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Pir] DEPARTMENT OF ACRICULTURE. 
DIVESTION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
BULLETIN No. 22. 


Ree ReOrn IS 


OF 


OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS 


THE PRACTICAL WORK OF THE DIVISION, 


UNDER*THE DIRECTION OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 


——$———— 


(PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE.) 


WAS EL N G 1 O IN: 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 


it (3) (@)(O}c 


CONTENTS. 


EN ERODUCDION 225 ete sls 28 RRL Bat ly a ins mye RE aA PI Ne 
REPORT ON VARIOUS METHODS FOR DESTROYING THE en SCALE OF CALI- 

UO RUNGDAW. pape neatorama We ISS oiniccje jo a aisic aes aclacee D. W. Coquillett. - 
REPORT ON INSECTS OF THE SEASON IN IOWA .. -.--.....--- Herbert Osborn.. 


REPORT ON OBSERVATIONS UPON INSECTS AFFECTING GRAINS.F. M. Webster. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FROM MISSOURI FOR THE SEASON 1829, Mary E. Murt- 


POU ee oo ee Ok IS SE ES a a a a ae 
REPORT ON CALIFORNIA INSECTS..---..----- lee SPAN ek Albert Koebele. - 
Feb PORE OND NE BIRASIOA GINSECDG:c- een 0. cc eae cee eae cee coco. Lawrence Bruner. - 


3 


LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 


DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY, 
Washington, D. C., January —, 1890. 

Sir: I have the honor to submit for publication Bulletin No. 22 of 
this Division. Owing to the necessities of the case I was able to include 
in the annual report only a general summary of the work of the field 
agents of the Division, reserving their full reports on the work of the 
year for subsequent publication. They are, therefore, here presented. 


Respectfully, Cee 
oe Viv Ee : 
Entomologist. 


Hon. J. M. Rusk, 
Secretary of Agriculture. 
5 


INTRODUCTION. 


This bulletin comprises the reports of the field agents of the Division 
of Entomology which were necessarily omitted from the annual report; 
in which it has been our previous custom to publish some or all of 
them. : 

Mr. Coquillett has reported upon several phases of his work, and we 
print here only the portion relating to the experiments which he made 
in the destruction of the Red Scale of California (Aspidiotus [Aonidia] 
aurantit Maskell) by the use of washes. A portion of his report re- 
lating to experiments with gas treatment for this scale insect, resulting 
in the great cheapening of the use of this process, has been printed in 
the double number of INSECT LIFE for January and February, 1890. 
Another section of his report relating to the attempted colonization of 
the insects preying upon Icerya purchasi, imported by Mr. Koebele from 
Australia, has also been published in part in INSEcT LIFE for October, 
1889, and the remainder is reserved for future use. The experiments 
with washes were undertaken with a view of presenting a practical 
illustration of their utility to the fruit-growers of southern California 
who had apparently ignored the previous results obtained and pub- 
lished in our reports for 1886 and 1887, These late experiments were 
performed by instruction of Assistant Secretary Willits, and the Red 
Seale was particularly chosen on account of its importance as a pest, 
and for the further reason that the Fluted Scale seems at present to re- 
quire no further experimentation, since the Vedalia is overcoming it so 
rapidly. 

Professor Osborn, in obedience to instructions, has taken up the 
study of insects injurious to grasses in addition to his regular work 
upon the insect parasites of domestic animals, and reports at this time 
upon the leaf-hoppers injuring forage plants. This is a comparatively 
new and important field of investigation. 

Professor Webster continues his studies of grain iusects and reports 
here upon certain points connected with the economy of a few well- 
known pests. 

Miss Murtfeldt sends in a general report upon the insects of the sea- 
son in eastern Missouri, brings out a number of interesting facts, and 
gives the life history of a beetle injuring Spinach and also the histories 
of two interesting Saw-flies. 


~ 
yj 


g 

Mr. Koebele returned from Australia in March and came on to Wash- 
ington for special work, returning to Alameda, Cal., April 15. He 
spent considerable time in writing out his report on his Australian 
work (published in Bulletin No. 21 of this Division) and in assisting to 
rear and distribute the Vedalia. 

During the latter part of the season he did considerable field work 
and reports upon a number of injurious species. Perhaps the most in. 
_ teresting feature in his report is his work upon the enemies of the Cod- 
ling Moth in California. He has reared four entirely new parasites of 
this species, two of which are prinfary and two secondary. The egg 
parasite seems to be a very important feature in the life of the Codling 
Moth on the Pacific coast, and we know from previous experience with 
egg-parasites of the same genus that they are capable of very rapid 
development and are consequently very beneficial insects where they 
attack injurious species. We need only refer to the case mentioned in 
the Fourth Report of the U. 8S. Entomological Commission, where 
by the work of Trichogramma pretiosa Riley, the fifth brood of Cotton 
Worm was almost completely annihilated in Florida, where at the be- 
ginning of the fourth brood less than one-half of the eggs had been de- 
stroyed. By almost complete annihilation we mean that less than 10 
per cent. of the Cotton Worm eggs throughout a large section remained 
unstung. 

Professor Bruner treats of the insects of the year and enters upon 
the consideration of insects detrimental to the growth of young trees on 
tree claims in Nebraska and other portions of the West, an important 
subject which has not before received treatment. 

C.V.R. 


REPORT ON VARIOUS METHODS FOR DESTROYING THE 
RED SCALE OF CALIFORNIA. 


By D. W. CoquiLLetT, Special Agent. 


LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 


Los ANGELES, CAL., October 30, 1889. 


Str: I herewith submit my emma report on some of the ite obtained by me 
during the past year. 

During the first half of the year nearly my whole time was occupied in propagat- 
ing and distributing the Lady-birds (Vedalia cardinalis Mulsant) recently imported 
from Australia by this Division. So thoroughly have these insects destroyed the 
Fluted or Cottony-cushion Seale (Icerya purchasi Maskell) that at the present time it 
is difficult to find a living specimen in any portion of the southern part of this State. 
From the 129 Lady-birds received from the 30th of November to the 24th of January 
and colonized under a tent covering an orange tree in this city, by the following mid- 
summer I had, with the help of Mr. J. W. Wolfskill and Mr. Alexander Craw, dis- 
tributed nearly 15,000 of these insects to various parts of the State, which will give 
some idea of the great fecundity of these insects. My first attempt at colonizing 
them on trees in the open air was made in the 35-acre orange grove belonging to Col. 
J. R. Dobbins, and located in the San Gabriel Valley in this county. I colonized 35 
of the Lady-birds on one of the trees February 22 and about 100 more on the 20th of 
March, and Colonel Dobbins writes me that they had practically freed his grove of 
the Iceryas by the 31st of July. 

The large Chapman orange-grove, also located in the San Gabriel Valley, and com- 
prising 150 acres of citrus trees, has likewise been practically cleared of the Iceryas 
by these Lady-birds, the first colony of which I placed in this grove on the 20th of 
March. As might naturally be expected, this freeing of the orange-groves from one 
of the greatest pests with which they were ever infested removes a great burden 
from the shoulders of our orange-growers; or, as one of them, Mr. A. Scott Chapman, 
writes to me: ‘‘ They have taken more than an oppressive burden off of the orange- 
growers’ hands, and I, for one, very much thank the Division of Entomology for the 
Vedalia cardinalis—the insect that has worked a miracle.” 

One of the most important results obtained by me the past season has been the dis- 
covery of a method whereby trees could be treated with hydrocyanic acid gas ata 
price scarcely exceeding one-third of what it has heretofore cost by the old method. 
As the great expense attending the use of this gas has been the one great objection 
to its being universally employed for the destruction of scale-insects infesting trees, 
this objection having been now overcome we may naturally expect to see this 


method coming into more extended use than has been the case heretofore. As I have 


9 


Oe 


given a full account of this new discovery in the report which follows, it will be need- 
less to more than call your attention to it in this place. * 
As heretofore, I am indebted to yourself for Sup cesioue and other help. 
Respectfully, yours, 
D. W. COQuILLETT. 


Prof. C? V.)RILE Ys 
U. S. Entomologist. 


RESIN SOAPS AND COMPOUNDS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE RED 
SCALE. 


Karly in July of the present year I received a letter from Mr. L. O. 
Howard, acting entomologist during the absence of Professor Riley, 
instructing me to obtain permission from some person owning a number 
of large-sized orange trees which were thickly infested with the Red 
Scale (Aspidiotus aurantii Maskell), and then have the trees sprayed 
with one of the most approved resin sprays obtainable, the spraying 
to be repeated as often as would be found necessary in order to prac- 
tically free the trees of these pests, or at least to prevent them from 
becoming so numerous as tointerfere with the healthy growth of the 
trees, the object sought for being to demonstrate that citrus trees badly 
infested with these pests ean be cleaned and kept in a healthy, grow- 
ing condition by the use of the resin spray. 

Before entering upon this work I concluded to make a series of pre- 
liminary tests with various preparations, containing resin and other in- 
eredients in varying proportions, with a view of ascertaining the best 
and most desirable preparation to use in my field work referred to 
above. Accordingly I went down to Orange, in the adjoining county, 
which bears the same name, and, on the 17th, 18th, and 19th of July, 
made fourteen tests with various preparations, repeating one of these 
and making several additional tests on the 7th and 8th of the following 
month. The one giving the best results was used a trifle too strong, 
as I subsequently ascertained that it produced a discoloration on the 
underside of some of the oranges, or where they came in contact with 
each other or with a leaf or branch. For this reason a slightly weaker 
solution would produce better results, and doubtless the following pro- 
portions will be found the most effectual to use during the hotter part 
of the year: 


RVESING 225 eto sie hoch uber eel cee gee cay eee eee pounds 18 
Caustic soda (70 per cent. strength) ~.-....----..-+---. doces 5 ekS 
Pishvoil o..s.5 S555 Do eee ees oe ee esa ee eee ee pints... 24 
Water to make). pa: 25.252 ees See gallons.. 100 


The necessary ingredients are placed in the boiler and a sufficient 
quantity of cold water added to cover them ; they are then boiled until 
dissolved, being occasionally stirred in the mean time, and after the 


*This portion of Mr. Coquillett’s report has been published in advance in INSECT 
Lire, Vol. II, double No. 6 and 7 (January and February 1890).—c. v. R. 


11 


materials are dissolved the boiling should be continued for about an 
hour, and a considerable degree of heat should be employed so as to 

keep the preparation in a brisk state of ebullition, cold water being 
added in small quantities whenever there are indications of the prepa- 

ration boiling over; too much cold water, however, should not be added 

at one time, or the boiling process will be arrested and thereby delayed, 

but by a little practice the operator will learn how much water to add 

so as to keep the preparation boiling actively. Stirring the preparation 

is quite unnecessary during this stage of the work. When boiled suffi- 

ciently it will assimilate perfectly with water and should then be di- 

luted with the proper quantity of cold water, adding it slowly at first 

and stirring occasionally during the process. The undiluted prepara- 

tion is pale yellowish in color, but by the addition of water it becomes. 

a very dark brown. Before being sprayed on the trees it should be 

strained through a fine wire sieve, or through a piece of swiss muslin, 

and this is usually accomplished when pouring the liquid into the spray- 

ing tank, by means of a strainer placed over the opening through which 

the preparation is introduced into the tank. 

The preparing of this compound would be greatly accelerated if the 
resin and caustic soda were first pulverized before being placed in the 
boiler, but this-is quite a difficult task to perform. Both of these sub- 
stances are put up in large cakes for the wholesale trade, the resin be- 
ing in wooden barrels, each barrel containing a single cake weighing 
about 375 pounis, while the caustic soda is put up in iron drums con- 
taining a single cake each, weighing about 800 pounds. The soda is 
the most difficult to dissolve, but this could doubtless be ebviated by 
first dissolving it in cold water and then using the solution as required. 

It has been very generally supposed that the finer the spray could be 
thrown upon the tree the better would be the results obtained, but 
after conversing with several persons who make the spraying of trees 
their special work I was somewhat surprised to learn that each of them 
were in favor of a rather coarse spray. In nearly every instance they 
had started out with the impression that a fine spray was the best, but 
had gradually adopted one somewhat coarser, finally adopting one that 
threw a moderately coarse spray with considerable toree. After care- 
fully investigating the subject I found that their reasons for preferring 
« rather coarse spray to a fine one were well founded. 

The object sought for is not so much to simply sprinkle and wet the 
tree as it is to paint or varnish it over with the compound used, and 
this can best be accomplished by the use of a rather coarse spray, which 
enables them to throw the liquid upon the tree with considerable force, 
so that when it strikes any portion of the tree it spreads out and covers 
the adjoining parts with a thin film, as if put on with a brush. It also 
strikes many of the leaves with such force as to cause them to expose 
tc the spray portions of their surfaces that would otherwise escape. 
Besides this, by the use of a moderately coarse spray the tree can be 


12 


wet or varnished over in a much shorter space of time than when a 
finer spray is used, and all of the operators that I have conversed with 
on this subject were unanimous in their statements that the time thus 
saved much more than compensated for the somewhat larger quantity 
of the preparation that was required when the coarse spray was em- 
ployed as compared with a finer spray. The evidence, therefore, 
appears to be decidedly in favor of a rather coarse spray. 

But whatever may be the character of the preparation used, or the 
nature of the spraying nozzle employed, the success of the operation 
will depend very largely upon the thoroughness with which the prepa- 
ration has been applied. In the case of small trees it is comparatively 
easy to wet every part of them, but when the trees are 20 feet or more 
in height and have not been properly pruned it is not only difficult but 
quite impossible to wet every portion of them; and, unfortunately, the 
tendency is to use as little of the preparation upon the tree as is abso- 
lutely necessary. On tall trees the operation of spraying is made more 
effectual by the use of tall ladders, so that the various parts of the trees 
can be sprayed from above as well as from below. 

It is well known among those who have had any experience in trying 
to destroy the Red Scale with sprays of any kind that the scale insects 
which are located upon the fruit are less affected by the different 
liquid preparations than those located upon the leaves or bark. 
The reason for this appears to lie in the fact that those located upon 
the fruit, having an abundance of food always within easy reach, are 
more healthy and vigorous than those located upon the other parts of 
the tree, and consequently are better prepared for resisting the destrue- 
tive effects of the spray. That healthy, vigorous insects are capable of 
resisting the effects of a destructive agency that has proved fatal to 
their less vigorous comrades there can be no doubt. An instance of 
this kind is given in my report to Professor Riley for the year 1888, as 
published in the Annual Report of this Department for that year. On 
page 128, in speaking of the effects of arseniuretted hydrogen gas upon 
the Fluted or Cottony-cushion Scale (Lcerya purchasi, Maskell), the state- 
ment is made that ‘Subsequent experiments made upon perfectly 
healthy trees and insects showed that when the gas was used strong 
_ enough to have proved fatal to all of the Icerya on the neglected trees 
it did not kill one-half of those on the vigorous trees.” Owing to this 
fact it would be advisable to refrain from irrigating and cultivating in- 
fested orange trees for several weeks before spraying them, were it not 
for the other fact that in the case of bearing trees such a course would 
seriously interfere with their bearing qualities or operations. Unlike 
deciduous fruit trees, our citrus trees do not take a rest of several months’ 
duration between the ripening of the fruit and the blossoming of the 
trees for another crop ; only a few weeks at the most intervening between 
these two periods in the case of orange trees, while on healthy bearing 
lemon trees both blossums and fruit are to be found at every season of 
the year. 


ih) 


In the case of bearing orange trees it would appear that the seasor 
of the year when they could be sprayed with the least amount of in- 
jury to themselves and with the greatest fatality to the red scales infest- 
ing them would be at a time when they were in blossom, after all of 
the fruit of the preceding season had been removed from them. There 
would at such a time be no fruit on the trees for the scale-insects to 
locate upon, so that all these insects that could be reached by the spray 
would be destroyed without at the same time injuring any portion of 
the tree. Several persons who had sprayed their orange trees at a time 
when the latter were in full bloom informed me that to all appearances. 
none of the blossoms were injured by the spray, providing that the 
latter was not used so strong that it injured the leaves, being unani- 
mously of the opinion that the blossoms were as hardy as the leaves. 
The young fruit is much more susceptible to the effects of the spray than 
are either the leaves or the blossoms, and this is the case until it becomes 
at least half-grown. It has been my experience, and also the experience 
of others with whom I have conversed upon the subject, that where the 
conditions are equal an orange tree is more susceptible to the effects 
of a given spray than a lemon tree, the foliage of the latter being 
hardier; whereas in the case of frosts the reverse of this is true. lemon 
trees being greatly injured by frosts that would produce little or no 
effect upon orange trees growing under similar conditions. 

It is a well-established fact that any given spray will not be so fatal 
to the scale insects during the cooler portion of the year as it will if 
applied during the hotter portion. On this account it will evidently be 
found necessary during the winter months to use a somewhat stronger 
solution than indicated in the fermula given above; and probably the 
proper proportions to use during this season would be obtained by ad- 
ding water sufficient to make only 80 gallons, instead of 100 gallons as 
given in the above formula. 

What is true in regard to the effects of the solution upon the insects 
is equally true of its effects upon the tree, the same solution that would 
not injure the tree if applied during cool weather might injure it very 
severely if applied during very warm weather. As bearing upon this 
subject, I can not do better than to give the experience of one of my 
correspondents, Mr. F. G. Ryan, an intelligent orange-grower of 
Anaheim, in the adjoining county of Orange. Mr. Ryan used the resin 
compound quite extensively for the destruction of the Black Scale 
(Lecanium olee Bernard), and under date of February 7, 1889, he writes 
me as follows: 


I want to tell you of a disappointing experience I had with the resin compound. 
On January 21 and 22 I sprayed twelve trees in one quarter of the grove and eight in 
another with a compound composed of 1 pound of caustic soda, 8 pounds of resin and 
32 gallons of water. Afier doing this a hot, drying wind arose and stopped our work. 
The wind continued for several days, becoming milder each succeeding day, and on 
the fourth day I noticed some leaves dropping from these trees; this dropping of the 
foliage has continued and increased until now there is scarcely half the foliage left 


14 


on two or three of the trees, and the others show a loss of from 15 to 50 per cent. I 
argue that as the trees first sprayed show a lesser loss than the others, the probabili- 
ties are that the water and compound were not thoroughly mixed, and asit is my cus- 
tom to keep the inlet pipe of the pump near the top of the solution to avoid the sedi- 
ment, these trees received a weaker solution, as the compound would remain at the 
bottom of the tank until thoroughly mixed and suspended in the water. No condi- 
tions of health of trees or soil affected the loss of foliage, since similar results are 
shown by the trees in the other part of the grove. My conclusion is that the cause 
exists in too strong a solution, followed by hot, dry winds for several days. Since 
the date of spraying there has been no rain nor even a fog or cloud until two days 
ago. Iam happy to say, though, that the bugs are dead. 

That this disastrous result to the foliage was the direct effect of the 
hot drying wind appears to admit of no doubt, since Mr. Ryan informs 
me that when no such wind prevailed he had sprayed a large 1umber of 
his orange trees with a compound made precisély like the one used 
above, and the trees thus sprayed dropped scarcely a leaf. ‘The fact 
that the latest trees sprayed suffered the most indicates not so much 
that they were sprayed with a stronger solution than the others, but 
rather that being sprayed later and being still wet with the solution 
they would naturally be more affected by the hot winds than those 
which were sprayed earlier, and from which the surplus solution had 
had time to drip off, while the remainder would be quite dry before the 
hot wind occurred. 

Following is an account of a number of experiments which I made 
with various resin compounds aud resin soaps for the destruction of the 
Red Scale (Aspidiotus aurantii Maskell); they were made at Orange, in 
the adjoining county of Orange, upon trees kindly placed at my disposal 
by Mr. H. F. Gardner. The trees in experiments 181-194 contained no 
fruit, but there were green oranges on all of the other trees experi- 
mented upon. 

In making each of these solutions the necessary ingredients were 
placed in the boiler, covered with water, and boiled briskly from two to 
three hours, after which they assimilated well with water; the solution 
was then diluted with the proper quantity of water, strained through a 
piece of barley sack, and then sprayed upon the tree. In each instance 
only a small quantity of solid or semi-solid matter was strained out of 
the different solutions. An exception to this occurs in experiments 185 
and 186, in which the resin was simply dissolved in water over a hot 
fire, after which the necessary quantity of water was added and the 
solution strained, as described above. In dissolving the resin I used 
3 gallons of water for each pound of the resin; at first I tried to dissolve 
it at the rate of 1 pound of resin to 2 gallons of water, but a portion of 
the resin would not dissolve until more water had been added. The 
solution was of a milky-white color, and assimilated well with water. 

The cost per 100 gallons of the different preparations as given below 
is based upon wholesale prices of the different ingredients, furnished 
me by the Los Angeles Soap Company, of this city. The rate on resin 
is by the 10-barrel lot of 375 pounds per barrel; of caustic soda, by the 


15 


drum of 800 pounds; of fish-oii, by the barrel of 50 gallons; of potash, 
by the cask of 700 pounds; and of tallow, by the barrel of 375 pouuds. 

(181) Resin, 25 pounds; caustic soda, 3 pounds; water to make 100 
gallons; costs 65 cents. The diluted solution was of a light brown color. 
Sprayed on an orange tree at 11.30 a. m., July 17, sun shining, light 
breeze. August 6, foliage uninjured; found a great many live scales. 

(182) Resin, 33 pounds; caustic soda, 4 pounds; water to make 100 
gallons; costs 84 cents. Sprayed on an orange tree at 11.45 a. m., July 
17, sun shining, light breeze. August 6, foliage uninjured; found great 
many live scales. 

(199, 200) Resin, 25 pounds; caustic soda, 6 pounds; water to make 
100 gallons; costs 77 cents. Sprayed on two orange trees at 10.45 and 
and 11 a. m., August 7, sun shining, light breeze. September 2, found 
great many live scales, especially on the fruit; leaves uninjured; many 
of the half-grown oranges have rusty, brownish spots on their under 
sides, or where they came in contact with each other or with a branch 
or other object. These spots were still present October 19, but whether 
they will disappear or not before the fruit ripens remains to be seen. 

(201) Resin, 33 pounds; caustic soda, 8 pounds; water to make 100 
gallons; costs $1. Sprayed on an orange tree at 11.15 a. m., August 
7, sun shining, light breeze. September 2, same as in the preceding 
experiment. 

(190) Resin 16 pounds, fish-oil 6 pints, caustic soda 6 pounds, water 
to make 100 gallons, costs 85 cents. The diluted solution was of a very 
dark brown color. Sprayed on @ lemon and orange tree (i. é. orange 
budded to lemon, but the orange branches not cut away) at 1:30 p. m., 
July 18, sun shining, light breeze. August 6, leaves and newest growth 
uninjured; found ten live scales. 

(191) Resin 22 pounds, fish oil 1 gallon, caustic soda 8 pounds, water 
to make 100 gallons; costs $1.15. Sprayed on an orange treeat2p. m., 
July 18, sun shining, light breeze. August 6, a few of the older leaves 
have brownish spots on their under sides; found three live scales. 

(192,195) Resin 20 pounds, fish oil 3 pints, caustic soda 6 pounds, 
water to make 100 gallons ; costs 80 cents. Sprayed on a lemon and | 
on an orange tree at 1 and at 12:10 p. m., July 19, and August 7; sun 
shining in the first, cloudy in the second experiment, light breeze. 
August 6, in first experiment leaves uninjured; found two live scales. 
September 2, in second, experiment leaves uninjured; found 12 live 
scales on the fruit and 8 on under side of the leaves where they had 
evidently escaped the spray. In both experiments the fruit was as 
described in experiment 199 above, but toa less degree. 

The formula in these two experiments was the same, except that in 
192 one pound more of the resin was used than in 195; but this small 
quantity in 100 gallons could scarcely have affected the results. This 
is the same formula used on September 3 of the present year (1839) 
for spraying twenty-five orange trees, in accordance with instructions 


foe 


from Mr. Howard, referred to above. Two of the trees were 5 feet 
tall by 4 in diameter, while the others ranged from 14 to 18 feet tall 
by from 12 to 16 feet in diameter. They were sprayed between the 
hours of 3 and 5.30 p. m.; sun shining, light breeze. Three hundred 
gallons of the diluted compound were used. A tree 16 feet tall by 14 
feet in diameter required about 14 gallons of the compound, and three 
men and a spraying outfit will spray about 800 gallons in a day. . The 
cost of materials and labor in spraying with this compound a tree of 
the size indicated above amounts to about 24 cents per tree. I exam- 
ined the above-mentioned trees September 24, and again October 
19, and found that the leaves and fruit were uninjured, but a few of 
the oranges had small brown spots on them as described above in ex- 
periment 199. Nearly all of the scales located on the leaves and bark 
were dead, but about one-fourth of those located upon the fruit were 
still alive. 

(193, 196) Resin 28 pounds, fish oil 4 pints, caustic soda 8 pounds, 
water to make 100 gallons; costs $1.10. Sprayed on two orange trees 
at 1.15 and 12.20 p. m., July 19 and August 7; sun shining in the 
first, clondy in the second, light breeze. August 6, September 2, 
and October 19, leaves uninjured; some of the oranges had brown 
spots on them as described above in experiment 199; found only one 
live seale on the leaves, and three on the fruit. 

(202) Resin 21 pounds, fish oil 3 pints, crude potash 4 pounds, water 
to make 100 gallons; costs 85 cents. Sprayed on an orange tree at 
12.30 p. m., August 8; sun shining, light breeze. September 2, 
leaves uninjured; some of the oranges had brown spots on them as de- 
scribed above in experiment 199; found many live scales both on the 
leaves and fruit. 

(203) Resin 28 pounds, fish oil 4 pints, potash 53 pounds, water to 
make 100 gallons; costs $1.15. Sprayed on an orange tree at 1p. m., 
August 8; sun shining, light breeze. September 2, same as in the 
preceding experiment. 

(183) Resin 20 pounds, tallow 63 pounds, caustic soda 63 pounds, 
water to make 100 gallons; costs 98 cents. Sprayed on a lemon tree 
at 12 m., July 17; sun shining, light breeze. August 6, a few of the 
older leaves were injured; found great many live red scales. 

(184) Resin 25 pounds, tallow 8 pounds, caustic soda 8 pounds, water 
to make 100 gallons; costs $1.22. Sprayed on an orange tree at 12.30 
p. m., July 17; sun shining, light breeze. August 6, leaves uninjured ; 
found three live red scales. 

(188) Resin 17 pounds, tallow 6 pounds, caustic soda 6 pounds, water 
to make 100 gallons; costs 88 cents. Sprayed on an orange tree at 1 
p. m., July 18; sun shining, light breeze. August 6, leaves and newest 
growth uninjured ; found twelve live red scales. 3 

(189) Resin 22 pounds, tallow 8 pounds, caustic soda 8 pounds, water 
to make 100 gallons; costs $1.16. Sprayed on a lemon tree at 1.15 


17 


p.m., July 18; sun shining, light breeze. August 6, leaves uninjured ; 
found fourteen live red scales. The pups and recently transformed 
adults of the Chaleid fly, Dilophogaster californica Howard, which in- 
fested fully 80 per cent. of the black scales (Lecaniwm olew Bernard) 
on this tree, were all of them destroyed by this spray. 

(187) Resin 22 pounds, tallow 14 pounds, crude potash 54 pounds, 
water to make 100 gallons; costs $1.10. Sprayed on a lemon tree at 
4,30 p.m., July 17; sun ee light breeze. August 6, leaves unin- 
jured; found three live red scales. 

(185) Resin 19 pounds, water to make 100 gallons; costs 38 cents. 
Sprayed on an orange tree at4 p. m., July 17; sun shining, light breeze. 
August 6, leaves and newest growth uninj ured, but few of the red scales 
were destroyed. 

(186) Resin 22 pounds, water to make 100 gallons; costs 44 cents. 
Sprayed on a lemon tree at 4.15 p. m., July 17; sunshining, light breeze. 
August 6, same as in the preceding experiment. 


EFFECTS OF THE EUREKA INSECTICIDE ON THE RED SCALE. 


On the Ist of August of the present year I received a letter from 
Acting Entomologist Howard, dated July 25, 1889, requesting me to 
make a test of the ‘ Kureka Insecticide,” put up by E. Bean, of Jack- 
sonville, Fla., who would forward me a few sample cans of the insecti- 
cide for this purpose. These samples reached me in due time, and I 
carefully tested the preparation according to directions. One pound 
of it was emptied into a vessel, 6 gallons of cold water added, and the 
whole frequently stirred. After the lapse of one hour I allowed 
the insoluble portion to settle to the bottom of the vessel, poured off 
the clear liquid portion, and sprayed it upon an orange tree at 2 p. m., 
August 7; cloudy, light breeze. September 2 the leaves were unin- 
jured, and I could not discover that any of the red scales (Aspidiotus 
aurantiti Maskell) that were encased in a scale or shell at the time the 
application was made had in the least been affected by the spray. 

In a circular received from the proprietor it is stated that this insecti- 
cide is sulphur in solution, a patented process, and that it ‘is abso- 
lutely fatal to the rust mite, and also to the scale insect during the 
breeding or migratory periods,” providing that the applications extend 
through the entire season. It is possible that this insecticide would 
prove fatal to the recently hatched red scale, but as this becomes cov- 
ered over with a shell inside of twenty-four hours after leaving the 
parent, and as the young ones appear during almost every day in the 
year, it follows that in order to be effective it would be necessary to 
apply this insecticide every day for three or four months consecutively 
—a task which very few of our fruit-growers would be willing to per- 
form. 

23479—No. 22——2 


REPORT ON INSECTS OF THE SEASON IN IOWA. 
By Prof. HERBERT OSBORN, Special Agent. 


LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 


Iowa AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 
Ames, December 11, 1389. 


Str: I beg to submit herewith my report upon the season’s observations and study 
for 1889. 

I have during the season made a series of tests of X. O. Dust under directions from 
your office; reports of which were transmitted immediately on completion of the 
tests, and have continued to work, conjointly with yourself, on the insects affecting 
domestic animals. As bearing upon the same general subject, and connected with one 
of the most important industries of the State, and, indeed, of a large part of the 
United States, I have given such time as I could to the study of insects affecting 
meadows and pastures. Believing, however, that more could be accomplished by 
giving attention to some particular group, and considering the great importance 
of the Leaf-hoppers and other Homoptera, and the fact that they have been but 
slightly studied in this connection, I have spent most of the time upon this group. 

The study of these is rendered more difficult in consequence of the great number 
of species as yet undescribed, and the lack of any complete literature upon known 
American species. But for these very reasons there is the more need of their being 
investigated. My results seem meager for the time devoted, but I believe that with 
the material now brought together much more rapid progress can be made in future 
studies. 

Thanking you for the many favors received from your office, I am 

Very respectfully, 
HERBERT OSBORN. 


PROF. ©. V7 RILEY, 
U. S. Entomologist. 


GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 


While no wide-spread devastation has occurred in the State during 
the past season there has been a considerable amount of damage from 
a number of different species affecting various crops and operating in 
different parts of the State. 

Cut-worms of different species were unusually abundant, and I re- 
ceived specimens and inquiries regarding them from different parts of 
the State. They were quite troublesome in gardens, nurseries, and 
fields in this locality. é 

The Turt Web-worms (Crambus exsiccatus), reported on in detail two 
years ago, were again quite abundant, but not so numerous or destruc- 
tive as in 1887. An allied species (Crambus laqueatellus) was quite 

18 


if? 


abundant in the adult form in the latter part of May, and there is good 
reason to believe that the larve have the same destructive habit in 
grass, and, from the occurrence of the imago so early in the season, it 
would seem probable that as in exsiccatus there are two broods each 
season. 

Another moth nearly related to these web-worms occurred this sea- 
son in great numbers in pastures and meadows, and though I have not 
had opportunity to study the larval stage, it may be well to call attention 
to it as a probable grass pest that may prove as troublesome as the spe- 
cies of Crambus. This is the Nomophila noctuella, and it was noticed in 
greatest abundance from May 18 to 22 (1889). The species has been 
observed as abundant in previous seasons and is probably a pretty con- 
stant inhabitant of grass land. 

During the latter part of May and first part of June the Blue Grass 
in the vicinity suffered from the trouble called “ Silver Top,” the head 
and upper joint of the stalk turning whitish. J examined a number of 
these withered and partly wilted stalks and in a few cases found Thrips 
present, and in some cases swollen joints appearing as if affected with 
Meromyza, the adults of which were very plentiful on grass a little 
earlier. If due to Thrips, I think they must leave the grass almost as 
soon as it begins to wither, as in the cases where I found them I selected 
stems that were just beginning to turn white. 

The Clover-seed Midge has appeared in this State, and the present 
year is the first I think that it has been destructive. It has been re- 
ported in a few localities and I swept the adults from clover in consider- 
able numbers May 25. A very few were bred from clover heads in 1888. 
_ Epitrix cucumeris was very abundant on potatoes, but as the vines 

had a very vigorous growth in the early part of the season no serious 
damage resulted. 

Diabrotica vittata and D. 12-punctata were exceedingly plentiful and 
furnished me material for some tests of X. O. Dust hitherto reported. 
I also tried for these a mixture of London purple and kerosene emulsion 
for the purpose of killing the beetles gathered on the squash vines and 
preventing the complete destruction of foliage, depending upon the 
London purple to kill the beetles gathering on the vines later. After 
this application the vines did very well and I think the plan a success. 
The beetles will, some of them, fly away before the kerosene takes effect, 
but they probably all die in a short time. I have since noticed that 
Prof. John B. Smith has used a similar plan for treating the Elm-leaf 
Beetle, and it would seem to be applicable in many cases where the 
expense is not an obstacle and where it is desired to kill the bulk of the 
insects gathered on plants before they have time to destroy foliage, 
which they must do to some extent when treated with London purple. 

Plant lice of many species were abundant in the latter part of the 
season. Of these the Thorn-tree Aphid (Schizoneura crategi Oest.) was 
especialiy conspicuous by its abundance on thorn trees. The common 


20) 


Willow Plant-louse (Melavanthus salicis) was brought or sent me a num- 
ber of times, showing that it attracted unusual attention, and the eggs 
deposited by the oviparous females were to be found in numbers under 
the buds of willow twigs in late autumn. Of all the species noticed, 
however, the swarms of the Dogwood Aphid (Schizoneura corni Fab.) 
were most remarkable. This species is referred to more particularly in 
another place. 


OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AFFECTING GRASSES. 


The importance of the pastures and meadows in this State will be 
conceded by every one familiar with its agriculture. Perhaps no other 
single elementisof greater importance, furnishing, asit does, the basis 
for the stock industry of the State. 

The insects infesting meadows and pastures are -therefore of the 
ereatest importance, and while their depredations are perhaps less con- 

spicuous than those from insects affecting some other crops, I think it 

ean be clearly shown that the average annual loss in pastures and 
meadows from insect injuries is equal to if not greater than the crop har- 
vested or the amount consumed by cattle, horses, or sheep in pasture, 
and probably furnishing a total annual loss greater than in any other 
crop. In ordinary pasturage it is common, I believe, to allow two acres 
of land to each cow, or, for convenience, let us say that one acre will 
half supporta cow. At the same time that this cow is feeding there 
are a million insects, more or less, of various kinds feeding upon the 
same area by day and night from the time the snow melts in spring till 
winter forces them to suspend their work. 

The only compensation they can offer is that when dead (and they 
die young), their million little carcasses dropping on the surface of the 
soil return to it some of the material which has been built into their 
tissues, increasing its richness and helping to support succeeding gene- 
rations. 

In my report upon the Turf Web-worm two years ago, I gave the count 
of burrows that had been opened by squirrels as twenty-five in one 
instance and fifty in another, within a square yard, and it is not prob- 
able that every burrow within those areas had been opened by squirrels. 
The web-worms were, however, uncommonly abundant that season. If 
we reduce the mean of these figures by one-half and allow two web- 
worms to each square foot it means 87,120 to the acre, and then consider 
that these worms cut down quantities of grass that they do not devour, 
it would seem hardly too much to suppose that these alone would prove 
a pretty even match for one half a cow in disposing of the grass grow- 
ing on an acre. 

All are familiar with the depredations of white grubs, and it is hardly 
necessary to ask whether in seasons when these are plentiful they do 
not destroy as much or more than would support at least half a cow. 

