174 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



Aluscidic. Only once before had I observed this out-of-dooi: 

 attack, and that was on September 5, 1884, in a field of wheat 

 stubble, the host this time being a species of Oscinis, which I 

 afterward reared from larvae infesting the stems of the young 

 wheat plants. 



Ill the same locality, near Ashtabula, the larvae of Phyio- 

 nouius punctatus, a recent acquisition to the coleopterous fauna 

 of the State, were being almost exterminated by Emptisa 

 sphcerospcrma (Fres.), not one per cent of these larvae, on an 

 average, reaching maturity, and all efforts to transport them 

 home by mail proved fruitless. It is a matter of surprise to 

 me that, if, as Dr. Thaxter believes, this species is correctly 

 determined, and is also, with its American host, an inhabitant 

 of Europe, we hear no reports of their sustaining similar 

 relations, the Phytonomus having been destructively abundant 

 in the clover fields of Italy for many years, and, apparently, 

 at rather irregular and widely-separated intervals, thereby 

 indicating the presence of some restraining element. My 

 fruitless attempts to transport the larvae, in a healthy condi- 

 tion, in this case, though the distance was not over 125 miles, 

 was almost paralleled by a similar attempt some years ago to 

 transport some larvae of a species of Pac/iyrr/ima, one of the 

 Tipididce, even a shorter distance. In this case the larvae were 

 destroying young wheat in a field in Western Indiana, in 

 April, 1890, and though large numbers were obtained for 

 study, being apparently in good health when secured, nearly 

 all died within three days. In one case a larva constructed 

 its vertical cell in the earth in the breeding cage, and during 

 the following night pupated, but in the morning was found on 

 the surface several inches distant, with the side of the body 

 next to the soil covered with white spores. The species was 

 not clearly referable to any described, and was named provis- 

 ionally Empusa pachyrrhincB by Ur. J. C. Arthur. 



Throughout many portions of the country the rapidity with 

 which the barbed wire, as a fencing material, has come into 

 almost universal use is well-nigh phenomenal. But very soon 

 after its adoption for this economic purpose, the discovery 

 was made that domestic animals were more or less liable to 

 sustain injury from contact with the barbs. This led to a modi- 

 fication, to the extent of placing one board horizontally above 



