considered when you have given up the fight 
for extermination. 

The main thing for you to do is to try to stamp it out during the active season and 
use all your energies tothat end. The arsenicals are not expensive, and if an analy- 
sis is made of the Paris green, or whatever form of arsenic is used, to insure its purity, 
I can see no reason why the whole area should not be practically cleared off during a 
single season. That should be carefully followed up by close observation, with a 
view of repeating it in the case of some omitted center or point where they may be 
found in a subsequent year. In case they have not gone into the woods it seems to 
me feasible to exterminate them. 

I would make one other suggestion, and that is, that as an auxiliary method it 
would be well to spend $500 or $600 in sending one or two persons abroad next 
summer with no other object than to go to some section of northern Europe to collect 
and transmit to authorized persons here a certain number of the primary parasites of 
this species, which are known to check its ravages over there. The insect was un- 
doubtedly brought over by Trouvelot without any of its natural checks. In my 
judgment it would be well worth trying to import its parasites from abroad. The 
advantage would be this: If you failed to exterminate it by spraying, its parasites, 
seeking for this particular host, would be more apt to find the overlooked or escaped 
specimens than man would. 

Professor FERNALD. Do you think that any of our native parasites will be liable to 
attack this insect? 

Professor RILEY, Experience justifies the belief that some of them may, in time. 

Professor FERNALD. Have we a case on record ? 

Professor RILEY. Yes; though they are not numerous. Pieris rape or the Imported 
Cabbage-worm has some native parasites. There are other cases, but I should have 
to consult my notes.* 

Professor FERNALD. In reply to the question which was first asked as to whether 
it is possible to eradicate the insect at all, let mesupposeacase. Suppose we havea 
tree like the elm I see yonder, and suppose we know it to be the only tree in America 
that is infested. I think you will all agree with me that for a small sum of money the 
thing could be eradicated. Suppose there were two—suppose all the trees on the 
common were infested. If they could be eradicated from all those trees it is only a 
question of time and money to eradicate them from over a much larger territory. It 
is a question of time and intelligent labor; I say intelligent advisedly. Right here I 
would suggest very earnestly that the committee or commission should have a scien- 
tific man upon it. This is the advice I gave, with all the force I could, to the former 
commission, for the reason that there are a thousand and one things constantly com- 
ing up, where it is necessary for some to know and be able to answer questions. 

As to the question of territory, I only raised that to know how it had been deter- 
mined. It is possible it is not so extensive as indicated ; but it may be. 

Professor SHALER. I thought it best to put it at the highest figure. My own 
opinion is that we shall not have to deal with an actual area of more than 9 or 10 
square miles. 

Professor RILEY. Is it not true that so far you have found this pest chiefly on or- 
chard trees ? 

Professor SHALER. On orchard trees and elms. 

Professer RILEY. That is unfortunate, because it increases the difficulty of treat- 
ment. 


*Several native species attack Scolytus rugulosus. The same is true of the Hop Aphid (Phorodon 
humuli) and of several imported species of Bark Lice. 


3812 


Mr. CraiGc. They are more numerous on and generally select orchard trees, but 
even pine trees have been attacked by them and in some cases the branches stripped. 
Maple trees are also attacked. 

Professor SHALER. I have seen them on some maple trees and heard ot others, but 
it seems to be a case of starvation when they come to that. 

Mr. Craic. My observation is that the older the tree the more they will attack it. 

Professor FERNALD. With regard to a scientific man on the commission, if you can 
get an entomologist who is also a business man you will be fortunate, but in my 
judgment it is important to have a business man, too. 

To go back to the question of territory, I agree with Professor Riley that it is rather 
stupendous, but if you can destroy the insects over a small area, why can not you 
over a large one? The whole thing is experimental; it is unprecedented to destroy 
so large a body of insects over so large a territory, but my impression is that they can 
be destroyed. The question is, howto doit. I wasinformed last summer that Paris 
green destroyed the larve of this insect up to a certain size; beyond that size they 
were able to eat it and grow fat. I urged the commission to try a branch with cat- 
erpillars that had not eaten any Paris green, but I can not learn that they did it. If 
their statements are correct, I must lose the little faith I had in regard to the efficacy 
of Paris green. My experiments at Amherst on the use of Paris green do not seem to 
tally with the results they got out of it. They used 1 pound of Paris green to 150 gal- 
lons water, and when Mr. Sessions and I went over there in the summer we saw that 
the trees were burned very little. Thesame proportions used at Amherst burned the 
trees very badly. Yet Professor Cook and others have reported that a much larger 
proportion of Paris green could be used. The Paris green I used I had analyzed, and 
know just what it was. I expect there is either some great difference between the 
climate of Amherst and this region or—something else. 

Mr. Crala. So far as my own orchard is concerned, where the Paris green was used 
a streak was burned here and there; in other places not. I think it was not kept 
stirred up. 

Professor FERNALD. Suppose it is not possible to destroy the insect? Even then 
I believe it would pay to make annual appropriations to hold them in check. We 
know what the farmers are paying annually to destroy the potato beetle, and if this 
insect spreads over the Commonwealth of Massachusetts I should suppose it was 
capable of doing more damage than the Potato Beetle. It seems to me if it is not 
possible to stamp it out it is wise to hold it in check where it is. 

Mr. Sessions. I have heard the idea advanced by somebody from Medford that 
possibly the reason the caterpillars apparently eat Paris green and live, is that after 
a certain stage of their existence they stop eating altogether. 

Professor FERNALD. They do not stop eating long before they spin their cocoons. 
The time is not more than 24 hours. 

Professor SHALER. I should like to ask about the chances for more satisfactory in- 
secticides. I should like toask if we may reckon among the insecticides certain com- 
pound salts of calcium which are very acrid, and whether a solution of them would 
be efficacious ? 

Professor FERNALD. I have had no experience with them. 

Professor SHALER. The question is whether it would serve in this case. Do you 
know, Professor Riley ? 

Professor R1LkyY. I should have most faith in the arsenicals. The relative value of 
the different forms of arsenic spraying depends partly upon the kind of tree treated, 
partly upon the condition of the atmosphere, and very materially upon the purity 
of the material. Paris green has this advantage, that it may be used much more 
strongly, with less injury to the tree; and it has this disadvantage as compared with 
London purple or pure arsenic, that it is not soluble in water, and you have to keep 
stirring it. I have no doubt that the experience Professor Fernald referred to was 
due to the inferior character of the Paris green in the one case and its purity in the 
other. It should be applied with a spraying nozzle that would simply touch it to 


373 


the leaves, and it should be mixed with a substance to make it adhere. In other 
words, all this work should be superintended by a careful, practical man, who knows | 
what todo. A part of the advantage of using the arsenicals in this part of the coun- 
try would be that, aside from the destruction of Ocneria, it would pay to use it as 
against the Tent Caterpillar, the Codling Moth, and various other insects that are so 
prevalent in your orchards. It is one of the curious things which strike a man 
traveling through Massachusetts that in a State where applied entomology has had 
its origin in America an insect as common as the Tent Caterpillar, and which may be 
so easily mistaken for this very Ocneria, should be so abundant, and that so little 
should be done to control it. You will have the same trouble with the Ocneria; you 
can’t get the average Massachusetts farmer to bestir himself about it. 

Professor SHALER. Am I not right in supposing that our first care should be to drive 
this pest in on the periphery at all costs, but to make surest of its destruction on the 
periphery ? The number of inspectors we could have would be limited; therefore we 
should take the extremest care with the periphery. With that in view, how would it 
do, from now until the time the eggs hatch (they are conspicuous things; you cansee 
them a great distance, and boys could gather them in quantities), to pay the school- 
boys what would be a tempting price per ounce for the eggs. We would securea 
very large destruction on that basis, I think, between now and the time the eggs 
hatch. We could put a person in each town, who should gather the eggs oacea day, 
pay for and destroy them. That is, in the regions that are thoroughly infected. In 
that way I think we should diminish the number that are to be killed in the spring, 
and that at small cost. 

Professor FERNALD. In reply to that, Professor Riley has already expressed his 
opinion on that point. A year ago I had just the same opinion that Professor Riley 
has, and expressed it to the commissioners, but they had already gone to work. I 
talked with some entomologists about it, and they differed from me; they thought it 
did help to use other means than Paris green. Theoretically, it seems to me that 
any other means would be a nee ‘less expenditure of money, and Professor Riley’s 
suggestion to exterminate them in one year would be greatly to be hoped for, but I 
question whether it would be wise for us to go from this meeting to the legislature 
with that proposition. If you don’t do it in one year and come back for a sécond ap- 
propriation, you may find it difficult to getit. This is merely a policy suggestion. 
I can conceive that even with the most thorough work that can be done with Paris 
green in spraying trees a few might escape and start a new colony. Then in another 
20 years this thing would come up again. 

Professor SHALER. Do you gentlemen agree that we must look forward toa careful 
and continuous work against this moth? 

Professor RILEY. AsI said before, we have nothing to do with the experience or 
methods of Europe, where the insect prevails over vast areas and where nobody ex- 
pects to exterminate it. Yet there have been instances of similar extermination, as, 
for instance, what the Prussian Government did with the Potato Beetle, and here you 
have an opportunity to show that you can stamp this thing out. I expect a few will 
escape. That is why I made the suggestion that it would be wise to introduce such 
parasites as can be used against it, with a view of permitting them to search .out 
those which may have escaped. The matter, as I said, may not be possible, but if it 
is,it is only possible in that way, and all other efforts would, I think, be rather 
puerile and serve to bring the whole thing into popular disfavor. Set the school 
boys to work on the eggs; that is good as a prophylactic measure and would doa 
certain amount of good, but the good would be very slight as compared with the 
effective work you ought to do in the actual destruction of the caterpillars. As I 
said before, the fact that the insect has been diminished in numbers would be rather 
against the efficient extermination of the larve in summer, for the reason that it is 
harder to find an isolated bunch of caterpillars in a county than when they are 
numerous. I still hold to the belief that whatever funds the legislature can give 
you should be devoted to a prompt and effective attempt at stamping out. 


27707—No. 9 2 


O74 


Professor SHALER. Suppose everv tree sprayed, what reason have we to believe 
that we should have disposed of the pest? 

Professor RitEy. There would be need for some years afterward of the greatest 
care. I would not attempt to kill the young caterpillars; wait until they are some- 
what advanced, so that the work could be concentrated within a narrow limit of 
time. 

(At this point Mr. Scudder came in.} 

Professor SHALER. The discussion has been, Mr. Seud der, on the question as to 
whether it would be well to proceed at once to the destruction of the eggs. There 
are places where the eggs are abundant, and, as we know, they are conspicuous, and 
it seems that between now and hatching time we might collect a considerable per 
cent of them, paying for them by weight or measure, and at once destroying them. 
Professor Riley thinks that would diminish the conspicuousness of the colonies, so 
to speak, and make it harder to find them, and thinks that an equal amount of money 
would go further in poisoning with spray than it would in collecting the eggs. I 
_ should like to hear from Mr, Scudder what he think sabout the desirableness of doing 
anything with the eggs. 

Mr. ScuDpDER. I feel that I have no right to speak in the presence of others here 
who have given special study to economic entomology, while I have not. All I can 
speak upon is the natural history of the moth, and on that side of the question it 
might be well to ask whether it is behaving the same in this country as in the old 
country. There are a number of moths single brooded in the old country which are 
double brooded here. 

Professor RILEY. I have assumed that it was single brooded. 

Professor FERNALD. I have bred it twice, two years in succession. 

Mr. SCUDDER. If it is single brooded there is this point to be brought out, that 
as the caterpillar is a very liberal feeder, so, of course, it is very much more difficult 
to reach by spraying, because the spraying is not to be confined to a few kinds of 
trees, but to a very large number, so that one would say you would have to spray 
almost everything you came across. So with the eggs, which are laid not always on 
trees, but on almost anything else. It therefore becomes the most dangerous insect 
enemy we have had for a long time, [ think. If it is single brooded it seems to me 
that nature has indicated the easiest means of attack. The eggs are laid in batches 
and are exposed for eight months of the year. Therefore it seems to me that the 
eggs are the place to attack. I should suppose that the same amount of money ex- 
pended in the destruction of the eggs would effect a very much larger end than the 
same amount of money spent in spraying. 

Professor RILEY. I have been trying to bring out what knowledge theron is as to the 
actual range of the insect, and my remarks on the possibility of stamping it out have 
all been based on that. I want tosay that if the insect has spread beyond the limits 
indicated by Professor Shaler and got into the larger trees I think the question of 
stamping it out a very doubtful one. At the same time there is an opportunity here 
for the State of Massachusetts to make the experiment and show what can be done 
by efficient means and intelligence. I would rather offer a higher bounty to every 
scheolboy for pointing out where the caterpillars are to be found during two weeks 
in June than for gathering the eggs. I believe that there is a chance of stamping it 
out if it is not beyond the region where the trees are comparatively few in number 
and not very large. 

Professor SHALER. How would it do, as one of the early steps in this work, to get 
all the information we can as to the periphery and publish maps showing it? Let 
us ask for information as to the spread of the pest beyond those limits. I should 
hesitate about offering a reward for the location of the caterpillars, because there is 
the possibility of the schoolboys planting them. A reward for the eggs ismuch more 
easy, and we could probably interest the schoolboys in searching for them, but it 
would hardly do to offer a reward which might serve to spread the plague. All these 
rewards for animals are very dangerous. 


375 


Professor RILEY. On general principles it is bad policy, but the same objection 
would apply to a reward for the eggs. If the boys once learned that they could get 
a certain amount of money for the eggs, they would not be so interested in extermi- 
nating them and thus cutting off future revenue. 

Professor SHALER. I should state a definite reward and not go beyond a certain 
time. 

Mr. Cratc. We have two or three village improvement associations especially to 
take care of the trees. We extended an invitation tothe citizens to take part in the 
work, and they were to notify certain committees wherever they found any eggs. 
This was done to a large extent, and I think it aided the commissioners very largely 
in finding out where the moths were. 

Professor SHALER. You can tell us abont the extent of the pest in Medford. Over 
about how large a territory did it extend? 

Mr. CraiGc. More or less from the Malden line over to Arlington. 

Professor SHALER. About a mile and a half in the worst infested district. 

Professor RILEY. What was the result of the commission’s work? Are the eggs 

found abundantly in that neighborhood? 

Mr. CraiG. I don’t believe there are one-tenth the eggs there were when the com- 
mission commenced. 

Professor RILEY. What was the result of the commission’s work last year? Was it 
appreciable on the number of eggs known to have been there ? 

Mr. CraiG. Yes, certainly. I differ from you two gentlemen about destroying the 
eggs. I think it was the means of destroying a great many of the pests. On many 
trees it was controlled by gathering the eggs. 

Mr. Sessions. I have no scientific knowledge on the subject, but it seems to me the 
first and most important thing we have to do is to find out the outside line, even if 
we don’t do any more than that in one season. The old commissioners claim that 
they have found it; our first business should be to verify that. 

Professor SHALER. Did they make a map ? 

Mr. Sessions. I think not. 

Mr. ScuppDEk. Howdo they know the moth wasn’t blown 50 miles away by a storm ? 

Professor SHALER. It may have been. Butit is a strong point in our favor that 
after the creature has been 20 years on the scene it still has a tolerably distinct 
periphery. 

Professor RILEY. That is what I have based my recommendation to exterminate it 
upon. I should not like tosee the attempt abandoned, but my remarks have all been 
made with a view of economizing means and time in one effective eftort to exterminate 
it. Alithese other measures willcome inif we have to deal with the pest asa permanent 
thing among us. As a mere State measure, with a view to not having the unenvia- 
ble reputation of having given a pest to the rest of the country, or done nothing to 
prevent its spread, Massachusetts has an excellent opportunity of showing what may 
be done by intelligent concentrated effort. All other means are puerile as compared 
with destruction by the arsenicals. All other means are now abandoned in fighting 
the canker worm, the codling moth, and some other insects, and intelligent spraying 
at the proper time has come to be looked upon as the most efficient means of protec- 
tion against these insects. My idea is that what you ought to do is toemploy a suffi- 
cient force of intelligent persons to scour that whole region in the month of June, 
and indicate every plant that has a brood upon it. 

Professor SHALER. Suppose you had 100 persons searching at the same time. 
What general instructions could you give them in determining what trees were in- 
fested? 

Professor RILEY. The insect is gregarious and therefore conspicuous. There is no 
reason why intelligent search should not detect it, even on the highest trees. 

Professor SHALER. How much time could you reckon on having for your search 
after the creature came out? 


376 


Professor RILEY. I should say you could count on 10 days after it was hatched. Its 
gregarious nature makes that feasible. 

Professor SHALER. How much time is there before it begins to spin ? 

Professor RILEY. I believe it takes 3 or 4 weeks. 

Professor FERNALD. I think it highly desirable to make the attempt to stamp it 
out. I don’t know that it can be done, but it is worth trying. If we can not exter-— 
minate it, the other excellent remedies will come in in holding it in check. 

Professor SHALER. Had we not better wait until we can strike a hard blow and do 
the best we can this year with prevention ? 

Professor RILEY. I am strongly of opinion that you had better not wait. Some 
contingencies may arise to give it a sudden impetus. I would adopt the auxiliary 
methods of introducing parasites, etc., and I would also have a special committee 
authorized to inspect all nursery stock that goes out from the infested region and not 
allow it to go until passed upon by competent men. : 

Professor Fernald thought the Federal Government might take charge of the 
work. Professor Riley stated that he would be glad to assist in any way possible, 
but that since the establishment of State experiment stations, the Federal Govern- 
ment felt it had no further function in the States, so far as local insects are concerned. 
Professor Shaler thought the State of Massachusetts should make the fight itself, and 
only ask for Federal aid in case it could not exterminate the pest; $24,000 were on 
hana, and he thought $25,000 or $50,000 more could be counted on from the legisla- 
ture. 

Mr. ScupDDER. I don’t understand the force of the arguments used by my neighbors ~ 
on either side (Professors Riley and Fernald) of delaying the work by not taking the 
eggs at present. Why do they want all the caterpillars out that they can get, in 
order to exterminate them ? 

Professor SHALER. It is a question of seeing them, I believe. 

Mr. ScuDDER. I understand. But if you destroy so many eggs that, say, only one 
tree out of five is attacked, you have to deal with only one-fifth as many trees in 
spraying. 

Professor RILEY. I want to tell Mr. Scudder just why I rather urge the policy I 
have advised. First of all, it isfrom the political side. If you ask for an appropri- 
ation to stamp it out, you must do your best to stamp it out. As Professor Fernald 
has suggested, it is simply a question of means, and I would not think of asking for 
less than $100,000, and I would concentrate that where it would do the most good. 
Killing the eggs is frittering the money away at a time when it is not of so much 
value as if concentrated. Secondly, I have little faith in the destruction of eggs in 
this case, where they are laid on so many difterent objects. I remember distinctly a 
little cedar tree not more than 6 feet high, in my own grounds, that was attacked by 
the Bagworm. I thought I would see whether I could not clear them off. I worked 
for two consecutive months picking off from that tree the issue of not more than two 
females. Almost daily I went to that tree and found fresh specimens that I had over- 
looked the day before, yet in the Smithsonian Grounds I have absolutely stopped 
similar injury on large trees in a few minutes by spraying. It would have been of no. 
use, in my judgment, to have attempted to eradicate them by hand picking. Sup- 
pose you have somebody climb a tree and gather twelve batches of eggs, but he fails 
to get the thirteenth. It will cost no more to spray a tree for the thirteen batches 
than it will for the one. 

Professor SHALER. When I came here I was strongly in favor of offering a reward 
for the eggs, but I admit I am shaken now. 

Mr. ScuDDER. I don’t think you can get sufficient force to spray the trees thor- 
oughly in the time allowed. L 

Professor SHALER. I think we shall have to ask the Agricultural College to lend 
us say 80 or 100 of their young men for this work. 

Mr. Sessions. There are many people living in the neighborhood of this spraying 


O17 


who claimed that it was of no sort of value. Do any of these gentlemen believe 
that ? 

Professor RILEY. I think the reasons that have been given explain why they had 
that experience. It was simply due to the impurity of the Paris green and the im- 
} perfect manner of applying it. You will always have more or less of failure until 
you put this matter into the hands of men who can give their whole time to it dur- 
fing that period. Only those men should be employed who have ability and experi- 
ence, and one man, particularly, should be engaged to superintend the whole work, 
and as many other competent persons as possible. 

A tree 50 feet high is very easily sprayed. If the caterpillars could not be killed 
by spraying, it would be better to cut the trees down over the whole of the Middle- 
sex Fells. It pays better to make one grand effort than to fritter your energies away 
over a number of years and then fail. The board in control of the work should con- 
troleverything. If Paris green is used, it should all be issued by the board, after 
being tested. 

Professor SHALER. I should like to ask your opinion, gentlemen, whether any con- 
siderable risk to health is to be apprehended from this large use of arsenic in the 
eountry. Is there any risk of poisoning the water or of poisoning animals or men ? 

Mr. APPLETON. The committee on public health is having an extended hearing on 
the use of arsenicals. 

Professor RILEY. If the spraying is copiousand careless, which is unnecessary, 
there is danger of stock feeding upon grass which has been so impregnated, but there 
is no necessity for that. The spraying should be of such a character that there 
would be comparatively little falling from the tree or shrub sprayed. 

Professor SHALER. Have you known any cases of poisoning in persons employed in 
spraying? 

Professor RILEY. No, I have seen none, but I have known of cases where negroes 
would sit on the back of a mule with spraying pumps, going through cotton fields, 
and carelessly allow the water to fallon them. I have known them to become sore © 
in the groin, but never knew of a fatal case. 

Mr. APPLETON. The spraying is washed off by the first rain of course ? 

Professor RILEY. It should not be. The whole tree is enshrouded in a vapor 
which is all-sufficient, and which is more effective than amore copious spraying. 

Professor SHALER. Is there any particular form of engine which will give that form 
of spraying? 

Professor RILEY. There are various spraying devices in use, depending largely on 
the height of the vegetation. If you want to throw to any great height without the 
use of ladders, you need a spraying device that will throw a strong jet. In almost 
all cases you can use the cyclone nozzle in its Vermorel modification. 

Mr. ScUDDER. I should like to say, before going, that it does not seem to me likely 
that the thing will be exterminated, but that it can be held in check for many years. 
The reason why I don’t think it can be exterminated is because we have not got 
enough persons used to looking for the caterpillars, to examine the trees and say for 
| certain that there are none there. I do think, however, that it can be held in check. 

The MAyoR OF ARLINGTON said they had had very little trouble with it in his 
neighborhood. The sentiment of the people there was in favor of the continuation 
of the work. 

The Mayor OF MALDEN. We went through and marked every tree that was in- 

; fested and then went through again and sprayed them. Thetrees were not so infested 
| as to be particularly noticeable. 
The Mayor OF MELROSE. The selectmen did not believe there were any Gypsy 
Moths in their town. As far as he knew, the people were not disturbed by their 
presence. They would be glad, however, to have the inspectors go through the town 
} and look for it, and would gladly second their efforts. 

Professor SHALER. I think it would be a tax of. probably more than $100,000 annually 
if not checked. 


378 


Professor RILEY. There is no question of that, if it is allowed to take its course. . 
That is what makes it so vitally interesting to me, and why I am so impatient of any 
efforts to simply check it. I have nothing to say about checking it; I speak for 
stamping it out. Mr. Scudder simply says he doesn’t think it will be exterminated, 


As to how much of any given territory one individual is capable of critically examin- | 


ing, a man who is capable of distinguishing between this caterpillar and kee 
doing nothing else, would, in my judgment, be abie easily to go over a square mileo 
ground a day, except in dense forest. 


Professor SHALER. I don’t think so—nothing like it. If the work was done closelal 
(and two together would do better work than one) my impression is they would be | 


doing good work to get over 100 acres a day. 
Professor RILEY. Well, say 100 acres—— 


Professor SHALER. If we could get from the college say 40 young men as inspectors, | 
we would have 4,000 acres a day inspected, and my impression is that the region) 
covers about 10,000 acres. That area can be thoroughly inspected by 20 parties of 
selected men doing nothing else. They should mark the infested trees and plat them | 
on a map. As we are no longer a paid commission, I] would devote that money to) 
experts. We want the best expert we can select to superintend the actual applica- | 
tion of the remedies. When a tree is marked as infested, let it be numbered so and | 
so, and when it is sprayed, let an account be taken of that tree, so that by some sys- | 


tem of checking we can find whether every tree has been disposed of or not. 

Professor RILEY. The suggestion seems to me eminently wise. But I suppose you 
could get the leading citizens in a community interested also? 

Mr. SEssrIons. I don’t believe you can get the college boys to come. 

Professor RILEY. Not if you paid them? It would be an excellent education for 
agricultural students, and if you offered them $100 each you would have no difficulty 
in getting them, I think. 

Professor SHALER. What month should the work be done in? 


Professor RILEY. As far as I can learn, the month of June. I believe that about) 


the second week in June will be the time to strike, after having made all your plans, . 
got your forces ready, and trained your men. It may be that the thing is not prac-- 


ticable, but I can see nothing impracticable. It is simply a question of money and) 
men. After this one thorough effort you need not ask for another appropriation ;; 
everybody will be interested, and then you could afford to offer a big reward for any’ 


eggs that might escape. The attempt is well worth making. 
Mr. Sessions. A great obstacle is in procuring help you can depend on. 


Professor RILEY. Let me make one other suggestion: While the infested area is) 


stated in the rough at 50 square miles, from what Professor-Shaler said, there would | 
probably be large portions of it that would require nothing but inspection. Now, 
wherever there are large trees difficult to climb, I would certainly take the precau- 


tion to ring or band them, because that will prevent any stray caterpillars from) 
climbing up those trees. No caterpillars will ascend such trees, and if any escape, | 


you will find them at the foot of the trees. European experience shows this. 


Professor SHALER. Where can we get on the track of the mixture they use in) 


Europe for that purpose? 


Professor RrLEy. You can use printer’s ink for that purpose. In Newark I recom- | 


mended the use of the fire department for spraying certain very tall elm trees. 
Professor SHALER. I presume we could make such an arrangement with the fire 
departments. 
Mr. CraAiG. We have an engine that could be so used. 
Professor RILEY. I would modify my objection to egg collecting just so far that in 
the case of large trees it would be advisable to do the work prior to estivation. I 


think boys could go over them, and in this direction winter work would be advisable. | 


It would also be advisable to have these large trees very carefully inspected for the: 
eggs, but I do not believe you would be justified in attempting to destroy the eggs 
over the whole area. 


379 


Professor SHALER. Is the energy of diffusion and the tendency of the females to 
travel at all proportioned to their numerousness ? 

Professor RiLey. Yes; it is a general principle with insects that in proportion as 
they become unduly multiplied the migratory instinct is developed. 

Professor SHALER. So that in so far as we reduce the number in a given field we 
tend to reduce the expansive energy ? 

Professor RILEY. Without doubt. 

Professor SHALER. And therefore if we fail to exterminate it this year we shall 
at least diminish its expansive energy. 

Professor Riley described the Cyclone nozzle, stating that it is not on the market, 
but is easily made by any good mechanic. Thomas Somerville & Son, of Washing- 
ton, are constantly supplying it. Professor Riley recommended the Vermorel modifi- 


cation. 
At 6 p. m. the conference adjourned. 


THE RAVAGES OF LIPARIS (PSILURA) MONACHA IN GERMANY 
AND MEANS OF DEFENSE. 


[ Author’s abstract of a paper read by B. E. FERNOw before the Entomological Soci- 
ety of Washington, March 5, 1891. ] 


Mr. Fernow spoke of the alarming increase of Liparis monacha in 
Germany, and especially Bavaria, during the last year and the anticipa- 
tions of still greater damage in 1892, and hence the diligent search 
after effectual remedies. He pointed out that such ravages in German 
pine and spruce forests meant not only many thousands of dollars loss 
in depreciation of wood values, but also most inconvenient disarrange- 
ment of working plans, which are necessarily laid for 100 or more years 
in advance. 

He referred to the last great ravages of this insect, which involved 
an area of over 100,000 square miles and to which 55,000,000 cords of 
wood succumbed in the spruce forests of eastern Prussia during the 
years 1853~’67, necessitating the premature cutting of 7,000,000 cords 
of wood to save it from subsequent attacks of Scolytids. In the pres- 
ent case some 20,000 acres of spruce in Upper Bavaria were first at- 
tacked, but soon reports from all parts of Germany, Austria, Bohemia, 
etc., indicated unusual increase, so that many thousand square miles of 
forest are involved. In the first-named district over $8,000 were spent 
toward checking the damage. 

A special commission has been appointed by the Bavarian Govern. 
ment to discuss the measures to be taken against the further spread of 
Liparis monacha and the amount of observations and intelligent pre- 
liminary discussion of measures in the * Programme for the Commis- 
sion” is said to be one of the most comprehensive works touching such 
@ subject. 

Of the life history of the insect Mr. Fernow pointed out only the fol- 
lowing notes of interest: 

Like most of the North European Bombycids, it has but one genera- 


380 


tion per year, and since as many as 150 eggs may be laid on the aver- 
age by one female, there would seem to be ample provision for its propa- 
gation. Nevertheless the insect has been in many localities so rare, 
that in 50 years in one district hardly a specimen for collection could 
be found, where now millions suddenly have made their appearance. 
The reason for its sudden multiplication is sought in climatic conditions 
(rains), which were unfavorable to the Tachine, Ichneumonide, and 
other parasites without impeding the development of Liparis. 

As reasons for the rapid spread from a center of first development 
and the infesting of areas formerly unoccupied by the insect were cited 
voluntary and involuntary migration of both imago and larva. Invol- 
untary migration, or drifting by wind over iarge distances, has been 
definitely observed, while the larva is wafted by the winds when sus- 
pended by its threads in the early and also later periods of its life. 
Rains also bring it to the ground. There are also observations extant 
which would prove veluntary immigration of the imago and a normal 
progress of the exceedingly mobile larve from thinned-out fields of 
attack to the unattacked shadier surroundings; the observation of 
Altum, however, that ‘the insect rarely feeds in the same district twa 
years in succession, and that hardly any eggs are found in the thinned- 
out parts, the insect seeking the shadier outskirts for oviposition,” does 
not seem to hold for spruce forest. For oviposition it seeks the sealy 
bark of pine and spruce, under which the eggs are inserted; the smooth 
bark of beech, on which the insect seems to develop better than on coni- 
fers, does not offer a good place for oviposition. Three hundred larve, 
3,000 pup, and up to 140,000 eggs could be counted on a tree. The 
insect is polyphagous, almost omnivorous, but it is considered danger- 
ous only on spruces. which are apt to die from its attacks. One addi- 
tional reason for the rapidity of defoliation is that the larva bites off 
the needle half way up, so that the upper half falls to the ground and 
is wasted. 

Of interest entomologically is the appearance of a black variety (var. 
eremita) in certain locations, and also that at first the males are in pre- 
ponderance, and remain so in préportion of 70 per cent to 30 per cent 
of females. 

The most important biological feature of economic interest is the tend- 
ency to migration and great mobility of the larva, which gives indica- 
tions for the methods of coping with the pest. 

Various methods of checking the ravages have been proposed and 
practiced. The sweeping and collecting of larve are found ineffective 
on account of numbers, and undesirable because enemies are destroyed 
at the same time; gathering of eggs, because all over the tree, high 
up, and difficult to get at; collecting pups, too few on the ground; 
breeding of Tachina monache, too difficult and uncertain. Ditches have 
been found a good aid to check migration of the larve and confine it. 
One of the most ingenious but costly and ineffective propositions has 


381 


been the steam and electric exhauster, the invention of a Socialist, an 
illustration of which was shown. It consists of a 28-inch iron pipe, car- 
ried up between four trees above their tops, carrying a horizontally re- 
volving funnel 52 inches diameter, in the center of which an electric 
lamp with reflector is placed for the purpose of attracting the moths. 
At the bottom of the pipe a locomobile creates a draft to suck down the 
insects. Since one of these machines costs about *8,000 and the work- 
ing of one sample machine $1,500, and the result being unsatisfactory, 
it is not likely to become useful. Zinc lights, costing 40 cents and burn- 
ing one-quarter hour, were found too expensive. With 24 lights in two 
hours from 10,000 to 15,000 moths were gathered at each shield, and 
such a light in not too dense forest is effective for about 1,000 feet cir- 
cumference. In the beginning of the flight the effect even of common 
fires was satisfactory; many fires, of course, being superior in effect 
to one strong source of light. The following record of one night may 
be of interest: 


Date. Time. Remarks. 


July 22, 1890 Lighting of fires. Light west breeze. No flight observed. 

Light rain. A few moths. 

Flight more numerous, especially females. 

peereseed flight, like Snowstorm. Very many females. Wind changing 
to south. 

Flight suddenly increased from east and northeast; more males, yetstill 
many females. 

| Increase of males. 

_ Most of the moths come against the wind through the smoke; only single 
ones with the wind and more from above. 

Very great increase from northeast; 40 per cent. females. 

Decrease. 

| Almost entirely stopped. Suddenly a new flock, like snow, from north- 

| __ east; almost all male. 
Flight increasing, although fire low; almost all males. 

Sudden squall of rain; fire out. 


Hee bet ha he 
Orroroo 


So rey Do es PeUD 
BE EES BB B BEES 


The only really effective remedy so far found against this, as well as 
a number of other insects, like Ocneria dispar, Cheimatobia brumata, 
etc., is the “‘ insect lime,” and in this particular case the “ lime band.” 
For Ocneria dispar, the Gypsy moth, the use of the “ lime” applied to 
the egg patches has been found of great effect. The ‘ banding” con- 
sists in smoothing the bark breast high around the trunk, if necessary, 
and spreading over the smooth surface a band of specially pre- 
pared glue, about 2 inches broad and one-fourth of an inch thick. 
This work is done from May to June, and the period of its utility is 
passed by middle of July. At the same time all underbrush which may 
serve as food to the descending caterpillar is removed, and the result is 
starvation of the larve. The object of the lime band is not to catch the 
larva, as is currently believed, but to prevent its ascent. While the use 
of tar dates back to the beginning of this century, or earlier, and was 
practiced in the forest against the “ Nun” (Liparis monacha) in 1834, 
and is now regularly employed against Gastropacha pini, its advan- 
tages against the former insect are only now fully recognized, and the 


382 


méthod of its application perfected by improved material and instru- 
ments. Three or four firms manufacture an insect lime which answers 
the requirements, namely, that it keeps effective for 3 months; that it 
does not run in hot weather, and preserves the original dimensions of 
the band; that it is lighter than water (to show it free from heavy ad- 
mixtures which injure its usefulness) ; that it preserves a disagreeable 
smell (tar oil), which seems to keep the larve off. The price is less than 
$2 for 100 pounds. The cost of banding 1 acre of forest by hand, with- 
out the new machines, is $1.80, of which $1.25 goes for material, 25 
cents for bark scraping, and 30 cents for putting band on trees. With 
the newly patented bark scraper and gluing machines (illustrations of 
which were exhibited), the cost may be reduced by one-third to one- 
fifth, with more effectiveness in addition. 

The success of the ‘lime band” was demonstrated in a district of about 
2,000 acres at an expenditure of $12,000, experimentally, including the 
cutting of infested trees, ete. The larve accumulated below the bands 
by the thousand and could be killed easily or starved to death. Those 
that were on the trees in descending, let themselves drop over the im- 
pediment. The next year will furnish a still larger amount of experi- 
ence in fighting the pests. 

Mr. Fernow also suggested that the introduction of insect lime into 
this country might be desirable as an additional cheap means of pro- 
tecting orchard and park trees. This lime is manufactured by L. Pohl- 
born, of Berlin, aud Schindler & Miitzell, of Stettin, previously men- 
tioned on page 36 of the current volume, and by other German firms. 


A NEW SCALE INSECT FROM CALIFORNIA. 
By D. W. CoQuiLLETtT, Los Angeles, Cal. 


Lecanium pruinosum n. sp.—Adult female pale brownish, thinly covered with a 
whitish powder which does not conceal the ground color; body oblong in outline, 
very convex above, not distinctly carinate, the surface very uneven; margins nearly 
perpendicular; dimensions as follows: Largest specimen, length 7 millimetres, width 
a trifle over 5 millimetres, height 3 millimetres; smallest full grown specimen, length 
4 millimetres, width 3 millimetres, height 2 millimetres; antennze much thickest at the 
base, 7-jointed; joint 6 the shortest, then 5, then 1 and 2, which are subequal in length; 


joints 3, 4, and 7 are also subequal in length, each nearly twice as long as 6; joint 7 — 


tapers to the tip, and is furnished with a style inserted to one side of the extreme tip, 
the style being about three-fourths as long as this joint; anal cleft and lobes normal. 

In the old dead and dried scales the powdery substance becomes 
almost entirely removed, and the surface becomes rougher, especially 
along the sides, where it is very rugose, the center of the dorsum always 
being smoother than the sides; the margin usually becomes thin and 
spread out, forming an acute angle with the bark upon which it rests; 
the color of the scale is now a reddish-brown. 


\ 


383 


The females become full grown early in summer, and the eggs are 
laid during the months of May, June, and July; these are of the usual 
ovoid form and of a yellowish-white color. They hatch out in a few 
weeks after being deposited, and the young larve settle down upon the 
under side of the leaves, arranging themselves in various positions 
without any regard to the veins or midribs. Larve which I found 
September 3, on the under side of the leaves of an ash tree (Fraxinus 
sp.), were of a paler green color than the leaf itself, being nearly con- 
colorous with the midribs and larger veins; they have a distinct dor- 
sal ridge extending the entire length of the body, and with many 
smaller ones (abort 24 on each side) extending from it to the margin, 
some of them being divided into two branches. The margin itself is 
furnished with a row of bristle-like appendages, and the ordinary four 
lateral notches are present besides the anal cleft with its two accom- 
panying lobes. 

At the approach of the winter season and before the leaves have 
fallen from the trees, the larve migrate to the twigs and smaller branches, 
usually selecting those of the last season’s growth; here they settle down 
invariably upon the under side of the twig or branch. A large number 
of these larvee which I found March 4, on twigs of ash trees were of the 
same general form as those above described, but the color‘is now a deep, 
brownish red, with the legs and antennz pale yellow; the body is now 
nearly 1 millimetre long, evenly convex above except for the dorsal 
ridge, twice as long as wide, and the appendages of the margin are of 
various shapes, the greater number of these being broadest at the mid- 
dle. On each side of the body is a submarginal row of aboat five long 
bristles, but these are easily broken off, and it is difficult to find a speci- 
men with more than three of these bristles intact. The usual lateral 
notches are very shallow and are usually filled up with a whitish exu- 
dation. On April 4 I found a great many of these scales on a brancb 
of an ash tree and a majority of them were over half-grown. 

I first found specimens of this scale on apricot trees in this city; this 
was in the summer of 1887, and at about the same time Mr. Alexander 
Craw, of this city, also found specimens of this species, some of which 
he forwarded to Prof. J. H. Comstock, our best authority on this group 
of insects, and Professor Comstock replied that they evidently belonged 
to a new species, for which he proposed the name of Lecanium pruino- 
sum, or the “ Frosted scale ;” but lam not aware that he has published 
a description of it up to the present time. Among all the descriptions 
of the species of Lecanium to which I have access, none agree so well 
with the present species as does Dr. Fitch’s description of his Lecanium 
carye (Transactions N. Y. State Agricultural Society, p. 443); but Pro- 
fessor Riley, who has compared specimens of the present species with 
Dr. Fitch’s type specimen, writes me that the two species are quite dis- 
tinct and that carye is much larger than pruinosum. 

In Los Angeles County I have found full-grown specimens of prui- 


384 


nosum on the following-named trees: Apricot, prune, peach, cherry, 
English laurel (Prunus lauro-cerasus), pear, apple, English walnut, birch 
(Betula sp.), and ash (Fraxinus sp.); and Professor Riley writes me 
that it has also been found on grape vines at Berkeley, in this State. 
Some of the trees which I examined were very thickly infested with 
these scales, and as no insect is known to attack them, they may yet 
develop into a very serious pest. A single experiment that I made last 
season, however, would seem to indicate that on dormant deciduous 
trees these scales, all of which at this season of the year are in the larva 
stage, could be readily destroyed by means of a wash or spray composed 
of the following ingredients: Resin, 30 pounds; caustic soda (about 70 
per cent. strong), 9 pounds; fish oil, 44 pints, and water sufficient to 
make 100 gallons. On the 12th of May I sprayed some of this solution 
on a few branches of a prune tree which were thickly infested with 
these scales, and this proved fatal to all of them, besides destroying the 
greater number of their eggs. This wash, however, could only be used 
while the trees are dormant, and should never be used when the young 
buds are bursting forth or at any time when the trees are in leaf. 


NOTES-ON THE HABITS AND EARLIER STAGES OF CRYPTOPHASA 
UNIPUNCTATA, DON., IN AUSTRALIA. 


By HENRY Epwarps, New York City. 


One of the most singular instances of the change of habits in a species 
of Lepidoptera that has come under my notice is to be found in that 


Fic. 30.—Cryptophasa unipunctata: a, larva; b, lateral view of enlarged segments; c, pupa; d, anal 
segment or cremaster; ¢, adult—all natural size except b and d, which are enlarged (original). 


of the insect referred to in the present article. As far back as 1858 I 
was fully acquainted with the species, and raised a considerable num- 


385 


ber to the imago state. It was then only to be found on the Black Wat- 
tle, Acacia decurrens, the larva burrowing into the stems and younger 
branches, but, as far as my observations went, never attacking the trunk 
or the larger arms of the tree. It was not unusual to find specimens in 
the very early morning, 7. ¢. at 5 or 6 a. m., at rest upon the leaves of 
the wattie, but later in the day they hid themselves from the sunlight 
and were very rarely met with. On my return to the colonies during 
the past summer, I was led to observe that many fruit trees in the gar- 
den of the Hon. George Coppin, at Richmond, near Melbourne, had 
been attacked by some pest, and wererapidly approaching destruction. 
Close investigation displayed the fact that some burrows had been made 
in the trees somewhat similar to those of the Cossidx, the entrance to 
these burrows being artfully concealed by a small cap of fragments of 
wood and bark so closely cemented together as to appear like a portion 
of the bark itself. Upon cutting down one of the diseased branches 
and splitting it open, I found that the burrow passed at right angles to 
the very heart of the branch, and thence downward for a space of 15 
or 16 inches. 

At the bottom of this burrow J found a full-grown larva, which, when 
disturbed, wriggled itself about with very rapid movements, crawling 
up and down its burrow with surprising quickness. Below the home 
of the first insect noted was another burrow of 12 inches in depth, and in 
this I found a healthy pupa, equally with the larva disinclined to leave 
its resting place. Wherever throughout the garden a dead branch was 
to be seen, it was always found to contain one or more of these insects 
in either the larva or pupa state, and their number can be guessed at 
when IJ say that not less than thirty trees had been more or less attacked 
by this destructive species. Those most affected were cherry, plum, 
apricot, nectarine, peach, and quince, but I found also one pear tree 
containing a larva, and it is possible that in the course of a short time 
the apple trees may also suffer. As in the Cosside, AUgeriade, and 
other internal feeders, the pupa when near the final change, works its 
way to the mouth of the burrow, and the moth as it emerges softens the 
eover of chips with which the entrance is closed, and so makes its 
escape. The pupa does not protrude, as is the case in the above men- 
tioned families, but remains a little distance within the opening. The 
moths emerge from the pupa about 6 or 7 p. m. and may be found ad- 
hering to the branches, often in copula. They are easily attracted by 
light, and no less than eighteen fine specimens were taken in one 
evening at a lamp placed rather high in the house. They are exceed- 
ingly delicate insects, and are easily killed in the cyanide bottle, usually 
dying in from 20 to 25 seconds. Great care has to be exercised in 
. handling them, as the fine silvery white scales are very readily removed. 
The genus appears to be distinctly Tortricid, and has nothing in common - 
(save its method of burrowing) with the Cosside, in which it has been 
placed by some authors. The following descriptions apply to the stages 
in which I was enabled to observe it. 


386 


Larva.—Full grown. Tortricid in form, the head tapering in front and truncate, 
pitchy, rugose, with slightly dorsal channel. Mouth parts ample. Upper side of 
body, except the second segment, which is pitchy, dull pale chocolate brown. Under 
side sordid white. Spiracles pale pitchy, as are also the thoracic feet. On the dor- 
sum series of double ovate shining spots, placed transversely, a little darker than the 
ground coior. These spots differ in intensity in various individuals. There are a 
few short hairs upon all the segments, and especially about the head and anal ex- 
tremity. Length, .35 millimeters. 

Pupa.—Cylindrical, rounded in front, and tapering suddenly posteriorly. Color, 
bright chestnut-brown in life, changing to pitchy. The head, thorax, and wivg 
cases darker than the rest. Surface very much roughened, the head and thorax 
being covered with transversely waved ridges. The abdominal segments are also 
wrinkled, but less rugosely. Wing cases broad, smooth, glossy, those of the antennz 
being strongly defined. Anal segment rounded. Cremaster short, bifurcate, 
Length, .23 millimeters. Width across the wing cases, 8 millimeters. 


This pretty species must now be included among the most injurious 
insects of Australia, and as it is eagerly sought by coilectors, its num- 


bers may be easily kept in check. I have seen it in two collections © 


marked Morgia gigantella Walk. 


STEPS TOWARDS A REVISION OF CHAMBERS’S INDEX, WITH NOTES 
AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 


By LoRD WALSINGHAM. 
[ Continued from p. 329. ] 
ARGYRESTHIA Hb. 


Argyresthia plicipunctella Wlsm. 


Hab.: Head of Noyo, Mendocino County, California, 8-11 June, 1571 (5 specimens). 
Crescent City, Del Norte County, California, 22 June, 1872 (1 specimen). Rouge 
River, Oregon, 7 May, 1872 (1 specimen). 

The localities where this species was captured were inadvertently omitted from 

the description [INSEcT LIFE, 111, 120, 1890]. 


COPTOTRICHE Wlsm. 
Coptotriche zelleriella Clem. 


Tischeria zelleriella Clem. 
=complanoides F. and B. (zellerella F. and B.). 

I have now the female of Tischeria complanoides F. and B., which distinctly con- 
firms my previous impression that this is truly Tischeria zelleriella Clem. The dark 
gray hind wings of the female are very noticeable, and the hind wings of the male 
in bred specimens entirely answer to the description of Clemens, printed in ae 
“tinted with yellow externally towards the tip.” 


I had observed that Frey and Boll had overlooked the peculiar form of the hind | 


wings of the male when describing the species under the name complanoides. This 
is now accounted for by the fact that the female only appears in Frey’s collection, 
whereas the male has turued up from Zeller’s collection received from Boll in 1873, 
labeled ‘* zellerella Cl. Fr. E. Z., 73, 220. Boll lit. 4, 73.” 


387 


COPTOTRICHE Wism. 


1 zelleriella Clem. 
Tischeria zelleriella Clem, (1859). 
= Tischeria complanoides F. and B. (1873). 
= Tischeria zellerella F. and B. (1873). 
= Tischeria latipennella Chamb. (1873). 


TISCHERIA Z. 


Since the late Professor Frey’s types have come into my hands I have gained much 
information about this genus and have at least one important correction to make in my 
previous notes. 

1. Tischeria citrinipennella Clem. 2 
= quercitella Clem. 2 
= quercivorella Chamb. ¢ @ 
2. Tischeria badiella Chamb. 
= citrinipennella Stn. and Wlsm. (nec Clem.) 
= sulphurea, Wlsm. [INSECT LIFE I, 324 (1890) (nec Frey). 

The specimeu which I supposed to be citrinipennella Clem., as compared with the 
type in 1871, exhibits no signs of the fuscous patch at the base of the hind wing, re- 
ferred to in the description of that species. 

The specimen sent by Clemens to Stainton under this name agrees with mine and 
also wants this character although both are males. 

These two specimens have the faint gray spot at the anal angle of the fore wings 
noticed by Stainton in his republication of Clemens’s papers [Tin. N. Am, p. 39, and 
foot note p. 82 (1872) ] on which I had partly relied for the identification of my speci- 
men., . 

This distinguishing mark was not referred to by Clemens, and considering the num- 
ber of closely allied species of this genus which have since been found in the United 
States itis extremely probable that Clemens had more than one species in the series 
from which he selected the example sent to Stainton. 

The only species known to me (and I have a lar -> amount of material for compari- 
son) in which the fuscous patch occurs at the base of the wings of the male (not in the 
female) is quercivorclla Chamb., while the only one of the pale yellow oak-feeding 
species which possesses the dark scaling at the angle of the fore wings is badiella 
Chamb. 

It is therefore more than probable that querciv orella Chamb. equals the true citrini- 
pennella Clem. [indeed Chambers himself seems to have had a strong suspicion of 
this synonymy (Cin. Qr. Jr. Se., m1, 110), and I have had it from larve received as 
citrinipennella from Miss Murtfeldt J], whereas badiella Chamb., although in Clemens’s 
possession, was not specifically described by him. 

I have already identified quercivorella Chamb. as a synonym of quercitella Clem. 
[INsEcT LIFE, II, 524 (1890) ] which was described from a single crippled specimen. It 
was not surprising that Clemens should have failed to recognize the female of his 
citrinipennella in a specim2n absolutely devoid of the characteristic dark patch which 
distinguishes the male. Female specimens from Frey’s collection and Zeller’s are 
labeled quercitella Clem. and correspond with those females which I have bred from 
the same mines as produced typical males with the dark patch. 


Tischeria sulphurea Frey. 


The hind wings of the ¢ are broad and evenly lanceolate and the costal cilia are 
brownish fuscous for three-quarters of the wing-length, but especially from the base. 
The fore wings possess a thick mat of coarse, closely appressed scales on the under side 
along the discal cell, It is remarkable that Frey should not have observed that the 


388 


gray tint to which he refers was caused by thisabnormal scaling. I have his labeled 
type (¢) before me. The specimens referred by me to sulphurea [INSECT LIFE, I, 
324, (1890)] were wrongly identified; they are badiella Chamb. 


Tischeria clemensella, Chamb. 


Tischeria clemensella, Chamb. Bull. U.S. G. G. Surv.,1v, 98-9. (1878, February.) 
= zelleriella, Chamb. (nec. Clem.). Cin. Qr. Jr., Sc., 1, 110. (1875.) 
= bicolor, Frey. Stett. Ent. Zeit. xxxrx, 255. (1878, September. ) 


Since I have had the type of bicolor, Frey, Iam convinced that this is the species 
indicated by Chambers under the name clemensella, no other agreeing with his de- 
scription of the hind wings. They are exactly as he writes [Bull. U. 8.G.G. Surv., 
Iv, 98 (1878)]. ‘The hind wings are also paler and wider; though not nearly so 
wide, and tapering much more gradually to the acute apex, than in latipennella, with 
which it otherwise agrees, except that it lacks the yellow tint along the apical part 


of the costa.” 
Tischeria castanella, Chamb. 


I am unacquainted with this species, but it seems to be distinguished by having 
the abdomen densely dusted beneath with brownish-yellow, a character which also 
occurs in citrinipennella and clemensella, it is nearly one-third of an inch in expanse. 
I should have been persuaded that Chambers’s description referred to sulphurea, Frey, 
but Lam unable to distinguish any brownish-yellow dusting beneath the abdomen 
of Frey’s type. Chambers, unfortunately, omits to mention the hind wings in his 
description of castanewella. 


Tischeria fuscomarginella, Chamb. 


Lhe specimens referred to fuscomarginella [INSECT LIFE, II, 324 (1890) ] were wrongly 
jdentified. The Texan specimen is a Q of citrinipennella, while the Missouri speci- 
mens are at present undetermined, though they seem to agree approximately with 
Chambers’s description. I have not yet seen an authentic specimen of fuscomarginella, 


Chamb. 
Tischeria tinctoriella, Chamb. 


T. concolor, Z., clemensella, Chamb., and tinctoriella, Chamb., are distinguished from 
the other species of this genus by the dull ochreous color of the fore wings. 

T. tinctoriella may be separated from clemensella by the normal shape of the hind 
wings, which are not widened at the base, and sharply attenuated from the middle as 
in the latter species; tinctoriella differs from concolor in possessing a patch of brown- 
ish-fuscous scales on the upper side of the fore wings at the anal angle. The larva 
feeds in a blotch mine on the upper side of the leaf, and is well described by Cham- 
bers as containing a circular nidus streaked with ziczac purple lines, whereas that 
of concolor strongly impresses the edge of the leaf. Its darker color at once distin- 
guishes it from the pale badiella, although the group of gray scales is in the same 
position near the anal angle of the fore wings. 

I hope that the corrections contained in these notes will make some amends for the 


too hasty publication of my previous impressions arrived at under difficulties which © 


have been greatly removed by the acquisition of Frey’s types. The only three 
described North American species now unrepresented in my cabinet are castanecella, 
Chamb., fuscomarginella, Chamb. (under-side miner), and pulvella, Chamb. 

The following tabulation of the oak-feeding species found in the United States 
may assist collectors to identify their captures by drawing their attention to the 
peculiarities by which most of them can be easily distinguished. 

A. Hind wings of more than normal width. 
B. Apical cilia of hind wings excised above in ¢, entire in 9 . = COPTOTRICHE, Wlsm. 
1. Hind wings broad, abruptly depressed in both 
BOXES; Cray OL oTayish = scene eee ee = Coptotriche zelleriella, Clem. 


i cen lee ater de 


389 


5. Apien! cilia Hob Oxeised 10 fi --- 2-8-1 a. ons wes oem nee = TISCHERIA, Z. 
1. Hind wings of ¢ broad, evenly lanceolate ( ? ; 
NPTIRCIRGIIN ED) Se Re re i a pe ice sana @ = Tischeria sulphurea, Frey. 
2. Hind wings of both ¢ and 2 widened at base, sharply attenuated from 
ATG OL WANE = oe oe os ones <5: = = = Tischeria clemensella,Chamb. 
AA. Hind wings of normal width. 
B. g with distinct fuscous patch on under side near base of fore wings (not show- 
ing on upper side); a less conspicuous patch near base of hind wings 
(showing on both sides); 2 without dark 
patches at base of wing ..---...--..- = Tischeria citrinipennella, Clem. 
BB. ¢g without fuscuous patches at bases of wings. 
C. With a distinct patch of fuscous scales on the upper side of fore wings at anal angle. 
1. Fore wings pale lemon-yellow, apex reddish-.= Tischeria badiella, Chamb. 
2. Fore wings dull ochreous...-.....--.---. = Tischeria tinctoriella, Chamb. 
CC. Without patch of fuscous scales on upper side of fore wings. 
D. Abdomen densely dusted beneath with brownish- 


SSL eee Ss ee ose eee = Tischeria castanewella, Chamb. 
DD. Abdomen not densely dusted beneath with brownish-yellow. 
# Hore wines dull ochreous. 5... 2-2-5 22s. MES an = Tischeria concolor Z. 
2. Fore wings reddish yellow, margined 
with purplish fuscous.. ........--.. = Tischeria fuscomarginella, Chamb. 


TISCHERIA, Z. 


—_ 


. sulphurea, Frey (1878) 7. fuscomarginella, Chamb. (1875) 
2. clemensella, Chamb. (1878—February) | 8. tinctoriella, Chamb. (1875) 
= zelleriella, Chamb. (1875) (nec. | 9. helianthi, Frey (1878) 

Clem.) 10. solidaginifoliella, Clem. (1859) 
= bicolor, Frey (1878—September) | 11 
3. concolor, Z. (1875) =purinosella, Chamb. (1875) 


| . pruinosella, Chamb. (1875) 
. castanella, Chamb. (1875) | 12. pulvella, Chamb. (1878) 
| 


r= 


5. citrinipennella, Clem. (1859) ¢ 13. heterotere, Frey (1878) 
= quercitella, Clem. (1863) 92 14. heliopsiella, Chamb. (1875) 
= quercivorella, Chamb. (1875) g © =nolckeni, F. & B. (1876) 
6. badiella, Chamb. (1875) 15. longeciliata, Frey (1878) 
= bodicella, Chamb. (1875) 16. ambrosiella, Chamb. (1875) 
= citrinipennella, Stn. Wism. (nec. | 17. ceanothi, Wlsm. (1890) 


Clem.) 18. malifoliella, Clem. (1860) 
= sulphurea, Wism. (1890) (nec. | 19. wnea, F. & B. (1873) 
Frey) 20. roseticola, F. & B. (1873) 


DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN LEPIDOPTEROUS LARVZ. 


By HaRRISON G. DyaR, Rhinebeck, N. Y. 


Pholisora hayhurstii, Edwards. 


Larva.—Head as large as any part of the body, cordate, dull black, closely covered 
with short white hairs. Antenne and mouth parts pale brownish. Joint 2 is very 
small, not more than haif as high as the head; thence the body thickens to about 
joints 8 and 9, and then tapers somewhat to the posterior extremity. It is of about 
uniform width except joint 2, which is very narrow. There is a slight subventral 
fold. Theupper half of joint2 is covered by a pale brown cervical shield. Color dirty 
greenish yellow, with many small, pale-yellow spots, which segregate to form an 
obscure subdorsal line; a dark dorsal shade. 


27707—No, 9——3 


390 


The larva inhabits an inclosure composed of part of a leaf folded over or of one or 
more leaves as it becomes larger. 

Pupa.—Resembles in shape a pupa of Hudamus, and is held by a number of trans- 
verse threads in an inclosing leaf. The eyes are prominent, pilose. A brown ele- 
vated spot is situated above each, back of the antenna case. Color, dull yellow, cov- 
ered by a white bloom. The cremaster is flat and hairy. 

The food plant is Alternanthera flavescens. 

Larve from Dade County, Florida. 


Triptogon imperator Strecker. 

Mature larva.—Head rounded triangular, the clypeuslaterally indented; green with 
many rather large whitish elevated spots, the front nearly all pale yellowish white, 
but with a purplish shade centrally at the sutures and the clypeus pale green. Mouth 
partssordid white; maxille black inwardly. Cervical shield and anal plates colored 
like the sides of the head and furnished with whitish granulations, the lateral plates 
tinged with yellowish posteriorly. They do not quite meet the suprainal plate, 
leaving some of the skin of the body between. The color is green, with a purplish 
shade on the dorsum (indicating the. approach of the change to pupa), and seven 
greenish white oblique lateral lines, interrupted between the segments, the first and 
sixth fainter than the others and sometimes almost obsolete. The last is broad and 
distinct and extends from above the base of the foot on joint 10 to the caudal horn, 
which is short and concolorous with it or tinged with purplish. In many thetip is 
black. The lines are not well defined at their edges, the outline being somewhat 
irregular and blended. Spiracles yellow-brown, the center white, but the ones on 
joint 2 are allwhite. Thoracic feet white, purplish at the tips, with fine brown hairs 
internally ; abdominal feet green, purple outwardly above the Claspers, then nar- 
rowly whitish and above this another slight purple shade. Venter centrally slightly 
and interruptedly paler. Each segment has about six transverse creases or annulets. 

Length of larva, 80-90 millimetres; of horn, 3-4 millimetres; width of head, 7 
millimetres ; height, 8 millimetres; diameter of body, 15-17 millimetres. 

These larve occurred to me abundantly in Phenix, Arizona, in November, being 
drowned in the irrigating ditches in considerable numbers in their attempts to find a 
place for pupation after their descent from the cottonwood trees. Of some thirty 
taken from the water four revived sufficiently to pupate. Three produced female 
. moths and the fourth a crop of Tachina flies. 


Orgyia definita Packard. 

Mature larva.—Head pale yellow, shining, minutely mottled with grayish spots; 
labrum, antennz, and aspot below the eyes white; ocelli and maxille black. Body 
pale yellow, a pale, almost colorless dorsal band, replaced on joint 2 by the pale 
yellow cervical shield, which is concolorous with the head and contains two yellow 
tubercles, widening on joints 5 to 8, and inclosing four square brush-like tufts of 
yellow hairs. It narrows again, inclosing the two retractile concolorous dorsal tuber- 
cles on joints 10 and 11, respectively. It is absent on joint 13. A narrow subdorsal 
and fainter stigmatal similarly colored lines. All these lines in different examples 
vary in color from nearly colorless through pale gray to blue gray, dark brown, or 
black. There is a velvety black spot between the dorsal tufts on joints 6to 8. The 
usual warty tubercles of the body are arranged as in Orgyia leucostigma, and there is 
a pair of pencils of black plumed hairs on joint 2 and a single dorsal one on joint 12, 
which is mainly composed of light brown hairs. The warts bear a few thin long 
white hairs. Spiracles white in a narrow black border. Larye from Dutchess 
County, New York. 

The three species of Orgyia that occur in New York can readily be distinguished by 
the way they deposit their eggs. O. definita covers them with hair from the body of 
the mother moth; O. leucostigma covers them with a white froth without hair, while 
O. antiqua (= nova) deposits them without any covering. 


391 


Apatela tritona Hiibner. 

Mature larva.—The head is of a purplish color, darker on the vertex, with a lat- . 
eral line. The body is light yellowish green, with a purple brown dorsal stripe bor- 
dered with reddish yellow, interrupted on joint 6 and inclosing areddish green patch 
on joints 8to1l. The spiracles are black; the hairs long and black, few in number. 

Food plants, species of Vaccinium. Larve from Ulster County, New York. 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
The Quicksilver Remedy for Phylloxera. 


