THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 295 



BOOK NOTICES. 



Experimental Farms: Reports for 1892. Printed by order of Par- 

 liament : Ottawa, 1893. 

 This valuable " Biue-book " has been before us for some time, having 

 been distributed in April last, but various circumstances have prevented 

 us from noticing it and several other publications, for which we are in- 

 debted to the courtesy of the authors. Our readers will, of course, be 

 chiefly interested in the report of Mr. James Fletcher, the Entomologist 

 and Botanist of the Central Experimental Farm at Ottawa, which occu- 

 pies twenty-four pages of the volume. After mentioning the chief insect 

 attacks of the year, Mr. Fletcher gives an interesting and valuable 

 account of the life-histories of the Hop-vine Borer (Hydrcexia i?nmanis, 

 Guen.), the Red Turnip-beetle ( Entomoscelis adonidis, Fab.), the Western 

 Blister-beetle ( Cantharis Nuttalli, Say), and the Birch Bucculatrix ( B. 

 Canadensisella, Chamb.); in these there is much new and original matter, 

 as well as a summary of the previous observations of others. The iden- 

 tification of the hop insect, which is also called, from its mode of attack, 

 the " Collar-worm of the Hop," is particularly interesting. Its injuries 

 have been observed for more than twenty years, but it was a long time 

 before the moth was reared from the destructive larvae and its identity 

 established. The most effective remedy for this insect appears to be the 

 encouragement of the unsavory skunk in the hop-yards ; in the northern 

 part of the State of New York and in Wisconsin, this animal has been 

 found most useful from its habit of digging round the infested plants and 

 devouring the worms. The turnip and blister-beetles referred to have 

 been very destructive in the Northwest Territories, the latter attacking 

 the Windsor Bean, while the Birch Bucculatrix has infested the trees in 

 the neighbourhood of Ottawa. Mr. Fletcher also describes several useful 

 parasites which serve to keep in check the currant and willow saw-flies 

 and other injurious insects. The remainder of his report is devoted to 

 an account of the potato-blight which affects the leaves of the plant, and 

 the potato rot affecting the tubers, and a chapter on lawn grasses and 

 fodder plants. 



Catalogue of the Lepidopterous Super-family Noctuid/e found 



in Boreal America : By John B. Smith, Sc. D.: (Bulletin No. 44 



of the United States National Museum). Smithsonian Institution, 



Washington, 1893. 



This volume of four hundred and twenty-four pages will be heartily 



welcomed by every student of the Noctuidas of North America. It is 



not a mere list of species, but a complete bibliographical and synonymical 



