1908 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 49 



has not yet attracted the attention of the Experiment Stations, it is alto- 

 gether probable that it is of more general distribution than these statements 

 show. Its destructiveness, too, is of a varied description. In the alluvial 

 lands of Louisiana, for instance, the main part of the crop is completely 

 spoilt, while in the hill lands of the State, the crop is not so affected and 

 again in Arkansas and Missouri the attacks o"** the midge are so inconsider- 

 able that its presence would not be suspected. 



I will close these remarks by asking an apology for placing before you 

 records of an insect which is probably of only semitropical distribution, but 

 I thought that, as its method of attack closely resembles the attack of nearly 

 related species in the North and as these are practically some of the first 

 remarks on this particular species, this paper might be of interest. 



Mr. Treherne then exhibited a Cotton Plant which was grown in the 

 College greenhouse and pointed out the various stages of growth — the bud, 

 the square, the flower and the boll. The only time during the growth of 

 the plant that poison can be satisfactorily applied against the plant's chief 

 enemy, the Cotton Boll Weevil, is between the budding and the squaring 

 stages. Any poison applied after the plant has formed squares is of no use 

 against the weevil for the reason that once the square is formed, the insect 

 feeds within it and hence does not come in contact with the j)oison. 



Experiments have recently been conducted with powdered arsenate of 

 lead as a new poison for the Boll Weevil. Great hopes are entertained^'by 

 Prof. Wilmon Newell, of the State Crop Pest Commission of Louisiana that 

 this poison will prove to be satisfactory. If these hopes are realized, arsen- 

 ate of lead may possibly be of use to fruit-growers and gardeners in the 

 North. 



He next showed some specimens of the Fire Ant (Solenopsis geminata), 

 which is so useful in excavating the larva of the Boll "Weevil from the 

 square; the Argentine Ant which is causing much consternation in the 

 households of the South ; the Texas Fever Tick and a parasitic fungus on 

 the White Fly (Aleyrodes). 



HYDROECIA MICACEA, ESP. IN CANADA. 

 By Arthur Gibson, Central Experimental Farm, Ottaw^a. 



Of recent years much attention has been paid, by several entomologists, 

 to the boring larvae and the perfect moths of Gortyna, Hydroecia and 

 Papmpema. In Canada, the best work on these interesting insects has been 

 done by our esteemed member, Mr. Henry H. Lyman, of Montreal. In the 

 United States, our friend, Mr. Henry H. Bird, of Rye, N.Y., has care- 

 fully studied the life-histories of many species, probably the most of which 

 have been described as new to science. 



The larvae of some of the moths of this group are, more or less, of 

 economic importance. The Hop Vine Borer, Gortyna immovis, Gn., is well 

 known from its ravages in hop yards. In the annual report of the Domin- 

 ion Experimental Farms for 1892, Dr. Fletcher treats of this insect at con- 

 siderable length and gives the life-history. The Columbine Borer, Papai- 

 pema purpurifascia, G. & R.,* is recorded as a destructive enemy of culti- 

 vated plants of the genus Aquilegia. The Stalk Borer, Pa'paipevxa nitela, 

 Gn., is widely known from its attacks on potatoes, tomatoes and corn. The 



•Report, Ent. Soc. Ont., 1904, p. 81. 



4 EN. 