Cutworms and Army worms are a constant source of loss in grass 


21 


land, and these with the grasshoppers, familiar to everybody, are capa- 
ble of mowing down a quantity of grass during a season which ought 
to be appreciated by the farmer. Grasshoppers need not be remarkably 
plentiful to place a dozen to a square yard, over 50,000 to the acre, and 
is it any wender that pastures run short in seasons when rain is scarce 
or grasshoppers a little more plentiful than usual ? ; 

The kinds of insects so far mentioned perform their work in a way 
that causes an actual lessening of bulk in the crop, but there is another 
host, less noticeable in size as well as in method of work, whose actual 
damage in reduction of available food for stock must be of very great 
importance. These, like the Chinch Bug, whichis one of their number, 
simply puncture the leaves or stems of the grass and pump out its 
juices, thereby abstracting much of the best food material even where 
they do not cause a checking of growth and shriveling of the plants. 
Many of these are insects of very minute proportions, but like the 
Chinch Bug make up in numbers for their diminutive size. It is no 
exaggeration I think to say that they occur by the million to the acre. 

A million mouths against a half a mouth, and isit necessary that the 
individual mouth be a very large one to make the aggregate food con- 
sumed equal that of the half cow ? 

In order that my figures may not seem purely fanciful, [ may state 
that they are derived in part from actual count, but in all cases, when 
count has been made, the circumstances have been such as to make the 
numbers fall short of the actuality. 

I have captured leaf-hoppers on grass by throwing a net down verti- 
eally and counting the number caught within the area inclosed by the 
ring, and while it is hardly possible in this way to secure all that were 
actually within that area the.average of a number of such captures 
gives nearly a million to the acre. 

I have many times observed them when plentiful and tried to count 
the number within a given area, but their activity makes this difficult. 
By approaching them very slowly and keeping very quiet, | have on 
some occasions been able to observe them closely and have on different 
occasions been able to count many within the area of a few square inches ; 
often two or more to asingle blade of grass, and consequently I feel sat- 
isfied that the estimate based on the numbers captured are far below 
the actual numbers frequently occurring during seasons when they are 
ordinarily abundant and greatly under the number in seasons when 
they have multiplied to any unusual degree. Itmay perhaps be urged 
that, even allowing them to abound in this degree every season, they 
are too small to consume a very great amount of food. Possibly amill- 
ion leaf-hoppers would not exceed in bulk the half of an average cow, 
but it should be remembered also that they grow very rapidly and must 
consequently use proportionately large quantities of food, and that they 
extract the most nutritious parts of the grass. That grass forms the 
bulk of their food has not I think been questioned, but to be certain on 


22 


this point I have observed them carefully and examined with partie. 
ular care the grass blades on which I have seen them established. 

On September 7, 1839, I swept grass where no other living plants 
were to be seen and collected numerous Hemiptera of a number of dif- 
ferent species, mostly Homoptera. The grass was very dry, brown, and 
in many places appearing dead, but evidently still farnishing support 
for the leaf-hoppers. There were but few other insects present, scarcely 
any that could be supposed to feed upon grass, except some grasshop- 
pers (Caloptenus femur-rubrum, species of Cidipoda, ete.). The species 
of Homoptera collected may I think be considered as unquestionably 
grass feeders. No other vegetation that could furnish them support 
had been on the ground swept for weeks, and the insects swarmed on 
every square foot. The grass commenced turning brown in patches 
long before it should be expected to, if affected only by want of rain, as 
it showed within ashort time after the lastrains, which had been quite 
regular and copious, previous to the dry period of that time, and its dry- 
ing up must have been hastened by losses due to the presence of in- 
sects. The ground was not yet dry enough so that the grass could 
have suffered from lack of moisture alone. Their presence on grass 
seems to show its effect in two ways, though for one of them it is diffi- 
cult to draw the line between the effects of leaf-hoppers and dryness. 
In one the effect of punctures shows in numerous pale and dry spots on 
the blades of grass resembling effects produced by related Homoptera 
on other plants, apple-trees, pear-trees, grape-vines, etc. Such spots 
can not be found, however, in such numbers as would be expected if 
there were one for every puncture by the millions of these insects that 
occur in every piece of grass land. But the great bulk of the grass is 
withered or dead down to acertain point near the ground (or to the 
ground), which would naturally be the appearance if the leaf withered 
from the lower punctures to the tip, thus obliterating all punctured 
spots on the terminal portion. 

The difference between grass withering from punctures and from lack 
of moisture is perhaps not sufficiently different to furnish a very safe 
basis for deduction, but in the latter case it is naturally more gradual 


and holds for a longer time the green color of hay, so that for withered | 


grass not too long exposed I believe we should beable to distinguish in 
some degree the difference between that killed by leaf-hoppers and that 
dried by excessive heat and lack of moisture in the ground. 


While this may fall short of actual demonstration, I think a careful — 


study of the effects in the field will convince any one that my conclusions 
are justified by the facts and that, taking year after year, the amount ot 
‘injury caused by insects of various kinds is fully equal to the amount 
consumed by the stock ordinarily pastured on the sameland. It is evi- 
dent, then, that the prevention or the reduction of the insect injuries 
would add an equivalent amount to the return from such land. Instead 
of one cow requiring two acres for pasturage,pastures comparatively free 


23 


_ from insects should support a cow to each acre through the entire sea- 
son. It is certain that much of this loss can be prevented by simple 
and inexpensive means. The capturing of the moths of Turf Web-worms 
and Cut-worms will help much in reducing their number. Grasshop- 
pers can be destroyed at the same time that Leaf-hoppers are, and by 
use of the same means, and it would seem certain that a method costing 
but 2 to 10 cents per acre might be applied with great profit for these 
insects alone. Itis my object here, however, to treat in detail only of 
the remedies tried or proposed for Leaf-hoppers. 


APPEARANCE AND HABITS OF LEAF-HOPPERS (JASSID 42). 


The insects embraced in this group are almost all small and rather 
slender insects, with blunt or pointed heads and well-developed wings, 
which at rest lie parallel along the back, usually sloping like a roof, 
or partly inclosing the body. One of the most characteristic features, 
however, is their habit of leaping when disturbed. All the species pos- 
sess this habit, though some do not leap as readily as others. The largest 
Species common to grass are not over halfan inchin length, while the 
Smaller ones are less than an eighth of an inch long. Many of the spe- 
cies are extremely light and slender, almost invisible except when care- 
fully observed, while others have short, thick bodies. Their colors are 
well adapted to furnish them protection, many being green, others 
yellowish or brownish, and in many cases they will not be noticed at 
all on the grass until they leap, and then it is usually because of the 
swarm that rise together that they become noticeable. All feed by 
puncturing the plant and sucking out the juicy contents of the leaves 
or stems. All, so far as known, puncture leaves or stems of plants to 
deposit their eggs, frequently placing them under the epidermis only. 
The larve are commonly somewhat spiny at first and have the general 
form of the adults, passing by gradual development with little change 
through pupa stage to adult. Most of the species, if not all, pass the 
winter as adults. 


REMEDIES FOR LEAF. HOP ey 


Burning.— For those species of leaf-hoppers which hibernate in grass, 
and especially those which are active there during late fall and early 
Spring, a thorough burning over should prove of great advantage. 
The Leaf-hoppers leap readily, but do not ordinarily fly any distance, 
and especially when the weather is cool would be unable to escape from 
the flames. In two pieces of grass land burnt over last spring and con- 
venient for observation one showed fairly good results, keeping its color 
well till late in summer, though surrounded by grass land, unburnt, on 
three sides. The other, a pasture of some size, was in poor condition 
all summer; but in this Turf Web-worms and Cut-worms were so 
plenty that they alone were sufficient to account for its poor condition. 


24 

Plowing.—There seems little ground for hoping that the number of 
Leaf-hoppers can be diminished materialiy by any system of plowing 
under, or by rotation of crops. Grass is an essential on every farm, 
and no system of starvation could be adopted, and even if deprived of 
the common pasture grasses, the most of the species evidently thrive 
on the fox-tails and other grasses that flourish as weeds. The leaf- 
hoppers are too active to be plowed under and can readily migrate to 
other fields. Eggs for most of the species, at least, are not deposited 
at any fixed time of the year, and while by plowing under in May, June, 
or August many eggs might be buried, plenty of hoppers would 
escape to the surrounding grass land to keep the farm well stocked. 

Mowing.—When the grass in which Leaf-hoppers have been very 
abundant is cut short, leaving only a dry stubble, the insects seem to 
be forced to migrate, as few or none can be found in such places a few 
days after the cutting nor untila new growth gives them a source of 
fresh food supply. While early cutting of meadows badly infested 
might result in saving a larger crop, if must follow that the Leaf-hoppers 
would travel to pastures or other grass land, and it would be simply a 
question as to where they would do the greater amount of damage. It 
would seem feasible, however, to take advantage of the time when the 
crop has been just removed to use hopper dozers or other means for 
capturing them before they have left for fresh pasture. We know, as 
yet, too little as to where and when the bulk of the eggs are deposited 
to say whether cutting at any particular time would result in the de- 
struction of any number of eggs. While we know that Leaf-hoppers de- 
posit eggs in stems and leaves of plants, we are not acquainted with 
their full history or the methods of different species, so that it would 
be unsafe at present to base remedies on this part of their history. 

Capturing in Nets.—The ease with which all species of leaf-hoppers 
_affecting grass can be taken in sweep-nets led me to try the use of this 
principle on a larger scale. I therefore had a couple of wire frames 
made 3 feet long, fastened a deep cheese-cloth net to each and attached 
these to two long handles, so that the frame of one would brush the 
ground about a foot behind the forward one. The object of having two 
nets was to secure the hgppers which allowed the first wire to pass over’ 
them before leaping. With the handles the net was pushed forward so 
that the insects were not disturbed till the approach of the net and a 
Strip of ground a yard wide was gone over either at a walk or arun. 
While numerous insects were secured by this plan, Grasshoppers, Moths, 
Clover-seed Midges, and large numbers of Leaf-hoppers, the count of 
those secured from the nets showed that as compared with what must 
actually exist on the same ground as shown by other captures, only a 
portion of the Leaf-hoppers were thus secured, and considering the 
trouble of holding and destroying all the insects captured, I concluded 
that this plan was not equal to the hopper-dozer for this purpose. The 
second net captured a goodly number of insects as well as the forward 


ah € 
| 


25 


one and probably held them better, as they could not as readily fly out 
after having entered. It was found that more insects were captured 
when the net was pushed ata run that when walking. Probably even 
then mazy insects succeeded in flying out of the forward net. 

Nets arranged in this manner, two or even three in succession, might 
be made eight or ten feet long and run by boys, one at each end. The 
forward net should be closed as soon as a stop is made, and the nets all 
closed at the finish, when they may be left a day or two for the insects 
to die.- Usually there are enough predaceous species captured to kill 
the others rapidly, and such -species could then be set free. Many 
species of insects beside the Leaf-hoppers are caught by this device, and 
some, such as the moths of Turf Web- worms, and Cut-worms, smail Dip- 
tera, Clover-seed Midges, etc., that are not as apt to be taken in the hop- 
per dozer. 

Hopper Dozer.-—This simple contrivance (a sheet-iron pan containing 
kerosene and water or coal tar, to be dragged over the infested ground), 
devised for the destruction of the Rocky Mountain Locust, possesses the 
essential qualities for the destruction of the Leaf hoppers as well. I 
believe that it can be used with profit in any pasture affected with these 
pests. The delicate Leaf-hoppers are killed by the kerosene almost the 
instant they touch it, and though my trials with it were made when the 
weather was so cool that the hoppers did not leap with their usual ac- 
tivity, they showed that it would operate successfully. It would be 
best, probably, to use it for these during warm days, when the insects 
are at their greatest activity, and early enough in the spring to catch 
the hibernating adults before they deposit eggs, repeating the opera- 
tion, if necessary, in July, and for meadows immediately after the re- 
moval of the hay crop. Perhaps two pans, one behind the other, will 
prove advantageous. 

The Shield Method.—A plan that is scarcely more than a modification — 
of the above has been recently highly recommended for the destruction 
of the Leaf-hoppers infesting grapes. A quite similar plan was adopted 
for the destruction of the Rocky Mountain Locust years ago and is 
described in the first report of the United States Ent. Com.; and in his 

first annual report as State Entomologist of New York, Professor Lint- 
ner suggests its use for ‘“low-feeding insects” “especially hopping 
species.” I have not as yet tested it myself, but will give the plan, that 
others may test it for these insects if disposed. A piece of drilling or, 
what would be cheaper still, a strip of building paper is fastened to a 
light wooden frame and is coated with coal-tar or gas-tar, the residue 
from distilling off kerosene from petroleum, or from gas manufacture. 
In ease of grape Leaf-hoppers this frame is held as near the vines as pos- 
sible by one man, while another lifts the branches. The hoppers darting 
against the shield are caught and killed. For grass Leaf-hoppers the 
frame would be set on runners and could be made 10 to 15 feet 
long and run by a boy or man at eachend. The best angle at which to 


26 


hold it would be soon determined by trials, and if sloping back it might 
be that the underside of the shield, if coated with the tar, would capture 
hoppers as wellas the upper. As coal-tar can be secured in most towns 
at small expense, and as the frame. for the shield costs but little, this 
method should be applied at a cost of not more than 5 to 8 cents per acre, 
and could be repeated two or three times during a season if either Grass- 
hoppers or Leaf hoppers become plenty. 

It could be used in meadows or tall grass by mounting the frames on 
runners high enough so that the grass while being bent over should 
have plenty of room to pass under the shield, but would not be likely 
to work well when pollen is flying from the grass blossoms or when the 
seed begins to fall, as the tar would so soon become covered with the 
dust and chaff. 


NATURAL ENEMIES OF LEAF-HOPPERS. 


But little is known regarding natural enemies for these active little 
insects. Ihave found the common Coriscus ferus very plenty in all grass 
Jand examined, and where but few other insects were present to furnish 
it food. When left in nets with Leaf-hoppers the latter are soon found 
dead, while the Coriscus thrives, and knowing their very carnivorous 
habits, there can, I think, be no question as to their serving a useful 
purpose in killing these as well as other grass pests. As this species 
does not have the leaping habit it is less likely to be destroyed in “ hop- 
per dozers” than the hopping species, and consequently these remedies 
can be used with little danger of destroying this natural check to the 
multiplication of injurious species. 


SPECIES OF LEAF-HOPPERS OBSERVED IN GRASS. 
THE TENDERFOOT LEAF-HOPPER. 
(Diedrocephala mollipes Say.) 


This widely distributed species is perhaps the most abundant of its 
genus, and is unquestionably a source of much loss in pastures and 
meadows. Professor Uhler states its range as ‘‘ Texas, Colorado, Mexico, 
and the southern part of the Atlantic region.” It is one of the most 
abundant insects in the Upper Mississippi Valley, and I have found it 
-ih great numbers on blue-grass and on prairie grasses, where this must 
have been its principal, if not only, source of food. Other grasses would 
seem to serve it equally well. Professor Uhler says (Standard Natural 
History, vol. 11, p. 249): 

The salt marshes of the Atlantic States furnish places of shelter for it, where it 
may be found on reedy grasses in all stages from June till October. 

That it prefers moist places is evidenced by its comparative scarcity 
on high ground in dry seasons, and its greater abundance in the vicinity 
of thickets as well as in low ground at such times. It is about one- 


27 


third of an inch long, of a bright grass-green color, the head and thorax 
above yellow. It varies considerably in size, and the females average 
considerably larger than the males. The head is sharply pointed, has 
a number of fine black lines on its upper surface; the face is shaded 
dark brown, and has a double series of transverse bars. 

The larve which appear to be most common in early summer are light 
green or yellowish, and agree with the adults in having the head sharply 
pointed.. I have found them most common in May and June, and, as 
adults are abundant from this time till autumn, it is difficult to say 
whether there is more than one brood. Ihave notseen adults in winter 
or early spring, and it seems possible that eggs in this and allied species 
are laid in fall to hatch in spring. As this would be contrary to the 
habit of the majority of insects in this family it will require further ob- 
servation to establish it. It is at least quite certain that they do not 
_ hibernate as adults in grass, and unless eggs are deposited in stems of 
grass or other plants in grass land the insect can not be destroyed by 
burning in early winter or spring. It will be seen that there are im- 
portant points to determine about this very common insect, and means 
of destroying it may depend in large degree upon the determination 
of some of the very simple steps in its life-history. It jumps readily, 
and like other members of the family may be treated on the ‘ hopper- 
dozer” plan. 


THE New York LEAF-HOPPER. 
(Diedrocephala noveboracensis Fitch.) 


This species is a little larger than the mollipes, but resembles it very 
closely. Its head, however, is less acute, and there are four distinct 
black spots on the front margin of the head, two of them close together 
at the tip and one each side in front of the eyes; the lower surface of 
the head lacks the brown color of mollipes, or is but faintly browned. 
Their habits appear to be much the same, and they are often found in 
the same locations, though I have found this species more commonly 
in the grass in wooded pastures or at the borders of thickets. I have 
never observed it in such abundance as I have the mollipes, and ordi- 
narily it is probably of little importance. With equal numbers it would 
of course be as serious a pest as any of the other species of the family. 
Professor Uhler says it is common in many parts of the United States 
north of Maryland and it extends north into Canada and British Co- 
lumbia. 


(Diedrocephala versuta Say.) 

This species bears a striking resemblance to coccinea, and has very 
similar habits, occurring in similar localities, and probably living upon 
the same plants. While Say’s description was published in 1831 I know 
of no reference to the species in works on Economic Entomology, and 


28 


no reference that would indicate its occurrence in destructive numbers. 
It is introduced here as one of a group of insects whose importance will 
I believe be more appreciated when their habits become better known. 


THE RED-BACKED LEAF-HOPPER. 
(Diedrocephala coccinea Forster. ) 


So far as I have observed this is not an abundant species, and while 
evidently common throughout the United States I know of no record 
of its multiplying to numbers sufficient to make it destructive. I have 
found it usually in the vicinity of timber or thickets, and while it prob- 
ably subsists on grasses does not select the open meadows or pastures 
but localities affording more moisture and shade. Itis a handsome and 
conspicuous species, the upper surface when wings are closed being 
largely of a deep red color with dark blue or blue-green stripes. It was 
described under the name of Cicada coccinea by Forster (J. R.), in 1781 
(Novae. Spec. Insect., p. 96), and afterward by Say as Tettigonia quadri- 
 vittata. 


THE HIEROGLYPHIC LEAF-HOPPER. 
(Tettigonia hieroglyphica Say.) 


This was quite an abundant species the past season, but the majority 
of the specimens taken were found in the grasses of timber or among 
the low herbage along ravines, grassy banks, etc. | 

Professor Uhler says it “inhabits Texas, the foot-hills, and plains of 
Colorado from August to October, and the Atlantic region throughout.” 
It is somewnat smaller than the mollipes, usually less than one-fourth of 
an inch in length; the head is rounded in front and marked with irregu- 
lar black crescentic spots and bars. There is much variation in depth 
of coloring and extent of marking so that it is difficult to give a brief 
description that will be distinctive. Whileit was described in 1831 by 
Say, it has not been so abundant or noted as sufficiently destructive to 
get a place in the literature of economic entomology. Like many other 
of the species of this family, however, it has been lumped off with 
many of its relatives among the injurious leaf-hoppers, and hence 
should not be regarded as hitherto unmentioned among injurious 
species. 


THE FOUR-POINTED AGALLIA. 


(Agallia quadripunctata Prov.). 


This species appears to be common throughout most of the United 
States, although I am not aware of its having been recorded as occur- 
ring in great abundance at any place. It is, however, one of the species 
which occurs in considerable numbers and does its share toward injur- 
ing the vegetation of pastures and meadows. 


29 


Whether it feeds mainly on grasses or attacks also the various plants 
growing with grasses I can not at present say, as it has not been studied 
in such connection as to determine this point. 

It is about an eighth of an inch in length and of a yellowish-brown 
color with scarcely any decided markipgs except two black points on 
the front margin of the head and two similar points at the hind margin 
of the prothorax. These latter points are nearly in line with those on 
the head, though a little farther apart, so that the four points stand 
nearly at the corners of an imaginary square. Other points within the 
Square are in some specimens quite distinct, but not so conspicuous as 
the ones described. The species appears to have been first described 
by M. Provancher (Nat. Can., LV, 376), in 1872, but it has quite gen- 
erally been known among entomologists as Agallia flaccida Uhl. Mr. 
E. P. Van Duzee (Entom. Amer., V., p. 167) says: 


This species I have received in exchange from a number of correspondents as 
Agallia flaccida Ubler, and have so used the name myself in exchanging and in the 
List of Muskota Hemiptera. It seems to have been an early manuscript name of Mr. 
Ubler. 

But little can be stated regarding the life history of this species and 
there are probably no important differences between this and other spe- 
cies of the same family. Nearly all the specimens taken or observed 
have been mature, and without rearing it would be uncertain whether 
larvee apparently of this species really belonged to it. Adults have 
been taken at different times of the year, and probably it can be found 
in this condition during each month of the year. Mr. Van Duzee says 
in the article quoted above that ‘‘ this is a very abundant species in 
western New York from early in May until September, and in fact the 
year round, as it appears to hibernate in the adult state, as do many 
if not all the Jasside.” 

I have not found it in grass during winter, and can not say whether 
it hibernates mainly in pastures and meadows or seeks the shelter of 
dead leaves and rubbish in thickets, hedges, ete. 


Agaltia sanguinolenta Prov. 


This little Leaf-hopper has been quite common in this locality during 
the last few years, and while never so abundant that it can be counted 
a serious pest in itself it must be counted in with related species in any 
enumeration which pretends to give the grass-feeding species. That it 
has a wide range is indicated by the following from Professor Uhler 
(Bull. U.S. Geol. and Geog. Surv., vol. II, p.359 [93, of part], 1876): ‘This 
is a very variable little insect, which is not confined to the region of 
the Rocky Mountains, but which has been found likewise in Texas, in 
British Columbia, Canada, and New England.” 

It was described under the name of Bythoscopus sanguinolentus by M. 
Provancher in 1872 (Naturaliste Canadien, IV, 376) and in 1876 by Pro- 
fessor Uhler under the name of Bythoscopus siccifolius. Mr. EK, P.Van 


30 


Duzee has, however, in the Entomologica Americana (V., 166) placed 
this latter as a synonym, and remarks: 

Through the kindness of M. Provancher I had the pleasure of examining a typical 
example of his species and have thus been able to compare it directly with Mr. 
Uhler’s description, and find that it agrees in every particular. It is not an un- 
common species here (Buffalo, N. Y.) on grass and weeds in pastures and road sides, 
especially where Carex and Juncus abound. 

It is a little smaller than the quadripunctata and rather broader in 
proportion, and is quite readily distinguished from that species by the 
dark wing veins and the more decided markings on the head and pro- 
thorax. ‘ Itis scarcely an eighth of an inch in length and fully one-third 
as wide as long. 

A dark form which differs from the typical ones, so far as I can see, 
only in the greater intensity of the markings is perhaps even more 
common here than the typical form, and this I have found fairly plenty 
and quite active in blue-grass lawn during the latter part of November, 
so that we may be pretty certain that it hibernates under grass and 
probably feeds more or less during mild weather of late fall and early 
winter. It can also be considered as quite certain that it can live ex- 
clusively upon grass, aS in the localities where I have observed it it 
could searcely have been depending on other vegetation for its food. 


THE WAVY-SPOTTED LEAF-HOPPER. 
(Allygus irroratus Say.) 


The propriety of including this species in a discussion of grass in- 
sects may possibly be questioned, since its range of food plants is very 
great. There is no question, however, that plants of the grass family 
are among those most commonly affected by it, and I have found it 
abundant in grass land, where evidently this was its only source of 
food. It will be unnecessary, however, to detail its method of work, as 
it agrees so nearly with other members of the same family, and all 
methods of treatment must be based on similar principles. It may be 
stated, however, that there is as yet no evidence, so far as I knew, that 
it hibernates in grass, and therefore those remedies based on that habit 
in some of the species will not be applicable to this. Descriptions of 
the species were published by Say in 1831, and since that time the spe- 
cies has had frequent mention in entomological works, but only ocea- 
sional reference to it aS an injurious species is made, and in these ref- 
erences it is as often spoken of as a grain pest. | 


THE DESTRUCTIVE LEAF-HOPPER. 


(Cicadula exitiosa Uhler.) 


When attention was first called to this species it was from its attacks 
on wheat, but that it is of equal if not greater importance as @ grass 
pest seems to me pretty clear after the observations of the present 


3] 


season, and it would be interesting to know whether, in the reported 
destruction to wheat, this crop lad not followed grass or whether the 
insects had not simply traveled from grass land. I have taken them 
in abundance from grass, and in blue-grass, where no other living plants 
were near, they occurred in large numbers, so that there would seem to be 
no question as to grass being their natural food. They have been 
reported as abundant and destructive on timothy in Missouri. (INSECT 
LIFE, Vol. I, p. 381). 

They are about two-tenths of an inch in length, of a brownish color, 
and the wings are rather prominently marked with dark veins. It is 
an active species, jumps and flies readily, and is easily captured in a 
Sweep-net, and would probably fall an easy victim to the “hopper dozer” 
or ‘‘shield,” where these can be used. 

It was described by Professor Uhler in the American Entomologist, 
Vol. IIL, p. 73 (1880), and a description and an account of its injuries to 
wheat in the Carolinas and Georgia occurs in the Report of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture for 1879. 


THE HURTFUL LEAF-HOPPER. 
(Jassus inimicus Say.) 


Of all the species of Homoptera that I have observed infesting grass 
this has been unquestionably the most abundant and constant in its 
depredations. It is par excellence a grass pest, and is found in great 
numbers in pastures and meadows at all seasons of the year, even in 
warm days of early winter, being found hopping actively about among 
the blades of grass and probably extracting some slight amount of food 
material even during this season. During the past season they have 
been especially numerous and destructive, or at least my attention has 
been called to them more frequently than before. My notes show them 
Swarming in May, June, July, August, and September, and, recently, 
the latter part of November, and, later, December 12. I have found 
them scarcely less plentiful and active in the grass on blue-grass lawn. 
T observed them also in great numbers in all the pastures and meadows 
that I examined while in Linn County, in the eastern part of the State, 
in the latter part of June. Actual killing of grass by them is, however, 
a somewhat difficult matter to prove, and, except in seasons of unusual 
dryness, there is probably not sufficient withering of the grass from 
their presence to attract attention. In July and August grass here 
showed injury by turning brown in patches, and this commenced too 
soon after rains to be referred entirely to drought. 

Later in the summer (September 7 and later), when the attacks of the 
leaf-hopper had caused most of the lawn to appear brown, such patches 
were not conspicuous. Examination of the grass where blades were 
not entirely withered would show in many cases brown spots of varying 
sizes, generally with the center on or near the midrib, and from small 


spots of this kind all gradations of withering could be found up to 
where the entire blade was withered or brown. Plenty of these insects 
were to be found even where the grass was comparatively dry, but that 
they preferred the more juicy grass was shown by their accumulation in 
shaded places or where the grass presented more vigorous aspect. 
They could be secured in abundance from patches where no other veg- 
etation occurred, and in the absence of other insects in numbers to 


cause the withering mentioned, there can be no question, I think, as to 


the serious nature of their attacks upon the grass. Even when they do 
not cause withering of grass they must draw seriously upon its vitality. 

I have thus far been unable to separate any definite broods. Adults 
occur during the entire year, and larve, which may be quite certainly 
referred to this species, may be found associated with them during the 
most of the summer months. lLarve are perhaps most common during 
June and in August and September, but whether there are two broods 
or three, or an indefinite number depending only on the length of the 
season, I can not now say. It seems most probable, however, that 
breeding goes on irregularly all through the summer months, but that 
the adults of spring are represented by only two or three generations 
of progeny, and the members of the latest broods survive the winter to 
begin the production of new generations in the spring. 

In connection with his description of the species, which was published 
in 1831, Say makes the remark that *‘ When in the larva state this 
species is said to depredate on the roots of wheat. Several specimens 
were sent me by Professor Green in the year 1822, who received them 
from a farmer in Virginia.” 

Considering the wide distribution and great abundance of this species, 
it seems strange that it should have been so little studied or so rarely 
mentioned in works on injurious insects. 

The insect is somewhat less than a fourth of an inch long and appears 
grayish or yellowish gray, and about the most constant marking are two 
dots on the front of the head, two on prothorax, and two on scutellum. 
A form lighter than the typical examples but which seems to me only 
a light variety, has even these dots obscure or wanting. 

The larve are light yellowish but seem to be subject to about as 
much variation as the adults. An extreme form of larvee, probably be- 
longing to this species, has dark margins to the prothorax and abdomen. 

Several other species of Jasside have been observed in grass, but as 
they are not as yet determined I omit further mention of them at this 
time. 


THE GRASS-ROOT PLANT-LOUSE ALIAS THE DOGWOOD PLANT-LOUSE. 


(Schizoneura corni Fab.) 


Probably the most interesting result of my season’s observations - 


from a scientific stand-point, and it may be the most important econom- 
ically, is the determination of the identity of a form of plant-louse in- 


by 
9 
2 


33 


festing the roots of grasses during the summer with one occurring on 
the leaves of dogwood during autumn. The full import of this connee- 
tion from the economic stand-point can not be known till it is determined 
how many species of grasses are affected by the root form and to what 
extent the migration to dogwood exposes it to attack. If its occurrence 
is confined to the annual grasses (and it seems to occur only on these), 
its importance to the farmer will be much less than if itis found to work 
also on-perennial species. 

A brief statement of the connection between these two forms was 
published in INSECT LIFE (Vol. II, pp. 108-9), but a fuller account, with 
details of observations, is proper at this time. 

My attention was first called to this species on September 15, when I 
noticed the air was filled with small insects, which on capture were 
found to be plant-lice of the genus Schizoneura. Their immense num- 
bers, filling the air as far as could be seen in all directions, naturally 
excited my interest, and I walked some distance in the direction from 
which they seemed mainly to come (which was with the wind), but 
without locating their origin, except to observe that they were resting 
on all sorts of plants and were very plentiful along roads and paths 
where fox-tail and other grasses were plenty. Upon examination I de- 
termined the specimens gathered to be Schizoneura corni Fab., speci- 
mens of which I had gathered a year or two ago from dogwood. It 
seemed difficult, however, to account for such an immense swarm of them 
when dogwood is not especially abundant in the immediate vicinity and 
had not been observed as infested with aphids. In looking over de- 
scriptions of allied species I was struck by the close agreement with 
descriptions of Schizoneura panicola Thos., and, following this lead, I 
examined the roots of Setaria and Panicum on September 16, when the 
winged forms were again numerous in the air. My search was almost 
immediately rewarded with the finding of numerous wingless Schizo- 
neurce, aud among them some which showed wing-pads and two with wings 
partly expanded. These were compared carefully with winged cornt 
found flying and also with corni from dogwood, and showed such close 
agreement that I felt it important to follow the matter up. One of the 
specimens, with wings partly developed, was mounted in balsam tor 
future reference; the others, on grass roots, were put in breeding jars. 
Their subsequent history will be stated later on. 

Examinations in the field on the 18th showed lice still somewhat 
plenty on grass roots, though the Setaria examined failed to show them 

in very greatabundance. Examinations the same day, of the dogwood 
in the timber near, showed on the very first bush noticed numbers of 

the winged (pseudogyne) individuals, and with them numbers of small 

larve evidently just extruded. The colonies accompanying each 

pseudogyne contained from one to a number of larvee, but none of these 
could have been more than a day or two old, all very small, scarcely 

larger than when first born. In no case could I find a leaf on any of — 

23479—No, 22——3 


34 


the bushes examined which contained any colonies without the winged 
mother or where there was the slightest evidence of the previous 
presence of aphides; no cast skins from old colonies or damaged leaves, 
and every indication went to prove that the winged form had just settled 
upon the trees and begun the formation of colonies. While perhaps of 
little value as proof, it may also be mentioned that no Schizoneure had 
been observed on Cornus this fall prior to this date or before the swarm- 
ing of September 15. A numberof branches containing colonies were 
brought in and kept in water for the purpose of following their devel- 
opment. This was fortunate, as the colonies on the plants out of doors 
were almost all depopulated a few days later by predaceous insects, 
so much so that the colonies on plants near at hand and on which I 
depended for following the species out of doors utterly failed to furnish 
material for that purpose. Indoors the insects developed rapidly and 
were followed as closely as circumstances would permit. Molting in 
these occurred by the 19th, and apparently only one molt occurred 
before maturity. Only one brood was developed, these becoming sex- 
ually mature September 25. Both males and females were apterous 
and copulation took place upon the leaves and also upon the twigs, the 
females often traveling down the twigs and branches while copulation 
was in progress. In every case the females seemed to travel down the 
branches as far as possible before depositing eggs, and great numbers 
of them dropped into the water in which the branches were kept. In 
the woods I have been unable to find any eggs whatever under buds on 
twigs, and so far as the indoor observations go they differ from those 
recorded by Mr. Weed. Whether this be due to dryness, the insects 
seeking a place of some degree of moisture, can be determined by com- 
parisons under varying conditions. 

Two weeks after the swarming of winged lice in the air there was 
another swarming, though the lice were not so numerous as at the first 
time. This swarming also followed a rain with subsequent cold. As 
in the preceding case, examination of Cornus in the woods showed nu- 
merous winged individuals starting colonies, though at this time in 
some places it was possible to find the cast skins of previous colonies, 
all of which, however, so far as I could find, had been destroyed by 
predaceous insects or other causes. My search for eggs in the woods 
has been futile, and it would seem that nearly all the colonies were de- 
stroyed before the maturity of the sexual individuals. I have feund, 
however, oval bodies a trifle larger than the eggs, but resembling them 
at first sight, though flattened, but which prove to be a small species 
of Lecanium, apparently undescribed. 

The lice occurring on the roots of grass, and which were placed in 
breeding jar the 16th, were mostly unaltered on the 19th, but in the jar 
I found a fully winged specimen, agreeing exactly, so far as could be 
seen with hand lens, in the living individual, with specimens flying and 
also with those on Cornus. It was transferred to a leaf of Cornus on 


35 


twig inserted in water, isolated from other leaves, and which had been - 
_ carefully examined with lens to see that it was free from larvie, and 
protected by cheese-cloth cover. This individual took kindly to the 
situation, remained constantly on the leaf, and produced a number of 
larve which developed as rapidly as those brought from the woods, 
agreeing perfectly with them in every particular that I could observe, 
and proving their ability to develop on Cornus. Unfortunately their 
propensity for traveling down the twigs resulted in their being drowned 
in the water in which the twig was kept. I think, however, that their 
developing perfectly on the Cornus leaf, and the perfect agreement of 
apterous males and females so developed with those occurring normally 
on Cornus in woods, is good evidence of identity. 

In the meantime lice had been found in some numbers on the roots of 
grasses not yet dead, especially on Panicum, and many of these had 
been placed in breeding-jars in hopes of securing additional winged 
specimens. While apparently thriving they failed to acquire wings, 
but on September 24 I observed in one of the jars an apterous individ- 
ual, and directly behind it an egg evidently fresh-laid, elongate, oval, 
ereenish, polished, like eggs of cornt on Cornus. This was mounted 
with the apterous individual, and in the body of the latter another egg 
was apparent. The egg was laid at the surface of the earth in the jar, 
and similar eggs were found in pill-boxes in which root-lice were con- 
fined. A close examination of roots, especially those of Panicum from 
the field, enabled me to find a number of small apterous individuals like 
the males on Cornus leaves, as well as the small apterous and oviparous 
females. These occurred with a larger form, exactly like those which 
had been observed to acquire wings, and the conclusion seemed inevi- 
table that these viviparous and apterous forms produced in the ground 
a brood of apterous males and females. These latter were observed 
attempting coition, though in no case did I see the act completed. The 
males are of an orange color, darker than the females, and differ from 
males on Cornus leaves in being shorter, and in lacking the purplish tint 
usually present in those. The females agree well with females on 
Cornus leaves, but are shorter, have six-jointed antenne, and are 
slightly lighter colored, which would be expected in individuals living 
under-ground. September 28, eggs from these root-forms were more 
numerous, and by October 3 I found them quite plenty in my jars. 
One oviparous female was observed with three eggs extruded from the 
body, adhering by the ends, and the last one still partly within the 
body. They are whitish at first, but turn yellow on exposure, and later 
turn quite dark. . 