The Scientific American paper, of this city, published the 10th of June, 1885, that 
Mr. John A. Bauer, of San Francisco, California, had found a sure and cheap pre- 
ventive of the ravages of the ‘‘ Phylloxera,” which consisted in the application to 
the vine plant of a compound of half on ounce of quicksilver in very minute parti- 
cles and an equal weight of pulverized clay. The quantity of the mixture had to be 
half an ounce for each plant. The journal added that the remedy was simple; that 
it could be prepared, assayed for several purposes, and applied without danger or 
technical skill. 

I consequently wrote to my friends, Mr. John B. Pratt and Mr. Paul Grifian, of Bar- 
celona (Spain), on the subject, and I invited them to give a trial to the important 
discovery of Mr. Bauer. Mr. Pratt wrote to me subsequently as follows: 

‘“*T have the regret toinform you that our friend, Dr. Grifian, has tried for one hun- 
dred times at least to prepare the anti-phylloxera compound discovered by Mr. 
Bauer in San Francisco. He (Mr. Grifian) has used all the means that science and 
experience advise, but to no avail, because he has not been able to obtain the assimi- 
lation of the mercury and the clay. There must therefore exist either an especial ma- 
chine or an ingredient unknown so far to us for making the anti-phylloxera prepara- 
tion, and we earnestly beg of you to inquire about the matter and inform us.” 

Iconsequeaotly wrote to Mr. Bauer on the 3d of last March, but as yet have received 
no apswer. A friendof mine, Mr. MacArdle, who knows you by your high reputation 
as the best judge in the phylloxera question, has advised me to take the liberty of 
consulting you on the matter, and it is for this reason that I come to beg of your 
extreme kindness the favor of informing me how can my friend in Barcelona succeed in 
making the compound invented by the above-mentioned Mr. Bauer. * * *—[Joseph 
de Susini, 103 West Fourteenth street, New York, N. Y., April 7, 1891. 

ReEeputy.—I have your letter of the 7th of April, referring to Bauer’s quicksilver 
remedy for grapevine phylloxera. This remedy was proposed in 1884 and attracted 
considerable attention at that time. So faras Iam aware, Mr. Bauer has not pub- 
lished his method of mixing the earth and the mercury. In Bulletin No. 18 of the 
Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California, published October 1, 
1884, Prof. E. W. Hilgard, in treating of this remedy, says there can be no doubt as 
to the efficacy of metallic mercury finely diffused through the soil in killing phyl- 
loxera or any other small insect remaining within its reach for any length of time. 
In another paragraph of the same bulletin he makes use of this expression: ‘A soil 
column of 6 or 8 inches depth, impregnated with the mercurial vapor by intermix- 
ture with ‘ blue mass,’ will effectually prevent, etc.” In other words, the mixture is 
spoken of as a simple mechanical operation, and I was not hitherto aware that there 
was any difficulty with that phase of the application. Iwas not at all favorably im- 
pressed with the remedy at the start, and the experiments made later by Professor 
Hilyard and his assistants failed in a large majority of cases to produce the expected 
effect. Mr. Bauer’s original idea was to place a small quantity of the mixture about 
the base of the vine, to prevent the underground forms from crawling up, the vapor 


392 


killing all individuals which attempted to do so. The obstacles to success are, in the 
first place, that by no means all of the lice crawl up the main roots, but issue from 
the ground from rootlets near the surface, and crawl away to other vines; and in the 
second place, that soils of differing characters have very different powers of absorb- 
ing the mercurial vapor, becoming impregnated to differeut degrees or not at all. 

I regret that I can give you no more definite information as to the method of prep- 
aration, but in view of the comparative success of the latest French work with the 
American vine and bisulphide of carbon injected subterraneously, and in view of the 
discouraging results of Professor Hilgard’s California experiments with Mr. Bauer’s 
mixture, it seems to me that it would be hardly worth while for Dr. Grifian to spend 
any further time with this mercury preparation.—[ April 15, 1891. ] 


Another Spider Bite. 


_ [have been much interested in the reports of spider bites which have been pub- 
lished in INSEcT LirE. Whatis wanted in such cases is positive, indisputable knowl- 
edge, and to this end I will relate my experience regarding the biting ability of at 
least one species of spider. When in Virginia, about 10 years ago, I was one day 
standing by and looking out of a window. The sleeve and cuff were drawn up from 
my wrist, leaving it exposed. A small black spider with, I think, a tiny red spot 
upon its body, suspended itself from a web, and before I noticed it had alighted on 
my left wrist, just above the pulse. I made aquick movement to dislodge the spider, 
and felt a sharp pain, as if from the vrick of a needle. There arose in a few moments 
a hard spot, with a dot of red in the center, as from a mosquito bite. The next day 
my wlist was swollen and the veins stood out prominently and black as far up as 
the elbow, while sharp pains extended to the shoulder. The flesh around the bite 
became purplish-black for a space of 24 by 2inches, Remedies were applied, but the 
purplish flesh sloughed off until the sinews were plainly visible. My arm was car- 
ried in a sling for a week or more, and it was some months before the flesh had filled 
out and regained its normal condition. My recollection of the episode is very vivid, 
for I was considerably frightened at the time. Idid not feel any sickness other than 
the throbbing pain, which was at times quite severe. Poultices and a tonic for the 
blood were the remedies used. I would be afraid to make an assertion regarding the 
identity of the spider at this late day, but have, of course, a right to my suspicion.— 
[Emory E. Smith, 1409 Van Ness street, San Francisco, California. 


The California Peach-tree Borer. 


A short time ago I examined some nursery peach trees imported from Alabama and 
Missouri, and found in both lots several larvee of Sannina exitiosa. More recently 
some peach trees grown in the northern part of the State were brought to me for 
examination, and I found in some of them what appeared to be the same kind of 
larvz as the above, but I notice that in one of Mr. Klee’s reports he refers toa native 
species he found infesting peach trees, and the larve I found may be the same as 
this. He quotes your letter to him of September 4, 1888, in which you propose to 


describe this Californian form under the name of Sannina pacifica, and that it con- ~ 


nects through S. exitiosa with S.Fitchii. I notice that Henry Edwards regards Fitchii 
as being only a variety of exitiosa. Do you consider pacifica as being also a variety 
of exiliosa, and is it found elsewhere than in California? I would also be glad to 
know if the larve of these two forms can be separated by any constant characters; 
or if their manner of forming their burrows is different in the two forms. 

The lower portion and roots of the tree first mentioned above were immersed for 
2 minutes into a solution of 1 pound of whale-oil soap to the gallon of water, the 
temperature of the solution being maintained at from 120° to 130° F. I again ex- 
amined these trees 5 days after the last one had been dipped, and all of the Sannina 
larve that I found were as lively and vigorous asever. The dipping had been done 


393 


- underthe immediate supervision of Inspector Richardson, of Pasadena, whom I know ~ 


to be a very careful and conscientious person, and the larve therefore did not escape 
being destroyed simply through the carelessness or indifference of those who dipped 
the trees. * * * [D.W. Coquillett, Los Angeles, California, January 7, 1891. 

REPLY.— * * * Sannina pacifica undoubtedly differs from S. exitiosa as follows: 

The female of pacifica differs from that of exitiosa only in lacking the red band 
across the abdomen and in the absence of the black border along the last two veins 
of the hind wings; and the male only in its broader apical margin of the front wings 
and the presence of a short black dash a little in front of the middle of the anterior 
margin of the hind wings. 

The differences in the pupa are quite marked. In the Californian species there are 
six double rows of teeth, two on each of segments 2-7, with a single row on the last 
two segments; while on that of exitiosa there are but five double rows of teeth, two 
on each of segments 2-6, and a single row on the last three. 

The only perceptible though apparently quite constant difference in the larve is 
that in the Californian species the head is perfectly smooth, without any seulpturi ng, 
and uniform in coloration, whereas in evzitiosa it is marked posteriorly with 4 or 5 
oblique, darker brown stripes or spots each side, and is slightly reticulated or granu- 
lated.—[ January 17, 1591.] 


Some New Injurious Insects in Russia. 


* * * Ttake this opportunity of sending you a few words on the newest obser- 


vations on injurious insects in Russia. 

During this summer I discovered near Moscow, on the buds of Black Currant, Phy- 
toptus ribis Westw., and it appeared that this mite is quite injurious here, as it causes 
numerous shoots to die. I had occasion to visit several gardens where this pest had 
appeared in great numbers. Hitherto it had never been observed in Russia. 

Another novelty for the Russian fauna is Mytilapsis citricola Pack., which was 
recently found by me in a hothouse near Moscow on lemon (Citrus medica), on the 
leaves as well as on the fruit. Of course this insect can with us never acquire such 
importance as it has in Florida, but the fact of its occurrence near Moscow is of great 
interest and seems to corroborate Professor Comstock’s supposition, who asserted that 
the insect came to America from Europe. (See Report of the Entomologist, etc., for 
the year 1880 (1681), p. 323.) 

Much damage has been done the past summer in the whole middle Russia by Psylla 
malito Apple and Pear. In western Europe this insect appears to be less injurious 
than with us. In middle Russia I have seen orchards this summer which did not 
bear a single apple since the buds had been killed by the sucking of the larve of the 
Psyila.—[ Prof. Dr. K. Lindeman, Moscow, Russia, December 1, 1889. 


Some Traits of the English Sparrow in England. 


I read what you are so good as to send me with great pleasure at all times, but 
your last present of the “ English Sparrow ” delights me very much; your views are 
precisely mine. My friend James, who assisted Gurney in his book on the subject, 
thinks that the sparrow costs us as much as the total expense of the British army. 
I consider the sparrows to be more destructive than rats or mice, and I feel certain 
that, as the numbers increase and the struggle for existence becomes more severe, 
they will develop new destructive habits. I will illustrate what I mean: Our gar- 
dens in spring are adorned with the crocus, aud in my younger days they were not 
injured by sparrows; but some 20 years ago they began todestroy the blooms of the 
yellow crocus only (Crocus aureus). The style of this species is short. For many 
years I noticed that the blue and white species (Crocus vernus) was unmolested, but 
for some time they have taken to destroying the flowers of this species. It hasa long 


- style, and is never yellow, but once having found out its edibility, they mar the 


© 


394 


beauty of my garden by strewing the ground with the flowers of both species indis- 


criminately. Quite recently they have taken to eating off, close to the calyx, the 
flower of the common yellow primrose (Primula vulgaris), but at present I have seen 
none but yellow blooms so eaten, but I fear that they will soon find out that the 
darker-colored varieties are palatable, and then the deflorescence will extend. They 
destroy the buds of my gooseberry bushes to a most vexing extent, often reducing 
seriously the crop of this valuable fruit. 

My currant bushes they seriously injure in another way; when the shoots are 
young and have aphids upon them they endeavor most clumsily to eat a few, and by 


their weight break the tender shoots down, so that they have to be removed. My 


pears suffer sad damage. Ihave some excellent varieties that must not be gathered 
too early, but the sparrows, as soon as the fruit begins to ripen, peck holes near the 
stalk and thus utterly spoil the pears for keeping and render them too unsightiy 
for dessert, as well as injuring the flavor, if not rendering them flavorless. 

Ido not know, near my house, that a single swallow (Hirundo urbica) has bred this 
year. This valuable purely insectivorous bird is becoming rarer year by year, be- 
cause the sparrows take possession of their nests and prevent their building. 

The sparrow isa serious question. I know of no other British finch that breeds 
several times in the year and lays six eggs; five is the normal number of finches. J 
have even good reason to believe that a male sparrow has sometimes more than one 
mate. lI watched carefully the nest of a female sparrow one year; she had no tail, 
and I never saw a bird with a tail near the nest. What a singular thing it is that 
Passer domesticus should be so destructive, and Passer nocturnus does not increase 
ina similar manner. The species can not be very remotely related, because my Eek. 
Edward Newman obtained hybrids between them in his aviary. 

Our fight about the Colorado Potato Beetle has subsided, but I did obtain it alivein 
some American potatoes. I.do not suffer much from the ravages of other insects or 
snails in my garden; the latter are rare with me; the cause is the abundance of 
thrushes and blackbirds. My greatest trouble is my greenhouse, where I have had 
great destruction caused by the Aleurodes vaporiorum, no doubt the same species you 
wrote about in reply to an inquiry in INSECT LIFE, in which you stated you did not 
know the name. My pest was named for me by Douglas, our best authority on the 
subject. * * * -—T[J. Jenner Weir, Chirbury, Beckenham, Kent, England, De- 
cember 28, 1890. 


Codling Moth in New Zealand. 


I am now in all respects splendidly situated for studying the habits of the Codling 
Moth. Already I feel sure its life history wants rewriting in some respects. Here, 
at all events, it does not lay the egg on the blossom, nor yet, either invariably or even 
very often, in theeye ofthe apple. The egg is laid anywhere, and the little caterpillar 
seeks the shelter of the eye, but I am convinced that it does not do so immediately, 
but takes bites out of the skin here and there, and quite as often as not enters in other 
places. This would account for the comparative ease of poisoning with Paris Green. 
The caterpillars are leaving the apples now, and I have thousands under daily obser- 
vation, and I mean to see whether any hymenopterous fly is at work, and also to 
collect some hundreds later on (at different times) in the cocoons to see if I can find 
any more of my dipterons. In the mean time, the ‘‘ yellow hammers” (so called in 
England) are very numerous, but by the closest every day observation I fail to see a 
single instance of their attacking the Codling Moth larve. I do not know what to 
make of the strengths of Paris Green. Have burned foliage with 1 pound to 200 gal- 


lons of water (used in the heat of the day), and my Nelson friends laugh at me for — 


advocating that strength and inform me that 1 ownce to 50 gallons of water is a strong 
solution, and even much weaker is used with such success, that their once very severely 
infested orchards are so far cured that they have ceased to grumble about the pest. 
I can rely upon these people’s statements, but here they use 1 pound to 50 gallons of 


395 


water, and from that to 180, but no one anything weaker, and not with much success 
either. Ifmy observations show anything, I will not fail to keep you informed.—[ R. A. 
Wight, Paeroa, Auckland, New Zealand, February 2, 1891. 


Icerya and Vedalia in New Zealand and Australia. 


I had not intended to ask you to send me any specimens of Vedalia cardinalis, but 
I have been so earnestly pressed to do so that I have yielded. Icerya has returned 
here to every place where it was before, and people seem to imagine that I have 
some means of providing thein with these beetles. I could foresee what would hap- 
pen, and I did what little I could to induce the government to take care of Vedalia, 
but I could get neither them nor the association to take the necessary steps. A few, 
and a few only, of the beetles should have been kept on hand, and a house of Icerya 
should have been preserved for their use. It is not necessary to keep a large number 
of Vedalia on hand; a very small number of them, even one or two pairs, turned out 
in a large infected orange grove will very soon overtake Icerya. I think from what 
you say in your last letter, that it is very probable that you may not be able to send 
me any Vedalia, but if you can send only three or four of them, and direct the little 
parcel to Dr. Locking, President of the Fruit Growers’ Association, Nelson, New Zea- 
land, I would be very much obliged to you, and I feel ashamed to ask, as I have not 
been able todo as you desired in the same way for the Cape of Good Hope. Our Gov- 
ernment desired some of their officials at Napier (where Mr. Koebele got 6,000 in 
three days in 1888) to collect and transmit to an infected district some of the Vedalia, 
but these gentlemen made a very natural mistake, and sent another Coccinellid some- 
what like it. 

I at once sent technical colored drawings of the two species, and offered to identify 
any specimens sent, in the hope that they might be procured, in which case I would 
have gone there and procured supplies, both for our own people and the Cape. Iam 
anxious the Cape government should have them, because I think they would profit 
by Californian and United States experience, and not let the supply run out, and 
then we could all look to Africa for future supplies, for you may rest assured that 
Icerya will return to California, and probably the beetle may be no further to be 
had then than it is now with us. IJcerya is sureto return. Mr. Olliff, the New South 
Wales government entomologist, wrote to me the other day very anxious to procure 
specimens, dead or alive, ‘‘if only one,” as he is working up Australian Coccinellids, 
but I had not a single specimen, having given my last away long ago. He says the 
only specimen in all Australia is in the British Museum, and no one there ever saw 
the insect, but Mulsant described it in 1847 as a very rare Australian insect, and I 
feel quite certain, for many good reasons, that it was brought here with Icerya from 
Australia. Iam afraid we will not find it here now, as this is the month which it 
should be in force, and also in March, but I do not quite give it up till the end of 
March. 

What puzzles Mr. Olliff is that he can not find ‘‘a trace of it” in any of the bunches 
of Icerya he has searched, but I tell him that if Vedalia were there there would be 
no ‘* bunches” to search, and what always puzzled mein Mr. Koebele’s account of his 
trip, was that he should find Vedalia in small numbers and also Icerya perforated by 
Lestophonus, because I never found Vedalia except in large numbers, and wherever 
they appeared Icerya for the time being completely vanished. I never knew any 
half measures, or any moderation in Vedalia. It was always a vast crowd, or none 
at all.—[R. Allan Wight, Paeroa, Auckland, New Zealand, February 2, 1891. 


The Rhinoceros Beetle in a Woodshed. 


I send you by mail rare specimens of bugs I unearthed in cleaning out my wood- 
house today, which has not been cleaned out for 25 years. I have shown them to 
hundreds of persons, and they all say they never saw any bug like them. They were 


396 


dug up 18 or 20 inches below the surface. I think they are a species of “ beetle,” 
but no one here can classify them. I am anxious to know what they really are. 
They are all alive and doing well at this writing. Please let me hear from you. If 
there is any pay would be glad to get it. The nest or lodging place sent you will 
show how the bugs winter and feed. The one without nippers I thirk is female, the 
others males.—[John M. Leavell, Culpeper, Virginia, March 11, 1891. 

Repty.—* * * The beetle which you send is the Rhinoceros Beetle (Dynastes 
tityus), which breeds in dead and decaying wood. * * *—[March, 1891.] 


A Codling Moth Larva in March. 


I venture to obtrude on your attention what I believe to be a curious find. Of the 
facts as I recite them I am positive of the smallest detail. While eating an apple this 
afternoon I bit out a large piece and laid bare a dark worm in the usual groove. I 
removed the piece and cut out the upper part of his groove which came away with 
the bite. Noticing that it left a clean, sound surface I looked for a moment expect- 
ing Mr. Worm to make tracks toward the core, but hedidnot move. I then took my 
knife and cut out his groove and him with it, cleaning out each end of the groove 
expecting to find a hole to the core, as usual, but was astonished to encounter clean, 
solid apple at each end of his recess with something of a resemblance to a hard scar 
at the blossom end of his groove. The ends of his groove both projected into the 
apple as first laid open, for it was nearly on a plane with the meridian and parallel 
to the surface of the apple. Isend the worm, with a portion of the groove, under 
separate cover. I noticed at first several coarse white filaments similar to gray 
hairs, and I wondered if it were possible for an egg to have been deposited in the 
solid meat of the apple instead of in the core by a misdirected thrust of an ovipositor 
and the wound to have healed up, hence the scar in the solid meat, the egg to hatch 
in it, the worm to die before getting to the open air.—[E. D. Wileman, Secretary 
and Treasurer of Ohio Society of Surveyors and Civil Engineers, Massaillon, Ohio, 
March 11, 1891. > 

RepLy.—The ‘‘ worm” is evidently a two-thirds grown Codling Moth larva, and its 
presence on the apple in this condition, at this season of the year, is unusual though not 
unprecedented. It is a larva from the second brood of moths, and so great is the 
irregularity in the time of appearance of the second brood that eggs are frequently 
laid as late as September or the first of October. The larve naturally develop much 
more slowly in cold weather than in warm, and consequently many are very small 
when winter apples are picked in the late fall. The eggs of the second brood are 
often laid upon the side of the apple instead of upon the flower, and the larve pen- 
etrate the flesh immediately after hatching and are then so small that the opening 
which they leave is not noticeable, and in fact is usually completely closed by the 
subsequent growth of the apple. The white filaments ‘‘ similar to grey hairs” were 
probably threads of silk spun by the larva. There is, then, nothing very unusual 
in this observation, but your account of it is interesting and the late finding of the 
larva is worthy of record.—[ March 26, 1891. ] 


Diptercus Larve Vomited by a Child. 


I send by mail to-day a specimen of some kind of larva of Diptera, as I suppose. 
These with hundreds of others were vomited by a child of 18 months of age, last De- 
cember. There is no doubt of their origin as they were thrown up while the physi- 
cian wasin theroom. The Annual of Universal Medical Sciences, 1890, Vol. 1, p. 23, 
is the only literature on the subject I have found. ’ 

I sent these specimens to Professor Leidy, of Philadelphia, who writes me that 
they are undoubtedly larve of some Diptera, but is unable to identify the species and 
refers me to you. 

I had a beautiful glycerine specimen, but a friend has smashed it in examination. 
J hope the balsam specimen will be sufficient to enable you to identify the species. 


397 


If it should prove to be such a case it will be, I think, the first one reported in this 
country.—[F. W. Higgins, M. D., Nos. 8and 9 Wallace Building, Cortland, New York, . 
March 14, 1891. 

REPLY.—* * * These specimens are of great interest, although they are not 
sufficiently advanced to enable us to determine the species with certainty. In fact 
this can only be done by rearing the adult fly. A careful examination, however, 
leads me to believe that they belong to the genus Sarcophaga, or, at all events, to 
some closely allied genus of the family Sarcophagidx. These insects are ordinarily 
calied Flesh Flies. There is a European species known as Sarcophaga wohlfarti, 
which has been known to occur in a similar way in Russia, while species of the 
closely allied genus Sarcophila have been known to infest the ears, nose, and wounds 
of man and other animals. 

You will find a general summary of the subject of Myiasis or pseudo-parasitism of 
the Diptera in man, in a paper by Hugo Summa, A. M.,M.D., in the April, May, 
and June, 1889, numbers of the Si. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal. The April 
number sums up the hitherto recorded cases with which the author was familiar; 
article 2 contains the classification of these cases and additional records, with an 
account of two recent cases of nasal parasitism, and the June number contains the 
clinical history of the trouble. Nearly all the cases in which Sarcophaga is concerned 
have been parasitism of the nose or ears, or of wounds, while intestinal parasitism is 
in general due to the larve of flies of other families, principally Anthomyiidx, which 
have presumably entered the patient with spoiled vegetables, eaten raw, as in salads, 
The fact that your patient was a child of 18 months probably precluded the possi- 
bility of this method of entrance, and a more plausible explanation would seem to be 
that the female fly deposited her living larve in the mouth of the child while it was 
sleeping. Further facts with which we are not familiar may, however, contradict 
the possibility of this method.—[ March 18, 1891.] 


Economic Value of the Study of Insects. 


Can you help me to any literature or to references to any literature where I can 
find or work up some terse statements of the value to the community of, for instance, 
the study of the life history of parasites of animals and vegetable life; the saving in 
dollars and cents (the most forceful showing to the average man) of crops and herds 
by or through such investigations. I have heard business men of goed intelligence 
make sharp criticism of the Government for making appropriations of money for your 
Commission. I have met this by the bald statement that it had paid for itself many 
thousand fold in the discovery and promulgation of means aud methods of saving 
crops of enormous value from destruction by parasites or other enemies. 

What I want is authenticated facts and figures to back up my statement.—[ Dan. 
Humphrey, M. D., Lawrence, Massachusetts, February 26, 1891. 

REPLY.— * * * The only facts that can be given relate to the destruction occa- 
sioned by insect attacks. No very recent estimates of the loss arising from insect 
ravages have been made, but some of the older estimates are here given. Twenty- 
five years ago B. D. Walsh, the entomologist of Illinois, estimated the loss from this 
source at from $200,000,000 to $300,000,000 per annum. The great increase in acre- 
age of crops and orchards since that date has been attended, of course, with a cor- 
responding increase in destructiveness ; but methods of prevention and remedies have 
so multiplied and improved that the ratio of loss has greatly decreased. Fitch, then 
New York State entomologist, estimated the damage to the wheat crop of that State 
in the year 1854 by the Wheat-midge at $15,000,000. The loss to wheat and corn on 
account of the ravages of the Chinch Bug in the State of Illinois alone in 1867 
was estimated at $73,000,000. The loss occasioned in 1874 to corn, vegetables, and 
other crops by the Rocky Mountain Locust in the States of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, 
and Missouri were estimated by Riley, from carefully collected data, at $100,000,000, 
to say nothing of the indirect loss by stoppage of business and other enterprises, which 
would probably increase the total loss to the neighborhood of about $200,000,000. 


398 


The ravages in the principal cotton States of the Cotton Worm have amounted to a 
loss of about $30,000,000 in years of great abundance, while for many years the aver- 
age annual loss was not less than 15 millions. A more recent estimate than those 
given may be mertioned. 

The damage occasioned by the Chinch Bug in the year 1887 was estimated in the 
Annual Report of this Department for that year at not less than $60,000,000. I have, 
in fact, repeatedly published the general estimate that the average annual loss to the 
_ United States from injurious insects exceeds $300,000,000. 

The investigations of the U. S. Entomological Commission and of the Division of 
Entomology, Department of Agriculture, and also of State Experiment Station 
Entomologists and private workers, have led to the discovery of remedies and pre- 
ventives which, if properly and thoroughly applied, result in saving a large percent- 
age of the loss occasioned by insects, and your statement that these investigations 
have paid for themselves many thousand fold is ihdubitably true.—[March 2, 1891. ] 


The Long Scale and the Wax Scale. 


You will confer a great favor if you will kindly inform me of the nature of the par- 
asites on the inclosed slips of orange (No. 1 infests the whole plantation of young 
trees planted this spring; No. 2 is the only sample so far found). Alsothe remedies 
to be applied as well as what means can be taken to prevent the spread to other 
trees. * * * —T[H. Fitz Hart, Avory Post-office, Louisana, March 14, 1891. 

REPLY.— * * * The scale-insects you send are the following: (1) Long Scale 
(Mytilaspis gloveri) ; (2) Wax Scale (Ceroplastes floridensis). This is the first time the 
latter insect has been reported from Louisana. It is not a dangerous pest in Florida, 
and occurs mainly upon the wild plant known as the Gall Berry (Jlex glabra). Occa- 
sionally, however, it is found upon citrus trees, but never in sufficient numbers to be 
known asa pest. The Long Scale, however, is quite a serious enemy to the orange 
and lemon in different parts of the world. The best remedy will be found in the free 
use of a dilute kerosene soap emulsion, made according to the formula, a copy of 
which is inclosed on a separate sheet, and this should preferably be applied in your 
locality in the month of April, when the young lice are hatching and migrating from 
the parent scales.—[ March 19, 1891. ] 


Ducks and the Colorado Potato-beetle. 


I notice in Vol. 11 of INsEcT Lire, ‘‘ Bird Enemies of Potato-beetle.” I wish to 
add my experience in that line. Several seasons ago my potato field was almost 
ruined because I could not use Paris green, as my stock was in danger from it. A 
large pond of water attracted about twenty of my neighbor’s ducks to its shore. I 
never did fancy ducks very much, and I told him so. He said he would give 
them to me if I could care for them, as he could not keep them at home. The next 
morning I went down to the pond at sunrise to try and drive said ducksinapen. I 
saw avery curious sight. Headed by an old drake, the twenty ducks were waddling 
off in a bee line for my potato field. I crawled into some bushes and awaited devel- 
opments. As they came to the end of the rows they seemed to deploy right and left, 
and such a shoveling in of bugs I never beheld. They meant business, and for fully 
one-half hour did they continue, until every duck was filled up to its bill with 
bugs. Then they went for that pond and I went for their owner and paid him $1 for 
the entire bunch—this being all he would accept. When I returned, every duck 
seemed to be trying to outdo its fellow in noise. This expedition was repeated about 
4p. m. and kept up until every bug went under. I have tried these ducks and others 
since and find they all like them and seem to get fat on Potato bugs. I have been 
an ardent sportsman all my life and never saw quail eat the bugs in this western 
country.—[E. H. Kern, Mankato, Kansas, February 17, 1891. 

REpLy.—* * * Your note concerning the ducks and the potato bugs is very in- 
teresting, although quite in line with some observations of my owu which I have 
published in my book on Potato Pests, and elsewhere. * * *—[February 24, 1891.] 


399 


Damage to Geranium by Heliothis; Cannibalistic Habit of this Larva. 


I send to your address to-day a box containing moth of a corn worm. Last fall I 
noticed that something was eating the leaves of the Geraniums in the greenhouse; 
on examination I found it to be a pale green worm about two-thirds the size of the corn 
worm, which I was unable todetermine positively. I placed ageranium in a cage with 
the worm and changed the plant as often as the leaves became soiled or scarce; the 
worm devoured the leaves rapidly. I also placed a cabbage worm (Pieris protodice) 
on the plant with it; on examining the plant next day, I found the corn worm was 
eating the cabbage worm and had already nearly devoured it when I first noticed it, 
and in a short time nothing was left of it but the head and a little of the skin. 
The moth sent is from the corn worm mentioned in this letter. The fact that this 
worm worked on geraniums, or that it was cannibalistic in itshabits was new tome, 
and as I can find no notice of either, I write this and send the moth to you.—[John 
W. Clark, Missouri Agricultural College and Experiment Station, Columbia, Missouri, 
February 19, 1891. 

RepPLy.—You are right in supposing that the moth which you send is the adult of 
the common Corn Ear worm (Heliothis armigera). Your letter is interesting, but 
both of the points which you notice have been observed before. If you will consult 
the article upon the Boll Worm (the same species) in the Fourth Report of the U.S. 
Entomological Commission, you will find the cannibalistic habit mentioned upon pages 
364 and 363, while upon page 363 you will find the geranium mentioned as a food 
plant.—([ February 24, 1291.] 


A “Curious Condensation.” 


Clipping attached is from column of ‘‘ Curious Condensations” in Pittsburgh (Pa.) 
Gazette. Can such things be?—[J. M. Shaffer, Keokuk, lowa. February 20, 1891. 


«One of the most curious natural productions of the West Indies is the famed vege- 
table fly, an insect about the size and color of a drone bee, but without wings. In 
the month of May it buries itself in the earth and begins to vegetate. By the begin- 
ning of June a sprout has issued from the creature’s back and made its appearance 
above the surface of the ground. By the end of July the tiny tree (known on the 
island as the fly-tree) has attained its full size, being then about 3 inches high, but a 
perfect tree in every particular, much resembling a delicate coral branch. Pods ap- 
pear on its branches as soon as it arrives at its full growth; these ripen and drop off 
in August. Instead of containing seeds, as one would naturally suppose, these pods 
have from three to six small, hard worms upon the interior.” 


RepLty.—* * * The newspaper story is a romance with a grain of truth. You 
are familiar with the white grub fungus, are you not? It isa Cordyceps, which 
grows from the head or thorax of the white grub, and its shoots sometimes reach a 
length of several inches. The same phenomenon in the West Indies is the founda- 
tion for this story. It is quite within the bounds of possibility that the fungus may 
subsequently beome infested by the larve of some fungus-feeding insect, as some 
Mordellid or Mycetophagid beetle or some Mycetophilid fly, and this may account for 
the “‘ pods” containing worms instead of seeds.—[February 24, 1891. ] 


The ‘‘Mexican Jumping Bean.”’ 


I recently had a curious bean shown to me by a friend, and, desiring to learn more 
about this most interesting article, I take the liberty of addressing you on the subject, 
_ and will thank you kindly for any information you can give me regarding it. 

The bean in question came from Mexico, is brown in color, and asection through it 
at right angles to its length would be a triangle. My friend said the name he had 
heard for it was ‘‘ Broncho Bean,” given from the fact that it had the power of loco- 
motion, by means of quick, short jumps or tumbles, imparted to it, as I have since 


400 


learned, by a worm, which claims the bean as its home. The muscular effort exerted 
by the worm on the interior of the bean is sufficient to propel it forward about 3-16 
inch at each jump. To a person who has not heard the reason for the peculiar action 
of the bean the movement is, to say the least, wonderful. . 

If there is a printed description of this bean, giving the localities in which it may 

be found, will you kindly alvise me of same and much oblige * * * [W. H. 
Savery, Wilmington, Delaware, February 21, 1891. 
_ Repry.— * * * It is the seed of a Euphorbiaceous plant believed to be Col- 
liguaja odorifera Moline, and the contained ‘‘ worm ” is the larva of a little Tortricid 
moth known as Carpocapsa saltitans, a near relative of the common Codling Moth 
(Carpocapsa pomonella). It is found chiefly in Sonora, Mexico. I inclose for your in- 
formation a copy of a short paper which I published upon this insect several years 
ago.—[ February 24, 1891. ] 


The use of Paris Green in England. 


Our special move onwards now is, I think, establishing steadily and gradually the 
use of Paris Green. Of course there was tremendous opposition, but when a man 
who has sprayed his trees has a glorious crop (and an excellent price for them), his 
neighbor who has none gets a good lesson. 

Iam bringing out a short paper, which will, I hope, make the method of applica- 
tion quite clear to the humblest capacity. There was a deal of trouble for want of 
spraying machines, but this I hope we have quite got over.—[E. A. Ormerod, St. 
Albans, England. 

Spraying for the Codling Moth in Oregon. 


In compliance with your request I will make you a short report in regard to my ex- 
perience in spraying for the Codling Moth, Green Aphis, and the Wooly Aphis 
(Schizoneura lanigera). I commenced spraying in February, using 1 pound B. T. Bab- 
bitt’s lye to 5 gallons of water. This strength is all I dared to use on account of the 
swollen buds. It was strong enough, though, to kill all moss and living insects, 
though not strong enough to destroy the eggs of the Green Aphis. I% should be as 
strong again for this purpose, and applied in December and January, when the trees 
are entirely dormant. The spraying for the Codling Moth was done when the fruit 
was fully formed and about the size of peas. The mixture used was 1 pound London 
purple dissolved in 160 gallons of water. The purple was put on during the middle of 
of the day, when the sun was shining, and in 2 hours’ time the trees were entirely 
dry. Thesecond spraying was done 3 weeks later, and was put on as before. The 
effect of those two sprayings was to keep the worms out of the fruit until the latter 
part of July. Thenanother lot of eggs was laid, and at picking time some of the 
apples had worms just buried under the skin, while others had nearly reached the 
core. One peculiarity in my orchard was that there were very few apples where 
the worm had entered the calyx of the fruit, but most of them had entered from the 
side of the apple. Iam satisfied that if I had sprayed every 3 weeks until the last 
of September I could have saved 98 per cent. of my apples. Pears were entirely 
free from worms th:s year that were badly infested last year. My orchard is badly 
infested with the Green Ap his and Wooly Aphis. But I think I can get them under 
control next year by using the kerosene emulsions. This seems to have better effect 
if sprayed on during a hot day, when it drys quickly and adheres to the trees and 
leaves. I also believe it will destroy the Wooly Aphis on the roots of the tree by let- 
ting it saturate the ground around the roots. I will experiment more thoroughly 
next season and send you the result of my labors. Taking it allin all, I feel fully 
satisfied that these insect pests can be held in subjection, if not entirely extermi- 
nated, by the use of the force pump, and next summer I intend to do the work 
thoroughly and systematically and make you a more complete report of the result, 
withthe costs and net profits accruing from the same.—[E. P. Smith, Gresham, Ore- 
gon, December 8, 1890, to the Division of Pomology. 


401 


A Case of Stomach Bots in Hogs. 


In INSECT LIFE No. 4, pp. 161 162.(1890) Isee a note about Bot-flies infesting hogs. I 
have a bit of information in the same line that may interest you, although it is some- 
what meager. 

About a month agoa Mr. Fielder, of this town, butchered two hogs for his own 
supply of meat. They were apparently healthy and all well. In sticking one of 
them he noticed the blood was unusually dark colored, and the hog had unnsual ten- 
acity oflife. When the intestines were removed the stomach was found to be infested 
with a ‘‘ bot worm, just as horses are.” The stomach also had some dry substance 
in it resembling half-chewed cornstalks. The worms had not yet eaten through the 
coatings of the stomach, although some were nearly through. Mr. Fielder took a 
large piece of the stomach with the worms attached and kept it for several days. 
It began to smell bad, and he threw it away. After it had been thrown away I 
learned ofthe case. It wassomething new to me, and I thought to give you an account 
of it, but neglected to do so. Had I learned of the case soon enough I should have 
secured the specimen and sent it to youin alcohol. If the case is of interest to you 
and you wish further information, I will learn from Mr. Fielder whatever I can and 
report to you.—[A. W. Moon, Principal Public School, Port Republic, New Jersey, 
December 13, 1890. 

REPLyY.— Your cote is very interesting, and I shall be glad to have you investigate 
the matter a little further. The item in INSEcT LIFE which you mention refers not 
to a stomach bot, but to a grub which ordinarily infests the heads of wild animals, 
principally deer. Your case is interesting, because, if the information is correct, it 
will be the only case, so far as I know, in which the true stomach bot has been found 
in the hog. Hitherto the forms have been found only in the horse, the ass, and the 
rhinoceros. Inasmuch as no specimens were saved, you can oblige me by getting 
Mr. Fielder to give you as careful a description of the maggots as possible; and I 
should like also to have your opinion as to Mr. Fielder’s reliability as an observer. 
He undoubtedly found something, but the question is, were these objects true botfly 
larve, or were they stomach worms or intestinal worms of some sort. Iam very sorry 
that specimens were not preserved, as Mr. Fielder’s recollection in any event will 
_not be accepted by entomologists as final evidence.—[{ December 16, 1890. ] 


Case of a Child swallowing and passing Grubs infesting Chestnuts. 


A lady living in Providence, Rhode Island, brought me a white worm with an am- 
ber-yellow head, preserved in alcohol, which she said had been passed by her little 
girl, 11 years of age. It appears that the child had been sick with some bronchial 
or similar trouble for about 6 weeks, and the physician had been somewhat perplexed 
about the case. On the evening of the 13th of October the child grew worse, with 
a feeling of oppression in the chest and sensations of a creeping nature, accompanied 
by coughing and vomiting. Suspecting that the trouble might be due to Ascarids, a 
vermifuge (Spigelia and Senna) was administered, and on the morning of the 14th 
two of the worms were discharged, being found buried in the feces. 

One of the worms, the one best preserved, was submitted to me and I told the 
mother that it was probably the acornor chestnut worm, and asked her if the patient 
had not eaten some acorns or chestnuts, but she said that the child had not eaten 
either. On further examination I felt sure the larva was that of a Balaninus. The 
next day I met the father and also the physician, when the father told me that the 
child had on the evening of the 17th eaten four boiled chestnuts, and that two of the 
worms had been found in the patient’s stools. 

The parents had been worried about the child and hoped they had found and re- 
moved the cause of the trouble, but on seeing the physician about three weeks later 
I learned that the child was still unwell, the trouble (partly a nervous one) not hay- 


402 


ing been either aggravated by the presence of the worms or alleviated by their re- 
moval. 

The case is reported merely to show that probably many larve, especially those of 
flies and weevils, and other grubs living in seeds and fruits, may be swallowed and 
passed through the alimentary canal, without harm and with little or no annoyance 
to the person swallowing them; such cases rarely being brought to the notice of the 
physician.—[Dr. A. 8. Packard, Providence, Rhode Island, October, 1890. 


Fertilization of Red Clover by Bumble Bees. 


I saw this question asked through the Inter Ocean of Chicago: ‘‘ Why does not the 
first crop of the small or medium clover produce seed?” The answer: ‘‘Because the 
Bumble Bee (Humble Bee) is not out in time to fertilize the blossoms.” Does the 
Bumble Bee have auy influence on the production of seed in the clover?—[H. R. 
Clark, Columbus, Columbia County, Wisconsin, November 8, 1890. 

REPLY.—It has been conclusively established that red clover (Trifolium pratense 
L.) will not mature its seeds without the cross fertilization brought about by the 
visits of insects, and particularly bumble bees, Bombus spp. Many other bees and 
also Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, etc.), Diptera (two-winged flies), and beetles 
visit the clover blossoms, but these effect cross-fertilization to but a limited extent— 
the mouth parts of the bumble bee being especially fitted to this réle. The smaller 
percentage of seeds in the first crop of clover is therefore due to the fact that the bees 
necessary to the production of perfect seeds are in the early spring and summer com- 
paratively few in number. A number of experiments have been tried in England to 
establish the relation of the bee to clover, and similar experiments have also been 
made in this country, all going to show the dependence of the clover on the bee for 
full productiveness. A notable instance of the usefulness of the bumble bee in this 
regard is seen in the fact that when clover was first introduced into New Zealand it 
failed to produce seed, but later, when the bumble bees were introduced and became 
numerous, the clover matured perfect seeds.—[ November 17, 1890. ] 


Sow Bugs Feeding on Living Plants. 


In No. 3 of INSECT LIFE_I see a notice on page 69 about the Sow Bug, and a doubt 
is editorially expressed as to whether it feeds on living plants. I send you herewith 
a Cactus (Mammillaria phellosperma) which I have had potted for 2 years on account 
of its unusual form. This preceding spring and summer I was away from home for 
some months, and to keep the plant alive during my absence I planted the pot deep 
into the ground in a damp place, and while so planted the grass somewhat overran 
the pot and plant, forming a shady retreat for the sow bugs, which ate into the 
cactus so badly that when I saw it was ruined I threw it away. The Cactus did not 
decay either before or after being attacked by the sow bugs, but the flesh was raw, 
yet quite fresh and healthy, and began to grow again after I had routed the bugs. 
The Cactus has now been out of soil for 2 or 3 weeks, yet will probably live if it be 
planted again. 

Further: Three weeks ago I received some plants by mail from New York—some 
roses, Geraniums, and a Wistaria. Upon the arrival of the plants I could not at once 
attend to them, and soI heeled them in damp soil and covered them pretty closely 
over with some old carpet. They remained there some days, and when I took them 
up to plant them they were swarming with sow bugs, and I soon found that the 
Wistaria had apparently been making a start at many of the buds, but all had been 
eaten off so deeply and persistently that the vine is apparently killed, having made 
no growth since. The buds, or places where the buds should have been, were freshly 
eaten, as I carefully noted. I think that some of the other plants were injured also, 
but gave the matter no very careful investigation, as none were of so much value or 


403 


interest as the Wistaria. The sow bugs feed at night chiefly. This country is in- 
fested with many species of them.—[ W. G. Wright, San Bernardino, California, No- . 
vember 1, 1890. 

Nezara again Injuring Plants. 


A neighbor has handed me a number of bugs which have been doing much mischief 
in this section. Besides preying upon the products of the garden, they are devouring 
the cotton plants in the field. I Lave been familiar with this insect for years, but it 
has heretofore done but little mischief.—[ Robert Gamble, Tallahassee, Florida, No- 
vember 14, 1890. 

REPLY.—This is the so-called Green Soldier Bug (Nezara hilaris). This insect was 
mentioned in the Fourth Report of the U. S. Entomological Commission, page 79, as 
having been actually observed to prey on the cotton caterpillar, and in Hubbard’s 
Report on Insects Affecting the Orange it is said that it has sometimes been observed 
to suck the tender shoots of the orange, causing them to wither and die. It is then, 
apparently, both carnivorous and a plant feeder, and if your account is founded upon 
definite observations, it is quite probable that the harm done with you overbalances 
the good. If this is so, it will be necessary for you to apply some remedy. In this 
case you could do no better than to spray garden vegetables while the bugs are on 
them with a dilute kerosense emulsion made according to a formula copy of which is 
inclosed on a separate sheet.—[ November 19, 1890.] 

ANOTHER LETTER.—I have sent by this mail, in a box, some specimens of insects 
which seem to be Raphigaster pennsylvanicus. They were sent me by a man who re- 
ported them destroying peafields at the rate of half an acre perday. I cannot find 
any account of this insect attacking such plants. This pest, being a sucker, can not 
be poisoned with arsenic, and seems rather difficult to deal with. Do you know any- 
thing better than hand-picking ?—[Gerald McCarthy, Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion, Raleigh, North Carolina, September 5, 1890. 

REPLY.—The bug which you send is Nezara hilaris Say. It is exceedingly closely 
allied to N. pennsylvanica, and I do not wonder at your mistaking it for the latter. 
These bugs seem to be both phytophagous and carnivorous, and I do not doubt your 
statement that this one attacks peas, although you will find it mentioned in the 
Fourth Report of the U. 8. Entomological Commission as one of the Hetereptera 
which prey upon the Cotton Worm. We apply to all these sucking insects an emulsion 
of kerosene and soap, varying in strength according to the crop upon which the in- 
sects are feeding. Susceptible plants, such as the Peach, should be sprayed with one 
part of our standard emulsion to 15 parts of water, but the orange and other less sus- 
ceptible plants will stand one part to ten.—[September 11, 1890.] 


Mosquitoes in Boreal Latitudes. 


Vol. 1, No. 2, page 52, Insect LIFE, contains an article on the ‘‘ Hibernation of the 
Mosquito,” and reminds me of a trip on snow-shoes from Mackinaw to the Sault de 
Ste. Marie in March, 1844. One noon we were delayed by the melting of the snow, 
which was from 2 to4 feet deep, on a hillside, the sun coming out good and strong. 
The mosquitoes appeared by thousands, and annoyed us and our train dogs that pulled 
the mail on toboggans, so that we really had to make fight against them until nearly 
sundown. I have told this story before, but only got a laughin reply. I hope with 
you I will meet with better success. 

The Arctic region is the home of the real gray-back biting mosquitoes, and some of 
my friends who have wintered there inform me that they make their appearance on 
man about as soon as the sun peeps above the past winter horizon.—[Dr. E. Sterling, 
Cleveland, Ohio, November 14, 1890. 

REPLY.—Mosquitoes are known to occur in enormous numbers in the Arctic re- 
gions, and accounts of the excessive annoyance occasioned both to human beings 
and to animals in northern regions have been not infrequently given. The adults 


404 


are known also to winter over, but in limited numbers, and hence your observation 
of their occurrence in such excessive numbers in March is quite interesting.—[No- 
vember 17, 1890. ] 

The Mealy Bug. 


Is there any reliable remedy for the pest known as the Mealy Bug in the green- ~ 


houses? All applications seem to be nearly worthless except hand-picking. We have 
tried all the advertised mixtures and are disgusted. How will the gas from cyanide 
potassium and sulphuric acid work in them, and can it be safely used by letting it 
have possession of the house over night and thoroughly ventilating the house the 
next morning? Would it be dangerous for the gardener to go into the house to ven- 
tilate it the next morning? Iam fully aware of the deadly effect. Ihave used the 
cyanide jar to kill my specimens for the past three years.—-[H. L. Jeffrey, Woodbury, 
Connecticut, November 21, 1890. 

REPLY.—Hydrocyanic acid gas, produced in the way which you mention, is being 
extensively used on the Pacific coast as aremedy against scale insects. Entire orange 
trees are covered with tents, and the acid is manufactured under the tent. I am not 
aware, however, that it has been tried in greenhouses on the scale which you sug- 
gest, but am inclined to think that there would be some danger in its use in this 
manner. A copy of bulletin 22 of this division is sent you by accompanying mail, 
and you will be able to see from the report of Mr. D. W. Coquillett the methods in 
use in California. From this account you will be able to get some idea as to rigging 
up a small apparatus for the disinfection of a few of your hothouse plants at a time. 
In case you attempt anything of the sort it will give us pleasure to learn the result.— 
[November 21, 1890. } 


The Sweet-potato Root-borer. 


Please find inclosed a few insects (alive just now) with small piece of sweet-potato 
(yam variety), in regard to which I would be pleased to have your opinion. They 
seem to be quite a pest to the potato crop in this section of Louisiana, certainly very 
destructive to the tubers.—[J. Ed. Blanchard, Thibodeaux, Louisiana, November 16, 
1890. 

ReEpPLy.—The insect which you send is the so-called Sweet-potato Root-borer 
(Cylas formicarius). It is a very destructive enemy to sweet-potatoes in regions 
where it occurs abundantly, but fortunately it is rare in most localities. The only 
remedy which has been suggested is to dig the potatoes as soon as they are found to 
be infested and to burn those containing insects or feed them to cattle, thus reduc- 
ing the number and making the chances better for the next crop. You will find some 
account of this insect in the Annual Report of this Department for 1879, pages 249- 
250.—[ November 19, 1890. ] 


Parasites of the Apple-tree Saperda. 


In response to your request for my experience in regard to insect injury or habits, 
I will mention that I have this fall, for the first time, noticed that the Round-headed 


Apple-tree borer (Saperda candida Fabr.) had been parasitized, the larva being — 


destroyed before it had done any damage to speak of. As Saunders, in his ‘‘ Insects 
Injurious to Fruits,” does not speak of any parasites of this species, and thinking 


it perhaps might be something new, I will endeavor to obtain some specimens for you ~ 


the coming season if you deem it sufficientiy interesting to investigate. 

This borer is the greatest pest we have in our apple orchards here as it works from 
the base to the top. I have secured the beetle from sections of limbs but little over 
an inch in diameter. The period of its greatest activity seems to be the latter part 
of August and the whole of September, and the month of October is the best time for 
their removal, as they have not many of them eaten through the bark yet. There 
is no prospect of ever diminishing their numbers by any artificial means, as they come 


405 


in from the surrounding forests as fast as they are destroyed. I have taken as high 
as 17 borers from the base of one tree at one time. The alkaline wash is a good pro- 
tection, but it can not be applied to all of the small limbs of the large trees. It seems 
as though the only relief must be through some parasite attacking it in its native 
haunts.—[James B. Smith, Highlands, North Carolina, November 17, 1890. 
ReEpLy.-——Professor Riley has bred one or more parasites from the Round-headed 
Apple-borer, and only recently we received a parasite of this species from California. 
I trust, however, that you will be able to secure specimens of the species which is en- 
gaged in the good work in your vicinity and forward them to us for determination. 
I should think it worth your while to apply the soap-soda wash in order to keep the 
borers from the trunk and larger branches of your trees.—[ November 21. 1890. ] 


Museum Pests. 


In accordance with your request I send you by this mail a few specimens of Anthre- 
nus scrophularie and A. musworum as labeled in my collection. If Iam ‘ twisted” 
in regard to nomenclature please inform me. Should be pleased to hear from you in 
any case. Thespecimensof A. museworum were all found in a neglected stock of dupli- 
cate specimens. I have neverobserved any on plants. Of A. scrophularie, some were 
found on flowers, some on carpets, and a few in above mentioned duplicates. I neg- 
lected to keep them separate, so can not state which particular specimens came from 
my collections. Those in my collection were all found just as they had become imagos. 
I think that I have succeeded in entirely destroying the pests, but if I find any 
more I will let you know immediately.—[E. E. Fernald, Melrose, Massachusetts, 
November 18, 1890. 

REPLY.—The insect which you have been considering as Anthrenus museworum is 
A. varius, a common pest in such locations. The other species was A. scrophularie as 
you supposed. If the latter was found in your insect boxes as you state the note is 
interesting.—[November 21, 1890. ] 


Passalus for EHar-ache: Gall Insects. 


By to-day’s mail I send you some ‘‘ Best” or ‘‘ Bess Bugs” found under a log, also 
one of the larve, a ‘‘grub-worm.” Our rustic population treat this bug very ten- 
derly because of the good office it performs. It is said to afford an oil or drop of 
*‘blood ” that is a present cure for ear-ache. Pulled intwoone drop of liquid is found 
which dropped into the ear gives immediate relief. I also send two insect knots or 
nests, one from a weed and the other from a blackberry brier. They will produce 
some sort of insects next spring and may interest you, thougk it may only be a gnat. 
Chestnuts have been unusually wormy; can you devise any plan by which they may 
escape the ravages of the beetle ?—[Calvin J. Cowles, Wilkesborough, North Caro- 
lina, November 27, 1890. 

ReEpPLy.—The insect which you call the ‘‘ Best” or ‘‘ Bess” bug is the horned Pas- 
salus (Passalus cornutus). The use of this insect for ear-ache interests me very much. 
I think it must be comparatively a local idea. Isit not? The enlargements on the 
Solidago and Blackberry are the galls of two very different insects. That on the Sol- 
idago is made by a two-winged fly known as Trypeta solidaginis, while that on the 
Blackberry is made by one of the true gall-flies allied to the species which produces 
the commercial galls. Itis known as Diastrophus nebulosus. So far as I know no good 
remedy has been proposed for worms in chestnuts.—[ November 29, 1890. ] 


Phorodon Notes from Oregon. 


I have been examining plum thickets in this (Lane) county, in the vicinity of hop 
yards and I find thousands of eggs of the hop louse (Phorodon). Further, I have 
found earlier in the autumn specimens of Phorodon on plums near by and also on 
others a number of miles from any hop field. The variety of plum upon which so 


27707 — No. 9——4 


406 


many eggs were found is known as ‘‘ Peterson’s Seedling” or ‘‘ Peterson’s Drupe,” 
the nearest approach to a wild plum which we have here. I have advised the burn- 


ing of these (useless) thickets. Doubting Thomases say: ‘‘ How can you prove to us - ¥ 


that those eggs on the plum are not those of some other aphis, plum aphis for 
instance?” And I reply by saying that the plum aphis does not begin to be abundant 
enough in this section to produce a tenth part as many eggs; further, I fall back 
upon the result of your investigations in Europe and America, and also the fact that 
I have observed Phorodon on tbe plum in large numbers this fall earlier in the season. 
I can not show them an egg of the plum aphis for comparison, even if there is a differ- 
ence between the two. Neither can I with certainty obtain any plum aphis eggs. 
Could you conveniently send me a few eggs of this latter insect now? Upon my 
inquiring of them, hop growers, as to whether they burned their vines immediately 
after gathering the fruit, they invariably replied they did do that, but further 
inquiry elicited the fact that said burning does not take place until after the vine is 
all withered, when the louse has left them. I pointed this out to them and urged . 
very strongly indeed their burning the green vines immediately after picking, as they 
pick. Does not this agree with your idea? 

The fact that I have found the Phorodon on plums at least 2 miles from hopsleads 
me to ask if I understand your statement in your summary (1888 Rep ort) that ‘‘they 
do not migrate readily from one hop yard to another.” I found no eggs upon the fol- 
lowing trees, though growing among the hops: Bradshaw plum, yellow egg plum, 
Italian prunes, Petite Bows. Two damsons growing in the same situation were 
not examined, but will be shortly, and the result with cuttings sent to me at Corval- 
lis. I should be gratified to hear expressions of your opinion on various points in 
this letter, and if you could oblige me in the particular of Plum Aphis eggs I should 
appreciate the favor.—[F. L. Washburn, Corvallis, Oregon, November 30, 1890. 

REPLY.—I am much interested in your letter of the 30th ultimo and am pleased to 
learn that you have so speedily fulfilled my predictions with regard to the stocking 
of plum by return migrant Phorodon. Your information regarding the variety of 
plums infested also interests me. As to distinguishing the eggs of Phorodon from 
those of other plum-hibernating Aphidide, I can hardly assist you by sending you 
authentic eggs of what you call ‘‘ Plum Aphis,” for the reason that there are several 
plant lice which oviposit upon Plum in the fall in the Eastern States and in England, 
and I am not sure which one, if any of these, you have in your vicinity. It is safe 
to say, however, where Phorodon has been migrating in its usual numbers from hop 
to Plum that its eggs will so vastly exceed in number those of any other species that 
you can notfail to recognize them. I may say, however, that the eggs of Aphis pruni, 
which somewhat resemble those of Phorodon, are larger and rather lighter colored. 
I certainly indorse your advice as to burning the old vines immediately after picking, 
as this is what I have myself recommended. You have misunderstood my statement 
which you quote, to the effect that the lice do not migrate readily from one hop yard 
to another. To be more explicit, migration from hop yard to hop yard is through 
wingless individuals, which is slow or even impossible at long distances, while the 
winged return migrant instinctively quits such fields for Prunus. The statement 
above referred to means just what it says and nothing more, and in my complete re- 
port (not yet published) I have called attention to the fact that the return migrant 
generations in the fall will fly long distances in search of plums. This fact wasalso. 
brought out in Mr. Howard’s notice of my investigation in the Country Gentleman of 
November 17, 1887. In other words, the non-tendency to migrate to any distance 
holds only as between hop yards.—[ December 8, 1890. ] 


A Southern Roach in a Northern Greenhouse. 


We send you by this day’s mail a small box containing a live roach and a frond of 
Lastrea aristata variegata (Fern). The roach was caught on the fern, and we have 
every reason to believe that they are their enemies. I hope you may gain some facts 


407 


from the live roach.—[J. Otto Thilow, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 4, 
1890. | 

Repiy.—Your favor of the 4th instant, with accompanying box containing a speci- 
men of cockroach,came duly to hand. The roach is Periplaneta australasie Fabr., 
and you are no doubt correct in stating that the injury to your Lastrea is due to this 
insect. I am not aware that this particular species has been reported before as 
being injurious to greenhouse plants, but I know that a closely allied species, viz., 
Periplaneta americana, occasionally infests greenhouses and feeds upon various plants, 
P. australasie is a cosmopolitan species, but by no means so universally distributed 
and so common as the Croton Bug, Phyllodromia germanica or P. americana. It is 
abundant in Florida, and perhaps also in other Southern States, but I do not know 
whether it has fairly established itself in any of our Northern cities. I would 
beg you, therefore, to let me know whether this species is common in your green- 
houses or elsewhere in your neighborhood, or whether only a few specimens were 
accidentally imported with plants from tropical countries. 

As to remedies for roaches, [refer you to my article on household pests in INSECT 
LIFE, Vol. II, p. 266, a separate copy of which is sent you herewith.—[ December 8, 
1890. ] 

The Grape-root Prionus. 


Please let me know the particulars of this bug. I took this from some California 
vines. They were sent from California to Dallas, Texas, 4 years ago, and were 
planted in Dallas 2 years, but did not fruit. I brought them tothe plains last spring. 
Upon taking them up nearly all the vines have these bugs upon them.—[A. Rawling, 
Marienfeld, Texas, November 30, 1890. 

REpPLy.—The specimen which you send is a full-grown larva of one of the large 
long-horn beetles known as Prionus imbricornis. These larve have been previously 
recorded as feeding on the roots of grape, but are comparatively rare and are not con- 
sidered to be very serious enemies of the vine. Nothing can be done in the way of 
remedies except to dig the larve out by hand.—[December 10, 1890.] _ 


A New Native Currant Worm. 


I send you by this mail one male parent of a native Hymenopterous currant worm, 
the same as was noted a year or two ago by Professor Lintner in his New York re- 
port. I first bred one pair in 1887 from larve grown in 1886, and this was raised in 
188889. The springs of 1888 and 1890 I was not able to find any. Please report 
name, etc.—[E. W. Allis, Adrian, Michigan, December 3, 1890. 

ReEpLy.—This insect is without donbt Janus flaviventris Fitch (see Fitch’s seventh re- 
port, spevies No. 12). This discovery of yours is a very interesting one, if the insect 
works in the way described by Lintner in his fourth report, page 47.—[December 5, 
1890.] 


Insects from Montserrat, West Indies. 


I now send you in spirits: 

(1) A fly found in the near vicinity of the Galba tree when the Icerya was so bad. 
This fly I also found in thousands on a fig tree close by. 

(2) Some of the female icerya. 

(3) A piece of wood off a fig tree in close proximity to the Galba, which is covered 
with cottony-cushion blight. 

(4) A yellow kind of Lady-Bird, also found on the Ficus. 

(5) A smaller and whiter Lady-Bird. 

The Galba tree had been cut down and lopped up ready to burn, so as to destroy 
the blight, so it was hard to find what was wanted ; but I caught No.1 flying round 
the dying branches. I then discovered the same flies on a hog-plum tree adjoining 


408 


and shortly afterwards in thousands on a fig tree close by, one of the common Ficus. 
I also found Nos. 4 and 5 on this tree when I hadit cutdown. The tree was literally 
smothered with the cottony-cushion blight, No.3. I could find none of No.2 on the 
Ficus, although it was in close proximity to the Galba, but I found No. 2 on the cocoa 
trees, sour sap (Anona muricata), hog plum (Spondias lutea), Galba (one of the Sapo- 
tacez), and on a wild vine, name unknown. I hope I have found what you want, 
but doubt it; if not, will try again. I also send in tin box some woolly cocoons that 
were found in numbers in the Cassava leaves. They seem to be full of eggs.—[H. 
de C. Hamilton, Plymouth, Montserrat, West Indies, November 11, 1890. 

REPLY.—I have sent you by today’s mail a copy of No. 3, Vol. 111, of INSECT LIFz, 
upon pages 99 to 103 of which you will find your insect described as Jcerya montserra- 
tensis. I opened your box with a great deal of interest, hoping to find that the ‘fly ” 
found by you in the vicinity of the Galba tree was a male of the Icerya. I was dis- 
appointed however to find that it was a beetle of the genus Eros, a very much larger 
insect than the male Icerya. I found, however, male larve, and if you will kindly try 
another sending of living Iceryas we may yet succeed in getting the male. The fig 
tree is infested by another cottony scale belonging to the genus Pulvinaria, species 
undescribed. The two insects which you call Lady-birds do not belong to that group 
of beetles, but to the closely allied leaf-beetles. The one is a species of Luperus andthe 
other seems to be a species of Monocesta. Neither of these is carnivorous in habit. 
Iam much obliged for the additional list of food-plants of the Icerya, and shall be 
glad to learn from you just how much damage is being done by this species and 
whether a remedy seems to be necessary. The objects which you call woolly cocoons 
are masses of the small cocoons of a parasitic insect of the genus Apanteles, the larvee 
of which have probably issued from some large caterpillar and spun their cocoons in 
these masses in the Cassava leaves. One of these objects, however, was the case of 
a so-called bag-worm, and of this I should be pleased to receive further specimens if 
you can get them without teo much inconvenience.—{ December 10, 1890. ] 


The Desirability of Importing the Blastophaga for the Smyrna Fig in Cali- 
fornia. 


