46 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLFXTIONS VOL. 84 



dileninia. The spirit of the iiaturaHst, however, overcame the rehg- 

 ious feehng, and in a somewhat shamefaced manner the eminent ento- 

 mologist reached out for his butterfly net and captured and bottled 

 the specimen before finishing his chapter. Was the act an irreverent 

 one? And does the fact that the moth afterwards proved to belong 

 to a species then new to science justify the interruption of the relig- 

 ious exercises ? 



DATA CONCERNING FITCH 's NEW YORK REPORTS 



The first report covers 176 pages and is devoted entirely to insects 

 infesting fruit trees. It devotes 104 pages to apple insects, 3 to 

 pear insects, 11 to peach insects, 2 to plum, 14 to cherry, 6 to grape, 

 and then, considering nut trees as really fruit trees, gives 1 1 pages 

 to insects affecting hickory and walnut ; then gives 2 pages on a 

 pine Coccid, 6 on the cabbage moth, and i on the gooseberry midge. 

 The articles on the apple root-louse and the apple tree borers are 

 very carefully done and are distinctly the result of original observa- 

 tions. He devotes much space to the plant-lice of the apples, also 

 obviously the result of careful personal observations. Here, how- 

 ever, he lets his interest in general entomology get the better of him 

 and devotes several jiages to the consideration of the little flies that 

 feed upon honey-dew and which have apparently no connection with 

 the economy of the plant-lice, describing several species of Ortalid, 

 Trypetid and Diopsid flies of no economic importance. Then taking 

 up the lace-wing flies among the natural enemies, he gives very care- 

 ful detailed observations, devoting 14 or more pages to full descrip- 

 tions of the dift'erent species, the descriptions being arranged in an 

 analytical table. He also devotes much space to a Coniopterygid 

 which he names Aleiironia zvcstwoodi. 



The report is extremely interesting, but about half of it has little 

 direct economic value. At the same time, he avoids a lot of useless 

 writing about problematical remedies, as the following paragraph 

 indicates. 



In the treatment of the apple tree borer, to use a medical term, there are two 

 " indications." The first is to protect the tree from attack ; the second to destroy 

 the worm. And as we have simple, direct, and effectual modes for accomplishing 

 both of these purposes, there is no occasion for dwelling upon those which are 

 of doubtful efficacy or inconvenient to be applied. 



By his careful study of the insects, he is able to point out the exact 

 means of destroying the borers under the bark and several methods 

 of discouraging egg-laying. 



