85 



Insect Notes. — Mtldy.Bidl. Cal. State Commiss. Hortic, Sacramento, iii^ 

 no. 10, October 1914, p. 445. 



The maple louse, Drepanaphis acerifolii, Thomas, has been found 

 abundantly on large-leaved maples, and the paper birch louse, Calaphis 

 betulaecolens, Fitch, on paper birch foliage. The tobacco flea-beetle, 

 Epitrix parvula, F., and the western striped flea-beetle, Phyllotreta 

 ramasa, Crotch, are reported as attacking many cruciferous and 

 solanaceous plants ; cabbages, turnips and cauliflowers, were attacked 

 by the cabbage maggot, Chortophila {Phorhia) hrassicae, in September 

 1914. The fruit-tree bark-beetle, Scolytus (Eccoptogaster) rugulosus, 

 seriously damaged apricot and cherry trees, causing a copious flow of 

 gum. Inspection of several orchards, fumigated for the control of 

 Coccus citricola, Campbell, [see this Revieiv, Ser. A, ii, p. 585], 

 indicated satisfactory results. Pseudococcus citri, the citrus mealy 

 bug, and the western twelve-spotted cucumber beetle, Diahrotica 

 soror, Lee, have done considerable damage to citrus trees, and to 

 garden crops. The Chrysomelid, Disonycha 5-vittata, Say, defoliated 

 willow trees during September, and madaro potato vine and Shasta 

 daisy blossoms have been damaged by the salt-marsh caterpillar, 

 Estigmene acraea, Dru., which, however, is largely controlled by a 

 Tachinid parasite. Bruchvs jnuininus, Horn, has been taken from 

 locust and acacia seeds, and larvae of the grape leaf-roller, the Pyralid, 

 Desmia ftmeralis, Hb., from leaves of Muscat grape vine. A carrion 

 beetle, Silpha ramosa, Say, has been reported as doing considerable 

 damage to garden truck. Asparagus and Solanum jasminoides have 

 been infested with Saissetia oleae, Bern., from which Coccophagus 

 lecanii, Fitch, has been reared. 



These notes conclude with a description by B. B. Whitney of the 

 West India peach scale, Aulascaspis pentagona, Targ., which is often 

 found in nursery inspection under a fungus, Thelephora sp., which 

 grows upon some of the shrubs imported into California from Japan 

 and China. 



Fernald (H. T.). The Army Worm {Heliophilaunipuncta,'H2LV/0Tth). — 

 Massachusetts State Bd. Agric, Boston, Circular no. 22, October 

 1914, 13 pp., 1 pi., 2 figs. 



In Massachusetts, between the 20th July and the 10th August 

 1914, reports of the presence of Cirphis {Heliophila) imipuncta were 

 received from 67 towns. Though in the Southern States there are 

 thought to be as many as six generations a year, in New England 

 there are probably two generations of this pest, and in some parts of 

 Massachusetts only one. The army worm probably passes the winter, 

 in Massachusetts, as a partly grown caterpillar and resumes feeding 

 the following spring, the pupal stage, which is passed a few inches 

 below the surface of the soil, lasting for two or three weeks. The moths 

 fly at night, laying their eggs in rows of about twenty, in the sheaths 

 of the leaves of various grasses and grains, or on stubble, straw-stacks, 

 etc., several rows sometimes being placed on the same plant ; five or 

 six hundred eggs may be laid by a single moth. The incubation 

 period lasts from 7 to 10 days and the average caterpillar stage about 

 a month. In 1914, the moths appeared in late August and early 