I have recently noticed a newspaper clipping from your paper referring to the ex- 
periments made by Mr. F. Roeding, of the Fancher Creek Nurseries, and Mr. George 
C. Roeding, the manager, with the cross fertilization of the Smyrna fig and the Capri 
fig. This Department is anxious to correspond with one of the Messrs. Roeding on 
this subject, and would like very much to know their post-office address. Our prin- 
cipal object at present is to find out how many Capri figs they have growing in their 
nurseries, how large they are, and whether they are growing close together, in order 
to judge as to the possibility of establishing the fertilizing Blastophaga of Europe in 
this country. lLinclose a return envelope and beg that you will drop me a line giv- 
ing me the address of the parties mentioned.—[November 18, 1890, to editor of the 
Fresno Expositor, Fresno City, California. 

Your favor of the 18th instant to the editor of the Fresno Expositor has been handed 
over to me by that gentleman, and in reply I will say that I have many thousands of 
the wild or Capri figs, as well as the true Smyrna, having imported from Smyrna - 
several thousand cuttings of each variety, as well as a number of cuttings of other 
varieties, mostly table figs. Three years ago we sent our superintendent to Smyrna 
for the express purpose of obtaining these figs; he remained there 4 months, and 
after having made a close study of the modes of drying, packing, etc., went into the 
Aidin district, where the best Smyrna figs are grown, and not only secured cuttings 
of the Cebeli or commercial figs, but also obtained a large quantity of the wild figs. 
Over 30,000 cuttings were secured, but half of these were left at the London docks 
on account of the heavy freight charges, the remainder having been shipped to 
Fresno, arriving May 24, 1887, in good condition, although they were 7 months on the 
road. 


409 


I have just answered a letter from H. E. Van Deman, esq., on this subject, and I 
trust your Department will make every effort to introduce the Blastophaga here, as 
it is the only link wanting to successfully produce the Smyrna fig in this country. 
I have been in correspondence with R. J. Van Leup, Dutch consul at Smyrna, now 
deceased, but he informed me that he could not discover where the insect hibernated 
and therefore could not introduce any into this country. Dr. H. H. Behr, vice-presi- 
dent of the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, who has taken a deep interest in 
the fig question, has discovered, with the assistance of Mr. Brandagee, who has lately 
been traveling in South America, both the wild fig and also the Blastophaga, of a 
different family, however, than found in Smyrna. If your Department does not suc- 
ceed in introducing the insects, we have, I think, some chance of bringing them here 
in good condition, the journey not being so long and hazardous as from Smyrna. 
The insects should not arrive before the middle of June or the first of July, as the 
wild fig does not set fruit before June 1 and does not ripen its fruit before July 1, 
this being the time when the Smyrna fig is ready to receive the pollen. Any further 
information desired by your Department will be cheerfully given.—[George C. Roe- 
ding, Fresno, California, November 29, 1890. 

REpPLy.—I am much pleased to learn of your success in growing the Capri fig in 
California, and beg to assure you that this Department will do everything in its 
power to introduce the Blastophaga into this country. Your nursery will undoubt- 
edly be very well adapted to the purpose, and if success follows our effort a supply 
will be immediately forwarded to you. I note what you say in regard to the proper 
season of the year, and any additional suggestions which you care to make will be 
acted upon.—[ December 10, 1890. ] 


The Cabbage Worm Disease. 


In the November number I was glad to see a report from Prof. Herbert Osborn, on 
the use of contagious diseases in contending with injurious insects. In 1883 my atten- 
tion was called to the disease (Muscardine) affecting the Cabbage Worm, by Prof. S. 
A. Forbes, who sent me specimens of the diseased worms, from which I succeeded in 
propagating the disease among the healthy worms on my cabbages, and which spread 
rapidly over all the cabbages inmy yard. I also succeeded in introducing the disease 
among the worws in two other yards. Before that time the disease had not been ob- 
served in this locality. I preserved a quantity of the diseased worms in a dry state 
in a closely sealed box, and on July 20, 1884, I powdered the dry remains of the worms 
in the box and sprinkled it ona head of cabbage infested with the worms. In four days, 
on the 24th, the disease began to show itself on the worms, but I found no dead ones 
until the 28th, when it had affected nearly all the worms on the head on which I had 
applied it. After emptying the box in which I had kept the dead worms, I putin a 
number of healthy worms with fresh leaves of cabbage, and in 5 days the disease 
had begun to show itself on nearly all of them. I did not find the disease on any 
other cabbages in the yard until the 2d of August, when I noticed it on plants ad- 
joining the one where it first started and on which I had sprinkled the contents of 
the box, and ina few days it spread over the entire yard. In 1885 I had cabbages 
on the same ground as the year before the larve commenced their depredations. A 
little later I first noticed them on the 25th of July, and on that day found one that 
was affected with the disease. By August 10 it had spread over the entire lot. My 
notes for 1886-’87~-’88 are lost. 

In 1889 the disease was first observed September 5, when it spread rapidly, and by 
the 15th I could find only a very few recently hached worms unaffected. August 24, 
1890, I found the first diseased worms. On September 4 I sent a number of diseased 
specimens to Dr. A. P. Buatts, Shreveport, Louisiana, as he was desirous of trying 
its introduction on the cotton bollworm. On September 15 the disease had de- 
stroyed all the worms on my cabbage, and although many of them had been badly 


410 


eaten, the season was favorable and I had a good yield of cabbages. In conclusion 

I would say that since 1884 I have made no effort to preserve the disease, and it has 
made its appearance each year about the Ist of August. My cabbage has been 
planted each year on nearly the same ground. This year the worms were later in 
showing themselves. The disease has become pretty general through this locality, 
and has proved of great benefit. I found this year the larve of a Geometrid affected 
with the same disease.—[E. R. Boardman, M. D., Elmira, Stark County, Illinois, 
December 15, 1890. 


An Orange Plant-bug from Australia. 


Herewith I inclose specimens of a beetle which is very destructive to the orange 
crop in this district by eating the young and tender shoots. If you have the same 
pest, I should be glad to have anything bearing on the treatment of trees affected 
with the pest.—[ Thos. G. Hewitt, editor Northern Star, Lismore, New South Wales, 
Australia, October 25, 1890. 

RepLy.—The insect is not a beetle, but the immature form of one of the true bugs. 
We have nothing very similar to this insect in this country, and it will be impossible 
to determine the exact species without receiving full-grown individuals. It seems 
to be identical with a form which Mr. Koebele found both in Queensland and New 
South Wales, sucking the sap of the tender twigs and the fruit of the orange. We 
have an insect in Florida, known popularly as the Red Bug (Dysdercus suturellus), 
which worksin a somewhat similar manner, and it has been found there that the best 
remedy is to spray the tree, while the bugs are at work, with a dilute kerosene-soap 
emulsion, a good formula for which I inclose on a separate sheet. The insects are 
also easily trapped by placing under the tree a small heap of decaying fruit of any 
kind, and they can be destroyed upon this heap by the use of hot water, preferably in 
the early morning. We will be glad to have you send a large series of specimens of ~ 
this insect, as well as any other crop pests which may be prominent in your vicini- 
ty.—[December 15, 1890. ] 


On Parasites of Lepidoptera. 


Prof. C. Rudow must surely have made some mistake in the list of parasites pub- 
lished in the last number of INSEcT LIFE, kindly sent me from your Department. No 
less than seven species of Mesoleius! Ratzeburg gives a few Tryphonide as having 
been bred by Brischke from Lepidoptera, but Brischke in his list, published several 
years after Ratzeburg’s last volume, does not mention any Tryphon, Mesoleius, or 
Bassus as having been bred from Lepidopterous hosts, so a mistake must have occurred 
somewhere. It certainly requires a very large amount of faith to believe that Rudow, 
or any one else, bred five species of Bassus from a Lepidopterous host, and besides 
there are two species of Phygadeuon. The only Tryphonide I have that were bred 
from Lepidoptera are: 


Parasite. Host. 

iy codietus scabriculus:) js. sce saccisce tee eens ese Tortrix costana. 
Gry pocentrus eenalisiM 22452 eee ae Se eae eee Micropteryx semipurpurella. 
SDMINCLUS SELOUINUS .\ 6.0 ie Scena Bie cee ee ener reeree ee Limacodes testudo. 
Mriclistussholmerent Holm 25 2s cee eee eee Tortrix decretana. 

lativentris Holm. Ven 2 aor ee eee eee Emmelesia alchemillata. 
IP XOCH US MCCOratOr sel. . -v man cccem eee coma mceleneeneeee Peronea maccana. 

hastana. 
VU UMUG cvetices epee ate sete seamen See ‘oieiees hes et eee Pedisea solandriana. 


Phlxodes tetraquetrana. 
Penthina dimidiana. 
’ Euchromia flammea. 
HaVOMARS MN Avs: cise cei feis ate eeeee eee eee Eudorea truncicolella. 
fletehert Mies iene eee al HO) th x ool el Ae aaa pe ee Gelechia notatella. 


Parasite. Host. 

PRGeUme MIMEMMR ED sc cm aee ees oes deleanel ons = al- oka Endorea murana. 
REMINENYONER) ote eee ee oe 515 ae oo Homeosoma nimbella. 
RiGee fo ee eee eel do ogee oe ae ee es Gelechia populella. 

em inbM NINIMUIEUNIN: eee daft Bead ancl alcs oo Seen ome Botys terrealis. 

Prercen-ons snebris Gr ooo ata ones once wed sas ede Soke nee Rhodophza formosella. 

Eupoecilia angustana. 
ermbator Gre oo nooo 6 tosh a25 -seneee~'os>---. Lortrix. deeretana: 

EU a ee ee a ee Bombyx callune. 

ebyar fmtanalis 00 2 5 asp ans ocean se as Set oi Host uncertain. 


All my other bred Tryphons have been from saw-flies, except Tryphon signator 
from Crabro leucostoma, Spleophaga vesparum from Vespa vulgaris, and one Bassus 
from fly cocoon. It seems strange that he should have bred so many Tryphonids 
from so unusual a host. I must confess I do not believe it.—[John B. Bridgman, 40 
St. Giles, Norwich, England, November 22, 1890. 


Unslaked Lime against the Rose Chafer. 


Myself and son had last year some 22 acres of grapes to fight the rose chafer on 
and had nothing ready to fight them with. I went 5 miles and hired a spraying ma- 
chine and purchased a quantity of lime and carbolic acid, used the dry lime some, 
but used the lime water most, found dry lime would soon blow off; nsed the liquid 
very strong. Iused 1 bushel of unslaked lime (on some 14 bushels) to 1 quart of acid 
(crude) and 50 gallons of water; dissolved the lime and strained. We gave the dose 
freely and our vines looked white when we gotoverthem. It took us 4 days to cover 
20 acres. We lost no grapes by bugs after they got the dose. Don’t be afraid of lime ; 
it never killed a vine, butit isa good fertilizer. Some of my vineshad the lime stick- 
ing to the leaves at the close of the season, and grew black and rank from its effects. 

I had the fairest test that could have been given; had three vineyards and only a 
driveway between them. The middle place of 1 acre of mixed kinds lay in the center— 
it had pear trees and currants set among the vines so I could not get through with 
the machine and as I did not lime them lost theentire crop. ‘These were set as full as 
any, and across the driveway where I limed them they were full of grapes, so I know 
the lime killed them. We treated my son’s 10 acres first, and he had a heavy crop. 
On some of my own the bugs worked on the last we sprayed, but the Inez anda new 
variety which I originated, called the Garfield, neither bug nor rot affected as they 
had shed their blossoms mostly before they came; they take the Concords and Bright- 
ons every time. Neither Paris green nor London purple will affect the bug. The 
lime shuts off their breathing. The trouble with the dry lime is that it blows off. 
We only went once over our vines. Shall begin sooner this coming season and go 
twice over and also use sulphate of copper in connection with the lime for brown 
rot which we were troubled with this year. The bug does most of his work inside of 
one week and at time of blossoming. I used about 6 bushels of lime on 20 acres of 
7-foot high trellis. The spray should be thrown up on under side where bugs and 
fruit are. We used alow sled to carry tank on. For that purpose a wagon is too 
high ; liquid runs off.—[S. Justus, Mentor, Ohio, November 27, 1890. 


Abundance of Bombardier Beetles. 


Herewith I transmit to you some insects collected in Minnesota by me while en- 
gaged as teacher of the Natural Sciences at the State Normal School, Winona, Minn. 
There is one lot of beetles to which I wish to direct attention especially; it consists 
largely of species of Brachinus. These I picked up all under one large flat stone near 
Trempealeau Mountain, Wis., on May 17th of the present year, while on a collecting 
trip after botanical and zodlogical material. For several years past I had taken 


A412 


pleasure in directing the attention of my students to these interesting little Bombar- 
dier beetles, the Brachinus, which I always could readily find along the bluffs near 
Winona by turning up stones. They were generally found in colonies of from ten to 
almost thirty individuals, and were rarely associated with other insects. On this oc- 
casion, near Trempealeau, the colony consisted of many hundreds of Bombardiers, 
and included a number of species of other beetles, mostly small Carabids. Being all 
agile species they scampered away to find hiding places ata lively rate. But there 
were so many of them that we succeeded in a minute or two in capturing several 
hundred of them. This intrusion and interruption of family peace was, however, 
bitterly resented by the Bombardiers keeping up a regular and audible fusilade 
against their assailants, creating an unpleasant odor and producing a brown stain on 
our hands which did not yield to soap and remained till worn off. 

I took my captives home alive and for a day or two I succeeded in getting them to 
‘‘nerform” their shooting feats by teasing them. I kept them in a deep glass vessel 
so that they could be seen readily, and I hoped to keep them along time. But on 
the fourth or fifth day all died. Under ordinary circumstances I have kept beetles 
alive for weeks; in this case I suspect that the Bombardiers were their own execu- 
tioners. The brown caustic dust or spray emitted by them seems to have had a deadly 
effect on them, confined as they were in a glass dish; for while the odor became per- 
ceptible at a distance of 2 or 3 feet, I think that the specific gravity of this defensive 
vapor emitted by the Brachinus is probably so great that the bulk of it remained at 
the bottom of the dish, thus smothering them.—[John M. Holzinger, Assistant Botan- 
ist, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., November 3, 1890. 


Some New Parasites from California. 


Herewith inclosed find a specimen of Chalcis which I have reason to believe is par- 
asitic on Chrysobothris mali, Harr. The latter is our ‘‘Apple-tree borer” in this coun- 
try, and that it also bores the peach I have this year proved by breeding it from the 
stems of young peach trees that were infected. These I had in a glass jar, the mouth 
of which was covered with netting. Nothing else than Ch. mali emerged from the 
wood, except this one example of Chalcis, which I one day found in the jar. 

The other hymenopter inclosed is a parasite of the larva of Papilio zolicaon. The 
latter feeds upon Umbelliferz, chiefly Carum Kelloggii and the common Dill, which 
grows abundantly near gardens from which it has escaped. Before the larva is fully 
grown this parasite emerges and spins a little yellow cocoon, fastening the same upon 
the stem of the plant. I bred anumber of these years ago, but being of no esperiat 
interest I never reported them to anyone. 

The Chalcis, however, is of value because it preys upon one of the worst enemies 
of the orchardist, and it is well to make this known.—[L. E. Ricksecker, Santa Rosa, 
California, September 8, 1890. 

REPLY.—The supposed parasite on Chrysobothris mali is, accordi.g to the oid clas- 
sification of the subfamily Chalcidine, anew species of the genus Chalecis. According, 
however, to the recent extension of generic characters it forms anew genus. I should 
hesitate to describe a new genus from a single specimen, particularly as this one 
which you send has the tips of both antenne broken off. I hope, however, that you 
will make an effort to breed additional specimens. ‘This form is one of extreme inter- 
est, and, as you state, of considerable economic importance. The parasite on the 
larva of Papilio zolicaon is a species of the genus Apanteles, but as the abdomen and 
both antenne are gone, it willalso be impossible to describe this. Iam of the opinion, 
however, that it is a new species. If you succeed in getting other specimens of these 
two interesting insects I would urge you to send them on; but, in order to insure 
safety in transmission, the box in which they are contained should be wrapped in 
cotton and inciosed in another box.—[ September 14, 1890. ] 


413 


A Tomato Root-louse. 


+ * * Two years ago, while in the employ of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa 
Fé Railroad, I happened, while I was visiting Albuquerque (about 100 miles south of 
Santa Fé, in the Rio Grande Valley), to meet a French gardener, who mentioned to me 
that a peculiar disease had attacked his tomatoes, and that out of six hundred plants 
only two had escaped alive. Last year, in June, I was at a village named Los Cor- 
rales, 12 miles north of Albuquerque, on a visit of some days’ duration at the vine- 
yards of another French gentleman named Louis Alary, when I noticed in his garden 
a number of tomato vines that appeared yellow and sickly; in fact, many of them 
already in full bloom were dying. I dug up several of the vines, but discovered no 
apparent cause for the malady, except that the rootlets seemed to have shrunk and 
were drying up. I attributed this to the corroding effect of the alkaline salts (the 
Mexicans call them salitre—saltpetre), which the water of the Rio Grande, used 
for irrigation, holds in solution. 

Some days since, at the place of Mr. Valentine Herbert, a German gardener of Santa 
Fé, [remarked the same peculiar appearauce on his tomato vines, and he told me 
that he had already dug up many of them which had the same disease, which had 
been noticed by him for the first time in 1888. As the water in Santa Fé contains no 
alkali, being formed of pure snow and spring water that flows down from the adja- 
cent mountains, my theory was at fault. I took a spade and dug up a few vines. 
In examining the ground and the roots I found what I now believe to be the cause 
of the disease ; quantities of a large white root-louse. It is when full grown about 
the shape and size of a flaxseed, and moves about quite briskly when disturbed. 
I have preserved about a dozen of these insects in a small vial in a mixture of alcvhol 
and water, which I shall send you, and also some roots of the diseased vines. I 
feel convinced that this root-louse is the destructive agency which kills the vines, 
for no plant attacked ever survives to bear fruit.—[John F. Wielandy, Santa Fé, 
New Mexico, August 6, 1890. 

RepLy.— The insect on the roots of tomato which you call a Phylloxera is a Mealy 
Bug of the genus Dactylopius, and probably a new species. What you have to say 
concerning the damage done by this insect is very interesting and entirely new to 
us.—[August 27, 1890, ] 

/ Ticks from Texas. 


I shall send you by to-morrow’s mail a box containing insects. You will find in a 
little square bottle four different kinds of tieks, if size, shape, and color are essen- 
tiai to make a species, but my neighbors think those little ones are the young of the 
old ones. I dropped some alcohol on them to keep them from decay. They are a 
terrible pest. The largest one is the most common; the one with a white spot on its 
back is called Scotch tick; it gets into the horses’ ears and causes them to lop down. 
The third size is called ‘‘ Seed tick;” it is very abundant in hot weather. The fourth 
size is generally called Jigger; it is very irritating when it gets on anybody. The 
two largest kinds are active all winter in southeastern Texas, and are the cause of 
the death of many a poor cow. Old axle grease seems to be the best remedy.—[F. 
W. Thurow, Hockley, Harris County, Texas, August 22, 1890. ] 

REpLY.—The two large ticks are the male and female of Amblyomma maculatum 
Koch. Those with the white dot are Amblyomma unipunctatum (americana Koch) 
Pack., female, and the little ones are the young of the latter species.—[ August 30, 
1890. ] 

Flights of Dragon Flies. 


Please accept my sincere thanks for your interesting letters in answer to my ques- 
tions about the Dragon Flies. Yesterday they were on the wing again and flying in 
the same direction as always before. I send you by mail a couple of them. You ask 
if these flights have been noticed before. I have often noticed them, and for many 
years back, but as] made no memorandum of the occurrences I can not say positively 


| eo AE 


how often, but feel sure they occur every year, and more than once each year, occu- 
pying about the whole day in their flight.—[J. J. Brown, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 
September 5, 1890. ] 

REPLY.—I received this morning from you abox containing a couple of Dragon 
Flies, which I take to be the species which you have noticedinswarms. An exami- 
nation shows that it is Aschna eremita Hagen.—{ September 11, 1890. ] 


On the Oviposition of Tachina. 


The letter of Mr. B. D. Wier in INSEcT LIFE, vol. 111, p. 26, contains matter very 
interesting tome. I was much surprised at the account ot the manner of oviposition 
of Tachina given by Mr. Webster (vol. 11, p. 256), and was at a loss to account for it, 
as it differs from published accounts (see A. C. Weeks, Ent. Amer., 111, 126) and from 
my own experience, but the present letter throws considerable light upon it. The 
habit of the large parasitic Hymenoptera seems to be to fly up to the larve at once 
and attack by a sudden thrust, when the victim usually drops to the ground, as 
observed by Mr. Wier. Quite in contrast to this is the stealthy approach of the 
Tachina fly. It will alight near a group of Datana larve and approach by walking, 
as it seems to be aware that the noise of its wings would cause alarm. It will 
approach as nearly as possible to the head of a larva and stealthily deposit one egg 
after another, the ovipositor passing under the body and out beyond the head. At 
the slightest movement of its victim the fly will run away and again slowly approach, 
but is loath to take to flight. I observed this process this season in the case of a 
number of Datana perspicua, and I also noticed that the Tachina oviposited only upon 
larve in their last (fifth) stage, which is an evident protection, as if the eggs were 
laid upon younger larve they would often be cast off in molting before they had 
hatched. 

Mr. Wier seems to think that the larve of Datana are not attacked by Tachina on 
the tree; but I have often observed this, especially in the ‘‘ hairy form, on the black 
walnut” (D. integerrima), which really appears to be more subject to attack than 
the ‘‘smooth form” (D. ministra). This double parasitization of integerrima (Mr. 
Webster’s ‘‘ministra,” are probably integerrima as well as Mr. Wier’s ‘‘ hairy form”’) 
must result in benefit to it, since both parasites can hardly mature from one larva, 
but must one or both perish. 

Another fact that I have observed must also tend to check the destruction of Datana 
by parasites, namely, a protective habit developed by the insects themselves. It con- 
sists in rubbing the head where Tachina eggs are most usually laid with considerable 
force on the branch or twig, in many cases serving to dislodge or injure the eggs. 
That this is a habit, and not due to irritation caused by the presence of eggs, I have 
proved, by observing that it is freely done by Datana that are not infested and have 
been bred in the house from the young larve. Of course this habit is most marked 
in the last stage, as this is the time when they are subject to Tachina attack, asI have 
shown. Ihave observed the habit in Datana integerrima, ministra, drexelii, major, and 
perspicua, but not strongly in the last.—[ Harrison G. Dyar, Rhinebeck, New York, 
September 2, 1890. 

Fig Beetles. 


I this day mail you a box containing a half dozen small insects of the kind which 
destroyed my fig crop last year (1889), and are fast using up my present crop. If you 
will kindly tell me what they are, and can point out a remedy that promises safety to — 
my figs, I shall be obliged indeed.—[J. M. Fullinwider, Palestine, Texas, August 16, 
1890. 

REpPLY.—The small box accompanying your letter contained two species of beetles, 
known as Carpophilus mutilatus and Epurea luteola. Both of these beetles confine their 
attacks to decaying or injured fruit, and will not attack healthy figs. So I think you 
are mistaken in supposing that they destroy your crop. Please make a closer ex- 
amination as to the cause of the damage—[ August 25, 1890. ] 


ee oe 


415 


SECOND LETTER.—If these beetles ‘‘confine their attacks to decaying and injured 
fruit” then my fruit (figs) must be injured very strangely, and while yet only four- 
fifths grown. ae 

I have a number of very fine trees bearing fine,large fruit. This kind, as it ap- 
proaches the full-grown state and begins the ripening process, slightly opens at the 
apex or bud end. No sooner does this very slight aperture form than these insects 
enter and feed upon the fruit, and I judge live therein. In the very early part of the 
season, for perhaps a week after ripening begins, we are not seriously troubled. 
After that it is difficult to find a single fruit unmolested by these pests. The crop of 
1889 was utterly destroyed by them after the first eight days. The crop of 1890 has 
been destroyed, or is stillin process of destruction. The trees are very healthy and 
fine, the fruit also, sofarasI can discover. But the process outlined above continues. 
If I fail to discover the nature of the trouble and to secure an efficient remedy there- 
for, I must and will be forced to abandon my fig crop. 

We esteem the fruit so highly that we are loth to yield to this result. Hence my 
application to your Department.—[J. M. Fullinwider, Palestine, Texas, August 29, 
1890. 

REPLY.—From the facts which you give, it seems as though in the case of the fig 


' these two beetles have really become pests and injure sound fruit. They will be diffi- 


cult enemies to fight, on account of their entering the orifice of the fruit, and hence 
not being amenable to any treatment with sprays. The only remedy which I can 
suggest is derived from the known preference of these insects for decaying fruit, and 
is the use of rotten or damaged fruit as traps. At the time when this insect enters 
the fig, scatter about the tree some such decaying fruit, picking it up and burning it 
after it has become infested with the insects, i. ¢., after the beetles have gathered 
upon it and laid theireggs. There can be little doubt that they will prefer such 
rotten fruit to the sound figs, and many of them can doubtless be trapped and de- 
stroyed in this way. If the lure fruit be sprinkled with arsenic it may save the 
trouble of subsequent collecting.—[September 4, 1590. ] 


The Weeping Tree Phenomenon. 


Inclosed please find an insect, the name and habits of which you will oblige me 
by giving. I found it on a willow tree in a swamp on Island 73, in the Mississippi, 
belonging to Arkansas. I was hunting deer, and being tired lay down under a 
small willow to rest. After lying there a few moments the air suddenly became 
filled with little drops of water as if rain or mist were falling. I got out from under 
the tree and as soon as | moved the mist ceased. I stood a short distance away and 
watched, and gradually came closer, and after watching for half an hour I discovered 
this little bug on atwig. When TI first saw it, it was perfectly quiet, but soon put 
its head to the limb and immediately minute drops of fluid began to be ejected from 
the rear end of its body which extended past or even with the ends of its wings, 
but since its death has shriveled to its present length. The leaves of the tree 
on which I found it were pierced in thousands of piaces, and the mist from the tree 
was thick; but this bug was not on a leaf, but on a small limb. I could find no other 
insects on the tree, but know there are hundreds. The one I caught slipped around 
the limb very much as a squirrel would, and I had difficulty in catching it. It 
made no effort to fly. The natives of the island called the tree a weeping tree, and 
are very superstitious about it.—[R. J. McGuire, Rosedale, Mississippi, August 30, 
1890. 

REPLy.—* * ~* The insect which you send is one of the so-called leaf-hoppers, 
which has been frequently referred to in print on account of its habit of ejecting 
honey dew and causing the phenomenon of so-called ‘‘ weeping trees.” The scientific 
name of the one which you send is Proconia undata. I send you by accompanying mail 
a copy of No. 5, Vol. II, of the Periodical Bulletin of this Division, and you will find 
upon page 160 an account of a similar instance.—[September 4, 1890. ] 


416 


Injury to Asters by the Black Blister Beetle. 


I had a grand bed of China Asters, whichin two days has been wholly destroyed by 
‘an army of bugs, of which I inclose twospecimens. How are these bugs generated ? 
Is there any remedy against them? Is it necessary to get new seed ?—[ Prof. A. 
Sabetti, Woodstock, Howard County, Maryland, August 28, 1890. 

REPLY.—The insect which you send is the common Pennsylvania Blister Beetle 
(Epicauta pennsylvanica), and a remedy will be a difficult matter, although it will not 
be necessary for you to get new seeds. This insect breeds in the ground, usually 
feeding in the early stages on the egg pods of grasshoppers. The adult beetles fly 
readily, and often damage various crops, such as beets, potatoes, and beans, and are 
found very abundantly upon the flowers of the golden-rod, where they engage in eating 
the pollen. Thedamage to China Aster has been frequently noticed, and during the 
time when these insects are abundant there is no remedy except constant watching, 
or inclosing the plants in gauze. 

It is possible that if the flowers are sprinkled with a strong whale-oil soap solution 
they will be distasteful to the beetles, and sprinkling them with London purple or 
Paris green, in the proportion of a tablespoonful of the poison to a bucket of water, 
will kill all of the beetles which begin to eat the plants; but if their numbers are 
very great, this course will probably not save the flowers.—[ August 29, 1890. ] 


Isosoma Notes from Washington State. 


In Experiment Station Record, Vol. 1, No. 5, page 277, 1 notice that the Saw-fly 
Borer (Cephus pygmeus) in wheat is spoken of as being found in New York, but no 
further record is given of it. I believe they are widely distributed over eastern 
Washington. Inmy field IJ find from one to four worms in almost every good, healthy 
stalk. In those spots where the wheat has ‘‘ burned’ thereare none. I have noticed 
them here for at least two years, but not so many as there are thisyear. I believe that 
our way of harvesting by heading will favor them, for they will have time to reach 
the roots to winter there. I send you some straws which contain them.—[ Hans 
Mumm, Rosalia, Whitman County, Washington, August 16, 1890. 

REPLY.—The insect which you send, and which you find in your wheat stems, is 
not the Wheat Saw-fly (Cephus pygmeus) which the Experiment Station Bulletin 
mentions as having been found in New York State and probably recently imported 
from Europe. It is, on the contrary, the Wheat Isosoma (Isosoma tritici), an insect 
which is closely allied to the common Joint Worm of Wheat, Rye, and Barley in 
the East. You will find this insect treated in the Annual Reports of this Depart- 
ment for 188182 and1886. They do not, as you suppose, burrow down into the roots, 
but transform to pup in about the same portion of the stalk in which you find 
them. In other words, they travel very little. Your method of harvesting is par- 
ticularly favorable to their development provided the stubble is not burned soon after 
harvest.—[August 27, 1890. ] 


The Texas Mule-killer Again. 


I send this day by mail another specimen of the insect referred to in my letter of 
August 4, and which was lost in the mail, for identification and opinion regarding its 
poisonous effects on horses and mules, when accidentally swallowed.—[J. O. Skinner, 
captain and assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, post surgeon, Fort Davis, Texas, Septem- 
ber 5, 1890. 

Repty.—The insect which you send is the common Thick-thighed Walking-stick 
(Diapheromera femorata). The story that this insect is poisonous to horses and mules 
isabsurd. I have heard it on several other occasions, and it has always come from 
the State of Texas.—[September 11, 1890. ] 


v4 a eo 


417 


Insects Identified. 


I send by this mail, with a request that you identify them, three insects: No. 1 was 
found on a stone walk near my house; No. 2, on a lettuce plant; and No. 3 was cap- 
tured to-day on a tomato plant. I also send in a small vial some flies, of which I 
would like to know the name. I first observed them about three weeks ago, clustered 
about the trunk of a Lombardy plum tree, but afterwards found them on apples and 
pears, and even on currant bushes. They did not seem to injure them in any way, 
but in every instance were found on the bark where it presented a rough appearance. 
Possibly they were sucking the sap from the trees. 

Hematobia serrata (R-D.) has been quite numerous here this fall. I first observed 
them about the middle of August, but in no instance have I seen the cow’s horn 
covered as thickly as shown in your illustration on page 101 of INsEecT LIFE, Vol. 0. 
I do not remember ever having seen these insects before this season, but that was 
probably owing to the fact that I took no interest in entomology before the publica- 
tion of Insect LIFE was begun. * * * —/John D. Lyons, lock box 5, Monticello, 
New York, September 17, 1890. 

REPLY.—No. 1 is Monohammus confusor Kirby; No. 2, Cyliene robinie ; No. 3, Eu- 
phoria inda; and the “flies” are Psocus venosus. 


The Red Scale of the Orange in Syria. 


By this mail I send you an orange fruit and two leaves of the orange tree. For the 
past three years an insect bas been destroying the fruit, and itis gradually becoming 
more and more abundant, until the orange growers are getting alarmed for the future. 
The Governor of Tripoli (district) has requested me to see if I can get any informa- 
tion with regard to its possible destruction. I have an impression that a similar dis- 
ease attacked our orangesin Florida. AmIright? Ifyou can, through your depart- 
ment, give us any advice as to the best way to kill the pest, you will confer a great 
obligation, as well as a blessing on the orange growers of this place. In Sidan and 
Beyrout this disease appeared about four years ago, but it did not appear here until 
1888.—[Ira, Harris, Tripoli, Syria, August 25, 1890. 

REepLy.—A careful examination shows no other cause of damage than a few speci- 
mens of the red scale of the orange ( Aonidia aurantii Mask.), a species which is found in 
Australia, New Zealand, California, and the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. 
I inclose on separate sheets copies of two formulas for mixtures, which are used in 
this country with success, for spraying trees infested with this scale.—[ September 
20, 1890. ] 

SeconD LETTER.—I thank you very much for the prompt answer to my request 
for a diagnosis of the disease on the orange trees here. WhenI sent a translation 
of your letter to the Governor, he was very much astonished, as he did not think it 
possible to get an answer from you so soon; for he knew that with Syrians such arequest 
as I made would take months to get at the question. The custom of this country 
is ‘‘Never do to-day what can be put off until tomorrow, and not thenif you can 
get some one else to do it for you.” The Governor in a letter sends his thanks to 
you, ‘‘for your excellency’s kindness in our troubles.” 

I send you a literal translation of his letter to us, of thanks. I have hopes that 
the treatment will have the effect of destroying the pest, and if it does, it will be 
of infinite benefit to many poor men who depend upon the orange crop for a living. 

TRANSLATION OF INCLOSURE.—My beloved honorable Dr. Harris, the American, who 
is found in Tripoli: I received with loving hands the letter of your excellency, dated 
October 23, 1899, which contains a sending of the translation of the answered letter 
that came to your Excellency from the Secretary-General of the Department of Agri- 
culture in the United States, with the prescription which is sent concerning the use 
of the necessary medicine to prevent the injury which has the influence on some of the 


418 


orange trees in Tripoli. And because the energy which you and your country show 


concerning this subject is reckoned one of service, which is worthy of praise, by His 
(God’s) help the prepared treatment shall be of hasty effect; and your works towards 
home shall be useful and righteous. Now, my dear sirs, we, to show our gratitude 
to your delightful energies, begin writing this letter of sincerity. May you all live 
long.—[Ibrahim Hekky, Governor of Tripoli, October 24, 1306. 


Orange-tree Borers. 


I send you this day, per post, section of orange tree trunk, in which you will find 
living specimens of anew (to me) borer. The trees affected are three 10-year old bear- 
ing trees, thrifty and thoroughly cultivated, good crop, and covered with new growth. 
Have used for fertilizer nothing but hardwood ashes and cow manure, the latter 
well composted with pine straw and oak leaves and all thoroughly decomposed, but 
no fertilizer at all since January. A few days ago when passing I was struck almost 
dumb to find the leaves of one tree curled where the ground was full of moisture. 
Upon looking for the cause I could detect none even at the root, so I thought a sala- 
mander had cut the tap root; on a second visit yesterday, I supposed I had a gen- 
uine case of Mal-de-Goma. The bark at the ground was all loose and gave off an of- 
fensive odor (soursap), but no exuding sap at any point; the bark was frayed in sey- 
eral places, but with no excrescence of gum or sap. AsI glanced up the trunk I saw 
innumerable tufts of sawdust, as they projected from pin-holes. To-day I visited 
other trees in the neighborhood, and found two more in same condition, although 
not so far gone. One clew I followed with a chisel and hammer 24 inches into the 
heart of the tree, and there discovered the 6-legged rascal which I also inclose in tin 
box. This chap had pierced the healthy bark and worked all the way in solid wood. 
I expect the bark is stung and the eggs deposited therein, from which this formida- 
ble foe is hatched. 

The land is A 1 pine and oak, and the affected trees are 50 and 80 feet respectively 
from the timber, which is on the west. The entire grove was scrubbed with potash 
and whale-oil soap emulsion last winter, and I know of no other that has equaled it 
in growth and healthfulness this season. Now, can you tell me who he is, and what 
I must do to be saved?—[Frank W. Savage, Eustis, Lake County, Florida, August 
27, 1890. . 

REPLY.—The matter of which you write is one of considerable interest, and the 
beetle which you send is a common Southern bark-borer known as Platypus compositus 
Say. It hasbeen the universal experience of entomologists that this insect bores only 
into such trees as are diseased from some other cause, and it is therefore quite un- 
likely that it is the primary cause of the damage to your orange trees. From your 
description I should say that the trees infested by this beetle have been first attacked 
by the ‘‘ mal de goma,” and that the beetles have been attracted by the diseased con- 
dition. Only a thorough examination upon the spot can determine this point, and I 
hope that you will make a report of your observations.—[September 1, 1890. ] 


Notes from New Mexico. 


Inclosed I send you a few specimens of insects collected by me. They were all 
taken on the grounds of Mr. Valentine Herbert, a fruit grower and gardener in Santa 
Fé, I also put in the box two plums, that have obviously been stung by an insect 
which is not the curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar). The latter beetle is entirely un- 
known in New Mexico, and in consequence the plum, apricot, nectarine, etc., suc- 
ceed to perfection, and bear perfect fruit of the finest quality every year. 

In the little vial you will find the tomato root-louse I have found recently on the 
roots of this vegetable, and about which I wrote you in my last. I had never heard 
of it before, but I find that it exists in all New Mexico, and must have existed for 
many years, although no one here seems to have known the reason why the vines 


: 
4 


419 


turned yellow and perished. The infection spreads from a center, and gradually ex- 
tends from plant to plant in a row. No doubt you know the insect. In the viallI . 
inclose the Epilachna corrupta in the chrysalis form. I am now perfectly acquainted 
with the transformations of this insect. It has only one brood in this region, and 
the light-yellow beetle in the box is the newly hatched insect from the chrysalis, which 
gradually turns of a darker shade and hibernates in the beetle form, probably. in the 
ground. 

The Epilachna corrupta has been very destructive here this year, and has taken off 
at least one fall half of the bean crop. I would caution you against the recommenda- 
tion of Paris green. It appears that the bean plant can not stand the corrosive influ- 
ence of a solution even as weak as 1 pound to 150 or 200 gallons of water, and from 
my experiments I am satisfied that it kills the plant much more quickly and effectu- 
ally than the insect does, without destroying the latter to any perceptible degree. 
We will have to look for another insecticide. 

I would like to know something about the wingless insect of the wasp family that 
I send with the other specimens. The large insect of the May or June bug class is 
not, fortunately, very abundant here. Its grub is very large, and cuts through the 
roots of a big lettuce or other vegetables in short order. 

The apple-tree borers are unknown in New Mexico, and the only insect injurions 
to fruit is an introduced one from the ‘‘ States,” the Codlin Moth. This season it is 
less numerous than others, probably from the warfare against it by natural enemies, 
for no one here would think of applying other means to destroy it.—[John F. Wie- 
landy, Santa Fé, New Mexico, August 19, 1290. 

ReEpLy.—A careful examination of the two plums sent shows that they contain no 
insects. The external depressions are simply gnawings, probably of some sinall cat- 
erpillar. The insect en the roots of tomato is a Dactylopius, probably a new species. 
What you have to say additional concerning the damage done by this insect is very 
interesting and entirely new to me. The wingless insect of the ‘‘ wasp family” is 
one of the so-called Cow-Ants (family Mutillide) known as Spherophthalma castor.— 
[ August 27, 1590. ] 


GENERAL NOTES. 
MIGRATORY LOCUSTS IN AUSTRALIA. 


The Australian newspapers for the past three months have contained 
frequent mention of the ravages of migratory locusts. The species 
concerned does not seem to have been definitely determined. Mr. Koe- 
bele, in Bulletin No. 21 of this Division, refers to the damage done by 
Chortologa australis, and states that on a trip of 300 miles north of Ade- 
laide, South Australia, he met with large numbers of this insect travel- 
ing south in search of food. He was informed that they migrate only in 
exceptionally dry seasons. They travel according to his observations, 
not in clouds, but scattered and never very high, just as did Caloptenus 
devastator in California in 1885. In the December number of the Agri- 
cultural Gazette of New South Wales (vol.1I, part 3, p. 287) the species 
is mentioned as the “ plague locust,” which is determined by Mr. W. 
Froggatt as Pachytilus australis, Brunn., and the species is figured upon 
Plate vi. The statement is made that this species had appeared in 
large numbers at Hay, Corowa, New South Wales, and in the Wimera 
district, Victoria. We are indebted for most of our information, how- 


420 


ever, to the columns of the Leader, published at Melbourne, Victoria. 


A large number of localities are given in Victoria and New South — 
Wales near the Victoria line. From the accounts in this paper it seems ~ 


that the young locusts make their appearance in the last of September 
and in October and November, become winged towards the end of March, 
and lay theireggs in April. The habits of the species seem very similar 
to those of the Rocky Mountain Locust (Caloptenus spretus) and although 
there is no hint of such a state of affairs in any of the articles which we 
have seen, we are of the opinion that the species has permanent breeding 
grounds from which it flies out and overruns the cultivated districts 
further south and east, just as does spretus in this country. The same 
general laws will, in fact, be found to govern. Only the most rudi- 
mentary remedies are mentioned. The use of brush harrows, brush 
and chain harrows, hot water, and spraying with kerosene emulsions 
have been tried against the young locusts, but against the migrating 
swarms nothing effective has been proposed. 

Later information than this just given from the Leader is givenin the 
February number of Garden and Field in an interesting article entitled 
‘Wandering Locust of South Australia; Its Breeding Places and 
Checks,” by J. G. O. Tepper. The species is there determined as Hpa- 
cromia terminalis, and the habits given correspond with those described 
above. It is recommended that the most strenuous efforts be made to 
destroy the unfledged locusts during the period from August to the be- 
ginning of October. For pasturalists, the best remedy is to ascertain 
the extent of the breeding places and drive as large a flock of sheep as 
can be conveniently mustered and crowded as much together as possi- 
ble up and down the locust-infested field, taking care to cover fresh 
ground atevery passage on the same day. Itis recommended that this 
be kept up 2 or 3 days, after the locusts are permitted tore-unite. This 
is often of some avail after the swarms become winged. Spraying 
young swarms with kerosene is also recommended, and an additional sug- 
gestion is made that the field be fired some distance behind the spraying 
parties. The article concludes with a description of the method of 
coping with locusts in Cyprus. 

We have just prepared an emergency bulletin on the subject of the 
destruction of locusts, for use in this country, in which we have sum- 
marized the best remedies, and shall take occasion to send a few copies 
to some of our Australian correspondents. 


SOME OREGON WORK AGAINST NOXIOUS INSECTS. 


Mr. F. L. Washburn read an important paper before the Oregon State 
Horticultural Society at the annual meeting held January 13 and 14 at 
Portland, of which we haveseen the following review in the Pacific Rural 
Press of February 7. In some successful experiments in spraying 
with Paris green against the Codling Moth he mixed 6 pounds of soap 
with 50 gallons of the liquid with good results, causing a thin spread- 


. 


421 


ing of the poison over the leaf and apparently rendering the poison - 
more tenacious. As against the Woolly Aphis he believes that the best 
solutions are the resin washes. Whale-oil soap in solution and carbo- 
lated whale-oil soap may be added, one-half pound true carbolated soap 
to one-half pailful of soap thinned with a strong solution of washing 
soda. As against the Peach-borer he recommends wrapping young 
trees with newspaper from the crotch to 2 or 3 inches below the collar. 
He also states that washing the trunks with the carbolated whale-oil 
soap alone and with the resin washes would cause almost entire exemp- 
tion from borers. 


OVIPOSITION OF DECTES SPINOSUS. 


In the March number of the American Naturalist (vol. xxv, p. 294) 
Dr. C. M. Weed presents a short note on the oviposition of this Ceram- 
bycid beetle in the stem of the horse-weed (Ambrosia trifida), which is 
substantially as follows: 

A single female was seen standing head downward on the stem, the 
outer fibers of which she had gnawed away and after three trials was 
observed to insert her ovipositor and deposit an egg, after which she 
withdrew to the top of the plant. The egg was deposited obliquely in 
the pith about two-thirds of the way from the bottom to the top andon 
the opposite side of the stalk from which the beetle stood. The egg, a 
figure of which is given, is described as elongate-oval, slightly curved, 
of a pale yellow color and 2 millimeters long by 0.3 millimeter wide. 


REMEDIES FOR THE YELLOW SCALE. 


The Yuba County (California) horticultural commission, in their fifth 
bulletin recommend the resin wash for Aspidiotus citrinus. They also 
recommend washing freely with cold water in the evening or early morn- 
ing during the months of July, August, and September, with a view of 
washing off and destroying the young insects which are then crawling 
about over the tree. Fruit growers are discouraged from relying upon 
the little parasite of this scale, as the original tree upon which this 
insect was discovered in March, 1887, is still very badly infested with 


scales. 
THE FLOUR MOTH IN CANADA. 


The provincial board of health of Ontario has published recently an 
appendix to Bulletin No. 1, which we mentioned in our article upon the 
Mediterranean Flour Moth upon page 166, vol. 0, of INSECT LIFE. 
The pamphlet is issued for the benefit of millers and produce men. It 
seems that no answers were received to the board’s request for infor- 
mation of the appearance of the moth, and that an inspection of the 
principal mills and supply houses in Toronto was therefore made, with 
the result that the pest was found in several of the large establish- 


27707—No. 9——5 


422 


have not been seconded by the persons more immediately interested, 
and in view of the loss whico the reputation of the province in the 
matter of pure grain and tlours would sustain in its export trade, pub- 
lishes the penalties attached to any violation of the statutes in the 


matter of selling unsound grain and flour, and threatens to give due 


publicity to all violations. The measures to be taken in stamping out 
the pest are published again. 


A NEW ENEMY OF THE FALL WEB-WORM. 


Mr. J. C. Duifey, of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, has recently 
published in the Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Science, 
vol. v, No. 3, a paper entitled “Transformations of a Carabid (Plochi- 
onus timidus) and Observations on a Coccinellid Enemy of the Red 
Spider.” The larve of the Plochionus were found in the webs of Hy- 
phantria cunea feeding upon the web-worms and from two to twenty of 
these Carabid larvze were found in nearly every web. By July 1, the 
Hyphantria larve had entirely disappeared. The same state of affairs 
was observed with the second brood of web-worms, which began to 
appear July 22. Soon after this date, the adults of Plochionus made 
their appearance in the webs, laid their small white eggs in numbers, 
and from these larve soon hatched and began feeding upon the web- 
worms. Thirty-two of the Carabid eggs were found in a portion of the 
web covering a single mulberry leaf. The larve reached full growth 
in 16 days and remained in the pupa state from 9 to 12 days. The 
pupa state was passed in the web and indeed the entire life round 
of the insect, as observed by Mr. Duffey, was arboreal. Mr. Duffey 
thinks that the insect hibernates as a beetle, but of this he is not sure. 
Short descriptions of the newly hatched and full grown larve are given 
and rough figures also accompany the article. The second portion of 
the paper treats of Scymnus punctum and of its feeding upon the Red 
Spider. Descriptions of the full-grown larva and pupa and figures of 
the same are also given. Miss Murtfeldt made similar observations on 
the Hyphantria feeding habits of Plochionus last year and sent us notes 
thereon, but learning that Mr. Duffey was about to publish his inter- 
esting observations which had priority we withheld those of our agent. 


A CHERRY-TREE BORER IN MAINE. 


Mr. G. Warren Smith, of Rockland, Maine, who is a large cultivator 
of cherries at Camden in that State, called on us recently and reported 
very great injury to his cherry trees by what is evidently, from his 
description, the cherry-tree borer (Dicerca divaricata). The trees are 


c 
< 
# 


ments. The board, in its appendix, expresses its regret that its efforts — 


injured most during the third and fourth year of their growth and the ~ 


work is not confined to the trunk, but extends to the small! branches. 


423 
THE EGYPTIAN ICERYA. 


This insect, treated in No. 3 of the current volume, is attracting 
great attention in Egypt. Through the kindness of Mr. Louis B. Grant, 
acting consul-general at Cairo, and of the Department of State, this 
Department has received copies of publications from Alexandria and 
Cairo from which it seems that the insect is even more injurious than 
our previous information, through Mr. D. Morris, led us to suppose. 
It is by no means confined to fig trees, but has attacked oranges and 
lemons. It will be remembered that Mr. J. W. Douglas founded for 
this insect the new genus Crossotosoma, and that after an examination of 
his figures and description we decided to place it in Jcerya. We have re- 
cently received letters from Mr. Douglas who has alsovery kindly sent us 
specimens of the adult female and the newly hatched young from which 
we are able to confirm ourconclusion. The insect is unquestionably an 
Icerya and a good species. Mr. Douglas himself admits our generic 
placing, but thinks that the characters of the genus will have to be 
added to. Professor Brocchi, of Paris, has also written us that he has 
had specimens sent him from Alexandria and that he is fully convinced 
that it is an Jcerya, while he even goes so far as to state that in his 
opinion it will prove to be identical with J. purchasi of Australia, South 
Africa, New Zealand, California, Mexico, and the Sandwich Islands. 
He states that the specimens which he has received lack the tapering 
processes so characteristically shown in Mr. Douglas’ figure, which we 
have reproduced on page 98 of this volume, and that, in any event, he 
considers these processes as of no specific value. 

While we are ready to admit that we have seen a tendency towards 
the formation of such processes in I. purchasi, they have specific value 
when specialized as in egyptiacum, as their production must depend upon 
some peculhar grouping or other modification of the secretory pores. 
Moreover, the specimens of egyptiacum entirely lack the black hairs 
which are so characteristic of the adult female of purchasi, while the 
eggs are smaller and of a pale yellow rather than of a bright orange 
color. The newly hatched larve are so neariy alike, that we are unable 
to point out distinguishing characters from the greatly shriveled spec- 
imens received. 

Since the publication of our article we have also been in correspond- 
ence with Rear-Admiral R. W. Blunfield, R. N., Deputy Commissioner 
General of Ports and Light-houses, Alexandria, Egypt. Prof. William- 
son Wallace, of the Agricultural College at Gizeh, has published a 
newspaper statement, also forwarded by Deputy Consul-General Grant, 
in which he records considerable damage to citrus trees at Cairo, and 
states that he has found that the insects may be washed down by throw- 
ing a strong stream of water into the tree. 

Adverting again to the statement originally published to the effect 
that “a breeze sends the cottony pest down in all directions,” and to 
our conclusion on page 99, that it is evidently the processes that are 


424 


thus broken off and fall, and that the insects themselves are not so dis- 
lodged, it has occurred to us that where the insect occurs in such enor- 
mous numbers as here described, the collection of this white wax by 
spreading a cloth under the trees and shaking them -may prove to be 
a matter of some economic importance, as the wax is absolutely pure, 
and we should say of equal quality with the white Chinese wax secreted 
by Hricerus pé-la, having the advantage of not being mixed with the 
bodies of the insects. If we owned an infested orchard in Alexandria 
or Cairo we should at least mold our own wax candles. 


CHINESE WAX. 


Garden and Forest for January 28, 1891, contains a long review of 
Mr. Alexander Hosie’s ‘* Three Years in Western China.” In the course 
of the review some mention is made of his investigation of the white- 
wax industry of the plain of Chien-Chang. From the account it tran- 
spires that the so-called insect tree of the Chinese is Ligustrum lucidum. 
An account of the industry is given, which, while probably accurate, 
enough from a practical standpoint, is undoubtedly incorrect from the 
entomological point of view. 

The wax is said to be an excretion of the male only, and the entire 
account is so confused, that if we had not already an accurate idea of the 
history of these insects from the writings of older authors we should be 
at a loss to place them in their proper group in the Homoptera. 


A NEW ZEALAND FROG-HOPPER. 


We have recently received from Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, Curator of the 
Auckland Museum, specimens of Ricania discalis Walker,* a handsome 
little Flatid, which Mr. Cheeseman writes has become exceedingly plen- 
tiful around Auckland during the last 8or10 years. Itoccurs, according 
to his statement, on nearly all plants with long succulent shoots. The 
common cultivated passion fruit is particularly liable to its attacks, and 
the branches are often covered with it for several feet in length. He 
states that when very numerous it is evidently harmful to the plants, 
weakening them very much. 


THE GREEN BEETLE PEST IN AUSTRALIA. 


We have received, through the kindness of Mr. George H. Wallace, 
U.S. Consul General of Melbourne, Australia, a communication from 
Mr. C. French, F. L. S., Government Entomologist, relating to Diphu- 
cephala colaspidioides Gyll. 

It appears from Mr. French’s letter that this insect is becoming a 
serious enemy to fruit grown within 10 miles of the seacoast. It is 
described as a small green beetle about four lines in length, belonging 
to the family Scarabeide and subfamily Melolonthine and conse- 


* Kindly determined for us by Mr. P. R. Uhler. 


425 


quently allied to the destructive Lachnosternas or ‘“* White Grubs” of 
this country and to the European ‘‘Cock-chafer.” The genus is confined 
to Australia, twenty-three species having been described. 

It attacks various trees and shrubs, particularly cherry, peach, and 
plum trees, and hawthorn hedges. Its appearance in numbers was 
first noticed by Mr. French in limited localities in 1858, since which 
time its increase has been rapid. 

His observations concerning the species and recommendations for its 
destruction are substantially as follows: They make their appearance 
about October, just at ‘“‘cherry time,” and continue till Christmas. 
Cherry and plum trees are stripped of their leaves, often causing them 
to wither and die. They appear often in swarms, and their work is 
described as resembling that caused by locust attacks. In asingle day 
they sometimes commit great havoc. The life habits of the species 
remain to be investigated. The eggs are believed to be deposited in 
sandy soil and the larve descend further into the ground soon after 
hatching. Newly hatched beetles have been observed coming up 
through the sand in the most scrubby flats. 

To extirpate the pest, burning, beating, scalding, rolling, and spray- 
ing are recommended. To accomplish best results the beetles should be 
attacked when they first make their appearance and before they have 
completely matured. Inthe early morning, before the sun has waked 
them into full activity, they are sluggish, and can then be easily de- 
stroyed. They may be beaten from the trees and afterwards destroyed 
by sprinkling with kerosene or by scalding with hot water. One plan 
which has been resorted to, where they attacked hawthorn hedges, is 
to beat along the hedge, and as the insects rise burn them with roughly 
made torches. They do not fly high, and this method is therefore 
effective. Millions, it is said, may be destroyed by this simple, inex- 
pensive process. On calm days the beetles may be dislodged from 
infested trees by lighting directly under them small fires upon which 
may be thrown afew handfuls of sulphur. The ‘‘smoking-out process” 
is of no avail in combating these insects, as they merely leave one 
orchard to fly to another, and when the coast is clear they are free to 
return. Mr. French urges upon orchardists and others who have suf- 
fered from the depredations of these beetles the necessity of immediate 
action in ridding the colony of a pest which threatens every year to 


become more formidable. 


THE BITE OF LATRODECTUS. 


Mr. C. Frost, in Victorian Naturalist, vol. vill, No. 9, pp. 140-143, 
records some experiments on Latrodectus scelio, and gives some cases of 
its injurious effect on man. Three experiments were performed, two 
on rats, one on a dog. In one case the rat lived, but showed effects of 
blood poisoning. In the other case the rat died. The dog, when 
bitten by the spiders, howled, but was not otherwise affected. In spite 


426 


of these experiments, the author thinks that the bite is often accom- 
panied by very serious results. The author mentions several cases 
reported by doctors in which a man was bitten by ‘a black and red 


. 


? 
~ 
3 


spider,” all of which were followed by some ill consequences of varying ~ 
degrees. Dr. Hearn gives by far the best evidence. He had treated — 


six cases, in four of which the spider was seen. He himself was bitten 
and saw the spider; the leading symptoms were excessive perspiration 
and acute lumbar pains. One case was fatal; a child 3 months old 
died 6 hours after the bite. 


MATTERS IN CALIFORNIA. 


The popularity of organizations for the enforcement of regulations 
against injurious insects in California may be gauged, perhaps, by the 
fact that at the regular meeting of the Campbell (Santa Clara County) 
Horticultural Society, held on the 14th of March, the question “ Shall 
we have a county board of horticultural commissioners?” was dis- 
cussed and unanimously decided in the negative. Some few indi- 
viduals favored the plan on the supposition that the commissioners 


would act only as quarantine officers, but upon learning that it was not — 


proposed to so restrict their duties, they took the opposite stand. In 
opposing the measure,it was argued that the State board had been 
more or less of a failure, and certain speakers referred to the recent dis- 
infection of peach trees shipped from the east into Para County as an 
instance. One gentleman stated that he found live borers in eight out 
of ten of the disinfected trees. . 

We regret that inefficient work on the part of the State board has 
led to this feeling, for organization is unquestionably necessary in 
fighting insect pests in this State above all others. The unpopularity 
of laws in this direction does not, however, always depend upon the 
inefficiency of the executive body, and opposition has always arisen 
from negligent fruit growers, who apparently insist upon their right to 


raise bugs if they wish to do so. The system of fines which is usually 


proposed is always strongly antagonized, and the right of an inspector 
to visit and examine a man’s premises and the condition of his crops is 
frequently considered an infringement of the personal rights of the 
owner. The fruit dealers under the local laws in parts of California are 
also at the bottom of a great deal of opposition, and they undoubtedly 
have the power to influence many fruit raisers. We notice, by the 
way, from the California Fruit Grower of January 10, that a Riverside 
fruit dealer was recently fined $10 for selling fruit infested with the 
San José Seale. 

We also learn that the State board had a close fight for existence 
before the legislature this winter. <A bill for its abolishment was in- 
troduced and received strong support, but was finally defeated. An- 
other bill, however, appropriating $5,000 to send a man to Australia 


427 


to study and collect the natural enemies of injurious California insects, 
particularly the Red Scale, was passed with very little opposition. 


HOME-GROWN PYRETHRUM IN CAPE COLONY. 


The following notes on this subject have been sent to me by Mr. Wil- 
son, nurseryman and gardener, at Waterford, the estate of the late Mr. 
Irvine: 

The Dalmatian Pyrethrum I had from you is not half sufficiently well known, or 
everybody rearing cabbage and cauliflower plants would most certainly not be with- 
out it. I find it the best thing I ever had through my fingers for young plants in 
seed beds when attaeked by the Cabbage Aphis, or as it is commonly called, Cabbage 
Louse. When the flowers are gathered, dry them quickly, and then rub them down 
very fine. Bottle up the powder and cork it well to exclude the air and keep in the 
strength. Use one part of the powder to ten times its measure of fine flour. I find 
this sufficiently strong, if well mixed together. Dredge the infested plants through 
. apiece of fine netting. The Aphis disappears at once, and very seldom it has to be 
used a second time on the same plants. It should be applied early in the morning, 
while the dew is on the plants, or the plants may be damped with a syringe or the 
fine nose of a watering pot. There is also a good deal of strength in the leaves for 
this purpose, and I propose to increase my stock largely this season. 

There is little reason to doubt that this mixture of pyrethrum pow- 
der and flour would clear an orange tree of the black Aphis, and most 
likely of the scale too. In Portugal Chamomile is grown under or 
among the orange trees aS a preventive against insect pests. Any 
one may easily try the effect of the Persian insect-powder, and if found 
to be effective, possibly some day we may have colonial-grown pyre- 
thrum powder plentiful enough to dust over orange trees and other 
insect infested trees, in a way which shall rid them of all the insect 
pests which now so constantly infest them.—{J. B. Hellier,in the Agri- 
cultural Journal, November 13, 1890. 


POPULAR LECTURES ON INSECTS. 


We notice by the Birmingham Daily Post that our valued corre- 
spondent, Mr. F. Enock, has begun popularizing entomological knowl- 
edge by a series of lectures. The most flattering account is given of 
the one upon the Hessian Fly, which was illustrated by the aid of lan- 
tern views of some of Mr. Enock’s wonderful microscopic preparations. 
As a preparator of objects of this kind Mr. Enock has few equals, and 
we consider ourselves fortunate to possess a number of his best mounts. 
He is well fitted for the work which he has undertaken. 


JOURNALISTIC ENTERPRISE. 
Mr. William H. Edwards, of Coalburgh, West Virginia, sends us the 
following: 


In the Christian Union for the 12th instant, which I have just been reading, on 
p. 335 is a statement that some one ‘‘in Arizona captured a butterfly which he sent to 
the Smithsonian. In a few days he received a cheque for $1,500 (sic) with the request 


428 


to make careful search for other moths of the same kind. It was an individual of a — 


fossil species supposed to be extinct, and great was the excitement of the scientists at 


the discovery that one of the race had recently been alive.” Could not find another. — 


*‘Tt seems to have been a Rip Van Winkle among its kind, sleeping its long sleep un- 
observed at the root of a century-old tree.” 


Can you tell me what all this is based on? What was found or taken; if there is — 


any truth at all about it? 


This statement has absolutely no foundation in fact, and as a pure 
fabrication seems rather out of place in a religious journal of the charac- 
ter of the Christian Union. 


ENTOMOLOGICAL EXCURSION. 


The Entomologists of New York, Brooklyn, Newark, Philadelphia, 
and localities near these cities are invited to attend the second annual 
fleld meeting to be held under the auspices of the Entomological Soci- 


eties of these cities, at Jamesburgh, New Jersey, on July 4, next. James- ° 


burgh is on the Amboy division of the Pennsylvania R. R., and may be 
reached from New York via Monmouth Junction at 7.20 a. m., Newark 
7.50 a. m., Philadelphia, Broad Street, 6.50 a. m., Camden, 7 a. m. 
Later trains leave New York via Rahway and Philadelphia on the Long 
Branch division ; but it is urged that the early train be used, as this 
will bring the party into Jamesburgh at the same time. All those 
desiring or expecting to attend will please notify one of the members 
of the committee, from whom also all further information can be ob- 
tained. The notification is important, in order that proper arrange- 
ments may be made at Jamesburgh. 

