SUMMER MEETING AT BROOKFIELD. 51 



the sub-order Homoptera, distinguished from the typical Hemiptera 

 (bugs), by the upper wings being homogeneous, or of the same texture 

 throughout, and when the insect is at rest folding, roof-like, over the 

 body. In this species the head is very broad and shallow, the beak 

 extending down between the front legs, and having the thorax pro- 

 duced on each side into a sharp point or thorn. The body tapers back- 

 ward from this part, and the entire insect has much the form and about 

 half the size of a beech-nut. It subsists on sap, which it extracts with 

 its sharp slender beak from the leaves. For this reason it is not easily 

 poisoned by substances applied to the leaves, but must be destroyed 

 by such insecticides as will close its breathing pores or injure it 

 externally, as would be done by kerosene emulsions, pyrethrum 

 powder, etc. 



My correspondence this spring has called my attention to a large 

 number of insects not catalogued among familiar pests, as well as to 

 some of the latter which have appeared in unusual roles. On some of 

 the "new" insects I am not prepared to report, not having been able as 

 yet to give them sufficient study. 



Mr. Henry Schnell, of Glasgow, writes of the great damage done 

 again this year in his hot-beds and in the field by the cabbage curculio 

 / Centorrhynchus napi,) of which I gave some account in my notes last 

 summer. A more extended notice of this new pest will shortly appear 

 in the report of the U. S. entomologist. It has been reported to me 

 from several localities, and is attracting considerable attention. Mr. 

 Schnell writes: "It has played sad havoc with my early cabbage, both 

 in hot-beds and field, but worst in the field, ruining about two-fifths of 

 the plants. I tried tobacco water, and while it proved death and 

 destruction to the striped flea beetle, it did not have any effect on the 

 curculio. Neither did it mind pyrethrum powder. The best remedy I 

 have found is a brood of young chickens. I have the hen cooped and 

 the little fellows are busy all day long. They are also saving the late 

 •cabbage from the attacks of the flea beetle. I think tbis will be ray 

 main reliance in future." 



Another insect from which Mr. Schnell and several other of my 

 correspondents have suffered greatly this spring is the tarnished plant- 

 bug (Lygus lineolaris). This is a small insect of dull brown and yellow- 

 ish colors, with slender legs and antenn;e and a long, needle-like beak 

 folded under the body. It flies more readily than most of the bugs. It 

 passes the winter under fallen leaves and other rubbish on the ground, 

 or under the loose bark of trees, and recovers its activity about the time 

 that the fruit trees come into bloom. It is especially destructive to the 

 blossoms and young shoots of pear, apricot and quince. The small 



