104 THE REPORT OF THK [ No. 19 



There is no possibility of the scale spreaHing until some time after the 1st of Jane. 

 The youDg begin to appear in the vicinity of Washington, D.O., Jane 10 to 15 [in 1900 

 young were seen by the writer crawling June 3 near Washington], and the insect contin- 

 ues to breed until very cold weather. We have seen young, just born, on trees as late 

 as December 19. When a twig is cut off between, say, December 20 and May 15, there 

 is no possible danger of the scale spreading from it. It is not possible to trantfer one of 

 these insects from one twig to another after it is " set " and formed a scale over its back, 

 and all of them die as soon as the sap is dried out of a cut twig or branch. Badly in- 

 festtd trees of no commercial value should be cat down as soon as possible, before the 

 buds open, and the brush piled. Do not leave the stump standing, as it may prove a 

 veritable breeding place during the summer. If you are so unfortunate as to have this 

 scale, remember that eternal vigilance must be the order of the day, and you will find 

 before you are through with it that it is no trifling matter. 



The orchard in question was not destroyed by burning, as first suggested, bub the 

 trees were pruaed and the cuttings saved. In May, 1900, the writer had a large quan- 

 tity of the branches from this orchard carefully packed and sent to Mr. W. W. Oobey, 

 Grayson, Charles County ; to Capt. R. S. Emory, Ohestertown, Kent County, and to 

 Hon. Charles G. Biggs, Sharps'ourg, Washington County. Instructions were sent to 

 place the infested br inches in grape baskets and hang them about the orchard where the 

 scale was most abundant In this manner we will establish Aphelinus /uscipennisia the 

 various counties and under diff'erent conditions. We have every reason to believe that 

 the experiment will prove successfa). 



In this case the study of parasitism has given us a valuable suggestion for the treat- 

 ment of scale infested orchards, namely, never burn a twig or tree cut late in the fall, 

 winter, or early spring. A positive remedy one day may be wrong the next day, just as 

 we are able to unravel nature's secrets and interpret them for own good. 



Since the above was read the writer has tested a lot of twigs from the Charles County 

 orchard and has bred numerous specimens of A. /uscipennis, thus proving that a parasite 

 is thoroughly established there. 



Mr. A. H. Kirkland read a paper on ''the Brown-tail Moth in Massachusetts," in 

 which ho gave an account of the natural spread of this injurious insect throughout the 

 State. The infested area in 1896 was only 29 square miles; in 1899 this had increased 

 to 928 square miles. 



The next paper was by Mr. C. P. Gillette, who gave a series of interesting notes on 

 some of the most important insects of Colorado. Mr. Johnson followed with " Notes on 

 insects of economic importance in Maryland during 1900," and Prof. Webster with an 

 account of the *' Insects of the year in Ohio." Foremost among these he placed the Hes- 

 sian fly, regarding which he said : " In point of destruction the Hessian fly outranks 

 every other insect, when considered in connection with the wheat crop of 1900. It is 

 doubtful if there will be over 20 per cent of an average crop in Ohio; the remaining 80 

 per cent may be largely charged up to the ravages of this pest. As an average crop in 

 Ohio amounts to, approximately, 40,000,000 bushels, the loss may be computed at 32,000- 

 000 bushels, which at the ruling market price would mean a loss of $22,400,000, at 

 least three-fourths of which, or $16,800,000 can be justly charged up to the ravages of 

 the Hessian fly. More extended studies of this, outbreak and some of the meteorological 

 phenomena connected therewith are given in another paper. The unprecedented abund- 

 ance of the pest this year may be attributed largely to the almost total lack of parasites, 

 the retardation of the fall brood over the northern half of the State, and the extremely 

 favorable weather during the autumn of 1899, which enabled all but the very latest de- 

 posited eggs to hatch and the larvae develop to the " flaxseeds" and thereby defy the 

 adverse influences of winter. In many localities the later sown wheat escaped fall attack 

 and up to May 1, 1900, was uninjured, but the flies developing in the earlier sown fields 

 seemed to have migrated en masse and settled down on those sown later, and the result 

 is that in mmy cises the destruction is as c )malete in the one as in the other." 



Mr. Woodworth gave a short account of the Entomological situation in the State 

 of California, referring especially to Scale insests, the Coiling moth, peach and grape 

 insects. The last pip sr read was by Dr. Fl^tch'^r of 0:.tavA, whi gave an account of 

 the most noticeable insect attacks of the yeir in Oanai*, meatioaing those a3'dc'"An » fruit 

 trees, roots and vegetables, cereals, fodder-plants, and trees and shrubs. 



