78 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF OINTARIO. 



particular colours, though showing a preference for the greens. He thought it more 

 likely that the preference exhibited by the beetles in certain cases was due rather to the 

 mordant employed. 



Mr. Howard said that the best remedy and the one which he now always advised^ 

 was to abandon the use of carpets altogether. 



Mr. Smith had used the method suggested by Mr. Davis and had also employed 

 gasoline. He had not found anything in insurance policies against the use of this or 

 like substances in small quantities, but he was always careful to urge the greatest caution 

 in the use of inflammable substances. He gave, by request, certain experiences which 

 he had had with the use of bisulphide of carbon in the National Museum, a rather seri- 

 ous explosion having in one instance occurred from the ignition of this substance by the 

 heat from a steam radiator, while there was another equally startling case of the ignition 

 of the substance in a large box, resulting from a spark having been struck off from a 

 nail in fastening down the lid of the box in which the bisulphide had been placed. In 

 the latter case the box exploded and the negro laborer was either thrown a distance of 

 some feet or had leaped a considerable length under the excitement of the moment. 



Mr. Howard asked Mr. Taylor, a visitor present, who is engaged in the manufacture 

 of bisulphide of carbon, if he knew of any cases of accident from the use of this sub- 

 stance. 



Mr. Taylor replied that he knew of but one case of serious results, and that was 

 where an explosion had resulted from a stroke of lightning. He was inclined to think 

 that with ordinary precautions the danger was trifling. He said that the substance will 

 ignite at 220° F. 



Mr. Smith said that the radiator referred to by him was not nearly so hot as that. 



WEDNESDAY MORNING— AUGUST 28th, 1895. 



Mr. L. O. Howard read a very interesting paper on " Some Shade-tree Insects of 

 Springfield and other New England Cities," in which he treated especially of the elm-leaf 

 beetle {Galerucella luteola), and the Woolly Maple leaf Louse (Pseudococcus aceris), and 

 traced their progress throughout the region referred to. 



Mr. 0. L. Marlatt followed with a paper on " The Elm-leaf Beetle in Washington," 

 in which he described the methods pursued by the Division of Entomology to protect a 

 grove of elm trees in the grounds of the Department of Agriculture from the ravages of 

 this destructive insect. 



Another paper descriptive of the history and injuries wrought by the same insect at 

 Albany, N.Y., was read by Mr. J. A. Lintner, State Entomologist. 



A long and interesting discussion followed in which most of the members present 

 took part. 



At the afternoon session Professor Fernald gave an extended account of the opera- 

 tions of the Gypsy Moth Commission in Massachusetts. (See 25th Annual Rep rt, 189i, 

 page 67, for a description of this insect, and the methods adopted to keep it in check.) 

 In response to a request Mr. Kirkland, assistant entomologist to the Gypsy Moth Com- 

 mission, gave a verbal report on the more recent experiments with insecticides conducted 

 by the Commission. He said that no success had been had with insecticides until the 

 arsenate of lead had been devised, and even this, at the rate of ten pounds to 150 gallons 

 of water, effected the destruction of only about fifty per cent, of the larvpe. He described 

 his examination of the alimentary canal of the larvae, with a view to determining the 

 probable action of the juices contained in various parts of the canal on inseitticide sub- 

 stances. He had found the juices strongly alkaline, and of the substances which seemed 

 most likely to be acted upon by an alkaline liquid he had considered the cyanides of dif- 

 ferent metals to be the most promising. The cyanides of lead, antimony, copper, zinc, 