Committee—C. P. Machesney, 65 Broadway, New York. Dr. Hy. 
Skinner, Amer. Ent. Soc., Logan Square, Philadelphia. Prof. J. B. 
Smith, New Brunswick, New Jersey, H. W. Wenzel, 1117 Moore Street, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 


OBITUARY. 


The science of entomology has met with several serious losses by the 
hand of death since the publication of our last number. Mr. Edmond 
André, of Beaune, Cote d’Or, France, a well-known hymenopterist and 
originator and publisher, as well as principal author, of the magnificent 
‘Species d’Hymenopteres d’Europe et d’Algérie,” is perhaps the fore- 
most. Living in a retired spot, M. André has devoted his entire ener- 


gies tor the past 6 years to the publication of his great work, which we — 


are glad to learn will not be permanently interrupted, but will be car- 
ried on by his brother Ernest. 

The well-known writer upon American entomology, Dr. 8. 8. Rath- 
von, recently died at his home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 
Although approaching his eightieth year, his interest in entomology 
was unabated. His life was a long one and full of usefulness, and our 
science is indebted to him not only for many important discoveries, but 


ise SEs 


429 


for what he did as a propagandist and popularizer of entomology. For 
many years editor of the Lancaster Farmer, he constantly scattered 
through its columns articles upon insects, evincing not only great 
powers of observation, but also much scientific knowledge and a clear- 
headed practicality. 

Dr. Felipe Poey is another veteran who has left us. Dr. Poey was a 
learned naturalist, working in an unexplored country, and his contribu- 
tions to the various departments of descriptive and biological science 
have given him a name which is known in all countries. Although 
more interested in the higher groups, a very large part of our knowledge 
of the insect fauna of the island of Cuba is due to his untiring efforts as 
a collector and to his unfailing generosity. Cuba has hitherto not 
seemed a fertile field for the growth of naturalists, but Dr. Poey has left 
behind him several pupils who will continue the work which he has so 
well begun. 

From the Pacific Rural Press of February 14 we learn to our regret 
that Mr. Waldemar G. Klee died of consumption in the first week of 
February, at the ageof38 years. Mr. Klee was a native of Copenhagen, 
Denmark, where he received a thorough education in horticultural 
science, and came to this country at the age of 19 years. Hesoonsettled 
in California, where Prof. E. W. Hilgard employed him on the University 
Experiment Grounds at Berkeley, and for the last 15 years of his life his 
name has been intimately connected with the progress of Californian 
horticulture. In 1886 he was appointed State inspector of fruit pests, 
and while in this position he wrote, among other entomological papers, 
a handsomely illustrated ‘“ Treatise on the insects injurious to fruit and 
fruit trees in the State of California” (Sacramento, 1888), At the time 
of his death he held the office of Inspector of Experiment Stations of 
California. 


430 


ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


March 5, 1891.—Mr. Schwarz was elected corresponding secretary, vice Mr. Town- 
send, resigned. Mr. Schwarz then resigned his position on the executive committee, 
and Mr. Fernow was elected in his stead. Mr. Banks called attention to specimens 
of Scolopendrella, Machilis, and Lepisma, taken during the winter in Rock Creek, and 
commented on the specimens. Two papers by Professor Riley were read in his ab- 
sence by Mr. Howard. The first was entitled, ‘‘ Notes on the Life-History of Megilla 
maculata.” It was an elaboration of a paper presented at a previous meeting of the 
Society, on September 4, 1890. He gave descriptions of the egg and larva which had 
hitherto never been described or figured, and also a résumé of the habits of the insect 
and larva. The larva, he stated, was altogether entomophagous, so far as known, 
while the adults feed largely on vegetable material, and also, to some extent, on soft- 
bodied insects, approaching more nearly in their food-habits, the genus Hpilachna. 
He stated that the beetles are known to feed on the pollen of plants, the bladesof corn, 
and also the soft kernel of the corn, wheat kernels, the larva and pupa of Lina scripta, 
the larva of Diplosis tritici, and other soft-bodied insects. The paper was discussed by 
Messrs. Schwarz, Turner, Howard, and Mann. Professor Riley’s second paper was en- 
titled ‘‘ On the larva and some peculiaries of the cocoon of Sphecius speciosus,” and was 
an elaboration of a note on the subject presented at a meeting of the society, September 
4, 1890. Professor Riley gave a detailed description of the larva and drew attention 
to a remarkable peculiarity of the cocoon of this insect. This peculiarity consists in 
the presence of certain very anomalous pores which occur about the center of the 
cocoon, extending nearly around it. These, Professor Riley stated, must be intended 
for some special purpose, probably of ventilation or respiration. A general discus- 
sion followed the reading of this paper, relating to the breeding of larve and pupe, 
especially in the case of subaquatic Coleoptera, and in Bombycids and other insects 
having dense cocoons. 

Mr. Fernow presented a paper on the Nun Moth (Psilura monacha) which is pub- 
lished in full in the present number of INsEcT LIFE, calling attention to its increase 
in Germany and Austria during the past year, to the great injury, particularly of the 
spruce forests. Discussed by Messrs. Howard, Schwarz, and others. 

April 2, 1891.—The publication committee reported the issuance of No. 1, vol. 11, of 
the Proceedings and presented a number of copies for the inspection of the society. 
On motion of Mr. Schwarz a copy of this number was ordered sent to each of the sci- 
entific societies of Washington. The president announced the death of the lately 
elected member, Mr. E. R. Tyler, and appropriate resolutions of sympathy and regret 
were passed and a copy ordered sent to the family of the deceased. 

Mr. Banks presented a paper on mimicry in spiders. The author called attention 
to the fact that the mimicking spiders belong to two widely separated families, 
the Attide and the Drasside. Synemosyna formica was considered the most perfect 
in its resemblance to the ant, which insect all these spiders mimic. The various 
genera were compared, and the author decided that for purposes of deception, only ~ 
superficial and unimportant parts had been modified. Discussed by Messrs. Schwarz, 
Howard, and Riley. 

Professor Riley presented a paper on ‘‘The Habits and Life-history of Diabrotica 
12-punctata.” He first referred to an article relating to the food habits of the beetle, 
in volume 1 of INSEcT LIFE, page 59, in which, by atypographical error, the insect is 
said to have ‘‘ bred” upon, instead of ‘‘fed” upon melons, the first statement being 
justly called in question by Professor Garman in a recent article on this insect in 
Psyche. He followed with a record of his notes on the corn-feeding habit of the larva 
of this insect, which habit was first brought to his attention in the spring of 1888. 
During that year and the two or three years following he had succeeded in bringing 
together a full record of its larval habits, and an account was given of them. The 
data were obtained from a study of the insects in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, 


431 


Maryland, and Virginia. All stages of the insect were described, and figures were 
shown illustrating the larva, pupa, and adult, and the nature of the injury done’ to 
young corn. Two Dipterous parasites were also referred to. Discussed by Messrs. . 
Schwarz, Riley, Kuehling, and others. 

Professor Riley then presented a paper entitled ‘‘The Mexican Jumping Bean—the 
Determination of the Plant.” In this paper the plant was accurately determined for 
the first time. After referring to the literature on the subject, the various descrip- 
tions of the plant and the names by whichit is known to the Mexicans, he described 
having recently received from Mons. P. Chrétien, a member of the French Entomolog- 
ical Society, an interesting communication relating to Carpocapsa saltitans, in which 
he referred to the plant Colliguaja odorifera Moline, of which Croton colliguaja Spren- 
gel is a synonym. Shortly after this Mr. J. M. Rose, of the Botanical Division, 
brought him specimens of the plant, together with capsules, which had been col- 
lected by Dr. Edward Palmer. The plant turned out to be undescribed, and belongs 
to the genus Sebastiania, and will be described by Mr. Rose as S. palmeri, thus indi- 
cating the probable incorrectness of M. Chrétien’s reference. 

Professor Riley gave a description of the plant and some interesting notes on the 
names applied to it in Mexico and South America under the popular name Colliguaja, 
Two other closely allied species were also collected, and showed evidence of being 
infested by Carpocapsa, and Professor Riley believed that the insect develops in the 
capsules of different but closely allied species of the genus Sebastiania. Additional 
matter was presented relating to the character and description of these plants. 

Professor Riley also called the attention of the Society to some interesting anoma- 
lies in the case of certain insects, which he exhibited. These consisted of two Noc- 
tuids, which showed a shortening of the wings on the left side. The deformity or 
abberation was considered to be undoubtedly due to chance in the case of these speci- 
mens. The other case was more interesting, and consisted in a bifurcation of the 
terminal joint of the left antenna of Tregidion armatum. The bifurcation is from the 
base of the joint, and the abnormal growth or branch is somewhat longer than the 
joint itself. 

Mr. Schwarz presented a paper in which he reviewed the records of the food-hab- 
its of the North American Flea-beetles (Halticini), in the light of Dr. Horn’s recent 
synopsis of this interesting group of Chrysomelid beetles. In connection with the 
published record of the food-habits of these insects, he pointed out certain species 
which were, in his opinion, either incorrectly named or of which the determinations 
were not reliable, and advocated that such doubtful records should not be used in 
future unless they were verified by additional observation or by an examination of 
the typical specimens. Discussed by Messrs. Riley, Schwarz, and others. 

May 7, 1891.—The corresponding secretary reported having distributed 75 copies of 
No 1, vol. m1, of the proceedings. Mr. C. H. Roberts, of New York, was elected a 
corresponding member, and Messrs. F. H. Chittenden and A. B. Cordley active mem- 
bers of the society. Mr. Howard exhibited specimens of Bombus virginicus which 
had been attracted in great numbers to the blossoms of a large horse-chestnut near 
his house, and described the peculiar actions of these insects possibly resulting from 
the toxic effect of the nectar. The note was discussed by Messrs. Riley, Schwarz, 
Marlatt, Ashmead, and Mann. Mr. Schwarz exhibited and briefly remarked upon the 
following Coleoptera: Charistena lecontei, found at Fortress Monroe, Va.; Bagous 
sellatus, found at the same place; Spherius politus, found in Michigan and Alabama; 
Lutrochus luteus, from Michigan. 

Dr. Marx presented a paper entitled ‘‘The Character of the Circum-polar Spider 
Fauna,” in which he reviewed the literature relating to the distribution and descrip- 
tion of the spiders from the Arctic regions in both hemispheres, and gave some 
interesting facts regarding the distribution and abundance of the different genera 
represented. He presented also a list of the genera and of the number of species 
belonging to each, and concluded with some remarks upon the spider fauna of 


; 4 
432 


Alaska—a number of new species from which region he hoped soon to describe. The 
communication was discussed by Messrs. Riley, Banks, Fox, Schwarz, Fernow, Theo- 
dore Gill, and others. 

Mr. Marlatt presented a note on the study of the ovipositor of Hymenoptera, in 
which he described, with the aid of figures, the character of the attachment of this 
organ to the abdomen in this order of insects, and pointed out certain inaccuracies 
in the previous writings on this subject. A close similarity of even minute details of 
structure was shown to exist in such widely separated families as the Tenthredinide, 
Chalcidide, and Ichneumonide. The paper was discussed by Messrs. Riley and 
Howard. 

Mr. Ashmead read a paper on “ The Insect Collection of the Royal Museum at Ber- 
lin,” in which he gave a full description of this justly celebrated insect collection, 
together with notes on certain interesting species contained in it. He described also 
the working force in entomology and presented some interesting comparisons of the 
nature of the work on insects in this museum as contrasted with similar work in this 
country. The paper was discussed at length by Messrs Riley, Schwarz, Fernow, 
Howard, and others. : 

Professor Riley, under the head of ‘‘ Miscellaneous notes,” read short papers as 
follows: (1) Insects affecting the Agave, in connection with which he exhibited an 
interesting series of insects received from a correspondent in Texas, all of which had 
been collected from the flower stamens of the Agave or Century Plant (4. dasyly- 
rium). (2) The parasite of Eleodes, in which he described a peculiar Braconid par- 
asite, a large number of the larve of which had issued from the abdomen of Eleodes 
suturalis and spun minute cocoons resembling those of Apanteles. These cocoons 
were arranged with remarkable regularity in straight rows along the angles of 
the box in which the beetle was confined. (3) Remarks on the Ox Bots, in which 
he presented facts showing that the species heretofore commonly referred to Hypo- 
derma bovis was really H. lineata. He stated that all the specimens in the National 
Museum, representing nearly every section of the Union, had proved to be lineata, 
and this was also true in the case of the larve, of which a large series has been col- 
lected, all of which renders it doubtful whether bovis really occurs in this country 
at all, or, if it is found here, indicates that it is a comparatively rare insect. Spec- 
imens of Hypodderma lineata in different stages, together with figures, were exhibited. 
(4) A further note on the plant on which the Jumping Bean occurs. In this note 
Professor Riley referred to a letter just received from Prof. Sereno Watson, of Cam- 
bridge, accompanying specimens of seed pods of Sebastiania bilocuiaris and the moth 
bred therefrom. This moth Professor Riley found to be much smaller than Carpo- 
capsa saltitans, and, in fact, to belong toanother genus (Grapholitha), and stated that 
he would shortly describe it as Grapholitha sebastianie. He was of the opinion that 
one of the moths contained in a recent sending of the Jumping Beans, but which 
was somewhat injured and had been lost, was, without much doubt, the same spe- 
cies as the insect bred by Professor Watson. He also pointed out an interesting fact 
regarding the restricted locality in which, according to Professor Watson, the Jump- 
ing Beans are found, and stated that they are collected and sold by boys, and find a 
ready market. 

C. L. MARLATT, 
Recording Secretary. 


Vol. Ill, Nos. 11 and 12.) ENSECT THIE Ss. [Issued August, 1591. 


SPECIAL NOTES. 


The Locust of Northwestern India.*—Mr. E. C. Cotes has favored us 
with acopy of his final report upon the damage done by Acridium pere- 
grinum in northwestern India. We havealready reviewed (INSECT LIFE, 
vol. Il, page 332) a preliminary circular sent out early in 1890. The 
report before us definitely identifies the species as above, maps out the 
chief permanent breeding ground, and gives a tolerably full account of 
habits, recording the exact localities invaded by recent swarms. It 
seems that although all the other migratory locusts are single brooded, 
including even this same species in Algeria, in northwestern India egg- 
laying goes on more than once in a year in the same locality. It has 
been surmised that the eggs found in the autumn are only a second lot 
laid by the insects which had already oviposited early in the year; but, 
although the evidence is scanty, it seems probable that there is a ten- 
dency to two generations, as in our own species in southerly regions, 
the autumn brood being the offspring of the young locusts born in the 
spring, but perishing during the winter. The chief crops injured have 
been cotton, indigo, til, bajra, jowar, wheat,. gram, and grasses. The 
locusts also destroy foliage of various trees, sirris, pepul, chir, and the 
various acacias having been noticed as suffering particularly. A great 
deal has been done by trenches and by hand collecting, although cer- 
tain of the hill tribes have refused, on religious accounts, to codperate 
‘ in their destruction. In certain districts they were completely stamped 
out by hand work. In one district alone over 1,000 maunds (the legal 
maund is 872 pounds avoirdupois) have been collected. Generally speak- 
ing, the people have not made use of the locusts as food, but in Dharm- 
sala the natives utilize them largely, while in certain of the states of 
western Rajputana, where the Mussulman predominates, the poor col- 
lect and boil the locusts in salt water, obtaining in this way a supply 


*The Locust of Northwestern India. Being a report upon an investigation con- 
ducted in the Entomological Section of the Indian Museum, by order of the trustees. 
With one plate. Government of India. Central Printing Office. No. 725 R.A. 


January 20, 1891. By E. C. Cotes. 
433 


434 


of food both for themselves and for their horses and camels, which will 
eat the locusts and are said to thrive upon them. No natural enemies 
have been found except birds. The report concludes with a historical 
account of locust swarms in India as far back as 1812. The full-page 
plate illustrates the life-history of the species. 


Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales.—We have received No. 3 of 
vol.1 and Nos. 1, 2,and 3 of vol. 11 of this valuable publication. In 
No. 3 of vol. I we notice an account of the Elephant Beetle (Orthor- 
rhinus cylindrirostris), a Curculionid which bores into Grape, Orange 
and other plants in New South Wales. A colored plate is given illus- 
trating the different stages of the insect and its method of work. An 
account is also given of the Leaf-eating Lady-bird (Hpiluchna vigintiocto- 
punctata), which is one of the worst enemies of the Potato, Pumpkin, 
Tomato, and other solanaceous and cucurbitaceous plants in Australia, 
causing great damage to the foliage by feeding in the larval and adult 
states on the upper and under sides of the leaf. The life-history is 
given, and larva, pupa, and adult are figured. There is alsoa compiled 
article on the Grain Weevil, and a note upon the Plague Locust, with 
illustrations of both insects. No. 1 of vol. If contains nothing of 
entomological interest, but No. 2 of the same volume is notable from 
our standpoint. Mr. A. Sidney Olliff contributes a paper upon Lady- 
birds, which is illustrated by handsome engraved plates, showing six of 
the most notable Australian species. The same author furnishes a 
series of entomological notes, from one of which we notice that the Fig 
is damaged bya Thrips and the Potato by an unidentified flea-beetle of 
the genus Graptodera, while the Orange Rust Mite of America (Phy- 
toptus oleworus Ashm.) has made its appearance in two localities. Some 
account is also given of the Plague Locust. Mr. Olliff and Mr. N. A. 
Cobb jointly publish a paper on a species of Cecidomyia feeding on 
Wheat and Flax. The authors know the species only from the larva, of 
which they give a full description and illustrations. This number also 
contains the report of the committee appointed for the purpose of mak- 
ing awards inthe competition of “ spraying machines, spraying nozzles, 
and sprays” for the destruction of insect and fungus pests attacking | 
fruit trees and vines, held under the auspices of the Department of 
Agriculture for New South Wales. | 

It seems that there were many entries in the competition and the cer- 
tificates were awarded as follows: For spraying pumps drawn by horse, 
to the Messrs. Murray Bros., for the Farrington Pump and Cyclone 
Nozzle ; for spraying pump drawn by manual labor, to Mr. T. A. Lyon, 
for the Federal Air Pump spraying machine; for spraying pumps Car- 
ried by the operator, to Messrs. Murray Bros., for the Douglas Aquarius 
spraying machine; for spraying nozzles the award was given to the 
Messrs. Murray Bros., of Paramatta, for the ‘“ Triplex Cyclone” which 


435 


consists of three Cyclone nozzles fixed to a common base. In the class 
of insecticides no award was made, but the preference was given to Mr. 
Upfold’s mixture, the ingredients of which are not given. 

Part 3 of vol. If contains notes by Mr. Olliff on Paris green as a rem- 
edy for Codling Moth, the Potato Moth (Lita solanella Boisd.), a pest 
whose larva bores into and ruins stored potatoes, and the Brown Scale 
(Lecanium hemisphericum) on peaches. 


Entomological work in West Virginia —Mr. A. D. Hopkins, Entomologist 
of the West Virginia Experiment Station, occupies pages 145 to 180 
of the Third Annual Report of the Station, Charleston, W. Va., 1890, 
with a review of the results of his work siace taking office. He re- 
ports upon certain experiments which he has made against a num- 
ber of farm and garden insects, but devotes most of his space to @ 
consideration of certain forest and shade tree insects. He publishes 
original plates of the Raspberry Gouty Gall-beetle (Agrilus ruficollis) 
and of certain Locust Tree insects, viz: Odontota dorsalis, O. nervosa, 
and Clytus (Cyllene) robinie. His treatment of the enemies of the Black 
Spruce possesses the greatest interest for the general reader. The 
trees of this species have been dying off in great numbers in 
portions of West Virginia during the last nine or ten years, and it is 
estimated that atleast a million and a half of dollars’ worth of timber 
is now dead in the spruce forests of the State. Mr. Hopkins concludes 
that the death of the trees is the effect of two combined causes, one of 
which he does not attempt to explain. The other is the work of cer- 
tain Scolytid beetles, principally Polygraphus rufipennis and Xyloterus 
bivittatus. He thinks that the ravages of these insects primarily suc- 
ceeded some unknown injury to probably a few trees in isolated local- 
ities, and that when the conditions were no longer favorable to their 
existence in the injured trees, and they had increased to great numbers, 
they transferred their attacks to healthy trees from necessity. He 
reached this conclusion from finding the beetles at work in the green, 
sappy wood and bark. He found numbers of parasites of the bark 
-beetles and considers them of great value in reducing the numbers of 
the pests. Mr. Hopkins has probably given too much importance to 
the damage done to these trees by the insects mentioned. No matter 
what their numbers may be, we doubt whether they attack perfectly 
healthy trees. A tree is usually injured in some way, or has become 
diseased from some cause, or its vitality has become impaired, before 
the beetles are attracted to or multiply in it. 


An Italian Manual on Injurious Insects.—One of the most recentof the 
Hoepli manuals is a little treatise on noxious insects by Prof. Frances- 
ehini, “* Gli Insetti Nocivi,” Milan, 1891, press of Ulrico Hoepli. The 


436 


manual covers about 260 pages, and is illustrated by 95 woodcuts 
showing a number of injurious species and their work. The arrange- 
ment is not according to crops, as is usual in works of this character, 
but according to the systematic classification of insects. The little 
book is of a most convenient size and costs only two lire. 


Insects and Insecticides.*—Dr, Weed’s new book follows in about the 
same line with that. of Franceschini. It is a handy volume of nearly 
300 pages, illustrated with 143 cuts and 7 full-page plates. The ar- 
rangement is a convenient one, comprehending insects affecting the 
larger fruits, insects affecting small fruits, insects affecting shade trees, 
ornamental plants, and flowers, insects affecting vegetables, insects 
affecting cereal and forage crops, and insect pests of domestic animals 
and of the household. The introduction includes sections upon the me- 
tamorphoses of insects, their classification relative to the application of 
insecticides, natural enemies, the principal insecticides, methods of 
application, and collecting and preserving specimens. The treatment 
of the different species is similar in plan to that used by Saunders and 
Matthew Cooke in their manuals, and consists of a plain statement of the 
life-history, with figures of the different stages and a concluding para- 
graph upon remedies. The style is simple and non-technical and the 
important facts are condensed in a clear, concise manner. The first 
three parts of the volume are reprinted from the Report of the Colum- 
bus (Ohio) Horticultural Society for 1890, the last three only being orig- 
inal here. Owing to the condensed method of presentation the author 
has found it impracticable to give full credit to each observer from 
whose writings he has drawn, but he has fully accredited the illustra- 
tions in the preface. The work will prove useful to the fruit-grower, 
general farmer, and housekeeper, and will unquestionably meet a de- 
mand among those who have not access to entomological libraries. 


Tertiary Insects of North America.—Vol. x11I of the Reports of the 
U. S. Geological Survey of the Territories is devoted to Mr. S. H. 
Scudder’s Monograph of the Tertiary Insects of this country. Mr. 
Scudder has been at work upon this volume for twelve years or more, 
and he gives careful descriptions of 612 species, nearly all of which are 
figured upon beautiful lithographic plates. As the author states 
in his letter of transmittal, the publication of this volume will give the 
first opportunity for good comparisons between the long-known Ter- 
tiary insects of Europe and those of any other country. The material 
gathered shows that the fauna is at least as rich as that of Europe in 


the Methods of Preventing their Injuries. By C. M. Weed, D.s. Published by the 
author, Hanover, N. H., 1891. 


—-y re. 


437 


the lower orders of insects, if we exclude the amber fauna of the Baltic. 
The localities from which the material has been derived are, in the 
main, Florissant, Colorado; the White River, in western Colorado and 
eastern Utah; Green River, Wyoming; near the town of Fossil, 
Wyoming; at Horse Creek, in the same State; at Quesnel, British 
Columbia; Nicola, North Similkameen, and Nine Mile Creek, British 
Columbia; Scarborough, Ontario; and Port Kennedy Pennsylvania. 


An Economic Bulletin from Canada.*—Mr, Fletcher has published in 
a little 30-page bulletin a condensed account of some of the more 
important of the insects inquired about by his correspondents during 
the past two seasons, together with remedies and the most convenient 
methods for applying them. His preliminary account of remedies, puts 
the matter ina very sensible, straightforward manner,while the remain- 
der of the bulletin is occupied by the treatment of a few insects in- 
jurious to grain and forage crops, fruits,and vegetables, most of which 
have already received consideration in his last two annual reports, full 
notices of which will be found in INSEcT LIFE, vol. 0, page 336, and vol. 
III, pp. 359, 360. 


Insect Enemies of the Sugar Beet.t—Mr. Bruner has in this publication 
summarized the particular enemies of the sugar beet in Nebraska dur- 
ing the season of 1890. As he has reported upon this same subject in 
Bulletin No. 23 of this Division, a summary will be unnecessary here, 
except to state that the article in the Bulletin of the Nebraska Station 
is illustrated fully and gives original figures of Systena blanda, Dis- 
onycha triangularis, Macrobasis unicolor, Epicauta vittata, E. maculata, 
E. pennsylvanica, Geocoris bullata, Agallia siccifolia, and Melanotus com- 
munis. 


Nebraska Entomology.—We have received from Mr. Lawrence Bruner 
a copy of his report as Entomologist of the Nebraska Horticultural 
Society, extracted from the annual report of the society for 1890, pages 
183 to 217. He gives a general essay on the subject of the damage 
done by insects and the necessity for a knowledge of insect habits, and 
follows with accounts of the Apple Root-louse, the Apple Aphis, notes 
on the Codling Moth, the Strawberry Monostegia, the Fiery Flea-beetle 


* Central Experiment Farm. Department of Agriculture. Bulletin No. 11. Ree- 
ommendations for the prevention of damage by some common insects of the farm, 
the orchard, and the garden. By James Fletcher, Ottawa, Canada. May, 1891. 

t University of Nebraska. Bulletin of the Agricultural Experiment Station, vol. 
Iv, No. 16. Sugar Beet Series No.2. Lincoln, Nebraska, April 15, 1891. Insect 
Enemies, pp. 55-72. 


438 


(Haltica ignita), and certain sweet-potato insects, including the Tortoise- 
beetles and the Sweet-potato Saw-fly. He concludes with a consider- 
ation of insecticides. 


Circular on the Hop Plant-Louse.—Judging from recent correspondence 
with the Hop Dealers’ Exchange in New York, and with a number of 
prominent growers, the present year seems to be peculiarly favorable to 
the increase of the Hop Louse, which threatens more damage than we 
have had since 1886. We have therefore published as Circular No. 2, 
New Series, of this Division, a brief account of the life-history of the 
insect and the best remedies to be applied the present season. This 
circular will be sent to any hop-grower on application. 


Locust Ravages of the Present Year.—The newspapers have contained 
many alarming accounts of ravages by locusts in different parts of the 
Western States during the months of June and July. Accounts of 
damage have been received from Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Colo- 
rado, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, 
Michigan, and Manitoba. We have taken steps to investigate all the 
rumors, and Mr. Bruner has been sent on a general tour of observation, 
while Professor Osborn has been sent to Kansas and Mr. Banks to 
Texas and New Mexico. Telegraphic correspondence with Professors 
Snow and Popenoe, of Kansas (who have been in the field during 
July), and with Professor Gillette, of Colorado, shows that the alarm 
in those States is caused entirely by local species. As we learn from 
Mr. Bruner, who has already visited the infested districts of Colorado, 
the species which is causing the alarm in that State is, curiously 
enough, a rather rare species known as Dissosteira longipennis. This 
insect breeds ordinarily in the sand hills among sparse vegetation, and 
the past two seasons of drought have conduced to its undue multiplica- 
tion. The present season has been very wet, and the result has been 
a great abundance of vegetation in spots ordinarily comparatively bare. 
In order to seek more natural conditions, therefore, the locusts have 
migrated and have taken to the roads, where they were at once noticed 
and excited great apprehension. While occurring in roadways in enor- 
mous numbers, very few specimens were found a few rods away in the 
thick grass. Up to the present time no specimens of the destructive 
species Caloptenus spretus have been received from any of our corres- 
pondents, with the exception of a few from Larimore, North Dakota, and 
from the neighborhood of Winnipeg. The alarming rumors, therefore, 
of a possible repetition the present year of the great swarms of the 
Rocky Mountain locust which invaded the sub-permanent and tem- 
porary regions in the years 1874 to 1876, are largely without foundation. 
We shall be able to speak more authoritatively upon this subject after 
Mr. Bruner’s return. 


439 


Recent Changes of Location.—Dr. Clarence M. Weed, formerly ento- 
mologist and botanist of the Ohio State Experiment Station, has. 
recently been elected to the chair of zodlogy in Dartmouth College, at 
Hanover, New Hampshire. 

Mr. F. M. Webster, a field agent of this Division, who has been sta- 
tioned for several years past at Lafayette, Indiana, has been transferred 
to the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, at Columbus, 


Mr. F. J. Niswander, late assistant in entomology at the Agricultural 
College of Michigan, has accepted the office of entomologist to the 
Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station, at Laramie. 

Mr. C. W. Woodworth, formerly of the State Experiment Station at 
Fayetteville, Arkansas, has lately been appointed entomologist of the 
experiment station of the University of California, at Berkeley. 

Mr. C. P. Gillette, late entomologist at the agricultural experiment 
station located at Ames, Iowa, has been transferred to the Colorado 
Experiment Station, at Fort Collins, Colorado. 


SOME ICERYA AND VEDALIA NOTES. 


As the figures which we have previously published of Vedalia cardi- 
nalis have not been as perfect as they should have been, owing to the 
fact that the material first received was poor, we publish herewith more 
careful drawings made from living specimens. It must be stated that 


Fic. 31.—Vedalia cardinalis: a, larva, dorsal view; 6; Larva, from side; c, pupa; d, adult—enlarged 
(original). 


while perfectly fresh adults exhibit the markings as plainly as shown 
at d, the majority of those found at work upon the scales are dull in 
color and more or less indistinct in maculation. We have recently had 
some international correspondence of interest relative to Icerya and 
Vedalia, which we summarize herewith. 

On April 9, 1890, the Secretary for Agriculture of Cape Town, South 
Africa, wrote to the Secretary of the United States Department of Ag- 
riculture, stating that Icerya purchasi had steadily increased in South 


440 


Africa and that it would be a great favor to the frait-growers of the 
colony if this Department could send some specimens of Vedalia cardina- 
lis to assist in the extermination of the scale. On account of the length 


of the journey from California to Cape Town, we concluded that it — 


would be best to try the experiment first from either Australia or New 
Zealand, and accordingly wrote to Mr. Rk. Allan Wight, of Auckland, and 
to the late Mr. F. S. Crawford, of Adelaide, enlisting their services in 
the matter. Unfortunately, however, neither of these gentlemen was 
able to secure any Vedalia, and as a result we were obliged to rely upon 
California stock. Mr. Coquillett was instructed in May, 1890, to pre- 
pare a shipment of beetles, but at that time the-insect was very scarce 
and he was unable to get together enough living specimens to make the 
attempt worth while. In January, 1891, however, partly through the 
kindness of the State Board of Horticultural Commissioners, he had 
secured a large number, and on January 20 sent about 1,000 pup and 
full-grown larve, packed in two strong wooden boxes between layers 
of tissue paper, by Wells, Fargo & Co.’s express. Wehad a strong hope 
that some of these specimens would get through alive, but we were in- 
formed, under date of April 14, by the South African Secretary for Ag- 
riculture, that the insects were on receipt turned over to our friend, Mr. 
R. Trimen, curator of the South African Museum, who reported that 
they were probably all dead. He wrote that it was possible that some 
of the pup might still be alive, but we have not yet heard as to the cor- 
rectness of the surmise. Practically, therefore, this first attempt has 
been a failure. We have made arrangements, however, to repeat the 
trial immediately, and have adopted.a different method. This time we 
shall have as large a quantity as possible of the insects placed in per. 
forated tin boxes which have been wrapped with cloth. Mr. Coquillett 
will go to San Francisco and have them placed on ice on the Australian 
steamer, aud will make arrangements to have them transferred under 
competent personal supervision to a vessel from Australia to the Cape. 
If this method is found to be impracticable, they will be sent by way 
of New York and Liverpool under similar conditions. 

We have aiso made an attempt on a small scale to send Vedalia to 
New Zealand. At first blush this may seem like sending coals to New- 
castle, but the fact is that Icerya has almost completely disappeared 
from New Zealand and that Vedalia is no longer to be found, or rather 
was not at the time of the sending, as no effort had been made to arti- 
‘ficially preserve the species. We published in our last number, on page 
395, a letter from Mr. Wight, in which he incidentally requested us to 
send a few living specimens to Dr. Locking, president of the Fruit- 
Grower’s Association, ~t Felson, New Zealand. Such a shipment was 
sent to Dr. Locking, but resulted unfavorably, seemingly through the 
fault of the New Zealand customs officials, as the box had been opened 
and carelessly retied, so that the insects escaped in the mail pouches, 
where they were found by the postal employés and forwarded to a 
locality where there was no food for them. 


; 
: 


44] 


So far, then, there have been four attempts to carry Vedalia from one 
country to another. Those from Australia to California aud from Cali- 
fornia to the Sandwich Islands have been successful, while those just 
mentioned have been failures. On page 423 of our last number we men- 
tioned our correspondence with Rear-Admiral R. W. Blomfield, R. N., 
Deputy Commissioner-General of Ports and Light-Houses, Alexandria, 
Egypt, relative to the Egyptian Icerya, which he states threatens to 
become an eleventh plague. Quite recently (early in July) Mr. 
Coquillett in accordance with our instructions sent a shipment of 
Vedalia to Alexandria, and we look forward to information as to their 
receipt and colonization with great interest. 

In the meantime, as Admiral Blomfield writes us under date of June 
1, an Alexandrian merchant, a Mr. Carver, received a sending from 
California friends which purported to contain Vedalia, and certainly did 
contain some living Lady-birds. These were liberated under the tent 
prepared for our consignment. Three weeks later the tree was exam- 
ined and specimens of a Lady-bird were found, which were sent to us 
for examination. They were not Vedalia, and we are informed that the 
same species was found free in other portions of the same garden. 
It resembles Vedalia closely in size. Its color is dark brown, with a 
lighter band across the elytra, so that it is not very unlike the dark and 
dirty specimens of Vedalia, which are in the majority.* 

It is worthy of note that Admiral Blomfield’s sending contained 
living and healtky specimens of the Egyptian Icerya, which indicates 
the possibility of a constant food supply for Vedalia on long journeys. 
It is needless to add that we shall not allow the species to spread in 
this country. 

Our anticipated sending of Vedalia to the West Indies, for use 
against the Montserrat Icerya, is no longer necessary, as our correspond- 
ent, Mr. H. De Courcy Hamilton, has informed us that he has practi- 
cally exterminated the species by cutting down and burning the infested 
trees. 


EXPERIMENTS WITH A DATE-PALM SCALE. 


About July 8, 1890, the Department of Agriculture received from 
Algiers, Africa, nine Date-Palm trees, two to four feet high after having 
been cut off at the top, and probably from seven to ten years old from 
suckers. 


*At our request Dr. Geo. H. Horn has made a careful examination of the speci- 
mens on account of the interest attaching to them and informs us, since the above 
was in type, that it is safe to refer the species to Chilocorus distigma Klug, found 
commonly in Abyssinia, Arabia, and Egypt. This renders it tolerably certain that 
an indigenous Egyptian Lady-bird has learned to prey on Icerya. 


442 


About the 1st of August, fifty-four small trees of Date Palm were re- 


a 


ceived from Cairo, Egypt, one to two feet high and about three years . 


old from suckers. These trees were all badly infested with a species of 
Parlatoria which proved, on comparison, to be identical with P. zizyphi 
Lucas. Asit was the intention of the Department to establish these trees 
in California, and it was highly undesirable to introduce the scale with 
them, the entomologist was instructed to take steps to destroy the insects 
and free the plants. The efforts to do so are of interest in view of the 
great difficulty experienced in effecting the complete extermination of 
the scales by the use of the insecticide washes which our experience 
has shown to be so successful against the various introduced and native 
scale-insects of our orchards. 

The difficulty was in part due to some peculiarity of the scales them- 
selves, and also to the fact that they were so thickly massed that the 
underlying insects were at first not reached by the insecticides. It em- 
phasizes the necessity of abundant caution in all similar cases and the 
need of the most thorough and intelligent supervision. 

The first lot of trees were sprayed about the middle of July and the 
second lot about the Ist of August with kerosene and soap emulsion 
diluted fifteen times. August 16 the plants were still, in many places 
covered with live scales and were all again sprayed with the kerosene 
emulsion diluted ten times. August 18 and 19 examination showed a 
considerable percentage of seemingly healthy scales. The trees were 
uninjured. Two test sprayings were then made as follows: Two of the 
younger lot of trees were sprayed with the resin wash made after Co- 
quillett’s formula (see Bulletin No. 22), and two were sprayed with the 
kerosene emulsion diluted only five times. These trees were examined 
August 22 and September 2, and the effect of these applications noted 
as follows: The resin treatment was practically without value and had 
no injurious effect on the plants; the trees treated with the kerosene 
were, August 22, somewhat yellowed and injured and the scales were 
all apparently dead. Later, September 2, the plants had partly re- 
gained their normal color and no living scales were found. 

On September 5 all the trees were carefully examined, and about 5 
per cent of living scales were found, showing that many of the scales 
at first apparently unaffected by the earlier washings had eventually 
succumbed. 


* It was hoped that the remaining living scales had been affected and — 


would die, but examination, September 18, showed about the same 
percentage of healthy scales and also a few young. ‘The trees were 
then thoroughly washed with a stiff brush to remove the loosely adher- 
ing dead scales and were again sprayed October 4, with a newly made 
and excellent kerosene and soap emulsion diluted eighttimes. Contin- 
uous rains fell on the 6th and 7th, and on October 8 very few living 
and apparently healthy scales weze found. October 9.the application 


443 


of the emulsion in the same proportion was repeated, the rain having 
vitiated the preceding application. This spraying we believe affected | 
the final and complete extermination of the scales, but as the trees 
stood these applications without injury, to put the matter of extermina- 
tion beyond doubt, and as a final precaution, they were again all sprayed, 
and were shipped October 10. 

It will be noted that the earlier sprayings were practically successfual* 
90 to 95 per cent of the scales eventually dying; but in this instance 
it was essential that not a single scale should escape or the work would 
have been valueless, and hence the necessity ef the additional treat- 
ments. A further outcome of these experiments is the very evident 
fact that the Date Palm is not apt to be injured even by the application 
of very strong kerosene washes, repeated at comparatively short 
intervals. 


A VIVIPAROUS COCKROACH. 
By Cy V.. Ritey. 


On page 129 of No. 1, vol. 11, Proceedings of the Entomological So- 
ciety of Washington, I have published a short note under the above 
title, reciting the fact that a female specimen of eee iE viridis, a 
large green tropical Cockroach, found commonly 
in South America and the West Indies, had been 
sent me [September 21, 1890] by Dr. Carl F. Giss- 
ler, of Brooklyn, New York. He had found it in 
Brooklyn alive on a cabbage head, and having put 
it into a box until the next morning, it was then 
discovered to have died over night, and that out 
of its genital orifice had crept some two dozen live 
youngones. As stated in the note before the En- 
tomological Society, the specimens interested me 
greatly because, so far as I had been able to as- 
certain, there is no record of a viviparous Cock- 
roach, and after a careful examination, involving yy. 39 panchlora viridis. 
a dissection of the abdomen of the specimen, Isaw _ adult, enlarged (original.y 
no reason to dozbt the accuracy of Dr. Gissler’s statement. Several of 
the young had already been born as above stated, but still others were 
in the abdomen ready to emerge, with no trace of either eggs or egg- 
case. 

Mr. S. H. Scudder, who is most familiar with the Orthoptera, as well 
as with the general literature of entomology, writes in reply to a ques- 
tion, under date of June 6, that he does not recall having seen any 
similar fact recorded. He has called my attention to the following 


444 


following note from Psyche, vol. Vv, page 405, August to October, 1890, 4 
as referring probably to the same species: 


Early last August a green cockroach of considerable size, Panchlora nivea (Linn.), 
was found alive with a multitude of young ones just hatched in the bath-room of a 
house on Lafayette street, Salem, Massachusetts, and sent to Mr. S. H. Scudder for 
determination by Prof. E.S. Morse. Itis a native of Cuba and Central America. It 
is curious that Mr. Scudder has aiso in his collection a specimen marked as found 
flying in a store in Boston, 26 December, 1878, on the authority of the late Dr. Sam- 
uel Kneeland. 


Fic. 33.—Panchlora viridis, newly hatched young, from above and from below—enlarged (original). 


No mention is made in the above item of the viviparity of the roach, 
but from the wording and from the fact that no egg-case is mentioned 
it is altogether likely that the facts were similar to those given by Dr. 
Gissler in the case which he observed. As stated before the Entomo- 
logical Society: ‘The significance of this exceptional fact is that the 
extrusion of the eggs in a compact odtheca is supposed to be one of the 
distinguishing features of the family Blattide, and such eases serve to 
show how difficult it is to lay down any rule in reference to the charac- 
teristics of any group that may not involve exceptions. So far as other 
family characteristics are concerned there is nothing peculiar in this 
species of Panchlora. It is a rather soft-bodied species, with ample 
wings. I would call attention, however, to the fact that the young have 
either lost or never had the green color of the parent. They are pale- 
brownish, and are further peculiar in that the body broadens posteri- 
orly, the abdominal joints being strongly contracted and telescoped 
into each other, the eighth and ninth so strongly drawn into the sev- 
enth as to give the abdomen an unnatural, foreshortened, truncated 
appearance. Whether this feature is due to the alcohol or is normal 
it is impossible to say; but there is no evidence of any other portion of 
the body having shrunken or contracted on account of the preservative 
liquid.” 


: 445 


THE GRASSERIE OF THE SILK-WORM. 
By PHILIP WALKER. 


The prevalence of grasserie in the United States during 1890, as stated 
in my last annual report, points to the necessity of further study of the 
disease and a search for some means for its prevention or cure: 

When the sixth edition of Dr. Riley’s Manual on Silk Culture, issued 
by the Department, was prepared, the rarity of the malady led him 
to refer to its slight importance and the little attention heretofore 
given it by scientists. In Europe the few worms which are attacked 
by grasserie are hailed with delight by the raisers, who say, ‘‘ Pas de gras, 
pas de cocons” (no grasserie, no cocoons). This sentiment is due to the 
fact that grasserie is seldom accompanied by other diseases, and in 
itself is rarely disastrous. The only precaution taken with such rare 


Fic. 34.—Polybedral grannles of the grasserie. 
(After Bolle.) 


specimens as thus occur is to remove them from the rearing tables for 
fear that they will soil the other worms or their cocoons. The literature 
of the subject is therefore small. Pasteur’s only reference to the malady 


446 


occurs in his including grasserie among the four typical diseases of 
silk-worms,* and the remark made later on the same page: “ Once only 
have I seen the grasserie destroy a brood.” Still it must be remembered 
that Pasteur knew nothing of silk-worms prior to his studies on the 
pébrine, and that his observations of silk-raising generally had not been 
extensive. The disease is known to our silk-raisers under the name 
of jaundice, but except as applied to the yellow races this is a mis- 
nomer, as the white and green varieties turn milky, not yellow, when 
attacked with the malady. It is to the yellow races that I shall here- 
after refer unless otherwise stated. 

‘¢The disease makes its appearance when the worms are about to molt 
and is most severe when it occurs during the fifth age, just at the spin- 
ning time. The first signs of the trouble are small pale yellow spots 
which appear around the stigmata. These spots gradually expand, 
others appearing on the elevated portions of the rings, until they cover 
the whole body; at the same time their yellow color becomes deeper. 
Simultaneously with this discoloration, the anterior rings (often mis- 
taken on account of their shape for the head of the larve by persons 
unacquainted with its anatomy) begin to swell, this being soon followed 
by the distension of the other rings to such an extent that the interan- 
nular spaces appear like strangulations. The stretched skin becomes 
bright and tender, and finally, unable longer to resist the strain, it 
bursts, at first at the joints of the rings and later in other places, per- 
mitting the discharge of a troubled dirty liquid which soils the food 
of neighboring worms. The body afterwards putrefies and turns black, 
more slowly than in flaccidity and all over at once, not beginning near 
the anterior pair of prolegs, as is the case with the latter disorder.”t 

When the worm is cut open in the early stages of the disease, that is to say, when 
the first little yellow spots are discovered about the stigmata, no changes in the 
internal organs can be seen with the naked eyes, only the blood appears turbid and 
milky. Henceforth the worm refuses food and crawls about uneasily. In 12 hours 
‘or even in less time its whole body has become yellow, and the feeble skin allows the 
now quite opaque blood to ooze out. The stomach is sometimes full of leaves of a 
bluish green color, and sometimes contains a more or less transparent liquid, which 
either wholly or partially fills its cavity. In the latter case vomiting often occurs. 
In the cecum or the rectum, or in both, a large brownish mass is found, which is 
formed of minute particles of leaf. 

When the disease is far advanced a careful observer will often find on the peritracheal 
membranes of the larger trache, on the epithelium of the silk-bearing glands, on 
the muscles, and even on the nerves, whitish spots which interrupt the transparency — 
of the organ, and which in appearance are similar to the whitish spots of the silk- 
bearing glands of highly corpusculous worms. * * %* 

If at the beginning of the disease the blood of the worm is examined with a micro- 
scope, itis found that the turbidness is caused by very minute polyhedral granules 
floating in the plasma or inclosed in the blood globules (Fig. 1, a). These granules 
are also constantly found in the cells of the adipose tissue, where they gradually in- 
crease in number as the disease progresses, until the cells are filled with them to 


* Etudes sur la Maladie des Vers a soie, vol. 1, p. 225. 
t ‘The Mulberry Silk Worm,” Bulletin 9, Division of Entomology, plate 1, fig. E., 


447 


- repletion. The increase of the granules takes place likewise in the blood, which in 
the last stage of the disease contains an infinite number of them both in the plasma. 
and in the greater part of the globules. ; 

Other tissues are often invaded by these granules, and also some cells of the peri- 
tracheal tissue, together with portions of the epithelium of the silk-bearing glands; 
the partial accumulation of these granules and their powerful refraction of light are 
the cause of the whitish specks that are seen with the naked eye on the aforesaid 
tissues, as has already been remarked. When the disease isfar advanced * * * 
the granules are sometimes deposited under the neurilemma and under the sarco- 
lemma, and under those very parts of the nerves and muscles where the capillary 
terminations of the tracheze are found. The membranes of the genital organs and 
the outer coating of the stomach are also invaded by them. In this stage the inter- 
celiular substance of the various tissues seems to lose its connective power, or to be 
dissolved, since entire cells of the adipose tissue, of the derma, and the tracheal 
epithelium are then found floating in the blood. The filling up with granules con- 
tributes in part to the loosening of the cells, which soon become lacerated and dis- 
charge their contents into the blood; thus we find in the blood fat globules (see 
Fig. 1, e), crystals of urate of ammonium, fragments of cells, and masses of proto- 
plasm. 

When the disease has advanced thus far the mortification of parts of the trachez 
and the adipose tissue begins; this may be recognized by the dark spots, similar to 
those found in a worm affected with the disease known as flaccidity. 

The alterations of the anhistous coat of the stomach are deserving of special atten- 
tion ; this coat, in a worm affected with the grasserie, is very much thickened, and 
is composed, as it is in a flaccid worm, of many superposed strata. If the stomach 
is partly or entirely empty of leaves the anhistous mass occupies a part or the whole 
of the cavity, forming a coagulum containing a strongly alkaline liquid, in which 
micrococci are frequently found, and sometimes also other bacteria, although there 
is no reason for suspecting a complication with flaccidity. * * * 

The anhistous coat continues in the cecum and in the rectum, where it incloses the 
mipute particles of dark brown leaf, in the shape of large hard masses, of which the 
worm sometimes succeeds in ridding itself, and then these masses, being inclosed by 
’ the anhistous coat, remain attached tothe anus. It is not unusual to see worms 
dragging after them three or four and even more fecal masses attached to each other 
in the form of achain. Both in the liquid contents of the stomach and in the excre- 
ment large prismatic crystals of ammonium magnesium phosphate are found, to- 
gether with crystalline concretions of leucine. 

According as the disease attacks the worm at a more or less advanced stage of its 
existence, the renal vessels are more or less cretaceous, yet the opacity or the en- 
gorgement with crystals of these vessels does not form a pathological symptom of the 
grasserie but constitutes a normal physiological phenomenon. 

Interesting is the observation that the yeliow spots on the skin of a diseased worm 
are caused by numerous needle-shaped crystals, of a very deep yellow color, which are 
found in conglomerated masses under the epidermis. These crystals are similar to 
those found in the renal vessels of worms inclosed in their cocoons, or which have 
been fora short time in the chrysalis state, and hence are to be considered as produced 
by respiration. 

In cases of very intense grasserie chrysalides affected by the disease are constantly 
found. Whether the grasserie attacks the worm near its fifth molt, and continues 
after the molt is ended, or whether the chrysalis itself is attacked by it, the latter 
never develops into a moth. A chrysalis in the earlier stages of the grasserie pre- 
sents no external symptoms by which the diseased condition can be recognized. 
Soon, however, it loses its natural rigidity and becomes flabby ; the internal organs 
are gradually converted into a brown liquid, which gushes out when the slightest 
lesion takes place. This is the reason why cocoons coming from broods of worms 


3329—No. 11 2 


448 


among which the grasserie prevails ina severe form are contaminated internally, and 
their silk being impaired, are of less value. 

The internal alterations of a chrysalis affected with the grasserie are in all re- 
spects identical with those found in the worm, and are principally in the blood, the 
trachez, and the adipose tissue, which contain the characteristic polyhedral gran- 
ules. It is a noteworthy fact that in some chrysalides that have died of the grasserie, 
and whose organs are in a state of complete dissolution, the usual organisms of 
putrefaction, i. e., micrococci and other bacteria, can not be found. 

It is known that before setting apart a lot of cocoons for the preparation of seed 
among the precautions to be taken is that of examining the chrysalis in the cocoon. 
If dead chrysalides are found, it will be highly important to determine the cause of 
death. If death has resulted from mechanical lesions, which is rarely the case, the 
chrysalis will not be dissolved, but will be dried up, preserving here and there the 
original color of its external covering. 

The case is different if the chrysalis has died of flaccidity or of the grasserie, be- 
cause in both cases the internal organs pass into a state of complete dissolution, and 
the body becomes black. In these conditions the disease can not always be dive 
ered with the naked eye, and recourse should be had to the microscope. Chrysalides 
that have died of the grasserie will contain the characteristic polyhedral granules, 
while those that have died of flaccidity will show the presence of the usual organisms. 
of putrefaction, viz, micrococci and other bacteria. 

An examination of the symptoms of the grasserie shows that the principal one is 
the spontaneous formation and multiplication of the polyhedral granules, which suc- 
cessively invade all the tissues in a manner almost analogous to that of the corpus- 
cles of the pébrine. We are not yet, however, in a position to decide whether these 
granules are to be considered as an effect or as the cause of the disease.* 


The polyhedral granules of the grasserie were noticed first by Cor- 
nalia,t who, however, did not discover their true form, which Vers- 
sont determined to be crystalline, usually hexagonal, with very obtuse 
angles. Bolle, while assistant to Haberlandt, studied their chemical 
characteristics and the latter announced that they were crystals of 
acid urate of ammonium,§ but Bolle himself in a later article,|| says that 
he had been in error in his first analysis, and that the urate found had 
probably come from ‘“‘the derma of the worm and the adipose tissue of 
the chrysalis,” which existed as impurities in the deposit at first sup- 
posed to be entirely composed of granules. The polyhedral granules 
differ in appearance from the uratecrystals found in the organs of the 
worm and in the fluid excreted by the moth upon its.exit from the 
cocoon only in their size, the former being about 4» in diameter while 
the latter range from 0.54 to 24. Certain reactions upon these charae- 
teristic granules of grasserie indicate an albuminoid nature, but the 


fact that they have been retained for a year under water without — 


changing form refutes this supposition. 
Forbes{] speaks of the granules as “evidently the mulberry cells and 


* Bolle, Annuario dell i. r. Istituto Bacologico Sperimentale di Gorizia, 1873, pp. 106- 
114. 

+t Monagrafia del Bombice del Gelso. 1856, pp. 348-351. 

t Del Filugello et del suo allevamento, p, 141. 

§ Haberlandt, Sericoltura Austriaca, Anno. IV, No. 7. (April 1, 1872.) 

| Op. cit. 

€ Bulletin on the ‘‘Contagious Diseases of Insects,” p. 279. 


449 


granules of Viallanes, as described in his admirable memoir on the 
histolysis of insects.”* He, however, does not discuss their nature, 
simply speaking of them as the ever present and unmistakable symptom 
of the disease either in the silkworm or other larv# upon which he had 
experimented.t Professor Forbes, however, shows no evidence of hav- 
ing seen the several Italian articles of which I have spoken, but devotes 
his attention to the bacterial causes of the disease, causes which theEuro- 
pean investigators have either cverlooked or ignored. Bolle regretted, 
in the comprehensive article from which I have quoted, that the inac- 
curate nature of microchemical research prevented his advancing any 
well supported theory on the exact nature of these globules, though he 
intended pushing his studies further. I can not find that he published 
any later article thereon. The tests which he used in endeavoring to 
determine their chemical composition are such as would be used at this 
day, so that we need hardly look to any newly discovered chemical 
processes to aid us in new researches. 

For the cause of grasserie as many theories have been advanced as 
there are writers on the subject. Among those apparently the more 
reasonable are that it may be caused by a disturbed digestion (Lomeni) ; 
by ‘“ close, damp heat, accompanied by electrical tension, or by a sud- 
den change in the pressure of the atmosphere” (Maestri); by ‘‘damp 
air and lack of ventilation, light, and cleanliness” (Cornalia); or by 
the manner of preserving the eggs or the influence of some hereditary 
predisposition (Haberlandt). Pasqualis calls attention to the fact 
that had come to his notice that near Venice, where the trees are 
annually pruned, grasserie ismuch more common than around Trent, 
where the food is picked from old wood. He therefore ascribes the ~ 
trouble to the feeding of too tender leaves. It will be recalled that 
my report for 1889 mentioned the fact that all of our brood, fed on the 
tender leaves of a trimmed osage orange hedge, died of grasserie, while 
the brood fed in the same room, on mulberry leaves picked from old 
wood, gave such remarkable results as 135 pounds of cocoons per ounce 
of eggs. The latter showed very few cases of grasserie. I once asked 
Maillot his opinion of the cause of the disease and he attributed it to 
too rich food, saying that often a worm just ready to spin would eat an 
especially rich leaf and be attacked by the disorder. To this phase of 
the subject [ shall recur later. 

So far as I can venture an opinion on this subject it seems to me 
that Professor Forbes has come nearer to the true cause of the disease, 
which he considers bacterial. He states, however, in his publications 
on the subject, that he worked under the disadvantage of not seeing 
the brood of silkworms that had been attacked by the disease, but 
began his researches on some dead, though fresh, larve which had 
been sent to him by Professor Burrill of the Illinois Industrial Uni- 


*Ann. Sci. Nat. Zo6l., x1v, 1, Art. 1, August, 1882. 
t Notably the cabbage worm ( Pieris rape). 


450 


versity. Besides the usual polyhedral granules of the disease Forbes 
found several different forms of bacteria. Various cultures made by — 
him convinced him that a spherical micrococcus, varying in diameter 
from 0.75 4 to 1 y is the characteristic bacterium of the disease. He 
found it practicable to cultivate this micrococeus artificially in neutral- 
ized beef broth by infections from the alimentary canal and from the 
blood. “Although the micrococcus itself was not demonstrable in the 
blood by the microscope, it was obtained therefrom by cultures in 
which it appeared without admixture of other forms. Intestinal cul- 
tures were, however, liable to contamination by other bacteria but 
doubtfully connected with the disease.” 

The lateness of the season prevented Professor Forbes from trying 
infection experiments on silkworms and he was obliged to resort to the 
cabbage worm. He sprayed broods of these with a beef-broth culture 
of the spherical micrococcus mentioned above, and although the results 
were not so definite as desired ‘‘yet they clearly indicated the trans- 
ference of the disease affecting the silkworm to healthy larve of the 
Pieris rape.” He sums up as follows: 

It would have been difficult to establish, by a study of the bacteria alone, any 
marked difference between the disease resulting from this experiment and that native 
to the cabbage worm, but the symptoms of the two diseases are so unlike as to make 
it impossible to confound them. The general absence of the peculiar discoloration of 
the common flacherie of the cabbage worm and of the rapid post-mortem deliques- 
cence even more characteristic of it leave no doubt as to the actual difference between 
this induced disease and the spontaneous affection. That the artificial disease was 
identical with that of the silkworm, differing only in such a degree as was to be ex- 
pected when attacking such widely different larve, is rendered probable not only by 
all the attending circumstances but also by the occurrence in the cabbage worm of 
the myriads of mulberry granules characteristic of the affection in the silkworm. 
This fact is especially significant, since. in all our numerous examinations of the native 
flacherie of the cabbage worm, this condition of the fluids was not once observed. 


If we acknowledge that this single experiment is conclusive evidence 
of the bacterial origin of the disease we have an easy explanation of 
the difference of opinion entertained by Europeans as to the cause of 
the malady. The characteristic bacteria might well exist in the larve, 
but under conditions so healthy as to prevent their abnormal develop- 
ment. The loss of vitality due to improper preparation or care of the 
eggs, to bad ventilation or a damp atmosphere, to a sudden change 
in meteorological conditions, or to impaired digestion owing to improper 
food, might supply in a moment those conditions necessary to the devel- 
opment of the organism and the appearance of the disease. Such 
being the facts Haberlandt, in the absence, probably, of the needful 
micrococcus, failed to induce the grasserie by putting the worms into 
_acold, damp cellar. Worms raised from eggs laid by moths from an 
infected brood have died of flaccidity, not grasserie, and attempts to 
produce contagion by smearing the food with the blood of infected 
worms have given but negative results. 


451 


But how, then, does this bacterial attack cause the disintegration 
-shown by the polyhedral granules? Bolle says: 


We suppose that the formation of the polyhedral granules is caused by defective 
respiration; we are led to this belief by the accumulation of these granules, first in 
the adipose tissue and then at the capillary terminations of the trachex, both of these 
being parts of the organism whose main function is respiration. Even if this suppo- 
sition of ours were correct, we are still unacquainted with the prime causes of the 
spontaneous formation of these granules. It may be regarded as certain that hu- 
midity, low temperature, and defective ventilation contribute not a little to the 
grasserie. But we would say that these influences alone can not develop the disease, 
although it is probable that they increase its intensity ; otherwise we should have no 
explanation of the sporadic cases of grasserie which are of constant occurrence even 
among those broods that are most judiciously cared for. 


Per contra, I give Forbes’s conclusions: 


Assuming that the mortality was originally caused by the intestinal bacteria, we 
may suppose that this infection was not sufficiently overwhelming to destroy life by 
direct action, as seems to be the case in flacherie, but that it nevertheless had the 
effect to so disturb the balance of physiological functions as to retard the develop- 
ment and preparation for pupation of some of the organs, while the fatty bodies, 
being special stores of material accumulated for use in pupation, and so less promptly 
and easily affected by causes attacking the general health of the larva, went on to 
pupation and experienced the histolysis characteristic of that phenomenon. In 
other words, we may suppose, quite consistently with all the facts, that a relatively 
slight bacterial attack took uneven effect on the various parts of the animal and not 
immediately destructive effects on any; that it retarded the preparations for pupa- 
tion of the great vital organs, but that the fatty bodies, as if unaware of this fact, 
continued their course of maturation and histolysis, reaching a condition of pupal 
disorganization before pupation had actually occurred (p. 280). 


OBSERVATIONS ON INJURIOUS AND OTHER INSECTS OF 
ARKANSAS AND TEXAS. 


By F. M. WEBSTER. 


Acting under Dr. Riley’s instructions, I left home on February 2, and 
stopping a couple of days in southern Indiana to make some observa- 
tions on strawberry insects, more especially Haltica ignita, reached 
Memphis, Tennessee, on the 5th instant. The object in visiting this 
locality and castern Arkansas was to secure some data with respect to 
the early stages of the several species of Buffalo Gnats. No difficulty 
was experienced in finding the exact locality, a short distance to the 
southeast of Memphis, where Dr. Lugger studied Simulium in 1886, but 
the stream was so swollen by recent rains that wading was rendered 
impossible, and as no boat was obtainable a critical examination was 
rendered impracticable. 

At Madison, Arkansas, where I had studied the habits of various spe- 
cies of Simulium during 1887 and 1888, very many larve were found in 
the swiftest flowing portions of the St. Francis River, being attached as 
usual to young willows and cottonwoods growing in the stream. Some 


452 


of these larvz were very young, or at least exceedingly minute, while 


others appeared to be fully half grown. No adults or pupe were to be 


found. 

Here, on February 10, Phleotribus liminaris was observed burrowing 
under the bark of a peach tree which had died the previous autumn. 
Some of the adults were only recently emerged from the pupal stage, 
as was indicated by their lighter color, and larve of this or an allied 
species were abundant under the bark of the same tree. 

