meadows suffered very severely over quite a tract of country. The "hopper-dozer" or sheet iron pan was used to advantage in destroying them, but the locust mite (Trombidium locustarum) was much more efficient, though its effect came too late to protect the crop.

The harlequin cabbage bug (Murgantia histrionica) continues to increase in numbers and severity of attack along the southern border of the State, where it was first observed three or four years ago. I can not understand why it should push northward so much more rapidly in the interior than along the coast, if its progress is being carefully noted in the east. It has been reported with specimens fully 30 miles north of the Ohio River, and at that rate of progress will reach the latitude of Columbus and Philadelphia the coming year, whereas in New Jersey it has pushed northward very slowly. In Ohio it is spreading to the north at the rate of about 25 miles per year. Through the assistance of Prof. H. A. Morgan, entomologist of the Louisiana Experiment Station, an experiment is being made in introducing egg parasites of this pest, and one lot received from Professor Morgan has been liberated near Portsmouth, on the Ohio River. Whether we shall succeed in colonizing these parasites and whether or not they will withstand our northern winters are problems yet to be solved, but we hope for the best.

The bag worm (Thyridopteryx ephemeraformis) is reported by the superintendent of parks of Cincinnati as giving unusual trouble this season, notwithstanding that it has been fought industriously, and as I thought, successfully, during the last two years. This pest has long been known in southwestern Ohio, as far north as Dayton, but it was only within the last two years that Dr. Kellicott and myself have been able to locate it as far north as latitude 40°. Last winter I received what appeared to be the abandoned sack of a male from Grand Rapids, Ohio, within 25 miles of Toledo, on Lake Erie. As I have since received specimens from points intervening between this and Dayton, and have in no case been able to trace its introduction to trees or plants brought from more southern points, it would appear that the species has established itself locally throughout almost the entire latitude of western Ohio.

The asparagus beetle (Crioceris asparagi) is pushing its way westward across northern Ohio, having proven quite destructive this season 10 to 15 miles west of Cleveland. On the other hand, I find that it is only making its first appearance along the extreme northeastern border of the State, about Ashtabula, Andover, and Youngstown. Strangely enough, I have invariably found it in a locality first on isolated plants escaped from cultivation.

In the discussion following this paper Dr. D. S. Kellicott, of Columbus, reported its appearance at Licking Reservoir, a little north of Columbus and to the eastward, while on my arrival home I learned that specimens had been sent to the station from Paint Valley, Holmes County, only about 20 miles south of Wooster, which is in latitude 40° 48'.

In May there were strong indications of serious trouble from cutworms, but later a large black worm, the larva of Calosoma calidum, appeared in such numbers as to attract the attention of farmers all over the State. From the reports received, and the number of specimens sent me by farmers in widely separated localities, I infer that there was a general increase in numbers of this dusky friend of the farmer, and that it was largely due to their presence that we escaped an invasion of cutworms.

Over the southern portion of Brown, Clermont, and Hamilton counties the black locust (Robinia pseudacacia) was more or less defoliated by the locust leaf-miner (Odontota dorsalis) and the same was true of the adjacent portion of Kentucky. The trouble appeared to begin some 15 miles back from the Ohio River, in Ohio at least, and increased in severity toward the south. July 10, I found nothing but adults, but these were so abundant that I could easily beat half a gill into an inverted umbrella from a single branch.

Saperda candida, which I have never found anywhere except rarely, was sent me this year accused of gnawing into young apples, the fruit inclosed with the specimen giving ample evidence of its fondness for this sort of fare; besides, it was captured in the very act of attacking apples in the orchard.

Disonycha triangularis caused considerable injury to the foliage of beets and mangel-wurzels by riddling the leaves with holes.

Mr. R. H. Warder, superintendent of city parks for Cincinnati, reported injury to geraniums by white ants (Termes flavipes), bringing me specimens of the living plants with the insects burrowing in the stems.

Valgus canaliculatus worked serious injury in April in southern Ohio by eating out the fruit buds of pear and other fruits, and in case of young apple trees it destroyed the leaf buds.

