THE ANNUAL MEETING. 



135 



foliage. It is at this stage that they have most alarmed Mr. Bradfield. After 

 feeding for from three to five weeks they descend to the earth and pupate. 

 Thus like the Colorado potato beetle, and most other chrysomelids, they feed 

 on the same plant in both the larva and imago state. I presume that the 

 larvae will succumb to the pyrethrum remedy to be described, but it is stated 

 that simply scattering lime on the leaves will destroy them. I think that the 

 beetles might be killed by use of London purple or Paris green, but an easy 

 remedy is described by our national entomologist, Prof. J. H. Comstock. It 

 is similar to that used in jarring for curculios, except that the sheet is wet 

 with kerosene oil. As the vines are jarred, the beetles spring onto the sheet 

 and are immediately killed bv the kerosene. 



Family Gryllidte. Order 



The Snowy Okicket — (Ecanthtis nivius, Harr. 



Orthojjtera. 



These beautiful white crickets are common throughout our State. I fre- 

 quently capture them while collecting insects from about foliage, and often 

 take them while "sugaring" for moths in August and September. A taste 

 similar to that which attracts these graceful crickets to the sugar traps also 

 causes them to cut off immature grapes. But the worst injury wrought by 

 these snowy crickets is that done to various trees and shrubs, notably the canes 

 of blackberries and raspberries, and the twigs of peach trees, in the work of 

 egg-laying. In our own State, especially in the western 

 part, this mischief is quite serious. Each spring I receive 



numerous specimens of 



bes^^ these scarred and disfig- 



\^-< ured twigs, with inquiry as 



Fig. 2.— Snowy Cricket, Side View, to the cause of the damage. 



This cricket (Figs 2 and 3) is greenish white in color. „ 



T , . ,.,,, ; & ,, ' b _ , . , . Fig. 3.— Snowy Cricket, 



it is a little Jess than two c. m. — about §• ohm inch — in dorsal surface. 



length. The small yellow elongated eggs are placed in the twig in a compact 



row (Fig. 4), extending 

 lengthwise of the cane. 

 Each egg extends 

 obliquely across the 

 twig. The eggs hatch 

 in May. The young of 

 these crickets are insec- 

 tivorous, but as they 



Fig. 4. -eggs of Snowy Cricket. grow older they feed 



a. Affected twig. b. Twig cut longitudinal, c. Single egg magnified, on the plants. 



The only method to successfully fight these awkward primers that I can sug- 

 gest is to cut and burn the affected twigs in winter and early spring. 



During the past summer my attention has been called to two new pests in our 

 State, the parsnip-seed moth, Depressaria lieracliana, the larva of which at- 

 tacks and destroys the immature seed of the parsnip. It spins a web as it 

 works. It commits its depredations in the month of July. During the past 

 season it has wrought ruin among the gardens of Howell. As this insect will 

 be fully described and illustrated in the next report of the State Board of Ag- 

 riculture, I will only remark here that London purple, Paris green or pyrethrum 

 will surely exterminate the pest, and at a light expense. The other enemy I 

 will call the strawberry-leaf beetle. It is Paria aterrima, Oliv. This little 

 beetle entirely defoliates the strawberry plants in early spring, and works on 