From Madison I proceeded to Franklin County, to visit Mr. W. J. 
Alexander, postmaster of Vineland, whose vineyard has for several 
years been ravaged by the Grape Curculio, Craponius incequalis Say. 
The locality is somewhat isolated, being situated on the top of one of 
the Ozark Mountains about 25 miles north of the Little Rock and Fort 
Smith Railway. The soil on these mountain tops is very fertile and 
appears to be particularly adapted to fruit growing, especially grapes, 
wild varieties of which grow thickly and luxuriantly all over the 
mountain tops and sides where there is sufficient soil to support them. 


The fruit of these wild grapes is large, luscious, and produces a wine. 


of excellent quality. To grape culture, however, the depredations of 
the Grape Curculio proves a serious drawback, the pestapparently being 
more widespread and its ravages more pronounced here than elsewhere 
in the country, though it does not, so far as I could learn, occur in de- 
structive numbers south of the Arkansas River or even in the vicinity 
of Fort Smith. For my knowledge of the distribution, however, I am 
indebted to the people of this section of the State, and the injury to 
wild grapes in the forest may be much greater than has been observed. 
The damage to cultivated grapes began to be observable as long ago 
at least as in 1880, and since that time has steadily increased until it 
has become almost impossible to secure a crop of fruit without bagging 
the clusters with small paper sacks. 

In Mr. Alexander’s vineyard, the only one which I was able to ex- 
amine, the attack commences about June 1, a wet June being supposed 
to favor the development of the pest, which continues to work destruc- 
tion until the fruit has ripened, the earliest attack being noticed along 
the outer margin nearest the woods. As the insect is known to hiber- 
nate in the adult stage, it seemed possible that burning over the ground 
during winter or early spring might result inthe destruction of a large 


number thus passing the winter months among the leaves and rubbish © 


about the wild vines. The greater portion of two days, February 17 and 
18, was spent in sifting the dead leaves and surface soil, under wild 
vines in the woods, and also about cultivated vines, in the vineyard. 
About the former were invariably found considerable numbers of Cer- 
copeus chrysorheeus, but none of these were found in siftings from the 
vineyard, and nowhere did I find the Grape Cureculio. Under date of 
April 14, nearly two months after my visit, Mr. Alexander wrote me as 
follows: 


453 


Some weeks after your depawure I gathered some leaves and loose earth in my 
vineyard, just asI saw youdo. This I sifted, putting the siftings in the bright sun- 
shine, and sat watching for about half an hour, when I saw a movement among the 
siftings which looked suspicious, and securing the bug making it found it to be the 
pest we were after.” Soon after I caught a second. 

From Mr. Alexander’s observations and my own, it seems that but 
little aid can be looked for in the direction of burning over the forests, 
and that little only following late burning in spring. If, as I believe 
to be the fact, the Grape Curculio passes the winter closely ensconced 
in the ground about the bases of the grape vines or under the loose flat 
stones with which the surface of these mountains is thickly strewn, 
destruction by the agency of fire will prove of little value, and we must 
look to other means, such as are applicable to the vines, both in the 
vineyard and to, at least, those wild vines in close proximity thereto. 
The nature of these means, as well as their effect, can only be deter- 
mined by careful investigation and experimentation. 

While riding over the mountains, on my way to Vineland, an insect 
flew by my ear, and, though not able to see or capture it, the note it 
produced was unmistakable, and, although I had not heard it for nearly 
three years, the evidence was conclusive that Simulia of some sort were 
abroad in this region. On the morning prior to my leaving the locality, 
cattle, more especially young animals, appeared very restive and un- 
easy. On examination buffalo gnats were found attacking them in con- 
siderable numbers. Climbing down the mountain side and foilowing 
a small stream to its junction with a larger one, and where the water 
was dashing over its rocky bed,an abundance of larve were found 
attached to the rocks in the midst of the stream. The gnat season was 
evidently only just beginning, as very few pupz were to be found, 
though they were found in this same locality a few weeks later by a 
young man in the family of Mr. Alexander. While never becoming 
sufficiently numerous to kill stock, probably on account of the small 
size of the stream, there are often enough of the guats produced to 
cause much annoyance, especially to young cattle. If common testi- 
mony is to be trusted, the Ox Warble Fly, Hypoderma bovis, is much 
more injurious to cattle, as is also the Screw Worm, the larve of Lucilia 
macellaria. 

Information obtained at Paris, Texas, was to the effect that wheat 
was in the best of condition, and free from all insect attack. While 
Sweeping over the experimental plats of wheat belonging to the Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station, at College Station, Texas, I was sur- 
prised to observe Meromyza americana, and found all of the earlier 
Stages, except the eggs, in considerable abundance; so much so, in fact, 
that in future a report of serious injury to wheat through the supposed 
attack of Hessian Fly, but really due to the Meromyza, will not be in 
the least surprising. 

A species of Thrips, and also a Phiwothrips, were especially abundant 
in young growing wheat. The larve of Leucania pseudargyria were 


454 


also swept from the same plats. Calandra oryze also appeared in these : 
sweepings, showing that this pest, so abundant and destructive to 
stored grain all over the South, is to be found abroad in the fields very 
early in the season. A field of turnips (ruta-bagas) which had been left 
out over winter were thickly populated with Aphis brassice, indicating 
something as to what the cabbage crop has to overcome in that sec- 
tion. During my short stay at College Station I reared two para- 
sites from this Aphis, viz, Allotria brassice, and Diaeretus n. sp., both 
in great abundance. A few days later, in Burnet County, the Red- 
shouldered Sinoxylon, Sinoxylon basilare, was obServed in great abun- 
dance burrowing into Mesquite, and therefore may be looked upon as 
one of the future orchard pests of the State. 

Among the insects swept from growing wheat at College Station, 
there appeared, singularly enough, a single female Buffalo Gnat. 
While this individual might have originated in either Navasota River, 
to the east, or in the Brazos, to the west, it seemed that, as the latter 
stream was the nearest, there was a greater probability of finding the 
earlier stages there. A day was spent in examination of this stream, 
about 7 miles from where the aduit was taken, and, as a result, the 
driftwood and brush in the swifter flowing portions of the stream were 
found to harbor numbers of larve, with, at this time, a few pupe. 
These larve closely resembled those found in streams in the neighbor- 
hood of the Mississippi River, but I could not learn from people resid- 
ing in the vicinity that any serious effect on stock had been noticed. 

A later and extended examination of the river Pedernalis, in Blanco 
County, and other tributaries of the Colorado River in Llano and 
Burnet Counties, as well as the Colorado itself, revealed the fact that all 
of these streams were populated with great numbers of Simulium larve, 
very much resembling those observed in the Ozark Mountains of Ar- 
kansas. Here, as in Arkansas, the pup were in the minority, though 
much more numerous than farther north. 

In Devil’s River, a small tributary of the Rio Grande in southwest- 
ern Texas, what seemed very similar larve were found in great abun- 
dance. There will most likely be two species found here, neither of 
which is like those described from the Mississippi Valley. The Pecos 
River, in the western part of the State, I did not examine, but from 
what could be learned of its nature from ranchmen and others, it will 
most likely prove to be equally well stocked. Along Devil’s River, on | 
March 22, adult Simulia were abroad in considerable numbers, some 
of them being infested by a small, red, water mite, apparently belong- 
ing to the genus Diplodontus. 

‘‘ The eternal fitness of things” is most aptly illustrated in these rocky 
streams of western Texas. If the Mississippi River were to empty its 
overflow into the upper portions of these streams for a few years, dur- 
ing early spring, we should most assuredly see all stock driven out of 
the country by Buffalo Gnats. Even if the volume of water were con- 


e348 


455 


siderably increased for any extended period during February and 
March, the result would certainly prove fatal to great numbers of stock 
on adjacent ranches. At the very season when the gnats are the most 
abundant, the so-called Heel Fly, Hypoderma lineata, drives the stock 
from the mountain sides and cafions to the streams, if any such are 
near, for protection; and, while under existing conditions they only 
encounter a few gnats, a greater number caused by other conditions 
would result in their destruction. Even now the attacks of these Sim- 
ulia must cause stock no little annoyance, but there are few if any 
cases of fatal results; and whatever tendency gnats may have to “run” 
stock is placed to the credit of Heel Flies. 


AN ENCYRTID WITH SIX-BRANCHED ANTENNZ. 


By WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD. 


Species in the group Encyrtine with branched antenne, until quite 
recently, were considered anomalous and unique, the first to be discov- 
ered in this country being my Tetracnemus floridanus, described as early 
as1885.* Since then, however, Mr. Howard has added one new genus 


Fic. 35.—Hezacladia smithii, male, with female antenna above—greatly enlarged (original.) 


and species— Tanaostigma coursetie, from Mexico, and he now informs 
me he has several new species, representing types of new genera, in 
the Department collection, which he proposes to describe shortly in a 
synopsis. 


* Proc. Ent. Sec. Acad. N. Sc. Phil., 1885, p. xviii. 


456 


On learning from me that 1 liad in my collection a remarkable form 
from South America, he requested me to draw up a diagnosis of it, so 
he could incorporate it in his tables, and which I have accordingly done. 
This Eneyrtid, fortunately in both sexes, was discovered in a collection 
of South American Chalcidide placed in my hands to work up nearly 
two years ago by that indefatigable collector, Herbert H. Smith, and 
is only one of several varieties in the collection. 

Not alone the six-branched antennz in the male, but the fact that the 
antennee in both sexes are inserted on the middle of the face make it 
a unique in the group, as all other described species, so far as I know, 
have the antenn inserted close tothe mouth. The abnormally length- 
ened first funiclar joint in the female is also a remarkable character. 

The characters separating this genus from other genera of the Eneyr- 
tinze may be derived from the following diagnosis: 


Hexacladia gen. nov. 


Head very broadly transverse, including the eyes, much wider than the thorax, the 
face full convex, the space between the eyes and the mandibles longer than the 
length of the eye. Eye broadly oval, bare. Ocelli three, rather close together and 
subtriangularly arranged. Labrum very small, transverse, twice as wide as long. 
Mandibles very small, oblong, truncate at tips, bidentate. Maxillary palpi rather 
long, five-jointed; labiales short, three-jointed. Antenne in both sexes eleven-jointed, 
inserted on the middle of the face, the scape long, cylindrical, projected far above the 
vertex; in the male (Fig. 35) the six funicle joints each furnished with « long hairy 
ramus, the basal one being the longest, the others gradually diminishing in length to 
the last; the first funicle joint is very short, the following all long, at least thrice 
longer than the first; club long, fusiform, three-jointed. In the female the flagel- 
lum is subclavate, the first funicle joint being remarkably long, almost as long as the 
five following joints together; the last five funicles are short and very gradually 
increase in length and width to the club, the latter ccmposed of three joints. The 
thorax in the male is strongly developed, hignly convex, resembling somewhat an 
~ Eucharid; in the female less strongly developed. Mesonotum transverse, smooth, 
polished, without trace of furrows. Scutellum longer than wide, rounded behind 
and highly convex. Axille transverse, convex. Metathorax short, smooth, the 
spiracles very large, rounded. Middle legs slightly the longest, their tibie long, 
slender, cylindric, about one-third longer than the tarsi, the spur more than half the 
length of the basal tarsal joint, the tarsi stouter than the posterior tarsi, the joints 
after the first very short. The posterior femora and tibix are slightly dilated, the 
tarsi slender, cylindrical, and almost as long as the tibie. 

Abdomen, in both sexes, is small in proportion to the thorax; in the male itis long, 
oval, composed of seven segments, the first much the longest, the others short, all of 
about an equal length; in the female it is subcompressed, composed of six segments, 
the hypopygium being plowshare shaped, the ovipositor slightly exserted ; as in the 
male, the first segment is the longest. 

Wings banded; the submarginal attains to the middle of the wing before jointing 
the costa, the costal cell being somewhat wide; the marginal vein is thickened and 
a little longer than the stigmal; the stigmal clavate curved upwards; the postmar- 
ginal is longer in the male than in the female. 


Pe a sif 


457 
Hexacladia smithii sp. nov. 


Male: Length 1.8 millimeters; wing expanse 4 millimeters. Head brownish-yellow, 
smooth, polished, the vertex fuscous; face very convex, with afew scattered, shallow 
punctures. Eyes broadly oval, brown. Antenne black, the scape pale rufous, with 
a dusky streak above, the six funiclar joints each furnished with a long hairy branch. 
Thorax black, impunctured, highly polished; collar brownish-yellow; scutellum 
shining, but microscopically shagreened. Anterior legs, including coxe, brownish- 
yellow; middle and posterior legs black; in the middle pair the knees, tips of tibiae, 
tibial spur, and tarsi are brownish-yellow. Abdomen black, the dorsum concave, 
probably unnaturally so in the dry specimen. Wings hyaline, with two transverse 
brown bands that do not extend entirely across the wing, terminating at about its 
center; the first and narrower is situated at about two-thirds the length of the sub- 
costal vein, the second and broader one just beneath the marginal. 

Female: Length 2 millimeters. Head much wider than in the male, and except a 
streak on the face below the base of the antenne, entirely black. Antenne sub- 
clavate, brown, the scape and pedicel rufous. Thorax above black, highly polished: 
the basal half of the scutellum is bright red; collar, mesopleure, anterior legs, mid- 
dle coxz, tips of middle and posterior tibiz, and their tarsi, rufous; the rest of the 
legs dark fuscous, Abdomen short, rather strongly compressed, black, shining. The 
apical half of the anterior wings, except the margins, is wholly brown, the basal 
half hyaline, with the narrow subcostal band as in the male. 

Described from one 2 and two 4 specimens, taken by Mr. Herbert 
H. Smith, at Chapada, South America, during the month of April, and 


in honor of whom this beautiful chaleid is named. 


HISTORY OF THE HYDROCYANIC ACID GAS TREATMENT FOR 
SCALE INSECTS. 


By D. W. CoquiLuetTT, Special Agent. 


So far as 1 am aware no person ever used hydrocyanic acid gas for 
the purpose of destroying insects on trees or plants prior +o the time 
that the writer was employed by Professor Riley, Chief of the Division 
of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, in the sum- 
mer of 1886, to carry on a series of experiments for the destruction of 
the Fluted or Cottony-cushion scale (Icerya purchasi Maskell). 

In the month of September of the above-mentioned year I first began 
experimenting with this gas by confining the trees in an air-tight ves- 
sel, and then filling the latter with the gas generated from potassium 
eyanide and sulphuric acid placed within the vessel. At first I oper- 
ated on small orange trees, using a common 5-gallon kerosene ean, 
the entire upper end of which had been previously removed. After 
placing the generator upon the ground at the base of the tree to be 
operated upon I next placed the necessary chemicals in the generator 
and immediately covered both the tree and the generator with the tin 
can inverted over them, the lower edge of the can having been firmly 
pressed into the earth to prevent the escape of the gas. 


458 


1 next operated on larger orange trees by using a 40-gallon barrel in 
the same manner that I had the tincan. After making a series of ex- 
periments with this barrel I had a tent made out of unbleached muslin, 
and afterwards had it oiled with boiled linseed oil; with this tent I 
could operate on trees about five feet high. I next used a tent belonging 
’ to Mr. J. W. Wolfskill, of this city; this tent was made out of heavy 
ducking, and was large enough to treat trees ten or twelve feet in height. 
It was simply oiled with boiled linseed oil, and was placed over the trees 
by the aid of poles. In making these experiments I was aided by Mr. — 
Alexander Craw, Mr. Wolfskill’s foreman, and the experiments were 
made at all hours of the day and also at night. 

At first I dissolved the cyanide in cold water, then used it with water 
but undissolved, and later I used the cyanide dry. 

In all of these experiments I used commercial sulphuric acid, undi- 
luted, for the purpose of generating the gas. No machine of any kind 
was used for the purpose of circulating the gas inside of the tent, and 
the gas was generated within the tent or other appliance used for inclos- 
ing the trees. 

Shortly after making these experiments Mr. J. W. Wolfskill had a 
fumigator constructed for operating on tall trees, and he had the entire 
upper part of his fumigating tent painted black for the purpose of ex- 
cluding the rays of light, as my previous experiments with the un- 
painted tents demonstrated the fact that trees treated in the hottest 
part of the day were more liable to be injured by the gas when an over- 
dose of it had been used than they were when treated in the cooler 
portion of the day or at night. In conjunction with Messrs. Wolfskill 
and Craw I made a large series of experiments with this fumigator both 
during the daytime and also at night. 

All of my experiments with hydrocyanic acid gas, referred to above, 
were made in the latter part of the year 1886, and they demonstrated 
the following facts: 

(1) That when the aqueous solution of cyanide was used, the trees 
were more liable to be injure d by an overdose of the gas than when the 
cyanide was used dry. 

(2) That trees treated in the hottest part of the day were more liable 
to be injured by an overdose of the gas than if treated in the cooler 
portion of the day or at night. 

(3) That the use of a black tent in the daytime somewhat prevented 
injury to the trees by the gas, but only to a comparatively slight 
degree. 

In the spring of the year 1887, Prof. E. W. Hilgard, of the State Uni- - 
versity of California, delegated one of his assistants, Mr. F. W. Morse, 
to carry on a Series of experiments with various gases for the destruc- 
tion of insects on Citrus trees, and after testing several different kinds 
of gases he found none so effectual as hydrocyanic acid gas, which he 
generated by means of an aqueous solution of potassium cyanide and 


A459 

sulphuric acid. He also discovered the fact that an overdose of the gas 
was more liable to injure the free in the hottest part of the day than it 
would if used in the cooler portion, and to remedy this he generated 
carbonic acid gas with the hydrocyanic acid gas; but later experiments 
made by myself and others proved that this was only a partial preven- 
tion. In accordance with the instructions of Professor Hilgard, Mr. 
Morse used at first a pump, and later a fan-blower, for the purpose of 
injecting the gas and also of stirring tt inside of the tent. 

In the latter half of the year 1887 I carried on another series of ex- 
periments with hydrocyanic acid gas, using atent constructed out of 
common bedticking and oiled with linseed oil. I then for the first time 
tried the method of passing the gas through sulphuric acid, and found 
that it was less liable to injure the trees than by either of the methodr 
heretofore used. Shortly after the above facts were published, Mr. 
Morse also tested this method and reported it as being the most 
desirable method to use, but recommended using pumice stone saturated 
with sulphuric acid for passing the gas through, instead of using the 
liquid acid. 

In the summer of 1888, I made another series of experiments with 
this gas principally for the purpose of testing the different brands of 
potassium cyanide found in the market of Los Angeles, and found 
that the cyanide manufactured by Powers & Weightman, of Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania, was nearest of a uniform strength, and gave 
the best results. 

In the month of September, 1889, I carried on another series of exper- 
ments with this gas, using a tent belonging to Mr. A. D. Bishop, of 
Orange, California. This tent was made out of blue denims, and before 
commencing the experiments I had it painted black. All of these 
experiments were made in the daytime, from 9:30 a. m. to 5:30 p. m., and 
I found that by using the cyanide dry, along with two parts of water 
to every one of sulphurie acid, and dispensing altogether with the 
machinery for circulating the gas in the tent, better results were obtained 
than by the use of either of the methods described above, while at the 
same time the process was much simpler and cheaper than these. 

After ascertaining the results of these experiments I gave the formula 
to Mr. A. H. Alward and Mr. A. D. Bishop, and also informed them of 
the other facts relating to this process, and stated that better results 
would be obtained by the use of the gas at night than would be by 
using it in the daytime. Accordingly Mr. Bishop tested this process 
at night, and finding that it gave such good results he, in conjune- 
tion with Drs. W. B. Wall and M.S. Jones, of Tustin City, California, 
applied for a patent on this process. As soonas I learned thata patent 
had been applied for I at once wrote to Professor Riley on the subject, 
and he laid the matter before Assistant Secretary of Agriculture 
Willits, who wrote to the Commissioner of Patents, protesting against 
_ the issuing of a patent on the gas treatment to the above mentioned 


460 


applicants, giving a brief history of the case, and the examiner of pat- 
ents rejected the claims of the would-be patentees. The latter then em- 
ployed an attorney and sent him to Washipgton to argue their case 
before the Commissioner of Patents, and a patent was finally granted to 
them in the month of January, 1891. 

After I had made a large series of experiments with hydrocyanic 
acid gas several other persons also made a number of experiments 
with it, but as these have not been made public except in a few in- 
stances I am unable to give an account of them in this place ; however, 
these experiments did not contribute to the perfecting of the successful 
use of this gas, and are therefore of little or no interest except to the 
persons making them. While carrying on my experiments at Orange 
in the month of September, 1889, as detailed above, Mr. Bishop in- 
formed me that he and Dr. Wall had made some experiments with 
this gas, these experiments dating from the autumn of 1887. He 
also informed me that they had obtained the best results by using the 
cyanide dissolved in water, and diluting the sulphuric acid with water 
prior to making the tests; but anumber of these experiments which I 
repeated under his direction did not produce the same results that he 
reported having obtained by them. Mr. A. H. Alward, of Orange, in- 
formed me that he had also tried the diluted acid but had not obtained 
as good resultsas when he had used the pure acid. 


SOME OF THE BRED PARASITIC HYMENOPTERA IN THE NATIONAL 
COLLECTION. 


(Continued from p. 158.) 


Family ICHNEUMONID&Z. 


Subfamily Tryphonine. 


Parasites. Hosts. 
Bassusaguilis Cr soa hee SP eS 3 Syrphid puparium. June 14, 1884, 
Bassus sycophanta Walsh. .-.......--..... Gall on oak (Q. obtusiloba). Apr. 25, 1370. 
Bassus Scucellayws Crees see ee er ee Leucania unipuncta, seemingly ovipositing 
on. Huntsville, Ala., May 11, 1882. 


Bassus syrphicola Ashm .2 2-222 22. sees Syrphid with Rose Aphides. San Francisco» 
Cal., Apr. 29, 1881. 
Collected, Los Angeles Co., Cal. 


Bassusorbitalis Ashm 22.2225. 2 see sees Syrphus larva on Cabbage, ovipositing on. 
Alameda Co., Cal., Aug. 

Bassus: xanthopsis Ashm” = +. 2-222.) 22 - Syrphus feeding on Aphis brassice L. Ala- 
meda Co., Cal., Nov. 

Bassuis euure Ashm 22sec ee eae eee Saw-fly (Zuura sp.?) on Willow. Placer 
Co., Cal. 

Bassus macuiifrons Crjs. 7 io eee Syrphus on Orange. Los Angeles Co., Cal. 


Collected ovipositing on Syrphus larva 
feeding on Cabbage Aphis. Alameda Co., 
Cal., Oct. 


461 


Parasites. Hosts. 
Mesolepiusisps... oe 2-sssc.. 3c -e9 eee Elm leaf-roller. Kirkwood, Mo. (?), March 
13, 1882. 
Mesoleius schizoceri, Riley and Howard... Schizocera ebena Norton. Ocean Springs, 
Miss, Aug. 19 and Sept. 28, 1887. 
Pxockns levis Cra: -- 2st ass ae ook as fe Pyralid larva on Alnus serrulata. Wash- 
ington, D. C., Feb. 6, 1884. 
Tortricid leaf gail on Solidago lanceolata. 
Washington, D. C., June 6, 1889. 
DINGCRHS CYVEELUS © Pec awas cosas Moos fctcas o> Bucculatrix sp. on Solidago. Kirkwood, 
Mo., May 16, 1885. 
Collected also in Texas. 
Exochus annulicrus Walsh.............-.. Tortrix rileyana Grote. 
Tortriz sp. Kirkwood, Mo., Oct. 18, 1881. 
Leaf-roller, Lansing, Mich., July 2, 1885. 


Pxechns folvipes Cr. j'-. 23.2.6 sa. apie tad Tortriz rileyana Grote. St. Louis, Mo., 
June, 1868. 

ixochus albitrons/€r: <2. --..--=- =. papel ocean Tortriz rileyana Grote. St. Louis, Mo., 
June, 1868. 

Hyperacmus tinez Riley MS .............- Tinea pellionella L. Adrian, Mich., June 
17, 1885. 

Subfamily Pimpline. 

Ephialtes 1writator-Pabrs.-: 5. .-.-....2---- Cerambycid under bark of Oak. 

Ephialtes pygmzeus Walsh ............---. Gelechia gallesolidaginis Riley. St. Louis, 
Mo., 1867. 

Punpia pierophori Ashm:-: os 223%.2.2.---.2 Pterophorus in stems of Baccharis pilula- 
ris. Los Angeles Co., Cal., May. 

Pimpia anaulipes Brallé 5. 35525202222)... - Carpocapsa pomonella Linn. Kirkwood 


and other parts of Missouri from 1869 
on. Alameda Co., Cal., Aug. 15, 1887. 
Collected also in Mich., Texas, and 

Washington, D. C. 
Phycita nebulo Walsh.” 
Papilio ajax Linn,* 
Datana ministra Drury.* 
Tortrix quercifoliana Fitch.* 
Leaf-roller on Strawberry (not reared).* 
Teras oxycoccana Pack.* ; 
Heterocampa marthesia Cram.* 
Gelechia galle-asterella Killicott.* 
Chilo, near oryzeellus, reared from twigs 
of Sumach. Washington, D. C.* 


Psmiplarutopectus Cres secs .t.s2cc-2 <= 5s Spider eggs. Alameda Co., Cal., June 
10, 1887. 
Punpia pterelas Say sa.- sci sees wens i -s - Pedisca scudderiana Clem. Washing- 


ton, D. C.,? May 10, 1889. 
Gelechia gallesolidaginis Riley. 
Collected also in Texas. 
PsA VOVEUS CE a net oo aimacisiew eo eeiieas, > Grapholitha olivaceana Riley. Washing- 
ton, D. C., Apr. 16, 1884. 
Thalpochares carmelite Morr. Bluffton, S. 
C., Feb. 4, 1890. 
Pimpla indagatrix Walsh .........-..---- Tortrix incertana Clem. on Oak. Kirk- 
wood, Mo., Nov. 7, 1878. 
Coleophora’ cinerella? Clem. on Alnus. 
Washington, D. C., Apr. 10, 1884. 


*See Insect LIFE, vol. 1, p. 161. 


462 


Parasites. 


Pimpla conquisitor Say 


Fimplainquisitor Say 2... cess oe 


Pimpla scriptifrons Walk 


Pimpla notanda Cr...........-..-.. eee 


Pimplaorgyiz Riley,MS 


27 e@eeees ©CeCee ecseee 


Hosts. 


. Tortricid on cedar. Tiger Mills, Tex., June 


21, 1889. 

Thyridopteryx ephemereformis Haw. Cam- 
den, N. J., May 24, 1888; Washington, 
D. C., Nov. 2-7, 1882; April 14, 1883. 

Aletia xylina Say Hb. Holly Springs, 
Miss., 1880; Athens, Ga., Nov. 8, 1887; 
bred at Kirkwood Mo., Feb. 19, 1879. 

Phryganidea californica Pack. Alameda 
Co., Cal., June, 1885. 

Orgyia leucostigma Abb. & Sm. on Willow. 
Newark, Del., March, 1890. Collected 
also in Texas and Wisconsin. 

Phacellura hyalinitalis Linn.” 

Phycis indiginella Zeller (nebulo).* 

Clisiocampa americana Harr.* 

Clisiocampa californica Pack. Los Ange- 
les, Cal. 

Orgyia leucostigma Abb. & Sm. Illinois, 
1867-68; Washington, D. C., Apr. 14, 

1883. 
Phycita juglandis Le Baron. Ithaca, N. Y., 
July 1, 1890. 
Tineid sp. on Symphoricarpus mollis Nutt. 

Alameda Co., Cal., June, 1887. 

Collected also in Missouri, Texas, and Iowa. 

Gelechia galle-solidaginis Riley.* 

Semasia olivaceana Riley.” 
Coleophora cinerella Riley.* 
Leaf-roller on Ash (not reared).* 


-Epeira riparia Hentz (egg sac). Washing- 


ton, D. C., Apr. 1889. 
Collected in Missouri also. 
Gelechia galle-solidaginis Riley. St. Louis 

Mo., Apr. 1867. ; 
Gelechia (G. galle-solidaginisa? Riley on, 

Solidago lanceolata. Washington, D.C. 

Sept. 21, 1883; on S. sempervirens. Atlan- 

tic City, N. J., Sept. 14, 1886. 

Gelechia galle-astrella Kell. St. Louis, Mo., 
May 16, 1873; on Solidago oricoides. Mary- 
land and Virginia, Sept. 5-18, 1883. 

Papilio troilus L. St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 1, 
1873. 

Issued from stem of Yucca? Washington, 
D.C.,? July 3, 1882. Probably on Pro- 
doxus decipiens. Riley. 

Lepidopterous gall on Baccharis pilularis. 

San Francisco, Cal., June 30, 1887. 

Collected also in Texas. 

Proteoteras wsculana Riley.* 

Leaf-roller on Locust (not reared).* 

Orgyia sp. on Live Oak and other plants. 
Alameda Co., Cal., July 4, 1885. 


*See INSECT LIFE, vol. 11, page 161.. 


463 


Parasites. Hosts. 
Peete ap <2 ose ees Cee a PRET hgh Spider eggs. Japan. 
Pimpla gossypii Ashm.-...-.. ....--------- Cotton Boll Tortrix. Selma, Ala., Mar. 
i, 1879. 
Pimpla xanthothorax Ashm...-....-...--- Euura s.?nodus Walsh on Willow. Kirk- 
wood, Mo., Feb. 24, 1872. 
Pimpla aplopappi Ashm.--..-...---.-.-.-Lepidopterous gall on Aplopappus squarrosa. 


Los Angeles, Cal. 
Collected also in Wisconsin. 


So ei eo capt igs hi Tthopobota (Anchylopera) vacciniana Pack, 
Bordentown, N. J., June 20, 1878. 

Pepin auucc Agim 325255 202 ye 2252 Euura on Salix californica. California, 
Sept. 9, 1885. 

Pimpla lithocolletidis Ashm...-...--.--.- Lithocolletis sp.on Grindelia robusta. Ala- 
meda Co., Cal. 

Pimpla bicarinata Riley MS .----.------ - Apatela oblinita Abb. & Sm. St. Louis, Mo., 

~ April, 1#68, and Champaign, III. 

Clistopyga pleuralis Ashm--.....-...----- Gelechta robiniafoliella? Chamb.  Kirk- 
wood, Mo., Apr. 5, 1873. 

Giypta leucozonata Ashm ......-.-.-.--- Grapholitha interstinclana Clem.  Kirk- 
wood, Mo., July 12, 1887. 

Glypta xanthozonata Ashm.--.-..---.---- Tortricid on Oak. Kirkwood, Mo., Oct. 15, 
1881. 

Glypta mellithorax Riley MS -.......---. Tineid on Apple. June 11, 1885. 

Glypta simplicipes Cr ...--......-...-...Tortrix folding leaves of Gooseberry. St. 


Louis, Mo., July 29 and Aug. 4, 1876. 

Cacecia rosaceana Harr. Waukon, Iowa, 
June 25, 1874. 

Tortrix cinderella? Riley, on Apple. Oska- 
loosa, Iowa, June 12, 1877. 

Notodonta ulmi Harr. Missouri, Mar.11-12, 
1884. 

Collected also in Texas. 

Paw pet SUTAMON GE occ oo use <= See 326 =e Eccopsis footiana Fernald. Missouri? June 

7, 1886. 

Collected also at Cadet, Mo., and Veta 
Pass, Colo. 


Gigpud Srramies CP 2-22. Ss5.-- 22.52-'--- Lepid. steni-borer in Fupatorium. Kirk- 
wood, Mo., Apr. 4, 1884. ; 

peeve anaors (ee oss Si Ss 2 St 2 a. Padisca sp. in flowers of Grindelia ro- 
busta. Alameda Co., Cal., Feb., Apr., 
1888. 

febyEaeweriger Gx) 2 = 228 hse: CSP Sloe. Phycitaon Hickory. Kirkwood, Mo., Oct. 

; 18, 1681. 
Collected also in Texas. 
Pergees sINes CP. ko os is ae oe sa Pedisca scudderiana Clem. Washington, 


D. C.? Mar. 16, 1887. 

Tortricid in stem of weed. Virginia, Mar. 
1, 1882. 

Pyralid on Ailanthus. Washington, D.C., 
Mar. 17, 1882. 

Tortricid on Cedar. Tiger Mills, Tex. June 
21, 1829. 

Glypta monita Cr.............50-...----- Gelechia juncidella Clem. Washington, D. 
C.? Aug. 2, 1885; June 14, 1886; Sept, 
20, 1887. 

Collected also in Texas, 


3329—No, 11——3 


464 


Parasites. Hosts. 
Glypta rufiseutellaris'\Cresc22. 22-2 eso Proteoteras wsculana Riley. Kirkwood, Mo., 
July 23, 1883, and West Point, Nebr., 
June, 1885-86. 
Collected also in Texas. 


Glypta seitulaiCr 2222 2 stasce ae eee Tineidon Apple. Washington, D. C., June 
10, 1885. 
Gly pta vulgarig\@rs-cs pe: see cee eee Gelechia sp. Aug. 8, i886. 
Margarodes quadristigmalis Guen. Wash- 
y ington, D. C., Aug. 2, 1886. - 
Glyptarmulitanis (iso ece=—-—e ete eee Proteoteras wsculana Riley. June 20, 1888. 
Collected also in Texas. 
Gly pitas pes soe oe bo Ss eee ee oan Cocoon on Red Cedar. Lafayette, Ind. 
Polysphincta phycitis Riley.............-Acrobasis (Phycita) nebulo Walsh. Paxton, 
Ind., July 21, 1885. 
Lampronotavriods Cr 7c 22 seat eee aes Crambus vulgivagellus Clem. Watertown, 


N. Y., Nov., (?) 1882. Saw-fly (Messa ?) 
on Wheat. Indiana, May 21, 1885. 
Lampronota occidentalis Cr ..--..--...... Lepid. gallon Baccharis pilularis. San Luis, 
Obispo Co., Cal., Feb., 1887. 
Collected also in Texas. 
Lampronota succincta Cr........--...---- Oak gall. Missouri, Feb. 14, 1871. 
Lampronota putva:Cr -s22-- 2s. sa. Sete Lepid. Rose-leaf roller. St. Louis, Mo. 
June 6, 1871. 
Collected also in Washington, D. C. 
Lampronota routines Cr <osce2ecnses os) oe Tortricid Leaf-roller on Solidago. Virginia, 
July 11, 1884. 
Collected also in Michigan, Texas, Mis- 
souri, North Carolina, and California. 


Lampronota pleuralis Cr - << 22.2522 -.<-- Tortrix incertana Clem. St. Louis, Mo., 
Nov. 7, 1878. 

Lampronota brannea ‘Cr.-- 22. 025.222.2222 - Caloptenus spretus? Thos. Prof. Aughey. 

Moeniseus elegans Cre. -c0 2 see see ce ee Tortricid on Cottonwood. Belleville, Ill., 


May 5, 1870. 
Noctuid larva. July 2, 1886. 
Received also from South Carolina. 


Meniscus scutellaris Cr.-....-.-..----.--- Gelechia pseudacaciella Chamb. on Locust. 
St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 7, 1872, and April, 

1873. 

Meniscus dakrume Riley, MS..-.-......-... -Dakruma coccidivora Comst.? feeding on 
Lecanium on Rose. Alameda, Cal., Mar. 
1, 1886. 

Phytodietus pleuralis Cr -2-t 25. ose ee EKudemis botrana Schiff. on Tulip tree. 
Washington, D.C., March 5, 1280. 

Phytodietus vulgaris Creo 22 sos. cen ecoee Geometer on Physalis viscosa, Kirkwood, ~ 


Mo., May 15, 1855. 
Received also from Texas. 
ELabenaiapiealis Crests 52222 2e%t fs seca Chrysobothris femorataFab. St. Louis, Mo., 
June 30, 1875. 
Collected also in District of Columbia and 
Texas. 


Family Trigonalide. 


Trigonalys costalis Cr ...--. .-------------Acronycta lobelie Guen. on Oak. Wash- 
ington, D.C., Apr. 2, 1835, 


465 


DESCRIPTION OF A NEW TORTRICID FROM CALIFORNIA. 
By Lorp WALSINGHAM. 
SEMASIA Stph. 


Semasia bucephaloides. sp. n. 


Antenna, grayish. 

Palpi, stout, projecting more than the length of the head beyond it; grayish-white, 
sprinkled, especially at the sides, with gray scales. 

Head, grayish-white, sprinkled, especially at the sides, with gray scales. 

Thorax, grayish-white above, brownish-ochreous at the sides. 

Fore-wings, grayish-white, much suffused and sprinkled with gray scales; a brownish- 
ochreous, elongate, ill-defined patch, extending from the basal fourth to beyond 
the middle of the wing, parallel to the costa, along the upper edge of the cell; at 
one-third from the base, scarcely attaining the dorsal margin, but crossing the 
fold, is a patch of scattered, dark umber scales on a brownish-ochreous ground; 
a similar patch, but less conspicuous, is situated immediately above the anal 
angle, bordering the edge of the ocelloid patch ; this is whitish-ochreous, shaded 
around its edges with brownish-ochreous scales, and containing two short longi- 
tudinal streaks of dark umber scales on its upper half; above the ocelloid patch 
the apical portion of the wing is also whitish-ochreous, suffused with brownish- 
ochreous; the only other marking noticeable, with the exception of some gray 
mottlings on the costa, is a small whitish patch about the end of the cell, fol- 
lowed by some pale brownish-ochreous scales; cilia, white along their middle, 
irregularly bordered and interrupted with gray and brownish-gray. 

Hind-wings, very pale brownish ochreous; cilia, white, with a reduplicated grayish 
line along the base and another at their ends. 

Abdomen, dull grayish. 

Legs, anterior pair whitish, speckled with gray on their inner side; tarsi and tibia 
annulated with gray; posterior pair with the tibiw and tarsi speckled with pale 
gray on the outer side. 

Exp: al: 30mm. 

Hab: Little Shasta, Siskiyou County, Cal., September, 1871. 

Type 2 Mus. Wlism. 


EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
Experiments with Bacterial Cultures against Insects. 


I send you to-day specimens of diseased larve of Plusia. For several weeks I have 
been investigating the bacterial trouble and find it easily communicable by spraying, 
and that healthy worms fed on leaves sprayed with exceedingly dilute culture rap- 
idly die. 

It occurs to methat there is a chance to save our second-crop (February, March, 
April) cabbage by spraying the first brood of worms (December, January) with cul- 
ture solution of this bacterium. The culture could be sent to large growers in De- 
cember, with directions, using a Vermorel nozzle and Knapsack pump. Perhaps by 
colonizing worms planting of May 10 and spraying them these spots would prove 
centers of infection. 

I am now trying the spray upon the ‘‘ Horn worm of Tobacco”’ and the ‘‘ Dia- 
mond back” worm, and as soon as I can do so shall try the Cotton Caterpillar. Ido 
hope that this will prove a discovery of practical value, for the cabbage crop here is 
very large.—[J. C. Neal, Florida Experimental Station, Lake City, Florida, May 21, 
1891. 


466 


Correspondence from Indian Territory. 


Inclosed you will find an Hemipteron, which comes out at night, and, like the bed- 
bug, makes itself too familiar. It is not at all pleasant to have such a bed-fellow, 
but he will come out regularly to get his fill of blood. He will suck himself so full 
of blood that he can hardly navigate. What is his name, and is this a normal 
habit? 

Do galls produced by gnats often appear in numbers sufficient to cause damage ? 
There are two pecan trees in my yard and there is not a singie leaf on them that is 
not unshapely with those galls. 

Garden insects are scarce so far, but potato ieetles are here, though not many so 
far as [have seen. I send a beetle and an Orthopteron for identification. I found 
about 200 of the crickets in a butt of a hollow tree.—[A. N. Candell, Ringo, Indian 
Territory, May 29, 1891. 

Rerpty.— * * * The specimens which you sent came in good condition. The 
bug whose bite you describe is the so-called Bloodsucking Cone-nose (Conorhinus 
sanguisuga). Ishall be glad to have an account from you of your experience with 
this insect, giving the exact facts. You will find it mentioned in INsEcT Lirx, vol. 
11, p. 106, where a figure is also given, The Orthopterous insect found in the hollow 
tree is Phalangopsis cupidicola and the beetle is known as Silpha noveboracensis. The 
galls upon your pecan trees are not caused by ‘‘ gnats,” but by some plant-louse of the 
genus Phylloxera. They seldom do serious damage to the trees.—[June 8, 1891. ] 


Notes on three Noxious Insects of Mississippi. 


Texas Screw-worm (Lucilia macellaria Fabr.). The larva of this fly has been very 
troublesome in this locality the past year. Have found them on horses, cattie, sheep, 
and hogs, doing considerable damage. There has been one case reported wherxe the 
fly oviposited on a human being, a boy about eleven years old, while asleep. Chloro- 
form and carbolic acid are the best remedies we have tried against them. There has 
beena great deal of excitement about the worm in this county, this being its first 
appearance to my knowledge since settling here in 1869. 

Ox Warble Fly (Hypoderma bovis DeGeer.). Have found them in great numbers on 
the backs of cattle, especially work-oxen and milch-cows. Farmers generally apply 
spirits of turpentine or kerosene to kill larve. They have been very troublesome the 
past season in this locality. Have recommended to my neighbors an ointment made 
of sulphur and lard, which closes the breathing pores of the maggot, causing it to die. 

Harlequin cabbage bug (Murgantia histrionica Hahn.) This has been the first sea- 


son that I have observed this bug in the gardens of this vicinity. They have been. 


very destructive to the entire cabbage family. Istopped theirravages by hand-pick- 
ing several times.—[Geo. H. Kent, Roxie, Mississippi, February 7, 1691. 


Sure Way to Destroy Nests of Harvesting Ants. 


These insects, often so troublesome in gardens and stock-yards, may be destroyed 


by the following method: Enlarge the entrance so that it will hold a teaspoonful of 


London purgle, repeat the dose after two days, and if necessary a third time. That 
is all. I have killed fifty nests, most of them after the second dose, but do not for- 
get to repeat the dose. I have tried cyanide of potassium, etc., in vain, at a much 
greater expense and with much more trouble.—[F. G. S., Blanco County, Texas. 


Willow Hedges Injured by Saw-flies. 


* * * Tsend you some cuttings of willow containing larve. The same were 
found in willow hedge serving purpose offence. Many of the shoots are affected, fully 
10 per cent, I should judge. Fonnd some while pruning on the 18th instant. Do 
you know anything about the insect ?—[F. H. Stadtmueller, Elmwood, Connecticut, 
April 20, 1891. < 


—* 


A6T 


Repty.—* * * Thewillow cuttings containing larvie which you sent were placed 
aside and the adult insect was reared almost immediately. Itis one of the gall-making 
Saw-flies of the genus Luura and seems to be anew species. It probably makes galls 
upon the leaves during the summer, and has entered the twigs simply to hibernate. 
The best remedy will consist in pruning and burning the affected twigs during winter 
or in removing during summer all leaves affected with galls. This will be a serious 
labor, but you can determine whether it will be worth while.—[ April 28, 1891. ] 


Oak Furniture Damaged by Borers. 


Having recently seen some nicely finished suites of furniture which have been 
damaged by a borer of some sort, I wish to ask for information as to the name and 
habits of the insect. 

The wood is red oak, white oak, and chestnut oak, and in the last case noticed the 
furniture had not been finished more than a year, perhaps. As there are many very 
elegant and costly pieces of furniture now being made of oak it will soon be an impor- 
tant matter to knuw how toavoid the worm. It seems to come out of the wood, asif the 
egg had been deposited long before the tree was cut. Again, I am puzzled to know 
how the egg or larva can stand the heat of the dry kiln without losing its vitality. 
If the oak is specially liable to the attack of such insects it is arather risky venture 
to invest in costly furniture or cabinet work when made in that wood. 

If furniture is known to be infested already, is there any way to stop the destruc- 
tion already begun ?—[T. C. Harris, Curator State Museum, Raleigh, North Carolina, 
May 6, 1691. 

RepLy.—There are various species of insects belonging to different orders that are 
known to injure oak furniture inthe manner you describe, but since you do not give 
particulars as to the appearance and size of the worm which emerged from the furni- 
ture it is impossible to tell to what particular species it belongs. 

The borers which are most frequentiy found in furniture belong to the following 
families of the order Coleoptera: Cerambycida, or Longicorn Beetles, the larve of 
which are known as round-headed borers; Buprestidae, the larve of which are termed 
flat-headed borers; Scolytide, and, finally, Ptinide, the larvee of which have no par- 
ticular name. The two families last named are mostly small insects, and if their 
larvee or imagos emerge from a piece of furniture the damage is usually not very 
noticeable. Moreover, the Ptinide only attack old furniture or perfectly dry timber. 
Your worm, which presumably was of larger size, belongs, therefore, in all proba- 
bility, to the Buprestide or Cerambycide. The species of these families rarely, if ever, 
oviposit in perfectly healthy and living trees, but at once infest trees if they are 
felled. If the trees after being felled are allowed to remain in the woods for weeks 
- or months during spring or summer the wood is sure to be infested with the larve of 
one or several species of these beetles, and herein lies the chief if not the only 
cause of the injury to furniture. After such trees have been sawed into boards the 
larve continue to live therein, and if they happen to be in the center of a board no 
amount of heat of an ordinary kiln will hurt them in the least. If the felled trees 
at or before the opening of spring be removed from the woods and placed in large, 
airy sheds they would be protected from the attacks of the beetles, and this is the 
best and most rational way of preventing injury to furniture. It is also recom- 
mended to carefully inspect the boards before they are worked up. In most cases it 
will be possible to detect the holes of the borers, and the latter can be killed by in- 
jecting a quantity of benzine, kerosene, or bisulphide of carbon into the holes. 

In the dry wood of furniture the development of these borers is often greatly re- 
tarded, and there are instances on record where after the lapse of ten or more years 
the larve or the imagos emerge from the wood. 

“It can be said that the oak harbors a greater number of borers than other trees, 
and there are few, if any, kinds of trees which are not infested by one or several 
species of wood-boring insects.—{ May 8, 1891. ] 


468 
The White Pine Weevil. 


Tam growing some acres of white pine trees (Pinus strobus). Their worst enemy 
is an insect which lays its eggs at the base of the runner, or upright sprig, which 
starts from the tree’s top in the spring. The worm kills this runner and the side 
shoots then grow in a more upright position and make a crotched tree of little or no 
value for timber. I see no way to prevent the ravages of this little do-evil, but should 
like to know more about him.—[J. D. Lyman, Exeter, New Hampshire, April 22, 
1891. : 

REPLY.— * * * The insect which you complain of is the White-pine Weevil 
(Pissodes strobi). You will find this insect treated at some length on pages 734 to 741 
of the Fifth Report of the U.S. Entomological Commission a copy of which I have 
sent you by accompanying mail.—[ April 22, 1€91.] 


A Lampyrid infested with Mites. 


I send a little Lampyrid, which seems to have mites on it. Does the larva live in 
the ground? I took a thousand from an old pine root. Every morning there would 
be a lot of them seemingly just come from the root that is in the ground.—[Mrs. A. 
E. Bush, San José, California, April 24, 1891. 

Repty.— * * * The Lampyrid beetle is Eros hamatus. The larve of these 
beetles live at or near the surface of the ground, often in connection with decayed 
wood. The mites which you mention on the beetles are the young of some Gamasid 
and are new to the collection.—[ May 4, 1891. ] 


Diabrotica injuring Corn in California. 


Found yesterday what I take to be the larvee of Diabrotica soror very injurious to 
young corn, which is cut very often entirely off above roots; often three to five larvz 
in one plant. Have you had it? Will raise mature insects ofsame. * * * — 
[Albert Koebele, Alameda, California, May 25, 1891. 

Rerpty.— * * * Iam glad to receive the larve which are undoubtedly those 
of Diabrotica soror, as we did not have them before in the collection. It is interesting 
to know that this insect has the same habit as its eastern congeners, D. vitiata and D. 
longicornis. I shall be glad to have you make full notes concerning its injuries.— 
[June 2, 1891. ] 

A new Pest to Prune trees. 


Tinclose sample of bugs which are eating the foliage of prune trees, stripping 
them ina short time. Whatis it? What will kill it?—[J. H. Albert, Salem, Oregon, 
May 12, 1891. 

RepLty.— * * * This beetle is one of the weevils known as Thricolepis inornata. 
It is a western species and little or nothing is known of its habits. It is a new pest 
and requires investigation. Feeding as it does, the best remedy will be to spray the 


affected trees with Paris green or London purple in the proportion of 1 pound to 200 ~ 


gallons of water. I would urge you to keep this office posted as to further develop- 
ments.—[ May 19, 1891. | 


The Pear-blight Beetle and Plum Plant-louse. 


I send you two specimens of insects; one of them is on plum leaves and is the 
smaller and of a greenish color. It is very destructive on the plum. The black 
and larger insect is at work on the apple trees. They are very numerous and are 
working on the new shoots where they branch out from the limbs this spring. What 
are the names of these insects and what are the best remedies for their destruction ?— 
[ Jesse P. Elliott, Connorsville, Indiana, May 18, 1891, 


469 


RepLty.— The small green insect on your plums is one of the plum plant-lice, 
known as Phorodon mahaleb. The best remedy for this insect would be tospray your 
trees with a dilute kerosene emulsion, made according to the formula given in Cir- 
cular No. 1, New Series, of the Division of Entomology. The other insect is the so- 
called Pear-blight Beetle (an erroneous designation, as it has nothing to do with the 
pear blight), known scientifically as Scolytus rugulosus. This insect is a very diffi- 
cult pest to fight, and there are no direct remedies of a practical value. Although the 
beetle feeds, as you describe, upon healthy trees, it breeds only in trees which are 
diseased or dying from some other cause. The best preventive, therefore, is a 
trapping system. If there are any dead or dying trees in your orchard these should 
be cut down and burned, from the 1st to the middle of June, after the beetles have 
laid theireggs. In this way you will greatly lessen the number of next year’s crop of 
beetles. If your orchard is large and you have one or two old worthless trees I would 
advise you to girdle them this summer and burn them entirely next year, about the 
first week in June. The great majority of the beetles will be attracted to these trees 
and will lay their eggs in them, which will thus be destroyed.—[June 3, 1891. ] 


Caterpillars and Spiders migrating in Midwinter. 


I send you by to-day’s mail a box containing some larve and spiders found to-day. 
They were all traveling upon the ice in an easterly direction. I should like to know 
how larve as lively as these can subsist at this season of the year. The ground has 
been covered with snow and ice for the last two months, and the place where they 
were found was covered with a sheet of ice about three inches thick, There were a 
few hardhacks and bulrushes sticking up here and there, but these could not have 
furnished food for the worms, since they were driedup. While cutting white birches 
a few days ago, I noticed that they were thickly covered with Mylilaspis pomorum, but 
not quite as thickly as the piece of apple wood you will find in the box. The scales 
on the birch seemed more numerous within a foot or two of the ground than elsewhere 
on the trees. Is this scale of common occurrence on birch ?—[John D. Lyons, Mon- 
ticello, New York, January 16, 1891. 

RepLy.—The larva is the so-called Bronzy Cut-worm (Nephelodes violans). The 
insect hibernates in the larval state, and you will find a precisely similar instance to 
this you describe, mentioned in the Fourth Report of the New York State Entomolo- 
gist (Albany, 1888), page 56. Why the caterpillars should come out of their winter 
quarters in midwinter is unexplained. The spiders which you send are immature 
specimens of some species of Pardosa. They can not be determined specifically on 
account of their immaturity. 

Mytilaspis pomorum occurs upon a number of trees other than Apple, but so far as I 
know has not been recorded from Birch, although it is quite to be expected upon 
these trees, asit is found upon Linden, Maple, Willow, Poplar, Ash, Elm, and other 
trees.—[ January 21, 1891.] 


The Grape-vine Plume-moth. 


I send some samples of our latest acquisition—shoots from our grapevines matted 
together by a small fuzzy or, rather, hairy, light-green larva about one-half an inch 
long. The twigs are all with distorted leaves, and of course no healthy bunches of 
grapes can be expected. Some of these twigs are covered with tiny white globules, 
clear as ice; scarcely a branch has escaped their ravages. Can Ido anything to pre- 
vent their further increase? Ihave nipped off the affected parts and destroyed them, 
but of course many are left.—[ Miss Amy J. Brown, Somers, Westchester County, New 
York, May 24, 1891. 

RepLy.— * * * Your grape tips are injured by the larve of the Grapevine Plume- 
moth (Pterophorus periscelidactylus). The insect is single-brooded and the damage 
will soon cease, but it will be quite important to pick off all of the infested tips from 
now on. Their number will not increase the present season. It is doubtful whether 


470 


spraying will have much effect unless you begin it earlier in the season, as the insects — 
are so protected by the leaves.—[ June 1, 1891. ] : 


Parasite of Forest Tent-caterpillar. 


I send you by mail some egg parasites bred from Forest Tent-caterpillar eggs this 
spring. The eggs of this species are surprisingly free from parasites. I only got six 
specimens of the species sent and no other parasites from about fifty egg clusters. I 
inclose you Professor Townsend’s description of two Tachinas which appeared in 
Psyche recently. These were bred by me last fall. The smaller one was very abun- 
dant; over 80 per cent of the cocoons examined were infested.—[F. L. Harvey, 
Orono, Maine. 

REPLY.— * * * The small box arrived by the same mail and I was disappointed 
to find that one of the specimens had disappeared during the journey. The other, 
however, is a species of Tetrastichus, a genus in which we have an indefinite number 
of undescribed species in this country which are very difficult to separate. 

Your species is probably undescribed. Tetrastichus isinvariably, so far as we know, 
hyperparasitic and the primary parasite is in your case, probably, a 7elenomus or a 

- Trichogramma.—[June 2, 1891.] 


An Anthomyiid injuring Sugar Beets. 


T send to-day a few Sugar Beets planted in March and April. I find they have been 
attacked with some new enemy, and I fear a dangerous one. We have 1,000 acres, 
all very promising, but all are more or less afflicted with this disease. 

I send you some imported seed, thinking the pest was imported with the seed. 
Three years ago all of the marsh mallow in the neighborhood of Watsonville was 
similarly afflicted. *~ * * -—[W. V. Gaffey, Moro Cojo Ranch, Castroville, Cali- 
fornia, May 22, 1891. 

Repty.— * * * Your beets have been attacked by the larva of some species of 
Anthomyia closely allied to the Cabbage Maggot and Onion Maggot. ‘I'he exact spe- 
cies can not be ascertained without rearing the insect to the adult or “fly” state. 
This insect could not possibly have been imported with the seed, and it will be very 
interesting to know the nature of the crop previously planted on the same ground, 
or, if new ground, the nature of the vegetation before planting. None of the remedies 
which have been heretofore suggested can be applied with any satisfaction on such 
a large scale, and at this distance it is difficult to advise; and probably the best 
thing to be done will be to send you one of our California agents.—[ June 1, 1891.] 


Remedies against Sand-flies and Mosquitoes. © 


During two seasons of field work on the Geological Survey of Canada i have found 
pyrethrum powder an excellent thing to burn in the tent to stupefy and kill mosquitoes 
and black and sand flies. This powder is known by all druggists as ‘‘ Insect Powder,” 
or as ‘‘Pyrethrum Powder,” and sometimes as ‘‘ Dalmatian” or ‘‘ Persian Insect 
Powder.” It is a perfect ‘‘God-send” to tired men in the field after a hard day’s 
work. Have also seen it used in the houses and stores of the Hudson Bay Company. 
When you retire to your tent at night, or for a nap at midday, close all the sides and 
the door of the tent, and burn about enough to cover a penny. Make the powder 
into a little pyramid or cone, on top of bark, stone, tin, or any other article, and light 
the tip with a match. It will smolder away, and the fumes will quite stupefy all 
the mosquitoes in the tent. Itis usetess out in the open, but I have found ‘‘ Hind’s 
Black Fly Cream” (prepared by A.S. Hind, pharmacist, Portland, Maine), an excel- 
lent preparation for repelling flies, ete. It should be applied every few hours when 
the flies are bad.—[ A. M. Campbell, Box 126, Perth, Ontario, May 12, 1891. 

Repty.— * * * The use of pyrethrum which you describe is by no means new, 
but your testimony as to its value is worth recording, and your recommendation of 
the ‘‘ Black Fly Cream” is of value.—[ May 15, 1891. ] 


A471 


The Horn Fly in Virginia. 


- Tinclose two specimens of the ‘‘ Horn Fly” that has been torturing our cattle for 
several years. This fly first attracted notice the summer of 1889 by appearing in 
swarms and settling around the horns of the cattle, seeming to do no damage beyond 
worrying them. The next year the cattle, especially the milch cows, commenced to 
show the result of the annoyance by falling off-in flesh and in the flow of milk. 
They have never recovered from the attacks of 1890. This spring the fly has already 
appeared in numbers, and now they attack the cows ina new way, by causing numer- 
ous sores (under the-belly principally). A Jersey cow just bought by us, and brought 
only 12 miles from here a fortnight ago, has been especially attacked. A half-dozen 
sores have already appeared on her body. She has fallen off in her flow of milk and 
in flesh. I have liberally annointed the cows with a preparation of tar, lard, and 
erude carbolic acid, but it does not drive the pest away; they settle wherever the 
hair isfree from the ointment. (an you direct me what todo? Is there any wayin 
which they can be kept from the cattle? What is the genus of the fly? * * * 
—[J. S. Strayer, box 31, Port Republic, Virginia, May 4, 1891. 

RepiLy.—I am much obliged to you for this note concerning the occurrence of this 
insect in your neighborhood, and send you by accompanying mail a copy of a pam- 
phlet which treats of its life-history and the best remedies so far tried. I shall be 
glad to have you try the remedies there mentioned and inform me of the result. I 
may take an occasion if events justify to send an assistant to Port Republic later in 
the season.—[ May 5, 1891. ] 


A Plague of Grasshoppers in Idaho. 


I understand there has been a commission constituted to examine and inquire into 
the grasshopper districts. This section has been a very great sufferer from this plague 
for five consecutive years. They seem tobenative. They are ofa small black variety 
and do not seem to migrate. Farmers are prevented from raising crops, cereals, and 
vegetables, and will soon be compelled to desert their farms and homes unless they 
get relief. If it is in the power of your Department to render aid, for the sake of 
humanity do so.—[Geo. B. Hil), Bellevue, Idaho, May 11, 1891. 

Repty.— * * * There has been no commission recently constituted for the 
purpose which you mention, and the Entomological Commission, which was organ- 
ized at the time of the Kansas and Colorado outbreak in 1874 to 1876, ceased to exist 
about 1881. The Entomologist of this Department, however, Prof. C. V. Riley, was 
chief of that commission and is much interested in the subject of damage by grass- 
hoppers. Bulletin No. 25 of this Division goes over the whole subject of destructive 
‘locusts or grasshoppers.” Full information is given in this bulletin regarding the 
“necessary remedies in such cases as yours. The Entomologist would be very glad 
to have you send on specimens of the particular species which is proving so injurious 
in yourneighborhood. * * * —[May 16, 1891.] 


Pacific Coast Termites. 


I send a few live insects. I think you told meonce they are Termites. The winged 
form was plentiful last January, but Loniy saw three when I took these. The soldiers 
are not plentiful. Where I chop the old wood there may be quantities of the smaller 
ones, and only an occasional soldier. Perhaps they hide farther away. The soldier 
must help some to provide food. I placed a few ina jar, and put ina fly. The sol- 
dier backed, and then with a run and a jump attacked the fly, and soon severed the 
head from the body, and left it to look for more. Other ants went immediately to 
sucking the headless trunk and the head. 

How many forms are likely to be found in one colony? I have found very few small 
soldiers; only two or three even.—[ Mrs. A. E. Bush, San José, California, May 24, 
1891. 


472 


RepLty.— The insect which yousend isone of the common Pacific coast forms of 
the so-called ‘‘ White Ants,” and is known as Termopsis angusticollis. Your note on 
the habits of the species is very interesting. Iam not familiar with any detailed 
account of the habits of this genus, but there are likely to be four forms—male, female, 
ordinary worker, and soldier. If you have the opportunity, a careful study of its hab- 
its will be important, and I should be glad to receive from you specimens of all the 
forms—[ May 4, 1891. ] 


GENERAL NOTES. 


MASSACHUSETTS LAWS AND REGULATIONS AGAINST THE GYPSY 
MOTH. 


AN ACT to provide against depredations by the insect known as Ocneria dispar, or Gypsy Moth. 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, 
and by the authority of the same, as follows : 

SECTION |. The State Board of Agriculture is hereby authorized, empowered, and 
directed to provide and carry into execution all possible and reasonable measures to 
prevent the spreading and to secure the extermination of the Ocneria dispar, or Gypsy 
Moth, in this Commonwealth; and to this end said State Board of Agriculture shall 
have full authority to provide itself with all necessary material and appliances and 
to employ such competent persons, servants, and agents as it, said State Board of 
Agriculture, shall from time to time deem needful in the execution of the purposes of 
this act; and said State Board of Agriculture shall also have the right itself or by 
any persons, servants, or agents employed by it, said board, under this act to enter 
upon the lands of any person. 

Src. 2. The owner of any land so entered upon, who shall suffer damage by such 
entry and acts done thereon by said State Board of Agriculture, or under its direction, 
may recover the same of the city or town in which the lands so claimed to have been 
damaged are situate, by action of contract; but any benefits received by such entry 
and the acts done on such lands in the execution of the purposes of this act, shall 
be determined by the court or jury before whom such action is heard, and the amount 
thereof shall be applied to the reduction of said damages, and the Commonwealth 
shall refund to said city or town one-half of the amount of the damages recovered. 

