118 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



MISCELLANEOUS ENTOMOLOGICAL PAPERS, BY F. M. WEBSTER, FEB. 



1894, 



We have just received a neat pami)hlet of 59 pages, which forms Bulletin .51 of the 

 Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. It is by Prof. F. M. Webster and like all his 

 work shows careful preparation. 



The insects treated of in the first part are : The asparagus beetle, the western corn 

 root worm, the broad striped ilea beetle, blister beetles, the basket worm, the cabbage 

 aphis and the apple leaf louse. 



An interesting account of the insects which have been introduced into the State i.* 

 given under the head of "Some insect immigrants in Ohio." There appears to hive been 

 two great highways which insects imported 'rom Europe have followed : those which 

 have entered the State at its northeastern cornei- and spread westvvard, and those from 

 Southern Europe which have generally entered by way of the Ohio Yalley and have a 

 more or less restricted northern distribution. 



In the article " Insect foes of American Cereals " the writer is evidently dealing with 

 a subject of which he has made a special study. By patient observation and the applica- 

 tion of practical common sense, Prof. Webster has made some important discoveries in 

 Economic Entomology. Not the least of these is the fact recorded in this pamphlet that 

 the apple aphis passes part of the year as an injurious enemy on wheat. Infact Mr. Webster 

 says : " So far as my own observations go, it is more detrimental to the wheit than to the 

 apple." This is an important discovery and will doubtless draw the attention of entomo- 

 logists to this important subject of the "Alternation of Generations " among the aphides 

 — a line of investigation which has engaged much of the time of Messrs. Riley and 

 Howard at Washington. Speaking of remedies, Prof. Webster says : " It would appear 

 almost visionary to advocate spraying apple orchards with kerosene emulsion in mid-win- 

 ter to protect the wheat crop, but nevertheless one of the most serious enemies of young: 

 fall wheat passes its egg stage on the twigs of the apple during the winter season. I refer 

 to the apple leaf louse, {Aphis viali, Fab.") 



" Soon after the young wheat plants appear in the fall the winged viviparous females- 

 of this species flock to the fields, and on these give birth to their young, which at once 

 make their way to the roots, where they continue reproduction, sapping the life froni 

 young plants .... though they are seldom killed outright, these infested plants 

 cease to grow, and later take on a sickly look, and not until the aphis abandons them in 

 autumn to return to the apple, do they show any amount of vigor. It is very seldom 

 that the affected plants fully recover, at least in autumn ; and the result must be to- 

 reduce their productiveness the following year." The eggs of the apple leaf aphis are 

 deposited on the twigs and limbs of apple trees late in the autumn ; these do not hatch 

 until the following spring ; the plant lice remain on the apple trees for two or three gen- 

 erations, when winged females are produced, which fly to grasses and weeds and there- 

 pass the summer. After the young wheat is up in the autumn, the lice congregate ori 

 the plants and reproduce rapidly. 



The above is briefly the life history of this insect in Ohio as worked out by Prof. 

 Webster by careful experiments which are detailed in the Bulletin. At Ottawa this- 

 probably may also, to a large extent, be the case ; but the aphis is also sometimes abun- 

 dant on young apple trees right through the season. It is, however, seldom injuriously 

 abundant in Ontario, although in British Columbia it is to-day one of the xuost serious 

 enemies of the apple grower. 



Prof. Webster's paper will doubtless cause many other entomologists to study this.-- 

 insect more closely, when it is probable that further discoveries will be made, perhaps not 

 less interesting than that now discussed. 



J. F. 



