130 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Museum, who donated a collection of insects as well as many reptiles 

 and other specimens; Prof. L. W. Mengel, of Reading, Pa., who 

 has contributed prepared collections of Lepidoptera (Moths and 

 Butterflies); Mr. It. Simpson, of Warren, Pa., who has donated a 

 large collection of mammals and birds of the northern faunal area, 

 collected in Warren county, and Mr. Klages, of the Carnegie Museum, 

 who contributed a large collection of pinned and labeled Coleoptera 

 or Beetles from Western Pennsylvania, besides a great many con- 

 tributors of highly-prized and valued material in less amount from 

 practically every county in the State. Since last September these 

 contributions have been acknowledged in our Monthly Bulletins, 

 and it would take more than twenty -five pages of this Report to 

 enumerate the specimens sent, together with the contributors of 

 the same. It is enough for us to say that all of these are valuable, 

 and there surely has never been any state in the Union nor any 

 country in the world that has given any naturalist such remarkable 

 support in his collection of specimens as we have received from our 

 citizens during the past year. They have awakened to the import 

 ance of this work and see that they will receive the benefits of it in 

 proportion to what they do to help it develop. 



Of course, many of these specimens have been insects, either di- 

 rectly injurious or supposed to be obnoxious. In such cases senders 

 have asked for information concerning them, and especially have 

 desired knowledge of the methods of preserving their property from 

 their attacks. Chief among such insects have been the, San Jose 

 Scale and several other kinds of scale insects, such as oyster-shell, 

 scurfy and Lecanium, but the canker worm has been important in 

 this State and has received attention, as well as the root maggots 

 of cabbage and radishes, caterpillars of shade trees, insects in mills 

 and buildings, particularly the Mediterranean flour moth, granary 

 pests, household pests, and numerous others that are to be learned 

 by looking over the lists of acknowledgments in our Bulletins. 



2. INVESTIGATIONS. 



The investigations of this office have been chiefly along economic 

 lines, as we have believed that it is necessary first to make a careful 

 study of those objects that are of economic value or bearing and 

 thus prepare our citizens to see the value of what may appear of 

 non-economic importance, and which may later prove to be of greater 

 value than they have supposed. We have finished investigations on 

 the Hessian Fly, mentioned in a preAious report, and have made a 

 prolonged study of the San Jose" Scale and the various methods of 

 controlling the same, experimenting with summer remedies as well 

 as winter, and with commercial insecticides as well as with home- 

 made remedies, and our final conclusions are to be summed up in the 

 statement that the Lime-sulphur-salt wash, boiled for one hour, 

 and applied while the leaven are off the trees or when, the trees are 

 dormant, is positively the best m,eans of hilling the San Jose Scale, 

 the safest or least injurious to the infested trees, and the leas f ex- 

 pensive material thit can be effectively applied for this pest. There 

 have, of course, been a great many commercial materials placed on 

 the market, and our tests of these have proven their inefficiency in 

 comparison with the standard remedy mentioned above, which is 



