Vol. XXvi] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 473 



Notes and. News. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS FROM ALL QUARTERS 

 OF THE GLOBE. 



Parasite of Bellura obliqua G. and R. (Lep., Dip.) 



Many larvae of Bellura obliqua have been collected by myself and by 

 other collectors in the vicinity of Newark for many years without find- 

 ing any trace of parasites. Last winter I collected about forty larvae 

 of this species at Cliffwood, New Jersey, which lies beween South Am- 

 boy and Keyport and is about 25 miles from Newark, south on the 

 Raritan Bay. When the larvae were collected they did not show any 

 sign or trace of being parasitized and they kept alive without showing 

 any sign until the middle of May, which is about two weeks longer than 

 any of the larvae which were collected in the vicinity of Newark have 

 ever taken to pupate. On the i/th of May, three dead larvae were 

 found in the cage and on examining them it was noticed that a parasite 

 had done its deadly work. Dead larvae were found every day there- 

 after until the number reached twenty-nine out of the forty, showing 

 about seventy-five per cent, parasitized. 



The larvae of the parasite, which turned out to be Hypostcna tor- 

 tricis Coq., eat out the substance of the host until only the skin is 

 left and in some cases eat through a part of the skin. Some leave the 

 host while others pupate within the skin of the dead host. 



It seems almost impossible for parasites of this order to reach the 

 larvae of obliqua as this species feeds in Typha (Cat-tails), but it 

 cannot be a hard task, as so many are attacked, but another peculiarity 

 is that this parasite should be so abundant in one place and unknown 

 in others. HERMAN H. BREHME, Newark, New Jersey. 



Corthylus punctatissimus Zimm. in New Jersey (Col.). 



This insect, known as the "Pitted Ambrosia Beetle" and recorded in 

 "Insects of New Jersey" from Eagle Rock and Cape May, was found 

 September 8th, at Somerville, N. J., where it was infesting Rhododen- 

 dron maximum, Kalmia latifolia and Azalea mollis. The work of the 

 insect is indicated by a yellowing and wilting of the leaves, followed 

 by the complete death of the plant. The dead shoots break off easily 

 near the ground where the insects always work. According to Dr. E. 

 P. Felt, who gives an account of this species in the 29th Report of the 

 State Entomologist of New York, Museum Bull., 175, the beetles enter 

 the side of the stem near the ground. Once inside, numerous horizon- 

 tal galleries and vertical brood chambers are constructed, which, of 

 course, weaken the stem. In one infested azalea stem collected at 

 Somerville on the above date, fifteen adults and three pupae were 

 found. The operations of the insect appear to be confined mostly to 

 plants growing in shaded situations where there is an abundant mulch, 

 and this was true of the infestation at Somerville. Mr. E. A. Schwarz, 

 who studied the pest in huckleberries, states that the beetles are prob- 

 ably subterranean, appearing only rarely above ground. Other record- 

 ed food plants are sugar maple, sassafras, dogwood, hazel, huckleberry, 

 water _beech, ironwood, rhododendron. The only remedy is to cut and 

 burn infested stems, taking care that they do not break off at the 

 point of injury and allow some of the beetles to escape. HARRY B. 

 WEISS. New Brunswick, N. J. 



