450 proceedings: biological society 



The last communication was by A. L. Quaintance, i?ewa7'fcs on some 

 little known insect depredators. Mr. Quaintance called attention to 

 certain species of insects which have but recently come into prominence 

 as of economic importance and to other species which, although long 

 known to entomologists as occasional pests, have recently attracted 

 attention in view of local outbreaks. A species of Jassidae, Typhlocyha 

 obliqua, is at the present time seriously destructive to apples in portions 

 of the Ozark mountain region and in Kansas. These insects occurred 

 in countless numbers in some orchards, infesting the lower surface of 

 the leaves, causing the foliage to drop with subsequent injury to the 

 fruit crop and the trees. A tineid insect of the genus Marmara was 

 reported to have caused a good deal of injury to certain apple orchards 

 in Albemarle County, Virginia. The caterpilla«i' makes long serpentine 

 mines under the skin of the apple, resulting in blemishes. The keep- 

 ing quality of the fruit is also lessened. The common walking stick, 

 Diapheromera femoraia, while often the cause of more or less local 

 defoliation in forests, occasionally becomes a serious pest in orchards, 

 especially in orchards adjacent to woodlands. These walking sticks 

 have recently been complained of on account of important injuries to 

 apple and peach orchards in Virginia and West Virginia. Rhabdopterus 

 picipes, a chrysomelid beetle, has recently been discovered as damag- 

 ing cranberries. The insect is a near relative of the grape root worm, 

 Fidia viticida, and the larvae work on the roots of the cranberry, feed- 

 ing principally on the fibrous roots, but also stripping the bark from the 

 older roots. Investigations of the insect by Mr. H. B. Scammell 

 indicate that it is restricted in cranberry bogs to the higher and sandier 

 soils. Nezara hilaris, one of the stink bugs, and long known to feed on 

 vegetation of various sorts, has recently become very abundant and 

 destructive to peaches in the Marblehead district in northern Ohio. 

 These plant bugs in feeding insert their beaks in the developing fruits, 

 causing the peaches to become knotty and misshapen as they grow, and 

 many of which fall from the trees. Parandra hrunnea, better known 

 as the chestnut telephone borer, following investigations by Mr. Snyder 

 has been determined by Mr. Fred E. Brooks to be very generally 

 present in the heart wood of old apple trees and as a result of its work 

 the trees are often so weakened that they are easily broken or blown 

 over by winds. Various species of Cecidomyidae are known to be 

 serious crop pests, as the sorghum midge, the pear midge, etc. A 

 new midge pest, Contarina johnsoni, has during recent years come into 

 prominence on account of its injuries to grapes in the Chautauqua 

 and Erie grape belts. The adults oviposit in the blossom buds, which 

 may contain from 10 to 70 maggots, though the average number is 

 much less. Many blossoms are thus destroyed, resulting in very 

 ragged and imperfect bunches of grapes. 



This paper was illustrated by lantern slides showing the insects and 

 their work from photographs prepared mostly by Mr. J. H. Paine. 



At 10.15 the Society adjourned until October. 



M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretanj. 



