ENTOMOLOGY. 159 



vessel such as is used inside of tbe ordinary wax extractor and a tin 

 scoop such as is used by grocers. The method of conducting the opera- 

 tion is explained. 



Experiments on the relative merits of cellar and out-of-door winter- 

 ing showed a saving of 9.19.~> lbs. of stores per colony in cellar as con- 

 trasted with out-of-door wintering. Only 3 hives in 120 stored in the 

 cellar were lost from dysentery. For success some stores are necessary, 

 and not less important are temperature and dryness. The author's 

 cellar remained at 45° with a moisture saturation of about 95 per cent; 

 for a drier one it is thought 40° might do. 



Concerning foul brood reference is made to the author's report for 

 1S94 (E. S. R., 7, p. 906), to the fasting cure and the drug cure. Where 

 the treatment of colonies must be delayed a mixture of \ oz. salicylic 

 acid in 1 oz. alcohol and 1 pt. of water added at the rate of 1 pt. to 4 

 qts. of thin sirup of honey has a decided influence in checking the 

 disease. Fennel (1 part to about 000 parts of the food noted above) is 

 noted, and also burning. 



In preventing swarming the author states that he relies on a queen 

 trap so constructed that the queen once in can not return to the hive. 

 In hiving swarms he has been almost entirely successful in meeting 

 the difficulty of large absconding swarms by giving the swarm a double 

 brood chamber and removing the lower section in two days. 



Some experiments were made on the amount of food necessary to 

 produce brood. From the figures obtained the conclusion is drawn that 

 almost exactly 2f lbs. of honey is used up in rearing 1 lb. of brood and 

 that artificial swarms do fully as good work as natural swarms. 



The Mexican cotton-boll weevil in 1897, L. O. Howard ( U. 8. 

 Dept. Agr., Division of Entomology Giro. 37, 3 ser., pp. 7). — During 

 1897 the studies of Anthonomus grandis in Texas were continued. The 

 spread of the weevil toward the north and east has been very slow. 

 It is checked by the first frost, and there is some doubt as to whether 

 it will continue beyond the region of volunteer cotton. In rearing 

 experiments undertaken by C. H. T. Townsend at Tobasco, Mexico, 

 where the weevils are common, no parasites were found. 



The shortness of the crop in nearly all of the infected region reduced 

 the number of insects so that few were found; but on bottom lands 

 where the cotton was not hurt by the prevailing drought, the weevils 

 were very numerous. They were found to be present at San Antonio, 

 Kenedy, (Juero, Victoria, Beeville, Yoakum, Gonzales, Moravia, Har- 

 wood, Shiner, Thompsonville, and Port Lavaca. No great damage is 

 expected for 1898. 



In several instances the weevils were found in ginned seed and seed 

 cotton. This fact, which is new, indicates a much greater opportunity 

 for spreading than has hitherto been supposed. 



Besides the sharpshooter, formerly reported as being mistaken for 

 this pest, an acorn weevil has been found to produce similar confusion, 

 4485— No. 2 5 



