348 Fiftieth Report ox the State Museum 



depositing their three to four hundred eggs singly beneath the skin on 

 all parts of the apple. The eggs hatch in four or five days ; mining 

 habits of larvae; they naturally pupate under ground. Destroying 

 fallen fruit at once, using decoy trees for receiving the eggs, compact- 

 ing the soil beneath trees or stirring it frequently, is recommended. 



Apple Maggot. (Country Gentleman, for April 2, 1896, Ixi, p. 270, c. 

 3 — 13 cm.) 



It is reported as doing much damage to young apples in Fond du 

 Lac county, Wisconsin ; spraying is proposed. In reply, it is stated, 

 that arsenites are of no value against this insect \Trypcta pomonella\; a 

 good coating of the fruit with the Bordeaux mixture might prevent 

 oviposition. General failure of the crop would probably reduce the 

 numbers of the fly the following year, as it is sluggish and would 

 hardly fly far. It can also breed in wild haws and crab apples. Best 

 remedies : destruction of fallen fruit and using decoy trees. Arsenical 

 spraying should not be neglected because of comparative exemption 

 from insect attack. 



The Cheese Skipper. (Country Gentleman, for April 9, 1896, Ixi, p. 293, 

 c. 2 — 28 cm.) 



In response to inquiry, the meat-skipper is identified as the one found 

 in cheese, viz., Ptophila casei (Linn.). The perfect fly hibernates, 

 appearing in warm weather in spring to oviposit; duration of stages. 

 Long known only in cheese; in recent years infesting meat; losses 

 caused in packing houses. Skippers reported from Moorefield, W. 

 Va., on salted meat in January. Remedies : storing these products in 

 darkness ; excluding the flies. The Avork of the skippers does not 

 produce ill odors or putresence. 



[Extended in pp. 229-234 of this Report (xii).] 



Scale Insects. (Gardening, for April 15, 1896, iv, p. 234, c. i — 14 cm.) 



Scales on apple trees from Milwaukee, Mich., are identified as 

 Myiilaspis pomorum and Chionaspis furfurus. Remedies are, cutting 

 down when badly infested ; for moderate attacks spray vvith kerosene 

 emulsion reduced with nine parts of water when the young insects 

 appear, or else from the middle to the end of May, for the latitude of 

 Michigan. 



The Southern Corn-Root Worm. (Country Gentleman, for April 30 

 1896, Ixi, p. 353, cols. 2, 3 — 40 cm.) 



"Bud-worms" which had nearly destroyed a field of corn in 

 Fauquier Co., Va., are " the twelve-spotted Diabrotica," D. i2punLtata 

 (Oliv.). The closely allied northern corn-root worm, Diabrotica longi- 

 cornis (Say), is more destructive in the Northern States. Characters 

 of the two species are given. The southern beetle is sometimes com- 

 mon North, and is a well-known pest of squashes, melons and 

 cucumbers. The larvae attack the corn just beneath the surface and 

 cause wilting of the central leaf. Infested fields should not be 

 replanted. No effective remedy is known. 



