446 FOETY-EIGHTH BEPOKT ON THE STATE MD8ETJM 



length rot about the infested part or become so weakened that they 

 fall over and die. They are attacked always just beneath the soil or 

 from one inch to an inch and a half below. It is learned that potato 

 vines in .certain parts of Monmouth county, N. J., are similarly 

 affected." 



In all probability the above was also the work of Julus cmruleo- 

 cinctus, the most common species in the State of New York. 



Infesting Scabby Potatoes. 

 Mr. Garth has also sent at another time some "scabby" potatoes, 

 containing in cavities several of the same Julus. The potitoes had 

 been grown in an orchard about ten years old, which had been in grass 

 for several years and was broken up the preceding year. The soil was 

 good and in lieu of barnyard manure, ground bone and muriate of 

 potash was used for fertilizing. Mr. Garth desired to know the name 

 of the worms and if injurious to crops, how they could be destroyed; 

 and also the cause of the scab. 



A Common Pest of Potatoes. 



In reply the name was given with the statement that it was a well- 

 known potato pest, frequently found occupying and feeding in cavities 

 of potatoes, as in those received. My "third re-^orV {Report to the 

 Regents of the University for the Year 1886) contains a four-page 

 notice of it, in which some serious attacks are recorded, as in one 

 instance where fully one-half of a potato crop in Cooperstown, N. Y., 

 was destroyed. In other of my reports it is charged with eating 

 the interior of corn lying on the ground, roots of geraniums, of cab- 

 bage, stems of lilies, etc. As it often occurs in association with scabby 

 potatoes, it has commonly been thought to be one of the causes of the 

 scab, others being other species of millepeds, wire- worms, earth-worms, 

 grubs and mites. The truth, however, is that the diseased potatoes 

 merely offer an attractive feeding-ground to the various forms above 

 named. 



Potato Scab Caused by a Fungus. 



Dr. Roland Thaxter, in his reports as mycologist to the Connecticut 

 Agricultural Station, has, it is thought, shown beyond all question that 

 the "scab" observed by him and prevalent in this portion of the 

 United States is caused by the attack of a fungus, which he has 

 described and named as Oospora scabies.^ 



* Report of the Connecticut Agricultu7-al Experiment Station for 1891-1892, p. 159. 



