240 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



insect which seemed to have a special Hking for that variety of strawberry- 

 known as the Sharpless. When speaking of this pest Mr. Morgan says : 

 " It cHmbs up the flower stalk, selects one flower, and dehberately and 

 quickly cuts it off; as soon as the flower falls or hangs over by a small 

 thread, the insect crawls down, runs up the next stalk and commences 

 again. This performance is varied by puncturing the open blossom in 

 several places, which said blossom will also come to grief It is found in 

 immense numbers on the Sharpless, slightly on the Wilson, and on no 

 other berry as yet." On examination this was determined to be the same 

 species as that which had occurred on Staten Island and in Michigan. It 

 is remarkable that this insect never met with before in any great number, 

 should have occurred in such abundance at points so distant from each 

 other as Staten Island, N. Y., Michigan, and Barrie, Ontario, all about the 

 same time, and not be reported as occurring at intermediate points. In 

 the absence of further knowledge of the life history of this insect, we can 

 only suggest as a remedy the use of Paris green and water in the propor- 

 tion of a teaspoonful of the poison to two gallons of water, which if 

 applied to the vines with a syringe when the beetles are troublesome, 

 would probably destroy many of them. 



Further complaints reached us during the early summer months of in- 

 jury done to the blossoms of the grape by the Rose Beetle, Macrodactylus 

 subspinosus. I can only repeat what has been already several times 

 stated, that this pest may be much lessened, if not entirely got rid of, by 

 jarring the vines early in the morning while the beetles are in a semi- 

 torpid state and collecting them on sheets and destroying them. 



The pea crop has for the past year or two been unusually free from 

 the Pea-bug, Bruchus pisi. Now that the life history of this insect is so 

 well known, farmers are more careful in selecting the seed, while seed 

 dealers by special treatment are enabled to destroy the insects in the peas 

 before offering them for sale. The gratifying immunity from this pest 

 and the large saving thereby effected, is doubtless to be attributed mainly 

 to greater care in these particulars. 



In the address presented to you in 1880, I offered some remarks on 

 the relations existing between birds and insects, and expressed the opinion 

 that while the soft-billed insectivorous birds are exceedingly useful, that 

 birds in general are not of such great use in subduing injurious insects as 

 is commonly supposed, and that destructive insects are controlled to a 

 far greater extent by their insect enemies and by the diseases to which 



