256 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



upon the needles of the new buds or terminal shoots, gnawing the base of the 

 needles, separating them from the twig, and spinning them together by means 

 of the silken thread which they secrete. The larva thus forms a loose shelter, 

 moving about in the space between the twig and loosened needles and bud 

 scale. The caterpillars do not turn their attention to the older growth until 

 the young needles are entirely consumed. It is stated that a recurrence of 

 the attack for 2 or 3 consecutive years in severe infestations will cause the 

 death of the tree. 



The caterpillar begins feeding when growth starts in the spring, becoming 

 full fed between the lirst and middle of June. About the middle of June they 

 transform to brown chrysalids inside the loosely made shelters. In a week or 

 10 days the small grayish brown moth emerges from the chrysalid dragging the 

 empty case practically out of the larval shelter. The moths may be seen on 

 the wing from the middle of June until toward the latter part of July. Shortly 

 after emergence the moths deposit their pale green scale-like eggs in small 

 oval patches on the sides of the needles, but they are not conspicuous. About 

 Orono the eggs were deposited early in July hatching in a week or 10 days. By 

 July 27 nearly all egg masses examined were empty. 



The natural enemies mentioned include spiders which have been determined 

 as Thcridion spirale, T. diffcrens, Linyphia phrygiuna, Dictyna volupis, and an 

 immature Tetragnatha. It is stated that 2 individual spiders observed were 

 capable of exterminating several hundred newly hatched larvae. The parasitic 

 enemies mentioned include the dipterous parasite Exorista vulgaris and the 

 hymeuopterous parasites Pimpla Ontario, P. conquisitor, Apanteles, sp., etc. 



In timber laud remedial measures are impractical, but for the protection of 

 ornamental trees an arsenical spray will keep the pest under control. Arsenate 

 of lead applied at the rate of 5 or 6 lbs. per one hundred gallons of water is 

 thought to be the simplest and most reliable remedy, the applications to be made 

 soon after the young shoots open and repeated within a week or 10 days. 



Brief notes are given on 2 spruce leaf miners, namely, Recurvaria piceaeUa 

 and Epinotia piceafoliana, also on Rhogas canadensis, which may prove to be 

 a parasite of E. piceafoliana. 



The stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans), an important live stock pest, F. C. 

 BiSHOPP {Jour. Econ. Ent., 6 {1913), No. 1, pp. 112-126, pis. 2).— The author here 

 reports studies made of the life history and habits of the stable fly during an 

 outbreak of this pest in northern Texas. The outbreak of this fly, which was 

 practically coextensive with the area where grain was extensively produced in 

 1912, centered in Grayson, Cook, Collin, and Denton counties. The investiga- 

 tions showed that the flies were developing in great numbers in straw stacks, 

 the abundance being largely governed by the number of straw stacks in a given 

 district. 



While their injury to live stock brought about by worry was the most serious, 

 their attacks resulted in bringing on acute Texas fever in cattle which already 

 harbored the piroplasm in their blood, and in reducing the milk output from 

 40 to 00 per cent. They also caused work teams and fat cattle to lose weight, 

 and horses to become lame through stamping. 



The life history studies show that the stable fly breeds in straw of oats, rice, 

 barley, and wheat, horse manure, lot manure, and cow manure, the substances 

 being listed in the approximate order of their importance. The vast majority 

 of flies undoubtedly breed in decaying straw, either pure or mixed with manure. 

 An examination of oat and wheat straw stacks during the latter part of 

 August and early September, 1912, showed that far more larvae developed in oat 

 straw than in wheat straw. 