A minute capsid, Halticus bractatus (kindly determined for me by Prof. H. Osborn), was detected in injuring the leaves of red clover by sucking the juices from the upper surface of the leaves, causing these leaves to turn to a whitish color. The young also feed in the same way, but the discoloring of the leaves appears to protect them, as the affected leaves harmonize more nearly in color with that of the young. The adult female simulates to a marked degree a small saltatorial beetle, Chatocnema parcepunctata Cr., which also feeds upon clover, while the male capsid has the normal form. My assistant, Mr. C. W. Mally, found the Halticus on cucumber near Cleveland, and informs me that it also occurs in Iowa. As this species so closely resemble beetles that affect our crops, and as farmers to whom I have pointed out the capsid have, without a single exception, called them flea-beetles, though the two feed in an entirely different manner, it would seem quite possible that some of the reported failures to kill the beetles with poisons might be due to mistaking one of these insects for the other.

An undetermined species of Myzocallis, as determined by Mr. Pergande on request of Mr. Howard, was excessively abundant in timothy meadows in southern Ohio in June, appearing to have damaged the hay crop over quite a large area fully 20 per cent, and in one meadow near Portsmouth the damage was fully 50 per cent. I was unable to reach the infested meadows until nearly all of the depredators had disappeared, which they did very suddenly, but I found nearly all of the leaves of timothy had become brown and nearly worthless for fodder. The few specimens found by me were on the upper side of the leaves near the base, but very careful observers in whom I have perfect confidence say that there were a week earlier, or about July 1, hundreds of them on many of the blades of timothy, and that these last turned yellow and then brown. In the insectary, where we have the species under continual observation, we have found these statements to prove true. The grape root-worm (Fidia viticida) still ravages the vineyards along Lake Erie, east of Cleveland, but I am pleased to say that the ravages seem to be on the decline. I can see no other reason for this except the increase in numbers of enemies to the eggs. The minute egg parasite, Brachystichta fidiæ Ashmead, has increased enormously within the last two years, and I also found the mite, Heteropus ventricosus, present this season for the first time and in situations that leave no doubt that it will prove a powerful ally in reducing the number of Fidia larvæ entering the ground this season. So far we have found bisulphide of carbon too expensive, while kerosene emulsion can not be applied to the vines because of spotting the grapes, and its application to the roots to destroy the larvæ in the ground is wholly impractical, even if effective, which has yet to be proven. The adults do not yield at all readily to poison and we have had poor success with driving the beetles away with applications of Bordeaux mixture containing 9 pounds of copper sulphate and 6 pounds of lime to 50 gallons of water, notwithstanding some encouraging reports from several growers.

The San Jose scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus) is not spreading in Ohio, so far as I can learn, but is being exterminated wherever it has been introduced and such introduction become known. In two orchards near New Richmond, Ohio, kerosene in an undiluted form has been used with marked success, both last year and this, without the least injury to the trees, either apple or peach. I am unwilling to recommend this treatment for general use as yet, but the results gained as against the San Jose scale are so valuable that I give the details, with the hope that equally good results may be obtained elsewhere during other years. Where the top was seriously infested with scale this was cut away and burned, the trunk painted with kerosene, and at the proper season grafts were placed in the stubs of the old limbs that had been left sufficiently long for the purpose. In this case a new top has been grown on the old trunk, often a more symmetrical top than the original, the tree thereby losing but little by reason of the attack by

the scale. Last July I went through the orchard and found many of the trees thus treated growing nicely and free from scale. successful experiment was to cut away the trunk a couple of feet above the ground, paint with kerosene, and later graft on this stump, the idea being to secure a new trunk as well as top. But in this case the grafts grew so rank that they were twisted off by the winds, and the result for this reason was not satisfactory. Where trees were known to be slightly infested, or as a means of killing the scale on any trees not known to be infested, an entire orchard, consisting of both apple trees and peach trees, was sprayed with undiluted kerosene during February, and in order to make sure that no scale escaped alive a second application was made shortly after. I saw the orchard in April and again in July, and in neither case did I notice any injury whatever to the trees, either apple or peach. Different conditions might alter results, but in this case I have to report a complete success during two successive years in the same locality.*

Mr. Fernald stated as a fact worthy of record the finding by himself of an adult specimen of the apple-tree borer girdling a shrub on Dog Mountain, Desert Island, at an elevation of 1,000 feet. No apple orchards occurred within a mile of this point.

