1906 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. ' 13 



but the application must be three times as strong as Paris Green to get the 

 same results; it also remains longer on the foliage because it does not wash 

 off so easily. Being finer, it will remain in suspension better, and therefore 

 arsenate of lead is, except for the matter of color, rather better than Paris 

 Green. The danger is that in color it resembles other substances in domestic 

 use, and therefore he did not like to recommend it for general use. It is 

 very effective, and the mixture, if of proper strength, is safe in the hands 

 of careful men, but it must be used carefully. It has been placed on the 

 market in a convenient form under the names of Bowker's Disparene and 

 Swift's Arsenate of Lead. It is a very powerful poison and very effective, 

 but on account of the danger I have referred to, I do not recommend it ex- 

 cept with the above named provisoes. 



Dr. Bethune : I have employed the bandaging system a little and found 

 it very effective indeed in catching the insects. The one great difl&culty 

 about bandaging is that it must be properly attended to. If you do not 

 look after the bandages regularly, and at suflBciently short intervals, you are 

 simply providing a most convenient place for the worm to conceal itself in 

 and to change to the chrysalis stage. If the bandages are taken off at least 

 every ten days and the larvae and chrysalids removed from the tree, it is a 

 most effective and useful remedy, and is probably the only really good^ 

 remedy — at we have against the second brood of the codling-worm, with 

 the exception of Mr. Fisher's plan of allowing sheep or pigs to devour the 

 fallen fruit. Where a man has only a few fruit trees, he certainly ought 

 to do that work himself and gather all that falls and destroy it. It is no 

 use to gather a week after it has fallen. The drawback is that of labor and 

 expense. I find that to examine properly a single bandage it takes at least 

 ten minutes, because the larvae hide themselves under bits of loose bark and 

 conceal themselves very thoroughly, and it requires a very good eye to find 

 where the creatures are, so that it all takes time and care. No doubt that 

 labor might be saved to some extent V* having some convenient form of 

 scraper which would scrape them off and save this troublesome work. You 

 will, however, find under the bandages a considerable number of the worms 

 they have not had time to conceal themselves, and these you can easily get 

 rid of. 



The question of parasites was brought before the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture for Ontario in consequence of a paragraph in some of the newspapers 

 in which he was credited with having discovered, or having available, a para- 

 site to wipe out the codling-worm. He wrote to me on the subject and asked 

 for information, as he was credited with a great deal more responsibility 

 than he has any desire to have placed upon his shoulders. I told him that 

 it was hardly possible to hope for an effective parasite, because the creature 

 during the greater part of its life was inside the fruit and out of the reach 

 of parasites. The only time for the parasite to attack the insect is during 

 the very short period between the emergence from the egg and the time it 

 is buried away inside the fruit, and then again it might be attacked after 

 it has left the fruit and is proceeding to crawl to some convenient place 

 before changing into a chrysalis. However, at his suggestion, I have been 

 making inquiries both in California and at Washington and expect very soon 

 to have some fuller information. 



One other point which has been referred to I should like to emphasize, 

 and that is the usefulness of birds in destroying these insects. A very large 

 number of the larvae are destroyed in the winter time by woodpeckers, 

 creepers and nuthatches. These birds ought to be encouraged in every way. 

 Good work is also done by the chickadees and other birds. The 



