Ninth Report of the State Entomologist 419 



Notes on Some Garden and Orchard Insects. 



It may be of interest to refer to a few observations and experiments 

 made during the year upon insects of importance to the horticulturist. 



Protection from the striped cucumber beetle. — Dr. Weed's experi- 

 ments indicate that the most promising insecticide for preventing the 

 ravages of this insect, is tobacco powder, applied in liberal quantities 

 to the plants. A shovel full may be used to a hill, as it acts both as a 

 mulch and a fertilizer. In some factories the dust is given away as a 

 refuse material. [Bull. Ohio Agrlrul. Exper. St., iii, No. 8, September, 

 1890.) 



The apple ciirculio. — The oviposition of the apple curculio, Antho- 

 nomiis quadrigibbus Say, has been described and illustrated, by Prof. 

 Gillette, in Bidletln No. 11 of the loxoa Agricultural Ex,periment 

 Station, for November, 1890. This insect, so destructive in some of 

 the Western States, is not veiy injurious within the State of New York. 



The pear-blight beetle. — The little wood-boring beetle, noticed in 

 the Proceedings of this Society at its Annual Meeting in ] 890, under 

 the name of the pear-blight beetle, or Xyleborus pyrl (Peck), as having 

 nearly destroyed a young pear orchard in Lockport, N. Y., has been 

 found to be identical with the Euiopean species long knoAvn as Xylebo- 

 rus dispar (Fabr.). The American name which has been recognized 

 by us for so many j^ears, will therefore have to give place to the older 

 Fabrician one. This insect was probably introduced into this country 

 from Europe toward the latter part of the last century. Since its 

 destructive appearance at Lockport, as narrated, it has not been 

 observed in that locality. The nature of the peculiar larval food, 

 lining the chambers as a thick white coating, has not yet been 

 satisfactorily determined. 



The rose-bug. — The announcement made in the same paper above 

 cited, that the Entomological Division at Washington had succeeded iu 

 working out the life-history of the rose-bug and would soon publish it, 

 was premature. Dr. Riley,in Insect Life,ioY April, 1890 (ii, pp. 295-302), 

 has given an excellent paper on this insect, illustrating the larva, 

 pupa, and imago, and contaiaiag its past history, the little that is 

 known of its natural history, its geographical distribution, interesting 

 remarks on its food-plants and ravages, the enemies that prey upon 

 it, which are few in number and include no true parasites, and remedies 

 resorted to against it. Its full life-history is yet a desideratum. In 

 Insect Life, for January, 1891 (iii. No. 5), Prof. J. B. Smith has pre- 

 sented a graphic account of an " Experience with the Rose-bug," the 

 preceding season, in Vineland, N. J., during an invasion not at all 



