70 THE REPORT OF THE No. 1» 



past suQinier in western Canada. There is no doubt that the lime-sulphur-and salt wash will 

 clear trees of the scale to the extent of allowing them to reta'n their vigour and bear paying 

 crops of fruit. The Ear- e may be expected confidently from the newer but similar lime-sulphur- 

 and-potash wash which is much more easily made ; and, if the McBain Carbolic Wash can be 

 procured at a price equal to that of these washes and will kill the scale as effectually, it will 

 certainly become a very popular wash, owing to a very important characteristic, the ease with 

 which it can be diluted with water at the time it is required for spraying. Such experiments 

 as I \v-ive been able to examine, showed that a large proportion of the scales were killed with one 

 application, but not enough to free the trees from the danger of thorough reinfestation before 

 the end of the season. I am told, however, that these same trees have been again treated and 

 that they are now practically, although not entirely, free from scale. We have then several prac- 

 tical remedies by which this disastrous enemy can be controlled, if fruit growers will use them. 

 It is of the greatest importance that everyone who understands the gravity of the case should 

 endeavor to stir up those who are less informed, to greater effort in fighting this pest, which is 

 costing the country so much every year in actual money for fumigation and inspection, andal.'o, 

 just as surely, in reduced crops and in the destruction of valuable fruit trees and nursery stock. 

 People in the infested districts are getting used to the idea of the presence of the Sin Jose 

 Scale, and, having become familiar with it, are, I fear, doing less to control it. It is. however, 

 ali the time becoming worse and worse ; the injury is increasing, and, what is of the greatest 

 importance, this need not be the case, if all concerned would make greater efforts to control the 

 insect and prevent it from spreading in their own orchaj'ds and from their own trees to those 

 of their neighbors. 



A screen Apple Sawfly (Taxomn, nlgrisoma, Nort.) — Prof. Lochhead referred 'at the last 

 annual meeting to a green sawfly larva which had been found several times in apples. This is 

 that of the above named sawfly, which usually feeds on plants of the Dock family. Attention 

 having been drawn to it, it has been noticed in many different localities, and it would appear as 

 if this habit of eating into apples to pass the winter is more frequent than was at first supposed. 

 I cannot hear of anyone having observed the larvte feeding (m any part of the apple tree, nor do 

 I anticipate that this will ever develop into a serious pest. All plants of the Smartweed or 

 Dock family should be destroyed when they occur in orchards, so that there may be nothing 

 to attract the egg-laying females. 



The Plum-leaf Sawfly {Dimorphopteryx pingiiis, Nort.). — European plums at Ottawa this 

 autumn were noticeably attacked by the curious larva of this sawfly, leaves of plum trees 

 during August and September being very much riddled, and in many cases almost totally 

 devoured by the larvte. These when full grown are about three quarters of an inch in length, 

 and lie exposed on the surface of the leaves, sometimes as many as three or four on a leaf • 

 They have a peculiar habit, when at rest, of lying with the body curved in the shape of an 

 open S. The general color above is olive green, with two wide black stripes down the sides. 

 The head is bright chestnut red beneath and black above ; close behind the head are three 

 fleshy white prominences, two in front and one close behind it. The anal flap has a transverse 

 I'ow of four of these which are black, and the previous segment bears two more anterior to these. 

 The infrastigm ital fold is edged with a row of white-tipped tubercles, giving a somewhat 

 fringed appearance to the larva ai it lies on the leaf. The larvte late in the autumn burrow a 

 short distance into the soil, where they form tough cocoons, from which the flies emerge the 

 following spring. These sawfiies are about the size of the common Currant Sawfly, but have 

 the thorax dark brownish blacK with a conspicuous light central point ; the.abdomen is chest" 

 nut red darkened at the tip. The head is black and square, the antennae are thick and red, the 

 legs red, darkened at the joints. The perfect sawflies appear in June and July, and the larvae 

 are found on the trees as early as Augu.st and late into September. I have also once found the 

 larvae feeding on the Norway Maple and perhaps on Bass-wood. 



