2O8 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [October, 



her of experiments for the purpose of determining the degree of heat and 

 length of the time necessary to destroy the insects, but obtained negative 

 results only. Unfortunately, he does not seem to have tried duplicating 

 the results obtained by Mr. F. M. Webster, which are referred to in the 

 account. Naphthaline has proved satisfactory on experiment, and Dr. 

 Doran recommends its use in bins of stored grain as a repellant. He says 

 it also kills the moths in an air-tight vessel, but says nothing of its effects 

 on the larva?. A rather curious and interesting note is found in the ac- 

 count of the " Red Grain Beetle," Si/vaims cassia?. Not only were the 

 insects excessively numerous in a bin of wheat middlings, but in that part 

 in which they were most numerous the temperature of the material rose 

 at one time to 95 F., a difference of 53 as compared with the temperature 

 of the room and of other less infested parts of the grain. 



Concerning the Carbon disulphide, a little experience of my own may 

 prove of some interest. In the little patch of sod constituting my " front 

 yard," a colony of large black ants had established themselves, and this 

 year their nest or hill became too conspicuous to suit my views. The disc 

 of loose soil was nearly two feet in diameter, while openings were found 

 six inches to each side of that, making the space covered about three feet 

 in diameter. On this space the grass began to die, and the great number 

 of insects became annoying. To get rid of them I used a one pound 

 bottle of Carbon disulphide, simply pouring it into the holes and then 

 treading down the soil over the space occupied. I expected that, as a 

 matter of course, the grass roots would be destroyed by this treatment, 

 and that I would be compelled to re-sod. As against the ants, the sub- 

 stance was completely effective, no further trace of them being observed; 

 but instead of losing my grass, it took a new start, growing rank and 

 vigorous, and, while all around it was dry and parched by drought, this 

 little patch remained bright and green, growing vigorously! It may be 

 that the liquid sank into the loose soil so rapidly and deeply that the grass 

 roots were not affected, and that the looseness of the soil proved an ad- 

 vantage to the grass on it, enabling it to better resist the dry weather; but 

 whatever the explanation, such were the facts. 



In Volume I, No. i, p. 39, of the Kansas University Quarterly, Mr. Y. 

 L. Kellogg describes the early stages of Melitara dentata Grt. bred from 

 the leaves of the prickly pear cactus, Opuntia niissoiiricnsis in Colorado, 

 and finds the habits of the species very like those of M.prodenialis \Ylk. 

 described by Dr. Riley and myself. Among other matters he gives a de- 

 scription of the egg, which is said to be creamy-white in color; but he does 

 not say where the eggs were found, nor how they are laid. Mr. H. G. 

 Hubbard, in the course of a conversation in which the eastern species 

 was mentioned, informed me that he has observed the eggs, and that they 

 are set, one on top of the other, in such a way as to resemble exactly one 

 of the spines or prickles of the plant. This is quite a remarkable instance 

 of mimicry; the more as it is not the egg itself which is mimetic, but rather 

 the arrangement by the parent moth, in which the individual appearance 

 of the ova is lost in the impression created by the mass. It is quite prob- 

 able that the western species will be found to have similar habits. 



