18 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



species here, as specimens have been taken in Michigan. This is the 

 first case where we Icnow the insects that have done the work, and some- 

 thing of their habits, and it gives us a leverage that will enable us to do 

 more definite work for the fruitgrower in the future, though compara- 

 tively little is known in the United States regarding this family of beetles. 

 So soon as the beetles were received from Mr. Peet, directions were 

 given him to use a whitewash with Paris green in it, on all of his trees, 

 whether injured or not. The coating that he put on was so thick that it 

 must prevent the beetles ever coming out so long as the whitewash 

 remains on the trees, and it will surely prevent other beetles from enter- 

 ing trees already infested. It is quite x>robable that all of the shot-hole 

 beetles attack trees in May and June, and, if one suspects a possible 

 injury from tliem, he would be safest in applying some mechanical coat of 

 this nature to his trees early in the spring. 



BLISTER BEETLES. 



Owing to the exceptionally dry season, blister beetles have been unusu- 

 ally common this spring. They came earlier than usual, too, which has 

 made it doubly hard on young plants and those just recovering from the 

 late frost and with foliage yet young and tender. They have done consid- 

 erable injury on our grounds and have been sent in from quite a number 

 of places over the state. The most common one has been the gray blister 

 beetle, Macrohasis unicolor, but the black blister beetle, Epicauta pennsyl- 

 vanica, has also been common. They have confined their work almost 

 exclusively, so far this season, to the leguminous family of plants, such as 

 the various kinds of clover, including alfalfa, lupines, peas, and many of 

 the more rare plants in our wild garden. A man near Lansing has 

 recently reported the almost complete destruction of several acres of field 

 beans by the gray blister beetle. Blister beetles come and go very sud- 

 denly, and usually in swarms, so that their work often amounts nearly 

 to destruction before they are found. The arsenites, which we would 

 naturally expect to be the remedy, are too slow to be practical. We have 

 always been most successful with kerosene, as an emulsion or with water, 

 si>rayed upon the beetles while they are at work. The beetles are very 

 easily driven, and if one gives them a warm reception by killing what he 

 can in a thorough spraying, and also in coating the plants with the 

 unpleasant oily material, the remaining members will soon depart for 

 parts unknown. Inside of a very few hours not a living blister beetle can 

 be found where they were so plentiful as to almost hide the plant. 



SCALE INSECTS. 



The present season is quite remarkable for the number and variety of 

 scale insects that are everywhere present. There is hardly a tree but 

 upon which one can find a few brown scales scattered over the twigs, and 

 on many of the trees the scales are very numerous. Many specimens of 

 scale have been sent this spring from Jackson, Grand Rapids, Detroit, 

 Cheboygan, Fowler, and other places, from people wanting to know what 

 they are and what to do for them. These, with the many other insect 

 specimens of various kinds sent from the shade trees of our various cities. 