Src. 3. Said State Board of Agriculture shall have full authority to make from 
time to time such rules and regulations in furtherance of the purposes of this act as 
it shall deem needful; which rules and regulations shall be published in one or more 
newspapers published in the county of Suffolk; and copies of such rules and regu- 
lations shall be posted in at least three public places in each city or town in which 
said Ocneria dispar, or Gypsy Moth, shall be found by said State Board of Agriculture 
to exist, and a copy thereof shall be filed with the city clerk of each such city, and 
with the town clerk of each such town; and any person who shall knowingly violate 
any of the provisions thereof shall bc punished for each such violation by a fine not 
exceeding twenty-five dollars. 

Srec. 6. Any person who shall purposely resist or obstruct said State Board of 
Agriculture, or any persons, servants, or agents employed by it under this act, while 
engaged in the execution of the purposes of this act, shall be punished by a fine not 
exceeding twenty-five dollars for each offence. 

Src. 7. It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to bring the insect known 
as Ocneria dispar, or Gypsy Moth, or its nests or eggs, within this Commonwealth; or 
for any person knowingly to transport said insect, or its nests or eggs, from any 
town or city to another town or city within this Commonwealth. Any person who 
shall offend against the provisions of this section of this act shall be punished by a 
fine not exceeding two hundred dollars or by imprisonment in the house of correction 
not exceeding sixty days, or by both said fine and imprisonment. 


473 


Src. 8. The said State Board of Agriculture may exercise all the duties and powers 
herein conferred upon said board by and through its secretary and such members of 
said Board as said board may designate and appoint to have in charge in conjunc- 
tion with its secretary in the execution of the purposes of this act. 

At a special meeting of the State Board of Agriculture held April 23, 1891, to con- 
sider an act of the Massachusetts legislature entitled ‘‘An act to provide against 
depredations by the insect known as the Ocneria dispar, or Gypsy Moth,” and to pro- 
vide for carrying out the provisions of said act, it was voted that William R. 
Sessions, N. S. Shaler, and Francis H. Appleton be a committee of the said board to 
exercise all the duties and powers conferred by the above-mentioned act upon the 
State Board of Agriculture. 

WILLIAM R. SESSIONS, 
Secretary. 


RULES AND REGULATIONS. 


1. All persons are forbidden by law to remove the Gypsy Moth, its nests, or eggs 
from one place to another, in any city or town, and are requested to exercise care 
against so transporting the Gypsy Moth on teams and carriages. 

2. All persous are forbidden to remove from the present locality in the towns of Med- 
ford, Everett, Chelsea, Malden, Melrose, and Arlington any hay, manure, wood, bark, 
trees, rags, lumber, or shrubbery of any kind, without a written permit from the 
department. All loads must be well covered with canvas covers. 

3. All persons are forbidden to, in any way, imitate or erase the marks employed 
by this department to designate trees, fences, or buildings which are infested or have 
been cleaned. 

4. All vehicles leaving the above-named district may be stopped by the officers of 
the department, and delayed until their contents have been sufficiently inspected to 
determine the fact that they are not liable to transmit the eggs or any other form of 
the insect. 

5. No person shall remove the bark from trees, nor attempt to scrape and clean 
them, without first notifiying this department, and having said trees thoroughly in- 
spected, and if found infested, cleaned under its direction. 

The eggs of the Gypsy Moth are frequently scattered abroad by scraping the trees 
and by careless gathering ; therefore, all persons except the authorized agents of this 
department are forbidden to remove the eggs of the Gypsy Moth from trees or other 
objects upon which they may have been deposited. 

Real-estate owners and tenants are requested to destroy all other forms of the 
moth which they may find upon their premises. 

6. All persons upon notice are required to confine their dogs while the agents of 
this department are at work upon their premises. 

7. Owners and tenants are requested to gather and burn, before June 15, 1891, all 
rubbish and useless material upon their premises that may provide nesting places for 
the insect and to fill with cement or other solid material all holes in trees upon their 
premises. 

8. All persons are requested to keep the windows of their houses protectel by 
screens during the summer months, as it is found the insect often lays its eggs in the 
houses wherever it can gain admittance. 

9. All persons having reasonable cause to believe that the eggs, caterpillars, or 
other forms of the Gypsy Moth exist on or about their premises are earnestly re- 
quested forthwith to notify E. H. Forbush, director, by letter addressed to his office 
in Malden, Mass. Information of their existence in isolated or unexpected localities 
will be gratefully received, and all persons furnishing such information will receive 
the thanks of the department. 

10. Notice is hereby given that it will, in some cases, be necessary to remove boards 
from fences or buildings. In all cases they will eventually be replaced, if possible, 


474 : 


without damage to the structure. Attention is called to the fact that any damage — 
done by the agents or servants of this department in the work of exterminating the 
moth may be recovered under provisions of section 2, as above printed. 

Attention is also called to section 6 as above printed, which sets forth the penal- 
ties for obstructing any servant or agent of the State Board of Agriculture, 

11. Courteous and considerate conduct is expected of all agents and employés of 
the department. Complaints in writing concerning any infraction of this rule should 
be sent to the director and will be heard by him or the committee. 

WILLIAM R. SESSIONS, 

N. S. SHALER, 

PH) APPLETON; 
Committee of State Board of Agriculture. 


THE EXTERMINATION OF THE GYPSY MOTH. 


About the middle of June the entomologist made a short trip into 
the districts of Massachusetts most severely visited by the Gypsy 
Moth, with a view of observing the state of things and because it had 
been reported that the efforts being made to exterminate the pest were 
somewhat unsatisfactory. An investigation of the methods employed 
resulted in the conviction that they were not likely to be successful. 
The members of the committee having the matter in charge were unable 
to give much personal attention to the work, and the spraying was being. 
performed in a crude and unsatisfactory manner, and without entomo- 
logical supervision of an advisory character. No well directed and 
carefully conducted experiments had been made to ascertain what spe- 
cial metkods are best for this specific case. As a consequence widely 
varying resuits had been obtained and in no instance, where trees were 
examined that had been treated, was it difficult to find living caterpil- 
lars yet upon them. The need of some one experienced in entomological 
matters to make proper biographic notes and to direct proper experi- 
mentation was apparent, and the fact was strongly urged upon Mr. 
Sessions, the chairman of the committee. It has recently been learned 
that arrangements have been made with Prof. C. H. Fernald whereby 
he will give active personal supervision to the work. This is a step in 
the right direction. , 

As the possibility of extermination becomes doubtful, all effort look- 
ing to the control of the species as one to be continually dealt with 
grows in importance, and it is strongly recommended that an effort be 
made to introduce some of the natural enemies of the species which are 
known to occur in Europe. The difficulties which the committee have 
to encounter are great. There is much prejudice against the use of 
Paris green, and individuals have interfered with the work more or less 
seriously, in some cases forcibly. 


HOT WATER FOR THE ROSE CHAFER. 


It seems from the experience of the present season that the Rose 
Chafer (Macrodactylus subspinosus) is peculiarly susceptible to the ac. 
tion of hot water. Mr. D. O. Kellogg, of Vineland, New Jersey, was 
the first to suggest this idea to us. He wrote us under date of June 8 


A475 


that for the previous five days he had been experimenting, and had dis- 
covered that without doubt water heated even to a comparatively low: 
temperature will kil] the beetles. He had previously experimented with 
vegetable infusions, and was led to the discovery by the fact that his 
infusions were efficacious when warm, but useless when cold. He further 
wrote that he conducted his experiments before Colonel Pearson and Mr. 
John B. Smith, and that they would test the matter further. We im- 
mediately wrote to one of our Virginia correspondents, Mr. J. S. Strayer, 
of Port Republic, Virginia, asking him to test the remedy, and he re- 
ported perfect success. 

On June 12 we again received a communication from Mr. Kellogg 
confirming his previous information, and desiring us to take the matter 
up by having a machine perfected for the application of steam. The 
use of hot water for this purpose was also independently discovered by 
Mr. E. 8. Carman, of the Rural New Yorker. Under date of June 22nd 
Mr. Carman desired our opinion on an editorial note which was prepared 
for his paper, and which gave an account of the means by which he had 
arrived at the discovery. He noticed that during the hottest part of 
the day on June 15 the *“‘ Rose Bugs” sought shelter. He collected a 
number and placed them in a white paper box and exposed the box to 
the sun. In an hour or so the beetles were dead, when the temperature 
in the box was found to be 110°. Dropping them upon the soil when 
exposed to the direct rays of the sun had the same effect, and the beetles 
died apparently in 30 seconds. The temperature of the soil was found 
to be 129°. Other specimens were then placed in a box and a table- 
spoonful of water of a temperature of 129° was poured into the box and 
immediately poured out. The beetles were instantly killed. Other ex- 
periments were made with aspray pump, which resulted in the conelu- 
sion that a comparatively close spray of 125° temperature will invaria- 
bly destroy the insect. 

The evidence, both of Mr. Kellogg and of Mr. Carman, would seem 
to be so conclusive, that we were quite surprised, in some experiments 
of our own, to find that it was not very fully borne out. The season 
for the Rose Chafer in Washington had well-nigh passed, and we found 
comparatively few beetles to work upon. The experiments were con- 
ducted at our residence, at Sunbury, by Messrs. Marlatt and Chitten- 
den, of the Division, and they showed that even at a temperature of 
of 135° F. the beetles recovered slowly, after being actually immersed. 
Others sprinkled at close quarters with water at this temperature recov- 
ered, one flying away in two or three minutes afterwards. At 128°, 
when immersed for five seconds, all experimented with recovered, 
whereas two immersed one minute at a temperature of 125° were killed. 
This difference in results is difficult to account for, and the matter is of 
such great interest that we have sent Mr. A. B. Cordley to New Jersey 
with a view of experimenting ona still larger scale not only with 
hot water but also with steam, as it is evident that the use of hot 
water, where it is to be applied at any height, has many impracti- 


476 


cable features, as all fine spraying will rapidly cool the temperature, 
whereas if steam is generated, the required temperature can be more 
easily made to reach the insects. Incidentally also we wished to have 
further experiments made with the kerosene emulsion, with pyrethrum 
extract, and with kerosene extract of pyrethrum. The one great diffi- 
culty in the way of using effective destructive agents against the Rose 
Chafer, as we have pointed out in the columns of this Bulletin, and as 
we indicated to Mr. Carman upon the announcement of his discovery, is 
the continuous incoming of fresh beetles whenever they are excesssively 
abundant, the result being that after destroying every beetle upon a 
given plant in the morning they may cover it again in the evening, A 
good and simple method of killing, however, will be of immense value, 
because of the fact that every female beetle destroyed will not only les- 
sen the injury to some extent at the time, but will also tend to lessen it 
very materially for the ensuing year. 


NEW HORTICULTURAL LAWS FROM CALIFORNIA. 


The following is the full text of the amendment to the act to promote 
the horticultural interests of the State of California, passed during the 
last session of Congress, and defining the duties of the ore boards 
of horticultural commissioners : 


CHAPTER CLXXXVIII.—An act amendatory of an act entitled ‘“‘An act to amend an 
act entitled ‘An act to promote the horticultural interest of the State’” approved 
March 14, 1881, approved March 19, i889, 


(Approved March 31, 1891.) 


SECTION 1. Section 2 of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows: 

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the county board of horticultural commissioners in 
each county, whenever it shall deem it necessary, to cause an inspection to be made of 
any orchards, or nursery, or trees, plants, vegetables, vines, or fruits, or any fruit- 
packing house, storeroom, salesroom, or any other place or articles in their jurisdic- 
tion, and if found infested with scale insects, or codlin moth, or other pests injurious 
to fruit, plants, vegetables, trees, or vines, or with their eggs or larve, they shall 
notify the owner or owners, or person or persons in charge or possession of the said 
places, or orchards, or nurseries, or trees, or plants, vegetables, vines, or fruit, or 
articles, as aforesaid, that the same are infested with said insects, or other pests, or 
any of them, or their eggs or larve, and they shall require such person or persons to 
eradicate or destroy the said insects or other pests, or their eggs or larve. within a 
certain time to be specified. Said notices may be served upon the person or persons, 
or either of them, owning, or having charge, or having possession of such infested 
place, or orchard, or nursery, or trees, plants, vegetables, vines, or fruit, or articles, 
as aforesaid, by any commissioner, or by any person deputed by the said commis- 
sioners for that purpose, or they may be served in the same manner as a summons 
in a civil action. Any and all such places, or orchards, or nurseries, or trees, plants, 
shrubs, vegetables, vines, fruit, or articles thus infested, are hereby adjudged and 
declared to be a public nuisance. And whenever any such nuisance shall exist 
at any place within their jurisdiction, or on the property of any non-resident, or 
on any property, the owner or owners of which cannot be found by the county 
board of horticultural commissioners, after diligent search, within the county, or 
on the property of any owner or owners upon which notice aforesaid has been 


477 


served, and who shall refuse or neglect to abate the same, within the time specified, 
it shall be the duty of the county board of horticultural commissioners to cause . 
said nuisance to be at once abated, by eradicating or destroying said insects or 
other pests, or their eggs or larve. The expense thereof shall be a county charge, 
and the board of supervisors shall allow and pay the same out of the general fund 
of the county. Any and all sum or sums so placed shall be and become a lien on 
the property and premises from which said nuisance has been removed or abated, 
in pursuance of this act, and may be recovered by an action against such property 
and premises, which action to foreclose all such liens shall be in the proper court 
by the district attorney of the county, in the name and for the benefit of the 
county making such payment or payments, and when the property is sold, enough 
of the proceeds shall be paid into the county treasury of such county to satisfy the 
lien and costs; and the overplus, if any there be, shall be paid to the owner of 
the propeity, if he be known, and if not, into the court for his use when ascer- 
tained. The county board of horticultural commissioners is hereby vested with 
power to cause any and all such nuisances to be at once abated in asummary manner. 
Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. 


INSECTS STOPPING TRAINS—A TRUE STORY. 


On page 30 of vol. tof [INsEcT LIFE, under the caption ‘ Caterpil- 
lars stopping trains—a newspaper exaggeration,” we gave an account 
of the supposed stopping of trains on a trestle over the Pedee Riverin 
South Carolina, in 1887, by myriads of Cotton Caterpillars, which 
proved ‘upon investigation to be a gross exaggeration. The present 
spring, four years later, the Hvening Star of Washington, under date of 
May 4, published a dispatch from Charlette, North Carolina, stating 
that the rails on the Carolina Central Railroad were recently covered 
inches deep with caterpillars, and that for three days in succession 
trains were brought to a dead standstill, the driving wheels of the 
engines slipping round as though the rails had been thoroughly oiled. 
The engineers were obliged to exhaust the contents of their sand boxes 
before crossing the strip of swamp from which the caterpillars seemed 
tocome. The rails and cross-ties were said to be obscured from sight, 
and the ground and swamps on each side of the track were covered 
with inillions of the crushed caterpillars, and from the mass an unen- 
durable stench arose. 

On May 6 we sent one of our assistants, Mr. A. B. Cordley, to Char- 
lotte, and upon his investigation the facts as stated were found to be 
substantially true. The locality where the caterpillars were most 
abundant was at the “ Big Swamp,” about eight miles east of Lumber- 
ton. The species proved to be the Tent Caterpillar of the forest (Clisio- 
campa disstria Huebn.). Mr. Cordley drove for eight miles through the 
forestfrom Lumberton to Big Swamp, and noticed that nearly all the oak 
and gum trees were completely defoliated. He was told by a gentleman 
who had recently traveled nearly all over Robeson County and an 
adjacent county, that wherever he had been the oaks and gums were 
badly defoliated. Mr. Cordley also interviewed the crew of one of the 
trains which was stopped, and ascertained that the newspaper account 
was perfectly correct. He found that the extraordinary abundance of 


A478 


the caterpillars was probably due to the fact that the country immedi- — 


ately to the east of Lumberton is low and swampy, and in the past— 


much of it has been over-flowed for a longer or shorter period during 
the winter and spring. Last summer, however, a canal was dredged 
through the swamp, in consequence of which the water the past winter 
and spring has been much lower than usual. It is quite probable that 
to this fact the extraordinary number of larvee may be charged, the 
improved conditions due to drainage having encouraged the multiplica- 
tion of the species. 

This outbreak of C. disstria is of interest chiefly in that it enables 
us to add two more genera to the list of its food plants. In Psyche Iv, 
p. 275, Mrs. A. K. Dimmock gives references wbich show the larve to 
feed upon plants of the following genera: Quercus, Juglans, Fraxinus, 
Tilia, Rosa, Carya, Prunus, Acer, Crategus, and Fagus. *To these we 
may now add Liquidambar and Nyssa, for the larve were found feed- 
ing freely upon both the Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and the 
Sour Gum (Nyssa multiflora). Indeed, the Sweet Gum seemed to be its. 
favorite food plant, for almost invariably these trees were completely 
defoliated, while maples, hickories, and even oaks in the immediate 
vicinity were often scarcely injured at all. Next to the Sweet Gums, in 
the amount of injury received, were the various species of oaks, and 
then the Sour Gum. | 

We notice in the Scientific American of recent date that a similar 
occurrence was reported from Mankato, Minnesota, May 23. The larvee 
were not determined, but the statement was made that they occurred on 
the railroad tracks in such enormous numbers that the engineers 


exhausted their sand boxes, and one freight train took an hour and ten _ 


minutes to go two miles. 

Almost any insect when abnormally abundant will prevent proper 
traction of railroad wheels, and accounts of train stopping occur almost 
yearly. The insects most often involved are, the Army Worm, the 
Cotton Worm, the Tent Caterpillar of the forest, and various migra- 
tory locusts. 

In another case, recorded in the New York Herald of May 31, the 
insect was not a caterpillar, but a large bug or beetle, either Belostoma, 


Dytiscus, or Hydrophilus. The locality was near Brighten Corners, 


New York (a place near Syracuse); and the stery goes that as a freight 


train approached a deep dark cut over which an electric light was 


placed, the engineer noticed a dark moving mass extending for 60 feet 
along the track. With some hesitation he drove his train into the mass, 
which thereupon emitted a number of loud crackling noises like toy 
torpedoes. The wheels began to slip and the train was finally brought 
to a standstill. An examination showed the presence of swarms of 
insects which were described in the Herald as bearing a resemblance 
to the electric-light bug, a popular name now given to Belostoma. 

The electric light over the cut accounts for the swarm, which was 
probably composed largely of water-beetles. 


A479 
SOME NOTES ON IOWA INSECTS. 


The present spring has been an unusual one with regard to the abun- 
dance of a number of species of insects, and some of the observations 
made are perhaps worthy of early record. ° 

The W hite-winged Bibio (Libio albipennis) has been present in phe- 
nomenal numbers and has attracted attention far and wide. I have 
had specimens from a number of localities, reports from others, and 
here at Ames it has been present in numbers never before observed. 

One point with reference to its appearance in many localities is that 
so many report it as injurious to vegetation, and such statements as 
“eating corn, potatoes, * * * and everything,” or “killing the 
fruit,” and others equally strong, indicate a strong belief on the part 
of the observers that they have actually seen such injury. None have 
sent specimens of injured plants, and while there is perhaps a bare pos- 
sibility that they could do some damage in blossoms, it seems more 
probable that they have excited attention by their immense numbers, 
and any injury found on the plants where they cluster has been ascribed 
to them. No damage to any of the plants they rest upon has been 
observed in this locality. 

The Plum-leaf Plant louse (Aphis prunifolit) is another species that 
has been wonderfully abundant, so much so that for a time specimens 
were received almost every day from correspondents in widely sepa- 
rated localities. In some cases the injury reported was such as to have 
very Serious effect upon the trees. The great amount of curling of the 
leaves renders thorough treatment with kerosene emulsion quite diffi- 
cult for this species, and makes it specially important to begin treatment 
as soon as the lice first make their appearance. 

The Currant Aphis (Myzus ribis) and the Cherry Aphis (Myzus cerasi 
have also been unusually plentiful, as indeed are almost all the com- 
mon species and a number that have never been observed here before. 

Agallia sanguineolenta Prov. was very abundant in grass in early 
spring, and with the appearance of beets has attacked them. 

Deltocephalus debilis is fairly swarming in blue grass, and 1 have 
found that for capturing these the most successful hopper-dozer yet 
tried is simply along flat strip of sheet iron covered with coal tar and 
drawn flat on the ground. 

Cutworms are very abundant, and reported destructive in many lo- 
calities.—[ Herbert Osborn, Ames, Iowa., June 2, 1891. 


PRECAUTIONS IN INVESTIGATING THE BITES OF POISONOUS ANIMALS. 


Dr. R. W. Shufeldt has favored us with a copy of his paper entitled 

*¢ Medical and Other Opinions upon the Poisonous Nature of the Bite 

of the Heloderma,” and although this paper does not trench upon our 

province, the author’s conclusions as to precautions will apply equally 
3329—-No, 11 4 


480 ? 3 
| 


well in the investigations of the bites of poisonous insects and spiders. — 
He says, where the person has been bitten: 

Ascertain, if possible, the exact condition of the patient at the time of the inflic- 
tion of the wound, as regards both sobriety and his general condition, making sure 
that the reptile that inflicted the bite was a specimen of a Heloderma. Be careful — 
not to destroy the victim with the remedies you administer to offset the effects of the 
bite. A quart of raw whisky, practically given at one dose, may prove more fatal 
than the bites of ten Helodermas. If the patient dies after the bite of one of the rep- 
tiles be sure to ascertain whether it was from the effects of the bite or from the effects 
of the remedies administered. The locality of the bite and other matters, of course, 
should also be carefully noted. 


SOME TASMANIAN FRUIT PESTS. 


In a note on some injurious and beneficial insects of Australia and 
Tasmania, published in INSECT LIFE, vol. I, p. 361, mention was made 
of the periodical appearance and depredations of the ‘‘ Green Bug,” 
Diphucephala splendens in orchards of both Australia and Tasmania, 
On the authority of Mr. Keene, of the latter colony, residing in the lit- 
tle hamlet of Kingston, the statement was made that this insect 
appeared regularly every four years, but, like our periodical Cicada, 
occurring during different years in different localities. In February, 
1889, Mr. Keene told me that the year 1890 was the one during which 
they would next occur in his locality. Strictly in accordance with this 
statement, my friend and ccrrespondent, Mr. Horace Watson, then 
residing at Kingston, but now living at Sandy Bay, near Hobart Town, 
writes me that the pest had put in its appearance in the neighborhood 
of Kingston and had seriously injured the apple orchards by destroying 
their foliage. In accordance with the data they will be due to appear in 
the Kangaroo Valley and about Hobart early in 1892, and, as my friend 
is now well provided with American appliances for spraying, we shall 
look for some interesting results from the effects of arsenical poisons. 

Mr. Watson sends specimens of a * leach” which injures the foliage 
of Cherry, Pear, and Scarlet Hawthorn. Dr. Riley, who has kindly ex- 
amined these larvze for me, says they are not distinguishable from those 
of our Pear Slug, Selandria cerasi, and the leaves sent with them from 
Tasmania show an injury exactly similar to that caused by the Pear Slug. 

Late in 1889 considerable apprehension was excited by the occur- 
rence of a small grub in the fruit of the Cherry about Hobart, especially 
jnjuring varieties like the Florence and Bigaroo. Mr. Alexander Mor- 
ton, F. L. 8., after examination, expressed the opinion that the pest was 
the grub of our Plum Cureulio, Conotrachelus nenuphar. What the final 
outcome of the matter proved to be I have never learned; but until 
our little Turk has reached the Pacific slope there is little reason for 
our Austlaian cousins to fear its appearance among them. Should 
the pest attack fruits other than cherries it might not be a bad idea for 
our California fruit-growers to be on the lookout for its importation, 
which appears the most likely of the two to occur.—|I’. M. Webster, 
May 4, 1891. | 


481 


AFRICAN MICRO-LEPIDOPTERA. 


Lord Walsingham read a paper at a recent meeting of the Entomo- 
logical Society of London entitled “African Micro-lepidoptera.” In 
this paper nine new genera were described, viz: Autochthonus, type A. 
chalybiellus, W\sm.; Scalidoma, type Tinea horridella, Wkr.; Barbaros- 
cardia, type B. fasciata, Wism.; Odites, type O. natalensis, Wl1sm.; 
Idiopteryx, type Cryptolechia obliquella, Wism.; Microthauma, type M. 
metallifera, Wism.:; Licmocera, type L. lyonetiella, Wism.; Oxymachseris, 
type O. niveocervina, Wism.; Micropostega, type M. eneofasciata, W1sm. 
Several European genera were recorded as new to the African fauna. 
The American genera Phecasiophora, Grote; Cita, Grote; Polyhymno, 
Chamb.; Strobisia, Clem.; <Anorthosia, Clem.; Ide, Chamb.; and 
Zarathra, Wkr., were described as occurring in Africa. The genus 
Philobota, Megr., hitherto confined to the Australian region, was also 
recorded. The Indian genus Timyra, Wkr., was represented in Africa. 
Nigilgia, Wkr., was identified as a synonym of Phycodes, Gn. Poly- 
hymno, Chamb., had been redescribed as Copocercia by Zeller. Tera- 
topsis, Wlsm., was asynonym of Cacochroa, Hein. 

Seventy-one species were described as new. The paper when pub- 
lished will be accompanied by colored figures of all the new species and 
structural drawings of the new genera and other genera which have 
hitherto not been figured. 

The part of the paper which deals with Cryptolechia, Z., and its allies 
will especially interest American entomologists, for, as Lord Walsing- 
ham possesses the majority of the types of Zeller’s genera he has been 
able to clear up the confusion that surrounded this group, owing to Zeller 
having changed his original types in his subsequent work. 


EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON THE COLORING OF LEPIDOPTERA.* 


In part I of the Trans. Ent. Soc. London, Mr. Merrifield publishes 
the details of a series of temperature experiments in pedigree moth- 
breeding, begun in previous years, on the pupa of Selenia illustraria 
and Hnnomos autumnaria. 

By careful and long continued experiments he has demonstrated the 
possibility of producing artificially from a single brood of a moth, sub- 
ject to seasonal dimorphism, four distinct ‘‘ temperature ” varieties, viz.: 
summer markings with summer coloring, Summer markings with an 
approach to spring coloring, spring markings with summer coloring, and 
spring markings with spring coloring. The conclusions reached as a 
result of this series of experiments are, that the coloring and markings 
of the moth are affected by the temperature to which the pupa is ex- 
posed, the markings being chiefly affected by long continued exposure ; 


“ Conspicuous effects on the markings and coloring of Lepidoptera caused by ex- 
posure of the pup to different temperature conditions. By Frederic Merrifield, 
F,E.S., Trans, Ent. Soc. London, 1891, part 1 (March), pp. 155-167. 


482 


that the coloring is affected chiefly during the stage before the coloring 
of the perfect insect begins to show; that a low temperature during 
this stage causes darkening, a high temperature producing the opposite 
effect, a difference between 80° and 57° being sufficient to produce the 
extreme variation in darkness caused by temperature; a further lower- 
ing of temperature having no further effect; that nearly the full effect 
in coloring may be produced by a range of temperature of from 76° or 
80° to 65° in autumnaria, and from 73° te 60° in illustraria : that dry- 
ness or moisture during the entire pupal period has no appreciable 
effect on the coloring of the adult. 

A general conclusion which the author ventures to suggest—provided 
we accept the theory of Professor Weismann that existing forms of 
North American and Kuropean Lepidoptera have come down from a 
glacial period—is, that “icing” the pupa causes the insect to revert to 
its earlier form, and that experiments of the nature here recorded might 
be of material assistance in tracing the evolution of the markings on 
the wings of the mest highly developed forms. 

In a supplementary note Mr. Merrifield adds that it is possible to 
cause either the summer or winter form to take on the coloring of the 
other, and produce from moths from the summer pup, specimens that 
resemble those from the winter pupa, but not vice versa. The paper, 
including a table and supplementary notes, covers thirteen pages of 
text, and is illustrated by a plate ef 16 life-like chromo-lithographic 
figures. 

ANOTHER CARNIVOROUS BUTTERFLY. 


The North American Feniseca tarqunius was the first Diurnal Lepi- 
dopteron known to be carnivorous in the larva state, its food being 
various species of Pemphigus (See Riiey’s remarks, Am. Nat. for June 
1886). We now learn from Mr. de Niceville’s great work on Butterflies 
of India, Burmah, and Ceylon, vol. II (as reviewed by Mr. 8. H. Seud- 
der, in Can. Ent., vol.22, No. 10, October, 1890), that the Hast Indian Ly- 
cenid genus Spalgis has also carnivorous habits, the larva preying upon 
a species of Dactylopius. Dr. Holland’s suggestion (Can. Hnt., vol. 19, 
No.4, April, 1887, p. 61) that the East Indian Liphyra brassolis might also 
have a carnivorous larva was based solely upon similarity in structure 
of the imago and has not yet been confirmed by actual observation. 


SILK NEST OF A MEXICAN SOCIAL LARVA. 


We have received through the kindness of Dr. Edward Palmer a 
delicate silk bag, perhaps 6 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep, which 
was sent to him in March, 1889, by Sefior Liborio Vasquez, of Monte- 
zuma, Mexico, and concerning which his correspondent writes : 

The Silkworm which makes the bag inclosed lives on the shrub called Madrono. It 


feeds on the wood of the tree and appropriates its fruit the entire year. I have seen it 
in the temperate (warm) climate of the Sierra Madre, where it occurs on a grand 


—s- » 


483 


scale. The accompanying sac isthe seventh layer of one which the same little animal 
makes in order to winter and from which it issues in summer. If have witnessed with 
the greatest admiration the intelligence and activity of this insect. In one case I 
took them out of the sac and left them at the foot of the tree, and as soon as I left 
them they began to work, and in 24 hours they had stretched more than 5,000 fibers 
of silk thread as perfect as the silk of commerce. 

The layer which we have received is very strong, although so thin 
as to be transparent. We can hardly surmise as to the larva which 
does this beautiful work, although it is undoubtedly Lepidopterous. 


TENT CATERPILLARS IN EASTERN CONNECTICUT. 


We learn from the American Cultivator of May 30 that the orchards 
in the eastern part of Connecticut have been seriously attacked the 
present season by vast hordes of the Tent Caterpillar of the orchard 
(Clistocampa americana). They are said to have never been so numerous 
before. In many orchards the apple trees are enveloped in webs and 
have been killed outright. Almost every wild cherry tree has been killed. 
The farmers have adopted the plan of going through the orchards and 
firing blank cartridges into the webs, and it is said that a person traveling 
along the country lanes hears an almost constant fusilade of shots from 


smallarms. The caterpillars have greatly reduced the prospects of the 


apple crop. Thetime will come when apple-growers will see the neces- 
sity of cutting down nearly all the neighboring wild cherry trees, 
which are practically useless, leaving only a few to act as traps upon 
which the moths will lay their eggs by preference, and upon which 
they can be carefully treated during the winter and early spring. 


PARIS GREEN FOR CABBAGE WORMS. 


The popular prejudice against the use of violent poison like Paris 
green upon a culinary vegetable like the cabbage may be allayed by 
Prof. C. P. Gillette’s statement to the effect that where the green is 
dusted from a bag in the proportion of one ounce of the poison to 100 
ounces of flour and just enough applied to each head to make a slight 
show of dust on the leaves, say for twenty-eight heads of cabbage one 
ounceof mixture, the worms will all be killed in the courseof two or three 
days, while the average amount of poison on each head will be about 
one-seventh of a grain. Fully one-half of the powder will fall on the 
outside leaves and on the ground, and thus an individual will have to 
eat about twenty-eight heads of cabbage in order to consume a poison- 
ous does of arsenic even if the balance of the poison remained after 
cooking. 

AN EXPERIMENT AGAINST WHITE GRUBS. 


The bisulphide of carbon capsules, manufactured by Paul Jamain, of 
Dijon, France, have been recommended for use against Phylloxera 
abroad, and with a view of experimenting upon some of our subterra- 
hean insects we ordered a small quantity some time ago. One success- 


484 


ful experiment has been made for us by Mr. William R. Wood, florist 
and gardener, of this city. A smalllawn, 20 by 30 feet, on Connecticut 
avenue, was badly infested by white grubs, probably the larve of Al- 
lorhina nitida, and Mr. Wood, on examination, found that they were 
present at the rate of 20 or 30 to the square foot, while the grass was 
nearly dead. Last September he sunk a number of the capsules of a 
capacity of 5 grams to a depth of 6 inches and at a distance of 3 feet 
apart, with the result that this spring the grass came up as green as 
ever and a careful examination showed no grubs at all. The exemption 
the present spring is without doubt due to the effects of the remedy, 
and not to the fact that the bugs when transformed to beetles had left 
the ground, for the reason that the soil last fall contained many half- 
grown larve. The capsules of this size cost 17 franes per thousand. 
They are made of a kind of gelatine, which dissolves by the action of 
moisture, liberating the bisulphide gradually. If they could be made 
cheap enough in this country they would prove good vehicles for the 
application of this insecticide to crops of special value, like the grape, 
and to valuable apple trees affected by the Root Louse, and also, as in 
the instance given above, to small lawns about city houses, although in 
such cases kerosene emulsion, applied in the manner described in vol. 
1, No. 2 of INSEcT LIFE, will be equally efficacious and at the same 
time cheaper and easier. 


MORE DAMAGE TO CORN BY THE BRASSY FLEA-BEETLE. 


Mr. G. M. Dodge, of Louisiana, Missouri, contributes a note to Cole- 
man’s Rural World of May 28, 1891, stating that Chetocnema pulicaria 
(mentioned as Haltica punctulata) has appeared in immense numbers 
upon young corn. The beetle eats away the pulp of the leaf, which 
then driesup. The fields of corn look as if touched by frost. Holes 
are even eaten through the leaf and frequently leaves are cut off. 


PHYTOPHAGIC DUNG-BEETLES. 


In a recent paper* Mr. Arthur EK. Shipley refers to the ravages of 
Lethrus cephalotes to vineyards in southeastern Hurope. Thisisa large 
black Scarabeid beetle, allied to the genus Geotrypes, and which has 
the pernicious habit of cutting off the young and succulent shoots of 
the vine, dragging them backwards towards their holes in the ground, 
in which the beetles live in pairs. The shoots are left todry in the sun 
for a short time and are then carried into the holes, but whether they 
serve as food for the beetles or their larve has not yet been ascertained. 
The genus Lethrus belongs to the laparostict Scarabeide, also known 
as coprophagous Scarabeide, and is the only species of this subfamily 
known to injure cultivated plants. This subfamily is well represented 


*On Lethrus cephalotes, Rhynchites betuleti, and Chetocnema basalis, three species of 
destructive beetles (Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soe., v. 6, pt. VI, pp. 335-340. ) 


485 


in North America; but while the food habits of a great many of our 
genera still remain unknown, there is nothing published to show that 
any species has habits similar to those of the European Lethrus. Our 
species, so far as known, are either dung-feeders or live in decaying 
fungi or in rich soil; a few of them (Clotus) live under decaying bark, 
and most of our species of Trox breed on dried carcasses of animals. 
Aphodius larree alone is reported by Dr. Horn as occurring in the flowers 
Larrea mexicana,and apparently feeds upon living vegetable matter, 
at least in the imago state. We would also call attention to the fact 
that one of our large species of this subfamily is probably phytopha- 
gous, as deep holes in the ground, evidently made by some large beetle 
of this group, have been found to contain, not the customary ball of 
dung, but an accumulation of leaves or pieces of leaves. The insect 
which has this habit is not yet known, but it seems possible that among 
our coprophagous Scarabidze we have one or several species which, 
in food-habit, approach the genus Lethrus, although they may not use 
leaves of any cultivated plant.—[E. A. Schwarz. 


GERMINATION OF WEEVILED PEAS. 


Prof. E. A. Popenoe, in the Jndustrialist (Manhattan, Kansas) for May 
2, 1891, reviews the old question as to whether Peas, which have been 
damaged by Weevils, are fit for seed. He also gives an account of a 
series of careful experiments made at the Kansas Agricultural College, 
from which he concludes that weeviled seed should not be planted 
because it is worthless compared with sound, and because by planting 
infested seed without more care than is usually taken to destroy Wee- 
vils, one simply propagates the insect for the sake of a minimum 
‘return in plants. Out of 500 peas infested by Weevils but one-fourth 
germinated, and the partial destruction of the cotyledons rendered the 
farther growth of these doubtful. A check lot of the same number of 
sound Peas gave a germination of 97 per cent. Of 1,800 weeviled 
Beans but 50 per cent could have passed the germinating stage, while 
95 per cent of the check lot of perfect Beans germinated. The exami- 
nation of 275 injured Peas showed but 69 in which the germ was not 
wholly or partially destroyed. This is a sad commentary on the state- 
ments of early authors who had much to say concerning the wonderful 
disposition of Providence in causing the Weevils to spare the germ of 
the seed. 


THE DEVASTATING LOCUST IN CALIFORNIA. 


For the first time since 1875 the Devastating Locust is reported in 
destructive numbers from California. We notice in the Daily Appeal 
(Marysville, California) of May 29 that Mr. G. W. Harney, president of 
the Yuba County Horticultural Commission, has made a tour of inves- 
tigation and that the alarming rumors are not justified. He states that 
they were particularly numerous at Palermo, but did not create any 


A386 


alarm, while some damage had been done to some young vineyards in 
the Brown’s Valley irrigation district in Yuba County. The bran ar- 


senic mash, which we recommended in our 1885 report, is being exten- — 


sively used, and Mr. Harney reports that it works to perfection, but 
takes several hours to do its work. The Commission has printed a little 
slip, giving an account of this remedy, for general distribution. The 


's 
| 
ai 


commission also advises spraying trees about which it would not be 


safe to use the mash with a preparation consisting of one pound of 
buhach, three pounds of glucose, to ten gallons of water. The solution 
should be sprayed upon the trees late at night, and when the locusts fall 
to the ground stupefied by the buhach they should be gathered up and 
destroyed. In the case of very young vinevards plowing under so that 
the vines are covered with a thin coating of earth will save them, and 


in the course of a few weeks they will send up new shoots. Covering | 


the young vines with paper-bags has been tried, but in many instances 
the locusts ate through the paper and reached the plants. 

The Pacific Rural Press of May 30 contains a rather lengthy article 
upon the invasion of the present year. The insect is said to be present 
in considerable numbers through portions of the lower country of the 
Sierra Nevada foothills. Standing grain is being cut for hay to save 
it from the hoppers, and it is feared that as the fields are thus cleared 
the locusts will have gained their wings and will be able to fly to the 
vineyards and orchards of the adjacent regions of the foot-hills or to 
descend like a scourge to the valleys below. The methods of fighting 
the insect are given in brief, and an account of the bran-arsenic mash 
remedy just mentioned is published. 


HOP LICK ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 


Mr. I. L. Washburn, Entomologist of the Oregon Experiment Sta- 


tion, contributes an interesting summary of the work which he has 
done the present season upon these insects to the columns of the NORTH 
PAcIFIC RURAL Spirit of May 21. He summarizes the now well- 
known life history of the insect, and states that it has been more abun- 
dant in Washington than in Oregon. Individual losses during 1890 
ranged from $100 to $5,000. When the yards have been more or less 
shut in by timber or from other causes were so situated that but little 
sun and breeze entered, they were more badly affected than yards in 
more exposed situations. The eggs and the early generations of the 
lice were not found upon the Italian prune and very few were found 
on any variety of theecultivated plum or prune. Even the Damson is 
said to have been exempt, while Peterson’s seedling or Peterson’s 
Drupe has been found to harbor many eggs, and the Jefferson and the 
variety known as the Helen plum come in for quite a share. Professor 
Washburn recommends that the wild-plum thickets or seedlings be at 
once removed. He adopts our recommendation to. burn the vines 
immediately after picking, and also recommends the use of caustic 


ie 


487 


sprays in winter, before the buds begin to swell, but makes no men- 
tion of the more practical course of spraying the plum trees with kero- 
sene emulsion after the eggs have hatched. 


MADE INSANE BY DESTROYING CATERPILLARS. 


We see no reason to doubt the accuracy of the statement made in 
the following item which we clip from the New York Sun of June 7, 
1891. We have frequently met with people who have exhibited such a 
strong idiosyncrasy against insects that similar results might follow 
were they forced to do the work which this boy was obliged to do. 

BEAVER FALLS, PENNSYLVANIA, June 6. 

Walter Sanders, 13 years old and son of a farmer living about 4 miles east of here, 
has become insane. On Tuesday he was sent into the orchard to destroy the cater- 
pillars and their nests infesting the trees. He used paper, kerosene oil, and matches. 
The boy kept at the work for several honrs, and the caterpillars would frequently 
fallupon him. In the course of the afternoon he was taken with violent nausea, and 
at night his parents were aroused by his moans. They found him tossing wildly, 
crying that the worms were eating him, and he begged them to take them off. A 
physician was hastily summoned, who, by a hypodermic injection succeeded in 
quieting the lad, but other similar attacks followed, and the doctor says he will have 
to be sent to an insane asylum. 


NEW ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 


We notice from the California Fruitgrower, May 2, 1891, that a new 
society, entitled “The California Entomological Society,” has been 
founded and that it expects to hold quarterly meetings at San Francisco. 
The first quarterly meeting was held April 24, at No. 220 Sutter street. 
E. M. Ehrhorn is the president and at the first meeting read a paper 
upon the San José scale, stating that Ap/helinus fuscipennis Howard is 
the most abundant parasite of this destructive bark louse. He has 
also, however, reared Coccophagus citrinus Craw (a species which has as 
yet, we believe, never been described) and Aphelinus mytilaspidis Le 
Baron from the same scale. He also suspects that the first named par- 
asite is to be reared from the Greedy scale (Aspidiotus rapax). This is 
quite likely, as A. fuscipennis is quite a general feeder and has been 
bred at the Department from Aspidiotus perniciosus, Chionaspis euonymi, 
Mytilaspis gloverti, and Mytilaspis pomorum. 


MORE CONCERNING THE BITE OF THE KATIPO. 


We are indebted to Mr. R. Allan Wight, of Pwroa, Auckland, New 
Zealand, for the following matter concerning an apparent case of death 
from the bite of the katipo. Seeing the item in the Auckland Weekly 
News, Mr. Wight wrote to Dr. Ewart, the medical attendant, and his 
reply is reprinted below the reprint of the newspaper item. 


488 


OBITUARY. 


FEBRUARY 7. 
An inquest was held to-day as to the cause of the death of Malcolm Fraser, an ex- 
pressman, who, it was alleged, succumbed to the bite of a katipo spider. Dr. Ewart, 
medical superintendent at the hospital, who made a post-mortem examination, said 
in his own opinion death was due to the bite of thespider, the man being in a bad state 
of health at the time. The active cause of death was erysipelas, but that, in his 
opinion, was brought about by the bite. 


In answer to a juror whether it was blood-poisoning and if the man’s blood had - 


not been out of order from the effects of drink, the witness said he did not think the 
poison of the bite would have been fatal. 

The jury returned a verdict ‘‘That death was due to erysipelas, as a consequence 
of the bite of a katipo spider.” 

William Maskell, Registrar of the New Zealand University, said that he had some 
knowledge of katipo spiders. It belonged toa genus of which there were examples in 
many countries. There were similar spiders in America, Australia, southern Europe, 
northern Africa, and probably China, India, and Madagascar. In these countries 
there was a prevailing impression that this kind of spider was poisonous. Among 
scientific men who had studied spiders there had been doubt until recently whether 
spiders of this genus (Latrodectus) were really dangerous, but from a series of com- 
munications from various parts of the world which had lately appeared in an Ameri- 
can publication called InsEcT Lire, published by the United States Government, it 
seemed as if it was fairly settled that the genus was venomous. It seemed probable 
that conditions of climate might have an effect, and that in hot climates or warm 
weather the poison might be more powerfvl. With regard to the New Zealand 
katipo spider, he had known of one previous case of poisoning and had heard of 
others. Mr. Maskell produced a list of cases prepared by Mr. R. Allan Wight, a resi- 
dent of Auckland, the general effect of which was to show that the bite was not fatal 
to adult healthy persons, but in all cases there was very great pain, with severe de- 
pression and spasms. The witness next described the spider, and stated that it was 
found almost exclusively near the seashore, principally where there were sand hills. 
It was very common near the seashore in the vicinity of Wellington. 


[ Dr. Ewart’s letter. ] 
WELLINGTON, February 19, 1891. 


Dear Sir: I answer your que stions concerning the death of Malcom Fraser with 
the greatest pleasure. 

He was admitted into the hospital on the morning of the 29th of January, and 
died on the 5th of February. At this time the right arm, from the hand up to the 
middle of the upper arm, was very much swollen and of a dusky-red hue, owing to 
erysipelas. At the point where he was said to have been bitten, there was a spot 
about the size of an ordinary flea bite on which the skin had a darker hue than the 
surrounding parts. He was perfectly sensible, but there was great depression of the 


7 
-_ 


vital powers. His wife informed me that he had been delirious during the previous 


night. Towards evening of the day of admission he again became delirious and 
never again recovered complete consciousness. From what the man himself told 
me and from the evidence given by his wife at the inquest, I think there is not the 
slightest doubt he was bitten by the spider in question. He seems to have been 
well acquainted with it, and stated most positively that he was bitten by the spider. 
He described it as a small spider, with a red gold-colored cross on its back. I can 
not say whether he was heated at the time or not. I imagine he was not, seeing 
that at the time he was bitten he was lying on the Hutt Racecourse. He had been 
attending the races, and the accident happened after the races were over. I can 
not tell you at what hour this happened, but it must have been late in the afternoon. 
He arrived here about 10 p. m., I think his wife said. He then told her he had been 
bitten by a katipo. 


489 

He went to bed but woke up his wife about 4 a. m., saying that his arm was very 
painful. She looked at his arm, and states that at this time there was a spot about 
‘the size of ashilling or a little larger, which was red and swollen. The redness and 
swelling continued to increase from that time until his admission. He was seen by 
Dr. McCarthy some days after this, who prescribed poultices and Turkish baths. At 
the time of admission, as I have already stated, he was in a very weak condition. 
His temperature was 103 and there was great depression of the vital powers. This, 
however, I ascribe to the erysipelas. His pulse was 120, very weak, His weakness 
rapidly increased, and the pulse became more frequent, and on the 2d of February 
diarrhea set in. This contined until the time of death. The erysipelas also con- 
tinued to spread, so that towards the end it extended beyond the shoulder on to the 
neck and back of the shoulder. Oui the 3d of February I made several incisions in the 
forearm and upper arm, giving escape to a quantity of acrid, watery pus. Beforedeath 

“alarge part of the skin on the inner sides of the forearm and upper arm mortified. 
Several muscles in both these regions also mortified. 

With regard to his state of health at the time of the accident, his wifestates that he 
wasquite well. The post-mortem examination, however, proved that he was not so, 
and I have good authority for saying that he was a chronic drunkard. The bite was 
on the back of the left forearm and close to its radial side, and about one inch above 
the wrist. 

What the immediate symptoms were, I can not say. His wife states that at 10 p. 
m., on his coming home, he had some pain at the part, but there is no history of con- 
vulsions or tetanic spasms at this time. Dr. McCarthy states that at the time he first 
saw him there were spasmodic convulsions of the muscles of the arm, but for this I 
can not vouch. 

He was bitten on the 21st of January. The post mortem showed mortification of a 
large part of the skin of the front of the forearm and on the inner aspect of the upper 
arm, also mortification of several muscles in both these regions. His liver was in an 
advanced state of disease (cirrhosis) due to long-continued intemperance. All the 
other organs were in a fairly healthy condition. 

The treatment consisted of the ordinary remedies for erysipelas. The parts were 
also bathed with alkaline solutions. Poultices were applied, and stimulants (brandy) 
freely used. There seemed to have no beneficial effect upon the course of the disease. 

As regards the nature of the poison I have no opinion to offer. It was a full week 
after the receipt of the injury before I saw him, so that I did not observe the primary 
symptoms, 

I do not think that death would have ensued had not erysipelas set in. I do not, 
however, give a positive opinion upon this point, as I know nothing about the Kat- 
ipo poison. I, however, feel quite sure that the bite was the starting point of the 
disease and that its effects were aggravated by the low state of health of the patient. 
You will thus see that my opinion is that death was indirectly caused by the spider 
bite. 

I am yours, very truly, 
J. EWART, M. D. 
OBITUARY. 

HENRY EDWARDS.—Henry Edwards, the well-known writer upon 
Lepidoptera, died June 9, 1891, at his home in New York City. He 
was born at Ross, Herefordshire, England, August 27, 1830. In his 
early manhood, which was spent in London as an actor, he began the 
study of entomology. Attracted, probably, by the entomological novel- 
ties to be collected in that then almost unknown country, in 1853 he 
wenti to Australia. In 1*65 he removed to California, in 1878 to Bos- 
ton, and in 1879 to New York. He was for some time president of the 
New York Entomological Club, and was one of the founders of Papilio 
and its first editor. In the summer of 1889 he went to Australia, 


490 


returning to this country last fall. Mr. Edwards wrote many descrip- 
tive and biological papers on the subject of Lepidoptera, but perhaps | 


the most useful work which he has left behind him is his excellent. 
catalogue of the described transformations of North American Lepidop- 
tera. His collection, one of the finest in existence, is composed mainly - 
of Lepidoptera, but contains extensive material in the other orders. 


EDWARD BURGESS.—Edward Burgess, the well-known entomelogist 
and yacht designer, died at Boston the early part of July, 1891. He 
was 43 years old at the time of his death. After graduating at Har-— 
vard in 1871 he was instructor in entomology for some time and became 
well known as a student of the Diptera. He published a number of 
descriptive papers and brought together a large collection. He also 
became interested in insect anatomy and published several admirable 
papers upon this subject. His anatomy of the Milkweed butterfly, 
published in the Memoirs of the Boston Society of Naturai History, is 
a most admirable paper and a positive contribution to knowledge. Con- 
jointly with Dr. C. S. Minot, he contributed the admirable chapter on 
the anatomy of Aletia xylina in the Fourth Report of the U.S. Ento- 
' mological Commission. Some years ago he gave up entomology to de- 
vote his entire attention to the designing of yachts, in which he was 
preéminently successful. His collections and library became, by pur- 
chase, in part the property of the entomologist and in part that of this 
Department. 

ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB OF THE A. A.A. S. 


The Entomological Club of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 
will meet in Washington August 19-26. The large number of eminent entomologists 
in Washington and-vicinity assures an interesting meeting, and the extensive col- 
lections of the National Museum add a most important attraction, so that we may 
expect an unusually profitable and pleasant gathering of entomologists. 

Let every one interested in entomology make it a point to be present. Those who 
expect to present papers in the club will please send titles to one of the officers. 

HERBERT OSBORN, President. 
CLARENCE M. WEED, Secretary. 


ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS. 


The fourth meeting of the Association of Economic Entomologists will be held in 
Washington on the 17th and 18th of August, 1891, in the rooms of the Department of 
Insects of the U. S. National Museum. The American Association for the Advance- 


a} 


| 


ment of Science will meet on the 19th, and the Society for the Promotion of Agri- ~ 


culturai Science isto meet on the 17th. The meetings of the Association of Economic 
Entomologists will be so arranged as not to conflict with the important meetings of 
the latter organization. The Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 
Stations meets on the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th (the 16th being Sunday), so that the 
entire two weeks from August 12 to August 26 will be full of meetings of great 
interest to entomologists. A very full attendance is therefore certain, and this fact 
in itself will doubtless prove a great attraction to any who may be debating whether 
to come to Washington. 
It is requested that members of this association wishing to read papers wili send 
in titles as early as possible. 
JAMES FLETCHER, President. 
L. O. HOWARD, Secretary. 


ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 


THURSDAY, June 4, 1891.—William D. Richardson, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was 
elected a corresponding member. Mr. L. O. Howard offered some remarks on the flight 
of Micro-hymenoptera, explaining the manner of fight of a minute species observed 
about his study lamp. He also exhibited a very minute Chalcid, an Entedonid from 
a collection made by Mr. H. H. Smith on the island of Sf. Vincent, which bore a labe] 
stating that the species had the power of emitting a marked odor which was perceptible 
ata distance of one foot. Discussed by Messrs. Marlatt, Riley, Schwarz, and Ashmead. 

Dr. Fox exhibited a specimen of the young of Epeira, of which one palpus had male 
characters and the other the characters of the female. Discussed by Messrs. Marx 
and Riley. 

Mr. Fernow made some additions to his previous observations on Psilura monacha. 
He said that the Government of Germany had recently appropriated $350,000 
to fight this moth, most of which will be spent on the lime treatment. He 
also called attention to a monograph on the May Beetles of Europe (Melolonthas), 
which he said contained a good many facts on the habits and means of treatmeut of 
these pests. He mentioned a fact given in this publication, viz., the migration of the 
larve, which he believed to be a new observation. The only method of treating 
these insects of any value is the collection of the last stages and of the adult. He 
also mentioned the influence of defoliation on the multiplication of the locust in 
connection with the recent invasion of these insects in the island of Cyprus, and 
similarly also on the multiplication of Melolonthas—such defoliation favoring the 
development of these insects. Discussed by Messrs. Riley, Howard, Schwarz, and 
Fernow. 

Dr. Fox presented a paper entitled ‘‘A collection of Spiders from Indiana,” in which 
he gave notes on the distribution of a number of the species recorded. He stated 
that quite a number of the species had not before been found in that part of the 
United States, but that he had not as yet had time to go over the material thor- 
oughly. He proposed to prepare it for publication at some future date. 

Professor Riley presented some miscellaneous notes as follows: He called attention 
to the injury done to roses in his yard and in the grounds of his neighbors by a small 
beetle, Colaspis tristis. Hestated that he had first noticed the injury from this insect 
the present year, and that the roses had been very largely blighted by its attacks. ; 
The nature of the damage consisted in boring or eating into the buds and partly ex- 
panded flowers. He stated that this experience furnished another illustration of a 
common insect suddenly assuming a new injurious habit. 

In connection with the remarks of Professor Fernow reported above, he gave a brief 
account of the work of the Commission in Massachusetts on the Gypsy Moth, Ocneria 
dispar. Hestated that the Commission now bas 150 men at work, and that Mr. Sessions, 
the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture is very earnest and anxious to leave 
nothing undone that will help in the extermination of this threatening pest. Professor 
Riley also referred to the prejudice against the use of arsenicals, which bas interfered 
somewhat with the work of the Commission, and which, at the request of Mr. Sessions, 
he had done his best to remove by a statement of the facts regarding these insecticides, 
sions, heshowing that their use, with ordinary care, is free from dangerous consequences 
to live stock or man, He stated that he believed that most of the cases reported of 

~ 491. 


492 


animals being poisoned by these arsenicals are hardly to be relied upon, and that in- 
most instances the death had resulted from some other cause. He said in reference 
to the work of the Commission that however carefully it might be done, the extent 
of territory covered by the insect and the inherent difficulties of the task made him 
very doubtful of ultimate success in eradicating the pest. He gave some facts which 
he had gathered from conversation with Professor Shaler during his recent trip to 
Boston, regarding the manner in which this insect had been allowed to escape by 
Trouvelot. Professor Shaler had known Trouvelot very well, and said that he had 
left a batch of eggs on a window sill and allowed them to be blown away. He also 
referred to a spider, determined by Mr. Banks as probably Pardosa albomaculata Em., 
which had been found by Mr. William H. Edwards to seize butterflies on the wing. 
He referred again to the parasite obtained from leodes suturalis, the cocoons of which 
parasite he had exhibited and described at the previous meeting of the society. He 
mentioned that the imago had since been obtained and turned out to be a species of 
Perilitus, a fact of considerable interest because of the close relationship of this para- 
site with the one bred from Megilla maculata and described and figured in INSECT 
LIFE, vol. 1, as Perilitus americanus. Professor Riley also referred to the newspaper 
accounts of the demise of the well-known French entomologist, a personal friend of 
his, M. Kunckel D’Herculais, whose death is said to have resulted from an attack of 
grasshoppers, which, at the instance of the French Government, he was investigating 
in Algiers, These notes were discussed by various members. 

Mr. Schwarz read a note on the Chrysomelid genera Xanthonia and Trichotheea, 
in which he pointed out that the femoral tooth of the latter genus appears to be 
only a sexual character, and that in Xanthonia the male has also a small but distinct 
tooth. Specimens of both genera were exhibited. 

Mr. Schwarz also read a paper on “ Verdigris in Insects,” giving a list of those 
families or genera which are liable to verdigris in collections and adding some gen- 
eral conclusions derived from his experience with verdigrised specimens. 

Discussed by Messrs. Riley, Howard, Schwarz, Pergande, Fernow, and Austin. 

Mr. Stedman reported the results of certain investigations which he had been con- 
ducting on the character of the covering of the gills of aquatic larve of Diptera, 
stating that quite contrary to the formerly accepted idea, the gills are covered with 
a thin chitin, rather than a nonchitinous membrane. This fact he had established 
to his own satisfaction in the case of several species, and proposed to continue his 
observations and present a full report later. 

C. L. MARLATT, 
Recording Secretary. 


INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Aphis brassicx, Fig. 24, p. 289. 

Bryobia pratensis, Figs. 4, 5, pp. 46, 51. 

Castnia cronis, var. corningii, Fig. 29, p. 316. 

Ceratitis capitata, Figs. 1, 2, pp. 5, 6. 

Chaitophorus negundinis, Fig. 23, p. 288. 

Cryptophasa unipunctata, Fig. 30, p. 384. 

Grasserie of silk-worm, Fig. 34, p. 445. 

Hexacladia smithii, Fig. 35, p. 455. 

Iceryaegyptiacum, Fig. 13, p. 98. 

Icerya montserratensis, Figs. 14, 15, 16, 17, pp. 100, 
101,102. 

Icerya palmeri, Figs. 18, 19, pp. 103, 104. 

Icerya rose, Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, pp. 94, 95, 96, 97. | 


Lachnus platanicola, Plate 1, facing p. 292. 

Melanoxanthus bicolor, Fig. 25, p. 291. 

Melanoxanthus floccalosus, Fig. 26, p. 292. 

Panchlora viridis, Figs. 32, 33, p. 443, 444. 

Rose twig infested by Icerya rose, Fig. 6, p.93. 

Spraying apparatus, designed by Dr. Roland 
Thaxter, Fig. 3, p. 39. 

Tanaostigma coursetie, Fig. 20, p. 147. 

Tetracnemus diversicornis, Fig. 21, p. 147. 

Trypeta equalis, Figs. 27, 22, pp. 212, 313. 

Try peta pomonella, Fig. 22, p. 255. 

Vedalia cardinalis, Fig. 31, p. 439. 


493 


ry 


AUTHORS’ INDEX. 


A. 


Albert, J. H., letter, 468. 

Allis, E. W., letters, 125, 407. 
Andras, John C., letter, 27. 
Ashmead, Wm. H.., articles, 53, 455. 
Atkinson, G. F., 262. 

Avery, William C., M. D., letter, 123. 


B. 


Baldwin, J.J., letter, 336. 
Beckwith, M. H., article, 269. 
Blanchard, J. Ed., letter, 404. 
Blumacnher, E. H., letter, 333. 
Boardman, E. R., letter, 409. 
Brainard, Henry A., letter, 162. 
Bridgman, John B.., letter, 410. 
Brinton, J. B., letter, 65. 
Brown, Miss Amy J., 413, 469. 
Brown, J. J., letter, 413. 
Bruner, Lawrence, articles, 135, 229, 519. 
Busb, Mrs. A. E., letter, , 408, 471. 
Butler, A. G., letter, 297. 

C. 
Campbell, A. M., letter, 470. 
Camboué, P., letter, 66. 
Caudell, A. N., letter, 466. 
Clark, Geo. L., letter, 338. 
Clark, H. R., letter, 402. 
Clark, John W.., letter, 399. 
Clark, Thomas R.., letter, 161. 
Cockerell, T. D. A., letter, 296. 


- Cook, A. J., articles, 107, 212. 


Cook, S.S8., letter, 162. 


Coguillett, D. W., articles, 116, 313, 318, 382, 457, let- 


ters, 24, 72, 329, 392. 
Coulson, Samuel, letter, 122. 
Cowles, Calvin J., letters, 169, 405. 
Crawford, F.S., letter, 76. 
Creveceeur, F. F., letter, 72. 
Curtice, Cooper, letter, 297. 


D. 


Davis, John M., letter, 335. 
Doyles, James J. W., letter, 340. 


Dyar, Harrison G., articles, 61, 322, 389; letter, 414. 


E. 


Edwards, Henry, articles, 316, 384. 
Edwards, W. H., letter, 71. 
Edwards, T. H., letter, 334. 
Elliott, Jesse P., letter, 468, 
Enock, Fred., letter, 164. 

Evans, Milton, letter, 125. 

Ewing, L. W., letter, 171. 


3329—No. 11 


D 


¥. 


| Fenwick ,C. C., letter, 164. 


Fernald, E. E., letter, 405. 
Fernow, B. E., article, 379. 
Fletcher, James, article, 247. 
Follensbie, Frank IL, letter, 165. 
Fookes. J. L., letters, 73, 74, 75. 
Forbes, S. A., articles, 233, 239, 
Foster, B., letter, 166. 


_ Freeman, Wm. M., Jetter, 68. ~>_ 


Freund, Charles, letter, 124. ~ 
Frontis, Dr. D. B., letter, 22. 
Fullinwider, J. M., letters, 414, 415, 
F. G.5S., letter, 466. 


