August, '22] DAVIS: insect problems in Indiana 279 



Shade tree insects were prominent the past year, particularly the 

 cottony maple scale (Pulvinaria vitis) and oyster shell scale {Lepidosa- 

 phes ulmi). Both insects were unusually prevalent in the northern 

 half of the state. Reports of the cottony maple scale began to come in 

 the latter part of May and continued throughout the month of June. 

 Hardly a town in the northern half of the state but what reported trouble 

 from this insect. Less evident, but in some cases just as serious was the 

 oyster shell scale. By June 3 the over-wintering eggs had begun to 

 hatch in all parts of northern Indiana and in general, they all hatched 

 out in a comparatively short time. On June 15, some days after all 

 of the eggs had hatched, and after they had formed a considerable 

 scale, we sprayed a lilac hedge, at LaFayette, Indiana, with two mix- 

 tures : one, nicotine oleate at the rate of one ounce to a gallon, and the 

 other fish-oil soap and nicotine extract at the rate of one pound soap to 

 five gallons of water, to which was added one ounce of nicotine sulphate. 

 Counts from different sections of the hedge gave us 84 per cent, mor- 

 tality in case of those sprayed with the soap and nicotine sulphate, and 80 

 percent mortality in case of those sprayed with nicotine oleate. In 

 general, our observations indicate that fish-oil soap is preferable to 

 nicotine oleate for the control of immature scale insects such as oyster 

 shell scale, cottony maple scale, and San Jose scale. 



Rose beetles {Macrodactylus subspinosus) were more abundant in 

 Indiana than usual, injury being reported from points in the extreme 

 southern and in the extreme northern end of Indiana, the first reports 

 being received May 26 and the last June 16. Inquiries referred to the 

 rose beetle as damaging peach, grapes, com, and rose, and in one in- 

 stance, we had a report of the poisoning of poultry from eating rose 

 beetles. 



The latter part of June we began to receive reports of chinch bug 

 abundance. Previous surveys and observations indicated that the 

 chinch bug would be abundant in many sections of the state. Following 

 these indications, chinch bugs were more abundant and more destructive 

 than they had been for many years. Fortunately, however, rainy 

 weather during the hatching of the eggs of the second brood prevented 

 more widespread injury which otherwise would undoubtedly have re- 

 sulted. Our experiments demonstrated the value of the creosote barrier 

 band as recommended by Flint of Illinois, and they also showed that 

 infestations could be controlled after the bugs entered the com field, 

 but before they scattered, by the use of fish-oil soap sprays and nicotine 

 sulphate with soap. Although the late summer weather conditions 

 did materially reduce the numbers of the bugs many went into hiberna- 

 tion successfully and there is every reason to believe that the infestation 



