ABSTRACTS OF PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OP 



AGRICULTURE. 



DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



Insect Life, Vol. Ill, NOkS. 7 and 8, April, 1891 (pp. 305-357, 

 illustrated). — The principal articles in this double uuuiber are on the 

 Xanthiuni trypeta {Trypeta cequalis, Lw.), by C. L. Marlatt; variations 

 in the Braconid genus Lysiphlehus, by D. W. Coquillettj birth of a 

 beautiful exotic lepidopterous insect {Castma cronis, var. corningii) in 

 New York, by H. Edwards ; the strawberry-leaf flea beetle {Haltica 

 ignita) in Indiana, by F. M. Webster ; another parasitic rove beetle 

 {Maseochara valida, Lee), by D. W. Ooquillett; phosphorescent myri- 

 opods, by L. Bruner ; the preparatory stages of JEiistrotia caduca, by D. 

 S. Kellicott; a list of Sphingidce and Bomhycidce taken by electric lamps 

 at Poughkeepsie, New York, by H. G. Dyar ; steps toward a revision 

 of Chambers's Index, with notes and descriptions of new species (Litho- 

 colletis betulivora and L. grindeliella), continued, by Lord Walsingham. 



Bulletin No. 24. 



The boll-worm of cotton, F. W. Mally (pp. 50, illustrated). — 

 This is a preliminary report on the special investigation of the cotton 

 boll-worm {Reliothis armigera, Hlibu.) now being carried on under the 

 direction of the entomologist of this Department. 



The boll-worm was treated at some length in the Fourth Report of the U. S. Ento- 

 mological Commission, and the chief object of the present investigation is to con- 

 duct further experiments with remedies, as well as to verify the value of those already 

 employed. A thorough series of experiments has been planned with the diseases of 

 Htliotlds and allied insects, in the hope of being able to practically utilize them. 



The following subjects are treated in the bulletin : Amount of injury 

 caused by the boll-worm, food plants other than cotton, character and 

 transformations of the insect, number of broods and hibernation, natural 

 enemies, insect ravages easily mistaken for those of the boll- worm, 

 remedies (topping of cotton, fall plowing, corn as a protection to cotton, 

 lights for attracting the moths, poisoned sweets, pyrethrum and other 

 vegetable insecticides), meteorological considerations, and insect dis- 

 eases. 



746 



