entomologist's report. 119 



of the males being somewhat smaller than the female's. The winged 

 males appear in July. They are characterized by a rather slender 

 body of a dull orange color, terminated by a long stylet, and have 

 almost transparent wings. They are not very active, and remain for 

 the most part crawling or flitting about the stems where they emerged. 



The spread of this insect from vine to vine is not very rapid, ex- 

 cept where the latter are contiguous, and it is probably carried from 

 one vineyard to another by larger insects, such as beetles, bees and 

 wasps, or by birds, which, alighting upon an infested vine when the lice 

 have recently hatched, carry a few away with them upon the feet or 

 feathers, which are unconsciously deposited upon the next vine visited. 



The grape-vine scale is parasited by a tiny fly — an undescribed 

 species of Centrodora, as determined by Dr. Riley — which is more than 

 usually effective in reducing the numbers of the host insect. It is 

 therefore recommended that the pruaings of infested vines, instead of 

 being burned, be deposited in a pile at a safe distance from the vine- 

 yard, and suffered to remain there until mid summer, when the flies 

 emerge. 



The most effective application for the removal of the scale is kero- 

 sene emulsion, used freely in the spring before the buds put forth. 

 The vines treated should have the loose shreds of bark taken off, so 

 that the insecticide may come in contact with every scale, and thus 

 destroy the vitality of the mother insect or the eggs. 



The Horn Fly f ffamatobia serrata, Rob. Des.) — Although the insect 

 here named is only of indirect interest to the horticulturist, it may 

 not be out of place to record here the fact that its invasion, predicted 

 more than once in the writer's annual notes, occurred during the past 

 summer in exceedingly injurious numbers, in various sections of the 

 State. Many letters of inquiry concerning its habits and treatment 

 were received from stockmen during the months of June and July, 

 some of which contained decidedly sensational reports of its effects 

 upon the herds, both of dairy and of fattening cattle. Most of these 

 letters were answered directly, but a few through the "Rural World' 

 the " St. Louis Republic " and one or two other periodicals. 



As many of our most distinguished entomologists, including Drs. 

 Riley and Lintner, Profs. Smith of New Jersey and Weed of Missis- 

 sippi, Mr. Fletcher of Canada and others, have made careful studies of 

 the life history and habits of the insect, there is very little room for 

 original work in these lines, and the account which follows has been in 

 the main compiled from the papers of the authors named. 



The fly is a small gray species, in form and structure much like the 

 common house-fly, except that it is less than one-half the size of the 