The eggs seem to be deposited at hap-hazard on surface of earth, 
sides of boxes or jars, and each female appears to produce but two or 
three eggs. 

These observations, I am free to confess, appear to complicate the 
round of life of the species, and to make the complete circle from grass 


36 


to dogwood and back less clearly defined, but such a dimorphism, if we 
may call it so, is not without parallel, and does not seem unreasonable. 
There seems reason to believe that while a large proportion of the 
pseudogynes acquire wings of perfect development, and migrate to dog- 
wood, that there is also another portion in whicb the wings for some rea- 
son fail to develop, and these from necessity remain on the roots or at 
best remain near the surface of the ground, and the sexual generation 
produced by them at the same time as from the winged ones, or perhaps 
a little later develop by feeding upon grass roots, and deposit their eggs 
where they have themselves developed. As to whether these eggs are 
as successiul in their further development as the ones deposited on 
Cornus remains for further observations to determine. Possibly in cer- 
tain seasons they may survive better, and thus provide a double means 
for the preservation of the species. As to the conditions which might 
affect the acquisition of wings we can do little more than speculate, but 
it seems proper to call attention to the possible elements that may fur- 
nish a solution. 

The day before the first swarming of Schizoneura (14th) had been 
very warm in the middle of the day, with a heavy shower in the latter 
part of the afternoon, followed by a steady rain in the fore part of the 
night, and this by a sharp fall in temperature, so that the morning of 
the 15th was clear and cold (possibly a slight frost). The day remained 
cold, but was bright and sunny, and the swarming observed occurred in 
the latter part of the afternoon. Some other aphids were observed on 
the wing, but very few as compared with the swarms of cornt. 8S. corni 
was seen in the air on subsequent days, but comparatively scarce till, 
again two weeks later (29th), after a very similar condition of weather 
(warm, with rain, followed by cold), when another swarming occurred. 
Now, it may be that those individuals, which are at a certain stage when 
such conditions occur, are enabled to acquire wings while those less fully 
developed remain without the full expansion of these appendages. 

In comparing the two forms infesting grass roots and dogwood, re- 
spectively, I have studied great numbers of wingless individuals, 


winged forms and apterous males and females, and have come to the 


conclusion that they must all belong to the same species. It will, how- 
ever, be in place, I think, to place in position for comparison the differ- 
ent descriptions which have been given of the species to show that, 
notwithstanding the terms used by different authors, and their wide 
separation in time and place, there is no real discrepancy inthem. The 
original description by Fabricius is very short and general, and is as 
follows (Ent. Syst., IV, p. 214, No. 19): 
Corni. A. Corni sanguinee. 

Habitat in Corni sanguine foliis. 

Corpus nigrum abdomine basi et subtus virescente. Pedes nigri. Anus absque stylo 


et corniculis. 
Juniores pallidi macula magna, dorsali, nigra. sd 


PWS oe es, Ten Oe eS 


OT 


Passerini, in Gli Afidi e describes the root form as follows : 


Schizoneura venusta, m. 

Femina vivipara aptera ovata-convexa, pallide viridis, vel interdum rubella; eapite, 
fasciis dorsalibus anticis tribus, macula discoidali quadrata, fasciis posticis duabus, 
punctisque marginalibus nigris. Rostrum crura media attingens. Long., 1”. 

Femina vivipara alata capite et thorace nigris. Abdomen viridi luteolum vel ru- 
bellum, vittis transversis anticis duabus, macula discoidali subrotunda, fasciis dua- 
bus posticis, punctisque marginalibus nigris. Nectaria tuberculiformia, nigra. Ale 
hyaline, venis stigmateque nigris. Long., 2’, 1/”. 

Nympha lutea, capite et thorace pulverulentis. 

Turmatim in radicibus Setariz viridis, S. glauce, S. italice, Panici glabri, Eragros- 
tidis megastachy:e et Ceratochloz australis. Autumno. 

Valde similis Schizoneure corni, que autem diversa dorso omnino nigre in apteris, 
et abdomine basi et apice tantum albido in alatis. 


Thomas gives a translation in his work on Aphid, which reads: 


Schizoneura venusta Pass. 

Wingless female.-—Ovate convex, pale green, and sometimes reddish; head, three 
anterior dorsal fasciz, a quadrate discoidal spot, two posterior fasciz and marginal 
points, black. Rostrum extending about to the middle legs. Length (of body), 1™™, 

Winged female.—Head and thorax black. Abdomen, greenish-red or yellowish; two. 
anterior fasciz, a subrotund discoidal spot and marginal points, black. Nectaries 
tuberculiform and black. Length, ? to 1™™. 

Pupa, yellowish, head and thorax pulverulent. Found on roots of Setaria viridis, 
S. glauca, S. italica, Panicum glabrum, Eragrostis megastachya and Ceratochloa aus- 
tralis in autumn. 


This translation is incomplete and imperfect, especially in the dimen- 
sions, which are given as millimeters instead of lines (twelfths of an 
inch), which would lead one to suppose them about half the actual size. 
So far as I can see, Passerini’s original description is entirely appli- 
cable to the specimens obtained from roots of grasses here as well as to 
fresh specimens of corni on Cornus leaves. 

Walsh published the following descriptions (in 1862) in the Proceed- 
ings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia, Vol. I, p. 304. 


Eriosoma? fungicola n. sp. 

From recent specimens. Body black, with a plumb-like bloom ; basal half of abdo- 
men and whole of venter yellow. Antennae and legs black. Wings hyaline with a 
dusky tinge; veins dusky, black on the basal half of the costa; third discoidal hya- 
line nearly to its fork, stigma palish brown. Numerous individuals unaccompanied by 
larve, occurred on a large moist fungus a hundred yards from the nearest trees, 
which were all oaks. Beat solitary individuals unaccompanied by larve or woolly 
matter, on two separate occasions from oaks, which, when dried, differ only from the 
dried specimen of those found on fungus by the metathorax being varied with pale 
greenish, as well as the base of the abdomen. Length to tip of wings .12to.15 inch. 

The antenne do not quite attain the base of the first discoidal when the wings are 
expanded, and the stigma is rather more than twice as long as wide. Six speci- 
mensinall. £. querci Fitch is larger (.16 inch) and is entirely black. Differs also 
irom the other described United States species. 

Eriosoma? cornicola, nu. sp. 

Differs from the preceding only in the body being entirely black. Numerous indi- 
viduals, unaccompanied by any flocculent matter, and so far as I recollect by larve, 
occurred in September on the lower side of the leaves of the Red osier dogwood. 
Ten specimens. 


38 


Dr. Thomas, in repeating these descriptions in the “Aphididz” (8th Re- 
port State Entomologist of Illinois, pp. 141, 142), separates the two by 
Schizoneura carye Fitch, so that ‘‘ Differs from preceding only,” ete., re- 
fers to carye and not to fungicola. This circumstance is liable to mis- 
lead, unless Walsh’s original descriptions are at hand for reference, and 
may account for the uncertainties that have been stated in efforts to 
determine Walsh’s cornicola found on Cornus. 

Considering that fungicola was on a fungus, a plant never known to 
support Aphides, and that the difference noted by Walsh is such as 
results from greater maturity of specimens that have located on Cornus, 
and further, that fungicola agrees perfectly with both descriptions of 
corni and with fresh individuals found on Cornus leaves, it Seems pretty 
certain that these two descriptions refer to one and the same species. 

Thomas’ description of S. panicola, published in 1879 (8th Report, 
State Entom., [llinois, p. 138), is as follows, and is said to have been 
written from recent alcoholic specimens : 


Winged female.—The front wings with the third discoidal veins once forked; third 
vein obsolete at base; first and second veins arising very near each other; stigma 
short, rounded behind; fourth vein nearly straight; costal bent outward to the base, 
leaving arather wide space between it and the subcostal; antenne short, reaching 
about to the base of the fore wing; slightly hairy; third joint rather longer than the 
fourth and fifth united; sixth slightly longer than the fifth, with a very short, in- 
distinct, blunt spur at the tip; beak rather long, reaching nearly to the hind coxe, 
slightly hairy ; eyes present and of the usual size or nearly so. 

Wingless female.—(Probably not fully developed.) Very broadly ovate and very 
convex, being suborbicular; antenne, reaching about to the end of the thorax, rather 
thick and heavy and not tapering to apical joints, if any difference rather thicker 
than the middle ones; third joint longest but not quite equal to the fourth and fifth 
united; fifth rather longer than the fourth, gibbous on one side at the tip; sixth 
nearly as long as the third; beak, long, reaching fully to the hind coxe ; color of the 
alcoholic specimens, reddish-yellow ; eyes minute and black. 

Found on the roots of Panicum glabrum and other grasses by H. [Th.?] Pergande 
at St. Louis, Mo., in November. 

The difference in the length of the beak will certainly distinguish this from Tychea 
panici, even supposing the antennz in the latter to be undeveloped. 


Mr. O. W. Oestlund,in Synopsis of the Aphidide of Minnesota (Bull. 
No. 4, Geol. and Nat. Hist. Surv. of Minn.) describes both corni and 
panicola, and their identity could not be more strikingly indicated. 


S. corni. 

Head and thorax black; abdomen reddish-black, with a large patch of velvety 
black covering all of the dorsum except three and some of the last segments. An- 
tenne reaching to the end of thorax; not annulated, hairy, with a single row of cir- 
cular sensoria on the under side, about six to the third joint, three to the fourth, two 
to the fifth, and one at the contraction of the sixth; III, 0.30™™; IV, 0.12™™; V,0.10™™; 
VI, 0.15™™, with the short unguis. Beak reaching third coxa. Wings hyaline, with 
slender veins; cubital obsolete at base; stigma broad and short, smoky. Honey 
tubes a circular opening almost on a level with the abdomen. Expanse of wings, 
6-7™mm, 

S. panicola. 

Head and thorax dusky or black; abdomen pale greenish with some black mark- 

ing above, on the last segment at least. Antenne reaching to the end of the thorax, 


39 


hairy, third joint the longest, the following subequal; sensoria rather indistinct, 
three or four to the third joint, and usually one or two to each of the following. 
Beak reaching abdomen. Honey tubes as circular openings on level of surface of 
abdomen, but rather conspicuous from being bordered with a ring of black. Wings 
hyaline with slender but distinct veins. Fore wings with the cubital obsolete for 
some distance at base; stigma short and broad ; stigmal vein but slightly curved near 
the base, straight. Expanse of wings, about 5™™, 


Careful descriptions of the different forms on Cornus are given by Mr. 
Clarence M. Weed (Psyche, V, p. 129), the species being referred doube- 
fully to cornicola Walsh. 


Winged viviparous female (pseudogyna pupifera).—Expanse of wings, 6™™; length 
of body, 2™™; width of body, .80™™; length of antenne, .90™™. 

Black above, except anterior and lateral margins of abdomen, and in many speci- 
mens more or less of posterior portion. Beneath black, except prothorax and abdo- 
men (save a black patch in front of anus), which are dull whitish-brown. Rostrum 
black, except a more or less distinct lighter patch near base, hairy, reaching posterior 
cox. Legs robust, black, except a short brownish space at base of anterior femora; 
thickly provided with brown hairs. Antenne robust, beset with brown hairs. Joints 
I and IJ, short, smooth; III, long, with row of tubercles on its cuter ventro-lateral 
surface; IV and V subequal, with tubercles as on III; VI, a little longer than V, ex- 
cavated on its outer lateral surface about two-thirds distance from base. Wing veins 
mostly brown. Stigma brownish, with interior portion darker. 

Described from many specimens taken October 24, 1887, on leaves of Cornus sangui- 
nea and C. sericea, where for some time previous they had been very numerous, 
founding sexed colonies. Usually occurring on the under surface. 

Apterous male.—Width of body, 0.50™™ ; length of body, 0.89™™; length of anten- 
meas (azn 

Body and members brownish or brownish-black, with numerous brown hairs. 
Eyes black. Body flattened, long and narrow, with nearly parallel sides. Antenne 
half as long as body. Joint I, short, swollen; II, small; III,longest; IV and V, 
subequal; the latter excavated on its apical lateral surface. Legs long, robust, 
same color as body. Rostrum robust, reaching anterior margin of posterior cox. 

Described from several living specimens (part taken in copula) from Cornas sericea, 
collected October 24, 1887. 

Oviparous female.—Width of body, 0.50™™; length of body, 1.14™™; length of an- 
tenne, 0.35™™. 

Green, or greenish-brown, slightly darker anteriorly. Shape, elongate oval; sparsely 
clothed with brown hairs. Eyes blackish. Antenne green, slightly darker apically ; 
joint ITI longest, V slightly swollen in middle. Rostrum robust, green, darker at tip, 
reaching anterior margin of posterior cox. Legs unicolorous with body, dusky 
apically. 

£gg.—Elongate oval, 0.56™™ long, 0.20™™ wide. 

Green at first, becoming black by exposure. Deposited on bark, in and about the 
axils of buds and small branches. 

Described from many specimens on Cornus sericea, October 24, 1887. 


These descriptions are so full that I deem it unnecessary to draw up 
another. I may mention, however, that the apterous males usually 
have what I should call a purplish tint with the brownish color when 
alive, due, perhaps, entirely to the delicate bloom covering them. 

The most distinctive character of corni is perhaps the hairy antennz 
and the six or seven circular sensoria on underside of the third antennal 
joint. The number of these sensoria varies slightly, but in the form I 


A() 


reared from grass roots and allowed to colonize on Cornus leaf there are 
the full number common to cornt and show distinctly. Mr. Oestiund’s 
statement that they are indistinct and but three or four in number 
might, I think, apply to an extreme variation or to specimens fresh from 
the ground. The dark spot on the dorsum of the abdomen is not only 
variable in size but differs much in appearance with the age of the speci- 
men and in dead or preserved specimens. While I am free to admit 
some puzzling questions, | am strongly convinced of the main point here 
claimed. There is certainly much more of interest to be learned re- 
garding the species. I feel that only a beginning has been made, and 
shall watch eagerly for further developments. As the Aphides are so 
uncertain in their appearances and can not be depended upon to fur- 
nish material in abundance in every locality, it will add to the certainty 
. of completing the history of this species if entomologists in various 
localities will make such observations as possible the coming season. 
If my conclusions are correct the synonomy for this species will read 

as follows: 

(1794) Aphis corni Fabricius, Ent. Syst., IV, 214. 

(1860) Schizoneura venusta Passerini, Gli Afidi, p. 38. 

(1862) Eriosoma? fungicola Walsh, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phila., I, 304. 


(1862) Eriosoma? cornicola Walsh, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phila., I, 304. 
(1879) Schizoneura panicola Thos., 8th Rep. Ill. Ent., p. 138. 


SUMMARY. 


Schizoneure abundant on grass roots and assuming winged form in 
latter part of September (15-28) and on several days during this time the 
air was filled with like insects, and immediately following these flights 
apparently identical Aphides were colonizing on leaves of dogwood, 
which had hitherto been free from them. 

Schizoneura (winged pseudogyne) reared from grass roots and trans- 
ferred to leaves of Cornus established colonies apparently identical with 
those occurring normally on Cornus. 

Schizoneura (apterous individuals) in some number remain on grass 
roots and are associated with apterous males and females, the females 
of which are oviparous. 

Individuals of these different forms agree with each other and with 
descriptions of both corni and panicola and differences do not exceed 
the range of variation common to species of Aphidide. 


CONCLUSION. 


Taking all these facts into consideration, I believe that the species of 
Schizoneura infesting grass roots and dogwood leaves and described as 
distinct species are identical. 

That the winged generation of asexual individuals produced from 
erass roots in autumn migrate to leaves of dogwood of different species — 
and establish colonies of apterous individuals, which become sexually 
mature and the females of which deposit eggs on dogwood. 


Al 


‘That the number of broods produced on Cornus in spring (which 
must now be inferred) and the time of return migration to grass are yet 
to be determined. 

That in addition to the migratory winged autumn brood there appears 
to exist under certain conditions an apterous form which produces a 
brood of sexual individuals on grass roots the females of which deposit 
eggs the fate of which is unknown. 


HETEROPTERA INFESTING GRASS. 


' Tue CHINCH BuG. 


(Blissus leucopterus Say.) 


The Chinch Bug is too well known as a grass and grain pest to need 
any special mention in this connection. It may be noted, however, that 
it prefers the annual grasses rather than perennials, and were it con- 
fined to the noxious Foxtails (Setaria) we might have no reason to 
complain, but its fondness for Hungarian grass is too conspicuous to 
pass over. It does not appear to multiply as rapidly in sod land, though 
I have found it in Blue-grass where this alone could furnish it food. 


THE LONG Bue. 


(Ischnodemus falicus Say.) 


Were it not for its elongated form this species could be most easily 
mistaken for the Chinch Bug, for, excepting this peculiarity, it comes 
nearer in appearance to the Chinch Bug than any of the numerous 
species which have been confused with that noted pest. 

Hitherto I believe it has not been classed among insects of economic 
importance. It is, however, quite evidently increasing in numbers in 
this region and should, I think, be mentioned, at least, in this connec- 
tion. That itis a grass-feeding insect is evidenced by its abundance in — 
all stages in grass land where other plants are scarce or wanting, and 
would be expected of an insect so closely related to the Chinch Bug: [. 
‘have found it more common in rather iow ground, and especially in the 
wild grasses between upland and bottom-land, or along the borders of 
sloughs or small streams. 

While only a fall brood of larve, developing in July and August and 
maturing in September, have as yet been observed, it is probable that, 
as with the Chinch-Bug, there are two broods each year, adults of the 
second hibernating and depositing eggs in the spring. 

If multiplying, so as to become a serious pest, I know of no remedies 
to suggest further than those applicable to Chinch Bugs, and probably 
the most efficient one would be that of burning dead grass and rubbish 
in the fall. 

There are several other species of the Heteropterous Hemiptera, nota- 
bly certain Oapside such as Miris affinis and related species, and several 
species of Zygus, which I suspect will be added to our list of grass pests, 
bnt I have as yet made no careful study of their habits. 


REPORT OF OBSERVATIONS UPON INSECTS AFFECTING 
GRAINS. 


By F. M. WEBSTER, Special Agent. 


LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 


LA FAYETTE, IND., Decemder 14, 1889. 


Str: I herewith transmit my annual report of observations on insects affecting 
cereal grains, made under your direction, during the current year. A more elaborate 
report, treating of the destructive grain insects of the United States, to be prepared 
jointly with yourself, is nearing completion, and the present report is submitted now, 
in order to avoid the necessity of including details in the more important work to 
follow. As usual, Iam under many obligations for the determination of specimens 
and numberless other courtesies. 


Respecttully_ submitted. 
F. M. WEBSTER. 


Prot] C. V. SIL, 
U. S. Entomologist. 


THE WHEAT STRAW WORM. 
(Isosoma tritici Riley.) 


These insects have not been observed by me in any great numbers 
since they were last treated in my reports, and the species is only men- 
tioned in order to record the occurrence of a female of the wingless 
spring form, on the 18th of July, in a field of wheat. 


THE WHEAT STEM MAGGOT. 


(Meromyza americana Fitch.) 


Since the establishment of the fact of a summer brood originating 
during the month of August, and largely, it is supposed, in volunteer 
wheat, considerable emphasis has been placed upon the destruction of 
this Ulegitimate growth of grain. There has, however, been pretty 
good cause for believing that the insect developed also in other plants, 
and this season we have reared the adult from Blue grass, Poa pratensis, 
during the latter part of August. 

Since the discovery of the species there has been nothing placed on 
record relative to its discrimination between varieties of wheat, or 

42 


43 


whether these insects really possessed any such instinets, the inference 
-having been that one variety was as acceptable to them as another. 
Bearing upon this point I have obtained some interesting information, 
which, though by far too slender a thread on which to hang a positive 
assertion, yet forms sufficient grounds for a suspicion that the species 
may possess some exceedingly fine instincts regarding plant tissue. 

In the month of September, 1888, a field of oat stubble on the exper- 
iment farm was subdivided, two plats each several acres in extent being 
sown, the one to velvet chaff and the other to Michigan Amber wheat. 
Between the two was a narrow strip comprising a mixture of both 
varieties. From the beginning of preparation of the ground to the end 
of harvest this year all conditions excepting seed were exactly the same. 

The attacks of these larve were quite severe during June, and on the 
14th of this month an examination of the plats above mentioned devel- 
oped the fact that in the velvet chaff the destroyed heads outnumbered 
those in the Michigan Amber in the proportion of about four to one. 
Furthermore, the narrow strip of mixed grain intervening showed very 
much the same feature. I confess that I am unable to detect any rea- 
son for this difference in the severity of the attack other than in the 
nature of the straw ; that of the velvet chaff being under ordinary con- 
ditions a few days earlier in maturing, yet it is known among farmers 
as possessing a softer straw than the Michigan Amber, which fact pre- 
Supposes the tissue of the stem immediately above the upper joint to 
be to a corresponding degree more tender and juicy at the time of ovi- 
position by the females. 


THE WESTERN STRIPED CUTWORM. 
(Agrotis herilis Grote. ) 


The present year has been conspicuous for the severity of cutworm 
attacks, especially in corn-fields, the most abundant and pernicious 
Species thus engaged being the one under consideration. Ordinarily 
we look for these dusky, semi-subterranean destroyers in fields of re- 
cently broken grass lands, but this season their ravages were not to be 
limited by any such proscribed bounds, and old lands suffered with the 
new. 

On the 28th of May I visited a field of corn a few miles out of the city 
of La Fayette, which had been nearly ruined by cutworms, notwith- 
standing the present was the seventh consecutive crop of corn which 
had been planted on this ground. In fact, so abundant were the pests, 
that from amass of dried weeds and earth, covering a couple of square 
feet, and which had been left by the plows, I took 36 individuals, and 
a clod a few inches away concealed 5 more; the whole number evi- 
dently belonging to the same species. 

The only apparent cause for this congregating in corn-tields, and in 
this one in particular, is that during the ovipositing season last sum- 


44. 


mer the grass lands in this section were withering and drying up under 
a terrible drought. This corn-field had been poorly cultivated and the 
lower portions grew up to grass and weeds, thereby forming a more 
desirable locality for the females to lay their eggs. In other words, the 
drought of August and September of 1888 drove the moths to the corn- 
fields to oviposit, and the abundance of worms this year is the result. 

The thirty-six cutworms collected on May 28 were taken home and 
immediately placed in a breeding cage, being fed upon clover during 
the few days they remained above ground. The first moth appeared 
on August 23, followed by others up to the 26th, when a medium-sized 
Anthrax was also observed in the cage. As nothing could be found in 
the literature at hand to indicate that any of the Bombyliide had ever 
been reared from lepidopterous larve, in this country, its occurrence 
was supposed to be accidental, the larva having been in some way 
taken up with the earth in thecage. It was followed, however, on Sep- 
tember 1 by a second adult, and two more appeared on the 4th, others 
appearing up to the 9th, when all doubts as to the host of these flies 
were removed by two adults issuing from a couple of chrysalids laying 
on the surface of the soil, the Anthrax leaving their empty pupa cases 
protruding half way out from the chrysalids of the Agrotis. The flies 
may be roughly described as from 10 to 13™™ in length, black, densely 
covered with fine silky hairs, those on prescutum and episternum of 
mesothorax, basal half of abdomen, and tuft on posterior margin of 
penultimate segment being silvery white, changing to yellowish, espe- 
cially on the shoulders. 

The same species was frequently observed, near the middle of Sep- 
tember, hovering about over the surface of the ground under trees 
recently denuded of their foliage by. the larve of Datana ministra, 
thereby conveying the impression that they might be parasitic upon 
that species also. 

As nothing whatever is known of the time and method of oviposition 
of the Bombyliide, it will only be safe to say that the eggs were depos- 
ited either on or about the bodies of these cutworms prior to the 28th of 
May. 

In a most excellent paper by Dr. Riley, in the Second Report U.S. 
Entomological Commission, pp. 262-269, larvee of an allied species is 
mentioned as infesting the egg-pods of Caloptenus spretus, being found 
of different sizes during most of the year. From rearing this species, 
Systechus oreas, O. S., Dr. Riley concludes that, ‘ as a rule, but one year 
is required for fuli development; ” but there is great irregularity and a 
tendency to retardation of such development. 

Should the species under consideration be of similar habits, the eggs 
would, as a matter of necessity, have been deposited last fall, the larvee 
wintering over in the bodies of these cutworms, which are not usually 
over half grown at the beginning of winter. If this be true it is 
certainly an interesting feature of parasitism. 


45 - 


THE ARMY WORM. 
(Leucania unipuncta Haw.) 


With the rapidly increasing area of low, wet lands, which are being 
under-drained aud brought into cultivation, the natural haunts of this 
species becomes more and more encroached upon. What the ultimate 
effect of this change of natural conditions will amount to in the future, and 
whether or not it will have a tendency to scatter the spring brood: of 
moths in their selection of places of oviposition, only future years will 
auswer. In accordance with the characteristic partiality of the species 
for low, damp localities, the outbreaks in Indiana this year have been 
restricted to the lower laying and flatter portions of the State, where a 
very considerable part of the land remains undrained, except by open 
ditches. While this state of affairs has been going on, the fact that dry 
seasons are favorable to the increase of the species has been amply 
demonstrated. The last two summers have been unusually dry, and 
the spring of the present year, up to May 30, was exceedingly dry, mak- 
ing three consecutive years of drought, during all of which this pest has 
appeared in various portions of the State, the maximum injury being 
caused the present summer. During this period, also, we have had wet 
Springs and dry summers and dry springs and wet summers, proving 
conclusively that wet weather has little if any direct influence upon the 
increase or decrease of numbers. In short, it is difficult to resist the 
suspicion that this ebb and flow, so to speak, may be due more to the 
fluctuation of natural enemies than to the direct influence of meteoro- 
logical conditions, severe droughts excepted. 

In the vicinity of Princeton, Ind., where considerable damage was 
done last year, there occurred this season only one weak, aborted out- 
break, in a small field of rank growing timothy grass. A slight attack 
three years ago on the borders vf a large tract of swampy land in 
the vicinity of La Porte, Ind., was not followed by others, either last 
season or this, although this year similar and more ‘serious outbreaks 
occurred in that immediate section of the State, and within a few miles 
of the same locality. Such phenomena can not be wholly attributed to 
meteorological conditions, most certainly. The most efficient parasites 
of the army-worm are two species of Tachine, and we have reared both 
plentifully this season. The local effects of these parasites is probably 
more lasting than we are given to suppose. <A circumstance came under 
our observation recently where the attack of a similar species of Tachina 
on the larve of Datana ministra, infesting an isolated walnut tree, was 
such that the tree has been free of the caterpillars since 1885. If the ef- 
fects are equally lasting in the case of the army-worm it will be difficult 
to foretell their appearance in dangerous localities, even in seasons sup- 
posed to be most favorable. 

Again, the secret of the power of the army-worm to destroy is in their 
massing together in endless numbers. Were it not for this they would 


> 46 


not be more destructive than others of the group of cut-worms to which 
they belong. As stated in the beginning, the prevailing system of 
underdrainage has at present a tendency to emphasize this gregarious 
habit by restricting the area of wet grounds. 

Whether this will continue to be the case, or whether, after a time, 
the effect will be to break up the habit of massing into large swarms, 
and diffuse them into smaller and less destructive colonies, remains yet 
to be seen. 

The heaviest damage has this season, here in Indiana, fallen upon 
the rye crop, a state of affairs which has excited much comment among 
farmers. The reasons for this seemingly general selection of this 
crop, for depredation by the worms, are (1) on.account of its hardy na- 
ture, rye is often sown on these swampy or mucky lands, as it with- 
stands the weather there better than any other crop; and (2) by na- 
ture it is arank grower, and, therefore, a field in spring presents to the 
female moth all the requirements of a suitable locality to place her 
eggs, viz, Where her progeny will have an abundant supply of succu- 
lent food, in a damp place and shaded from the direct rays of the sun. 
In all fields of rye examined which have been ravaged by the army- 
worm, the latter were found to have originated in the fields themselves 
and had not migrated to them. Cases were not uncommon, however, 
where the worms originated in grass lands and from thence invaded 
fields of wheat and oats. 

The prospect of controlling the outbreaks of the army-worm in the 
future seems encouraging, provided the farmer is perfectly familiar 
with their habits. Much of the damage done might be prevented if 
decided measures were taken at the start. The trouble is that too 
often the farmer wastes the most precious time in waiting to see what 
the worms are going to do, and by the time he finds out they are beyond 
control. 

So far as I have been able to learn, where a neighborhood has turned 
out en masse, and taken decisive measures to destroy the worms, little 
injury has been done. These measures have consisted in ditching 
around the infested area and either flooding the ditch with water, or 
otherwise destroying what fell into it, and driving stock over the area 
inclosed by the ditches, whereby vast numbers of worms were crushed. 
From pupe obtained in Fulton County the following parasites were 
reared : Ichneumon brevicinctor Say, Nemorea leucanie and Drymeia 
sp?. Ophion purgatus Say, also a parasite on Leucania, was this year 
reared from pupa of Scoliopteryx libatriz. 


THE FALL ARMY-WORM. 
(Laphygma frugiperda Ab. and Sm.) 


In 1885 and again 1889, we found larve of this species feeding on the 
tassels and unfolding leaves of young volunteer corn, late in Septem- | 
ber, in the vicinity of La Fayette, Ind. In both cases we reared adult 


47 


moths from the larvee, the former appearing during late October. These 
breedings would seem to indicate that at least some of the fall brood 
may winter over in the adult stage. 


A NEW CUT-WORM. 
(Luperina (Hadena) stipata Morr.) 


On May 28, while searching for Sphenophorus in a field of corn 
planted on recently broken prairie sod, a depredator was found which 
both in itself and method of work was new to me. Though the young 
corn was at the time several inches high, many of the plants were with- 
ering and dying, but aside from this neither the plant itself nor the 
earth about it gave the least indication of the presence or nature of the 
destroyer. Digging down in the earth about the hills, one or more of 
the shoots would be found wholly or partly eaten off, either near or a 
short distance above the seed, and in a single instance the seed kernel 
itself was observed being eaten. The method of attack appeared to be 
to first eat into the tender stem and then to burrow upward, after the 
manner of Gortyna nitela, above ground, and as soon as one plant was 
consumed another was attacked, without the worm coming to the sur- 
face. The larve were rather slender, from half to three-fourths of an 
inch long, quite active and in general coloration somewhat resembling 
the larve of Orambus zeellus, but being more robust, spinning no web 
and living wholly under ground. lLarve taken from the field June 8, 
continued feeding in confinement until early in July, and the moths 
appeared in the breeding cage about the 25th of the same month. On 
account of being absent from home much of the time between the mid- 
dle of June and 20th of July, it was impossible for me to get exact 
dates. | 

My own collections of larve were from recently broken prairie sod 
only, none being found in timothy or blue-grass sod adjoining. Farmers 
in the vicinity of this field state, however, that the worm does work in 
timothy sod, and serious damage in a fall-plowed field was attributed 
to their work. | 

Under date of June 15, Mr. J.C. Besom, of Anderson, Madison County, 
Ind., wrote me that a kind of Cut-worm had appeared in his fields 
which he had never observed before. They began working on clover 
sod, about May 10, and destroyed the first planting of corn, and were 
at the date of writing making way with the second planting, working 
underground and eating the plants from the roots upward to the sur- 
face of the ground. 

The larve are whitish, striped on the back with brown, head and 
cervical shield yellowish. Their general form is more slender and longer 
than that of ordinary cut-worms, being nearer that of Gortyna. 


48 


(Crambus zeellus etal.) 


While natural enemies of the larve of various species of Crambus 
have been recorded, those attacking the adult moths are, so far as pub- 
lished record goes, rather limited in point of numbers. . 

One of the probable enemies of our corn destroying Crambus is a 
Neuropter, a Bittacus near stigmaterus. During August Mr. W. O. 
Pritz brought me an example which he had observed to attack a female 
moth, chasing her about, finally worrying her down and killing her. The 
remains of the moth when brought to me were too much mutilated to 
determine. 

Mr. J. N. Latta, of Haw Patch, Ind., tells me that the moths of 
Crambus laquealellus, which I observed in abundance in his yard, were 
destroyed in great numbers by the Wood Pewee, Contopus virens L. 


THE WHITE GRUB. 
(Lachnosterna spp. ?) 


The present season has been marked by the most serious depreda- 
tions of these pests that has occurred for many years. Pastures, mead- 
ows, and corn-fields have suffered in some instances to the extent of 75 
per cent. of the crop. Fields this season devoted to corn, but for thirty 
years previous under cultivation, continuously producing some one of 
the cereal grains, have been very seriously damaged, large areas of the 
corn withering and dying in the hill during August and September, 
from five to twenty grubs being found in and about a single hill. As 
early as May 13, at the Experiment Station, they were destroying 
young barley growing on a plot of ground which had produced a crop 
of this grain for the six preceding years. Adjoining this plot of bar- 
ley was another which had been devoted to oats during the same pe- 
riod, but which was only slightly attacked. A precisely similar plot of 
buckwheat, which had produced the same crop for the same period, 
was found also invaded, and on July 24 the grubs were found in the 
act of cutting off the plants, now several inches in height. 

A number of experiments were made with various substances with a 
view of determining the possibility of destroying the grubs without in- 
jury to the plant infested. Corn was the plant used in these experi- 
ments, being at the time the most convenient to obtain; the substances 
used, however, had they been ever so effective, could hardly be applied 
with practical advantage by the extensive farmer. 

Experiment No, 1.—Placed a grub about the roots of a single plant on 
May 14; two days later, applied a sufficient amount of air-slaked lime 
to the surface of the ground to cover very lightly, watering thoroughly. 

Result, May 22, plant killed but the grub uninjured. 

Experiment No. 2.— Placed grub about roots of plant May 14; two days: 
later applied table salt in solution at rate of 235 pounds per acre. 


49 


Result, five days later, plant and grub alike uninjured. A second 
application killed the plant but not the grub. 

EHaxperiment No. 3.—Placed grub about root of plant May 14; two days 
later applied fresh unleached ashes to surface of ground in sufficient 
quantity to cover lightly. 

Result, five days after, plant and grub alike uninjured. 

Experiment No. 4.—Single grub placed about roots of plant May 14; 
two days later applied 4 ounces gas-tar water. 

Result, next day, plant killed; grub uninjured. 

Huperiment No. 5.—Single grub placed about roots of plant May 14; 
two daysafter earth about roots thoroughly saturated with tobacco water. 

Result, five days after, plant and grub alike uninjured. 

Heperiment No. 6.—Single grub placed about roots of plant May 14; 
two days later applied 1 drachm Diamond soluble bone* in solution. 

Result, six days later, plant and grub unaffected by application ; 
grub eating off the roots. “5 

Haperiment No. 7.—Grub placed about roots of plant May 14; two 
days later 4 ounce carbon bisulphide poured in hole made in earth near 
roots and immediately refilled with earth. 

Result, second day after, plant and grub both dead. 

Hxperiment No. 8.—Single grub placed about roots of plant May 14; 
two days after thoroughly saturated the soil with ammonial water of 
1.025 specific gravity, 2.68 per cent. ammonia reduced 75 per cent. 

Result, three days after, piant killed but the grub was alive and active. 

Hxperiment No. 9.*—One grub placed about roots of plant May 22 
and one drachm of phosphate salt applied in solution to the soil about 
roots. On 23d, corn was being destroyed by the grub and the next day 
the plant was wholly eaten off while his grubship appeared uninjured. 

Haperiment No. 10.t—Single grub placed about roots of plant and one 
drachm of fertilizing salt applied in solution to soil about roots. 

Result, two days later, plant withering, grub allright but had not fed 
from plant which soon died. 

Haperiment No. 11.—Grub placed about roots of plant May 22; soil 
at once saturated with solution of powdered Pyrethrum and water ; 
1 ounce of powder to gallon of water. 

Result, two days later, neither plant nor grub injured. 

Experiment No. 12.—Grub placed about roots of plant May 22; next 
day the soil about the roots was drenched with decoction of Burdock 
leaves. 


