244 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



fungi are shown in a tabular arrangement for convenient reference, with a key 

 and interpretative discussion. 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY— ENTOMOLOGY. 



Game laws for 1914. — A summary of the provisions relating to seasons, 

 export, sale, limits, and licenses, T. S. Palmer, W. F. Bancroft, and F. L. 

 Earnsiiaw (C7. S. Dcpt. Ayr., Fanners' Bui. 628 {1914), PP- o.'f, figs. 3).— This, 

 the fifteenth annual summary of the game laws of the United States and Can- 

 ada which has been prepared on the same general plan as those previously 

 issued (E. S. R., 30, p. 52), includes the proclamation of the President and the 

 amended regulations for the protection of migratory birds, approved October 

 1, 1914. 



The California toad, an economic asset, T. I. Storee {Univ. Cal. Jour. Agr., 

 2 {191J,), Ko. 3, pp. 89-91, fig. 1).—A brief account of Bufo halophilns, which 

 ranges throughout the greater part of California, being found along the coast 

 from San Diego on the south to at least Humboldt County on the north, through- 

 out the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, and well up into the Sierra Nevadas. 

 On the hot deserts in the southeastern part of the State, in the region east of 

 the Sierras, and to the north it is replaced by other species which differ but 

 slightly in form or habit. 



Entomology, C. W. Woodworth {California Sta. Rpt. 191^, pp. 109-118, fig. 

 1). — The author here reports upon the work of the year under the headings of 

 silkworms, spraying versus bees, factors in longevity, cyanid as a soil fumigant, 

 and insecticides. 



It has previously been pointed out (E. S. R., 15, p. 1091) that in the Pajaro 

 Valley the apples that set may be wholly those from the first blossoms, that 

 this fruit may be already as large as cherries before the lai'ger part of the 

 blossoms fall, and that to poison the blossom cups of the fruit the sjiray would 

 have to be applied before full bloom. Thus it became necessary to determine 

 the effect on bees of arsenical spray applied to trees just coming into full 

 bloom. A colony was shipped fi'om the University apiary at Berkeley to Wat- 

 sonville and placed in a tree in the center of a 40-acre apple orchard just before 

 spraying with an unusually heaAT dose of ai'senicals as the trees were coming 

 into full bloom. An examination of the hive later showed no evidence of the 

 poisoning of bees or brood. Samples of the pollen and newly stored honey were 

 also analyzed, with negative results in the case of the latter. The hive was 

 kept closed until a number of dead bees had accumulated, which were then 

 analyzed and an amount of arsenic nearly approaching a toxic dose was recov- 

 ered. Analyses of samples of honey gave negative results. "All clearly showed 

 that even under the scA'ei'e conditions of the excessive dose and a locality where 

 practically all the food was from sprayed trees there was no appreciable danger 

 to man from poisoned honey. When the more soluble arsenicals were in use 

 there is reason to believe that many bees were killed, and even with the insol- 

 uble lead or zinc compounds now in use a small percentage evidently die of the 

 poison." 



A series of experiments was conducted by J. P. Baumberger to determine 

 the effect on longevity of a variable temperature as contrasted with one held 

 practically uniform. He found that when insects are exposed to an unusual 

 temperature, either hot or cold, for two days they live longer in any other 

 temperature than when placed directly in that temiierature. " It is probable 

 that temperature is only one of the means of so upsetting the physiological bal- 

 ance as to affect longevity, and that we have the suggestion of a law that may 



