REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOOIST AND BOTANIST. 181 



of apple trees and annuals in gardens, its poisonous punctures causing the 

 flowers to become distorted. Spraying the infested plants wilh Kerosene emulsion, 

 01- dusting them with insect powder, are the active remedies which have been 

 attended with most success, but these cannot be claimed to be altogether satis- 

 factory. The cleaning up of gardens and the burning of all rubbish in the autumn, 

 which will reduce the shelters available for the perfect insects to pass the winter, are 

 very important. Advantage may also be taken of the fact, that although during 

 the heat of the day these bugs are extremely active, they are comparatively slug- 

 gish early in the morning, when many of them may be destroyed by beating them 

 off the plants into an inverted umbrella or other receptacle. 



The Four lined Leaf-bug (Pig. 21, natural size and enlarged,) 

 is not injurious to as large a number of plants as the last named. 

 It is a bright greenish yellow bug, ^\ inch in length, with two 

 spots on the thorax, and four black stripes down the back. The 

 presence of this insect upon plants is easily detected by the brown 

 Fie 21^— TheFour- spots it makes upon the leaves near the tips of the branches. This 

 lined Leaf -bug. injury is most often seen upon currants, gooseberries, and mint, but 

 also on several other plants, as weigelas, dahlias, snapdragon and sage. Mr. M. V. 

 Slingerland has lately published a very complete account of this insect, which he 

 has made a subject of special study. He has made the important discovery that 

 the winter is not passed in the perfect state, but in the egg state, the eggs being 

 imbedded in the tips of shrubs. This discovery places at any rate a partial remedy 

 within our hands, namely, cutting off the young shoots containing the eggs and 

 burning them. Mr. Slingerland says: "On bushes which have been infested this 

 year the egg scars can soon be found, as the whitish tips of the eggs are quite con- 

 spicuous. After a few have been found and their characteristics noted, it will take 

 but a few minutes to look over a bush and clip off the tips of shoots containing 

 eggs. The eggs remain in these tips nine months, thus making it practicable to do 

 the pruning during winter months when other work is not so pressing. The leaves 

 will then also be off, and the egg scars can be more easily seen." 



Of insects attacking the grape vine, the kinds which have been most trouble- 

 some are the Grape-vine Leaf-hopper {Erythroneura vitis, Harris) and the Grape-vine 

 Flea-beeile (Graptodera chalybea, Illig.). Specimens of the Beautiful Wood Nymph 

 (Eudryas grata, Fab.) were sent to me by a few correspondents, but more as ob- 

 jects of beauty than as injurious insects. On the Experimental Farm at Ottawa, 

 Mr. Craig, the Horticulturist, records unusual injury by the Large Red-headed Flea 

 beetle (Systena frontalis. Fab.). Major Roland Gregory sent me twigs of grape-vines 

 injured by the Snowy Tree-cricket ((Ecanthus niveus, Serv.). 



The Grape- vine Leap-hopper. — This is a well known enemy of 

 the grape vine and Virginian creeper, and is generally spoken of 

 among fruit-growers as the " Thiip." It is about ^ of an inch in 

 length, marked with red and pale yellow, as in the enlarged figure 

 (Fig. 22). It is very active and generally occurs in large colonies, 

 when its attacks upon the foliage are so severe that vines are fre- 

 quently defoliated and the fruit is consequently destroyed. It is 

 furnished with a sharp beak with which it sucks the juice out of the 

 Grane^-vine'^eaf- l®^^©*^* Causing them first to turn white in patches and then fall 

 hopper. from the vine. It passes the winter in the perfect state, hidden amongst 



fallen leaves and other rubbish. In the spring it flies to the vines and deposits its 

 eggs, from which the injurious swarms of young leaf-hoppers hatch. 



Remedies. — These consist of clean culture and the clearing away of all fallen 

 leaves in autumn, so as to reduce as far as possible the opportunities of wintering 

 near the vines. For this same reason the ground should be raked and kept smooth 

 in autumn. The vines should be examined during the summer, and if the young 

 insects are observed on the leaves, the vines should be sprayed with Kerosene emul- 

 sion before the insects reach their perfectdevelopment, when only they acquire wings 

 and are able to fly. 



