86 STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



REPORT OF THE CONSULTING ZOOLOGIST. 



To the Director of the Experiment Station: 



My annual report is herewith respectfully submitted. 



The work of this department has been devoted quite extensively the past 

 season to the investigation of celery insects, the result of which has already 

 been published as a bulletin. Owing to the sudden outbreak of the little 

 negro bug ( Corimelaena pulicaria) in the celery fields at Tecumseh, much 

 of my time, through the latter part of July and a part of August, was spent 

 at that place and Kalamazoo in experimenting on this bug, and other cel- 

 ery pests that were abundant in the fields. It was surprising at the num- 

 ber of celery insects that one season's work revealed, but it only demon- 

 strates the nlore conclusively the number of different insects that feed on 

 our crops and the knowledge that we should have of each that we may 

 deal with them to our best advantage. 



Experiment work was conducted at the college to prevent the death of 

 squash vines that annually occurs soon after the plants commence to run. 

 The sudden death of the vines at this time is not the result of the borer as 

 that insect is unknown in this neighborhood. The death is caused by a 

 disease of the plant and this disease, we learn, is carried by the little striped 

 cucumber beetle (Diahrotica w7/a/a) which works on squashes and melons 

 as well as cucumbers. If these beetles can be kept from the plants until 

 after they begin to run, there is then little danger of the disease being car- 

 ried to the plants. The substances used as preventives were air slaked 

 lime, carbolized lime (lime slaked with carbolic acid in water at the rate 

 of a teacupful, or a little less, to each bushel of lime), wood ashes, and 

 wood ashes with sulphur. Three rows containing about 45 hills were taken 

 for each substance, and the same number of untreated check rows was left 

 between each lot. To prevent the beetles getting a start, the plants were 

 dusted before the beetles appeared and were kept well dusted for about a 

 month, when the plants in the vicinity began to die. The result of the exper- 

 iment was that all the plants that were treated were protected in a measure. 

 The ashes and sulphur protected the plants no better than the ashes alone, 

 and neither of them did as well as the air slaked lime. Only three plants 

 died in the rows dusted with carbolized lime, while, in the untreated check 

 rows, from a fourth to a fifth of the plants were killed. The lime alone did 

 nearly as well as the carbolized lime. The beetles, though plentiful, were 

 not as numerous as they are some years. The mortality among the 

 untreated plants was about the same as in previous years. 



Grreen house insects have been woefully neglected by entomologists, and 

 appear to be little studied or known. Suitable remedies for the tender 

 plants are also so scarce that the florist is left largely at the mercy of 

 patented nostrums which may or may not be what is desired. Last spring 

 a study of these green house pests was begun, but the investigation was 

 only well under way when World's Fair matters called me to Chicago for 

 the next six weeks and nearly the entire research was lost. It is to be 

 hoped that the work may continue with more favorable results the coming 

 season. 



The noticeable insect depredations of the season may be summed up in 

 the following paragraphs: 



From the many inquiries sent us from all over the State, it seems that 

 the grain beetles and grain moth are still annoying many farmers and 