* Analysis: Per cent. 
eet Lee MOS PHONIC ACU setae ce cae ci acce cece ceanctse e+ casess acs es 13 to 15 
PHCOMMM EsMHOSpMOLIG ACI on noe ese. Gacy ese c cso san ae seosee tees lto 3 
otal sess cs 5 SOG ee ESS BOSE Oe tet A eae srt gs = At ea Eee 15 to 17 
Eaareritiacti eee ae ee ere tke a en 2) Hi bOek 


t The phosphate salt and fertilizing salt used in experiments 9, 10, and 14, were sent 
to the Indiana experiment station by the manufacturer, E. S. Fitch, Bay City, Mich., 


23479—No, 22——4 


50 


g 

Result, two days later, plant untouched ; grub active, but seemingly 
unaffected by application. 

Haperiment No, 13.—October 6, earth in field in the vicinity of wheat 
plants being destroyed by white grub, thoroughly drenched with decoc- 
tion of Burdock leaves. 

Result of examination on October 14: The grub was found a short 
distance from the plants uninjured, it having evidently destroyed several 
after application of liquid. 

Experiment No. 14.—October 3, earth about wheat plants, being de- 
stroyed in field by white grub, thickly covered with fertilizing salt and 
drenched with water. 

Result of examination October 14 exactly as in the preceding, except 
that the grub was at a greater distance from plants. 

Up to the present time, no Dipterous parasite has been recorded as 
preying upon white grubs, as the subterranean habits of the pest con- 
tributes to its protection in this respect. There is, however, pretty 
good evidence that there is at least one species of fly which exists to 
some extent in holding these grubs in check. On September 21, while 


who advertises both as not only being excellent fertilizers, but also very destruc- 
tive to insect life, especially chinch-bugs and cut-worms. 
The following analyses were kindly made for me by Prof. Henry A. Huston, chemist 
of Indiana experiment station: 
I. Phosphate salt. 
A. Qualitative analysis. 


Bases present: Acids present: 
Calcium, Hydrochloric, 
Sodium, Sulphuric, 

Iron, trace, Carbonic, 
Aluminium, trace, Silicic, trace, 
Magnesium, trace, Phosphoric, trace. 


Organic matter, trace. 
Principal constituents: Common salt, gypsum, carbonate of lime. 
B. Per cent. phosphoric acid present, .03. 
II. Fertilizing salt. 
A. Qualitative analysis. 


Bases present: Acids present: 
Sodium, Hydrochlorie, 
Calcium, trace, Sulphuric, trace, 
Organic matter, trace, Silicic, trace. 


Phosphoric, slight trace. 
Chief constituent: Common salt. 
B. Quantitative analysis. 


Per cent. 

Salt'(NaGl) o.2cc2 Ae sce es See ee ia See etre ote oye re 97.70 
Gy psume(Caso)seesee eee ese eee eis Sale: Newlesto ete eit Ie See meieas . 44 
Insolublesmatber:¢ ss5 sas Seater esse oes Sener tes tee en . 47 
Moisture (22 seo 72 o.oo 2) siac ota el neiesics ale a, sels tote erat tere eet ate re ne ee 1. 09 
Solublevorganicmattersvand) lossieerremis asst sine See ete eee eee 30 
DO teal eke BE chil Si no pea NY ne Halts Ea eee San 100. 00 


Samples drawn at experiment station from full sacks, special care being taken to 
insure fair samples. Neither of these samples contain an appreciable amount of 
phosphoric acid, potash, or nitrogen. 


51 


collecting material for experimentation, in a field seriously damaged by 
grubs, we found a hill of corn, which, though it contained none of the 
depredators, bore every evidence of having been destroyed by them, 
as other hills in a similar condition about it contained from 5 to 10 in- 
dividuals. Instead, however, a larva ofaspecies of Hrax, near bastard, 
was found. As the larve of Hrax are known to be carnivorous, we can 
only conclude that the one found had made way with the grubs, but 
not until after the latter had destroyed the corn. 

THE VARYING ANOMALA. 

(Anomala varians, Fabr.). 

The only record of this species, as a grain destroying insect occurs in 
the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 18384, p. 412, where 
Mr. Eugene F. Barns, of Marion, Marion County, Kans., reported the 
beetle as working serious damage to wheat in the field during the month 
of June, destroying 1,000 bushels for one farmer. 

These beetles occur generally over the State of Indiana, and we have 
frequently met them hovering on heads of wheat in the field, but never 
remarked any serious injury. In this State the adult insects are preyed 
upon by one of the Asilidw, Laphria tergissa Say, and we have several 
times caught these flies on wing with one of the beetles in their clutches, 
their beak puncturing the body of their victim. 


THE WHEAT WIRE-WORM. 
(Agriotes mancus, Say.) 


A number of experiments were made with a view of learning the 
effect of the applications of salt, as against the larvee of this species. 

The method employed was to place a number of kernels of corn in 
earthen pots, and transport larve from the fields, where they were en- 
gaged in destroying wheat, placing them among the corn in these pots, 
the salt being applied in different quantities to the surface of the ground. 

Hauperiment No. 1.—April 26, six kernels of corn, and two wire-worms 
nearly full grown, were placed together in a pot filled with earth, the 
latter being saturated with water from beneath. Common barrel salt 
was then applied to the surface of the soil, at the rate of 940 pounds 
to the acre. May 1, watered from above. 

Result, the pot was examined May 7, and both worms found unaf- 
fected, they having in the meantime eaten nearly all of the corn, the 
uninjured kernels failing to germinate. 

Haperrment No. 2.—This was made at the same time as No. 1, all con- 
ditions being the same, except that salt was applied at the rate of 470 
pounds per.acre. 3 

Result the same as in experiment No. 1. 

Hxperiment No. 3.—May 7, placed three of the larvz used in the pre- 
ceding experiments and one fresh from the field, with corn in pot of 
earth, saturating the latter from below, and covering surface with salt 
in the proportion of 24,500 pounds per acre. 


52 


Result five days later; the worms were alive and as active as they 
ever were.. Corn slightly eaten, but none showing any indication of 
growing, while kernels from same ear planted in unsalted: soil were 
sprouted. The corn used in all experiments was trom the same ear. 


Drasterius elegans Fab. 


The larva of this species has been mentioned in my previous reports 
as destroying other insects, and themselves injuring young corn. In 
the present instance they were found exceedingly abundant, on Novem-. 
ber 15, near New Castle, Ind., where they were evidently working seri, 
ous injury to a field of young wheat, sown in growing corn about Sep- 
tember 5. This field had produced three consecutive crops of wheat- 
then the present crop of corn, among which the young wheat was grow- 
ing. It was true the wheat was seriously infested by Hessian fly, and 
therefore the question may arise as to whether the worms were not de- 
stroying these; but the damage to the field was by far too great to 
have been done by the fly alone, and many of the plants had been eaten 
off below the ground. 

With this new revelation regarding their food habits, it seems prob- 
able that a part of the wire-worm injuries to wheat sown among corn 
may be due to this species, instead of the preceding. 


THE TWELVE-SPOTTED DIABROTICA. 
(Diabrotica 12-punctata.) 


The adults of this species have been observed in greater abundance 
than ever before. Gardens and fields have been literally overrun with 
them. The sexes were observed pairing as early as the 17th of April, 
thereby promising larve sufficiently early to attack young corn, even 
though pianted at the usual time. The list of food plants has this sea- 
son been observed to include the following, not previously reported : 

Wheat, cabbage, cauliflower, and beans; an adult was also observed 
feeding on volunteer oats December 14. 


THE SWAMP SPHENOPHORUS. 
(Sphenophorus ochreus Lec.) 

Few insects afford a better illustration of the fact that a comparatively 
harmless species may, by force of circumstances, suddenly become ex- 
tremely injurious. Known to the entomologist since 1858, and by no 
means a rare insect, 1ts habits unstudied because of its secluded haunts 
and valueless food plant, the species appears to have been overtaken by 
this progressive decade in agriculture. 

The swamp composing the field which formed the basis of the study 
of this insect was broken up some thirty years ago and two crops of 
corn raised on it without damage from insect attack, after which, by 
reason of being too wet, it was allowed to revert back to its original 
state. Fifteen years ago a second attempt was made to bring it into 
cultivation, and a single crop of corn raised from a portion of it, this 
time the insects being noticed, but doing no material injury. The land 


53 


was again allowed to go back to its primitive state, and remained thus 
until last season, when, after being drained, a portion was broken and the 
remainder brought into cultivation the spring of the present year, with 
the results here given. 

Other fields of swamp land, in the same neighborhood, have suffered 
in the same manner as this one, but there is at present no information 
of serious damage until within the last three or four years. 

The first published notice of the destructive habits of these insects is 
found in a brief notice which appeared in several agricultural papers 
during July, 1888, to the effect that Professor 
Forbes had found them to be very destructive 
to corn planted on recently drained swamp 
lands in Illinois, the adult feeding upon a spe- 
cies of rush (Scirpus) and a common reed (Phrag- 
mites), and when these were destroyed they 
transferred their attention to the young corn. 

On May 23, adult beetles were 
sent me by Mr. Quincy Earl, a far- 
mer residing near Dayton, Ind., a 
small village about 8 miles from 
La Fayette, with the statement 
that they were destroying his corn. 

The beetles were at once con- 
fined with corn plants growing in 
flower pots, the males proceeding 
to bury their snouts into the ten- Fic. 1.—Sphenophorus ochreus: a. larva; b, adult— 
der stems, near the surface of the Bee pay or geese) 
soil; but the females, to my utter astonishment, burrowed down into 
the earth, out of sight, and staid there. 

Stormy weather prevented my visiting the locality until June 2. The 
infested field comprised about 75 acres of recently drained swamp land, 
plowed the present spring, except a small portion which had been de- 
voted to corn the previous year, and the first and second planting de- 
stroyed by the beetles. On that_portion of the field plowed this spring 
the young corn was not yet up, but on that portion which had been cul- 
tivated last year and planted eaglier this year than the newer-p!owed 
portion, the young plants had been totally destroyed, the lack of their 
natural food having evidently driven the insects to this part of the field, 
as other fields in the vicinity had not suffered the second year after the 
ground was first broken, although the first crop had been destroyed. 
At the time of my visit the beetles were feeding on a species of rush, 
Scirpus atrovirens, Muhi., puncturing the stems just below the surface 
of the ground and eating out the tender, folded leaves. The sexes were 
pairing, but I could get no eggs. <A large number of adults of both 
sexes were taken home, as also were specimens of the Scirpus, including 
the roots, which are bulbous and exceedingly hard and compact. These 
plants were placed in flower-pots, and on each was placed a single pair 


AS 
of adults. The next day the males were engaged either in pairing or 
feeding upon the Scirpus, but the females, when not paired with the 
males, had burrowed down into the earth, out of sight. 

On a second visit to the infested field, June 11, but few females were 
to be found above ground. The young corn was coming up well, but 
being rapidly destroyed by the males and a few females, except where 

Scirpus was growing in sufficient abundance to provide an ample sup- 
ply of food. 

Absence from home, from the middle of June until the middle of July, 
not only interrupted my observations, but a press of other work pre- 
vented my visiting the field again until August 21, both plants and 
beetles in pots having in the mean time died. 

As aresult of this last visit I found two adults, one of which was feed- 
ing on a small dwarfed stalk of corn and the other on Scirpus atrovirens. 

An examination of the root of this reed re- 
vealed full-grown larve (Fig. 1, a) and fully 
developed adults still within the bulbs. Other 
bulbous roots of the same plant gave evi- 
dence that the adult had only recently quitted 
its birthplace. Hurrying home, my plants in 
the flower pots, long ago dead, dried up and, 
as I thought, worthless, were examined and 
in nearly every one was found a fully devel- 
oped adult, none of which had escaped from 
the bulbous roots wherein they had devel- 
oped. (Fig. 2.) 

Still another visit to this field on August 
30 confirmed all previous observations, and 
a single pupa was also found in a bulb of the 
Scirpus. 

From what is known of the habits of other 
species of this genus, coupled with the fact 
Fic. 2.—Work of Sphenophorus that fields of corn are not attacked by the 

ochreus in roots of Scirpus—nat-  Heetles after the first year following the 

Seen ahi coi breaking of the ground, it seems highly im- 
probable that there should be more than one annual brood. This being 
the case, its life history will likely be as follows: The insect hibernates 
in the adult stage, coming forth from its hiding places in spring, the 
females depositing their eggs during May and June in the roots of 
Scirpus. The larvee hatching from these develop to adults and emerge 
in about three months. 

From the vast differences existing between the plant in which the 
species breeds and that of the corn plant, the great improbability of 
the insect ever breeding in corn will at once be seen. The whole prob- 
lem of prevention seems to settle in the destruction of these reeds, 
root and stem, the season prior to devoting the ground to corn. The 
eggs are as a rule deposited in bulbs formed the preceding year, and 


i —_— 


55 


we have found healthy adults in bulbs after the latter had been thrown 
out by the plow and lain in the sun for over a month. We have also 
found them developing in bulbs in ground plowed in May and again 
in July, indicating that little or nothing can be accomplished by sum 
mer fallow. 

The most practical and probably the most effective method of destroy- 
ing the food plant of the pest is to sow rye or some other crop on the 
land the first season after breaking. 

THE CHINCH BUG. 
(Blissus leucopterus Say.) 

The history and distribution of the Chinch Bug in Indiana offers 
some problems not only very perplexing but exceedingly difficult to 
solve. In fact, we shall here make no attempt toward a solution, but 
rather to separate a few of the many complex elements which are 
thought to influence the distribution and numbers of the pest, and to 
some extent at least indicate how far they may be considered or per- 
haps eliminated entirely from any independent relation to the subject, 
thereby affording aid to the future investigator. 

It is well known that although Thomas Say, at the time he described 
the species, was residing at New Harmony, Indiana, nevertheless his 
description was drawn from a single specimen taken by himself on the 
Eastern Shore of Virginia, and so far as we know he may have died 
ignorant of its occurrence in his own or any of the adjoining States. 

Recently, Professor Forbes has collected some data showing that the 
Species was destructively abundant in Edwards County, Illinois, as 
early as 1828, and was also observed in Richland County in 1823. 

Strictly in accordance with the above, while that portion of Illinois 
lying adjacent to Indiana, separated only by the Wabash River, has 
suffered again and again through the ravages of the Chinch Bug, crops 
on the Indiana side have not often suffered from any extensive or wide- 
spread ravages of the pest. Not only this, but at the present time the 
worst infested portion of Indiana is composed of those counties whose 
western border is the Wabash River, which separates them from IIli- 
nois, and from whence the insect occurs in continually diminishing 
numbers northward and eastward until we reach the northern coun- 
ties of La Porte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, La Grange and Steuben, where its 
depredations are almost entirely unknown.* Indeed, during the years 
when they are the most numerous elsewhere, I have found them in these 
counties only with difficulty, and few of the farmers know what the 
insect is like. In almost exactly the same latitude in De Kalb County, 
Hlinois, within 60 miles of Lake Michigan, they have been a serious 
pest since 1855. 


* The only exception known to me was in Elkhart County, where they were re- 
ported to Mr. J. R. Dodge, Statistician of the Department of Agricuiture in 1887. 
(See Bull. 17, U. S. Dept. Agri., Div. Ent., p 9.) Mr. Dodge has very kindly looked 
up this matter, and writes me that these bugs were only reported from one locality in 
very limited numbers and did no appreciable damage.—F’. M. W. 


= 


56 


A line drawn from the northwestern corner of Indiana diagonally 
across the State to the Ohio line, at the southeast corner of Jay County, 
will divide from the remainder of the State nearly all of twenty-four 
counties over which the Chinch Bug is either unknown or occurs in too 
limited numbers to cause serious damage. These are the counties enu- 
merated in Tables A and B. As the numbers of counties from which I 
have information of serious and wide-spread damage does not amount 
to twenty-four, I have added others, in which we have observed con- 
siderable numbers of Chinch Bugs, and filled out the number with coun- 
ties situated in the infested district. These are enumerated in Tables 
Cand D. 


TABLE A.—Acreage of various grains produced in 1887 throughout the area over which 
Chinch Bugs do not occur in destructive numbers. 


Excess 
Total eiall 
Counties. Wheat. | Oats. Rye. | Barley. | small orn; 22ers 
grain over 
ete corn. 
| 

Adams .....- sopoowasoesesedas 26, 936 9, 142 255 35 36, 368 | 30, 257 + 6,111 
INWON Sacoud se0HouaeasnSobo05" 48, 362 25, 687 2, 065 i01 76, 215 42,004 | +34, 211 
Blackiordeeeeecscscsces Soa 12, 543 2, 544 196 | 41 15, 324 16,000 | — 676 
1s) Jil PS oSaoo bsSaao ouaDHoSGoE 30, 097 13, 390 211 | 157 43, 855 22,135 | +21, 720 
MIRHACE ace baadeees koe 44,896 | 15, 207 705 | 90} 60,898 | 35,145] +95, 753 
TNMNION sb ak shs500s6edsossce 29, 903 5, 684 380 35 36, 042 25,827 | +10, 185 
Granticsccst-cescecccisscsene: 42, 077 5, 455 347 147 48, 026 49, 225 — 1,199 
Huntinetoneees=-aseaeeee see 34, 888 10, 693 800 195 46, 576 38,145 | + 8,431 
Ua as eeacqnanoorsponcuoEsce.dée 29, 588 8, 766 275 | 145 | 38, 774 39,656 | — &82 
Kosciusko 22 hse 42,268 | 13,974 240 162 | 55,944| 40,065 | +415, 879 
la Gran Oesecte scenes se eoe se: 36, 903 9, 818 873 37 47, 631 28, 292 | +19, 339 
WGaAkGesan sees access eee aes 2, 808 26, 690 *1, 284 275 31, 057 30,637 | + 420 
AG ASE OTLO® case Sesion see ee eran 43, 904 15, 054 | 802 335 60, 095 39, 690 | +20, 405 
Niansh alee eee saconee snes 35, 062 10, 145 1, 244 186 47, 637 33, 238 | +14, 399 
CPENTIVL pe fe eves Rae Sakina 44,912 | 7. 919 139 168 | 52,438 | 42,301 | +10, 137 
INO DION sas sccc cess so isees seerse 38, 797 12, 345 120 44 51,306 29,452 | +21, 854 
ROLrteng cece ces ceee seeceiaea. se 15, 312 16, 365 1, 026 236 | 32, 939 21,042) +11, 897 
Pinas kel ges ons 0s oes eee 19, 267 7, 828 1, 570 394 | 29, 059 23,686) + 5,373 

lank tesseetsene cee ese 3, 591 2, 916 1, 657 298 | 8, 462 Use| a as 
Stciboni ce rhe ens 97,414 | -9, 253 219 310 | 37,196 | 22,200} 114,996 
SEosephreas researc racer 41, 525 11, 482 440 30 | 53,477 30,698 | +22, 779 
Wiabash ss 552 some ce eaeien'e 41, 109 8, 391 115 149 49, 764 45,638 | + 4,126 
Wrellsiet sass. esac eescet 32, 301 6, 196 572 54 | 39,123 39, 322 | — 199 
Whitley cst seccesoa ses ee sms 25, 633 9, 727 95 45 35, 500 24,753 | +10¢, 747 


TABLE B.—Acreage of various grains produced in 1888 throughout the area over which 
Chinch Bugs do not oscur in destructive numbers. 


INGUTROPAR eeee P  Re 23,130 | 16,818 | 249 | 51 | 40,248] 31,417] +8, 831 
Valiente ese et eee nen: ee se 50,469 | 27,228| 1,895 172 | 78,764| 43,775 | +34, 989 
Blroktond ¢eescee eee ees ae 11, 057 3, 280 253 140 | 14,730] 16,633} —1,903 
TD Syd Ey ae ee eee ne ie 98,145 | 14,249 138 169 | 42,701 | 25,474 | +17, 297 
TOVET Chas ocak eee ee wl 43,818 | 14,783 1, 013 78 | 59,692| 36,663] +23 029 
ial Conte ea ee 33, 976 6, 306 267 | 12| 40,561 | 29,795 | +10, 766 
Grantees om oe acs Se ced 38, 808 5, 593 316 | 201 | 44,918| 48,581| —3, 663 
Huntington 20... e ee: 32,639 | 10, 990 218 186] 44,033] 40,218 | +3, 815 
Maye sates Benes fae he 25, 433 9, 666 311 160 | 35,570 | 40,750] —5,180 
NeOscluSkOs © eee cs neat n oe. 39,878 | 14,201 334 135 | 4,548] 41,025 | +13 523 
orancoween eee cose. ke es 33,540 | 10, 285 750 55 | 44,630| 30,252] +14, 378 
Top) eS) sae gi ee oe 3,874 | 21, 026 1, 330 | 221| 26,461 | 29,510! —3,049 
napbortemce se ee eee 40,642} 18, 033 772 | 787 | 60,234 | 41,345| +18, 889 
iH EST TE ts a em 33,187 | 11, 095 1, 449 271 | 46,012| 37,134] +8, 878 
Wnamieeeeete ss ee ee ae 44, 250 8, 160 126 | 188 | 52,794] 42743 | +9, 981 
INFO Ghee eer ese ese Poi 37,983 | 14,336 O17 | 44] 52,580] 29,915 | +22 665 
PORtolee eaten ee tee eee 16,648 | 17,428 1, 593 213| 35,8821 27,863| +8, 019 
TELE Tyo epee ae eke, Cee 17, 007 3,407 1, 633 282 | 29,389] 26,232] +3, 097 
Share cae e eee Ge 3, 965 3, 476 1, 696 237 9, 374 8, 633 +741 
Steuben sage ee cee soe 25,914 | 10, 288 310 317 | 36,859 | 21,373 | +15, 486 
Stavosephia.c se eee es 37,602 | 12,170 642 | 714| 51, 198°) 99: 3455) ener ss 
Wiabashic tc 25 eens pose 40, 202 9, 892 | 183 | 73 | 50,350] 44,080 | +6, 270 
RWS lists. cee vane tee ee 28, 437 8, 352 | 611 | 147 | 37,547] 38,009 —462 
Wihtitley scare Cee teen een 21,789 | 10, 647 65 39} 32,540] 23,503| +9, 037 


a 


TABLE C.— Acreage of various grains produced in 1887 throughout the area over w hich 
Chinch Bugs occur sometimes in destructive nnmbers. 


| 
| 
| Other | Bxcess 
Counties. Wheat. | Oats. Rye. | Barley. | small Corn. | Oxssmia 
grain. | grain 

jover corn. 
Bertone eats. cos wc snece 1,592 | 35, 529 | 390 =p 125) 38,036 \5 ml, 7141) aah ene 
(Si Bice 2 Breage ae ee oaae Omen as 22, 610 9, 963 160 211 | 32,944 | 26447] +6, 497 
Crawtord@ t=) sateen eae 7, 513 9, 389 MESS" oes See 16, 927 15, 491 +1, 436 
MDAVIGSSIPe es: oasiscaece eae 40, 186 10, 575 340 42 51, 143 39,472 | +11, 671 
WMNDOIS hoes ok wees 24,527 | 10, 950 20 87 | 35,584 | + 22.042 | +13,542 
Gibsonsaeige eo ahite Visi ae 72, 513 5, 740 386 31 | 78,670) 45,108 | +33, 562 
Giron eee er se eee eee 24,943 | 11,930 239 178 | 37,290} 34,141 +3, 149 
ACK OM eee ee ia= eee ete, lee ele 27, 584 14, 733 297 45 42, 659 42, 633 +26 
Keno eee osc: eee 48, 453 6, 426 207 68 || - 55,184) 47,331 | -£7,.853 
Lawrence ...------ Ree 11, 423 14, 395 13 51 | 26,005 | 25, 228 | SET 
RID Ses oeeo eeae eee Pree 15, 740 7, 766 136 191 23, 833 21,493 | +2, 440 
NIOHRNS 5 Seer eee ee ene 9, 505 9, 399 35 Ase 184979) 1OsAG2n eet Str 
‘DD! [S28 See ee 12,322 | 17, 708 84 96 | 30,210] 26, 836 +3, 37. 
Owonseteee se te ae 14, 343 9, 705 91 20 | 24, 159 16, 910 +7, 249 
JENARG soo asta aeeee =a eee 33, 828 9, 426 297 66 | 43,617] 39, 751 +3, 866 
J ETI = 3 a Sp oe ee ee 35, 698 9, 080 83 107 44,968 | 30,095 | +14, 873 
IDOE foe Se eee 60, 902 6, 600 120 47 | 67,669 | 38,979 | +28, 690 
TATE ee ae ee ea eros 544 7, 613 117 96 | 41,370 | 37,006| +4, 364 
Sitlivanecwese sii ees aac es 33, 624! 10, 059 826 55! 44,564! 44,109 | +455 
Alp PECAMOC so ose ces. c ae. o = ees 49,339 | 14, 657 5A | 120 | 64, 660 79,497 | —14, 837 
Wenmillioniee sos. occ ck os 30, 274 6, 724 352 | 98 37, 448 35,549 | +1,899 
Wao Ot Seen en a ee Te 35,738 | 13, 096 694 | 217 | 49,745 | 50, 0x2 —337 
Warrick*....... be oie eae 30, 088 9, 609 62 | 40 | 39,799 | 33,171] +46, 628 
NVfasin ce bOnkee eee ee ce | 17, 245 19, 028 77 | 68 | 36,418) 30,206 | +6,212 

< | | 


—- 


TABLE D.—Acreage of various grains produced in 1888 throughout the area over which 
Chinch Bugs vccur sometimes in destructive numbers. 


j 


Benton s-- sas. sEORSDOUSAcOSaae 2, 470 36, 801 372 81 39, 724 84,751 | —45, 027 


CEN sce ae Neale ee eer ere 22, 136 1u, 720 178 | 150 | 32,184 28, 100 +5, 084 
Crawford Meee ae omer emae eee 9, 527 7, 216 13 105 |) Vli65766 14, 502 +2, 264 
DAVIESS Lape see ee eeeeee a iaroOnOs oes Ite 194 280 75 | 50,598 | 39,259] +11,339 
ID MINS a edesaceas game neesoe -| 26, 414 10, 168 48 128 | 36, 758 22,799 | +13, 959 
Gibsons ee so 4..- cess seas Sone ae 68, 640 5, 606 466 116 74, 828 48, 280 +26, 548 
Green s-2 se aes. 30,962 | 12, 627 253 | 84| . 43,9296 | 35,745 | +8 181 
MACKSON See se sas owe Sac ss 27, 425 14, 1385 254 | 34 41, 848 43, 007 1159 
IRGTORE. Ba ot satecdanpooceeneaoD 47, 798 6, 869 222 163 55,058) 54, 001] +1, 051 
WAWLONCOnGa sean OAS cee eee 10, 559 14, 392 208 79 25,238 | 31, 666 —6, 328 
INDO hilses2 Se 73a Sem eeoaees 14, 450 8, 797 124 | 126 23, 497 20, 928 +2, 569 
= ROLLER ce eae eae area 10, 147 8, 500 64 | P|) = EE TBE IS. TIGL OME +2, 492 
(QPINGE)s catecoececeoo em soS mas 13, 446 15, 246 94 78 28, 864 25, 406 +3, 458 
Owient ee see seca cee mieiee es 13, 329 10, 402 82 43 23, 856) | 17, 422 +6, 434 
Barkers Stew Scene eee ake 33, 523 9, 718 256 57 43, 554 44,771 || Ay 
PiKCE eae ee aaa see ae 30, 934 10, 154 54 106 41, 248 32, 062 +9, 186 
IROSG Vase ea ee eee oe aoe aie 59, 006 7, 465 108 39 66, 618 46,711 | +19, 907 
(Rubin alien sees er Seo ceeemee 32, 139 8, 194 131 74 40, 538 39, 358 +1, 180 
Sillitninsoete ease asseeees 29, 377 11,279 798 68 41, 522 45, 808 —4, 286 
ship pecanoes<sese= Mec -es e < 93, 000 15, 313 570 - 129 69, 012 82,611 | —13, 599 
Went ltt Sosacasas5 peepee. 29, 985 eet 439 76 38,210 | 35, 444 +2, 766 
WASO 3S eee ant aot ee wk ee 36, 157 14, 327 557 | 203 51, 244 52, 084 —840 
Warrick*......-....--- ease: 30,562 | 10, 191 144 57| 40,954 | 34,589| 46,365 
Washington* .------ SESS eee 18, 465 19, 922 39 46 | 38,472 | 34,911 +3, 561 


* Counties marked with asterisk (*) are those in which Chinch Bugs have been reported in destruct- 
ive numbers. 


Much has been said of late of the influence which the cultivation of 
wheat and other grains has on the numbers and distribution of the 
Chinch Bug. Tables A, B, C, and D, here given show the acreage of 
each of the cereal grains in forty-eight counties for the years 1887 and 
1888. It will be observed that among the uninfested counties there are 
but four which had a greater area of small grain than of corn in 1887 
and in 1888. In 1887, in eleven of these same counties, the area of 
wheat exceeded that of corn, in six of which counties the Chinch Bug 


58 


is unheard of. Practically the same state of affairs existed in 1888, 
both as to crop and bugs. In the twelve counties more or less infested 
with bugs in 1887, four had a larger area of corn than of small grain, 
and all but seven showed a greater area of corn than wheat. In 1888 
only three had a greater area devoted to wheat than corn, and six hada 
greater area of corn than of small grains. It will be observed that Sul- 
livan County, which probably suffers from Chinch Bug injury as bad as 
any portion of the State, is one of these. It appears therefore that the 
nature of the crop has of itself nothing to do with the distribution of 
the Chinch Bug in Indiana. 


TABLE E.—Total amount, in inches and tenths, of precipitation and mean temperature, in 
degrees and tenths, at Princeton, Gibson County, Ind., latitude 33° 23’ N., during the 
months of April, May, and June, for the years 1335, 1886, 1887, 1838, and 1889. 


April. May. | June. 
Year. | 

Precipi- Tempera- Precipi- Te™pera- Precipi- |Tempera- 

tation. | ture. tation. ture. | tation. _ ture. 
LEO Se Bs ER eee BOSE RE ORG BRO AROSE COCR OEE 3. 70 58 & 2. 36 61.5 | 5. 90 | 71.9 
ee 3. 50 59.3 | 2.10 66.1 | 4.90 | 71.3 
PSS atn orcas ane oan sens ano eee 2.30 53.2 | 6. 10 68. 0 | - 10 TL. 3 
SSS be Sos So Sock oo} oe ese eee eset 1.50 | 5d3 | 95 63.5 | 2.50 | 76.7 
BESO Sosa os cecoein scien woaces coasasseee | . 80 55. 2 | 4.40 . 64. 4 | 3. 69 | 70.7 


TABLE F.—Total-amount, in inches and tenths, of precipitation and mean temperature, in 
degrees and tenths, at Angola, Steuben County, Ind., latitude 41° 37’ N., during the 
months of April, May, and June, for the years 1385, 1886, 1887, 1888, and 1889. 


1 EOS GaSe e BHO OSS AEP OEE CB OS RSE At ECE OSe se 4,35 45.6 | 6. 95 56. 9 4,32 | 66.9 
IRE cesoce ccc ceSrendesScacceeeeEcecesmac 2.77 52.5 | 3. 49 63.5 | 4.16 67.2 
lob He mee one gccoSoeeEnnoneerE SE eceEecessse 1.12 45.2 1.95 70.8 | 5. 24 71.2 
PRESS esos Se Sis Sas See ay oi ae eae aes 1.64 | 46.5 3.75 61.9 | d. 16 70. 6 
ESS S See reece ease aa at iee ane ceioaneca 1.19 49.2 5. 25 6i.4 3. 50 68.5 


TABLE G.—Total amount, in inches and tenths, of precipitation and mean temperature, in 
degrees and tenths, at Sandwich, De Kaib County, Ill., latitude 41° 31’ N., during the | 
months of April, May, and June of the years 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, and 1889. 


46 | 46.71 | 


PAS AR eRe uy SOMA a ae aes | 2 res 58. 65 2. 94 68. 95 
BSSG Re Gk OE OL Se ae 1.35] 56.40- 3. 06 64. 70 1. 28 68. 82 
- riley te ei da ae ee On eee Sr ok | Aa Sst 1. 87 68. 55 $77 75.07 
7 {Si ie toes oe a ie ey ard 1.70} 49.84 5.14 58. 72 2.76 72. 48 
TR GOES Rag aaa aoe ene sere cee. | 3 3. 08 61.71 | 5.40} 68. 62 


15 | 52. 03 


Neither can this unequal distribution be attributed to the interspersion 
of timber Jands among the cultivated fields, as the northern and south- 
erm portions are about equally wooded, and, besides, the treeless 
prairies of the State are not particularly subject to invasions of Chinch- 
bugs. Low temperature can hardly be held responsible for the phe- 
nomenon, as the ravages in more northern localities like Nebraska, 
northern Iowa, and in Minnesota will attest. Coming northward from 
the Ohio River, during the season of drought which has occurred each 
year since 1886, one can not help but admit that the effects of dry 


59 


weather are greatest in the southern portion of the State. But the dif. 
ference between this weather condition is certainly not so marked be- 
tween Tippecanoe and Benton Counties on the one hand, and La Porte 
and Lagrange Counties on the other, as to result in a difference in the 
number of bugs amounting to that between a great abundance and 
almost none at all. In Tables E, F, and G are given the mean tempera- 
ture and rain-fall for the months during which these elements most 
affect the Chinch Bug, and extending over a period of five years.* Thisis 
as far back as the Indiana records extend. The records from Princeton, 
Ind., indicate the meterological conditions during this period in the bug 
infested area, and those from Angola are a like record of the weather 
conditions in the region exempt from Chinch Bug attack, while Table G 
gives the meterological conditions in De Kalb County, northern Ilinois, 
where Chinch Bugs have been abundantsince 1855, formerly doing serious 
damage to spring wheat, and have, since about 1862 (wheat of any sort 
being no longer grown to any extent), been transferring their attention 
to the corn crop, but being at present less abundant than in south- 
eastern Indiana or southern I]linois. 

From a study of the tables given it will be seen that while the 
northern [linois locality had a less rain-fall during the spring and early 
summer than the northern portion of Indiana, it also had a less amount 
than had southern Indiana; yet, while Chinch Bugs are more numerous 
in the Illinois section than in northern Indiana, they are not so abund- 
ant as in southern Indiana. 

Geologically, the northern portion of Indiana differs from the south- 
eastern portion, the former being Devonian and the latter carbonifer- 
ous or subcarboniferous. This, however, could have little effect on the 
Chinch Bug, except, possibly, so far as it influenced the natural flora, 
especially the grasses. Prof. James Troop, who has made the grasses 
of Indiana a study, informs me that the following are all, or nearly all, 
the species found in the southern portion of the State which do not 
occur in the northern portion: Uniola latifolia, Arundinaria tecta, Pas- 
palum fluitans, P. leve, Panicum prolificum, P. anceps, P. vicidum, Andro- 
pogon divisitiflorus. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that to no one of these elements 
alone, as existing between southwestern Indiana and Illinois on the 
one hand, and northeastern Indiana, southern Michigan, and northern 
Ohio on the other, can this immunity from Chinch Bugs in these last 
localities be traced. Whether the combination of two of these elements, 
such as dry weather and wheat-growing, is to be held wholly responsi- 
ble, or whether there is still another potent element, as yet unknown 
to us, which, either in itself or combined with some other, is the prime 
cause of the present state of affairs, only fature studies can demonstrate. 


* Kindly supplied me by N. E, Ballou, M. D., Ph. D., Sandwich, Il., for thirty years 
volunteer signal observer at that place.—F. M. W. 


60 

That dry weather during spring and early summer is almost invaria- 
bly associated with an increase, and wet weather during the same 
period with a decrease of Chinch Bugs is usually true, but why this is 
so has never been definitely explained. 

The fungoid disease known as Entomophthora has, since it was studied 
by Dr. Shimer, been known to be much more fatal in wet than in dry 
weather. How far this would prove true, and to what extent the 
farmer could rely upon this fungus to keep the Chinch Bug in check, 
gave the incentive for carrying out the following experiments. 