G. 


_ Gaffey, W. V.., letter, 470. 


Gamble, Robt., letter, 403. 


| Garman, H., letter, 332. 


Gillette, C. P., articles, 227, 258, 
Gregorson, D., letter, 167. 
Grifiith, J. H., letter, 20. 


Hi. 


_ Hamilton, H. de C., letter, 407. 


ied Hammond, Benjamin, letter, 294. 


| Hargitt, C. W., article, 8. 


Harris, Ira, letter, 417. 
Harris, T. C., letter, 467. 
Hart, C.%., article, 246. 
Hart, H. Fitz, letter, 398. 


| Harvey, F. L., letter, 470. 
| Haymond, Henry, letter, 164. 


Heare, F. P., letter, 75. 
Hekky, Ibrahim, letter, 417. 
Hellier, J. B., note, 427. 
Henderson, T. P., letter, 335. 
Hewitt, Thos. G., letter, 410. 
Higgins, Dr. F. W., letter, 396. 
Hill, Geo. B., 471. 


_ Hoehling, A. H., letter, 163. 
| Holzinger, John M., letter, 411. 


Hood, Lewis E., letter, 124. 
Hopkins, A. D., letter, 19. 

Howard, L. O., articles, 145, 218, 277. 
Hoyt, John K., letter, 160. 
Humphrey, Dr. Dan., letter, 397. 
Hunter, Alexander, letter, 171. 


J. 


Jaeger, A., letter, 329. 


Jettrey, H. L.. letters, 125, 404. 


| Justus, S., letters, 166, 411. 


495 


A96 


K. 


Kellicott, D.S., article, 321. 

Kent, Geo. H., letter, 337, 466. 
Kern, E. H., letter, 398. 

Koebele, Albert, letter, 71, 468. 
Kohn, G., letter, 69. 

Kruckeberg, Henry W.., letter, 23. 


L. 


Leavell, John M , letter, 395. 
Lindeman, Dr. K., letter, 393. 
Lyman, J. D., letter, 468. 

Lyons, John D., letters, 295, 417, 469. 


M. 


Magruder, H. M., letter 21. 
Mally, Frederick W., article, 9. 
Marlatt, C. L., article, 312; note, 38. 
Marten, John, article, 265. 
McCallan, Claude W., letter, 120. 
McCarthy, Gerald, letter, 403. 
McCluney, Mary F., letter, 160. 
McGuire, R. J., letter, 415. 
Montrose, C. O., letter, 337. 
Moon, A. W., letter, 401. 
Morton, W. J., letter, 64. 

Morse, Albert P., letter, 22. 
Mumm, Hans, letter, 416. 
Murtfeldt, Miss M. E., letter, 72. 


N. 


Neal, D. R., jr., letter, 161. 
Neal, J. C., letter, 465. 
Newkirk, P. C., letter, 73. 


O. 


Ormerod, Eleanor A., letters, 25, 69, 293, 400. 
Osborn, Herbert, articles, 115, 141; notes, 78, 479. 
Osgood, H. B., letter, 296. 


ie 


Packard, Dr. A.5S., letter, 401. 
Painter, E. O., letter, 68. 

Parker, Miss Sarah, letter, 340. 
Patton, Wm. Hampton, article, 158. 
Perry, Mrs. H.S., letter, 23. 

Pound, Albert, letter, 162. 

Powers, James, letter, 167. 


R. 


Rathvon, 8.8., letter, 70. 

Rawling, A., letter, 407. 

Ricksecker, L. E., letter, 412. 

Riley, C. V., articles, 181, 443. 

Riley and Howard, articles, 5, 15, 57, 92, 151, 489, 
441, 460; notes (all unsigned notes). 

Riley and Marlatt, article, 45. 

Roeding, George C., letter, 408. 

Rowland, Dr. L. B., letter, 334. 

Russ, K. W., letter, 73. 


8. 


Sabetti, Prof. A., letter, 416. 
Savage, Frank W., letter, 418. 
Savery, W. H., letter, 399. 
Scarborough, D.C., letter, 339. 
Schuyler, Eugene, letter, 66. 
Schwarz, E. A., notes, 34, 35, 38. 
Shaffer, J. M, letter, 399. 
Sherrard, D. G., letter, 21. 
Sickenberger, Dr. E., notes, 66. 
Skinner, J. O., letter, 416. 
Smith, Emory E., letter, 392. 
Smith, E. P., letter, 400. 
Smith, James B., letter, 404. 
Smitb, John B., articles, 113, 217, 219, 220, 226, 231. 
Snow, F. H., article, 279. 
Stadtmueller, F. H., letter, 466. 
Sterling, Dr. E., letters, 295, 336, 403. 
Stewart, W., letter, 70. 
Strayer, J.S., letter, 170, 471. 
Strunk, D, letter, 65. 

Susini, Joseph de, letter, 391. 
Swigert, 8S. M., letter, 21. 
Swinton, A. H., article, 18. 


aly. 


Tate, H. L., M. D., letter, 123. 
Tenney, W. H. & Sons, letter, 339. 
Thilow, J. Otto, lotter, 406. 
Thompson, W. J., letter, 64. 
Thurow, F. W.., letters, 335, 413. 
Townsend, C. H. T., note, 39. 


Ve 
Vipond, Nicholas, letter, 166. 
W. 


Walker, Ernest, letters, 25, 26. 

Walker, Philip, article, 445. 

Walsingham, Lord, articles, 117, 325, 386, 465. 

Washburn, F. L., letter, 295, 405. 

Webster, F. M., articles, 12, 112, 148, 159, 312, 451; 
notes, 174, 300, 346, 348, 480; letter, 339. 

Weed, Clarence M., articles, 275, 285. 

Weir, J. Jenner, letter, 393. 

Wielandy, John F., letters, 121, 413, 418. 

Wier, D.B., letter, 26. 

Wight, R. Allan, letters, 394, 395. 

Wileman, E. D., letter, 396. 

Wiley, C. A., letter, 336. 

Wilter & Co., letter, 19. 

Wood, G. R., letter, 167. 

Wood, W.5S., letter, 163. 

Woodworth, C. W., article, 266. 

Wright, W.G., letters, 294, 402. 

Wynkoop, E. H., letters, 165, 166, 


GENERAL INDEX. 


A. , Amblyomma americana, 413. 
maculatum, 413, 
Acanthia lectularia, under bark, 21. unipunctatum, 413. 
Acanthocinus zdilis, destroying Scolytid colo- | Amblyteles, bred species, 152. 
nies, 35. American clover-seed midge, 293. 
Acari, treated by Curtice, 91. Meromyza, eggs of, correction, 532. 
Acetic acid, ineffective against rose-chafer, 223. Anaphora popeanella on corn, 27. 
Acoptus suturalis, in Carpinus, 87. André, Edmond, obituary of, 428. 
Acridium peregrinum, in Mesopotamia, 172. Angitia pediscz, bred species, 156. 
in India, 433. Angoumois grain moth, see Gelechia cerealella. 
Acridotheres tristis, attempt to introduce, 345. Angular-winged katydid, abnormal oviposi- 
Adelura, bred species, 58. tion of, 296. 
Adoxus vitis, biology of, ref., 341. Anisopteryx vernata, cocoon of, 249. 


on grape in California, m., 298. 
oviposition in, note, 349. 
/Hgeria acerni,in maple, 161. 
tipuliformis, fungus attacking, 86. 
Zschna eremita, mm, 414. 
A gallia siccifolia, in Nebraska, ref., 487. 
sanguinolenta, on grass and beets, 479 
Agalliastes bractatus, injuring bean, 44, 
Agathis, bred species, 17. 


Anisota rubicunda, defoliating maples, 338. 
senatoria, on oak, ref., 256. 
virginiensis, on oak, ref.,256. 

Anomala binotata, on strawberry, mm, 345. 
undulata, affecting wheat, 165. . 

Anomalon, bred species, 155. 
parasite of Cheimatobia.77. 
relictum, oviposition of, 174. 

Ant, bull, remedy for bite of, 337. 


Agnotomyia, mm, 178, harvesting, to destroy nests of, 460. 
Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, re- | injuring watermelons, 71. 
view, 434, in their relation to Aphides, 233, 234. 

Agrilus ruficollis, parasite of, 19. | Antennaria pannosa, on Chrysophyllum, 100. 
in West Virginia, ref., 435. Antherea polyphemus, see Telea. 

Agriotes, in onions, 166. Anthomyia brassicze, Aleochara bred from, 318. 
mancus, larva on corn, mm, 246, ceparum, Aleochara bred from, ref., 318. 
pubescens, larva on corn, mm, 246, | Anthomyiide, causing myiasis, 39. | 

Agrotis, species, 215. injuring sugar beets, 470. 
annexa, destroying cotton in Mississippi,338. | Anthonomus musculus, in Canada report, 359. 
C-nigrum, on currant, 84. 4-gibbus, mm, 251. 
fennica, appearance in numbers, 213. | Anthrax scrobiculata, bred from cutworms, 

food plants of, 247. mm, 259. 
remedies for, 248. Anthrenus muszorum, 405. 
spread south, 38. scrophulariz, 34, 65, 170, 405. 
saucia, eating potato leaves, 149, varius, 34, 405. 
turris, destructive in gardens, mm, 247. | Anurida maritima, ref., 310. 
ypsilon, destructive in Mississippi, 337. Aonidia aurantii in Syria, 417. 
Agrypon, bred species, 155. washes for, 1. 
Aleochara nitida, bred from pupariumof Autho- Apanteles. bred species, 15, 16,17, 42, 412. 
myia brassice, ref., 318. | militaris, parasite of army worm, 54. 
sp. indet., bred from puparium of Anthomyia | xyline, bred from cutworms, mm, 259. 
ceparum, ref, ,318. | Apatela brumosa, in Minn. bulletin; ref., 256. 
Aleurodes vaporiorum, greenhouse pest, 394. oblinita, injuring strawberry, ref., 364. 
Aleurodide, article on, rev., 252. tritona, larva, description of, 391. 


Allorhina nitida, injuring strawberry, ref., 364. Aphereta, bred species, 58. 
probable cause of injuries to grass lawn, 484. | Aphelinus mytilaspidis, bred from San José 
Allotria brassicz, reared from cabbage Aphis, scale, 487. 
mim, 454. fuscipennis, hosts of, 487. 


ABBREVIATIONS USED.—Abs., abstract; art., article; deser., description; indet., indeterminate; 
m. or men., mention; mm, mere mention; n.g. or gen. nov., pew genus; n.sp., new species; 
ref., reference; rept., report; rev., review; sp., species of; syn., synonym. 

497 


498 


Aphidaria basilaris, synonym, 315. 
Aphidide, biology of, discussed, 264. 
contribution to a knowledge of, art., 285. 
injuring vine, 33. 
questions relating to, article, 226. 
Aphidius, bred species, 60. 
citraphis, synonym, 315. 
Aphis, apple, in Nebraska, ref., 437. 
brassicee, parasites reared from, 454. 
on turnip, 454. 
cherry, in Jowa, mm, 479. 
eorn root, 233. 
cucumeris, attracting ants, 71. 
green, spraying for, 400. 
persice niger, synonym, 196. 
treatment for, 270. 
pruni, mm, 406. 
prunicola, on peach, 196. 
prunifolii, on plum in Iowa, 479. 
woolly, spraying for, 400. 
Aphodius larrez, in flowers of Larrea, m, 485.. 
Apiculture, note on, 198. 
Apis dorsata, efforts to introduce, 198. 
Apple Bucculatrix, in Cornell bulletin, ref., 308. 
Chermes, ref., 366. 
curculio, mm, 251. 
louse, mm, 238. 
on grasses and wheat, 239. 
maggot, bulletin on, review, 253. 
Apple-tree Saperda, parasites of, 404. 
Aradus, under bark, 22. 
Aragnomus griseus, food habits, 37. 
Aramigus tesselatus, food habits, 37. 
Arctia isabella on strawberry, mm, 345, 


Argyresthia, notes on genus, with descriptions | 


of new species, art., 117. 
abdominalis, m, 118. 
altissimella, m, 120. 
eupressella, habits of, art., 116. 

n.sp. Walsingham, descr., 118. 
freyella, n. sp. Wlsm., descr. 119. 
mendica, in America, 118. 
nitidella, m, 120. 
ossea, m, 120. 
plicipunctella, n. sp. Wlsm., deser., 119. 

habitat of, 386. 
quercicolella, m, 119. 
retinella, m, 120, 
subreticulata, m, 118. 

Argynnis diana, dimorphism in, 35. 
niphe, dimorphisni in, 33. 

Army worm, notes, on, article, 112. 
remarks on, 183. 
report of outbreak in Maryland, art., 53. 
stopping trains, mm, 478. 

Arthropods, the relationship of, rev., 310. 

Arzama obliquata, mode of swimming, m, 322. 

Aspidiotus aurantii, gas treatment for, 182. 

in Australia, ref., 353. 
in California, 168. 
bicarinatus, the larva of a Limacodid moth, 

note, 349. 
citrinus, resin wash for, note, 44. 
econchiformis, synonymy, 89. 
ficus, in California, 23. 
gloverii, not altacked by Bryobia; 48. 
juglandis, synonymy, 89. 


Aspidiotus perniciosus, in California, 169. 
on apple and pear, 68. 
parasite, bred from,487. 
rapax, supposed parasite of, 487. 
uve, parasite of, 72. 
Association of economic entomologists, address 
of president, 181. 
list of members, 250. 
notice of meeting, 490. 
proceedings of meeting, 180. 
status of, 206. 
Astoma parasiticum, syn. of Trombidium mus- 
carum, 340. 
Atkinson, E. T., obituary of, 303. 
Attagenus piceus, cosmopolitan, 34. 
injuring carpets, 65, 66, 
in houses, 170. 
Aulacophora punctata, time for, 76, 


B. 


Bacon beetle, in New York report, ref., 252. 


| Bacterial cultures, against insects, experiment 


with, 465. 
Bacterial diseases of insects, mm, 259. 
of Pieris, 333. 
Bagous sellatus3, exhibited, 431. 
Bailey’s spraying device, 175. 
Baly, J.S., obituary, 3. 
Baris, sp. bred from Xdnthium, mm, 312. 
econfinis, breeding in Bidens frondosga, 261. 
Barrel staves, insect injury to, 343. 
Bassus, bred species of, 460. 
parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 
Bean weevil,see Weevil. 
Beaver, parasites and guests of, mm, 356. 
Bed bug, supposed, in swamp, 336. 
under bark, 21. 
Bee moth, feeding habits of, 342. 
Belostoma, probable cause of stopping of rail- 
road trains, 478. 
Benzine, against stored grain pests, 334. 
Bibio albipennis, supposed injuries of, 479. 
Bibliography, a little used, 32. 
Bird, insectivorous, attempt to introduce, 344, 
Birds preying upon walnut caterpillar, 341. 
Bisulphide of carbon, against grain pests, 191, 
333; 
against pea weevil, 359. 
against white grubs, 483. 
Black-fly cream, against mosquitoes, etc., 470. 
Black scale, see Scale. 
Blastophaga, desirability of importing, 408. 
Blight, American, ref., 356. 
Blister beetles, in N. Y. report, ref., 252. 
black, onasters, 416. 
Blepharocerid larvz, mm, 357. 
Blood-sucking cone-nose, 466. 
Boletotherus bifurcus, in Polyporus, 335. 
Boll worm, arsenites for, 123. 
destruction of, by means of bacteria, 333. 
in Florida bulletin, ref., 256. 
injuries of, in Mississippi, 338. 
investigation of, 92. 
susceptible to cabbage worm Micrococcus, 
197. 
of cotton, bulletin on, notice, 367. 


| Bombardier beetles, abundance of, 411. 


A499 


Bombus, dead from unknown cause, 87. 
virginicus, apparent intoxication of, 431. 


Bombycidae, taken by electric lamps at Pough- | 


keepsie, N. Y., list of, art., 322. 

Bombyx pini, reference to article, 36. 

lanestris, seven years in the pupal stage, 35. 
Bordeaux mixture, as an insecticide, 221, 361, 364, 
Bot-fly, infesting hogs, 161, 401. 

of horse, ref., 365. 

of jack rabbit, supposed, 21. 

of ox, in Ohio bulletin, ref., 4,5. 

larva of, 25. 
remarks on, 482, 

Box-elder bug, in Kansas, 72. 
Brachinus, abundance of, 411. 
Bracon, bred from Tyloderma, 81. 

parasite of Agrilus, 20. 
Braconide, bred species, 15. 
Brassy flea-beetle, see Flea-beetle. 
Bronzy cut-worm, see Cut-worm. 
Bruchus obsoletus, in Kansas, 44. 
Bryobia, a household pest, 23. 

pallida, synonym of B. pratensis, 45. 

pratensis, article on, 45. 


Bucculatrix pomifoliella, in Cornell station bul- | 


letin; ref., 308. 
Bud moth, in Mass. bulletin, 265, 366. 
Buffalo gnats, in South, 451, 454. 
tree-hopper, spraying for, 5. 
Bull-ant, soft earth aremedy for bite of, mm, 337, 
Burgess, Edward, obituary of, 490. 
Butterflies, dimorphism in, 296. 
Butterfly, carnivorous, note, 482. 
C. 
Cabbage Aphis, description of forms of, 289. 
butterfly, in Florida bulletin, ref., 256. 
Southern, in Mississippi, 337. 
in Massachusetts bulletin, 365. 
maggot, in Fletcher’s report, 359. 
Pionea, in Mississippi, 337. 
Plusia, in Mississippi, 337. 
Plutella, in Fletcher’s report, 359, 
root maggot, mm, 247. 
worms, disease of, 409. 
Paris green for, note, 483. 
pyrethrum, expts. on, 259, 260. 
remedy for, 31. 
Cacecia argyrospila, injuring roses, 19. 


rosaceana, ref., 308. 
Calandra oryze, injuring stored grain in South 
America, 333. 

abroad in February, 454. 
California Entomological Society, 487. 
Calliphora vomitoria, causing myiasis, 57, 
Callidryas eubule, migration of, 335. 
Calocoris rapidus, affecting corn, 159. 
Calomel, for screw-worm, ref., 362. 


Caloptenus, longevity of decapitated specimens, 
87. 


devastator, mm, 419. 
spretus, m., 183. 
not abundant up to date, 4338. 
Calosoma, m, 177. 
Camnula pellucida, in !'daho, 136,183. 
Campoplex, bred species, 155. 
parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 


Canker worm, cocoons of, 249. 
notes on, art., 8. 
Cantbarides, vesicatory power of, 2. 
Cantharis vesicatoria, on history of, 3. 
Capside, injuring tea in India, 44. 
observations on remarkable forms of, 356, 
Carabus, with deformed palpus, 177. 


| Carbolie acid, for serew-worm, 362. 


Carbon bisulphide, see Bisulphide. 
Carpocapsa pomonella or putaminana, 
from walnut or chestnut, 296. 
saltitans, food-plant of, 431. 
Carpophilus mutilatus, in figs, 414. 
Casinaria, bred species, 157. 
Casnonia ludoviciana, abundant near Washing- 
ton, mm, 357. 
Castnia, habits of larva and pupa, 316. 
ecronida, ref., 317. 
cronis, ref., 317. 
var. corningii n. var., art., 316. 
eudesmis, ref., 316. 


bred 


| Catalpa sphinx, see Sphinx catalpz. 


| Catalytus, bred species, 154. 


Caterpillar, described as a Coccid, note, 349. 
evolution of bristles, spines, and tubercles, 
rev. of art. on, 309. 


Caterpillars migrating in midwinter, 469. 


stopping trains, 477. 
Cecidomyia leguminicola, in England, 293, 294. 
trifolii, mm, 293, 294. 
sp., gallon Cattleya, 22. 
sp., on wheat and flax, ref., 454, 


| Cecidomyiid, on roots of Xanthium, mm, 312. 


on rose, 294. Z 
Celery worm, in Mississippi, 338. 
Centeterus, bred species, 152. 
Centipedes, phosphorescent, 173, 319. 
Centistes americana, parasite of Hippodamia, 20. 
Centrodora, parasite of Aspidiotus, 72. 
Cephenomyia, infesting hogs, 162. 
Cephus pygmeeus, 71, 416. 
Cerambycid larve, 247. 
occasional) y beneficial, 35. 
Ceratitis, in peach, 120. 
capitata,infesting peachesin Bermuda, art.,5, 
eatoirei, m, 80. 
citriperda, synonym of capitata, 6. 
hispanica, m, 80. 


; : : j | Ceratoma caminea, injuring beans, 44. 
cerasivorana, in Cornell station bulletin, 308, ~ ae ae : b4 
Cereopeus chrysorhceus, on wild grape, 452. 


Ceresa bubalus, spraying for, 5. 

Cermatia forceps, in houses, 85, 

Cerocoma schreberi, on history of, 5. 

Ceroplastes, injuring tea in India, 44. 
fioridensis, from Louisiana, 398. 

Chetocnema basalis, in Europe, ref., 484. 
pulicaria, injuring corn, 336, ref., 484. 

Cheetura pelasgia, Nitzschia on, 116. 

Chaff scale, see Seale. 

Chaitophorus negundinis, description of forms 

of, 287. 

Changes of location, recent, 439. 

Charistena lecontei, exhibited. 431. 

Charops, bred species, 155. 

Chauliognathus pennsylvyanicus, feeding upon 

sugar cane borer, 862, 

numerous on Ailanthus blossoms, mm, 272,! 


/ 500 - 


Cheese mite, preventive, 165. 
traps for, useless, 69. 
Cheimatobia brumata, parasites of, 77. 
Cherry Aphis, in lowa, mm, 479. 
tree scallop-shell moth, ref., 308. 
Tortrix, in Cornell bulletin, ref., 308. 
Chionaspis euonymi, Aphelinus fuscipennis 
bred from, mm, 487. 
Chilocorus bivulnerus, eating Aspidiotus, 69. 
distigma, notes on, 441. 
Chilo saccharalis, in Louisiana bulletin, 362. 
its injury to corn, 64. 
Chinch bug, damage caused by, 397. 
experiments for destruction of, by artificial 
introduction of contagious diseases,art. ,279. 
remedy for, 260. 
Chionaspis citri, from West Indies, 99. 
furfurus, spraying for, 4, 259. 
Chloroform for screw worm, ref., 362. 
Chlorops, boring in grass, 71. 
Choragus nitens; in District of Columbia, 87. 
Chorioptes communis, var. ovis, treated, 91. 
Chortologa australis, migration of, 419. 
Chrysis sp., specimen determined, 335. 
Chrysobothris femorata, in maple, 161. 
mali, supposed parasite of, 412. 


Chrysochus auratus, larvz feed on roots under- | 


ground, 349. 
cobaltinus, on peach, 162. 
Chrysomelide, Baly’s publications on, 3. 
Chrysomela vulgatissima, reference to article, 36. 
Chrysops sp., biting horses’ ears, 335. 
vittatus, specimen determined, 335, 
Cicada septendecim, species destroying, 87. 
Cicadidae, injuring vine, 33. 
Cicadula quadrilineata, damaging chrysanthe- 
mums, ref., 351. 
Cimbex americana, habits of, 77. 
parasites of, 177, 276. 
connata, Opheltes parasitic on, 177. 
femorata, Opheltes parasitic on, 177. 
humeralis, Opheltes parasitie on, 177. 
Citheronia regalis, injuring cotton, 339. 
sepulchralis, larva described in ‘*‘ Entomo- 
logical News,”’ (p. 124), 356. 
Cleigastra suisterci, n. sp., bred from swine 
dung, 357. 
Clivina impressifrons, affecting corn, 159. 
Clisiocampa americana, in New England States, 
20, 124, 483. 
taken by eiectric lamps, mm, 323. 
disstria, stopping trains, 477. 
sylvatica, mm, 8. 
Clistopyga pleuralis, bred from Gelechia, 463. 
Cloeotus, living under decaying bark, mm, 485. 
Clover-leaf beetle, invasion by, article, 231. 
seed midge, American, ref., 366. 
Clover mite, article on, 45. 
Clover-seed midge, in England, 293. 
Clover-stem borer, food plants of, 254. 
Clytus robiniz, see Cyllene. 
Cnesinus strigicollis, in Liquidambar, 87. 
Cocaine for insect stings, 344. 
Coccide, alteration in form of plants due to, 343. 
review of article on, 250. 
injuring vine, 33. 
Coccinella bipunctata, destroying Aphis, 190. 


| Coccinella bipunctata, 9-notata, m., 165. 
novya-zealandica, synonymy, 352. 
undecimpunctata—nova-zealandica, 352. 

Coccophagus citrinus, bred from scale, 487. 

Coccus linearis, synonymy, 89. 
pineti, synonymy, 89. 

Cochylis ambiguella, monograph on, ref., 341. 

Cockroach, viviparous, art., 443. 

Coelinius, bred species, 59, 

Codling moth, as a friend, art., 347. 
experiments on, 272. 
exporting enemies toN. Z., 43. 

| in Australia, ref., 353. 

in Mass. bulletin, 365. 

in Nebraska, ref., 437. 

in New Mexico, m, 419. 

in New Zealand, 394. 

in Oregon bulletin, ref., 250. 

larvee fed upon by woodpecker, 348. 

larva in March, 396. 

legislation in New Zealand, 341. 

remedies, 40. 

spraying for, 272, 400, 420, 421, 435, 

| Coeliodes inzequalis=Craponius inzequalis. 
remedies, 167. 

Colaptes cafer, destroying ecodling moth, 79. 

Colaspis brunnea, injuring strawberry, 364. 
tristis, injuring roses, 491. 
flavida, on vine, 123. 

Coleothrips 3-fasciata, probable cause of ‘‘rust”’ 

on oats, 30L. 

Coleoptera. collections of, 350. 
injuring vine, 33. 
on Canada, lists of, rev., 311. 

Coleopterous larvee, sent by C. V. Riley to F. 

Meinert, Copenhagen, list of, 330, 

Collops, mm, 230. 

Colorado potato-beetle, bird enemies, 174. 
in Australian bulletin, ref., 353. 

Colpognathus, bred species, 152. 

| Conorhinus, blood-sucking habit of, 466. 

Conotrachelus nenuphar, possible occurrence of, 

in Tasmania, 480. 

| Contagious germs, use of, in the field, 197. 

| Coéperation, in entomology, 202. 

Copidosoma truncatellum, parasite of Plusia, 72. 

Copeatylum marginatum, Maseochara valida 

larvee breeding in puparium of, 319, 
Copper compounds, ineffective against rose- 

| chafer, 221, 223. 

| Coptotriche zelleriella, 386, 387, 388. 

| Cornell Univ. Station, bulletin of, rev., 308. 

| Corn, ear worm, see Heliothis, 

root Aphis, summary history of, article, 233. 

root-louse, no remedy for, 5. 

root-worm, injuring corn in Mississippi, 338. 

| Corthylus punctatissimus, food habits, 178. 
spinifer, n. sp., 178. 

Corvus seapulatus, eating locusts, 65. 

Cotton stainer, in Florida bulletin, ref., 256. 

| Cotton worm, damage caused by, 398. 
in Florida bulletin, ref., 256. 
preyed upon by Panorpa, m., 306. 
stopping trains, mm, 477. 

Cottonwood leaf beetle, see Lina. 

Cottony cushion seale, see Seale. 
maple scale, in N. Y. report, ref., 252. 


501 


Cottony maple seale, in Oregon, 125. [ 
Crane-fly, larvee destroying wheat, art., 12. | 
Craponius inzequalis, in Arkansas, 452. 
Cremastus, bred species, 156. 
Cresylic ointment, for serew-worm, ref., 362. 
Cricket, banded sand, not poisonous, 336. 
field, enemy to strawberry, ref., 366. 
remedy for, 298. 
Crossotosoma «gyptiacum, account of, 97. 
an Icerya, 184. 
Croton bug, mm, 407. 
Crown borer, strawberry, ref., 366. 
Cryptolechia, remarks on, 481. 
Cryptophasa unipunctata, notes on habits and 
earlier stages of, in Australia, art., 384. 
Cryptus, bred species, 153. 
parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 
Cucumber beetle, in Ohio bulletin, ref., 254. 
Cureulio, grape, in Arkansas, 452, 453. 
treated, 167. 
plum, egg-laying record of, 228. 
experiments against, ref., 254, 366. 
in Massachusetts bulletin, 365. 
notes on, article, 219, 227. 
Currant Aphis, in Iowa, mm, 479. 
borer, in Oregon bulletin, ref., 256. 
stem borer, 251. 
Cutworm, bronzy, migrating in winter, 469. 
Cutworms, notes on, 215, 256, 337, 338, 479. 
parasites of, list, 259. 
remedies for, 248. 
Cuterebra americana, m., 25. 
Cye!ocephala, notes on, 243, 245. 
immaculata, notes on, 245, 246. 
Cylapus tenuicornis, occurrence of, in District 
of Columbia, 87, 356. 
Cylas formicarius, sweet potato borer, 334, 404. 
Cyllene robiniz, identified, 417. 
in West Virginia rept., ref., 435. 
Cynips quercus-prunus, parasitized, 41. 
Cypress twig borers, art., 116. 


D. 


Dacnusa, bred species, 58. 

Dactylopius, on tomato, 413, 419. 
preyed upon by Lepidopteron, 482. 

Dakruma coccidivora, referred to Leetilia, 32. 

Damzeus sp., Barbadoes sugar mites, 31. 

Danais archippus larve, destroyed by bacterial | 

diseases, mm, 259. 
swarming of, 27. 

Datana, oviposition of Tachina on, 414. 
angusii, parasitism, 174. 
ministra, in Mississippi, 338, 

parasites of, 26. 


in Minn, bulletin, ref., 256. 

Dectes spinosus, on Xanthium, 312. 

oviposition of, on Ambrosia, 86, 141. 
Deltocephalus debilis, in blue grass, 479. 
Department of Agriculture, relations with sta- 

tions, 205. 

Dermestes lardarius, cosmopotitan, 34. 

damaging honeycomb, mm, 252. 

vulpinus, damaging woodwork, 344. 
Dermestidae, infesting museums, 34. 


Desmia maculalis, in Mississippi, 338, 
Dewitz, Dr. Hermann, obituary, 4. 


Diabrotica 12-punctata, deser. of larva, 150. 
destructive to corn in South, 86, 338. 
habits and life-history of, 430, 
on peach and cabbage, $4. 
remedy for in corn, 5. 

longicornis, on cotton blooms, 151. 

soror, injuring corn in California, 468, 

vittata, eating corn silk, 149. 

infesting corn in Maryland, 54. 
in Mississippi, 337. 

Dizretus, bred species, 61. 

n. sp. raised from cabbage Aphis, 454. 
Diapheromera femorata, not poisonous, 416, 
Diaspis pentagona, in Italy, 196. 

attacking mulberry, 196. 

vandalicus ravaging cocoanuts, 296. 
Diastrophus nebulosus, galls of, 405. 

Dicerea divaricata, injuries of, 422. 

Diccelotus, bred species, 152. 

Diggerwasps, larvae, external feeders, 276. 

Digitalis, ineffective against rose beetles, 223. 

Dilophogaster californica, on black seale, 169. 

Dimorphism in butterflies, 296. 

Diphucephala colaspidioides, in Australia, 424. 

splendens, in Tasmania, 480. 
Diplodontus,apparent parasite of Simulium,454. 
Diplosis tritici, eaten byMegilla, 4380. 

sp., gall on Cattleya, 22. 

Diptera, gilis of aquatic larvae of, 492. 

injuring vine, 33. 

mouth parts of, rev., 360. 


| Dipterous larvee, vomited by child, 396. 


parasites, compared with Hymenopterous 
parasites, 277. 


| Diseases of Pieris rape, believed not transfera- 


ble to other species, 333. 
Disease germs, as means of battling with injuri- 
ous insects, articles on, 141, 197. 
Disonycha triangularis, in Nebraska, ref., 437. 
Dissosteira longipennis, habits of, 438. 
Division of Entomology, changes in force of, 
notes, 310, 368. 
publications of, notices, 1, 367. 
Dorcus parallelus, on pear, ref., 308. 
Domestic animals, kerosene emulsion for para- 
sites of, 251. 
Doryphora 10-lineata, m, 121. 
range, 84. 
Dorytomus mucidus, on cotto1.wood, 72. 


| Dragon flies, flights of, 413 


Drasterius, in onions, 166. 

elegans, infesting corn, 54. 
Dryocampa rubicunda, on maple, 160. 
Ducks vs. potato-beetles, 398. 
Dung-beetles, phytophagiec notes, 484. 
Dynastes tityus, in woodshed, 395, 396, 
Dysdercus suturellus, m, 41, 

treated, 410. 


E. 


Farias insulana, injuring cotton, 67. 
Earth, a remedy for poisonous insect bites, 337. 
Echocerus maxillosus, infesting stored corn in 
Venezula, 333. 
Economie Entomologists, Association of. See 
Association of Economie Entomologists. 
entomology in Indiana; rey., 366. 


Economic, value of study of insects, 397. 

Edema albifrons, in Minn. bulletin, ref., 256. 

Edwards, Henry, obituary of, 489. 

Eelworm, stem, in Iingland, 293, 366. 

Eiphosoma, bred species, 156. 

Elaterids, life history, article on, 246. 

Eleodes suturalis, parasite of, 432, 492. 

Elephant beetle, in Australia, 434. 

Ellopia fasciaria, reference to article, 36. 
prosaparia, reference to article, 36. 
somniaria, in Fletcher’s report, 359. 

parasitized,360. 

Embryo insects, on appendages of first abdo- 

minal segment, rev. of paper on, 310. 

Emphor bombiliformis, Hibiscus visitor, 83. 

Emphytus maculatus,in Kentucky bulletin, 364. 
on strawberry, 345. 

Empidas, feeding habits of, 356. 

Encyrtid, anew and remarkable, art., 145. 
with six-branched antennae, art., 455. 


° 


| 
Ennomus autunminaria, effects of temperature on | 


coloring of, note, 481. 
Enome obfuscata, synonym, 297. 
Entedonid, odor of, remarks on, 491. 


ing, 490. 

excursion, notice of, 428. 

work in West Virginia, rev., 435. 

Society, California, 487. 

Society of Washington, abridged minutes of, 
41, 87, 129, 178, 356, 357, 430, 431, 491. 

Entomologists, see Association. 
in the experiment stations, work of, 212. 

Entomology, applied, outlook for, art., 181. 
at lowa station, review, 25]. 
economic, in India, 43. 
method of teaching, art., 107. 

Entomophthora, of chinch bug, 197. 

Epachromia terminalis, notes and ref., 420. 

Ephestia consobrinella, ref’d to Glyptocera, 32. 
interpunctella, notes on, 134, 158, 333. 
kiihniella. notes on, 134, 158, 333. 
sp., infesting grain in Venezuela, 333. 
zee, synonymy, 134, 158. 

Ephialtes, bred species of, 461. 

Epicanta maculata, ref., 437. 
pennsylvanica, habits of, 416, 437. 
verticalis, on history of, 3. 
vittata, ref., 437. 

Epilachna corrupta, habits of, 419. 

Paris green for, 121. 
vigintioctopunctata, in Australia, 434. 

Episinus, m., 129. 

Epitrag us tomentosus, on orange, 68. 

Epurvea luteola, in figs, 414. 

Ericerus pé-la, wax secreted by, 424. 

Eriocampa cerasi, on plum, 163. 
on quince, 171. 

Eriococeus eucalypti, on gum trees, 76. 

Eristalis, in wel! water, 22. 
tenax, ref., 351. 

Ero hamatus, mites on, 468. 

Eubadizon, bred species, 58. 

Eudryas grata, larva of, ref., 346. 
unio, a true grape insect, 346. 

Eupithecia miserulata, on raspberry, 345. 

Euphorus, bred species, 57. 


Euphoria inda, identified, 417. 
sepulchralis, affecting corn, 159. 
Euplectrus, rapid development ef, mm., 277. 
comstockii, attacking cotton worm, 306. 
““Eureka Insecticide,’’ 347, 361. 
Eurhopalus variegatus, found only in Chili, 34. 
Eurycreon rantalis, affecting beets, 184. 
garden pest,smm, 338. 
Eurytoma prunicola, habits, 41. 
Eustrotia caduca, preparatory stages, 84, 32i. 
Euura sp., injuring willow hedges, 466, 467. 
Euvanessa antiopa, in Mississippi, 338. 
Exetastes, bred species, 158. 
Exochilum, bred species, 155. 
Exochus, bred species of, 461. 
Exolytus, bred species, 152. 
Experimentation in use of insecticides, 214. 
laboratory method of, art., 266. 


| Experiment stations, work of the entomolo- 


gists of, 212. 
bulletins of, 215. 


1 


: | Fall web-worm, a new enemy of, 422. 
Entomological Club, A. A. A.S.,notice of meet. | 


False chinch bug, remedies for, 260. 
Feniseca tarquinius, carnivorous habits of, 482. 
Fertilization of plants, produced by insects, 402. 
Fertilizers as insecticides, article, 217. 
Fidia, life-history unknown, mm, 349. 
Fig beetles, correspondence on, 414, 415. 
Field cricket, see Cricket. 
agents, reports of, bulletin, notice, 368. 
Fish oil soap, see Soap. 3 
Flat-headed apple-borer, at base of trees, 249. 
in Oregon bulletin, ref., 256. 
Flea-beetles, food-plants of, mm, 431. 
Flea-beetle, brassy, injuring corn, 336. 
fiery, in Nebraska, ref., 437. 
on potato, in Australia, ref., 434, 
Flour-moth, Mediterranean, 359, 366, 421. 
origin doubtful, mm, 333, 
Flour moths, in Venezuela, 333. 
Fluted scale, see Scale, cottony-cushion. 
‘‘Bly-bue,’’ Australian; art., 355. 
Fly-tree, romance concerning, 399. 
Forest and shade trees, report on, notice, 367. 
Forest tent caterpillar, bacterial disease of, sug- 
gested for destruction of boll worm, 338. 
Forest trees, insects injurious to, ref., 256. 
Fossil insects, review, 252, 436. 
Frit fly, American, in Fletcher’s report, 359. 
Frog-hopper, New Zealand, 424. 
Frosted scale, name proposed for Lecanium, 388, 
Fruit growers, convention of, 352. 
insects, notes on, 345. 
pests, in Tasmania, note, 480. 
Fulgoride, injuring vine, 33. 
Fumigation, for scales, 72. 
Fungus beetles, on habits of, 335, 
Furniture, damaged by borers, 467. — 


G. 


Galeruca semipullata,on fig in Australia, 297, 298. 
Galleria cereana, feeding habits of, 342. 
Gall-mites, systematic work on, ref., 302. 

Galls, produced by Heteroptera, 300. 


503 


Ganychorus, bred species, 5S. 
Garden insects, nutes on, 145. 
web-worm, 184, 338. 
Gartered plume moth, ref. , 365. 
Gas tar, in N. J. bulletin, 361. 
Gas treatment for scale insects, 182. 
Gastropacha americana, in Minn. bulletin, 256. 
lanestris, seven years in the pupal stage, 33. 
monacha, in Bavaria, 178. 
Gelechia beneficentella, on Solanum, 357. 
cerealella, Ephestia larve referred to, 159. 
in Virginia, 339. 
Geocoris bullata, in Nebraska, ref., 437. 
Geophilide, phosphorescent, 173. 
Germs, contagious, use of, in the field, 197. 
**Gli Insetti Nocivi,’”’ review of, 435. 
Glypta, bred species of, 453. 
Glyptocera, new genus of Phycitide, 32. 
Gonoptera lihatrix, longevity, 19. 
Gooseberry fruit worm, in Oregon bulletin, 256. 
Gortyna nitela, on Xanthium, mm, 312. 
Grain Aphis, sudden disappearance, 74. 
’ beetles, in Oregon, mm, 256. 
weevil, see Weevil. 
Grape berry moth, ref., 365. 
eurculio, see Carculio. 
phylloxera, notes on, 185. 
occurrence inAustraiia and NewZea’d,185 
occurrence in Europe, 185, 186. 
remedies for, 189. 
Grapholitha sebastianiz, proposed name for 
moth bred from jumping bean, 432. 
strobilella, reference to article, 36. 
Graphops nebulosus, on strawberry, ref., 364. 
Graphorhinus vadosus, food habits of, 37. 
Graptodera exapta on fuchsia, 26. 
sp.,on potato, in Australia, ref., 434. 
Grasserie of silk worm, art., 445. 
Grasshoppers, in Idaho, art., 135, corresp., 471. 
Grass-root louse, host of Lasius brunneus yar. 
alienus, mm, 234. 
Greasy cut-worm in Mississippi, 337. 
Green beetle pest in Australia, 424. 
bug in Tasmania, 48vu. 
striped maple-worm, see Anisota rubicunda. 
Grubs, swallowed and passed by child, 401. 
Gryllus, swarming in Texas, 176. 
Guerinia, subpyriform antennal joints, 9s. 
Gypsy moth, an experience with, 126. 
efforts to stamp out, note, 364, 
extermination of, note, 474. 
Japanese, 41, 297. 
legislation about, 78, 200, 354, 472. 
remarks on, 491. 
remedies for, 381. 
report of a discussion on, art., 368. 


is b 


Hadena, abundant after mild winter, 215. 
arctica, mm, 247. 
devastatrix, mm, 247. 
Hal sidota tesselata taken by electric lamps, 323. 
Haltiea ignita,a strawberry pest, ref., 366. 
in Indiana, art, 317. 
in Nebraska, ref., 438. 
remedies for, 318. 
punctulata Chzetocnema pulicaria. 


Halticini, paper on food plats of, 43), 

Halticus minutus, injuring bean, 44. 

Handlirsch, Dr. Adam, obituary, 3. 

Harlequin cabbage bug in Mississippi, 466. 
remedies, 127. 

Hematobia, hibernation of, mm, 357. 
serrata, note on, 417. 

Harpalus gravis, accompanying cricket swarm- 

ings, 177. 
Harpipborus maculatus, variability, 10. . 


| Heel fly, driving stock to streams, 455. 


Heidemannia, n.gen., mm, 356. 
eixiiformis, mm, 355. 
Heliothis armigera, damaging Geranium, 399. 
in Australia, 133. 
larva, cannibalistic habit of, 399. 
notes on, 92, 197; 338. 
use of diseases aguinst, 197. 
Heliebore, white, for cabbage maggot, 359. 
in N. J. bulletin, 361. 
Heloderma, opinions upon the poisonous nature 
of, extract of art. on, 479. 
Helopeltis, injury to tea in India, 44. 
Hemiptera, physiognomy of tertiary, 132 
Hemiteles, bred species, 152. 
parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 
Herpestomus, bred species, 152. 
Heterodera radicicola, on cotton, 262. 
Tylenchus, arenarius identicai with, 134. 
Hessian fly, appearance of wheat infested with, 
339. . 
attacking grasses in California, 306. 
imported parasites of, notes, 354,367 
in Australia, ref., 353. 
in Canada, 81, 247, 359. 
in England, ref., 366. 
lecture on, note, 427. 
new notes on the life history of, art., 265. 
supposed attack of, may be due to Mero- 
myza, mm, 453. 
Meteropelma, bred species, 155. 
Heteroptera, gali-producing species of, in Eu- 
rope, 301. 
injuring vine, 33. 
Hexacladia, gen. novy., description, 456. 
smithii, sp. nov., description, 457. 
article on, 455. 
Hippoboscid on bat, mm, 357. 
Hippodamia convyergens, 191. 
destroying woolly Aphis, 191. 
maculata, parasite of, 20. 
Hirundo urbica, supplanted by sparrow, 394. 


Hirmoneura, on history of, 3. 
| Hispa dorsalis, on locust, 164. 


| Histiostoma rostroserratus, 


Ilomalota, feeding on dipterous larve, 


Histeridze, monograph by Marseul, 3, 
3arbadoes sugar 
mite, 3l. 
Ilistopona, in America, 129. 
mm, 
318. 
Homoptera, injuring vine, 33. 
Honey bee,sting of, for rheumatism, 37. 
Honeycomb, damaged by Dermestes, mm, 252. 
Hop fly, note on, 184. 
Hop louse, circular on, notice, 438. 
injuries by, on Pacific slope, 349. 
in Oregon, 350, 405, 486. 


504 


Hop Phorodon, notes on, 184. 
Horn fly, in Virginia, 21, 471. 
on oviposition of, 32. 
Horse bot fly, see Bot fly. 
Horse flies, in Texas, 335. 
Horticultural laws from California, concerning 
noxious insects, 476. 
House-fly, parasites of, 340. 
Hyaliodes vitripennis, preying upon grapeleaf- | 
~ hopper, ref. , 367. 
Hy bernia tiliaria, m., 213. | 
Hydria undulata, on cherry, ref., 308. | 
Hydrocyanic acid gas treatment of scale insects, | 
182, 404, art., 457. 
Hylesinus ligniperda, destroyed by Cerambycid 
borers, 35. 
‘Hymenarcys nervosa, deformed, 87. 
Hymenoptera, injuring vine, 33. 
ovipositor of, 432. 
parasitic, lists of bred species, 15,57, 151, 460. 
host relations of, art., 277. 
spiracles of, 128. 
Hyperacmus tines, bred from Tinea pelionella, 
mm, 461. 
Hyperplatys, destroying Scolytid colonies, 35. 
aspersus, a new borer in currant stem, 251. 
Hyphantria cunea, larve destroyed by Plochio- 
nus, 422. 
taken at electric lamps, mm, 323. 
list of trees defoliated by, in Mississippi, 338. | 
textor, on raspberries, 345. 
Hy poderma bovig, 432, 453, 466. 
larva of, 25. 
lineata, 432, 455. 


I. 


Icerya,in New Zealand and Australia, 395. 
introduction into Honolulu and its extermi- 
nation through the Vedalia, mm, 307. 
wegyptiacum, notes on, 92, 97, 105, 423. 
montserratensis, n. sp., Riley and Howard, 
description, 99. 
notes on, 101, 106, 407, 439. 
palmeri, n. sp., Riley and Howard, descr., 
103, 104, 106. 
purchasi, compared with egyptiacum, 423. 
gas experiments against, 457. 
in Honolulu, 329. 
notes en, 92, 105, 184, 208, 439. 
ros, n.sp., Riley and Howard, descr., 94, 
106. 
sacchari, m., 92, 105, 209. 
questions depending on, 209. 
seychellarum, m, 92, 105. 
suggested utility of,in manufacture of com- 
mercial wax, 352. 
Teeryas, some new, art., 92. 
Ichneumon, bred species, 151. 
parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 
cestus, parasite of Ellopia, 360. 
indet., bred from cutworms, mm, 259. 
wilsoni, bred from cutworms. mm, 259. 
TIchneumonide, bred parasitie, 151. 
Ichneutes, bred species, 60. 
Idris, egg-parasite of Oecanthus, 346, 
Incurvaria, oviposition and ovipositor of, 342. 
Insanity, from destroying caterpillars, note, 487, 


Insect collection, at Berlin Museum, 432. 
diseases, mm, 259. 


embryology, rev. of article on, 310. 
lime,see Lime. 

vivaria, how to be lighted, art., 18. 
wax, from Africa, 352. 

Insects, affecting corn, notes upon, art., 159. 
affecting grain in Maryland, art., 53. 
injurious, co6peration in dealing with, 202. 

Department of Agriculture and State Sta- 
tions in relation to, 203. 
estimate of damage done by, 1. 
horticultural laws concerning, 476. 
in Canada, 247. 
legislation on, 200,476. 
manuals of, 435, 436, 
of farm, orchard, and garden, rev. 437. 
popular lectures on, 427. 
popular names of, 303. 
predaceous, introduction of, 159. 
stopping trains, note, 477. 
tertiary, monograph of, rev., 436. 
publications on, 200. 

INSECT LIFE, monthly issues changed, I. 

Insecticide, experiments in Massachusetts, 363. 
machinery, notes on, 192. 

Insecticides, bulletin on, rev., 256. 
circular on, notice, 368. 
direct experimentation in the use of, 214. 
fertilizers used as, 217. 
in Nebraska report, ref., 438. 
manual on, ref., 436. 
new, experiments with, 305. 
practical notes on the use of, art., 269. 
list of, used against rose-chafer, 225, 


| International interests, notes on, 195. 
| Towa expt. station, notes on expts. and obser- 


vations at, art., 258. 


| Iphitrachelus americanus, remarks on, 41. 


Isodromus, primary parasite, 356. 
Tsosoma, on grasses, 71. 
hordei, notes on, 71, 73. 
orchidearum, gall on Cattleya, 22. 
tritici, notes on, 125, 416. ‘5 


J. 


Janassa lignicolor, in Minn. bulletins, ref., 256, 
Janus flaviventris, on currant, 407. 

Jigger, mm., 413. 

Jointworm, in New York, 73. 


| Journalistie enterprise, 427. 
| Julus, sp.,mm., 218. 


Jumping bean, Mexican, 399, 431, 432. 
June beetles, appearance of, 240. 
injuring strawberry, ref., 364. 


| June bug,see June beetle. 


Ke 


Kainit, against corn worms, ref., 361. 
Katipo, abstract of paper on, 302. 
poisonous nature of, note, 487, 
Katydid, angular-winged, abnormal oviposition 
of, 296. ; 
Kerosene emulsion, against rose-chafer, 228, 224, ~ 
against sheep scab, 297. : 
as a sheep dip, 258. 
as remedy for animal parasites, 251. 


Latrodectus, bite of, note, 487, 488. 


505 


Kerosene emulsion, discussed, 260, 261. 

first use of, 256. 

for cabbage Plutella, 359. 

for Ellopia somniaria, 360. 

in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 
Kerosene extract of pyrethrum, 260. 
Klee, Waldemar G., obituary, 429. 


L. 


Labena apicalis, parasite of Chrysobothris, 464. 
Laboratory method of experimentation, art., 266. 
Laccometopus, gall-producers in Europe, 301. 
Lace-wing flies, night swarming of, 340. 
Lachnosterna, dead from unknown cause, 87. 

larve injuring strawberry, ref., 364. 

life history of, art., 239. 

transformations and parasites, 356. 

arcuata, 244. 

fraterna, 244. 

fusca, 241, 244, 245, 246. 

gibbosa, 243, 244, 245. 

hirticula, 248, 244. 245. 

ilicis, 244. 

implicita, 243, 244, 

inversa, 243, 244, 245. 

rugosa, 243, 244, 245. 

tristis, 244. 

Lachnus dentatus, m., 92. 
pini, m., 92. 
platanicola, descriptions of forms of, 286. 

found in copula with Melanoxanthus 
salicti, 290. 
strobi, m., 92. 

Lacon rectangularis, larva on corn, 246. 

Lady birds vs. seale insects, note, 347. 
Australian, papers on, ref., 434. 

Letilia,n.g. of Phycitide, 32. 

Lamia edilis, destroying Scolytid colonies, 35. 

Lampronota americana, bred from cut-worms, 

mm, 259. 
bred species of, 464. 

Lampyrid, infested with mites, 468, 

Languria mozardi, food plants, 83, 254. 

Laodamia, n. g, of Phycilide, 32. 

Laphygma frugiperda, m, 41. 

Lasius brunneus host of root-lice, 233. 


devouring Carabids, 87. 

experiments with venom, 178. 
mactans, on bite, 129. 

poisonous nature of, in Australia, 337. 
seelio, bite of, 425. 

Laverna circumscriptella, on Ginothera, 275. 
eloisella, on GEnothera, mm, 275. 
murtfeldtiella, on Ginothera, mm, 275. 

Leaf-hopper. grape, preyed upon by soldier-bug, 

ref., 367. 

Leafy-legged plant bug, ref., 256. 

Lebena trinotata=Nola sexmaculata, 297, 

Lecanium cary, compared, 383. 
hemisphericum, on peaches, ref., 435. 
hesperidum, search for, mm, 168, 
olez, experiments on, 82. 
search for, mm, 168. 
pruinosum n.sp. Coquillett, described, 382. 


1 


| Lecanium cary@, tulipifere, on tulip tree, 28 


Legislation against insects, 200, 476. 
Lepidoptera, injuring vine, 33. 
larvee, descriptions of, art., 61. 
parasites of, list, 410, 411. 
ref, to articie on, 310. 
temperature experiments 
note, 481. 
work on South Australian, 44. 


on coloring of, 


| Lepisma, mm, 170. 


saccharina, rev., 310. 


| Leptocoris trivittatus on box-elder, 72. 


Leptostylus, destroying Seolytid colonies, 35. 
Lethrus cephalotes, injuring grape vine in Eu- 
rope, note, 484. 
Leucania albilinea, attacking cereals, 70. 
pseudargyria in wheat, 453. 
unipuncta, 1890 outbreak in Maryland, 53. 
Light, cheapest form of, 90. 
Ligyrus rugiceps, affecting corn, 159. 
Lime, ineffective against rose-beetles, 222. 
in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 
insects, 35, 381, 382. 
unslaked, against rose-chafer, 411. 
Limneria, bred species, 157. 
Lina secripta, eaten by Megilla, 430. 
injuring cottonwood in Mississippi, mm, 335. 
in Mississippi, mm, 338. 
Linden span worm, m., 213. 


| Lintner, Dr. J. A., sixth report of, review, 252. 


Liothorax melanocera, bred from cut-worms, 
mm, 259. 

Liparis monacha, see Psilura. 

Liphyra brassolis, supposed carnivorous habits 
of, mm, 482. 

Lipolexis, bred species, 61. 

Listronotus latiusculus, oviposition, 83. 

Lita solanella, on potato, in Australia, ref., 435. 


| Lithocolletis, synonymical list of species, 328. 


alni, note on, 326. 
alnivorella, preoccupied name, 326. 
argentifimbriella, synonyms of, 325, 326. 
betulivora, Wlsm. n. sp., deser., 326. 
faginella, an American species, 327. 
faseiella, note on, 326. 
fragilella, note on, 326. 
fuscocostella—argentifimbriella,. 325, 326. 
grindeliella, Wlsm. n. sp., deser., 327. 
longestriata—quercialbella, 325, 326. 
quercialbella, synonyms of, 325, 326. 
quercibella—quercialbella, 325, 326. 
subaureola, a good species, 325, 326, 
trifasciella, regarded as synonymous with 
fragilella, 326. 
unifasciella, preoccupied name, 326. 


_ Lixus econeayus, habits, 85. 


review of, article on, 254. 


| Locust, devastating, in California, 485. 


cof Northwestern India, note, 433. 

plague, in Australia, 419, 434. 

ravages of, note, 438. 

wandering, see Epachromia, 420, 
Locusts, as food, 66, 433. 

earnivorous habits of, 338. 

destructive, bulletin on, notice, 368. 


food plants of, 384. 
wash for, 384, ‘ 


in Mesopotamia, 172. 
local outbreak in Idaho, 135. 


506 


Locusts, migratory, in Australia, note, 419. 
stopping trains, mm, 478. 
London purple, ana lime mixture, discussed, 261, 
effects on foliage, 28. 


979 


for codling moth, 272. 
for destruction of curculio and gouger, 228. 
for harvesting-ants, 466. 
in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 
less known in London, 3). 
not protective against rose-chafer, 221. 
' ref., 366. 
Long scale, see Seale. 
Losses, estimated, occasioned by insects, 397. | 
Lucilia, hibernation of, mm, 357, | 
macellaria, bulletin on, 131. | 
macellaria,more injurious than buffalo gnat, | 
mm, 453. 
on stock in Mississippi, 466. 
Ludius attenuatus, larva on corn, mm, 246. | 
Lutrochus luteus, exhibited, 431. 
Lygveus lineatus, damaging chrysanthemums, | 
ref., 351. 
Lygus lineolaris, damaging chrysanthemums, 
ref., dal. 
pratensis, injuring strawberry, ref., 364. 
devoured by spiders, 150. 
Lysiphlebus, bred species, 60. 
variations in species of, art., 313, 


’ 


M. 


Macrobasis unicolor, in Nebraska, ref., 437. 
Macrocentrus, bred species, 59. 
Macrodactylus subspinosus, see Rose-chafer. 
Mallophaga, bulletin on, notice, 367. 
period of development, art., 115. 
Mamestra confusa, description of larva, 63. 
picta, eating corn silk, 149. | 
Mantis, not poisonous, 294, 
preying or Carolina, mm, 303. 
Marseul, Abbé S. A., obituary, 3. 
Maseochara valida, living in puparia of Syrphid | 
fly, art., 319. 
Maskell, rev. of, articles by, 252. 
May beetle, Fitch quoted, 241. 
in Mass, bulletin, 365. 
of Europe, remarks on, 491. 
Mealy bug, hydroecyanic acid gas for, 404, 
Mediterranean flour moth, see Flour moth. 
Megilla maculata, destroying plant-lice, 75. 
habits of, 430. | 
Perilitus americanus, bred from, ref., 492. 
Meina bird, attempted introduction of, 345. | 
Melanactes piceus, mm, 320. 
puncticollis, identified, 165. 
Melanoplus differentialis, in Indiana, 300. 
fiavo-annulatus, in Idaho, 140. 


Melanotus americanus, inim, 246. 
communis, mm, 246, ref., 437. 
cribulosus, mm, 246. 
depressus, mm, 236. 
fissilis, mm, 246. 
infaustus, mm, 246. 
parumpunctatus, mm, 246. 
pertinax, min, 246. 


_ Meniscus, bred species of, 464. 


Melanoxanthus bicolor, deser. of forms, 290. 
flocenlosus, n. sp., 291. 


sxelanoxanthus bicolor, salicis, m, 92. 
salicti, m, 92. 

Melittia ceto, injuries in Mississippi, 337. 

Meloboris, bred species, 156. 

Meloe, on history of, 3. 

Melolonthas, European, remarks on, 491. 

Melon worm, in Mississippi, 337. 

Melophagus ovinus, treated by Curtice, 91. 


‘editciaeU 


Meromyza, infesting grains, 82. > 
americana, egg of, 332. ; 
in Texas, 453. 
in Canada report,ref., 359. 
Mesochorus, bred species, 155. 


| Mesoleius, parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 2 
| Mesoleptus, bred species of, 461. 
| Mesostenus, bred species, 153. 


Meteorus, bred species, 57. 
Metopius, ovipositor, 177. 
Microcentrum retinerve, abnormal oviposition — 

of, 296. 
Micrococcus of cabbage worm, 197. 

pieridis, attacking boll worm, 198. 

Microdus, bred species, 17. 
Miecrogaster, bred species, 17. 


| Micrognathidz, proposed family name, 356. 
| Micro-lepidoptera, African, paper on, rey., 431. 


on Solanum, mm, 357. 

piercing Ovipositor in, mm, 343. 
Microplitis, attacking Leucania, 113. 

bred species, 17. 


| Micropteryx semtpurpurella, oviposition and 


piercing ovipositor of, 342. 
Migrating locust, in Australia, 353. 
Milvus olgyptius, eating locusts, 66 


Mirax, bred species, 15. 
_ Mite, clover, article, 45. 


infesting Simulium, mm, 454. 
orange rust, in Australia, ref., 434. 
Mites, in a warm-house, 162. 
infesting Eros hamatus, 468. 
Mole cricket, in N. Y. report, ref., 252. 
Monostegia, on strawberry, ref., 437. 
Monoctenus juniperi, name preoccupied, 356, 
unicolor, proposed name for juniperi, 358. 
Monohammus contusor, mm, 247, 417, 
Monophleebide, m., 98. 
Monostegia ignota, notes on history, 10. 
description of male, 12. 
Morgia gigantella, incorrect determination of ~ 
Cryptophasa, 386. 
Mosquitoes, in boreal latitudes, 403. 
remedies for, 470. 


| Mule-killer, see Walking stick. 


Murgantia histrionica, on cabbage, 466. 
Museardine, disease of cabbage worm, 409. 
Muscidae, causing myiasis, 39. 
Muscid, bred from swine dung, 357. 
Museum pests, 405. 
Myelois guarinella, referred to Ulophora, 32. 
Myiasis, review of a paper on. 39, 
Mylabris, on history of, 3. 
Myriopods, phosphorescent, art., 319. 
Mytilaspis citricola, from West Indies, 99. 
in California, 23, 182. 
in New Zealand, ref., 253. 
in Russia, 393. 


507 


Oncideres cingulatus, in Mississippi, 338. 
Onion maggot, in Massachusetts bulletin, 365. 


_ Mytilaspis gloverii, Aphelinus fuscipennis bred 
from, mm, 487. 


| 
- in California, 23, 182. & Oniscus, injuring flowers, 69. 
on orange, 398. | Opheltes, bred species, 155, 
linearis, wrongly referred, 89. | glaucopterus, parasite of Cimbex americana, 
pomicorticis, synonym of pomorum, 89. Wid. eG 


pomorum, Aphelinus bred from, 487. ' Ophion, feeding habits of larvze, 276, 
on birch, 469. bred species, 154, 
spraying for, 4. Opius, bred species, 59. 
synonymy, 89. Orange scale insects, in Florida bulletin, ref. , 256. 


Myzus cerasi. m., $2, 479. Orchard caterpillars in MissOrmerod’s publica- 
ribis, in Iowa, mm, 479. tions, 363, 366. 
= Orchelimum glaberrimum, affecting corn, 160. 
F a vulgare, affecting corn, 160. 
| Naphthaline, against stored-grain pests, 334. Orgyia antiqua, oviposition of, 390. 
as a remedy for rose-chafer, 222. definata, larva, description of, 399. 
in New Jersey bulletin, 361. leucostigma, oviposition of, 390. 
Nematode, injuring cotton roots, 262, 2653 defoliating apple trees, 3338. 
injuring oats, mm, 264. nova, see antiqua. 
Nematus erichsonii, mm, 247- pudibunda, reference to article, 36. 


