EXPEKIMEXT STATION' BULLETIXS 389 



MOSQUITOES. 

 (Culex pungens, Wied.) 



Durinj^ the latter part of August, at the time when the writer was at the Sub- 

 Station, mosquitoes were not very abundant. It is said that earlier in the season 

 they are more numerous. Land that is being cleared furnishes an ideal place for 

 them to breed. Holes made by remoAing stumps and into which water has settled 

 are often fairly alive with the wrigglers. The writer collected a large number of the 

 larvae and pupae from a hole which would hold little more than a pailfull of water, 

 and bred the adults from them. They proved to be Culex pungens in this case. No 

 other species were collected. No specimens of Anopheles, the malaria transmitting 

 genus were seen, although especial care was taken to look for them. 



The control of mosquitoes in such places is so easily maintained that it seems a 

 pity that nothing is attempted in this direction. Dr. L. 0. Howard has pointed out, 

 time and again, that a few teaspoonfuls of kerosene will kill all the immature mos- 

 quitoes or wrigglers in a small pool, as well as many of the adults when they come to 

 lay their eggs. In swampy places this method is more difficult to carry out, but in 

 good, high ground, with swift water, such as is so common here, there are so few 

 pools of any size that almost all of them could easily be treated twice a month, 

 and the mosquito nuisance materially abated thereby. Everyone is familiar with the 

 way that oil spreads over water, and it needs but a moment's consideration to see 

 how kerosene, so deadly to all insect life, will kill any aquatic insects as they 

 come to tlie surface to breathe. Dr. Howard recommends an ounce of the oil to fifteen 

 square feet of water surface, and he says that the treatment need not be repeated for 

 a month. 



XO-SEE-UM. 



(Ceratopogon sp.) 



Specimens of no-see-um were collected, although they were almost entirely gone 

 by the latter end of August. They proved to be Ceratopogon and very closely related 

 to, if not identical with, tlie "Punkie" of the Adirondacks. This insect is a 

 very minute tly that bites. 



THE POTATO-BEETLE TACHIXID. 



(Pliorocera dovyphorce, Riley.) 



Potato ISeetle with eggs of T<ichiaa Fly (Phorocera doryphorw), original. 



As early as ISOli this fly was found to be parasitic in potato-beetles. Dr. Riley 

 described the fly. in his first report, under the name of Lydella doryphorce* 



This beneficial insect is a fly somewhat resembling a house-fly, except that the back 

 of the abdomen has silvery spots on it and that the face is silvery white. In size it is 

 a very little larger than the house-fly. This fly lays its eggs on the bodies of 

 potato-beetle larvae as well as on the adults. The egg laid on the larva hatches out 



•Riley Ist Rep. Insects of Mo., p. 111. 1869. 