Early in July, 1888, a large number of Chinch Bugs, principally pup 
nearing the last molt, were placed in a close glass vessel and kept in a 
very damp atmosphere and under high temperature. Although kept 
for two weeks under these conditions we failed to produce the Entomoph- 
thora among*them. This was accepted as evidence that the fungus did 
not exist in any stage of deveiopment here at La Fayette, Ind., although 
it was reported from an adjoining State. 

On July 20, of the present year, we received some dead chinch bugs 
from Prof. F. H. Snow, of Lawrence, Kans.; which were said to be af- 
fected by Entomophthora. These diseased bugs were placed under glass 
with living ones from the fields, the latter being provided with food and 
kept thus confined for fifty-three hours, when the major portion of them 
were placed on several hills of corn, seriously infested by bugs, the 
remainder with the dried remains received from Professor Snow being 
scattered about over a small area of young wheat sown for experiment, 
and also swarming with young Chinch Bugs. The hills of corn on which 
the bugs had been placed were isolated from others, equally badly in- 
fested, by narrow frames of boards placed on the ground, and the upper 
edges covered with tar. This last precaution was taken in order to pre- 
vent communication with other hills, intended as checks on those used 
directly inthe experiment. The area of young wheat over which infested 
bugs had been placed was not inclosed, but its limits carefully marked. 
Five days after, July 27, a single bug was found on one of the isolated 
hills of corn which had very evidently died from the effects of Entomoph- 
thora, and by the 30th enough others were found to show that the fungus 
had fully established itself, and the barriers about the isolated hills were 
removed. On August 2, dead bugs covered with Hntomophthora were 
found in considerable numbers about hills of corn, 25 feet from where the 
original colonies had been placed, and also throughout and even 55 feet 
beyond the area of young wheat over which dead and affected bugs 
had been distributed. Daily observations were now made, but the pro- 
gress of the disease seemed to come to a stand-still. From the 5th of 
August up to the 9th it was almost impossible to get sufficient material, 
outside, to enable me to earry on laboratory experiments. August 13, 
the spread of Entomophthora appeared to have taken on new life, and dis- — 
eased bugs were becoming much more numerous. August 15, found 
diseased bugs 172 feet from any place where they had been previously 
observed. August 20, diseased bugs’ were very abundant over all of 


61 


the area where disease had been distributed, and two days later exam- 
ples were found a quarter of a mile from the starting point of the dis- 
ease. Immediately after this, however, another halt, both in the in- 
tensity of attack and rapidity with which it spread, due either to the dry 
weather, or to the fact that the bugs had now all reached the adult 
stage, and had become diffused over the country, no longer congregat- 
ing together. From either one or the other, or both of these causes, | 
lost track of the Entomophthora and was not able to again find it in the 
fields. It seems proper to state here that Chinch Bugs were not at any 
time excessively abundant. The greatest numbers were in the exact 
localities where the disease was first distributed, the congregating at 
these places being brought about by the close proximity to a large num- 
ber of small experimental plats of wheat, and when this was harvested 
the bugs collected en masse on the corn and young wheat. In connec- 
tion with these facts, it is also interesting to note that from July 15 to 
August 31 there were ten days on which rain fell. The dates of these 
rains and the amount of precipitation is given below: 


\| | 
* | Precipi- | ' Precipi- 
Date. | eee | Date. ere 
Inches. | | Inches. 
JTL LY crete ccd Cece de ec Ace se ceeeeece U2 ||) QUINT 22 eck aches Gaerne cose een eH See . 78 
TOS Oe Sa eb eae eee 1.25 || SOM SIE eas ae epi: Se ed -50 
Dion i PES Sagi eee a CC Pe DOs We Aer O vee eae Cede oe ae a | 3.36 
FS ee a ae ene fin SE a A . 04 TES SUB tee a be ee ek BB ACs CRED det ON 15 
DOA ee a aa en clams em sien eiae ales 13 | Le RO IO ORE SE Hen Ene ae ne aes | 02 
| | 
} | 


With a view of learning whether or not there was any difference as 
regards susceptibility to the attack of Hntomophthora, between bugs in 
different stages of development, a series of experiments was begun, as 
follows: 

Young plants of Setaria glauca were transplanted to a box, and upon 
each plant was placed a dead bug covered with the fungus, and also 
healthy larve ; larve just on the point of pupation; pup just prior to 
reaching the adult stage; and fully developed adults, each stage being 
placed on separate plants and each covered with a small inverted glass 
vial numbered by lettering. As checks, another series was prepared 
like the first in every particular. The soil in the box was kept weli 
moistened, and the plants remained fresh. This experiment was made 
on August 2, about the time when the attack outside began to diminish 
in intensity. The following are the results of examinations on the 
dates indicated, the original experiments being numbered by capitals, 
and the checks by small letters, thus—A-—a, adult; B-b, young larve ; 
C-c, older larvee; D-d, pupe. 


Date. | A. a. | B. bee C. | c. wh Gee D Eas d. 
= | | ; | ; | 

Aug. 5 Healthy ..| Healthy ..; Healthy | Healthy .| 1 dead a4 Healthy -| 1 dead st 1 dead. 

Aug. 6 | ldead --.| 1 dead ....| Healthy | Healthy .| 1 dead ...| Healthy -| 3 dead --.-| 1 dead. 

Aug. 7} Alldead ..|3dead -.- | 3 dead --.| 1 dead -..| 3 dead ...| 1 dead --.|.--...----- | 5 dead. 

Aug.16, Alldead..| Alldead..| All dead.) All dead | Alldead.| Alldead.) All dead | All dead. 


| | 
= : jy ee ee I ! oe ! - 


| | 


62 


On the same day this experiment was begun, a second was also com- 
menced, like the first in every particular except that the healthy bugs 
used, in experimentation, were exposed to fungus infested individuals 
for only five hours, and then placed under their respective glasses. As 
a result on August 15, thirteen days after, none had died, thus strongly 
indicating that the Hntomophthora did not exist generally in the fields, 
and that it could not be communicated. during a period of five hours, 
exposure. 

On August 7 a large number of healthy bugs were placed under 
glass, with a number which had recently died from Hntomophthora, the 
moisture in the vessel being absorbed by ealcium chloride. <A check 
experiment was also commenced, where the material and the condi- 
tions were the same, except the humidity of the atmosphere, care being 
taken to have the latter as nearly saturated with moisture as possible. 
August 10, the original experiment’ was divided and a portion of the 
healthy bugs removed and placed in a damp environment, the remain- 
der being kept under the original dry conditions. The results on 
August 22 were as follows. In the original experiment, where the 
healthy bugs had been continually in dry quarters, not a single bug 
had died from Hntomophthora. Not only this, but none of those which 
had been removed after three days and placed in dry quarters had died, 
showing that the disease was not contracted and did not develop in 
healthy bugs, though kept exposed in a dry atmosphere for fifteen 
days, nor could it be originated by placing, in a damp atmosphere, for 
twelve days, bugs which had been exposed to contagion for three days 
in dry quarters. The results withthe check experiment were quite dif- 
ferent. Within five days after being confined with the Hntomophthora, 
the healthy bugs began to die from effects of the disease, and in three 
days more every one had died from the same cause, their bodies being 
covered with spores. | 

Still another experiment was tried which consisted in confining a 
large number of healthy bugs with others diseased in a damp environ- 
ment, and when the fungus had destroyed a portion the remainder were 
divided and a part removed to dry quarters. Theresult was that while 
those left in damp confinement continued to die, none of those inclosed 
in dry environment were destroyed. Asthe fungus had by this time be- 
come distributed over the experiment farm so that I could not tell with 
certainty whether material from the fields was in a perfectly healthy 
condition or not, no farther experiments were made in this direction. 

From the foregoing it will be observed that the essential element in 
all of these experiments was an abundance of moisture, without which 
the Entomophthora could neither become established nor flourish after 
it had gained a footing. Again the extent to which the disease will 
prove contagious will depend upon the number of bugs. Without 
great numbers massed together comparatively few would contract the 
disease. To sum up the matter there is little hope for relief to the 
farmer from the influence of Hntomophthora, except when Chinch Bugs 


63 
are abundant and massed together in great numbers, and during a 
period of wet weather. I have succeeded in getting the fungus estab- | 
lished at two widely located points in Indiana, and do not consider it 
at all difficult to introduce in localities where Chinch Bugs are abun- 
dant, provided the weather is favorable. But if it is ever utilized by 
the farmer, which seems to me to be at present a matter of considerable 
doubt, it will only be after the pest has become very abundant, during the 
time between the first larval and adult stages and in a wet time. After 
the Hntomophthora has been introduced into a certain field it will be- 
come diffused only in proportion as the bugs travel about and healthy 
bugs come in contact with spores from those which have died from the 
disease. This will not be very great until the pupal stage is reached. 

The larvee of Chinch Bugs seem to in some way understand that while 
moulting they will be well nigh helpless, and hence hide themselves away 
in vast numbers in secluded places. Under such conditions the spores 
thrown from diseased bugs would reach a larger number of their fellows. 
I havefound adults but recently moulted affected by the Entomophthora. 
After the bugs acquire wings and scatter themselves over the country, 
the liability to contagion will be again reduced; unless in case of very 
severe invasions, where from force of numbers congregating on or about 
food plants becomes a necessity. Hence, the introduction of the fungus 
among larvee will at first proceed but slowly, and only in extreme cases 
and under favorable conditions can it be expected to proceed much more 
rapidly among adult bugs. In short, the only way that this fungoid 
disease seems capable of being employed in agriculture is by the estab- 
lishment of some central propagating station to which farmers can apply 
and receive an abundant supply of infested bugs on short notice. By 
this means they could take advantage of a rainy period of a week or 
ten days, and, if they can contrive by sowing plats of millet and Hun- 
garian to mass the bugs in certain localities about their fields, they 
might accomplish something towards warding off an invasion. But 
the possibility of overcoming an invasion after it is fully under way, 
as is almost sure to be the case during a dry season, it must be con- 
fessed is not very encouraging. My failure afterrepeated experiments 
to produce this Entomophthora in the vicinity of Lafayette without the 
importation of germs is decidedly against the theory that might be ad- 
vanced that the northeastern portion of the State was kept free of 
destructive invasions by reason of this disease brought about by wet 
weather. There is as yet no reason to believe that the disease has 
ever existed in that section of the State. 

Before leaving the subject it will be proper to state that in my exper- 
iments a larva of Chrysopa was introduced by accident and passed 
through the larval stage, feeding continually on bugs dying from the 
effects of the fungus. 

After harvest the Chinch Bugs, as usual, transferred their attention 
to various grasses which were growing up among the stubble, more 
especially Setaria and Panicum, but as these succumbed to their contin- 


64 


ued attacks they transferred their attention to Timothy, and appeared 
to subsist equally well upon it. 

At the date of wheat-harvesting, fields were swarming with a species 
of lady beetle, Coccinella 9-notata, they having become excessively 
abundaut by reason of the great numbers of the Grain Aphis, and 
as these disappeared the Coccinella was obliged to scatter themselves 
about and seek other food. As large numbers were found on stalks of 
growing corn infested by chinch-bugs, it seemed proper to determine 
the object of attraction to such places. The problem was in part solved 
by the fact that wherever great numbers of Chinch Bugs had punctured 
the corn plants the sap would exude from these punctured spots, and 
there the beetles would be found, singly or in groups of two or three, 
engaged in feeding upon the sap. Beetles placed under glass with a 
great number of Chinch Bugs refused to prey upon the latter, even when 
brought nearly to the point of starvation. 

While searching under the sheaths of corn on several occasions larve 
and pup of a Syrphus fly were found, in many cases, right among the 
masses of young bugs. From some of these pupz thus obtained we 
reared adults of Pipiza pulchella. Whether this species will ultimately 
prove to be an enemy of the Chinch Bug, it is too much to say, but the 
larvie found by me could only have fed upon bugs or exuding sap, as 
they were near the roots of the corn where no pollen iad collected. 


THE GRAIN APHIS. 
(Siphonophora avene Fab.) 


Probably no insect has appeared in the State of Indiana for many 
years which caused such a general commotion among wheat-growers, 
and which worked so little damage, considering, its numbers, as this. 

Occurring every year in greater or lessnumbers, and having been 
frequently sent us by farmers, we were not at all surprised to receive 
specimens from Gallatin County, Ill., on May 27, and also a few days 
later from our aged friend Dr. Richard Owen, of New Harmony, Posey 
County, Ind. Probably about May 20 can be set down as the date of 
appearance, in numbers to attract attention in the extreme southern 
part of the State, the invasion terminating in the extreme northern por- 
tion about the Ist of July. 

That the outbreak, which was probably the most severe since 1861 
and 1862, should reach the magnitude that it did, both in point of 
numbers and area infested, was a surprise to me, as the preceding 
November had been spent by myself in traveling about, visiting the 
wheat fields of various portions of the State, these insects then being 
observed in no greater numbérs than was usual at that season of the 
year. The winter following was an extremely mild one, which, taken 
with the statement of Dr. Cyrus Thomas,* that the insect passes the 


winter on grain plants in the fields, might lead to a misunderstanding 


as to the actual effeet of mild winters. 


* Eighth Rep. St. Ent. Il., 1879, p. 53. 


— true. 


65 


The winters of 1861 and 1862, the years of the serious outbreaks - 
in New York and New England, though not particularly severe in the 
sections above mentioned, were by no means noted tor mildness. It 
seems doubtful, therefore, if the causes leading to the invasion of the 
present year would carry us farther back than the spring months, a 
statement strongly substantiated by our own observation. | 

Starting, then, with the month of March we search for some meteoro- 
logical element which might affect the increase of the Grain Aphis, and 
which appears both in the present season and also in 1861 and 1862. 


TABLE H.—General weather conditions in various localities during years of great abun- 
dance of Grain Aphis. 


i | | 


oeaty: Year. March. | April. May. June. 
[Speer =: ee Wet er in | mee eh ite 
Bee seas OW MRBIANG es eerie 121862 ; Cool... | Cooleies =: |) Coolllsa==" |. Cool: 
| FOS OY MVE oo ae PuWietiiss cnc [Dye tees | Dry. 
TO ee eae pocecccace HEED WaNeee wer yee te ayes ee col Wee 
NVeStenmuONiG wis VOLK son cscincase cnc sce ee T8890 Meas Seema | he one ee Ue | ante aay a ‘Wot 
| 


The weather conditions as relating to New York and New England 
for 1861 and 1862, as given in Table H are based upon reports contained 
in the Country Gentleman for these years. Those for Indiana are based 
on the reports of the State Weather Service, and the data for western 
New York, for 1889, was given me by Prof. James Troop, Horticultural- 
ist of the Indiana Experiment. Station, who visited Livingston County 
in July. te Sia 5 

From Table I, taken from Indiana Weather Service reports, it will be 
observed that during March and April the temperature was considera- 
bly above the normal, with the precipitation during this time below the 
average. On the other hand, the temperature of the months of May 
and June was much below the normal, with, as indicated by Table I, pre- 
cipitation above the average. By referring to Table K, however, it will 
be observed that about half of the precipitation of May fell on the 29th 
and 30th of the month, thereby changing the apparent state of affairs, 
and practically throwing May into the dry period. 

We have stated that the outbreak of the grain Aphis became con- 
spicuous in southern Indiana and Illinois in May. It is also true that 
they reached their maximum numbers during the very last of this month 
and early June. In other words, they appeared during cool, dry weather, 
and disappeared in cool, wet weather. Thus far the old theory ot ento- 
mologists, that wet weather is detrimental to their increase appeared 

But it is also true, that while in southern localities they were disap- 
pearing during a wet period, in central and northern Indiana and 
western New York they were rapidly gaining in numbers, under pre- 
cisely similar conditions. 

23479—No. 22 


D 


66 


Turning now to Table H, we search for an element common to the in- 
vasions of 1861 and 1862 and 1889, bearing in mind that in southern 
Indiana the pest arose to the maximum during May and early June, 
and in New York during June and early July. 


TABLE I.—Comparative temperature and precipitation throughout the State of Sn 
for March, April, May, and June, 1589. 


TEMPERATURE (DEGREES—FAEHRENHEIT). 


March | April. May | June. 
Zp A = lass | a 
=| Cea ou: [roy 2. 
C : eel, | say ctee al He ree HS 
ounties. Stations. ee a | ea | “2 pete 
Pee sll rcioe Ee ial ae zs 
= i 25 | 3B aes May ted (hs = =s 
fee espe beceePa iPtkec=e | oslsse | = ee 
| s 5) oar Bt | tl ako. a8] ae omaae oti 
Gi A =) G =) | La aS Aine) 
eee ae z : ie 
Southerners eos eee. oe aaa eee 5s PALS 225 Sot oo — Os GE 4a On eae 
DwPOIS 4-2. es Huntingburgh --.| 6 | 41.4 | +46) 54.6; +2.1 64.0 | --1.4 |} 72.8 | —1.0 
Gipson: 2:25 -—- Princeton .....--. 5 41.8) +4.7 | 54.1) +1.1 | 64.7 | —0.3 74.0 —3.3 
Crawford ------ MALEN GO) eee eee 6 | 42.3 | +3.1) 57.7 | +1.1 | 65.3 | —0.9 | 72.2 | —0.3 
Washington --.| Salem <..-.-.--..-| _ 6 )| 41.3] 40.2) 53.2 | —0.1 | G£-2 | 0215 |2ess—— [see 
Switzerland 2 22|) VieVaAy--—--=-224-- 21 | 42.8| -3.9 | 54.81 1.3 | 65.4 | —0.8)| 74.4 | —3.5 
Jennings .-...-- Butlerville —-----.]| . 4.) 42-4 | £259 | 755.5) | 250 9) GS. fe —4 0" ete. 
Giecneee Worthington ...-. 26 13956) S105 153090) 20c9 a1 63.9) sn aes 
Bartholomew ... Columbus ......-. | 6 | 38.4 | F257 | 52:25) +02 16324 1 ee 2 ee 
Ripley. 2: 24: Sunman). 5224 6 | 39.4 | +3.0 |] 53.4) +0.4 | 65.3 | —3.0 | 72.5 | 4.3 
Wittrnickis-—-.0" DagoniaSprings.. 6 | 43.4] -=2.1 | 5558 | —0.7 | 64.6 | —2:5 | 72.0 | —2-3 
Clarkes 3o2 a See Bluedwhicke =e 12 | 42.9 +3.1 55.3  +1.14 64.5 —1.4 74.3 | —2.3 
Conbral 2 S22 Saco eee so eee eee } || BIH, 7 +4.9 | 51.0 | +0.3 | 61.9 | —1.0 | 70:4 | —2.6 
Johnson -.----- Franklin .__......| 6 | 37.9} +5.1} 52.0 | 41.4 | 63.0 | —1.2 }) 70.8 | —2.5 
Fayette. _-..-.- Connersville.-.... 7 | 37.8 | +5.5 | 49.8] 43.0 | 62.6 | —L1| 723 | —36 
Wikve Guy seosese Indianapolis ..... 18 | 39.8 +2.8 | 52.5} +0.1 | 64.1 | —3.9 | 72.5 | —5.3 
Rush\2-=--- sec] Mauzy o=-2a-5- =~ 8 | 35.0; +6.1 | 49.2 | +0.4 | 60.7 |; —1.2 | 68.7 | —0.3 
Gris poe eee Spiceland ........ 35 | 37.0] +601 50.0| +2.6 | 61.6 | +0.7 | 70.5 | —2.5 
Waynes. 3-2 Richmond ........ 6 | 35.9 2:0'| 50.5 | —3.1- | 62:0 | —44 | 6955 | = 955 
Randolph .....-. Harmland === == 6 36.4 | +6.0 | 48.7 |+42.8 { 61.3 | —0.3 | 69.7 | —2.3 
Delaware .--..- Munciese-cee eee 4} 38.1 / +5.2 | 52.3] —18 | 62520 —— lee OOo ——tee 
INOTLRerE Ra o8s 62 Ss] a ean eee eee 5 | 34.5] +3.8! 49.9 | —0.1 | 61.0 | —2.4 | 70.0 j —3.8 
Tippecanoe ....| Lafayette......... 10.| 36.1.) 4127.) 54.7. | 3:9 F6l4)) = 2 0170-0 8 
Caroll = ieDolphiessfa5s25=2 AEA Ser of Gyo | eck =| GR Gy |) ee yp ee [asses 
Whitley. <2 52. Columbia City PSs 4 34.7 +1.9 | 48.9 | —0.9 | 60.0 | —2.7 | 69.5 ; —5.6 
Steuben ....... Angolac 2224.2 5|31.7| +6.3 | 47.8] 41.4 | 63.1! —1.7 | 63.9 | —0.4 
UAL Ia= seme | SEDER oe onase Sse | 7 37.4 +3.9 | 51.9 0. 00 62.1 —1.4 70.9 | —3.0 
PRECIPITATION (INCHES). 
| 
NOMENON! Soo. seca | neces ones eee 5 | 2.67 | —1.49 | 3.26 | —2.45 | 3.94 |41.56 | 4.07 |+40.65 
Dubois’ = =--- =~ Huntingburgh.. Sail 6 i 3.28 | —2. 48 | 2.98 | —3.30 | 3. 92 |--2.63 | 3.86 |—0.24 
Gipsonineae-o- | Princeton...-..--- 5 |; 2.45 | —0.45 | 2.43 | —1.63 | 3.09 |+1.31 | 3.55 |-+-0.05 
Crawford ..---.- | Marengo 22-52 6 | 3.25 | —2.15 ! 5.28 | —4.68 | 6.00 !43.85 | 5.27 |4-1.25 
Washington -.| Salem -.....------ | 6/262 | —1.56 | 3.68 | —2.58 | 3.24 142.05 |__| 
Switzerland -..| MGVa Voces scoccee ; 21) 4.03 | —3.20 3.40 | —2.48 | 3.53 |+2.64 | 5.07 |—0. 61 
Jennings ......| Butlerville -.....- i 4 | 3.35 | —2.21 | 2.93 | —1.72 | 5.56 |+-0. 87 | 5.56 |—1. 85 
Greene _....--.| | Worthington --.--. 7 : 2.59 | —0.58 | 3.04 | —1.50 | 419 |—1.29 | 4.51 |+-2. 8 
Bartholomew --.| Columbus .--..... | 6) 2.52 | —1.65 | 2.60 | —1.96 | 3.45 |4+1.35 | 3.50 |+0.88 
Ripley. ------- | Sunman .......... 6 | 2.45 | —1.22 3.41 | —1.77 | 4.38 |+1.48 | 4.35 |+1.61 
Warrick: <= .-<< | Dagonia Springs. - 6 | 2.92 | —1.11 | 2.88 | —1.90 | 3.06 !41.02 | 5.10 '—0.61 
Glank 2255 s2/3 =: Bluewdaciee: et | 12} 2.73 | —1.86 | 3.65 | —2.70 | 4.09 |+1.46 | 4. 04 |--0-18 
Conpratiorecsse aces los. eee tec ee ees 5 | 2.33 | —0.98 | 2.82 | —1.46 | 4.19 |4+1.43 | 3.80 +1.08 
Johnson -.----- jatreaanikclines oe eee 6 | 2.45 |] —1.10 | 2:68 | —1.47 | 4.04 |-+-0.33 | 3.80 |4-2. 20 
Fayette=....-- Connersville..-...- 7 | 2.55 | —1.70 | 2.32 | —1.43 | 4.47 |+2.12 | 4.37 |—0.61 
Marion == ----- Indianapolis ...-.-. | 18 | 3.85 | —1.70 | 3.59 | —1.47 | 4.15 |41.61 | 5.44 |-0. 76 
Rash ae. Mauzye=2-seo=5-2 9 | 3.50 | —1.80 | 4.52 | —2.44 | 4.89 |+1.20 | 5.45 |—0.75 
Henrys. 35) ae Spiceland2-------- } 35 | 3.90 | —1.82 | 3.20 | —1.52 | 3.35 |+3.08 | 4.30 |40.40 
Wayne ......-- Richmond ........ |. 6 | 238) 1.53 | 2.77 | —1.95 | 4.91 [1-953 | 2 o7er nea 
Randolph..--.. Farmland..-.....-.-- i 6 | 2.18 | —0.46 | 2.52 | —1.45 | 4.42 |—9_27 } 3.68 j|41. 91 
Delaware .-.... leMamcies=..--- 5-s5 Ae fore Bae 2 OAS ee ee een 22 mo Se eee 
Northern -.-....--- Fahne ee see eae pm 5 | 2.02 | —0.14 | 2.03 | —1.15 | 4.46 |41.24 | 4.12 | 40.61 
Tippecanoe .--.-.| Lafayette ........ 10 | 2.39 | —0. 70 | 2.78 | —1.9t | 4.86 |+1.55 | 4.91 |—0.77 
Carroll. - Delphi pet. 2. Re ane 4°)1292) | =20) 72 (2516) =—=1535) | 5382) |-Feas see 
Whitley -.---.- Columbia City....| 4 | 2.01 | +0.45 | 2.50 | *-1.45 | 5.17 |+-0.78 | 4.46 |—0. 67 
Steuben ....... Amcolatz22-352 5226 5 | 2.18 | —0.18 | 2.21 | —1.02 | 4. 28 |+-0.97 | 4.48 |—0.98 
TPA STi 2.70 4. 22 4.16 +0.(4 


Statesc)!L2- ej eee es a 37 | —0. 86 —1.89 | 4.22 |41.28 


) 


Lb igh 


67 


TABLE K.—Lecords of rain-fall throughout Indiana during May, 1889. 


| Number of 


Place of observation. Precipitation. 
| days. 
os rons ie H 
Ak . |£o | Greatest in | | ) 
: ~ av Yin oes | | 
v a 2 198 24 consecu- te lea a. 
Sesitine Er | A tive hours. | esi Ics 
Qo; 8 Boe : [Restl hana [pce 
Stations. Covuties. Bee gs |s-45|— <j |alcl jap 
lip oe (Ps eaoe aila ig Seles s 
Bie) sailigcs| & | 6 | b Ieee 
See eeieee) a los |e elalele 
4 4 A |e <q A NM |OIMIO!IO 
Southern : ORE mtn One’ In. 
Mount Vernon..-_| Posey-.....« eee ab| 410) 37 58) 87 54] 4.53 | 3.35 | 29, 30 Te Se (lG 8 
Huntingburgh.--}| Dubois -..-.......| a |--.-.] 38 21) 86 59] 6.55 | 3.55 | 29.30! - 0.| 7| 0/24 10 
Princgebonee see. Galbsoneee-eeeneeee a | 481) 88 23) 87 35] 4.40 | 1.40 | 29, 30 0 |1413) 4 7 
IMATLEN COR se 2 er Crawitord Ssseeeere a |.--.| 38 24] 86 24, 9.85 | 5.70 | 29, 30 Q }10; 9/12) 11 
Salemaheesneesa- Washington .....-. G | .. | 88 38) 86 7] 5.29 | 2.76 | 29, 30 0 |14| 8| 9 10 
WG fee ocesaeeee Switzerland ...... ab} 525) 38 47] 84 59) 6.17 | 2.60 | 29, 30 0 |11) 713) 16 
Butlerville. -.---.-- JenniNeS y=. - eee Qe SON 3) 8d: 3316143 4202) /529030 Os LG) S8 eT 
Wrorthinetoniss-5\-Gteene)s-seeesse. c | 540) 39 9} 87 0} 2.90 | 1.86 | 29, 30 Na asatlo= 11 
SOVIMOUL ass ee ee Jackson eseeee ee c_| 648) 38 45) 86 31). 6.14 | 3.00 29 | oy ee eS 149 | aaa: 
Columibusts-=.-- Bartholomew ..--. ¢ |.--.| 39) 13) 85 56) 4.80 | 2.27 | 29.30 0 | 9)10)12) 12 
SWONTMNENNY oo 55c056e upleyyeescseeceeee c |1018) 89 14/ 85 6| 5.72 | 2.60 | 29, 30 0 |14) 8} 9} 11 
Degonia Springs.| Warrick .......-.. a |..-.| 38 6) 87 12) 4.04 | 1.45 | 29, 30 0 |15) 5/11] 10 
Cannelton -..-.... IRELE YA eee aek eens Cc |.-..| 37 57) 86 42) 4.53 | 1.96 | 29, 30 0 |12) 7/12) 10 
Blme Wick 224-22. LON END eee ous Sere a |1000) 38 32) 85 50) 5.55 | 1.78 30 ¢ |10,10/11 10 
Jetiersonwall eye oe |sss-COmesceest anne Cesta Ses alos soc 5. 78 | 3.43 | 29, 30 OR eS 21a 
INOTiheerovidence 245-0 Ole eee- eee see be) 575} 38 25) 85 54] 4.78 | 3.27 | 29, 30 O} O47 ela 
WIGAN Seceae docs lescoeoss seeserosoasell: Sc, lasoel] Ge) XO) ClO: GH Gale 2) Gehl oases O {il} 911) . 11 
Central: | 
Mr Aniine ss ceene JONSON: -2e eee a |.--.| 39 40} 85 3] 4.37 | L.88 | 29,30 0} 8 023 15 
Connersville..... INP WCWOacoeoccdoos ES | fers Res Shea lh st le 6.59 | 2.14 | 29, 30 0 |12) 4,15} 12 
Shelbyville ...-.. Shelibysaseseeceee |e HHA eee tes | eee 4.65 | 2.15 | 29, 30 Os ae eee 
Indianapolis .....| Marion _...... ... ab| 766] 39 47] 86 11, 5.76 | 2.13 | 29,30] 0j| 6] 916) 15 
WATAY oSSocse see VOUS heawecwinstse ace LDCs] Recs eee eee ees ee 6.09 | 2.79 | 29,30 Ntsallesitae|h Te 
Spicelandes=-eee- JEIGIUAY esagamsodoce ab|.---| 32 50) 85 25) 6.43 | 3.18 | 29, 30 0 | 6/20. 5 13 
Richmond -..---- Wiaiyn Ors ce stakes ce | 969) 39 51) 8£ 53) 6.75 | 2.68 | 29, 30 0 |11) 812) 14 
Rockville ..-.-<-. RAR KCips anes See c@ | 722) 39 46) 87 10) 5.75 | 2.69 | 29, 30 0/18} 013] 12 
Warmiland. 222-2: and olpheeresss- a |.---| 40 11) 85 10) 4.15 | 2.44 | 29, 30 0} 8} 914 7 
WIMMENG sssb556ode Delaware -..:-..-- Bi Nese a0) DN chy P745)/ SSece lll ae elects. 0 /20) 0.11 8 
VEG AINE we eee nee e aia See es a epee dee Of lhe seal ets tebe = Sees|(8 Sap alp ON O25 [Ona sets 0 j1l) 614; 12 
Northern: 
Lafayette.-.---.- Tippecanoe -...... cb] 661) 40 27) 86 55) 6.41 | 1.92 29 0 |11/ 614) 12 
Delphi sss-— eae Carrollz= see tee c | 580) 46 36) 86 41) 7.25 | 3.87 | 29, 380 0} 5/1115 12 
WTO ss52555 car Garantie ss ee mseee c¢ |.---| 40 34) 85 21) 3.20 | 1.60 | 29, 30 Osofsalles u 
Columbia City...) Whitley ......... c |----| 41 9} 85 30) 5.95 | 4.25 | 29, 30 Bel sales 7 
ANMEOIG SSe5qsesa" Steuben sesesecsse a | 683} 41 37) 85 1) 5.25 | 3.85 | 29, 20 0 |10) 516 ia 
WaACLAN Ge ss ee a= = Lagrange ......-.- Ch kU COL Bil Shy 240 eee aeoe tl ecoeaal| Eeco- Sale peers 
WICH caSocas5 dolenoevadanosoesaddecdllsosale Sel eva eetal | erase TEN) ZEON Sos. 0 | 8) 815 9 
SUMMARY. 
ape rene Number of 
Precipitation. days. 
ae ioe 
= | Greatest in 9 
Aa | 24 consecu- -| |.8 
q tive hours. i | 
Lae a ei 
Bae 25 3 |2;5| .|os 
Bal a es | O)iel Se 
eee 5 oes Teele s 
BAT) 2 | B | 8 [else 
= 4 Q Mm |OM/Ol|O 
In. ne 
Northern counties..-..-...--- SOG aan eds OOS er Baond aanae Ose aASeHE SOU ae Ole | eae 0} 8 815 9 
Womntesltcountulesterracs ses ens eo cee eee een k eet emcees DNO2 | pan 4 eae ae 0 |11) 614) 12 
SOMbMeRMECOUMMETE Siem sme eae cee ia, Prete seyecjoinjecia se eielclesaciainee BI al] iG eeeoae O |L1) Olt = 11 
SHU 2. svccin Eel SO Re oe ie ee Se BONONGO niece = [oi 0 LOL Sats he nL 
| 


68 


The wet weather theory here appears broken, and a low temperature 
is the only element which appears uniformly through the morths dur- 
ing which the Grain Aphis was, in all probability, increasing with the 
greatest rapidity. That cool weather should favor the development of 
these insects would, if true, bea new factor in the problem, not only 
of this, but other species also; and before leaning too heavily upon 
this evidence we should cast about for good reasons for this apparent 
ambiguity. : 

There is one very important element in this whole problem which we 
have so far left out of consideration, viz, natural enemies. While low 
temperature might not favor the development of the grain Aphis, or in 
fact, if the effect was slightly adverse, if the outcome was to destroy or 
retard the development of parasites, the ultimate result would be to 
favor the Aphis. 

For myself, I can not get rid of the feeling that the indirect action of 

the weather of May and June—the action upon the parasites—was 
much greater than the direct effect upon the Aphis itself. 
- According to my field-notes, my earliest observation of the grain 
Aphis about La Fayette, lat. 40° 27’ N., during any year, was on April 
27, and we have observed them during other years on grain early in 
May, in greater abundance than they were the present year on the Ist 
of June; yet in the former case no outbreak occurred. Up to the Ist 
of June, the Aphis was not exceedingly abundant on grain about La 
Fayette. 

Even as late as the 7th their numbers on the heads of wheat were 
not so much greater than they had occasionally been in former years 
as to cause alarm; yet within ten days they were swarming in these 
same fields in myriads. This certainly bespeaks more of the effects of 
relief from the pressure of parasitism than from the effect of meteroilog- 
ical conditions, especially a change from dry to wet weather. 

The question may be asked, why, if this be true, were not the para- 
sites destroyed in the southern portion of the State, late in May, thereby 
relieving the Grain Aphis from this check on their increase, and why 
the latter by reason of this relief did not, as the wheat became too ad- 
vanced, overrun the oat-fields, as would have at that date naturally 
followed. The reply is that such results did follow to a limited extent, 
the oats being rather more seriously infested by the Aphis than farther 
northward, and the reason why this feature was not more marked was 
doubtless owing to the fact that the cold waves of the first and last of 
May, especially the latter, were less severe than farther north, and the 
effect on the parasites correspondingly less fatal. 

The records of the State weather service show that the minimum 
temperature of the first four days of May at La Fayette was below the 
freezing point; and on the 22d, 23d, 30th, 31st, from 34° to 39° Fahr. 
The mean minimum for the entire State for the same month, according 
to the same authority, was, for the southern portion, 36° Fahr., for the 
central 32° Fahr., and for the northern 30° Fahr,. 


“eT es oe ee 


69 


Buckton (British Aphides, vol. I, p. 70) has the following to say with 
regard to the effect of weather on this and other species of Aphides: 

Violent changes of temperature seem much to check the multiplication of the 
Aphides. A cold rain, or the outburst of a thunder storm, will often cause the almost 
entire extermination of swarms, and wash them, never to return, from their native 
plants. Nevertheless, the close and hot atmosphere before a thunder storm seems to 
to be peculiarly suited to their propagation. At such times the winged forms occur 
in great numbers and take flight on the gentle winds, which transport them many 
miles to other feeding grounds, to become the foundresses of other colonies. 

The effect of the parasites on the Grain Louse was simply astonishing, 
while their numbers were myriads. Going to the fields of recently har- 
vested grain, if one stood in a position to bring the newly made shocks 
between himself and the setting sun, he could clearly observe the 
Swarms of minute Hymenopters arising therefrom and flying away. Be- 
sides, the stubble-fields were overrun with lady beetles and their 
larvee. Rae 

Nevertheless, there are good grounds for the belief that the heavy 
showers during the latter part of June and early July, in the central 
and northern portions of Indiana, washed many young from the heads 
of the grain and destroyed them. Besides, either the severe thunder 
and lightning which accompanied these storms or the rapidly matur- 
ing grain, or both, perhaps, caused the winged. adults to betake them- 
selves to the oat-fields, where they would probably have caused further 
damage had not their relentless foes, the Hymenopters, pursued them 
and continued their work of destruction. 

