398 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Mr. Johnson remarked that he had received reports from dif 

 ferent parts of Maryland the present spring to the effect that 

 Macrodactylus subspinosus had been very destructive to the 

 strawberry crop, damaging the flowers and the fruit. 



He also spoke of an injurious occurrence of Systena tccni- 

 ata which had destroyed forty acres of tomatoes owned by one 

 farmer and eighteen acres of the same crop owned by another. 

 Six weeks ago 120,000 pear trees in a nursery in Dorchester 

 County, Md., were attacked by the same insect, which gnawed 

 the terminal buds. Two systematic sprayings a week apart with 

 Paris green and Bordeaux mixture stopped the damage. 



Mr. Johnson further exhibited specimens of pea vine ruined 

 by a new species of Nectarophora, and gave an account of the ex 

 traordinary damage which this insect had done the present spring 

 on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay. As the weather had been 

 dry, Mr. Howard remarked on the unusual character of the oc 

 currence, since in his experience plant lice seemed to thrive most 

 in wet seasons. Mr. Schwarz said, however, that in Arizona 

 plant lice were very abundant in the dry season of April and 

 May. 



Mr. Johnson also showed specimens of a new Asparagus 

 insect, Drosophila funebris, the larvae of which work under 

 ground in asparagus shoots. Both Messrs. Schwarz and Howard 

 remarked that from the known habit of the genus Drosophila, 

 there must have been something the -matter with the asparagus 

 before it was attacked by the insect. 



Mr. Howard showed drawings of Melanolestes abdominalis 

 and Coriscus subcoleoptratus and gave an account of bites in 

 flicted by these insects, stating that in his opinion these species, 

 as well as Conorhinus sanguisuga and Rasahus thoracicus, 

 are responsible for some of the reported cases of spider bites. 

 Mr. Schwarz said that he had been twice bitten by l\Ielanolestcs 

 abdominalis the present spring in his room in Washington, both 

 times without having attempted to capture the insect or provoke 

 it. The bite was severe and was painful for a couple of days. 

 He further said that in his opinion the early stages of Conorhinus 

 are passed, in the West, in the nests of rats and other burrowing 

 animals. The bite of this insect is very bad and occasionally 

 dangerous. In 1898 Mr. H. G. Hubbard was bitten in Arizona 



