June, '09] journal OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 257 



of this work Professor Shipley says : ' ' The larvje and the nymphs are 

 common enough on birds, lizards, and small mammals — in fact, on 

 animals which live among and brush through grass or heather. It is 

 only in the nymph and larval state that we find these ticks on the 

 grouse. On each of the infested birds the specimens were fixed on the 

 chin or round the eyelids — in fact, in such positions as the grouse can- 

 not reach with its beak. In parts of Ross-shire, especially in certain 

 woods, these ticks swarm in enormous numbers, and the keepers assure 

 us that they kill large numliers of young blackgame. Hence there is 

 nothing remarkable in finding this species from time to time on the 

 grouse, where its presence must be regarded as accidental. The larval 

 stages emerge from the eggs and probably craiwl on to the heather, 

 and thence on to the grouse or other animals which come in contact 

 with the vegetation. We have found both larva? and nymphs among 

 the feathers, but in small quantities and on rare occasions. We have 

 never found it in the crop, and it can hardly play any part in infect- 

 ing the bird with tape-worms. . . . This tick occurs most fre- 

 quently during the spring and early summer, but disappears after the 

 beginning of Julv." 



Scientific "Notes 



Further observations on Contarinia. The writer last June (Journ. Ecou. 

 Ent. 1 : 225-227) summarized our knowledge respecting the economic status of 

 this genus. In the following issue (p. 243) he recorded serious injuries to 

 early Moore grapes in the Chautauqua region by a species then designated 

 as Cecidomijia joJinsoni Sling. This spring we fortunately succeeded in obtain- 

 ing the adult and found it to be a Contarinia. Furthermore, an examination 

 of foreign literature shows that a European grape pest, Contarinia viticola 

 Rubs., a species which has caused considerable damage in European vineyards, 

 may be the same as the earlier characterized American form. Should further 

 investigation prove this to be true, we have in this species another introduced 

 pest. There is no forecasting the future place of this species as an Ameri- 

 can insec-t of economic importance. Our knowledge of the genus is such as 

 to justfy regarding this grape blossom midge with grave suspicion. It adds 

 to the number of destructive species of Contarinia and further emphasizes the 

 practical importance of the genus. Full descriptions of the two sexes, together 

 with an account of the insect, will appear in the writer's report for 1908. 



E. P. Felt. 



'Nodonota pitnticollis Say was very abundant and injurious on rose bushes 

 this season (June 8) at Ardmore, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Some of 

 the flowers have as many as fifteen of the beetles feeding in them and the 

 roses are rapidly destroyed. 



Henry Skinner. M. D. 



