68 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



of the notable events of the season. Nearly every count" seemed to be 

 affected. 



Empoasca mall, which has hitherto been known to affect the apple, 

 was found at Ames upon the potato, and, judging from the damage it 

 did there, the author thinks there is danger of its becoming a serious 

 potato pest. The injury to the vines was so threatening that immedi- 

 ate steps were taken to apply a spray of kerosene emulsion made in the 

 usual proportions. A four-nozzle spraying outfit was affixed to the rear 

 end of a wagon so that four rows of vines could be covered at once. In 

 front of the nozzles and suspended from the rear of the wagons a nar- 

 row board was attached so that it would brush the tops of the vines 

 and cause the insects to fly into the spray, while at the same time 

 exposing the larvae adhering to the stems and under sides of the 

 leaves. A large percentage of the insects were killed by the first 

 application, and the second one, made within a few days, so reduced 

 their numbers that they required no further attention. 



The harlequin cabbage bug and the melon plant louse, J. B. 

 Smith {Neio Jersey Stan. Bui. 121, pp. 11, Jig. 1).— The author gives a 

 very popular account of these two insects (Murgantia histrionica and 

 Aphis gossypii). Their appearance is briefly discussed, and the most 

 effective remedial and preventive measures noted. A few notes are 

 added on bisulphid of carbon, in which it is suggested that a grade 

 known as "fuma bisulphid" is cheaper and much more effective than 

 the form ordinarily employed. 



i Relative to remedial and preventive measures the author lays con- 

 siderable stress upon very clean cultivation, and thinks it advisable 

 for much of the rubbish ordinarily destroyed to be gathered and left in 

 heaps in which insects may undertake to hibernate, in the winter 

 these heaps may be burned, and probably by far the greater portion 

 of insects hibernating on the farm may be thus destroyed. 



Against the harlequin cabbage bug the ordinary remedies are useless, 

 either because they can not be made to reach the insect, or if they do, 

 they must be employed in such degrees of concentration as to be inju- 

 rious to the plant. Before planting the cabbages it is advisable to 

 raise a trap crop of radishes or mustard. 



The melon lice may be destroyed when the plants are young by cov- 

 ering the latter with a paper or cloth dome shaped cover, under which 

 is placed a little bisulphid of carbon. It is very important to destroy 

 the first broods of the insect, for if the season be a dry one. they may 

 increase and spread beyond control. Other remedies recommended are 

 whale-oil soap, used at the rate of 1 lb. to. 4 gal. of water, kerosene 

 emulsion diluted 10 times, and ice-cold water. 



On the life history of Brachytarsus alternatus, A. L. Quaintance 

 [Ent. News, 8 {1897), No. l,pp. 1-3, pis. 1).— While carrying on studies 

 on insects injurious to stored grain, this anthribid beetle was found to 

 be abundant in certain localities in Florida, feeding both as larva and 

 adult on stored corn, cowpeas, and English peas. 



