ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



[May 



After preparing the trap, let it stand three or four days or longer 

 if the weather is had, and the result will he better than to uncover 

 too soon. D. B. YOUNG. 



FITCH'S COTTON SCALE INSECT. In his 3d report (Nov. 16,1856), 

 Dr. Asa Fitch described as Aspidiotus gossypii u. sp., a scale insect 

 occurring on a leaf of a cotton plant, Gossipium relt'giosutn, sent to 

 him from Nicgpo, China, by the Rev. M. 8. Culbertsou of the 

 Presbyterian Board of Missions. Dr. Fitch described this insect 

 in a gei.eral way, comparing it to the apple bark louse. Signoret 

 (Essai, etc., Ann. Ent, Soc., France, 1870, p. 109). quotes Fitch's re- 

 marks entire, but refers the insect to the genus Diaspis. 



In 1895 Mr. Wm. H. Ashmead, in an article entitled ' Notes on 



cotton insects found in Mississippi" (Insect Liie, vol. viO, refers 



(p. 323) a species of Aleurodes discovered by him on cotton to the 



insect named by Dr. Fitch, and suggests that Dr. Fitch had mis- 



taken a dried pupa of an Aleurodes for a coccid belougirg to the 



genus Aspfdiotus. 



In ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS for 1895, p. 157. Mr. T. D. A, Cockerell 



protests against this reference of Mr. Ashmead of the insect to 



Aleurodes, and prefers to consider Fitch's species as belonging to 



the genius Chfonaspis, or perhaps Diaspis, as suggested by Sig- 



noret. 



Fortunately it is now possible to remove the obscurity and un- 

 certainty Ir.therto attaching to Fitch's insect. Fitch's original type 

 specimen, labelled in his own handwriting as " Aspidiotus yossy- 

 pii," and answering to his discription, was found in the old Fitch 

 collection in Philadelphia by Mr. Theo. Pergande, and proves to 

 be a single example of the larval stage of an Aleurodes. The speci- 

 men is now in the collection of the Department of Agriculture. It 

 is interesting to discover that Mr. Ashmead's inference as to the 

 relationship of the insect is correct, although it is very improbable 

 that the Aleurodes found in Mississippi is identical w T ith the spe- 

 cies occurring on cotton in China. As China becomes more acces- 

 sible to exploration it may be expected that an Aleurodes will be 

 found to infest cotton in the province of Ningpo and probably else- 

 where to which Fitch's name will apply. 



C. L. MARLATT. Washington, D. C- 



ADALIA BIPUNCTATA LINN , and its varieties Although the use- 

 less multiplication of scientific names is an impediment to the 

 student, it seems desirable that well marked varieties should be 

 designated by a name. The names of such varieties are of course 

 subject to the rules of priority and I was therefore surprised to tind 

 in reading the interesting article " An Abnormal Coccinellid." by 

 A. F. Burgess (Proc. of the Tenth Ann. Meeting of the Association 

 of Economic Entomologists), that the name A. humeral is of Say 

 seems to be still in common use among American Entomologist-. 

 This should give way to A. 4-maculata of Scopoli, or perhaps 



