58 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. [May 



any old bark or similar rubljisli at the willow grounds, which is 

 a most important point in considering how to get rid of them, 

 Mr. Cameron remarked : — '•' Some of our members inform me that 

 during last winter they found a large number of the perfect beetle 

 under the rough bark of the willow trees, and one grower, who has 

 a wooden hut erected on his willow field, found, on accidentally 

 removini'' some of the boardin-j; of this, that the beetles were winter- 

 ing there in numberless quantities. 



" Another informs me that he has found them largely under the 

 l)ark of old fencing-posts, old boards left lying on the ground under 

 the flood-line, etc. 



" This being known, I think some means of trapping during the 

 late autumn or early winter might be devised and prove useful. 



" As regards area of land under osiers, I am not very wide of the 

 mark in saying we have about fifty acres in the Lymm district, and 

 I dare say the adjoining parish of Thelwall, which is affected as 

 Lymm is, will grow a like acreage." 



On the 25 th of June, Mr. Cameron noted further, relative to 

 estimate of value of willow crop : — 



" I mentioned that there may be about fifty acres of willows 

 grown in Lymm district, and I feel pretty certain that unless means 

 had been taken early to supress the beetle, the v/hole crop, on an 

 average, I am told, -worth about £1000, would have been lost. The 

 sum, however, means only the loss of the crop for one year ; and, if 

 this should happen, the old stocks w^ould not live ; consequently the 

 land would require trenching, paring, and burning and replanting the 

 following year, the replanting alone costing something like £15 an 

 acre, and still the risk of being eaten up afterwards. 



" Picking has been the chief remedy resorted to, but I have got a 

 ten-gallon can, made pretty much on the lines of the one recom- 

 mended in a report you sent to ]\Ir. Melvill for distributing Paris- 

 green solution. 



" The Paris-green we had difficulty in getting, but a supply has 

 now come to hand, and experiments are being made. One man 

 dressed a few willows three days ago, and he is sanguine of success. 

 Growers are afraid to use this solution for fear of damacjinef the 

 willow, but so far their fears have proved groundless. 



" As to the extent of the attack, I cannot say much further than 

 tliat in the district between Warrington and Lymm, a distance of 

 live or six miles, all the willows are affected pretty much alike. At 

 Thelwall, which is about midway, the beetle has been troublesome 

 for twenty years, but not until three years ago did it give any 

 trouble in Lymm. About that time a few plants were affected 



