372 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [February, 



those that escaped. I know that crude petroleum will kill pernicious 

 scales whenever it is brought into direct contact with them, and if, a 

 month after a tree has been sprayed, I find ten per cent, of living 

 examples, it does not occur to me to blame the oil, but the man who 

 put it on. 



Lest it be not sufficiently considered, Messrs. Howard and Marlatt 

 present another communication on the pernicious scale, this time re- 

 viewing the evidence as to its original home. The conclusion is that 

 really we do not know anything at all about it, and this expresses my 

 own opinion exactly. 



Dr. E. P. Felt gave an account of his endeavor to establish a voluntary 

 entomological service in New York, and, under some circumstances and 

 in some directions, such a service will undoubtedly prove useful. 



Mr. W. G. Johnson described the Emory fumigator, devised for apply- 

 ing the hydrocyanic acid gas to orchard trees, and it seems clear that on 

 the smaller trees an apparatus such as that described can be very suc- 

 cessfully used. 



The value of such work is undoubted, but I sometimes wonder if it is 

 really entomological. Has not the entomologist done all that pertains to 

 his office when he has studied the life history of a species, has discovered 

 and pointed out the weak point where it is most subject 1o attack, and 

 has indicated the killing agents that should be used ? The practical 

 application of his suggestions really does not belong to his office at all. 

 I am aware that this limitation of our work is not practical, but personally 

 I never go into that branch more than is absolutely necessary. 



Mr. F. M. Webster spoke on " Insectary and Office Methods," and the 

 seeming necessity for such machinery as he describes reconciles me to my 

 lack of both insectary and assistants. There is, incidentally, the other 

 advantage, that no one can ever charge that your assistants really did all 

 your work. 



Mr. A. H. Kirkland presented arsenateof lead as "A Probable Remedy 

 for the Cranberry Fire-worm," and I have little doubt it will prove effective, 

 as will any other of the arsenites if applied properly and at the right 

 time. 







The chinchbtig received attention from Mr. F. M. Webster, who de- 

 scribed an interesting outbreak in northern Ohio. It indicates very 

 forcibly the effect of the prevailing industry of a region upon the abund- 

 ance of a parlicular species. Dairying is a leading feature of the region 

 mentioned, and the consequent number of timothy meadows offers ideal 

 conditions for the development of the brachypterous forms of the 

 Blissus. 



Mr. A. L. Quaintance presented notes on " Some Insects of the Year 

 in Georgia," which cannot well be condensed. A rather interesting 

 note, however, charges Jlfonocrcpidius vespeiiiniis with being a scavenger 

 in habits, feeding upon the excrement of cotton ball-worms. In New 



