216 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



boll-weevil, for in a Bulletin issued in January of the present 

 year it is pointed out that, after all, the simple expedient of 

 burning the cotton-stubble in autumn will probably be found 

 the most efficient way of keeping the insect in check. It has 

 long been known that a considerable percentage of the beetles 

 die during hibernation, and it will be obvious that if the numbers 

 of those which hibernate are sensibly reduced, the cotton- 

 grower may be said to have a double-edged weapon in his 

 hands. 



Quite recently it has been discovered that a Texan ant 

 (Solenopsis geminata xyloni) is likely to prove an effective check 

 on the weevil. It seems at home on all kinds of soil, and is 

 doing good service on nearly all the area now infested. 



Till the advent of the boll-weevil little count was taken of 

 most of the other kinds of insects by which cotton is attacked 

 in Texas ; the crop being of such a rank and free-growing nature 

 that minor local injuries were scarcely worth the expenditure 

 of time and labour. All this has been changed by the weevil, 

 the margin of profit being so reduced that attention must now 

 be paid to the smallest details in order to render cultivation 

 remunerative. The Bureau has therefore devoted a special 

 Bulletin, published in 1906, to the insects other than the weevil 

 which attack cotton in Texas and the best methods of checking 

 their ravages. 



We may next turn our attention to the investigations con- 

 nected with the appearance in the San Jose Valley, California, 

 of a scale-insect {Aspidiotus perniciosus) belonging to the same 

 family {Coccidce) as the cochineal insect. In consequence of the 

 locality where it was first noticed in America, the pest has been 

 very generally called San Jose scale, although now that its true 

 habitat has been ascertained (thanks to the energy displayed 

 by the Bureau of Entomology) it should be termed the Chinese 

 scale-insect. Except as regards the manufacture of cochineal, 

 the Coccidce have hitherto been regarded as insects of no practical 

 importance and of little general interest. The appearance and 

 spread of the San Jose pest have, however, utterly changed 

 all this, and scale-insects are creatures of first-class importance 

 and interest in the United States, where the most diligent 

 efforts of the Entomological Bureau have been directed to stop 

 the spread and check the ravages of the pernicious species 

 introduced into California. 



