ccxlii 



Two factions have thus grown up, and it is greatly to be desired that, by 

 the adoption of rules for guidance, harmonious views and harmonious 

 work may result. 



The collections made by Capt. Fielden, of the British Arctic Expedition, 

 add some interesting and unexpected facts to our knowledge of the distri- 

 bution of insects upon the globe. Frail butterflies and moths, belonging 

 to families and genera common with us, were taken in Discovery Bay in 

 8i° 42' N. latitude, and some even a degree farther north; while a bum- 

 ble-bee and an Ichneumon-fly in Hymenoptera, and various mosquitos 

 (Culicidcz) and black-flies (Similiutn) in Diptera that were also collected, 

 show that honey-producers, parasitic species, and animal tormentors, exist 

 in those high latitudes. 



Considerable progress has been made in Economic Entomology. 



The Colorado potato-beetle has attracted much attention in the Eastern 

 States, and has abounded to that extent along the Atlantic coast, as not 

 only to destroy all potatoes, but to prove a positive nuisance to persons. 

 I lay before you a little pamphlet entitled Potato Pests, which largely 

 treats of this insect, and was published in order to meet the demands made 

 for the information in my earlier reports, which are no longer to be had. 

 I also lay before you a colored placard published by the German Govern- 

 ment, to be used on all vessels plying between the United States and Ger- 

 many, and which is a literal carrying out of my recommendations for 

 preventing the introduction of the pest into Europe. The Commissioners 

 of Customs in England have also published a similar order directing the 

 officers of the out-door department of the service to look for and destroy 

 any beetle answering a description which accompanies the order. 



The Grape Phylloxera has continued to interest our grape-growers, 

 especially those of California, and to vitally concern the people of France. 

 The remedy still most practicable and most relied on is the grafting of 

 the susceptible European vine on to the resisting American varieties, as 

 recommended by me, and the demand for cuttings of some of our varieties 

 has not fallen far short of the 14,000,000 sent over in 1875-6. The issue of 

 the impregnated egg from the root-inhabiting type of this insect has been 

 proved to be the agamic gall-producing type, and the specific identity of 

 the two thus still more strongly and absolutely confirmed. There has been, 

 for some years past, no doubt on this point in the minds of all investiga- 

 tors who had given the subject most careful study; but the opposite view 

 was sustained and given a show of support by some very insufficient ex- 

 periments made by the entomologist to our Department of Agriculture. 



Some of the researches in Economic Entomology in Missouri have 

 been laid, in outline, before the Academy, and others will appear in my 

 official report. I shall not detain you, therefore, with any account of my 

 own work. But there is one subject that cannot well be passed over; it 

 is the 



LOCUST SCOURGE. 



For us, the locust problem just now transcends all others in economic 

 entomology. It will be remembered, that, in opposition to contrary opin- 



