Xov., '(X)] ENTOMOLOGICAL XKWS 399 



PARASITE HELPS FARMERS. GRASSHOPPER PEST Ts BEING KILLED OFF 

 IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN. Marquette, Mich., July 23. Owing to 

 the appearance of a strange parasite that is killing off the destructive 

 insects, the plague of grasshoppers that has beset the farmers in this 

 part of the country this summer is becoming a thing of the past. 

 F. H. Vandenboom, whose dairy farm at the outskirts of the city 

 is the largest in the upper peninsula, has caught a number of grass- 

 hoppers within the last few days, under the wings of which were 

 found a half dozen or more small red eggs, resembling potato hug 

 eggs. From these eggs worms hatch out, which enter the lungs of the 

 grasshopper underneath the wings, and within a short time cause 

 death. It is estimated that grasshoppers have destroyed on an aver- 

 age of 40 per cent, of this year's crop in the upper peninsula. Dis- 

 patch. St. Paul, Minn. 



The government is importing caterpillars supposed to harbor para- 

 sites that are fatal to the broivntail moth. Supposing the caterpillars 

 multiply like the moth where will be the gain in the exchange of 

 pests? Republican, Faribault, Minn. 



Doings of Societies. 



At a regular meeting of the Feldman Collecting Social 

 held June 16, 1909, at 1523 South Thirteenth Street, Phila- 

 delphia, fourteen members were present. President Harbeck 

 in the chair. 



Mr. Wenzel said he had noticed a scarcity of the larger 

 Coleoptera in the last few years. Thought perhaps the pres- 

 ence of sparrows accounts for this as these birds are very 

 common especially in "The Neck" where formerly he had 

 found great quantities of large species ; now they are entirely 

 absent. 



Professor Smith said that in the vicinity of Morris River, 

 X. J., they have reclaimed much of the meadow land. The 

 first year or two these places are covered with a great growth 

 of reeds or rushes. These are plowed under and then straw- 

 berries are planted to get the soil in shape for other crops. 

 This year the strawberries were destroyed by a species of 

 .hnara of the c.rarata section near rufipcs. .This beetle appear- 

 ed in great numbers rind attacked the seeds (making the berries 