It was a common sight early in July, in northern Indiana, to see 
adults of the grain-lice attached singly to heads of oats, sometimes with 
a few young clustered about them, assuming the form and color so in- 
dicative of parasitism. In southern Indiana, late in June, the same 
thing was observed on oats, and parasitized adults were also abundant 
on the heads of blue-grass, even long distances from grain fields. 

In summing up the matter, it may be safely said that wet weather 
will not, of itself, prevent an outbreak of the grain Aphis, or dispel it 
after under full headway. It must be borne in mind, however, that cool 
wet weather, during May and June, will enable grain plants to sustain 
ereater drafts on their vitality than will very dry and hot weather. It 
is also probably true that a cool temperature during spring and early 
summer is either directly or indirectly favorable to the development of 
the grain Aphis. j 

Regarding the life history of the species under consideration we have 
never found them in the fields at an earlier date than April 27. From 
this time we have an unbroken record of their occurrence up to July 9, 
when there is a break in their continuity of appearance until Septem- 
ber 1, when full grown apterous females were found on leaves of early 
sown wheat. From this latter date we again have an unbroken record 
up to December 30. We have also observed the sexes pairing on No- 
vember 11 and December 3. 


(0 - 


We have several times attempted to follow the species through July 
and August, but have always failed. Adults placed on various kinds 
of grasses in breeding cages invariably died during July. The occur- 
rence of great numbers of wingless parasitized females on heads of 
Poa pratensis, long distances from grain fields, strongly suggest this 
grass as one of its midsummer food plants. While in this and other 
cases we have been unable to rear Aphides on certain plants in breed- 
ing cages, yet we do not feel at all certain but that outside, under the 
usual environments, nature might accomplish precisely the same object. 
The results of breeding cage experiments with Aphides must always be 
accepted with extreme caution. 

The present year we had young grain growing continually from spring 
to November, yet not asingle grain Aphis was to be found on either 
this young grain or grasses from July 9 to late in October. Their 
limited numbers at this season ‘may, however, be accounted for by the 
fact that they were very nearly exterminated in July by their natural 
enemies. 

Dr. Cyrus Thomas states that in 1875, in Southern [llinois, he ob- 
served winged and wingless specimens on wheat during winter, and 
suggests that the species winters over in other forms than the egg.* 
There appears to be no good reason for doubting the truth of Dr. 
Thomas’ suggestion, especially if applied to mild winters. During the 
time we have been located in a wheat-growing district the winters have 
been quite severe, so that we have not been able to follow the species 
through the cold months. The winter of 188889 was a mild one, but 
we were absent in Australia during the entire time. 

Siphonophora avene is by no means the only species of Aphides in- 
festing the plants of our smaller cereal grains. An undescribed species 
of Toxoptera occurs on the leaves of wheat in the latitude of La Fayette, 
in June. We have carried this species through July and August on 
wheat in breeding cages, found it again in the fields in September, and 
from this on until the 22d of December. During the latter month they 
continued to reproduce in @ room, which, though warm during the day, 
the temperature fell below the freezing point every night. I have not 
been able to follow the species through the winter months in the fields. 

A species of Aphis, undistinguishable from A. mali, appears regularly 
every September, and, indeed, sometimes as early as July 17, on young 
wheat and rye. From the latter date up to the 12th of November they 
have been observed on young grain, giving birth to their young. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the species is not distinguishable from 
the apple tree Aphis, yet the attempt to transfer them to the apple leaf, 
or vice versa, has invariably resulted in failures. 

A second Aphis, as yet undescribed, is found about the roots of wheat, 
often in sufficient numbers to affect the plants. This species occurs 
throughout the entire State, from about the last of September, and 


*Highth Rep. St. Ent. Ill., 1879, p. 53. 


71 


probably winters over in the fields, in other stages besides the egg, al 
though we have never yet found them on grain during the early part 
of the year. 

An undescribed species of Ahopalosiphum was found on spring grown 
volunteer wheat, on July 12, of the present year. A few days later 
aduits, both winged and wingless, and young in all stages of develop- 
ment, were found on: the heads of orchard grass, Dactylis- glomerata, 
and also on the heads of spring sown rye, working: precisely after the 
manner of the true Grain Aphis. This species I was not able to follow 
in the fields after about the 10th of August, when it left the heads of 
rye, and, though a large number were placed on young wheat plants, 
in a breeding cage, all seem to have died. 

When this last species was confined on wheat, the same cage and 
plants were utilized as had been used in the attempt to carry the true 
grain Aphis through the months of July and August. But as none of 
the many individuals placed on the plants survived, a large number of 
heads of rye thickly infested by the Rhopalosiphum were placed in the 
cage. When the first winged adult appeared in this cage, I was nota 
little surprised to find it belonged to neither one of the species inten- 
tionally placed in the cage, but to a species of Myzus, which could have 
only gained admission by being introduced with one or the other or both 
of the other species. 

By whatever way it gained admission, this Myzus has continued to 
throw off generation after generation, and at date of writing, Novem- 
ber 25, is still reproducing, although during the entire time—nearly 
four months—it has had no other plants except wheat upon which to 
subsist. It is undescribed. 

Still another species (a Megoura sp.?) was found giving birtn to young, 
on leaves of young rye, August 9, but not observed afterwards. 

The natural enemies of the Grain Aphis were, as we might expect, 
unusually numerous the present year, and especially those belonging 
to the Hymenoptera. Of these we had reared, during other years, a 
species of Trioxys in quite abundance, and this season the following 
occurred in great numbers: Bassus sycophanta Walsh, Aphidius avena- 
phis Fitch, Isocratus vulgaris Walker, Encyrtus webstert Howard, Allo- 
tria tritict Fitch, Megaspilus niger Howard, Pachyneuron micans Howard. 

Of the Syrphids, Sphaerophoria cylindrica, Xanthogramma emarginata, 
and Allograpta obliqua were very numerous. A secondary parasite, 
Bassus sycophanta, was in some localities so exceedingly abundant that 
nearly all of these useful flies were destroyed. 

Two species of Chrysopa were exceedingly useful. In a field of 
wheat, near Indianapolis, about the middle of June, these were so 
abundant that at every step, from one to four or five individual adults 
would be disturbed, and take wing. The field was but very slightly 
attacked by Siphonophora. 


12 


Of the Coleopterous enemies, the Coccinellide were by far the most 
industrious. Of this family probably Coccinella 9-notata, with its larve, 
was the most abundant and generally distributed species. 

In a field of newly harvested grain, in La Grange County, within.a 
radius of 3 feet from where I was standing at the time, fifteen individ- 
uals were counted, crawling about among the stubble. Hippodamia 
parenthesis followed next, in point of.-numbers, H. convergens, H. 13- 
punctata and H. glacialis being also found in quite large numbers in 
various localities. Megilla maculata was scarcely noticed at all, and 
Anatis 15-punctata but once. 

Podabrus tomentosus was exceedingly useful in some portions of the 
State, while Telephorus carolinus was often quite numerous in the fields 
of the central part of the State. 


ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FROM MISSOURL FOR THE SEA- 
SON OF 1889. 


' By Mary E. Murtrevpt, Airkwood, Mo. 


LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 


DEAR Sir: I inclose herewith such of my notes and observations on insects as may 
be of economic interest, and in this connection desire to express my sincere thanks 
for determinations and other assistance, for which I am indebted to yourself and to 

- others of the official force of the Division. 
Yours, very respectfully, 
; Mary E. MURTFELDT. 

Brot. C.-V. RILEY, 

U. S. Entomologist. 


GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 


The Cabbage Curculio (Ceutorhynchus rape).—A number of my corre- 
spondents in the central part of the State have informed me of the 
serious ravages of this insect in their hot-beds and vegetable gardens. 
Mr. F. M. Webster also wrote me, about the middle of May, that it had 
appeared in his garden in La Fayette, Ind. As yet I have not found 
it in Kirkwood or vicinity, and as it was with some difficulty that I 
obtained specimens for study, I have not béen able to make such tests 
of insecticides upon it as would be practicable in the field. It promises 
to become a general and very considerable pest to the market gar-— 
dener. 

The Wavy-striped Flea-beetle (Phyllotreta vittata).—This insect ap- 
peared in great numbers this year in all parts of the State, being very 
destructive to peppergrass, early radishes, turnips, cabbage, and other 
Crucifere during the months of April and May. Mr. 8. W. Gilbert, of ~ 
Thayer, in the extreme southern part of the State, reported « loss of 
over fifty thousand cabbage-plants from the work of the larve on the 
roots. I could scarcely. credit the statement that such extensive injury 
was attributable to this one insect until convinced by specimens of the 
pest, and of the injured plants which were excoriated and channeled on 
the surface of the roots from collar to tip, the foliage also being injured © 


a> 
40 


74 


by the mature beetles. A top-dressing of wood-ashes with a slight ad- 
mixture of Paris green was recommended, but I was not informed with 
what results. 

In company with this flea-beetle on the leaves of late radishes in our 
own garden, I was surprised to find great numbers of a species of 
Podura. could not determine whether it produced any effect on the 
radish foliage independently, or why it should have appeared there so 
numerously. 

Canker-worms ‘Anisopteryx vernata), except in orchards thoroughly 
plowed and harrowed the previous autumn, were quite abundant. 
Owing to the very warm winter, and consequent irregularity in emer- 
gence of the moths, cotton band traps, applied even as early as the first 
of March, did not capture as large a proportion of the females as usual. 
On some trees, therefore, the worms were numerous and where not 
killed by spraying were quite injurious. 

The Plum Curculio, which last year caused scarcely any damage to 
the fruits usually aftected by it, appeared this season with recruited 
ranks; and on peach and plum trees, where spraying was not prac- 
ticed, or where the frequent rains washed off the arsenites, a large pro- 
portion of the fruit was stung. As confirmatory of the single brooded- 
ness of the species, I observed that all the very late peaches, whether 
free or cling stones, even when so severely punctured on the surface as 
to prevent the development of the fruit, were entirely free from worms, 
showing that the cuts had been made for food only. 

Aphidide.—It would seem as though all known and unknown species 
of this group of insects appeared in myriads throughout the Missis- 
sippi Valley, during the spring and summer. In many instances trees 
and shrubbery were killed outright by the punctures of their countless 
beaks, and the closing of the stomata of the leaves by their sticky 
exudations. So badly infested were the elms, maples, lindens, box- 
elders, and other shade trees, in and around Minneapolis, Minn., during 
the latter part of June that to pause or even pass beneath them was to 
endanger one’s apparel from the honey dew that continually dripped 
from them, and from the black mold that soon covered trunk and 
branch and which “ smutted” everything touching it. All other insects 
seemed to be repelled from the aphis-infested trees; not even a leaf- 
roller or leaf-miner could I see. In the September number of INSECT 
LIFE, mentioning the prevalence of Aphis avence in the grain-fields of 
many of the Middle and Western States, I observe that Missouri was 
omitted from the list. The insect, however, occurred quite extensively 
in the middle and northern portions of the State, but it appeared 
rather late, and but comparatively little damage was done so far as I 
have been able to learn. 


Syrphus fly, Coccinellid and Chrysopa larvie waged a fierce, but, at. 


first, unequal warfare with the tiny hosts, assisted by Aphelinus and 
probably other smaller as well as larger allies, so that as the season 


: 
: 
4 
a 
: 


19 


advanced the Aphididae gradually disappeared and where seasonable | 
rains followed the unfortunate plants measurably recovered, though 
the growth of trees and shrubbery was much retarded and distorted 
by them. 

Codling Moth, not seriously destructive in the northern part of the 
State, but in the vicinity of St. Louis and in the southern counties, as [ 
have been apprised by various correspondents, fully 50 per cent. of the 
fruit, on trees not sprayed, was destroyed by it. 

The Stalk-borer (Gortyna nitela) committed tts usual depredations in 
the leaf stalks of rhubarb and in shoots of blackberry and peach. 
Mr. 8S. W. Gilbert wrote me that it was so abundant in his young peach 
orchard that in the course of one walk among the trees he cut off twenty- 
five or thirty bored shoots. He says: 

The worm seems to enter at the second or third bud from the tip and bore through 
the heart as far as the body of the tree but does not enter the hard wood. 

In the flower garden this insect has done considerable damage by 
boring the stalks of dahlias, cosmos, and other flowers. » 

The Flea-like Negro-bug (Corimelena pulicaria).—Mr. E. 8. Pollard, of 
Cameron, northwest Missouri, under date of May 22, sent specimens of 
this insect with the information that they were very abundant in his 
strawberry beds, and doing much damage by puncturing the bearing 
stems, causing the fruit to shrivel. As it was the fruiting season, I 
was at a loss to suggest a remedy, since this insect is not susceptible to 
the effects of pyrethrum, or other non-poisonous applications. In Kirk- 
wood it appeared in great numbers on hollyhocks and various other 
flowering plants, for which the easiest remedy seemed to be to jar it 
into basins of soap-suds to which had been added a small quantity of 
kerosene. 

Iygus lineatus appeared here and there on tufts of clover, about the 
middle of May, injuring the foliage to considerable extent. It inhabits 
the under surraces of the leaves which it speckies with transparent dots 
and small patches which cause the leaves to curl and shrivel. Its broad, 
flat iarva is of a dull, pale green color, variegated with a few ferrugin- 
ous marks and shadings. The pupa is very similar, with the addition 
of the wing-pads. _ 

The Tarnished Plant-bug (Lygqus pratensis Linn.).—This insect was more 
abundant than usual throughout the State, and from numerous corre- 
spondents I received bitter complaints of its injuries to apple and pear 
buds and to strawberry beds. During the autumnit appeared in con- 
siderable numbers on chrysanthemums, on which its peculiarly poison- 
ous punctures produce most disastrous effects. I was quite successful 
in driving it from our own plants by liberal applications of X. O. dust, 
which proved at the same time a good remedy for the brown aphis, 
which is such 4 common and unmanageable pest on these beautiful 
flowers. The plants were not injured in the least by the insecticides. 


16 ‘ 

The Streaked Cottonwood beetle (Plagiodera scripta) appeared in our 
grounds during June on a young Populus, which it threatened to com- 
pletely defoliate. The tree being small admitted of thorough drenching 
with a plant syringe with the solution of arsenic and ammonia—1 ounce 
of arsenic in 1 quart of aqua ammonia—i tablespoonful of the solution 
to a gallon of water, by which means and a little hand-picking the pest 
was so thoroughly exterminated that it did not reappear later in the 
season. | | 

The 12-spotted Diabrotica (D. 12-punctata) was a serious pest during 
the latter part of the season, not only on squash and cucumber vines, 
but on late sweet-corn, and especially in its injuries in the flower garden 
on the blossoms of roses, dahlias, and cosmos on which it literally 
swarmed. To save the flowers it was necessary to make the rounds two 
or three times a day and capture or put the beetles to flight. They 
were not much affected by any of the milder insecticides, and the arseni- 
cal remedies could not very conveniently be applied. 

The European Cabbage-butterfly (Pieris rape) acquires one or more 
new food plants annually and threatens to become quite omnivorous. 
This year it proved in several localities very destructive to nasturtiums 
(Tropcolum) both in Hower and vegetable gardens. None of its para- 
sites have yet appeared, so far as I have been able to ascertain. It 
seems to have entirely supplanted our native P. protodice in this locality. 
Wishing to obtain some larvee of the latter for a certain purpose, I made 
many examinations during the summer of the neighboring cabbage 
plantations, but did not succeed in finding a single one. 


SPECIAL STUDIES. 
THE SPINACH BEETLE. 
(Disonyche collaris Fabr.) 


About the middle of April I observed the leaves of spinach in the gar- 
den were badly perforated, and, upon examination, I found on the un- 
der surfaces numbers of small, dingy, white larvee, evidently of some 
Chrysomelid beetle. They reposed in the numerous depressions between 
the veins, and a slight shake or jar caused them to drop to the ground. 
The insects increased in size and numbers until by the middle of May 
all the leaves were badly injured and the gardeners hereabout com- 
plained that their spinach was so *“‘ worm eaten” this year that they 
could no longer offer it for sale. A few of the samelarve were also found 
on young beet leaves, especially of the white and yellow varieties, and 
upon the wild Chenopodium album, the latter being, I suspect, the orig- 
inal food plant of the insect. 

As the larve drop so quickly upon being disturbed, it is not often 
that they are observed by the gardener or cook, and the damage was 
attributed by many to ‘‘some kind of cut-worm.” By plucking the 


(7 


leaves, carefully, however, as many as fifteen or twenty ‘“‘grubs” were | 
sometimes found ona single leaf. 

April 24 I collected a large number, which were placed in a jar in 
order that their development might be more closely watched. Most of 
these were still very small, only from 3 to 4™™ in length. When very 
young they merely gnaw the under surface of the leaf, noticeable on the 
upper side as small discolored spots, but as they increase in size they 
eat entirely through both cuticles, making large roundish perforations. 

It is probable that there are but three larval molts, as, in the case of 
even the smallest larvee under observation, I was able to note but two, 
and infer that one had been passed before they were brought in. 

The larger larve entered the ground the 4th, 5th, and 6th of May, 
penetrating to a depth of only from one-fourth to one-half an inch and 
inclosing themselves in frail, nearly spherical, cocoons or cells of earth 
cemented with a viscid secretion. Larvee, however, were found on 
the spinach throughout the month of May. 

May 25 one of the beetles emerged, which proved to be Disonycha 
_ collaris Fabr.; and from this time until after the middle of June bred 
specimens continued to come out. 

A package of specimens was sent to the Department in case it should 
be considered desirable to have drawings made of the different stages 
of development. Unfortunately this consignment did not reach Wash- 
ington, and I did not learn of the failure until too late to replace it. 
Specimens were, however, preserved in alcohol, which retain all the 
important characters. 

No account of the immature stages of the insect or of its spinach- 
feeding propensity is to be found in any work on economic entomology 
to which I have access, and I think it has not heretofore been recog- 
nized among the pests of the vegetable garden. I therefore subjoin 
the following descriptions. : 

Egg, not observed. 

Mature larva, from which the young differ only in size, 9™™ in length, 3 to 4™™ in 

diameter; form subcylindrical, tapering slightiy each-way from middle segments, 
which, both in resting and crawling, appears somewhat elevated or “hunched up.” 
Color a dirty, rather livid white, with a shiny, slightly viscid surface, each segment 
produced with ten conical papillea—lateral ones largest—each of which terminates 
in a minute bristle. Head about one-half the diameter of the thoracic segments, 
oblique, circular, corneous, fulvous, paler in front, with dark brown mouthparts and 
two dark brown, somewhat elevated, spots on each side. The posterior end of the 
body terminates in a dark brown, corneous wing, most pronounced on the dorsal side, 
fringed with bristles. Thisis always appressed to the leaf, and in moving the’ bris- 
tles assist in propulsion. Legs concolorous with general surface, but with fulvous 
or dingy brown annulations, the terminal joint being entirely of the dark color. 
_ Pupa, 8™™ in length, 3 in diameter across dorsum, with elytra and wings partly 
extended as in other pupe of Halticinw; the legs drawn up and folded close against 
the body. Color pearly white in all its parts, acquiring a translucent gray tinge 
before the last transformation. 

Beetle quite pale at first, gradually acquiring the dark metallic green of the elytra, 
buff thorax, dark legs and under surface and other colorational characteristics of the 
mature insect, 


78 


This species seems to be but single brooded, as no young larvee were 
to be found after the first of June. As, however, the spinach beds 
were rooted out before midsummer in all the gardens of the vicinity, I 
can not be quite certain upon this point, but could not discover it on 
beets or any of the native Chenopodiaceew. The insect is one to which 
it is difficult to apply insecticides, as the leaves which it attacks lie 
close to the earth and it is, as a rule, on the under side. 


New Rose Sue. 
(Cladius isomera Harris.) 


Harly in August a friend, residing at St. Charles, Mo., sent me speci- 
mens of a Tenthredinid larva that was working on her rose bushes, es- 
pecially on climbers. This species, new to me, devours the entire sub- 
stance of the leaves, gnawing into them large ragged holes and webbing 
them together in the formation of its cocoons, greatly injuriny and dis- 
figuring the plants. It is characterized as follows: 

Mature larva 12™™ in length, 3™" in diameter across thorax, from 
whence it tapers very slightly backward; form cylindrical. Color, pale 
bluish-green, surface clothed with tufts of soft gray hairs. Head 
opaque, dull whitish green, under the lens densely mottled with pale, 
ferruginous, small black dot, above which is a rectangular ferruginous 
spot on each side. Twenty legs, concolorous with general surface. 
Spins up between folded leaf or betweeu two leaves, in glassy, gummy, 
pale brown cocoon, 7™™ long, of an oblong shape, flattened on both 
sides against the inclosing leaves and with many gummy threads 
spreading in every direction. 

Cocoons were formed in rearing cage August 20. Flies appeared 
August 29. On the 2d of September I detected two in the act of ovi- 
positing, with their well-developed ‘ saws” deeply buried, one in the 
midrib, the other in the petiole of a fresh leaf. Two or three minutes 
were occupied in the placing of an egg and each fly put in three or four 
without pausing to rest. By carefully detaching the surrounding fibers 
the egg was revealed. It is oblong, scarcely 1™™ in lefigth, and almost 
transparent. These eggs failed to hatch, probably for lack of fecun- 
dation. 

From what I have learned from my friend, and infer from the habits of 
the insect in the rearing cage, there are an indefinite number of broods 
during the summer, and where it has become established it is therefore 
a more serious pest of the “queen of flowers” than even Selandria 
rose. Ido not doubt, however, that by killing off the earliest broods 
with drenchings of an infusion of white hellebore, it could be kept 
in check and by perseverance in the treatment eventually extermi- 
nated. I have not been intormed of its occurrence in any other part of 
the State. 


79 


THE WHITR FRINGE SLUG. 
(Selandria ? sp.) 


The White Fringe tree (Chionanthus virginica ), in its season one of the 
most exquisite of flowering shrubs or small trees, is subject to the an- 
nual attack of a medium-sized, spiny slug that pertorates the leaves 
with small round holes after reducing the greater number of them to 
mere lace-work. This species is single brooded, but the parent flies 
appear irregularly and larve may often be found from the latter part 
of April until the end of May, in the interval seriously disfiguring, 
often killing, the foliage. It lives on the under side of the leaves and 
feeds chiefly at night. Full grown larve from 9 to 12™ long, 3™™ in 
diameter across the thoracic segments, form cylindrical, nearly equal 
throughout, or tapering slightly backward from thorax. Color green- 
ish-white, surface very rugose, dorsum and sides quite thickly beset 
with bifid spines, those on dorsum jet black, arising from velvety black 
spots and being largest in the subdorsal region; lateral spines pale. 
Head about one-half the diameter of thorax, almost spherical, jet black, 
immaculate. Legs, 22 in number, concolorous with general surface, 
and unusually well developed. With me it has proved a difficult species 
to rear, and I confined the larve for several successive seasons without 
getting a single fly, and last spring but two from a large number of 
larvee developed. In the rearing cage, after ceasing to feed, the larvee 
desert the leaves and wander restlessly around the cage, many of them 
dying without entering the ground. The few that transform inclose 
themselves in very brittle, nearly spherical cells about an inch below 
the surface, and as with most other saw-fly larvee that enter the ground 
brook no disturbance during the quiescent period. The two flies that 
1 succeeded in rearing came out about the middle of April. 

Syringing the under sides of the leaves with a strong infusien of 
white hellebore, or with Paris green in liquid suspension, wil! kill the 
pests, with but little detriment to the foliage. 


DESCRIPTION OF THE LARVA AND PUPA OF PALTHIS ANGULALIS. 
ee 


Among the insects trapped last spring in loose cotton around the 
trunks of apple trees were a considerable number of a dingy-colored 
noctuid larva, about 1 centimeter in length by 4"™™ in diameter, of nearly 
equal width throughout, the segments appearing somewhat hunched to- 
gether. Surface rough, of an earthy-brown color, palest on dorsum. 
Under the lens, especially after being dropped in alcohol, a tinge of 
green appears, and the paler cast of the dorsal surface is resolved into 
a spreading V composed of minute white stippling. This is especially 
pronounced on the posterior segments, where the angle of the Y is de- 
veloped into a papillate elevation. Head small, much retracted, dark 
brown; legs aifd prolegs, and also to some extent the entire ventral sur- 
face, verdigris green. These larvze were found from the 1st to the oth 


80 


of April, and, when placed in the cage with opening apple buds, nibbled 
a little, but almost immediately changed to pup within a cluster of 
webbed leaves. Pupa smooth, dark brown, without any especially dis- 
tinguishing characters. Three imagines appeared April 24. “They were 
of a species which had been long before determined for me as a Palthis 
angulalis. 

With the idea that possibly the immature stages of this insect had 
not previously been observed, I submit the above descriptions. 


INSECTICIDES. 


White arsenic in ammoniacal solution—1 ounce arsenic to 1 quart aqua 
ammonia—one tablespoonfal of this to a gallon of water proved a 
failure in the case of most insects, while it still scorched the leaves 
somewhat. 

A soda solution made on a smaller scale had much the same effect on 
the foiiage of peach and plum trees, and was not, so far as could be 
observed, efficient in protecting the fruit from curculio. 

White arsenic in boiling water, the latter being only a partial sol- 
vent, in the proportion of an ounce of arsenic to 20 gallons of water, 
Was sprayed upon young peach and plum trees without injury to the 
foliage. The frequent rains of the late spring and early summer ren- 
dered many of the applications futile in the case of the curculio and cod- 
ling moth. Paris green in liquid, 1 pound to 100 gallons of water, has 
been found the safest and most reliable insecticide for use against 
the canker-worm and codling moth. Its effects on insect life seem to 
be due not alone to the percentage of arsenic, but to the general com- 
bination, while on vegetation it produces less injury than London pur- 
ple or any of the solutions of pure arsenic. 

In my somewhat limited experience the petroleum emulsions can not 
be excelled as a remedy for all species of scale insects, and when ap- 
plied according to instructions, do no appreciable injury to trees and 
shrubs. 

X. O. Dust.—Late in May I received from the Department a package 
of this new patented insecticide, with instructions to test its value on 
various injurious insects. It is to be applied full strength and claims 
to kill by contact and at the same time to be innoxious to man and the 
higher animals and to vegetable life. 

June 1.—Applied the powder about 9 o’clock in the morning to Dory- 
phora larvee on potato, to late specimens of the rose-slug (Selandria 
ros), to Aphis persice on young peach and plum trees, and to Aphis 
sp.? on chrysanthemums; also to young cabbages and radishes, on 
which flea beetles (Phyllotreta vittata and zimmermanni) were abundant 
and destructive. Three hours later visited these plants and noted fol- 


lewing results: Rose-slugs considerably affected, showing symptoms of 


sickness and paralysis and dropping from the leaves when jarred. 
Doryphora larve not seriously affected, only the smaller ones had 
dropped, while sonie of those nearly grown continued feeding, appar- 


ra 


bigs Fei AH) 


81 


ently not inconvenienced by the dust that adhered to them. Flea 
beetles not killed, but evidently demoralized and deserting rapidly, 
Its effects on Aphididw were quite satisfactory. All species to which 
it had been applied seemed to be killed or paralyzed and had with- 
drawn their beaks from the stems or leaves, and if they had not already 
fallen did so upon the slightest jar. At the same time Chrysopa and 
Coccinellid larvee appeared but little, if any, injured, and were seen 
making their way to other hunting grounds on which the game should 
not be so pungently spiced. Syrphus-fly larve, however, did not 
escape, and all that received much of the dust were killed. 

At 7 in the evening more of the powder was distributed on infested 
potatoes and on all species of Aphis that could be reached. 

June 3.—The effects of the Dust on the Colorado potato-beetle are by 
no means so immediate and thorough as claimed in the circulars of the 
manufacturers. Repeated applications would seem to be necessary to kil] 
the larve, while according to my experience the perfect beetle will live 
for days thoroughly dusted with the powder and inclosed in a box. At 
the same time it certainly does protect the plants to which it is applied, 
especialiy while fresh, by acting as a repellant. 

September 10.—Tested the Dust on larve of the cabbage butterfly 
which are beginning to be found again in cabbage fields. Used the 
insecticide in the open air, also on a few full-grown larve placed in 
jar, under muslin cover. 

September 15.—Plants dusted seem almost entirely free from worms, 
but several of the larve confined completed their first transformation 
without apparently receiving any injury from the powder. 

September 21.—Repeated these tests with powder taken from the bot- 
tom of the can and found that young Pieris larve succumbed to its 
effects in two or three hours, while the larger larve often lived more 
than twenty-four hours, not eating, however, in the mean time, but 

lingering in a lethargic state until dead. 
‘October 19.—Renewed these experiments on the latest brood of worms 
which are now to be found of all sizes on cabbages, turnips, and nastur- 
tiums. The immediate effect of the powder is to cause thé larve to 
cease feeding aud toss themselves about uneasily, making efforts to 
free themselves from the irritating substance. Two hours later all were 
in a lethargic state, many lying upon their sides in the folds of the leaves 
and on the ground. They would squirm when touched, but gave no 
other sign of life. Twenty-four hours later all the small larvae were 
dead; the others that had passed the second molt still lived, but were 
inactive with a sickly color. Forty-eight hours afterward all were 
dead. From these tests and experiments I conclude that this X. O. 
Dust may be classed with reliable remedies for this and probably other 
Lepidopterous cabbage pests, its value being nearly equal to that of 
Pyrethrum powder. 

This remedy was also used on Tarnished Plant-bug with the effect of 

23479—No, 22 G . 


2. 


driving it from the dusted plants, although bugs confined in a box with 
it would survive several days. 

The little Halticus pallicornis, which was this year very troublesome, 
not only in the clover fields and vegetable gardens, on beans, cucumbers, 
etc., but was especially destructive to asters, was also routed by having 
this powder puffed on the under side of the leaves; the young bugs were 
killed and the mature ones driven away. 

The Dust was further tested on a few late cut-worms, “Agr otis saucia, 
Celena renigera, and some other species which I can not name, but 
without much effect, as the powdered worms in the course of an hour 
all crawled out of the deep box in which they had been confined and 
escaped. 

All hairy larvee, as inthe case of Pyrethrum, seemed insensible to its 
effects, so also did the striped and twelve-spotted cucumber beetles and 
other mature Coleoptera and the squash-bug. 

There are quite a number of injurious insects on which I did not have 
opportunity to use it, and on which I hope to experiment with it another 
season. 

From my experience with it this season I should rank it among the 
second-class insecticides, producing similar effects, but not quite equal 
to the California Buhach, but still valuable for use against certain in- 
sects on which it is not safe or expedient to employ the arsenates. 


NOTES ON PHYLLOXERA RILEYI FOR 1889. 


June 15.—Received instructions through Mr. Howard to coilect and 
prepare specimens of Ph. rileyt in all its stages in fluid and in balsam 
On microscopic slides. 

The post-oaks (Q. obtusiloba), on which the insect chiefly occurs on 
the place, were found to be less. abundantly infested than during other 
years. The first leaves which have attained their growth and are begin- 
ning to toughen are, however, considerably speckled with their punct- 
ures, especially along the midrib and principal veins. Very few besides 
the pale yellow, smooth, elongate forms are noticeable. 

Put up a number of infested leaves in alcohol reduced about 60 per 
cent. with water. (These I afterwards learned from Mr. Howard did not 
keep, the alcohol being perhaps too strong). I also prepared slides. 

July 22.—Have just returned from Minnesota. Sent slides on to 
Washiigton. Examined leaves of post-oak around home, but found no 
winged Phylloxera, and very little change in the specimens on the leaves 
during the last month. 

Among other insects preying on the aphis is Weanthus latipennis in 
noticeable numbers, one or more on the under side of nearly every leaf. 
They are now nearly full-grown larve. The puzzle is how they come 
to be on the oaks, when I have never found their punctures in the twigs 
and when some of the trees are at quite a distance from raspberry or 
grape vines, in which they mostly deposit their eggs. 

July 29.—After driving about the country in several directions I 


S3 

~found on the roadside about a mile from town some post-oak sprouts 
on which Phylloxera abounded in all stages of development. The pale 
smooth variety was most numerous on the older and tougher leaves, 
while the darker, tubercled larvie and pseudo-pup and a few winged 
specimens crowded the unfolding second growth. The young leaves 
were much curled and distorted by their innumerable punctures. The 
aphids were preyed upon by the larve of the green Chrysopa and of 
one or two small Coccinellids; the deep red larve of asmall ‘Thrips was 
especrally active and numerous among them, as also was the whitish 
gray larva of a small bug (No. 3 of my consignment of October 2). 

Put up specimens on slides and sent some alive to Mr. Howard in 
tubes ; also some in alcohol. I also placed winged individuals in three 
different sizes of tubes and on clean leaves in water in a glass jar. 

August 3.—Notwithstanding all my care all the winged lice perished 
without leaving any eggs, to my great disappointment. Probably the 
extreme heat of the weather was unfavorable. Cleaned and disinfected 
my tubes and put in fresh winged forms and closed the tubes with loose 
cotton instead of cork to prevent excess of moisture. 

August 3.— Another failure. All the specimens dead and molded 
and no eggs. I can not understand it. 

August 15.—Made another excursion out into the country and suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a very few. Nearly all the young oaks so badly 
infested two weeks ago are entirely cleared, probably by the migration 
of the winged forms and the destruction of eggs and wingless forms by 
predatory insects. The tender shoots are also killed and stand up stiff 
and dry; the drought being severe, there was no opportunity for them 
to recover from the attacks of the aphis. 

On the lower mature leaves the insect still abounds in its wingless 
forms, mostly the flat, pale, smooth variety. Put seven of the winged 
aphis into a very small tube with a bit of mature oak-leaf and closed it 
tightly with common cork. (The rubber corks kill all insects inclosed 
with them very shortly, probably with their sulphurous emanations.) 
Also put about a half dozen on growing sprouts of oak, out of doors, 
but which seemed to be entirely free from infection, inclosed under fine 
muslin cover. | 

August 17.—Have at last succeeded in getting nine eggs in the small 
tube. These eggs do not differ much from those of the ordinary apter- 
ous form. On close comparison they seem rather more opaque and of 
a deeper yellow tint than the latter, but even in these particulars there 
is some variation. Each individual produces from one to three eggs; 
and usually perishes beside them. 

August 21.—Eggs still healthy and beginning to show segmentation 
with two red eye-spots on the cephalic end. There is evidently a slip- 
ping backward of the thin pellicle that incloses them, although as yet 
no motion is discoverable. The eggs were all laid on the glass and not 
on the portion of the leaf inclosed with them. 

August 22.—Three Phyllovera have hatched from the eggs and one 


84. 


has crawled quite a distance. The egg-shells or pellicles are left as an 
almost. transparent round dot at the place of hatching. Nearly all the 
substance of the egg seems to be absorbed into the young aphis. In- 
serted a bit of fresh young leaf, but they do not seem to be attracted to 
it, and remain crawling on the glass. | 

August 23.—Two more have hatched. They appear all alike so far as 
can be ascertained with a lens. Three were sacrificed for microscopic 
examination. Have the specimens under almost constant observation, 
but am not able to find them pairing or exhibiting any sexual attrac- 
tion. Neither can I induce them to feed on even the tenderest bits of 
leaf. They appear precisely like the parthenogenetic forms through 
my lens, which is not sufficiently powerful to resolve the mouth parts 
and genitalia. 

September 1.—Only two still alive and noeggs. Transferred the sur- 
- vivors as carefully as possible to fresh Jeaf and placed in clean tube. 

Examined inclosed leaves out of doors but could detect neither eggs | 
nor larve. It is an almost impossible task to keep track of such micro- 
scopic creatures in the open air. 

The wingless lice have now become quite abundant on all our post- 
oaks. I do not find them on the white oak proper, but as I have ex- 
amined them almost daily since the middle of July I am confident that 
none of the winged individuals occurred on any of the oaks on the 
place. I believe they never do occur in any numbers except on the 
more succulent growth of sprouts where living trees have been cut. 