Mr. Slingerland stated in regard to the codling moth that he had found an average of one egg in four parasitized by Trichogramma pretiosa.

Mr. Fletcher exhibited some apples which he had lately received from British Columbia, containing the larva of a tortricid which works in the fruit very much as the apple Trypeta. This is a new enemy, and in the district from which the fruit came is already a very serious pest. The species is not known, and, it is supposed, may prove undescribed.

* These statements brought out so much discussion, interspersed with criticism, that I decided to write the owner of one of these orchards and get from him an upto-date statement in regard to both the applications and results. I herewith append a reply to my request for such information. I have no additions or qualifications to make to the letter of reply by Mr. Nichols, in whom I have perfect confidence:

NEW RICHMOND, OHIO, September 11, 1896.

F. M. WEBSTER. DEAR SIR: Yours of the 8th instant came to hand yesterday. Contents noted, and in reply I wish to say that the kerosene (clear coal oil such as we use in our lamps) which we used was applied principally in the month of February when the ground was frozen. We applied it with a small varnish brush to some small trees to the entire tree, on others only the limbs that were the most affected.

My brother used a barrel sprayer, applying 40 gallons of pure coal oil on 500 apple and 15 peach trees. A part of the orchard he sprayed the second time. The applications were made, respectively, on the 17th and 24th days of last February-cold and frozen.

Trees that we used the clear coal oil on two years ago, as well as those last winter, have made splendid growth and the entire lot of trees look as though they had

been rubbed smooth and varnished.

Kerosene and a sprayer is the remedy for the San Jose scale.

Yours, truly,

D. H. NICHOLS.

Dr. Kellicott gave some further notes on the distribution and more recent increase in the range of the harlequin cabbage bug in Ohio. He also referred to a bagworm which seems to be distinct from the common species and probably undescribed.

Mr. Smith referred to the use of pure kerosene on trees in Ohio, and asked whether the Department of Agriculture had conducted any direct experiments showing the effect of the use of this oil undiluted.

Mr. Marlatt stated that during 1879 some of the elm trees on the grounds of the Department were surrounded with a band of cotton saturated with oil, which resulted in the death of the trees. The later experience with the use of kerosene oil was in the work against the San Jose scale. At Riverside, Md., the owner of a large peach orchard in his attempt to use kerosene emulsion had made an unstable product, and was, when visited, found to be applying practically pure kerosene to the trunk and larger branches. The results of this application were disastrous, but the trees in question were already much weakened by the attacks of the scale. Later in the winter Mr. Marlatt said he had personally, to test the effect of the oil, sprayed some healthy and vigorous peach trees, uninjured, or practically so, by scale, making the application thoroughly to all parts of the tree with an ordinary spray pump. These trees were killed outright, not surviving the winter. He was firmly of the opinion that an application of kerosene oil to trees, except perhaps where limited to light applications to trunk and lower branches, would result most disastrously, and urged Mr. Webster to make personal tests before recommending this dangerous application.

Mr. Hopkins presented the following paper:

SOME NOTES ON OBSERVATIONS IN WEST VIRGINIA ON FARM, GARDEN, AND FRUIT INSECTS.

By A. D. HOPKINS, Morgantown, W. Va.

The principal inquiries with reference to insect pests of the farm, garden, and orchard within the last year have been about scale insects. An article that was sent to the State and county papers warning farmers and fruit growers of the dangerous character of the San Jose scale, and the possibility that it might be already established in their orchards brought letters of inquiry and specimens in great numbers to the experiment station, so that a pretty good opportunity was had to ascertain the distribution of the San Jose scale as well as of other scale insects.

So far but five localities have been found in the State in which the San Jose scale occurs, namely, Wellsburg, Brooke County; Martinsburg, Berkeley County; Georgetown and Morgantown, Monongalia County, and Charleston, Kanawha County. So far as I can learn, the scale has not spread from the infested orchards, and in those I have personally examined had not, so far as I could find, spread from the