Nemorea leucani, destroying army worm, 112, | Orthesia, on Coleus, 124. 
Nephelodes violans, larve destroyed by bacte- Orthopelma, bred species, 154. 


rial diseases, mm, 198, 259, Orthoptera, injuring vine, 33. 

migrating in midwinter, 4€9. Orthorrhinus eylindrirostris, iu Australia, 434. 
Nerice bidentata, description of larva, 62. Orya barbarica, luminous, 173. 
Neuroptera, injuring vine, 33. Oscinis variabilis, bred from wheat, mm, 247. 
New Jersey, catalogue of insects, 133. variabilis, in Fletchevr’s report, 359. 
New South Wales, economicentomology in, 133. infesting grains, 82. 
Nezara hilaris, injuring plants, 403. variabilis (?) in Kentucky bulletin, 311. 
Nitzschia pulicaria, period of development, 116. Otiorhynchide, food habits of, 37. 
Nola sexmaculata, description of larva, 61. Otiorhynchus ovatus, food habits, 37. 

identical with Lebena trinotata, 297. | suleatus, food habits, 37. 

sorghiella, on rye, 29. Ovipositor of Hymenoptera, remarks on, 432. 
Notaspis sp., Barbadoes sugar mites, 31. Ox bot-fly, see Bot, 
Nun moth, injuries by, m, 430. Ox-warble, see Bot. 
Nysius angustatus, on Euphorbia, 169, | fly in New York report, ref, 252. 

on various plants, 335, Oxycarenus, injuring cotton in Egypt, 41. 

; remedies for, 260. hyalinipennis, injuring cotton, 6. 
destructor, 356, Oxyopes scalaris, destroying Nemorza, 112. 
thymi, 356. Oxytelus insignitus, mm, 294, 
vini, 355. Oyster-shell bark louse, spraying for, 4. 

O. lee 
Oak caterpillars, article on; review, 256. Pachymerus, bred species, 156. 
Oak-looper, Vancouver Island, 359. Pachyneuron, habits of, 178, 218. 
Oberea bimaculata, biackberry borer, 308. 5 ea ae eae ee 
said to girdle twigs of peach and cherry, 298. oS St ae Re ai ee ee 
Obituaries: André, Edmond, 428. migratorioides var, capito, as food, 66. 
Atkinson, E. T., 303. Paleacrita vernata, pupa of, m, 249. 
Baly, J.5., 3. Panchlora nivea, in Massachusetts, 444. 
Burgess, Edward, 490. viridis, viviparous, 356, 443. Z 
Crawford, Frazer S., 354. Panorpa sp., preying upon cotton-worm, 306. 
Dewitz, Dr. Hermann, 4. Paonias, excaecatus, taken by electric lamps, 323. 
Edwards, Henry, 489, myops, taken by electric lamps, mm, 323. 
Handlirsch, Dr. Adam, 3. Papilio cresphontes, larvz not social, 32, 
Klee, Waldemar G., 429. oxynius, larye of, social, 32. 
Marseul, Abbé S. A. de, 3. | turnus, damaging forest trees, 338. 
Poey, Dr. Felipe, 429. dimorphism in, 35. 
Rathvon, Dr, 8, S., 428. zolicaon, parasite of, 412, 
Thurber, Dr. Geo., 4, Parasites, introduction of, 189. 
Tyler, E. R., 430. of cutworms, list of, 259. 
Ocneria, Japanese parasite of, 42. of Lepidoptera, list of, 410, 411. 
dispar, see Gypsy moth. of scales, breeding of, 218. 
Odontota dorsalis, in West Virginia, ref., 435. mounting of, 219. 
nervosa, in West Virginia, ref., 435. Parasitic Hymenoptera, list of bred species,arts. 
(Eeanthus niveus, notes on, 345. 15, 57, 151, 460. 
(Edipoda musica, in Australia, ref., 353. host relations of, art., 277. 


(Estrus ovis, treated by Curtice, 91. rove beetles, art., 318. 


508 


Pardosa albomaculata, seizing butterflies on the 
wing, mm, 492. 
sp., migrating in midwinter, 469. 
Paria canella, injuring strawberry, ref., 364. 
Paris green, adulteration of, 122. 
for cabbage worms, 483. 
for codling moth, 272, 435. 
in England, 363, 366, 400. 
in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 
methods of using, for cutworms, 248, 
recommended for Gypsy moth, 365. 
Parlatoria pergandei, in California, 23. 
introducedinto California, 182. 
zizy phi, on date-palm, 442. 
Passalus cornutus, for earache, 405. 
Pastor roseus, advocated introduction of, as a 
means of subduing locusts. 345. 
Peach borer, hot water for, 79. 
in California, 392. 
in Oregon bulletin, ref., 256. 
remedies for, 421. 
pest, in Bermuda., art., 5. 
Pear-blight beetle, notes on, 468. 
leaf-blister mite, ref., 308. 
slug, in Oregon bulletin, ref., 256. 
in Tasmania, 480. 
Pea weevil, see Weevil. 
Pediculi, bulletin on; notice of, 367. 
Pelidnota punctata, in Mississippi, mm, 338. 
Pempelia feecella, referred to Laodamia, 32. 
Pemphigus, spp. eaten by Lepidopteron,ref. ,482. 
Perilitus, bred species, 57. 
parasite of Hippodamia (Megilla) maculata, 
20, 1138, 492. 
sp., bred from Eleodes suturalis, 492. 


Perimegatoma variegatum, found only in Cali- | 


fornia, 34. 
Periplaneta americana, mm, 407. 
australasie, injuring greenhouse plants, 407. 
Peritropius, n.gen., mm, 306. 
saldzeformis, 356. 
Perophora melsheimeri, in Minnesota, ref., 256. 
Pezolochus, bred species, 154. 
Pezomachus, bred species, 154. 
parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 
Pezotettix enigma, in Idaho, 140. 
Pheedrotoma, bred species, 59. 
Pheeogenes, bred species, 152. 
Phakellura hyalinatalis, destructiveness of, 337. 
Phalangopsis cupidicola, identified, 466. 
Phengodes, mm, 320. 
Phicothrips, abundant in wheat, mm, 453. 
Phlceotribus liminaris, on peach, 452. 
Pholisora hayhurstii, larva, description of, 389. 
upa, description of, 350. 
Pholeus, mm, 357. 
Phorodon, hop, notes on, 184. 
estimated losses by,on Pacific Slope, 349 
in Oregon, 184, 295, 350, 405. 
~ notes on, 184, 238, 239. 
mahaleb, on plum, 468, 469. 
on potato, 151. 
Phosphorescent centipedes, ref., 319. 
myriopods, art., 319. 
Phoxopteris comptana, in Kentucky, ref., 364. 
Phygadeuon, bred species, 153. 
parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 


Phyllodromia americena, mm, 407, 
germanica, mm, 407. 
Phylloxera,in Australia, discussed, 353. 
in Europe, notes on, 185. 
quicksilver, remedy for, 391. 
station, in Brazil, 354. 
vastatrix, questions depending on, 208. 
Phytobius griseomicans, men., 351. 
velatus, men., 357. 
Phytocoris, new vine pest in Australia, 30. 
Phytodietus, bred species of, 464. 
vulgaris reared from bud-moth, ref., 366, 
Phytomyza chrysanthemi, ref., 351. 
Phytonomus punctatus, injuring clover, 70. 
Phytoptide in Alfred Nalepa’s work, ref., 302. 
Phytontus oleivorus,in Bermuda, 121. 
in Australia, ref., 434. 
pyri, ref., 308. 
ribis in Russia, 393. 
Picus villosus, destroying tussock moths, 295, 
Pieris protodice, in Alabama, 86. 
in Mississippi, mm, 337. 
not affected by bacterial disease of Pieris 
rapze, 333. 
rape, bacterial disease of, not transferable to 
other species, 333. 
in Canada, mm, 247. 
in Indiana, 148. 
in Mississippi, 84. 
larvee destroyed by bacteria mm, 259, 
lime against, 218. 
pyrethrum experiments on, 260. 
transmission of grasserie to, 450. 
Pimpla, bred species of, 461. 
parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 
inquisitor, life history of, abs., 275. 
n. sp., parasite of Ellopia, 360. 
Pionea rimosalis, in Mississippi, 387. 
on cabbage, 149, 
Pissodes strobi, injuries of, 468. 
Pityophthorus, difficulty of recognizing species 
of, mm, 357. 
consimilis, on Liquidambar and Sumach, 357. 


| Plagiognathus obscurus, damaging chrysan- 


themums, ref., 351. 
Plague locust, see Locust. 
Plant lice, life history, 91. 
remedies for, 260. 
Platynus maculicollis, m., 177. 
Platypsyllus, mm, 356, 
Platypus compositus, boring orange trees, 418. 
Platysamia cecropia, m, 165. 
Plochionus timidus, feeding on Hyphantria, 422. 
Plodia,m, 134. 
Plum curculio, see Curculio. 
gouger, egg-laying record of, 227. 
in Iowa Expt. Station Bulletin, 307. 
notes on, 227, 468, 469. 
plant-louse, in Iowa, 479. 
Plume-moth, grape-vine, notes on, 469. 
Plusia, experiments with bacteria affecting, 465. 
parasite of, 72. 
brassicz, abundance, 86. 
in Mississippi, 337. 
larvz destroyed by disease, mim, 259, 
Plutella cruciferarum in Canada, mm, 247, 
Poey, Dr. Felipe, obituary, 429. 


509 


Poisonous animals, precautionsin investigating 
the bites of, note, 479. 


_ Polyblastus, parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 


Polygraphus rufipennis, injuring spruce, 435. 
Polyphylla, mm, 241. 

Polysphyncta phycitis, bred species, 464. 
Polystzchotes punctatus, swarming of, 340, 


_ Porizon, parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 


Porthetria dispar, note, 297. 
eurydice, note, 297. 
hadina, note, 297. 
japonica, note, 297. 
obfuscata, note, 297. 
umbrosa, note, 297. 
Potash salts, in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 
Potato beetle, Colorado, eaten by ducks, 398. 
moth,in Australia, ref., 435. 
stalk weevil, injuries by, in Iowa, 251, 259. 
wireworms predaceous on, mm, 247. 
Praon, bred species, 60. 
Preservative media for colored insects, 232. 
Prionus, grape root, see P. imbricornis. 
imbricornis, larva of, mm, 407. 
Pristomerus, bred species, 156. 
Preconia undata, cause of ‘‘ weeping trees,’’ 415, 
feeding on okra, 338. 
on vine, 123. 
Prodenia, injuring cotton in Egypt, 41. 
lineatella, ou corn, 149. 
littoralis, injuring cotton, 66. 
Promachus, bred species, 59. 


Protoparce celeus, taken by electric lamps. 


mm, 323. 
Psephenus lecontei, notes of capture, 86. 
Psilura monacha, appropriation to combat, 491. 
ravages of in Germany, art., 379, 430. 
var. eremita, black variety, 350. 
Psocus venosus, identified, 417. 
Psoroptes communis var. ovis, treated, 91. 
Psylia mali, in Russia, 393. 
Psyliidae, rev. of article on, 252. 
Pterophorus periscelidactylus, on grapes, 469. 
Publication, of economic inatter, 209. 
Pulvinaria sp., on fig, mm, 408. 
. innumerabilis, in Oregon, 125. 
Purple scale, see Scale. 
Pyramidal grape-vine caterpillar, ref., 365. 
Pyrethrum, experiments with, 223, 259. 
for sand-flies and mosquitoes, 470. 
home-grown, in Cape Colony, 427. 
Pyrophila pyramidoides, on strawberry, 345. 
Pyrophorus noctilucus, experiments with light 
of, 90. 


Q. 
Quassia, ineffective against rose-chafer, 223. 
R. 


Rabbit, jack, parasite of, 21. 

Raphidia, exported to New Zealand, 43. 
sent to Australia, 190. 

Nathvon, Dr.S.8., obituary of, 428. 

Red bug, treated, 410. 

Red-legged grasshopper, carnivorous, 338. 
in New York report, ref., 252. 

Red scale, see Seale. 
spider, destroyed by Scymnus, 422. 

remedies for, 260, 


| Regal walnut moth, see Citheronia regalis. 


Resin compounds, first use of, 260. 
Rhinoceros beetle, in woodshed, 395, 
Rhizococcus_ on grass, 167. 
Rhodobznus 13-punctatus, on Xanthium, 312. 
Rhogas rileyi, bred from cutworms, mm, 259. 
Rhynchites betuleti, ia Evrope, ref., 484. 
Ricania disealis, in New Zealand, note, 424, 
Roach, exotic, note on, 356. 
Zoot knot worm, in Florida bulletin, ref., 250. 
louse, on apple, ref., 437. 
of corn, 233. 
rot, a new disease of cotton, art., 262. 
tose beetle, see Rose-chafer. 
Rose-bug, see Rose-chafer. 
Rose-chafer, an experience with, art., 221. 
food-habits of, 220, 271. 
hot water against, 474. 
killed by sludge oil soap, ref.. 362. 
London purple for, 160. 
on clay lands, 170. 
preference for Andromeda flowers, 27]. 
remedies tried against, 165, 221, 271. 
swarming of, 113. 
unslaked lime against, 411. 
2ound-beaded apple-tree borer, 249. 
parasites of, 404. 
Rove beetles, parasitic, art., 318. 


Ss. 


Salticus, devouring army worm, 56, 

Samia cecropia, silk of, 83. 

Sand-flies, remedies for, 470. 

San José seale, see Scale. 

Sannina exitiosa, attacking cherry, 298. 

in California, 392. 
fitchii, characters of, 392. 
pacifica, characters of, 392. 

Saperda candida, in branches of trees, 249. 
eretata, preference for branches, 249. 

Sarcophaga, causing Myiasis, 40. 
wohlfarti, mm, 397, 

Sarcophagide, causing;Myiasis, 39. 

Sarcophila, infesting wounds, etc., mm., 397. 

Sarcoptes seabiei, var. ovis, treated, 91. 

Satellite sphinx, in Mississippi, 338. 

Saw-fly, injuring willow hedges, 466. 
on sweet potato, ref., 438. 
borer, see Cephus pygmzus. 

Seale, black, experiments upon, 182. 
brown, on peaches in Australia, ref., 425. 
chaff, in California, 23, 182. 
cottony-cushion, gas treatment of, 457. 
date-palm, experiments with, art., 44]. 
greedy, supposed parasite of, 487. 
long, of orange, 23, 182,598. 
purple, in California, 23, 182. 
red, damage by, growing less, 302. 

gas treatment for, 182. 

in California, 23. 

natural enemies of, 427. 

of orange, in Syria, 417. 

starch against, 353. 

washes for, lL. 

San José, fruit dealer fined for selling fruit 

infested with, 426, 


510 


Seale, in Oregon bulletin, ref., 256. 
parasites of, 487. 
wax, on orange, 398. 
yellow, resin wash for, note, 421. 
Seale insects, fumigation for, 72, 176. 
hydrocyanie acid gas treatment for, history 
of, art., 457. 
importation of, into California, 182. 
lady birds versus, 347. 
new, art., 382. 
reviews of articles on, 253. 
winter wash for, 347. 
Searites subterraneus, destroying army worm, 
54. 
Scenopinus, larvae found under carpets, 65. 
pallipes, in, 65. 
Sechizoneura, Hippodamia destroying, 191. 
mistaken for fungus, 295. 
corni, host of Lasius brunneus,var, mm, 234, 
lanigera, in Australia, mm, 195. 
spraying for, 400. 
Schizura ipomoee, description of larva, 62. 
Sciara, larvz under pear bark, 126. 
Seolytus rugulosus, in diseased trees, 86. 
in Indiana, 298. 
on apple, 468, 469. 
Scorpion, sting of, 335. 
whip-tail, habits of, 334. 
Serew-worm, in Mississippi, 466. 
in Texas bulletin, 362. 
more injurious than Buffalo gnat; mm, 453. 
Seurfy bark-louse, 4, 259. 
Seymnus punctum, destroying red spider, 422. 
Seythropus elegans, food habits, 37. 
Selandria cerasi, on plum, 163. 
on quince, 171. 
possible occurrence in Tasmania, 480. 
Selenia illustraria, effects of temperature on the 
coloring of, note, 481. 
Semasia bucephaloides, sp. n., description, 465. 
Semiotellus, parasite of Hessian fly, note, 355. 
nigripes, importation of, 164, 367. 
Sheep, animal parasites of, 91. 
dip, kerosene emulsion as, 258. 
Sheep scab, kerosene emulsion against, 297. 
Sigalphus canadensis, parasite of plum gouger, 
mm, 307. 
Silk-culture, note on, 199. 
Silk-nest, of Lepidopteron, 482. 
Silkworm, American, 333. 
disease of, 175. 
grasserie of, art., 445. 
said to be supported by ramie, 301. 
Silpha inzequalis, in decaying cabbage head, 149. 
noveboracensis, identified, 466. 
opaca, mm, 230. 
Silvanus surinamensis, in Oregon bulletin, 256, 
Simulium spp., larve in Arkansas, 451. 
Sinoxylon basilare, on Mesquite, 454. 
Siphonophora avene, oatcrop destroyed by, 57, 
sudden disappearance, 74. 
Sitaris humeralis, on history of, 3. 
Sitodrepa panicea, in Stramonium, 163. 
Smeared dagger, injuring strawberry, ref., 364. 
Smynthurus hortensis,on cucumber andtobacco, 
151. 


Soap, fish-oil, in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 


| Soap, remedy for Aphis, ref., 257. 


sludge-oil, in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 
Soldier beetle, feeding on sugar-cane borer, 362. 

bug, glassy-winged, see Hyaliodes. 

green, see Nezara hilaris.° 


| Sow bugs, feeding on living plants, 402. 


injuring flowers, 69. 
Spalgis, carnivorous habits of, 482. 
Sparrow, English, traits of, in England, 393. 
Spheerius politus, exhibited, 431. 


| Spheerophthalma castor, identified, 419. 


Sphecius speciosus, habits, 87. 
larva and cocoon of, 430. 


Sphenophorus ochreus, affecting corn, 159, 


pulchellus, see Rhodobaenus 13-punctatus, 
Sphingidze, taken by electric lamps at Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y., list of, art., 322. 
Sphinx carolina in Mississippi, mm, 338, 
chersis on ash, mm, 232. 
quinquemaculata, in Mississippi, mm, 337. 
parasitized, 337. 
remedy, 171. 
Spider, poisonous, of Australia, 337. 
bites of, 30, 127, 392. 
Spiders, character of cireumpolar species, 431. 
Dr. Marx’s catalogue of, rey., 2. 
from Indiana, remarks on, 491. 
KXatipo, poisonous nature of bite of, note, 487. 
migrating in midwinter, 469. 
of District of Columbia, address on, m, 357, 


Spilosoma virginica, in Mississippi, mm, 338. 


on cabbage, 189. 
Spittle insect, in Massachusetts bulletin, 365, 


| Spraying devices, competition in, 434. 


cheap apparatus for, 39. 


| Squash bug, in Massachusetts bulletin, 365, 


vine borer in Mississippi, 337. 
Squirrels, to prevent from pulling corn, 258. 


| Stag beetle, on pear, ref., 308. 


Stalk-borer, in Massachusetts bulletin, 365. 
Staphylinus vulpinus, larva of, ref., 319. 
Stem eelworm, in England, 293, ref., 366. 
Stenoria apicalis, on history of, 3. 
Stenopelmatus fasciatus, carnivorous, 87. 
erroneously supposed to be poisonous, 336. © 
Stibeutes, bred species, 154. 
Stings, cocaine for, 344. 
Strawberry crown-borer,in Kentucky ref., 364. 
leaf flea-beetle, in Indiana, art., 317. 
leaf roller, ref., 364, 
weevil, see Weevil. 
Strawson’s air-power distributor, 198. 
Striped cucumber beetle, in Mississippi, 337. 
Sugar-cane borer, in Louisiana bulletin, 362, 
Swallow supplanted by sparrow, 394. 


| Sweet-potato root-borer, 334, 404. 


saw-fiy, ref., 438. 
Sycamore Lachnus, description of forms of, 286. 


| Synaldis, bred species, 59. 


Syneches, feeding habits of, 356. 
Synemon, larvee internal feeders, mm, 316. 
Synemosyna formica, resemblance to ant, 480. 
Syphocoryne Xanthi, on Xanthium, ref., 312. 
Systena blanda, on beets, 149, 437. 

elongata, injuring cantaloupes and sweet 

potato. 55. 
tveniata, on beans, i22. 


511 


d i 


Tabanus sp., biting belly of horses, 335. 
americanus, attacking horses, mm, 335. 
costalis?, infesting legs of horses, 339. 
lineola, infesting legs of horses, 335. 
molestus?, attacking horses, 335. 

Tachina, oviposition of, 414. 
parasite of Eljopia, 360. 
bred from cutworms, mm, 299. 
monache, nim, 380. 

Tachinide&, paper on, men., 356. 

Tachys incurvus, in ants’ nests, 129. 

Tanaostigma, n. g., Howard, descr., 147. 
coursetiz, n. sp., Howard, descr., 

mm, 455. 
on Coursetia, 129. 

Tarnished plant bug, damaging celery, 348. 
injuring strawberry, ref., 364. 

Tar, against forest insects, 381. 
water, in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 

Tarsonymus bancrofti, sugar mites, 31. 

Telea polyphemus, in Mississippi, 338. 

Telenomus, probable parasite of forest tent cater- 

pillar, 470. 

Tenebrio obscurus, in pepper, 170. 

Tent caterpillar, notes on, 20, 124, 365. 
forest, parasite of, 470, 
stopping trains, 477. 
orchard, in Connecticut, 483. 


148; 


’ Tenthredinid larve, molts of, 178. 


Tenthredo cingulata, reference to article, 36. 
Termites, of Pacific coast, 47]. 
Termopsis angusticollis, on Pacific coast, 471, 472. 
Tetracnemus diversicornis, m, 129. 
Tanaostigma related to, 147. 
floridanus, ref., 455, 
Tetranychus telarius, confused with Bryobia, 45. 
Tetraopes tetraophthalmus, on milkweed, 165. 
Tetrastichus, hyperparasitic, 470. 
Thalamia parietalis, rediscovery of, 356. 
Thalessa, feeding habits of larva, 276. 
Thersilochus, bred species, 156. 
parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 
Thricolepis inornata, on prune, 468. 
Thripide, injurious to cultivated plants, 301. 
not in Stand. Nat. Hist., 77. 
Thrips, injuring fig in Australia, ref., 434. 
4 sp., abundant in growing wheat, mm, 453. 
trifasciata, see Coleothrips. 
Throscus pugnax, new to D.C.,4l. 
Thurber, Dr. Geo., obituary, 4. 
Thyreodon, bred species, 155. 
Thysanoptera, injuring vine, 34. 
mouth parts, §3, 128. 
not in Stand. Nat. Hist., 77. 
Thysanura, injuring vine, 34. 
Tick, Scotch, infesting horses’ ears, 413. 
seed, mm, 413. 
Tin cans vs. crickets, 298. 
Tineid moths with piercing ovipositor, 342. 
Tingitide, producing galls in Europe, 301, 
Tipulide, lary destroying wheat, 13. 
Tischeria, notes on species of, 387. 
list of species of, 389. 
badiella, synonym, 387, 388, 389. 
bicolor, synonym, 388, 


3329—No, 11——6 


| Tischeria, castanella, 388, 389. 


citripenella, synonym, 387, 389. 

clemensella, 388, 389. 

complanoides, synonym, 386, 387. 

concolor, 388, 389. 

fuscomarginella, 388, 389. 

latipennella, synonym, 387. 

pulvella, 388. 

quercitella, synonym, 387. 

auercivorella, synonym, 387. 

sulphurea, 387, 389. 

tinctoriella, 388, 389. 

zellerella, synonym, 386, 387. 

zelleriella, see Coptotriche. 
Tmetocera ocellana, injuring blackberry, 249. 

in Massachusetts bulletin, 365. 
Tobacco, useless for rose-beetles, 222. 

worm, in Mississippi, mm, 337. 
Tomato root louse, 413. 

worm, in Mississippi, 337. 
Tortoise beetles, on sweet potato, ref., 438. 


| Tortrix, description of new species from Califor- 


nia, article, 465, 
Toxoneura, bred species, 60. 
Toxoptera, eaten by CEcanthus, 346. 
graminum, damage in South, 73, 126. 
Tragidion armatum, deformity in, 431. 
Tree-claims, insects injurious on, 2. 
Trematopygus, parasite of Cheimatobia, 2,77. 


| Tribolium ferrugineum, infesting stored grain 


in Venezuela, 333. 
Trichobaris trinotata, in Lowa, 251, 259. 
Trichobius, n, gen., mm, 357. 
dugésii, n. sp, on bat, 357. 


| Trichodectes climax, treated by Curtice, 91. 


limbatus, treated by Curtice, 91. 
sphzrocephalus, treated by Curtice, 91. 
Trichegramma, possible parasite of forest tent 
caterpillar, mm, 470. 
pretiosa, destroying cotton worms, m., 306. 
Trichotheca, remarks on genus, 492. 


| Trigonalis apicalis, parasite of Acronycta, 464. 


Triphleps insidiosus, damaging 
mums, ref., 351. 

Triptogon imperator, larva, description of, 390, 

Triptotricha, m., 175. 

Trogoderma insulare, infesting collections, 34, 
tarsale, not known in Europe, 34. 
‘versicolor, replacing tarsale in Europe, 34, 

Trogosita, doubtfully supposed carnivorous, 333. 
mauritanica, infesting stored grain in Vene- 

zuela, 333. 
Trogus, bred species, 152. 
Trombidium muscarun., parasitic on house-fly, 
340. 

Trox, habits of, mm, 485. 

Trypeta equalis, article, 312. 
from Xanthium seeds, 129. 
capitata, in peaches in Bermuda, 5. 
ludens, injuring orange, 6, 121. 
pomoneiia, remedy, mm, 220. 

review of bulletin on, 253. 


chrysanthe- 


solidaginis, galls of, 405. 
Tryphon, parasite of Cheimatobia, 77. 
Try podendron signatum, food habits of, 344. 
Tussock moth, eaten by woodpeckers, 295, 
Twig girdler, see Oncideres, 


512 


Tylenchus arenarius, in New South Wales, 1384. 
sp. probable cause of disease of oats, 264. 
Tyler, E. R., notice ot death of, 430. 
Tyloderma foveolatum, Bracon bred from, 81. 
fragarie, ref., 366. 
Tyroglyphus longior, in warm-house, 163. 
siro, in warm-house, 1638. 
preventive, 165. 


Uz. 


Ulophora, n. g. of Phycitide, 32. 
groteii n. sp., type of n. g, 32. 


Vv. 


Vanessa antiopa, see Euvanessa. 
Vedalia, winter protection for, note, 354, 
in New Zealand and Australia, 395. 
cardinalis, in Australia, 76. 
evidently confined to Icerya purchasi 
for food, 98, 99. 
notes on, article, 439. 
remarks on introduction of, 189, 
success of, in Honolulu, 330. 
Verdigris, in insects, mm, 492. 
Vesicatory insects, review of Beauregard’s 
monograph, 2. 
Vespa cuneata, habits, 129. 
germanica, habits, 129. 
Vine-growers, convention of, 352. 
Virachola isocrates, destructive to fruit, 44. 
Vivaria, for insects, how to be lighted, art., 18. 


Ww. 


Walking stick, not poisonous, 416. 
Warble fly, of ox, more injurious than buffalo 
gnat, mm, 453. 
in Mississippi, 466. 
Water, hot, against rose-chafer, 474. 
Water beetles, probable cause of train-stopping, 
478. 
Wax, Chinese, note, 424. 
insect, from Africa, 352. 
Wax scale,see Scale. 
Weevil, bean, in Kansas, 44. 
in Massachusetts bulletin, 365. 
grain, bisulphide of carbon for, 191, 
in Australia, ref., 434. 
pea, in Fletcher’s report, 359. 
in Massachusetts bulletin, 365. - 
references, 252, 255. 
strawberry, in Fletcher’s report, 359, 


Weevil, white pine, injuries of, 468. 
West Virginia Station Report, rev., 435. 
Wheat Aphis, bulletin on remedGies, ref., 256, 
bulb worm, mm, 217. 
estimate of damage to, 397. 
Isosoma, see Isosoma, 
midge, estimate of damage caused by, 397. 
saw-fly, see Cephus pygmzeus, 416. 
stem-maggot, m., 81. 
White ants, on Pacific coast, 471, 472. 
White grubs, experiment against, note, 483. 
injuring strawberries, ref., 364. 
life history of, article 239, 
rotation for, 5. 
White-marked tussock moth, see Orgyia leuco- 
stigma. 
‘* White blast,’’ caused by Thrips, 301. 
Whip-tail scorpion, habits of, 334. 
Willow grove Melanoxanthus, note on, 290. 
Winter moth, traps for, useless, 69. 
Wireworms, biological notes, 246, 247. 
Woodpecker, downy, feeding on codling worm, 
note, 348, 
vs. tussock moth, 295, 
Woodwork, damaged by Dermestes, 344. 
Woolly apple louse, in Oregon bulletin, ref. ,256. 


xX. 


Xanthium trypeta, article on, 312. 
Xanthonia, remarks on genus, 492. 
X.0O.dust,in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 
Xyleborus dispar, boring in Liriodendron, 41. 
fuscatus, in cypress and poplar, 86, 
in walnut, 87. 
pubescens, in orange bark, 167. 
in walnut, 87. 
tachygraphus, in Liriodendron, 41. 
Xylocopa, dead from unknown cause, 87, 
Xyloterus bivittatus, injuring spruce, ref,, 435, 
politus, in Acer, 87. 


We 
Yellow scale, see Scale. 


Z.. 


Zarhipis, mm, 320. 

Zebra caterpillar, on cauliflower, mm, 338, 
Zele, bred species, 59. 

Zomonia, new insecticide, mm, 272. 
Zonitis mutica, on history of, 3. 


PLANT INDEX. 


A. 


Acacia, injured by locusts in India, 433. 
decurrens, attacked by Cryptophasa, 385. 

Acer, eaten by Schizura and Mamestra, 63. 
food plant of Clisiocampa disstria, ref., 478. 
dasycarpum, Xyloterus in, 87. 

Achillea millefolium,food-plant of Languria,254. 

Agave dasylyrium, insects affecting, 432. 

Agropyrum repens, attacked by Hessian fly, 306, 
sp., food-plant of Hessian fly, 306. 

Agrostis sp.,food-plant of Hessian fly, 306. 
vulgaris, bored by Chlorops, 71. 

Ailanthus, beetles on, 272. 

Alder, swamp, attacked by Schizoneura, 295. 

Alternanthera flavescens, food-plant of Pholi- 

sora, 390. 

Ambrosia artemisizefolia, Dectes spinosus on, 86. 
trifida, Dectes spinosus on, 86, 421. 

Amelanchier canadensis, food-plant of plum 

curculio, 219. 
Andromeda, favorite food of rose-chafer, 271. 
Anona muricata, food-piant of Icerya, 408. 


Apocynum androsemifolium, food-plant of 


Chrysochus, 349. 
Apple, Aspidiotis on, 68. 
eaten by Mamestra, 63. 
food-plant of Lecanium pruinosum, 384. 
Hyphantria, defoliating trees, 338. 
insects injuring,in Cornell bulletin, 308. 
injured by Diphucephala in Australia, 480. 
injured by insects in Mississippi, 338, 
insecticides for, 364. 
louse of, 258, 239. 
maggot of, 253. 
plum curculio on, 219. 
' Psylla mali on, in Russia, 393. 
rose-chafer on, 220, 271. 
Seolytus rugulosus on, 299, 468. 
tent caterpillar on, 483. 
treated for codling moth, 272. 
Apricot, food-plant of Lecanium pruinosum, 384. 
Ash, food-lant of Lecanium pruinosum, 384. 
food-plant of Mytilaspis pomorum, 469. 
Sphinx larve on, 232. 
Asparagus, eaten by Agrotis fenniea, 247. 
Aster, injured by black blister beetle, 416. 


B. 


Baccharis viminalis, 313. 

Bajra crops, injured by locust in India, 433. 

Banana, Icerya on, 184. 

Banyan, attacked by Iceryain Honolulu, 330. 
attacked by Myzus cerasi, 479. 


| Bean, attacked by eel-worm in England, 293. 


damaged by blister beetle, 417. 
damaged by eel-worm, ref., 366. 
germination of weeviled seeds, note, 485. 
injured by Epilachna corrupta, 419. 
insects injuring, in Kansas, 44. 
Beech, eaten by Schizura, 63. 
Beets, damaged by blister beetles, 416. 
list of insects on, 229. 
sugar, Anthomyiid on, 470. 
insect enemies of, 437. 
Betula, eaten by Mamestra, 63, 
food-plant of Lecanium pruinosum, 384. 
Bidens frondosa,food-plant of Baris trinotata. 
Birch, eaten by Mamestra, 63. 
food-plant ot Lecanium pruinosum, 384. 
grey, infested by parasitized scale, 218. 
Lithocolletis betulivora, bred from, 327. 
white, Mytilaspis pomorum on, 409. 
Blackberry, Diastrophus galls on, 405. 
enemies of, ref., 566. 
injured by Tmetocera ocellana, 249. 
insects injuring, in Cornell bulletin, 308. 
rose-chafer on, 221. 


| Black gum, see Sour gum. 


Black locust, see Locust. 


Box elder, Aphid of, 287. 


Leeptocoris on, 72, 

scale on, 167. 
Bread-{fruit, attacked by Iceryain Honolulu,330, 
Bromus ciliatus, food-plant of Hessian fly, 306. 
Broncho bean, see Jumping bean. 


| Bush beans, injured by Diabrotica vittata, 337. 


C. 


Cabbage, Aphis of, 289. 
Diabrotica on, 84. 
injured by Harlequin bug, 127, 466. 
insects affecting, 149, 247. 
Lepidoptera injuring, 337. 
maggot of, 359. 
Plutella of, 359. 
worm of, 409, 483. 
Cactus, injured by sow-bugs, 402. 
Syrphid larve in leaves of, 319. 
Campanula americana, food-plant of Languria 
mozardi, 254. 
Cantaloupe, injured by Systena, 55. 
Carpinus, Acoptus in, 87. 
Carum kelioggii, Papilio zolicaon on, 412. 


| Carya, eaten by Mamestra, 65. 


food-plant of Clisiocampa disstria, ref., 478. 


Cashaw vines injured in Mississippi, 337. 


513 


514 


Cassia, food-plant of Callidryas eubule, 336. 
grandifiora, 336. 
Castanea, Carpocapsa bred from, 296. 
Casuarina, attacked by Icerya, in Honolulu, 330. 
Cattleya gigas, galls on, 22. 
Cauliflower, zebra caterpillar on, 338, 
Cedar, food-plant of Monoctenus juniperi, 356. 
Cedrus libani, moth on, 117. 
Celery, damaged by tarnished plant bug, 348. 
Century plant, insects affecting, 432. 
Chenopodium, poisoned, for cutworms, 248. 
Cherry, aphis of, 479. 
attacked by Sannina exitiosa, 298, 
borer of, 422. 
food-plant of Lecanium pruinosum, 384. 
injured by Selandriain Australia, 480. 
injured by green beetle, 425. 
insects injuring, in Cornell bulletin, 308. 
rose-chafer on, 220, 271. 
supposed curculio on, 480. 
trees attacked by Scolytus rugulosus, 300. 
twigs said to be girdled by Oberea, 298. 
Cherry, wild, tent-caterpillar on, 20, 483. 
Chesinut, Carpocapsa bred from, 296. 
worms in nuts, 405. 
Chir, foliage destroyed by India locust, 433. 
Chrysanthemum, diseases, caused by insects,351. 
infested with Icerya, 100, 184. 
Citrus medica, Mytilaspis on, 393. 
Clover, Bryobiaenemy of, 45. 
eaterpillar on, 232. 
damaged by eel-worm. 366. 
eaten by Agrotis fennica, 247. 
fertilized by bumblebees, 402. 
Graphorhinus vadosus feeding on, 37. 
leaf beetle of, 231. 
midges of, 293. 
Phytonom us nigrirostris on, 282. 
punctatus on, 70. 
poisoned, for cutworms, 248. 
stem borer of, 254, 
untouched by army worm, 56. 
Cnicus altissimus,food-plant of Languria, 254. 
Cocoa, food plant of Icerya, 408. 
ravaged by Diaspis vandalicus, 296. 
palm, Icerya on, 184. 
Coleus, Orthezia on, 124. 
Colliguaja odorifera, food-plant of Carpocapsa 
saltitans, 100, 431. 
Cordiceps, destructive to wireworms, 247. 
Corn, Indian, Anaphora on, 27. 
Chilo saccharalis injuring, 64, 363. 
Diabrotica and Drasterius infesting, 54. 
Diabrotica soror on, 468. 
estimated damage to, 397. 
flea-beetle injuring, 336. 
fed upon by Diabrotica 12-punctata, 430. 
insects affecting, 159. 
root, Aphis of, 233. 
stored, beetles and moths infesting,in Vene- 
zuela, 333. 
to prevent squirrels from pulling, 258. 
wireworms bred from, 246. 
Cotton, a new root rot disease of, 262. 
Citheronia injuring, 339. 
crop injured by locust in India, 433. 
damage to, in Mississippi, 338. 


Cotton, insect enemies in Egypt, 41, 66. 
Cottonwood, Bryobia eggs on bark, 48. 
Dorytomus on, 72. 
food-plant of Melanoxanthus, 290. 
Lina injuring, 338. ; 
supposed bed-bugs under bark, 21. 
Coursetia mexicana, Encyrtid on, 129, 145, 
Crab apple, Hyphantria on, 338, 

Cratzegus, food-plant of Clisiocampa, 478. 
Crocus aureus, destroyed by sparrows, 393. 
vernus, destroyed by sparrows, 393. 
Croton, attacked by Icerya in Honolulu, 830. 
colliguaja—Colliguaja odorifera, 431. 

Cucumber, Aphis on, 84. 
beetle of, 254. 
injuries to, in Mississippi, 337. 
Cupressus funebris, moth on, 117. 
guadaloupensis, moth on, 117. 
lawsoniana, moth on, 117. 
macrocarpa, moth on, !17. 
pyramidalis, moth on, 117. 
Currant, Aphis of, 479. 
black, mite on, 393. 
borer in, 251, 256. 
Hyperplatys aspersus on, 251. 
insects injuring, in Cornell bulletin, 308. 
Janus flaviventris on, 407. 
Cypress, Argyresthia affecting , 116. 


1D): 


Date-palm, seale of, 441. 
Dill, food-plant of Papilio zolicaon, 412. 
Dock, Aphis on, 285. 


E. 


Elm, eaten by Nerice, 62. 
food-plant of Mytilaspis pomorum, 469. 
tussock moth on, 295. 
Elymus americanus, food of Hessian fly, 306. 
Empusa pachyrrhine, attacking a Tipulid, 14. 
Aphzrosperma, effects of, 231. 
Epilobium, supposed food of Adoxus vitis, 349. 
Erechthites hieracifolia, Graptodera on, 26. 
lirigeron canadense, food-plant of Languria 
mozardi, 254. 
philadelphicum, food-plant of Languria mo- 
zardi, 254. 
maculata, Nysius on, 160. 
Euphorbia coloratum, Kudryas unio on, 346. 
Eucalyptus, exempt from Icerya in Honolwu, 
330. 
Evening primrose, Graptodera on, 26. 
Lepidoptera reared from, 275. 
Tyloderma on, 81. 


12, 


Fagus, eaten by Schizura, 638. 
Clisioecampa disstria on, ref., 478. 

Ficus, insects on, 407, 408. 

Fig, beetles on, 297, 415, 
damaged by Thrips, ref., 434. 
Smyrna, desirability of importing Blasto- 

phaga for 408. 

Fire-weed, Graptodera on, 26. 

Flax, Cecidomyia on, 134. 

Flea bane, Aphis on, 285. 

Foxglove, fatal to rose-chafer, 221. 


515 


Fraxinus, Lecanium pruinosum on, 384, 
Clisiocampa disstria on, ref., 478. 
Fuchsia, Graptodera on, 26. 
Fungus, borer in, 335. 
destruction to wireworms, 247. 


G. 


Galba, insects found on tree, 407, 408. 
Gallberry ,scale on, 398. 
Gaylussacia resinosa, Corthylus boring, 178. 
Geranium, damage to, by Heliothis, 399. 
flowers eaten by sow bugs, 402. 
Golden rod, Collops cceurring on, 230. 
Gooseberry, buds destroyed by sparrows, 394. 
Grains, insects affecting, in Maryland, 53. 
injured by Toxoptera, 73. 
Grain, injured by locustin India, 433. 
Grape, a true food-plant of Eudryas unio, 346. 
Adoxus vitis on, 298. 
Cercopeus chrysorhceus on, 452 
Colaspis on, 125. 
Craponius inzqualis on, 167, 452, 453. 
food-plant of Lecanium pruinosum, 384. 
Icerya on, 184. 
injured by beetle in Australia, 434. 
insects injuring in Europe, 33. 
insects injuring, in Mississippi, 338, 
louse on, 234, 239. 
new Australian pest of, 30. 
Nysius angustatus on, 355. 
Otiorhynchus on, 37. 
Phyiloxera on, 185. 
plume-moth of, 469. 
poisoned, for cut worms, 248. 
Prionus borer of, 407. 
recent papers on European insects of, 341. 
rose-chafer on, 221, 271. 
Grass, Agallia sanguinolenta on, 479. 
eaten by Agrotis fennica, 248. 
blue, Deltocephalus debilis on, 479. 
fed upon by Chztocenema, 336. 
Grasses, attacked by Hessian fly, 306. 
injured by Leucania and Chlorops, 70,71. 
injured by locust in India, 433. 
Grindeliarobusta, Lithocolletis grindeliella bred 
from, 327. 
Guava, damaged in Indiaby Virachola, 44. 
Gum, sour, Clisiocampa disstria on, 478. 
sweet, Clisiocampa disstria on, 478. 


H. 


Hamamelis virginica,eaten by Nola and Schi- 
zura, 62, 63. 
Hawthorn, hedges damaged by Diphucephala 
in Australia, 425, 
searlet, Selandria on, 480. 
Heartweed, Aphis on, 234. 
Hickory, eaten by Mamestra, 63. 
shell-bark, Hyphantria defoliating, 338. 
Oncideres on, 338. 
Hibiscus, attacked by Icerya in Honolulu, 330. 
Emphor visiting, 83. 
Hop, louse of, 235, 239, 349, 405, 406, 438, 486. 
Hollyhock, eaten by rose-chafer, 221. 
Horse-chestnut, apparent toxic qualities of, 431. 
Horse-weed, Dectes spinosus on, 421. 


< 


Indigo, injured by Jocust in India, 433. 
Insect tree, of China, 424. 


J. 


Jowar, crops injured by locust in India, 433. 


_ Jugians, Clisiocampa disstria on, 478. 


i") nigra, fruit devoured by rose-chafer, 271. 


Jumping bean, Mexican, 399, 400, 431, 432. 
June-berry, plum curculio on, 219. 


K. 
Kill deer, eaten by rose-chafer, 27]. 


L. 


Lactuca canadensis, food-plant of Languria, 254, 

floridana, food-plant of Languria, 254. 
Lambs’ quarters, poisoned, for cutworms, 248. 
Larch, 247. 


_ Larkspur, apparently exempt from rose-chafer 


attacks, 221, 
Larrea mexicana, Aphodius in flower of, 485. 
Lastrea aristata variegata. roach on, 406, 
Laurel, English,see Prunus lauro-cerasus. 
Lemon, Mytilaspis on, 393. 
Lepidium virginicum, poisoned, for cutworms, 
248. 
Ligustrum lucidum, the insect tree, 424. 
Linden, food-plant of Mytilaspis pomorum, 469. 
eaten by Schizura, 63. 
rose-chafer on, 272. 
Liquidambar styracifiua, Cnesinus in, 87. 
Clisiocampa disstria on, 478. 


| Liriodendron tulipifera, Xyleborus in, 41. 


Locust, black, enemies, 87. 
common insects of, 435, 
damaged in India by Virachola, 44. 
Hispa on, 164. 
Hy phantria defoliating, 338.. 


M. 


Madrono, silkworm on, 482. 
Magnolia, attacked by rose-chafer, 221. 
Mammiliaria phellosperma, injured by sow- 
bugs, 402. 
Mango. attacked by Icerya in Honolulu, 330. 
Maple, Aphids on, 290. 
borers in, 161. 
defoliated by Anisota, 338. 
eaten by Schizuraand Mamestra, 63. 
Mytilaspis pomorum on, 409. 
Melilotus alba, food-plant of Languria, 254. 


| Melon, Aphis on, $4. 


injured by ants, 71. 
injured by Phakellura, 337. 
Mesquite, attacked by Icerya in Honolulu, 330, 
Sinoxylon basilare on, 454. 
Mexican jumping bean, see Jumping Bean. 
Monilia fructigera, 254. 
Mulberry, Diaspis pentagona attacking, 196. 
defoliated by Hyphantria, 338. 
Mullein, poisoned, for cutworms, 249. 
Mustard, black, root-louse on, 235. 


N. 
Negundo aceroides, Lecanium on, 169. 


Nupharadvena, Eustrotia caduca eating, 321. 
Nyssa multiflora, Clisiocampa disstria on, 478, 


516 


O. 
Oak, Ellopia somniaria on, 359. 

furniture damaged by borers, 467. 

list of caterpillars affecting, 256. 

Oat, destruction of crops by Aphis, 57. 
Oats, Meromyza and Oscinis infesting, 82. 

root-disease of, 264. 

GEnothera biennis, Graptodera on, 26. 

Lepidoptera bred from, 275. 

Okra, fed upon by Proconia undata, 338. 
Onions, wireworms damaging, 166. 

““white blast’’ on, caused by Thrips, 301. 
Opuntia engelmanni, Syrphid larve in. 319. 
Orange, bored by Curculionid in Australia, 434. 

bored by Xyleborus pubescens, 167. 

Ceratitis attacking fruit of, 6. 

gas experiments on, 457. 

infested by long scale, 398. 

plant bug on, 410. 

red scale of, 417. 

rust mite of, 434, 

tree borers of, 418. 

Osage orange, food of silkworm, 301. 
Oxalis stricta, Aphis on, 235. 
Ozonium, on cotton, 263. 


Ps 


Palm, exempt from Icerya in Honolulu, 330. 
Panicum, Aphis on, 235. 
Pansy, Oniscus injuring, 69. 
Parsnip, Papilio on, 338. 
Pea, germination of weeviled seeds, 485. 
weevil of, 252, 256, 359, 365. 
Peach, a fruit-fly of, in Bermuda, 5. 
Aphis of, 270. 
Ceratitis on, 120, 
Chrysochus on, 162. 
Diabrotica injuring, 54. 
food-plant of Lecanium pruinosum, 384. 
injured by green beetle, 425. 
Phicotribus liminaris on, 452. 
rose-chafer on, 221, 271. 
seale on, in Australia, 435. 
trees killed by Scolytus rugulosus, 298, 299, 
twigs said to be girdled by Oberea, 298. 
Pear, Aragnomus attacking, 37. 
Aspidiotus on, 68. 
damaged by Psylla, in Russia, 393. 
Hyphantria damaging trees, 338. 
insecticides for, 564. 
insects affecting, in Cornell bulletin, 308, 
raso-chafer on, 221, 271. 
Seiara laryee under bark, 126. 
Selandria on, in Australia, 480. 
trees killed by Scolytus rugulosus, 299. 
Peean, Oncideres on, 338. 
Phylloxera galls on, 466. 
trees defoliated by Hyphantria, 338. 
Peppergrass, poisoned, for cutworms, 248. 
Pepul, destroyed by India locust, 433. 
Persimmon, defoliated by Hyphantria, 338, 
Oncideres on, 338. 
Phieum pratense, attacked by Hessian flv, 306. 
Pine, Seythropus elegans on, 37. 
white, weevil of, 468. 
Pinus insignis, moth on, 117. 
strobus, Pissodes strobi on, 468. 


Plantago major, Aphis on, 235. 
Plantain, root-louse on, 235. 
Plum, 238, 239. 
Aphides on, 405. 
curculio of, 219, 227, 254, 
gouger on, 227, 
hog, food-plant of Icerya, 408. 
Hyphantria defoliating trees, 338. 
injured by green beetle, 425. 
insecticides for, 364. 
occurrence of Phorodon on, 185. 
Paris green as protection to, in England, 293. 
pear slug on, 163, 
Phorodon mahaleb on, 468, 469. 
plant louse on, 479. 
rose-chafer on, 271. 
varieties of, attacked by hop-louse, 486. 
varieties of, exempt from hop-louse, 486. 
Polygonum persicarium, Aphis on, 234. 
Pomegranate, damaged by India Virachola, 44, 
Poplar, food-plant of Melanoxanthus, 290. 
Mytilaspis pomorum on, 469. 
Poppy, devoured by rose-chafer, 22. 
Populus monilifera, supposed bed-bugs under 
bark, 21. 
food-plant of Melanoxanthus, 290. 
tremuloides, Bryobia eggs on bark, 49, 
Potato, attacked by stalk-weevil, 259. 
Australian lady-bird on, 434. 
blister beetles on, 416. 
flea beetles on, in Australia, 434. 
moth of, in Australia, 435. 
Prickly ash, Papilio oxynius feeding on, 32. 
Primrose, yellow, injured by sparrows, 393. 
Primula vulgaris, damaged by sparrows, 394. 
Prune. food-plant of Lecanium pruinosum, 384. 
Italian, exempt from hop-louse, 486. 
Thricolepis inornata on, 468, 
Prunus, Clisiocampa disstria on, 478. 
lauro-cerasus, food-plant of Lecanium, 3814. 
Puccinia coronata and graminis not the canse 
of ‘‘rust’’ on oats, 301. 
Pumpkin, injured by Australian lady-hird, 434. 
Purslane, Aphis on, 235, 
Pyrethrum, in Australia and South Africa, 79. 
Pyrus, eaten by Mamestra, 63. 


Q. 


Quercus, Clisiocampa disstria on, 478. 
Quince, rose-chz fer on, 221. 
slug on, 171. 


R. 


Ragweed, food-plant of Aphis, 235. 
Ramie, said to support silk-worm, 301. 
Ramularia tulasnei, fungus on strawberry, 364. 
Raspberry, Agrilus ruficollis on, 435. 
enemies of, 366. 
injured by Agrotis fennieca, 248. 
insects injuring, in Cornell bulletin, 308. 
rose-chafer on, 221. 
Rhubarb, curculio of, 254. 
Rosa, Clisiocampa disstria on, 478. 
Rose, attacked by Icerya in Honolulu, 330, 
Caceecia injuring, 19. 
Cecidomyiid on, 294. 
chafer of, 220, 221, 271, 272. 


517 


Rose, Colaspis tristis on, 491. | 
flowers injured by saw-bugs, 402. 
Rudbeckia laciniata, food-plant of Languria 
mozardi, 254, 
Rumex crispa, Aphis on, 235. 
Ruta baga, Aphis brassjcve on, 454. 
Rye, Nola an enemy of, 29. 
Ss. 


Sagittaria variabilis, Listronotus infesting, 83. 
Salix, eaten by Mamestra, 63. 
Samang, infested with Icerya, 330. 
Sebastiania bilocularis, jumping bean of, 432. 
palmeri, proposed name for plant of Mexi- 
can jumping bean, 431. | 
Septoria cerasina, 254. 
Sequoia gigantea, moth on, 117. 
Service berry, plum curculio on, 219. 
Setaria, Aphis on, 234, 235. 
Sirria, destroyed by India locust, 433. 
Smyrna fig, see Fig. 
Solanum carolinense, micros bred from, 357. 
Solidago, Trypeta galls on, 405. 
Sorghum, borer of, 362. 
Chilo injury in Louisiana, 64. 
Sour gum, defoliated by Hyphantria, 338. 
infested with rose-chafers, 221. 
Sour sap, food-plant of Icerya, 408. 
Sour-wood, Hyphantria defoliating 338, 
Spanish needle, Baris confinis breeding in, 261, 
Spondias lutea, food-plant of Icerya, 408. 
Spruce, black, insect injury to, 435. 
Smartweed, Aphis on, 234. 
Squash, injuries to, in Mississippi, 337. 
Stagger-bush, favorite food of rose-chafer, 271, 
Stramonium, Sitodrepa in, 163. 
Strawberry, Colaspis on, 123. 
flea-beetle of, 317. 
injured by Agrotis fennica, 248, 
insects on, 345, 364, 366. 
Monostegia of, 437. 
Otiorhynchus attacking, 37, 
rose-chafer on, 221. 
weevil of, 309, 


Sugar cane, borer of, 362. 
Chilo damage in Louisiana, 64, 
exempt from Icerya in Honolulu, 330, 
mites injuring in Barbadoes, 31. 
Sumach, rose-chafer on, 221. 
Sweet gum, defoliated by Hyphantria, 333. 
Sweet potato, Aramigus infesting, 37. 


injured by garden web-worm, 338, 
injured by Systena, 55. 
insects of, 438. 
root-borer of 334, 404, 
Sycamore, defoliated by Hyphantria, 338. 
Lachnus on, 286. 
Oe 
Tea-plants, insects injuring in India, 44, 
Teucrium capitatum, ref., 309, 


Teucrium chamzedrys, galls on, 301. 
Thuja orientalis, moth on, 117. 
Til, crops destroyed by India locust, 433. 
Tilia, eaten by Schizura, 63. 
Clisiocampa disstria on, 478. 
Timothy, eaten by Agrotis fennica, 248, 
eaten by army worms, 50. 
Tobacco, 338, 
in New Jersey bulletin, 361. 
Tomato, Australian lady-bird on, 434. 
Dactylopius on, 419, 
injured by larva in Mississippi, 337. 
root-louse of, 413. 
Sphinx and Heliothis on, 85, 
Sphinx on, 171. 
Tree fungus, borer in, 335. 
Trifolium pratense, fertilization of, 402, 
Tulip tree, Lecanium on, 28, 
Turnip, Aphis brassicze on, 454. 


Wie 


Ulmus Americana, eaten by Nerice, 62. 
Urtica gracilis, food-plant of Languria, 254, 


Ve 


Vaccinium, food-plant of Apatela tritona, 391. 

Violets, Oniscus injuring, 69. 

Vitis, relative susceptibility of different species 
and varieties of, to Phylloxera, 186, 


Ww. 


Walnut, Carpocapsa bred from, 296, 
caterpillar of, destroyed by birds, 344, 
English, food of Lecanium pruinosum, 384, 
fruit injured by rose-chafer, 271, 
Xyleborus in, 87. 
Wattle, black, Cryptophasa on, 385. 
Weeping tree phenomenon, 415, 
Wheat, a new fly of, 311. 
Cecidomyia on, 434, 
infested with Hessian fly, appearance of, 339, 
injured by locust in India, 433, 
insects on, 247, 453. 
Isosoma on, 416. 
Meromyza americana on, 453. 
White-grub fungus, attacking wire-worms, 247. 
Willow, Aphids on, 290, 291, 
eaten by Mamestra, 63, 
Mytilaspis pomorum on, 469. 
Proconia undata on, 415. 
saw-flies injuring, 466. 
Wistaria, flowerseaten by sow-bugs, 402. 
Witch-hazel, eaten by Nola and Schizura, 62,63, 


Xx. 


Xanthoxylum, Papilio oxynius feeding on, 32, 
Xanthium, insects affecting, 312. 


ERRATA, 


Page 32, line 5, for second ‘‘the” read that. 
Page 34, line 26, for ‘‘natura” read natural. 
Page 35, third article, line 4, for ‘‘ Papilioturnus” read Papilio turnus. 
Page 39, 5 lines from bottom, for ‘‘ Anthomyide” read Anthomyiida. 
Page 37, 8 lines from bottom, for ‘‘ yeavs” read years. 
Page 44, heading of note, should read: ‘‘ Bean insects in Kansas.” 
Page 54, 7 lines from bottom, for “vittata” read 12-punctata. Five lines from bottom 
tom, for ‘‘ Drastarius” read Drasterius. 
Page 58, under sub-family Calyptine, line 5, for ‘‘amaenum” read amenus. 
Page 76, 8 lines from bottom, for ‘‘ Cheimatoba” read Cheimatobia. 
Page 83, line 13, for L. read Platysamia. 
Page 87, 2 lines from bottom, for ‘‘ furcatus” read fuscatus; for ‘‘pubescus” read pube- 
scens. 
Page 87, under ‘‘ Entomological Society of Washington,” 8th line, for ‘‘ Lathrodectus,” 
read Latrodectus; make same correction wherever it occurs (see index). 
Page 91, 14 lines from bottom, for ‘‘ Zi. bovis” read CZ, ovis. 
Page 92, line 5, for “strobus” read strobi. 
Page 159, line 3, for ‘‘a b d” read a and d. 
Page 165, 6 lines from top, for ‘‘ Melanectes” read Melanactes. 
Page 167, for ‘‘ Celiodes” read Celiodes. 
Page 221, line 3, for ‘‘ attached” read attacked. 
Page 246, line 10 from bottom, for ‘‘rectangulus” read rectangularis. 
Page 249, line 8, for ‘‘ pometeria” read pometaria. Line 15, for ‘‘ 8S.” read Saperda. 
Page 250, line 36, add H. Osborn, Ames, Iowa. 
Page 254, 3 lines from bottom, for ‘‘ philadelphicus” read philadelphicum ; for ‘‘ cana- 
densis”” read canadense. ~ 
Page 259, under note entitled ‘‘ Insect diseases,” for ‘‘violan,” read violans. 
Page 275, line 3 of foot-note, take out first ‘‘ the.” 
Page 296, for ‘‘Cockerel”’ read Cockerell. 
Page 297, second article, 6 lines from bottom, for ‘‘ Porthretia,” read Porthetria. 
Page 300, two lines from bottom, for ‘‘ corespondent,” read correspondent. 
Page 306, last line of first article, for ‘‘ Kuplectruscom stockii,” read Euplectrus com- 
stockii. 
Page 307, title of third article, for ‘‘cucalio,” read curculio. 
Page 308, in second article, line 4, for ‘‘current,” read currant. 
Page 316, line 17, for ‘‘lilaceous,” read liliaceous. 
Page 321, line 2 of second article, for ‘‘specie,” read species. 
Page 323, lines 9, 11 and 22, for ‘‘ tesselata,” read tessellaris. 
Page 324, line 20, for ‘‘ tesselata,” read tessellaris. 
Page 324, line 41, for ‘‘ albosignea,” read albosigma. 
Page 324, line 44, for ‘‘augelica,” read angelica. 
Page 324, line 50, last column, for 7, read 2. 
Page 324, line 57, for ‘ bideutata,” read bidentata. 
Page 324, line 66, for ‘‘ liquicolor,” read lignicolor. 
Page 324, line 68, for ‘‘subrotata H,” read biundata W. 
Page 324, line 70, for ‘‘ biundata W,” read guttivilla W. 
Page 324, line 72, for ‘‘mantes,” read manteo. 
Page 333, second article, line 9, for ‘‘mauritanca,” read mauritanica. 
Page 346, 7 lines from top, for ‘‘ Huphorbia” read Epilobium. Error copied from Mr. 
Saunders’ work. 
Page 349, line 1, for ‘‘is only,” substitute has until recently been. After ‘‘ attack,” 
add only. 
Pages 388, 389, where ‘‘ castanewella”’ occurs, read castanella. 
Page 394, line 23 from bottom, for “ nocturnus” read montanus. 


LIST OF THE PERSONS ENGAGED IN GOVERNMENT ENTOMOLOGICAL 
WORK. 


The following list embraces those now engaged in Government entomological work. 
The foree of the Division of Entomology is more or less inconstant, as it consists of 
both permanent and temporary employés. Llustrations to this Bulletin, where not 
otherwise stated, are drawn by Miss Lillie Sullivan, under supervision. 


DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 


Entomologist : C. V. Riley. 

Office Staff: L. O. Howard, First Assistant; E. A. Schwarz, Th. Pergande, C. L. Mar- 
latt, F. H. Chittenden, W. H. Ashmead, A. B. Cordley, F. W. Mally, Nathan Banks, 
Assistants. : 

Field Agents: Samuel Henshaw, Boston, Mass.; F. M. Webster, Columbus, Ohio; 
Herbert Osborn, Ames, Iowa; Mary E. Murtfeldt, Kirkwood, Mo. ; Lawrence Bruner, 
Lincoln, Nebr.; D. W. Coquillett, Los Angeles, Cal.; Albert Koebele, Alameda, 
Cal.; A. J. Cook, Agricultural College, Mich.; William R. Larrabee, Larrabee’s 
Point, Vt.; Frank Benton, Detroit, Michigan. 


DEPARTMENT OF INSECTS, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 


Honorary Curator: C. V. Riley. 
Aid: Martin L. Linell. 


DATES OF ISSUANCE OF THE NUMBERS OF INSECT LIFE, VOLUME III. 


No. 1 was issued August 21, 1890. 

No. 2 was issued October 14, 1890. 

No. 3 was issued November 9, 1890. 

No. 4 was issued December 8, 180. 

No. 5 was issued January 17, 1891. 

No. 6 was issued April 14, 1891. 

Nos. 7 and 8 were issued May 11, 1891. 
Nos. 9 and 10 were issued June 20, 1891. 


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