September 10.—All my progeny of winged lice have perished without 
leaving a single egg. Made another excursion into the country but 
obtained only two or three winged individuals which I put in tube, but 
of which I do not entertain much hope. 

On one of the leaves out of doors, isolated about a month ago, I find by 
critical examination a very few minute specimens which are probably 
the progeny of the winged forms incloseda. Put some in balsam, though 
I can not see that they differ from the other wingless young on exposed 
leaves. 

September 15.—No success with the last inclosure in tube. 

October 25.—Have had one or two quite hard frosts. Leaves all 
turned in color, and Phylloxera becoming very active, congregating 
along principal veins and migrating on to the twigs. Their insect ene- 
mies have mostly disappeared and I notice that eggs are more plentiful 
than usual on the leaves. 

From my observations this year I incline to the opinion that the 
winged form is necessary merely for the spread of the species, and that 
the young from the eggs of this form are not necessarily true-sexed 
individuals, although it is possible that these may occur without any 
especial regularity from the eggs of both winged and wingless forms. 

Another year, if nothing happens to prevent, I will try to have some 
oaks in flower pots for more convenient and natural colonization of the 
Phylloxera, and for greater ease in examination. 


REPORT ON CALIFORNIA INSECTS. 


By ALBERT KOEBELE, Special Agent. 


LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 


ALAMEDA, CAL. October 25, 1889. 


Srr: I herewith submit my report upon observations made and work done since 
my return from Australia. 

After returning to Alameda on April 15, some time was taken up in writing out 
my reports upon work done in Australia, and also in assisting in raising and distrib- 
uting in the northern part of this State the Australian Ladybird-enemy of the Icerya. 
This Ladybird does remarkably good and speedy work everywhere. As usual my chief 
work has been the breeding and studying of all insects, injurious and otherwise, that 
have come under my notice, the special notes on which will accompany material that 
will be sent in. 

Respectfully, 


ALBERT KOEBELE. 
Rrof: Cave oRiibeye 


U. S. Entomologist. 


THE MADRONA TREE BORER. 
(Polycaon confertus Lec.) 


This destructive beetle occurs toa greater or-less extent every spring 
and summer upon various fruit-trees, vines, ete., boring into the fresh 
wood and destroying it. During my stay in the Santa Cruz Mountains 
the past summer they were observed everywhere, and most abundantly 
during May and June. On any dead tree, as soon as the leaves begin 
to fade, this beetle may be found, though always most abundantly upon 
the Madrona tree (Arbutus menziesii). Old trees of this species, such as 
have been allowed to lay on the ground for a year or two, are always 
completely perforated with holes from which these beetles have made 
their exit. In cutting through, one finds the wood nothing but mines 
produced by the larve, the mines generally running lengthwise, but often 
crossing each other. The Madrona tree seems to be the ordinary if not 
the only plant in which the beetle breeds. Notwithstanding that the 
mature insect bores in almost any kind of fresh wood, and especially 
favors such as has been somewhat injured by the hot sun, the larva is 


85 


86 


not, or has never yet been, found in such places. It is the general be- 
lief here that it breeds in the wood of Oak, yet, so far as my experience 
goes, its larvee are never found in other than the Madrona wood. It is 
very remarkable, in view of the above, that they should live and trans- 
form within apples from which this beetle has been bred. 

On August 2, 1887, at St. Helena, Cal., a large number of the nearly 
grown apples upon trees in a private garden were observed to be dead 
and yellowish brown. One of these, taken to Alameda and exam- 
ined, proved to contain a smail whitish Coleopterous larva. This was 
living and thriving on the dead and dry apple until April 16, 1888, 
when it transformed to a pupa, from which the mature beetle issued on 
April 28. Since then no infested apples have been observed, nor have 
I seen any of the large fruit in the condition described above. The 
work of these beetles was witnessed in the Santa Cruz Mountains May 
25, 1888, chiefly upon grapes and plums, yet they will attack olives and 
other trees as well. In many cases the shoots of grapes are eut off 
entirely and fall to the ground, where either one or both sexes may be 
found at work. In one case I noticed a plum tree the northern branches 
of which were entirely destroyed. The beetle will often make several 
holes into the center of a branch before entering; no doubt being com- 
pelled to leave on account of the copious flow of sap. Seven such holes 
were found in one branch, in the lowermost of which the beetle had 
entered and formed a tunnel of about 3 inches in length. On the other 
branches, aside from the many holes started, but two tunnels were 
found and no insects were present. This will show that one of these 
beetles alone is capable of disfiguring an entire tree, while two or three 
specimens can destroy a tree. 

As a remedy, the recommendation of clearing and burning the dead 
Madrona wood alone would certainly have a most remarkable effect 
in reducing the numbers of this beetle. 


(Chrysobothris mali Horn.) 


The larva of this Buprestid is very destructive to currant bushes. 
It is found in the Santa Cruz Mountains, at least in such numbers as 
to destroy all the plants. Indeed, it is impossible to raise this fruit in 
that district on account of this insect. They have not been observed 
as yet in the valleys, where in their place d’geria tipuliformis Linn. is 
more numerously represented upon this plant than in the hills. As 
many as fifteen or even twenty Buprestid larve may be found within a 


single plant, the stems of which naturally die and break off near the 


ground. The beetle is found most abundantly during June and July, 
when they can be seen resting on the plants generally near the ground 
during sunshine. It is then that they lay their eggs on the lower part 
of the branches and close to the ground where most of the larve are 
found. Eggs are also placed at a height of 2 feet, or even more, ac- 
cording to the size of the plant, and below the ground to the depth of 


whois. 5 


87 


several inches. Where the larve are very numerous the plants will die 
before the larve are grown, and most of the latter will perish; only 
such as are situated near or below the ground will survive. Empty 
pupee of two species of parasites were observed within the burrows of 
the larvee, both apparently belonging to the Ichneumonide. 

Asa remedy, the collecting of the beetles may be recommended. Dur- 
ing early morning and evening they may be found either on the cur- 
rant bushes or the surrounding trees, almost always at rest on and 
within dry and dead leaves from which they can be shaken into an 
umbrella. During their operations upon the plants in the day-time itis 
difficult to get near them as they are very quick on the wing and ex- 
ceedingly shy. Collecting and burning the infested plants during 
winter, and also the whitewashing of lower parts of plants may have a 
good effect; this should be done about the end of May. 


(Diabrotica soror Lec.) 


This beetle occurs occasionally in such numbers as to become ex- 
ceedingly destructive to fruits and vegetables. As yet the earlicr stages 
have not been studied. All attempts to get eggs and larvee have so 
far been a failure on my part as well ason the part of other entomol- 
ogists. A large number of the beetles were kept in confinement for 
weeks with various living plants without any results. The larva, withont 
doubt, will be found to have the same habits as the other species of the 
the group,—feeding upon roots of various plants. Fortunately this 
insect is preyed upon by a dipterous larva, which without doubt de- 
stroys the greater number of them, in certain years at least. As early as 
1886, while at Los Angeles, Mr. Alexander Craw, of that city, showed 
both Mr. Coquillett and myself the larva infesting this beetle. I did 
not succeed in breeding the same until June last, and Mr. Coquillett re- 
ports recently of his partial success in this particular.* 


THE TENT-CATERPILLARS. 
(Clisiocampa spp.) _ 


From year to year these worms become more and more numerous 
upon fruit-trees. Mr. Stretch in his paper on the genus} cites six species 
as occurring on this coast,—C. californica Packard, as feeding upon 
Quercus agrifolia; C. fragilis, Stretch, from Nevada; C. constricta, 
Stretch, on Quercus conomensis; C. strigosa, Stretch, from Yosemite 
Valley; C. erosa, Stretch, from Oregon; and C. thoracica, Stretch, as 
feeding upon Willow. The genus, however, seems to be far more nu- 
merously represented. In addition to this [ have bred one species from 
the Sierra Nevada Mountains upon Ceanothus and wild cherry (Prunus 
demissa); a second species was found to be very abundant in Los An- 


* Insect Life, Vol. II, No. 3, p. 74. 
+ Papilio, Vol. I, No. 5, pp. 63-69. 


88 


geles County upon aspecies of Oak ; a third species was bred in the Santa 
Cruz Mountains feeding originally upon Ceanothus thyrsiflorus, but it 
was extremely abundant also upon fruit-trees, especially prunes and 
plums. J also found eggs of one of these moths in Shasta Valley upon 
a species of wild Currant. Of all the species the most abundant upon 
fruit-trees was C. thoracica, originally feeding upon Willow. This 
species defoliated most of the trees in Napa and Sonoma Counties last 
year. On my visit to Sonoma County this month (October), I found 
numerous old skins still present everywhere upon apple trees. They 
were either C. thoracica or C. constricta,—these two larve resembling 
each other somewhat. Fortunately the eggs as well as the larve are 
preyed upon by numerous parasites. Professor Rivers, of Berkeley, in- 
formed me that of one egg-mass of (C. constricta each egg produced a 
small hymenopterous parasite. I have myself bred something similar 
from egg-masses on Ceanothus cordulatus. The old remedy* will be 
found best, viz, cut off and burn the egg-clusters during the winter, 
and collect and burn the nests in spring. 


CUT WORMS. 


Various Noctuid larve are usually numerous and destructive to 
orchards, vineyards, grain, aud vegetables during spring, attacking the 
young foliage, twigs, and even fruit of trees. while in vineyards they 
often defoliate large numbers of the vines. As yet 1 have never been 
able to obtain any specimens of these larve from the injured field for 
breeding. Dr. Behr, of San Francisco, has shown me one larva that 
had been received from Santa Cruz, where they injure the vines; he did 
not, however, succeed in breeding them and the species is as yet not 
known. The larve bore the closest resemblance to those of Agrotis 
messoria Harris (cochranii Riley),t yet many of these Agrotid larve 
resemble each other so closely that their distinction can not be made 
with any certainty. A similar insect, if not the same, was bred from 
the eggs. (No. 378k). During September and the first of- October, 
1887, many of these moths came to sugar at Alameda, and were at the 
time the most common of all so collected. A number of them were con- 
fined in boxes but no eggs could be obtained until the middle of Octo- 
ber. The eggs were of a straw-yellow color at first and after ten days 
changed to a dark grayish color, showing that the embryo had come to 
maturity. The young larve, however, did not come out before the 
rains set in, December 8, at which date they began to issue and con- 
tinued to appear into January, 1888. They were kept and fed in aroom 
and attained full growth in about five weeks, pupating at the end of 
March and issuing as moths one month later. This peculiarity of 
hibernating either in egg, larva, or pupa state during the dry season 
has been observed in numerous other insects in California, which are 


*Professor Riley’s Third Missouri Report, p. 120. t Ibid, pp. 74-76. 


’ ye om , 
| vy 


89 


dependent upon such plants as are dried up from July until the rains 
set in, generally October or November. I will give here the history of. 
one of these: 

Agrotis crenulata, Smith.—On September 29, 1887, one pair of these 
moths was found about LO p. m. in coitu on the upper side of a leaf of 
Quercus agrifolia at Alameda. The female began to lay her eggs the 
following day and continued until October 10, after which she died. On 
counting it was found that the number of eggs was 1,026. The young 
larvie began to issue on October 12. They are, when full grown, very sim- 
ilar to those of A. clandestina,* for which they were taken before being 
bred. Naturally all such larve grow very slowly during the winter 
months, and reach their full growth about March, when they may be 
found most anywhere amongst grass, grain, or vegetables. Their chiet 
food, however, consists of grasses. From larve that entered the ground 
in breeding cages on March 12, the first moth came out on April 16. 
In a state of nature it would be about the same probably, allowing for 
a week’s variation either way in the appearance of the moths according 
to the situation of the chrysalids. The moths are tound from April to 
July, being most abundant during May and June, at least in localities 
where food is sufficient. In the Santa Cruz Mountains they were ob- 
served to appear soon after dark upon the flowers of sculus californicus 
(Buckeye), and could be seen in numbers every night until the flowers 
disappeared ; in other localities, where flowers and natural food are not 
so abundant, they may retire sooner into their hibernating quarters. 
During June, 1886, [ found them very abundant in a deep, shady canon 
in Los Angeles County, amongst leaves, flying up at my approach and 
settling down a short distance off. On my visit to the same locality 
one month later not one moth was seen on the wing. But if at this 
time one searches closer down amongst the dead and damp leaves they 
will be found in a semi-dormant state. After being exposed a short 
time they soon fly off to a dark corner and disappear again. In such 
condition they were observed all last summer in the Santa Cruz Mount- 
ains. In open country, distant from woods, they may occasionally be 
found hidden under or between boards or in old stumps, rubbish, ete. 
They prefer, however, to hide in the woods amid the dead leaves found 
there. As in other parts the warm rays of the sun in the spring awaken 
many of the hibernating insects, so here the first rains in fall will do 
the same, especially with the Noctuide. 


NOTES ON THE HABITS OF THE CODLING MOTH AND ITS ENEMIES 
AND PARASITES IN CALIFORNIA. 


During my repeated visits to the Santa Cruz Mountains the past sum- 
mer some observations were made upon the Codling Moth and its ene- 
mies which may be of interest. The moth as arule is double-brooded 
in that locality, and no doubt will not differ in its habits to any extent 


= 


* Professor Riley’s First Missouri Report, p. 79. 


90 


throughout California. They may appear somewhat earlier in the val- 
leys. From dates noted in 1887 some of the moths were out on April 
22 at Santa Clara, and one larva found then did not produce the moth- 
until May 10. Two days after this they were also observed flying at 
Alameda. One larva found under bark of pear tree at Los Angeles on 
July 19, 1886, and evidently of the first brood, did not produce the moth 
until the end of April the following year. During August, 1887, the 
moths were abundant at Alameda; on the 2d of the month a cocoon 
was found about 8 feet from the trunk of the tree, under a fallen 
apple, from which the larva had issued. The moth from this appeared 
on the 13th of the same month. Two days later, on a hot and sunny 
day, while walking through an old apple orchard at 10 p. m., moths 
started up either from the trunk or lower leaves of nearly every tree 
and settled down again, generally higher up and on the upper side of 
leaves exposed to the sun. 

Larvee and chrysalids were found in abundance the same day, and 
from one of the latter a parasite issued on August 26. This proved to 
be Pimpla annulipes. Up to September 17 moths issued from the chrys- 
alids; one larva that pupated during this month did not, however, pro- 
duce the moth until December 10. During 1888 the first moth was ob- 
served at Alameda as early as March 17, sitting on the upper side of 
an orange leaf exposed to the sun. But very few of the apple trees 
were in bloom at this time. Two days later moths began to issue in the 
house from larve collected the previous December. Several issued up 
to March 28. The present season the moths were not observed in any 
numbers before May 25 in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The fruit at this 
time was about 1 inch in diameter. From this date onwntil the end of 
June there could be seen at dusk from 25 to 50 on each tree. The 
place is situated on the east side of the hills. About a half hour after 
the sun disappeared behind the mountains, and while it was yet visi- 
ble for nearly that length of time on the opposite hills, the moths be- 
gan to appear, flying with quick movements around the trees, chiefly 
near the top, and settling down again upon the leaves or fruit from 
time to time. This was kept up until towards dark when they became 
less numerous. During this time both sexes may be readily collected 
with a long butterfly-net. I have taken many near the ground on the 
lower leaves and often distant from fruit trees. By their peculiar flight 
they are easily distinguished from any other species of moths. 

About the middle of August, at which time some of the fruit had 
already been taken off, the second brood made its appearance, yet at this 
time many larvee could still be found within the infested fruit, and from 
material collected then and taken to Alameda, moths came out In num- 
bers until September 12. I was informed that Bartlett pears taken 
from the trees when the second brood had made its appearance were 
all sound, not one in twenty being wormy. On examination, however, 
I found the opposite to be the case. About one pear in twenty only was 


91 


found without any eggs or traces of young larve of Carpocapsa, the 
second brood having already begun its destructive work. From these. 
‘few notes it is evident that with a little care early fruit can be kept 
almost free from the attacks of the worms, while with later sorts this 
becomes more difficult, and such fruit generally is rendered useless by 
the attacks of the second brood, and is fed to pigs. 

Enemies.—Enemies of the Codling Moth appear to be quite abundant 
in California already. I have indeed been surprised in finding minute 
Chalcids infesting the eggs.* These are not numerous, and had not 
been observed on eggs of the first brood, yet they may have been pres- 
ent. In fourteen boxes of Bartlett pears examined on August 20 and 
21, about seventy parasitized eggs were found, and about an equal 
number from which the parasites had issued; no doubt some were over- 
looked. But few of the pears showed traves of worms of the first brood, 
yet nearly all contained eggs of the second brood and very often more 
than one. As many as eleven eggs were found upon a single pear. 
One was found on the stem, six on the pear surrounding the stem, two 
on the upper half and the other two near the calyx. Of these, two con- 
tained parasites, one of which had issued, two were still fresh, and the 
rest had hatched. Ishould note here that the pears had been taken off 
three days previously. In other pears with less eggs, as many as three 
and even four young larvee were found. The eggs found upon pears 
were most numerous near the stem, the others almost invariably on the 
upper surface of fruit, and but very few on the lower part or calyx. It 
was also observed that the young larve very rarely enter the fruit 
where an egg is deposited, but generally somewhat lower down, and in 
many instances instead of going to the center they leave their first mine 
after a few days and enter at the open calyx. On apples it appears 
they will oftener enter the fruit from the sides. 

Many of the eggs of the first brood were destroyed by some enemy, 
what I could not learn. They had a brownish and shrunken appearance, 
and it is probable that they were destroyed by the Chrysopa larve, 
which were present in numbers upon the trees at the time. -With the 
exception of these and the Coccinellid larve no other insects were ob- 
served in numbers likely to destroy the eggs. This was not observed 
to be the case with eggs of the second brood, at which time the pre- 
daceous larve mentioned had disappeared. The other three parasites 
bred during the summer are all from the chrysalids. The most efficient 
destroyer of Carpocapsa, however, is a small bat which is always in 
search of the moths, appearing somewhat later than the latter, but 
keeping up its chase until dark, when apparently the moths cease their 
flight and the bats go off in search of other food. Every night during 
June aS many as six of these bats were to be seen flying around an 
isolated apple tree upon which there were a large number of the moths, 
not only taking the Carpocapsa on the wing, but very often darting at a 


*This parasite is a species of the genus Trichogramma.—C. V. R. 


92 


leaf to get the resting moth. Of not less value is the larva of a Neu- 
ropterous insect, a Raphidia, which is present in numbers. Its long 
and flat structure together with its activeness enables it to hunt up any | 
larva that may be present under bark or in crevices of the tree. 

Not only is the larva devoured but the chrysalis likewise, and with- 
out doubt often the mature moth. It was indeed very hard work to 
find any larve or pup of Carpocapsa upon trees where the larvee of 
Raphidia were present, and the latter occurred upon nearly every tree. 
As a rule, not more two or three could be found upon one tree by break- 
ing off all the loose bark and examining the crevices, and often none at 
all. These larvee are always on the lookout for food, crawling up and 
down the trees, but being chiefly concealed by the bark. Away from 
the trunk of the tree, however, more larve are found. An old and partly 
decayed stump or piece of wood lying anywhere near an infested tree will 
always be full of them; and, as has before been pointed out, many of 
the larve of the first brood, at least, spin up in the dry ground. I will 
again refer to the Dermestid larvee mentioned before, not only as de- 
stroying the pupa of Carpocapsa but likewise the larva, during the 
summer season at least. Many apparently sound cocoons when cut 
open will be shown to contain larve and skins of some of these beetles. 
The contents have been devoured while there is no visible hole in the 
cocoon, showing that the larva had entered while young. This alone 
would not be sufficient evidence, but I have also found small larve of 
Trogoderma tarsale within the cocoons, and with the larvee, dead and 
living, of Carpocapsa. 

In two instances the half dead Carpocapsa larve showed small holes 
in their sides which had partly healed up. These no doubt were made 
by the Dermestid larve, which as a rule feed upon dry insect remains, 
and only kill living larve gradually by feeding upon the skin only at 
first. In many cases they were found with larve that had recently 
died, having already undergone several molts within the cocoons of the 
last larvee. They are very abundant, especially around Alameda, as 
many as four or five large larvee being often found within the cocoon and 
feeding upon the dead pupa of Leucarctia acrea. In almost any old 
egg-mass of Orgyia they are found. Whether they will feed upon the 
eggs or not I have as yet no evidence. Insect collections are not as 
much troubled by these beetles in California, especially in the valleys, 
as in the Eastern States. I have often observed them, however, to in- 
fest collections in the mountainous districts. A coleopterous (Clerid ?) 
larva was recently found in the Sonoma Valley feeding upon Carpo- 
capsa, but has not yet been bred. Numerous Carabid beetles were 
always found at the base of trees awaiting their chance to get a bite at 
the Carpocapsa larvee. The most numerous of these were Pterostichus 
californicus Dej. and Calathus ruficollis Dej. A bright light with a 
white sheet below and behind was kept burning near the orchard in the 
Santa Cruz Mountains while the moths were abundant. One female 


I3 


only was caught in this about one hour after dusk. Never before dur- 
ing my fourteen years of collecting moths with lights, sweeps, etc., - 
have I, within my memory, collected a single Carpocapsa. 


THE, HESSIAN FLY. 
(Cecidomyia destructor.) 


This insect has been quite abundant and destructive to grain in the 
central part of the State during the season. A Mt. Eden correspond- 
ent wrote to the Oakland Engineer, May 2, as follows: 

The Hessian fly has done irreparable damage to the grain in this vicinity. There 
has been hardly a field that has not been attacked. The prospect tor a large barley 
crop is very good. The wheat crop will be a comparative failure. What is leftfrom 
the Hessian fly is being destroyed by the rust. 

Personally, until this spring, I have had no opportunity of making 
any observations upon this insect. On May 26, while in the Santa 
Cruz Mountains, it was noticed that some of the barley had fallen 
to the ground. On examination, puparia of the Hessian fly were found 
in places where the straw was fallen. The insect was found at the time 
in all stages from young larve to puparia, and some of the latter had re- 
cently hatched. From puparia collected at the time, flies made their 
appearance until the beginning of July. Other puparia collected 
about July 1 have not hatched up to date, and the insects are still in 
the larval state within the puparia. A few specimens of parasites 
(Merisus destructor) were bred from these, and from the same straws 
several specimens of an Jsosoma. 

During September, 1887, [ found puparia, which I took to be those of 
the Hessian fly, on two species of grasses near here. These were for- 
warded to Washington, where they arrived in good condition, as stated 
in letter of October 3d, and the grasses were determined as Hlymus 
americanus and Agrostis sp. Again during the summer I found the 
puparia upon several species of grasses in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 
I shall be prepared next season to give a list of grasses upon which the 
Hessian fly is found, and also more accurate notes as to the habits of 
this insect, which, as it would appear, is a very old resident of this coast. 


JOINT-WORMS. 
(Isosoma sp.) 


These insects have been abundant and destructive in most wheat- 
growing sections, and they will continue to be numerous until stricter 
measures are employed for burning the straw and stubble. 


LOCUSTS. 


These did not appear in any large numbers except in the northern 
part of the State and, from some accounts, in Oregon. On my visit to 
Shasta Valley, Siskiyou County, at tbe end of July, locusts were no- 


94 


ticed in large numbers north of Edgewood and throughout that valley. 
At Montague I was informed that, on account of the unusually dry sea- 
son and the crickets and grasshoppers, the crop had been an entire 
failure in that district. Around this latter place no vegetation except 
a few sage-bushes were visible. Along the creeks, where a little grass 
and vegetation was still growing, the locusts were swarming. Dissos- 
teira obliterata Thos. was abundant throughout the valley. Even in 
places where for a half a mile not a shrub or any dry plant was visible 
they appeared to be happy, but were seen abundantly along water- 
courses and places still affording some food. Melanoplus cinereus Scudd. 
was more numerously represented in places where food was still to be 
had, even if dry. But few specimems of M. femur-rubrum DeGeer 
were seen, while M. packardti Scudd. was the most abundant of all, 
feeding upon grasses along streams, and in all the meadows, where it 
outnumbers ‘ail the other species put together. Here they were often 
observed, always the female, caught in the web ofa largespider, which 
feeds upon them. 

M. devastator Scudd. was not met with throughout the summer, while 
Camnula pellucida Scudd. was only seen occasionally in the places vis- 
ited. Another numerous species in the Shasta Valley was Hesperotettix 
pacificus Bruner, but this was found feeding upon sage-bushes only. 
About eight other species of locusts were found at Montague, of which 
Dissosteira carolina Linn., Trimerotropis fallax Sauss., Conozore wal- 
lula Scudd., and Stenobothrus coloradus Thos., were the most abundant. 
Two species of large crickets have been very numerous at Montague 
also joining in the destructive work—Anabrus simplex (?) Hald., and the 
other a species of Steiroxis. The common cricket, Gryllus luctuosus 
Serv., was abundant in the central part of the State, often coming in 
large humbers into cities and into houses. 


REPORT ON NEBRASKA INSECTS. 


By LAWRENCE BRUNER, Special Agent. 


LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL, 


LINCOLN, NEBR., Nov. 20, 1889. 


Sir: In presenting a report on the insect injuries in Nebraska for the past spring 
and summer, it is n0f my intention to mention all the species that have been observed 
in the act of depredating. Neither do I expect to enter upon a discussion of their 
life histories. To do this would require altogether too much time and occupy con- 
siderable more space than could be allotted to such insects as have been repeatedly 
described in your various reports upon injurious insects. Suffice 1t, then, for me to 
mention briefly a few of the species that most attracted my attention, either by their 
appearance in unusual numbers, their more than ordinary injuries, or by their pecul- 
iar mode of attack. 

During the year most of the well-known species that are always present in more or 
less injurious numbers, were noticed at their regular seasons of appearance. These 
were, of course, expected; and, unless either very numerous or scarce, were but little 
noticed. Aside from these, few new or original observations were made during the 
active season; but several new enemies were observed to act in connection with old 
and well-known forms. 

Since my last report, some time has been devoted to the Acridide of North America, 
in the continuance of our work upon that family of the order Orthoptera. The latter 
work was chiefly in the line of looking up the matter of distribution, the character- 
izing of new material, and the massing of such additional species as could conven- 
iently be obtained without expense to the Department. Some little was also done in 
this connection in the study of several minor locust outbreaks in different parts of 
the country, as, for example, in Utah, Minnesota, and the White Mountain district of 
the New England States. Of these different outbreaks yon already have been ad- 
vised; Mr. Otto Lugger, of the Minnesota Experiment Station, reporting on that of 
his State; Mr. C. L. Marlatt, that of New Hampshire, and myself upon that of Utah. 

LAWRENCE BRUNER. 

Prot. C.V.-RILEY, 

U. S. Entomologist. 


FALSE CHINCH BUGS. 


Harly in the year, during the month of May, two or threespecies of small 
hemipterous insects began to gather upon several farms just outside 
the city limits of Lincoln. These appeared in much larger numbers 


than is usual for the insects under consideration ; and from their size, 
95 


96 


order, and general appearance were mistaken for the chinch-bug (Micro- 
pus leucopterus) by many of the residents. This mistaken identity in 
the case of these insects was the occasion for much apprehension, as it 
well might have been had that insect put in its appearance in such 
great numbers so early in the year. These ‘“ false chinch-bugs,” for 
such they were, began work by attacking the weeds and everything 
else that was green growing in the fields which were infested. The 
weeds soon disappeared and the insects transferred their attention 
to apple, catalpa, mulberry, and other smalltrees. But by far the great- 
est injury wasdone to grape-vines. They were allsmall, and were kept 
divested, of every vestige of new growth for a time, and looked as if 
the vines never would be green. 

The three insects which united in these demonstrations were the fol- 
lowing: the False Chinch-bug (Nysius angustatus), the Purslane bug 
(Geocoris bullata), and a species that is quite common here in the West 
among various rank-growing herbs and weed-like plants, and is known 
to the entomologist as Trapezonotus nebulosus. 

The first named of these was by far the most numerous, and if work- 
ing singly would have occasioned nearly the same amount of damage 
as did the three. The second and the last named were present in 
nearly equal numbers, perhaps the last being the commoner of the two. 
All three species gathered upon the main stems and larger branches of 
the trees and even in clusters upon the scattered remnants of the last 
year’s vegetation. ‘They were pretty well scattered’over the fields, but 
appeared to be most numerous upon some hill-slopes where they had 
been attracted during early spring and late fall by the warm sunshine. 
These clusters of bugs were composed of individuals of all ages and 
sizes, ranging from those apparently but a few days old to those fully 
matured and winged. An investigation soon disclosed the reason for 
their abundance in this particular locality. Last year these fields had 
been permitted to grow up in weeds after the spring cultivation. These 
weeds, purslane, tickle-grass, stink-grass, and tumble-weeds, made a 
spleudid retreat for the bugs to gather, feed, and breed in, and afterwards 
to winterin. The present spring being dry weeds and grasses were slow 
in starting. Not so with the bugs. Eggs were laid at the usual time, 
these hatched and the little bugs soon exhausted what green vegeta- 
tion there was for them to feed upon, and which was very slow in ap- 
pearing on account of lack of the necessary amount of moisture. The 
trees and vines being deeper rooted sent out their buds and green leaves. 
These attracted the hungry hordes of bugs, and were at once attacked 
in bud, leaf, and stem, the bugs inserting their beaks and extracting 
the sap. The consequence was the injury spoken of above. 

As a remedy against the destruction of the grape-vines I suggested 
covering the vines, which were small ones, with dirt for a week or ten 
days until weeds had an opportunity to grow, after which time there 
would no longer be danger, andas a preventive for the future to keep 
down the weeds in late summer, especially when the season is adry one. 


97 


In habit these three bugs resemble the Chinch Bug toa considerable 
degree, only that they are earlier in their egg-laying, and that their 
food-plants are weeds and other herbaceous plants, rather than grasses. 
They also move about on the wing in a similar manner to that of the 
Micropus leucopterus. Last spring, on one day in particular, the air was 
full of these and other small hemipterous insects. At just what date 
this flight occurred I do not remember now, but know it was during the 
month of May. 

The three species referred to above in connection with the injuries 
recorded, all oceur upon ground that has been neglected and allowed 
to grow up to purslane and Amaranthus. The two latter named are 
also occasionally found about smart-weed (Polygonum) during late 
summer and fall, while the first mentioned is also inclined to be par- 
tial to “stink” grass at times. 


CUT-WORMS. 


Scarcely a year passes without a report of damages from cut-worms 
in various parts of the country. Here in Nebraska quite a large num- 
ber of the night-flying moths belonging to the genera Agrotis, Hadena, 
Mamestra, etc., are often the cause of much worry and not infrequently 
the loss of much time and money to the farmer and gardener. 

At about the same time that the bugs mentioned above were the most 
plentiful and doing their injury to trees, vines, etc., the reports of cut- 
worm depredations began coming in to the station from various districts 
within and without the city limits. These reports included injuries to 
both garden and field crops, and from the fact that they were received 
from widely separated localities, the pest was quite general over the 
eastern part of the State. Specimens of at least a half dozen distinct 
species of the worms were received by me, along with the statement 
that they were the authors of the injury. Among these I recognized 
Agrotis annexa, A. suffusa, A. messoria, A. saucia, and A. clandestina. 

So abundant were several species of these worms that they literally 
cultivated the ground at places where they .burrowed during day- 
time. Nor did the worms content themselves with feeding upon culti- 
vated plants alone, but also, in many instances, kept down the weeds. 
Here in the city of Lincoln, upon a vacant square that had been used 
by the boysas a base-ball ground, and where the ordinary ‘“ pepper-grass” 
was growiug in profusion, the Agrotis anneva finally succeeded in clear- 
ing the ground of this weed. So voracious did the worms become be- 
fore maturity that the pepper-grass was even cut off and the stems 
drawn into their retreats in the ground, where they might be devoured 
during day-time. On cloudy days the worms even ventured forth 
to feed openly by daylight, scurrying back into their holes when the sun 
came out fora moment. In the hard trampled ground their holes were 
smooth-cut and presented a very interesting sight indeed when the occu- 
pants issued forth and quickly returned upon the least disturbance, like 

23479—No. 22 7 


I8 


some animal of greater intelligence. The larva of this particular spe- 
cies of Agrotis is exceedingly active, reminding one not a little of some 
of the chipmunks among the rodents. 

A second species that much interested me is the larva ofan Agrotis sp. 
that was exceedingly numerous upon the college farm and adjoining tracts 
to the eastward of the city. This latter worm worked on various plants 
in the garden, but on the farm showed decided taste for clover. Here 
it literally ‘“‘lived in clover” in large numbers. ‘The different kinds of 
clover growing in the experimental plats suffered much. It was here 
that one of the instances above cited of cut-worms cultivating the soil 
occurred. 

The remedies used against these different cut-worms varied somewhat 
in their character; but they were chiefly hand picked orcrushed. Many 
of the worms also perished from the attacks of predaceous beetles either 
in the larval or imago stages, and of parasites of one or another sort. 
A few of them also from diseases that resulted from the presence of 
fungi or bacteria. The parasitized worms were the result of the eggs 
laid by Tachina flies in most cases. The A. anneva larve suffered most 
in this respect, on account of their habit of coming out to feed during 
the day-time. 
ARMY-WORM. 


As the State grows older in its settlement the reports of Army-worm 
depredations become more frequent year by year. Last year I reported 
the appearance and damage by this insect in the extreme northwestern 
part of Nebraska, as well as in portions of southwestern Dakota. 
During the present year several localities in northeastern Nebraska 
were overrun to a limited extent by the larvee of Leucania unipuncta, 
None of these areas infested were of very great extent, nor was the 
injury committed complete in any of the cases coming to my notice. 
Millet and oat fields were the chief sufferers. 

A small black fly was bred from larvee received from Mr. J. M. Sey- 
more, of Pender, Thurston County. This fly has frequently been _ob- 
served by me at various points in northern Nebraska, where I have 
taken it in my net when sweeping for other insects on the prairie. It 
must be a regular enemy of Leucania unipuncta, and perhaps also of 
other allied species, since it is by no means an uncommon insect every 
year. Others of the flesh-tflies (Tachinidz) also act as guards against 
this insect’s rapid increase, as can readily be seen from the fact that 
many of the larve taken have the eggs of these flies attached to their 
bodies. 

Visiting again this year the region last year reported to you as hav- 
ing the insect present in injurious numbers I was pleased to find that 
the Leucania had not appeared in numbers sufficiently great to attract 
the attention of those persons who lost crops by their depredations last. ~ 
year. In fact I am pretty confident in asserting that there are no 
grounds for fearing this insect next year, in the State of Nebraska at 
least. 


99 


THE GREEN-LINED MAPLE-WORM. 


For the third time, now, many of our soft-maple trees in the city of | 
Lincoln have been entirely defoliated by the larve of Anisota rubicunda. 
This insect has been steadily increasing for the past three years, and 
if it does not soon die off by some epidemic disease or is killed by para- 
sites the growing of this tree will be very difficult. This state of 
affairs is due entirely to the negligence of our citizens in general, who, it 
appears, can not be induced to spend the little time necessary for the 
destruction of insect pests that attack their shade trees, garden and 
farm produce, and flowering plants. ‘The entomologist can not kill all 
the insects, good and bad, in the country; neither are his words of 
advice heeded in the least when he tells how each insect enemy is to be 
gotten rid of by means of the least labor and expense to those who 
should-be most interested. 


THE BLUE-GRASS WEEVIL. 


For the past two years Sphenophorus parvulus Gyll. has been in- 
creasing quite rapidly in numbers, so that now it has come to be one of 
our commonest beetles in the city of Lincoln, at least, if not elsewhere. 
From the fact of its frequenting sidewalks, or being concealed under 
boards, sticks, and stones that were left Jying about on tlie University 
campus, and on lawns elsewhere in the city, I began an investigation as 
to its probable breeding place. This study has led to the discovery of 
its feeding upon the roots of the common blue-grass (Poa pratensis). 
So plentiful has the insect become in some lawns that the sod has been 
entirely killed over large patches. 

