274 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



destro)ing scale insects by the whale-oil soap wasli. Directions are 

 given for its use and its economical home manufacture. 

 The many food-plants oi M. pomorum are given. 



Colorado Beetles. (Country Gentleman, for January lo, 1895, Ix, p. 30, 

 c. 2 — 5 cm.) 



To the inquiry when the potato bug first came to Albany, reply is 

 made: — its occurrence may safely be given as in 1873. It is recorded 

 as having entered the western limits of the State in 1871 ; in 1872 as 

 in Cattaraugus Co.; in 1873 as having reached the extreme eastern 

 boundary of the State; in 1874 it was seen in Chenango Co.; in 1875 

 it was present in several of the New England States. In August of 

 1876 it was so abundant in Albany, that on some of the streets, in 

 walking a block a number would be crushed under foot. 



Attacking Scale Insects. (Country Gentleman, for February 7, 1895, Ix^ 

 p. 108, c. 2 — 21 cm.) 



The suggestion is made by a correspondent from St. Lawrence Co., 

 that the remedies for the ravages of the apple-tree scale be published 

 at the present time. We have now a sure remedy for this, and most 

 other of our fruit-tree scales, in the winter application of the whale-oil 

 soap solutions, the formula for which and the manner of use ma} be 

 found in the Country Gentleman of January loth. The formula as 

 there given will make about 20 lbs. of the soap — not 25 as stated. 

 Mr. Howard's testimony to the value of this wash is quoted. 



Garden Slugs. (Country Gentleman, for February 21, 1895, Ix, p. 147, 

 CI — 9 cm.) 



The best remedy is freshly slacked lime applied to them while feed- 

 ing during the morning or evening. As they are able to throw off their 

 shmy coating when obnoxious substances are applied, the application 

 should be renewed at short intervals until they are no longer able to 

 excrete a new coating. Lime water is used by English gardeners. They 

 may also be killed by sprinkling them with salt. Ducks are serviceable 

 in gardens for hunting the slugs for food. 



Rhinoceros Beetle. (Country Gentleman, for March 21, 1895, Ix, p. 



230, cols. I, 2 — 10 cm.) 



Two "horned bugs" taken alive from a chestnut slump at Har- 

 mony Grove, Ga., and thought to have killed chestnut trees, are the 

 rhinoceros beetle, Dynastes Tityus. The larva feeds and transforms 

 in decaying cavities in old trees and stumps, and not being a borer, is 

 not injurious. The beetle may be harmful in plowing off the bark 

 to feed on the sap-wood. It is said, also, to be a sap feeder. It has 

 not previously been recorded in chestnut. 



Bounty on the English Sparrow. (Albany Evening Journal, for March 

 21, 1895, p. 8, c. 4 — 23 cm., Scientific American, April 27, 1895.) 



In remarks made upon a Bill offering a bounty on English sparrows 

 killed, under consideration by a Legislative Committee, it was urged, 



