2212 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



thoroughly rubbed off before the application of solution No. 2. The black color 

 does not appear at once, but usually requires a few hours before becoming ebony 

 black. The linseed oil may be diluted with turpentine without disadvantage, and 

 after a few applications the surface will take on a dull and not displeasing polish. 

 The table tops are easily cleaned by washing with water or suds after a course 

 of work is completed and the application of another coat of oil puts them in 

 excellent order for another course of work. 



Strong acids or alkalies when spilled, if soon wiped off, have scarcely a 

 perceptible effect. 



A slate of tile top is expensive not only in its original cost, but also as a 

 destroyer of glassware. Wood tops when painted, oiled, or paraffined have 

 objectionable features, the latter especially in warm weather. Old table tops 

 after the paint or oil is scraped off down to the wood, take the above finish 

 nearly as well as the new wood. Pierre A. Fish. 



N. Y. State Veterinary College, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Cultures of Empusa. 



It has been through a study of plant diseases, and especially in connection 

 with those diseases caused by insects, that I have become interested in the dis- 

 eases of insects caused by plants. A popular article i, containing a description 

 of the principal diseases and the fungi which cause them, was prepared at the 

 request of Prof. Bruner, Nebraska state entomologist. 



When the grasshopper season opened in 1902, and the experiments with the 

 South African locust fungus were resumed, it became my good fortune to be 

 asked by Prof. Bruner to prepare the cultures of the fungus which were to be 

 sent out into different parts of the state. Somewhat later, he asked me to spend 

 a number of days in the field where the fungus was being used, and to report 

 the results of my investigations as to the real worth of the South African locust 

 fungus. My conclusions as to the value of the fungus for killing grasshoppers 

 were all on the negative side. There were plenty of dead grasshoppers, but they 

 had been killed by a "grub," the larva of a fly {SarcoJ^haga) similar in appear- 

 ance to the common house fly. 



However, there are fungi that kill grasshoppers in large numbers, one of 

 them being an Empusa. Judging from the descriptions and illustrations in the 

 South African and European journals of the positions that the grasshoppers are 

 said to take at death, when dying from the effects of the South African locust 

 fungus, I began to suspect that the real cause was not that fungus at all, but an 

 Empusa instead. 



It is no uncommon sight to see the weeds, grasses and alfalfa literally cov- 

 ered with dead grasshoppers during the latter part of the summer and in the 

 autumn. Specimens of alfalfa were sent in from various parts of the state where 

 the grasshoppers were said to be " dying by the millions," that were almost a 



^Some Plants Which Live Upon and In Insects. Ann. Rept. Nebr. State Bd. Agr. igoi, 

 p. 131. 