The larva is a short, thick, whitish grub, like those of other species 
of the genus, and measures from 4 to 5 millimeters in length when fully 
matured. The beetles appear twice a year, @.¢..in the spring and early 
fall, the insect probably being double-brooded. Some of the beetles 
may come out in fall, while the remainder may lie over winter as pupe. 
The fully maiured larve were found early in June, while others were 
observed last October. Damp and well-watered lawns appear to be in- 
fested fully as badly, if not worse, that those that are dryer, although 
they do not show the injury nearly so quickly in the former as in the 
latter case. 

While looking for larve during the latter part of last May, numerous 
specimens of a small white “ hair-worm” Mermis or Gordius, or some 
allied genus, were found seattered through the soil. These were only 
obtained at very damp places under trees on the University campus, 
and as a rule were tightly coiled. Whether these would have or had 
been in any way connected with the Sphenophorus larve, I do not know, 
as I am not sufficiently well acquainted with these forms nor with their 
life-histories. Various ground-beetles (Carabide) and their larve cer- 
tainly do devour the larvee of Sphenophorus, since the former were also 
quite common in the localities where the latter abounded. No expert- 


L100 


ments were carried on with a view to finding a remedy against the in- 
juries of this weevil. 
THE CORN ROOT-WORM. 


(Diabrotica longicornis.) 


This insect is becoming alarmingly common in the counties of eastern 
Nebraska and those of western lowa; and, judging from the general 
food habits which the imago appears to be developing, it may soon be- 
come a much more dangerous pest than we at presentimagine. During 
the past summer and fall the beetle has been almost omnipresent, so 
common was it in the vicinity of Lincoln. It was found upon a large 
variety of plants belonging to different orders. It was beaten from 
trees such as maple, box-elder, elm, ash, willow, cotton-wood, and oak. 
I found it rather common among the grasses and obtained it in plenty 
in gardens where it was feeding upon the leaves of radishes and 
turnips, in several instances completely riddling these latter with holes. 
As late as September 28, the beetle was still quite active during day- 
time, and quickly took to flight upon being disturbed. In August it 
was observed to be nocturnal in its movements, as was to be seen by 
the large numbers of the beetles that were attracted to and gathered 
about the electric lights. On the morning of the 15th, 260 specimens 
of the beetle were taken from the globe of a single arc light that hangs 
in front of University Hall upon the campus of the State University. 
These had all been attracted to and caught in the globe in a singie 
night. Whether or not these came from the farms in the surrounding 
country I can not say. Might not the species work in the roots (for 
the larva is a root-borer) of some other plant or plants beside corn? 
At any rate it is my present intention to look into the life-history of the 
Corn Root-worm a little more closely during next season. It is getting 
to be by far too common an insect in these parts for us to be running 
chances in dealing with it. Rotation of crops may or may not always 
prove to be a remedy against its depredations. 


INSECTS DETRIMENTAL TO THE GROWTH OF YOUNG TREES ON “ TREE 
CLAIMS” IN NEBRASKA AND OTHER PORTIONS OF THE WEST. 


For several years now I have been interested in the study of the insect 
pests that render the growing of young trees upon claims entered under 
the *“*timber-culture act” quite a difficult and tedious matter. This 
interest in the subject had its origin partly in personal experience and 
partly from the numerous complaints of others who have experienced 
great difficulty in securing a sufficient growth in their young timber 
within the limitations for making final proof. Not infrequently has it 
been the misfortune for those striving to gain titles to Government lands 
under this act to have their trees completely defoliated for several 
years in succession. Nor have these injuries been confined toany single — 
kind of tree. Since commencing the study of the subject I have either 


101 


seen or heard of all of the following species suffering alike from this 
cause: Ash, Box Elder, Soft Maple, Cottonwood, and Willow. The 
honey locust, too, has been subject to defoliation by insect enemies when 
growing as hedges upon the uplands of the semi-arid regions west of 
the 97th meridian. Some of these trees thus attacked were killed out- 
right, while others were set back a year or more by each defoliation. 

Several different lines of investigation have been followed in the 
study of this subject, viz, the comparative freedom from insect attack 
of the various kinds of trees; the influence of topography upon the 
growth of each kind of tree, as well as upon the increase and develop- 
ment of the insect life thriving upon the tree; also the comparative 
abundance or absence of birds and parasitic insects in the different 
regions, and what relation these bear to insect depredations. Of course, 
when fully carried out in the several lines indicated above, the investi- 
gation of such a subject can not fail to be quite extensive and result in 
some good to the parties most concerned. For the present paper, how- 
ever, only a few of the most important:of these insect enemies will be 
mentioned, and then only cursorily. Of these there are about thirty 
species belonging to the orders Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, 
Orthoptera, and Hemiptera. Most of these insects that I wish to eall 
attention to are quite general in their distribution, and therefore as 
well known to you as they are to those living in the “ tree-claim” 
region. My report will then simply consist of a statement as to their 
abundance, distribution, and the amount of injury done by each species. 
To do this the following table will best express my wishes and at the 
same time be least cumbersome. All of the species therein mentioned 
have been either observed by myself or were reported by others as 
occurring in injurious numbers during different seasons upon tree- 
claims located in Nebraska, Kansas, and Dakota. 


Insect. Tree. Insect. Tree. 
HYMENOPTERA. | Cressonia juglandis A. & | Walnut. 
fo 1S 
Cimbex americana Leach .| Willows. Clisiocampa americana | Most kinds. 
Monophadnus barda Say --| Ash. | _ Harr: 
| Clisiocampa sylvatica Do. 
COLEOPTERA. i Harr. 
Datana angust G. & R.| Black Walnut. 
Tina scripta Fab..-.-.-..-. Willow. and Cotton- || Anisota rubicunda Fab -..| Soft Maple. 
wood. | Hyphantria cunea Drury | All kinds. 
Chrysomela sp ------------ Do. | Apatela popult Riley..--. | On Cottonwood. 
Disonycha pennsylvanica | Willow. DOR eee ce ee a's ae Willow. 
: | J). ee eot oe aacoes Maple, Box Elder. 
Chrysobothris femorata | Box Elderand Maple. || Tortricid (——) ......-. Honey Locust, 
Fab. PES Po lataecse meet terete tates ais Ash. 
Lachnosterna(several spe- | All kinds. | DD OMA ees See tore Elm. 
cies). | Tortricid ( Nese eae Boring twigs of Hack- 
Epicauta cinerea Forst....| Honey Locust, Coffee berry, Box Elder. 
Bean. | ORTHOPTERA. 
LEPIDOPTERA. 
(Ecanthus niveus Serv ...| Stems of various trees. 
Papilio turnus Linn .....- Ash. | Weanthus latupennis Ri- | Stems not so common. 
Vanessa antiopa Linn ....| Willow, Elm. | ley. 
Platysamia cecropia Linn.| Maple, Willow, Box | Melanoplus spretus Thos 
Elder, ete. || Melanoplus femur-rub- | Foliage of all when 
Telea polyphemus Cramer | Maple, Elm, Box El- || — rum DeGeer. numerous. 
der, ete. | Melanoplus differentialis 
Triptogon modesta A. & S. | Willow, Cottonwood. | Thos. 


ren rn 


102 

Almost all of the above named insects are sufficiently numerous at 
times, when working alone, to kill or at least to greatly retard the 
growth of the tree or trees upon which they feed. Of course, they do 
not all oceur at once in any given locality in such overwhelming num- 
bers, nor are the injuries the same every year; but quite frequently 
two or more of the species are found feeding in company upon the same 
tree in numbers sufficiently greatto do harm. In addition to the species 
named above there are a great many others that are also known to at- 
tack and injure the trees growing upon tree-claims; but these latter 
have not yet made their presence so strongly felt as to force us to place 
them on the list of insect pests in connection with tree-claim culture. — 
For a description and life history of many of these the reader is referred 
to Bulletin No. 7 of the United States Entomological Commission, en- 
titled “‘ Insects Injurious to Forest and Shade Trees.” 

Causes for these Insect Injuries.—There is a cause for everything, so 
in the present instance we must look for one or a combination of causes 
that work together in producing the undue increase of insect life upon 
the prairies when new varieties of plants are introduced. A very 
superficial survey of the ground will quickly reveal tous some of these 
causes. : 

In the first place, there are always a few dwarfed trees of most of the 
kinds that are usually planted upon claims. These trees are scattered 
along the water courses, in ravines and gulches, and afew other localities 
that are protected from the fires which have annually swept over the 
broad prairies for generations. These few trees furnish food for small 
colonies of the various species of insects that we have named. There 
are always enough of them to very quickly stock aclaim close by upon 
which small trees are planted that are to their taste. Then, too, all of 
these injurious insects are of a hardy nature, used to a precarious life, 
and are strong fliers capable of making comparatively long journeys in 
search of food for themselves and their progeny. They are, in fact, the 
nomads of the insect world, capable of withstanding the vicissitudes 
belonging to a life upon the vast prairies where the more delicate para- 
sitic forms could not live or even find shelter. Then, too, their 
requirements for quarters in which to pass the long, cold winter months 
are less complex than are those of the species that come later on. 

In the second place, the country being destitute of groves of timber 
among the branches of which insectivorous birds can find shelter and 
build their nests most of these insect destroyers are absent. Of course, 
the absence of so great a factor as are these birds in the ridding a 
country of its insect pests soon becomes apparent in the increase of the 
latter and of the accompanying injury done by them. The absence of 
groves, too, not only keeps away the feathered tribe, but also prevents 
many of the more delicate parasitic and a large number of the preda- 
ceous insects from becoming established in the region. The majority 
of these latter forms of insects, as before stated, are such as require 


103 


sheltered retreats in which to lurk or to get away from the hot dry sum- 
mers and the long cold winters. 

In the third place, the comparative aridity of the region where these 
claims are located renders the growth of them somewhat slower than 
where the precipitation is more bountifnl. This slowness of growth, 
while it is an advantage in one respect, aids the insect foes to a con- 
derable extent in their work of destruction. Arank and rapid growth 
places a tree out of danger from external enemies much more quickly 
than will aslow growth. At the same time in rank growth a much 
greater amount of food is furnished for the same number of insects, 
and as a consequence less injury to the tree results than would were 
the growth slower. 

A fourth cause for the rapid increase among these different insects 
in new regions is the absence of such fungoid diseases as are known to 
attack and kill various of these pests. After awhile, however, the 
germs of these diseases become diffused through the soil, vegetable 
débris, and about the encumbering growths, buildings, etc. These 
germs are carried around by the elements and other agencies, and in 
time some of them find lodgment within the bodies of such insects as 
are susceptible to their growth. The result is disease and death. 

Comparative Freedom of different Trees fromthe Attacks of Insect Pests.— 
Up to the present writing I have not sufficiently investigated this por- 
tion of the subject to be entirely positive in my assertions as to the 
kind or kinds of trees most nearly exempt from the attacks of insect 
foes in different regions. None of them are entirely free; but that there 
are trees which suffer less than others in this respect is a well-known 
fact, and can be seen at any time where several kinds are growing side 
by side or in the same grove. Again, a particular kind of tree might 
be troubled in a given locality, while in another it would be compara- 
tively free. Some trees also suffer while small, and others are usually 
injured after they have gained considerable growth and age. These 
variations with regard to insect attacks among different trees, and of 
the same kind at different ages, are governed by laws the explanation 
of which would require much more time and -space than I have at my 
command. By looking over the list of insects mentioned above it will 
be seen that no reference is made of any species injuring either the 
Catalpa or Russian Mulberry. The Ash is affected by three, each of 
which at times strips it of foliage while young; the Box Elder by two 
or three; the Willow by a dozen or more; the Cottonwood by four or 
five; the Soft-Maple by several; the Elm a couple; the Honey Locust 
two, ete. 

In treating this subject only such insects have been mentioned as 
have been ascertained to attack the various trees during their first few 
years of growth, and before they have attained any great size. Other 
species of insects injure these trees later on; but, as a rule, these latter 


104 


are less destructive to them save in a few instances. Only a very few 
borers work in healthy young trees in this region. 

Remedies tried und suggested.—Only a few remedies have been gener- 
ally tried against these pests in the region of tree claims, and most of 
these were confined to the various methods of ‘*hand-picking” and 
crushing. Spraying and dusting with poisons and kerosene emulsions, 
or the use of road dust, ashes, air-slaked lime, etec., have been reported 
only ina very few instances. Any or all of these methods of warfare when 
properly carried on and used intelligently, in accordance with the habits 
of the insect that is being fought, will repay one for the time thus 
spent. 


LOCUSTS OR GRASSHOPPERS. 


Aside from several local outbreaks there has been no special damage 
done during the year by locusts within the United States. Of course, 
you are already acquainted with the particulars in connection with the 
local injuries, of which the chief are the following: The Rocky Mount- 
ain or migratory species at Nephi City, Utah; the same in Otter Tail 
County, Minnesota; and the lesser and red-thighed species in the mount- 
ain districts of the New England States. The Utah outbreak was 
partly investigated by me at the time (May) of its occurrence, through 
correspondence with the Hon. James B. Darton, of Nephi City. That 
gentleman supplied me with specimens at different times from which the 
insects under consideration were determined. The conclusions at which 
1 then arrived were reported to Mr. Howard in your absence. If I 
remember rightly, both the Rocky Mountain (Melanoplus spretus) and 
the California locust (Camnula pellucida) were found among the material 
received from Mr. Darton. The Otter Tail outbreak has been very care- 
fully written up by Mr. Otto Lugger, of the Minnesota Experiment Sta- 
tion; while Mr.C. L. Marlatt, of the Entomological Division, has reported 
on the New England outbreak. 

While it is not my intention to devote much time to the subject of 
Jocust abundance and injuries, I do wish to say a few words concerning 
the fungoid disease known as ELntomophthora calopteni of Bessey. Dur- — 
ing the present summer this disease has been unusually abundant in 
and around the city of Lincoln, Nebr. Several species ot our native 
locusts were attacked by it; but the large yellow one, known as the 
Melanoplus differentialis Thomas, was destroyed by the thousands. 
Whether the fungus in question was more plentiful than usual, and 
did its work of extermination more effectually than during previous 
Summers; or, whether it was on account of my being surrounded by a 
number of students in botany, and located next door to the botanical 
laboratory, that attracted my attention to these, 1 do not know. The 
impression is, however, that the former is the true explanation. On 
the University campus alone, where differentialis hatched quite plen- 
tifully and began doing considerable injury to various small trees and 


105 


shrubs, there must have been several thousands of the hoppers destroyed 
by the disease. Soon after the locusts became fledged some of them 
were observed to die after first showing signs of disease. After the 
disease first became apparent among the locusts, it spread, or at least 
appeared in other portions of the city, the number of dead and dying 
locusts increasing daily. So fatal did the disease finally become upon 
the University campus that but few of the differentialis escaped to 
deposit eggs. I know that three or four of the botanical students each 
collected the dead locusts by the chalk-box full to use as specimens in 
their line of work, and for exchange, while I gathered many of them 
myself. During the latter half of August, and early in September, at 
almost any time one might have secured from fifty to a hundred or 
more specimens of the dead locusts in a few moments, by simply going 
outside of the science hall a few yards. 

So rapid was the final action of the Hntomophthora (or nance as it 
has more recently been called) that not infrequently the locusts were 
found still in copulation, one or the other of the sex being dead. When 
they were found in this condition, the female, though not always, was 
the first to succumb. This would not, however, prove anything as to 
the comparative fatality of the disease as far as the different sexes are 
concerned. ‘There are other matters to be taken into consideration be- 
fore we can come to a definite solution of comparative immunity from 
attacks upon the different sexes of an insect by a disease like the present. 

Just how long a time is required for the full development of the 
fungus after an insect is first attacked I am not prepared to state; 
neither can I give an account of the various stages through which the 
fungus passes during this development from the original spore to the 
stage where such spores are reproduced. Nor am i posted as to all 
symptoms present during the different stages of the disease occasioned 
by the fungus within the tissues of a living locust. All that I know 
is, that shortly before death the stricken hopper climbs up some stick, 
weed, or blade of grass, to which it clings frantically with its anterior 
and middle pairs of legs. When found dead these always bave their 
head uppermost. 

Whether or not invariably fatal I can not say; and imagine that to 
ascertain this would be noeasy task. Iam also quite ignorant in refer- 
ence to its capability of being artificially spread, since I have had no 
opportunity to experiment in that direction. Besides, the disease does 
not appear to be common to all species of locusts alike; or if it is, we 
do not know it. The subject will bear a much more Gare study than 
has thus far been devoted to it. From an economic standpoint there is 
still a great deal to be learned concerning insect-attacking fungi, as a 
few recent experiments in this line clearly demonstrate. 

Before leaving the subject of this locust-destroying fungus I wish to 
add the following notes, prepared for the present paper at my request 


106 


by Prof. C. EK. Bessey. They will show the most recent views of bota- 
nists as to the systematic position of the plant in question : 


Entomophthora caloptent Bessey.—The original description of this species appeared 
in the American Naturalist for December, 1883 (page 1280). It is reproduced here 
verbatim : 

“‘T. Empusa stage, not seen. 

“TI. Tarichium stage : Oospores globular, or from pressure somewhat irregular in 
outline, colorless, 36 to 394. in diameter; walls thick (4 /.), colorless, smooth ; pro- 
toplasm granular, after as if composed of many small cells, often with a large round 
vacuole. Occurring as a clay-colored mass inthe body cavity and femora of Calop- 
tenus differentialis. 

“Ames, Iowa, August and September, 1883.” 

Specimens of this fungus collected in Wisconsin by Trelease and Seymour were 
distributed under the name given above by Ellis and Everhart in North American 
Fungi, No.1801. In April, 1888, Mr. Roland Thaxter published, in the Memoirs of 
the Boston Society of Natural History. an important paper on The Entomophthorze 
of the United States, in which he revises the species of the group, and adopts the 
older generic name Hmpusa, first proposed by Cohn in 1855, in preferenceto Ento- 
mophthora proposed by Fresenius in 1856. Moreover, Mr. Thaxter concludes that the 
fungus described above is identical with one described as Entomophthora grylli, by 
Fresenius, in 1856. Specimens of this species were distributed in 1885 by Dr. Farlow, 
in Eis’ North American Fungi, No. 1401. Our species thus appeared in Mr. Thaxter’s 
paper under the name of Hmpusa grylli (Fres.) Nowakowski. 


eS eae 


INDE X. 


/Egeria tipuliformis, 86. 
sculus californicus, 89. 
Agallia flaccida, 29. 
4-punctata, 28. 
sanguinolenta, 29. 
A griotes mancus, 51. 
Agrostis, 93. 
Agrotis annexa, 97. 
clandestina, 89, 97. 
cochranili, &8. 
crenulata, life-history of, 89. 
herilis, 43. 
messoria, 88, 97. 
saucia, 82, 97. 
suffusa, 97. 
Atlotria tritici, 71. 
Allygus irroratus, 30. 
Amaranthus, 97. 
Anabrus simplex, 94. 
Andropogon divisitiflorus, 59. 
Anisopteryx vernata, 74. 
Anisota rubicunda, 99, 101. 
Anomala varians, 51. 
Anthrax parasitic on Agrotis herilis, 44. 
Aonidia aurantii, 7. 
Apatela populi, 101. 
Aphidius avenaphis, 71. 
Aphids, abundance in Missouri, 70. 
found on wheat, 70. 
Aphis avene, 74. 
mali, 70. 
persice, 80. 
n. sp. on roots of wheat, 70. 
Apple, 75, 79, 86, 88, 90, 96. 
Arbutus menziesii, 85. 
Army Worm in Iowa, 20. 
Indiana; 45. 
Nebraska, 98. 
parasites of, 46, 98. 
the fall. 46. 
Arsenic, experiments with, 80. 
Arundinaria tecta, 59. 
Ash, 100, 101. 
Aspidiotus aurantii, 7, 10, 14, 17. 
Aster, 82. 
Barley, 57, 93. 
Bassus sycophanta, 71. 
Bats capturing Codling moths, 91. 
Beans, 52, 82. 
Bean's Eureka insecticide, 17. 
Beet, 76. 
Bessey, Prof. C. E., description of Entomophthora 
calopteni, 106. 


Bittacus near stigmaterus destroying Crambus, 
48. 
Blackberry, 74. 
Blissus leucopterus, 41, 55, 96, 97. 
Blue Grass, 19, 42, 99. 
Blue Grass Weevil in Nebraska, 99. 
Box-elder, 74, 100, 101. 
Bruner, Lawrence, Report by, 95. 
Buckeye, 89. 
Buckton, quoted, 69. ‘ 
Bythoscopus sanguinolentus, 29. 
siccifolius, 29. 
Cabbage, 52, 78. 
Butterfly, 76. 
Curculio, 73. 
Worm, 81. 
Calathus ruficollis, 92. 
California Insects, Report on, 85. 
Caloptenus femur-rubrum, 22, 44, 94, 101. 
Camnula pellucida, 94, 104. 
Canker worms in Missouri, 74. 
Carpocapsa (see Codling moth). 
Catalpa, 103. 
Ceanothus, 87. 
cordulatus, 88. 
thyrsiflorus, 88. 
Cecidomyia destructor, 93. 
Celeena renigera. 82. 
Ceratochloa australis, 37. 
Ceuthorhynchus rape, 73. 
Chenopodium album, 76. 
Cherry, Wild, 87. 
Chinch Bug, 41, 96. 
Injuring grasses in Iowa, 21. 
In Indiana, 55. 
Unequal distribution in Indiana, 55. 
Influence of rain-fall, 58. 
Fungus disease of, 60. 
Chionanthus virginica, 79. 
Chrysanthemum, 75. 
Chrysobothris femorata, 101. 
mali, 86. 
Chrysomela sp. injurious to Willow, 101. 
Chrysopa larvie feeding on Phyloxera rileyi, 83. 
probably destroying Codling moth ege 
91. 
preying on Wheat Aphis, 71. 
Cicada coccinea, 28. 
Cicadula exitiosa, 30. 
Cimbex americana, 101. 
Cladius isomera, 78. 
Clisiocampa americana. 101. 
ea liforaica, 87. 


Ss 


107 


Clisiocampa constricta, 87. 
erosa, 87. 
fragilis, 87. 
strigosa, 87. 
sylvatica, 101. 
thoracica, 87. 
Clover, 19, 47, 75, 82, 98. 
-seed midge in Iowa, 19. 
Coccinella 9-notata, 64, 72. 
Codling moth in Missouri, 75. 
California, 89. 
parasites of, in California, 8, 90. 
Coffee bean, 101. 
Colorado potato beetle, experiments with, 80, 81. 
Conozoa wallula, 94. 
Contopus virens, 48. 
Coquillett, D. W., Report by, 9. 
Coriscus ferus, 26. 
Corn, 48, 46, 47, 48, 52, 53, 57, 100. 
Sweet, 76. 
Corn root-worm in Nebraska, 100. 
Cornus, 33. 
sanguinea, 36, 
sericea, 39. 
Corymelena pulicaria, 75. 
Cosmos, 75. 
Cottonwood, 100, 101. 
Cottony Cushion Scale, 9, 12. 
Crambus exsiceatus, 18. 
laqueatellus, 18, 48. 
zeellus, 47, 48. 
Cressonia juglandis, 101. 
Cruciferx injured by Phyllotreta vittata, 73. 
Cucumber, 76, 22. 
Currant, 86, 88. 
Cut-worm, a new, 47. 
Cut-worms in California, 88. 
Towa, 18, 20. 
Nebraska, 97. 
Dactylis glomerata, 71. 
Dahlia, 75. 
Datana angusii, 101. 
winistra, 44, 45. 
Destructive Leaf-hopper, 30. 
Diabrotica 12-punctata, 19, 52, 76. 
longicornis, 100. 
soror, 87. 
vittata, 19. 
Diamond soluble bone, experiment with, 48. 
Diedrocephala coccinea, 27, 28. 
mollipes, 26. 
noveboracensis, 27. 
versuta, 27. 
Dipterous parasite of Army Worm, 98. 
Diabrotica soror, 87. 
Disonycha collaris, 76. 
pennsylvanica, 101. 
Dissosteira carolina, 94. 
obliterata, 94. 
Dogwood Plant-louse, 20, 32. 
Its identity with the grass root-louse, 32. 
Doryphora 10-lineata, 80. 
Drasterius dorsalis, 52. 
elegans, 52. 
Drymeia sp. parasitic on Army Worm, 46. 
E)m, 74, 100. 


108 


Elymus americanus, 93. 
Empusa grylli, 106. 
Encyrtus websteri, 71. 
Entomological notes from Missouri for 1889, 73. 
Entomophthora disease of the Chinch Bug, 60. 
Entomophthora calopteni, 104, 106. 
grylli, 106. 
Epicauta cinerea, 101. 
Epitrix cucumeris, 19. 
Eragrostis megastachya, 37. 
Erax larva, probably parasitic on White Grub, 51. 
Kriosoma? cornicola, 37, 39, 40. 
2? fungicola, 37, 38, 40. 
European Cabbage Butterfly in Missouri, 76. 
Eureka insecticide, experiments with, 17. 
Fabricius’s original description of Aphis corni, 36. 
Fall Army Worm, 46. 
False Chinch Bugs in Nebraska, 95. 
Fertilizing salt, experiments with, 50. 
Flea-like negro-bug in Missouri, 75. 
Fluted Scale, 9, 12. 
Four-pointed Agallia, 28. 
Foxtails (see Setaria). : 
Fungus disease of Chinch Bug, 60. 
grasshoppers, 104. 
Gas treatment for Scale insects, 9. 
Geocoris bullata, 96. 
Gortyna nitela, 47, 75. 
Grain Aphis in Indiana, 64. 
Severe outbreak in 1889, 64. 
Influence of temperature and moisture, 65. 
Cool temperature favorable to its develop- 
ment, 68. 
Efficacy of parasites, 69. 
Notes on life-history, 69. 
Enumeration of natural enemies, 71. 
Other species of Aphids found on wheat, 70. 
Grain fruits, insects injurious to, 7, 42. 
Grape, 86, 96. 
Grass, 19, 20, 34, 93, 100. 
Hungarian, 41. 
Timothy, 45. 
Grasses, insects injurious to, 7, 20, 41. 
Grass-root Plant-louse, 32. 
Grasshoppers in Iowa, 21. 
fungus disease of, 104. 
Green-lined Maple. worm in Nebraska, 99. 
Gryllus luctuosus, 94. 
Hackberry, 101. 
Hadena stipata, 47. 
Halticus pallicornis, 82. 
Hesperotettix pacificus, 44. 
Hessian fly in Califurnia, 93. 
new food-plants of, 93. 
Heteroptera infesting grasses, 41. 
Hieroglyphic Leaf-hopper, 28. 
Hippodamia convergens, 72. 
glacialis, 72. 
parenthesis, 72. 
13-punctata, 72. 
Honev Locust, 101. 
Hopper Dozers recommended for Leaf-hoppers, 25. 
Hungarian grass, 41. 
Hurtful Leaf-hopper, 31. 
Hydrocyanic gas treatment, 9. 
Hyphantria cunea, 101. 


Icerya purchasi, 7, 9, 12. 

Ichneumon brevicinctor, 46. 

Insects affecting grain fruits, 7, 42. 
grasses, 7, 20. 


young trees on western tree 


claims, 100. 
injurious in California, 85. 
Iowa, 18. 
Missouri, 73. 
Nebraska, 95. 
Insecticides, experiments with, 9, 48, 80. 
Bean’s Eureka insecticide, 17. 
hydrocyanic acid gas, 9. 
London purple, 19. 
Paris green, 30. 
Petroleum emulsion, 19, 80. 
Resin soaps and compounds, 10. 
Salts, 50, 51. 
White arsenic, 80. 
Various substances, 48. 
X. O. Dust, 19, 80. 
Iowa, insects injurious in, 18. 
Ischnodemus falicus, 41. 
Isocrates vulgaris, 71. 
Isosoma sp. destructive in California, 93. 
tritici, 42. 
Jassus inimicus, 31. 
Kerosene emulsion, 19, 80. 
Koebele, Albert, Report by, 83. 
Lachnosterna larve destructive in Indiana. 48. 


injuring young trees in the West, 


101. 


Laphria tergissa destroying Varying Anomala, 51. 


Laphygma frugiperda, 46. 

Leaf-hoppers atfecting grass in Iowa, 21. 
Appearance and habits, 23. 
Amount and nature of damage, 22. 
Remedies, 23. 

Enumeration of species observed, 26. 

Lecanium olea, 13. 

sp. on dogwood, 34. 

Leuvania unipuncta (see Army Worm). 

Leucarctia acraza, 92. 

Lina scripta, 76, 101. 

Linden, 74. 

Locust injury in 1889, 104. 

Locusts on the Pacific coast, 93. 

London purple and Kerosene emulsion, 19. 

Long Bug, 41. 

Luperina stipata, 47. 

Lygus lineatus, 75. 

pratensis, 75. 
Madrona tree-borer, 85. 
Maple, 74, 100, 101. 
soft, 99, 101. 
Maple Worm, the Green-lined, 99. 


Meadows and pastures, insects injurious to, 20, 48. 


Megaspilus niger, 71. 

Megilla maculata, 72. 

Megoura sp. found on rye, 71. 

Melanoplus cinereus, 94. 
devastator, 94. 
differentialis, 101, 104. 
femur-rubrum, 22, 24, 94, 101. 
packardii, 94. 
spretus, 101, 104, 


109 


Melaxanthus salicis, 20. 
Meromyza americana, 42. 
found on grass in lowa, 19. 
Merisus destructor, 93. 
Micropus leucopteras, 41, 55, 96, 97. 
Millet, 98. 
Miris affinis, 41. 
Monophadnus barda, 101. 
Mulberry, 96. 
Russian, 103. 
Murtfeldt, Mary E., Report by, @2. 
Myzus sp. found on wheat, 71. 
Nasturtium, 76. 
Nebraska, insects injurious in, 95. 
Nemorza leucaniz, 46. 
New Rose Slug, 78. 
Life-history, 78. 
Description of larva, 78. 
New York Leaf-hopper, 27. 
Nomophila noctuella, 18. 
Nysius angustatus, 96. 
Oak, 82, 87, 88, 100, 
Oats, 52, 57, 98. 
Oecanthus latipennis, 82, 101. 
niveus, 101. 
stlund, O. W., quoted, 38. 
Olive, 86. 
Ophion purgatus, 46. 
Orchard grass, 71. 
trees, 74, 75. 
Osborn, Prof. Herbert, Report by, 18. 
Pachyneuron micans, 71. 
Palthis angulalis, description of larva and pupa, 
79. 
Panicum, 33, 638. 
anceps, 59. 
glabrum, 37, 38. 
prolificum, 59. 
viscidum, 59. 
Papilio turnus, 101. 
Paspalum fluitans, 59. 
lzeve, 59. 
Passerini, quoted, 37. 
Peach, 74, 75. 
Pear, 75, 90. 
Bartlett, 90. 
Peppergrass, 73, 97. 
Phosphate salt, experiment with, 49. 
Phyllotreta vittata, 73, 80. 
zimmermanni, 80. 
Phylloxera rileyi, notes on, for 1889, 82. 
Pieris protodice, 76. 
Tape, 76. 
Pimpla annulipes, 90. 
Pipiza pulchella possibly preying on Chinch Bug, 
64. 
Plagiodera scripta, 76, 101. 
Platysamia cecropia, 101. 
Plum, 74, 86. 
Plum curculio in Missouri, 74. 
Poa pratensis, 42, 70, 99. 
Podabrus tomentosus, 72. 
Podura found on radishes, 74. 
Polycaon confertus, 89. 
Polygonum, 97. 
Populus, 76, 


Post Oak, 82. 
Prunus demissa, 87. 
Pterostichus californicus, 92. 
Purslane, 97. 
Bug, 96. 

Quercus agrifolia, 87, 89. 

conomensis, 87. 

obtusiloba, 82. 
Radish, 73, 100. 
Rain-fall and temperature in Indiana, 66, 67. 


Raphidia destroying Codling Moths in Califor- 


nia, 92. 
Red-backed Leaf-hopper, 28. 
Red Scale of California, 7. 
methods of destroying, 9. 
Red osier dogwood, 37. 


Resin soaps and compounds for Scale insects, 10. 


Rhopalosiphum n. sp. found on wheat, 70. 
Rhubarb, 74. 

Rocky Mountain Locust, 101, 104. 

Rose, 78. 

Rose slug, anew, 78. 


Ryan, F. G., experiment with resin washes, 13. 


Rye, 46, 57, 70, 71. 
Sage bush, 94. 


Salts, experiment with, as insecticides, 49, 50, 51. 


Schizoneura corni, 20, 32, 33, 36. 
cratzgi, 19. 
panicola, 33, 38, 40. 
venusta, 37, 40. 
Scirpus atrovirens, 53. 
Scoliopteryx libatrix, 46. 
Selandria rose, 78, 80. 
? sp. injurious to White Fringe, 79. 
Setaria, 33, 41, 63. 
glauca, 37, 61. 
italica, 37. 
viridis, 37. 
Shade trees infested by Apbids, 74. 
Siphonophoraavene, 64, 74. 
Smart-weed, 97. 
Sphzrophoria cylindrica, 71. 
Sphenophorus ochreus, 52. 
parvulus, 99. 
Spinach, 76. 
Spinach beetle, 76. 
Life-habits and history, 76. 
Description of larva and pupa, 77. 
Squash, 76. 
Stalk-borer, 75. 
Steiroxis sp., 94. 
Stenobothris coloradus, 94. 
Stink-grass, 97. 
Strawberry, 75. 
Streaked Cottonwood Beetle, 76, 101. 
Swamp Sphenophorus in Indiana, 52. 
Sweet corn, 76. 
Systoechus oreas, 44. 
Tarnished Plant-bug, 75, 81. 
Telea polyphemus, 101. 
Telephorus carolinus, 72. 


110 


Tenderfoot Leaf-hopper, 26. 
Tent caterpillars of the Pacific coast, 87. 
Tettigonia hieroglyphica, 28. 

4-vittata, 28. 
Thomas, Prof. Cyrus, quoted, 37, 38. 
Thorn-tree Aphid in Iowa, 19. 
Thrips found on blue grass, 19. 


larve feeding on Phylloxera rileyi, 83. 


Timothy grass, 45. 
Tortricid injurious to Honey Locust, 101. 


boring twigs of Hackberry and Box- 


elder, 101. 
Toxoptera n. sp. found on wheat, 70. 
Trapozonotus nebulosus, 96. 


Trees on western tree claims, insects injurious 


to, 100. 
Trichogramma pretiosa, 8. 
Trimerotropis fallax, 94. 
Trioxys sp. parasitic on Grain Aphis, 71. 
Triptogon modesta, 101. 


Trogoderma tarsale, larva feeding on Codling 


moth pupe, 92. 
Tropzxolum, 76. 
Turt Web-worms in Iowa, 20. 
Turnips, 73, 100. 
Twelve-spotted Diabrotica, 52, 76. 
Tychea panici, 38. 
Uhler, Prof. P., quoted, 26. 
Uniola latifolia, 59. 
Van Duzee, E. P., quoted, 29, 30. 
Vanessa antiopa, 101. 
Varying Anomala, 51. 
Vedalia cardinalis, 8, 9, 85. 
Walsh, B. D., quoted, 37. 
Walnut, 101. 
Black, 101. 

Washes for Scale insects, 7, 10. 
Wavy-spotted Leaf-hopper, 30. 
Wavy-striped Flea-beetle, 73. 
Webster, Prof. F. M., Report by, 42. 
Weed, Clarence M., quoted, 39. 
Western Striped Cut-worms, 43. 

Interesting parasite on, 44. 
Wheat, 42, 51, 52, 57, 64, 70, 71, 93. 
Wheat stem maggot, 42. 

straw worm, 42. 
wire-worm, dl. 

White arsenic, experiments with, 80. 
White Fringe tree, 79. 
White Fringe Slug, 79. 

Description of larva, 79. 
White grubs in Indiana, 48. 

Iowa, 20. 
experiments for destroying, 48. 

Wild Cherry, 87. 
Willow, 87, 88, 100,101. 
Willow Plant-louse, 20. 
Wire-worm injuring wheat, 51. 
Wood Pewee destroying Crambus moths, 48. 
Xanthogramma emarginata, 71. 
X. O. Dust, experiments with, 19, 75, 80. 


°