306 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



1858. Entomology. No. XVI, bis. — Experiments. Soap on Apple- 

 Trees. — Powdered Cliarcoal od Cucumber Plants. (The Culti- 

 vator, August, 1858, Third Series, vi, pp. 238, 239 — 43 cm.) 



Abraxas? ribearia identi6ed, as sent from Ilion, N. Y., and reference 

 made to its description in Trans. iV. Y. St. Agricul. Society for 1847, p. 

 461 ; hand-picking recommended for its destruction. The eflficacy of 

 the soap protection of apple- trees from the borer, Saperda bivittata, hav- 

 ing been questioned, Dr. Fitch experimented with it, with the follow- 

 ing results : in twelve trees not soaped, twenty-four borers had been 

 discovered during the year, while in twenty-two soaped ti-ees, not one 

 borer could be detected. Powdered charcoal failed to protect from the 

 cucumber-beetle, while boxes open at top and bottom gave effectual 

 protection, as also against " the cut-worm, the large stinking squash- 

 bug, and all [?] other insect depredators." 



1858. Entomology. No. XVII — The Fall Web- Worm. '(The 

 Cultivator, November, 1858, Third Series, vi, pp. 341, 342 — 

 55 cm.) 



The insect was extremely abundant the present year. Its scientific 

 name in both genus and species, means " the weaver." The moth is 

 briefly described, its natural history given, together with its larval 

 habits and the construction of its web. It prefers for food the ash, and 

 next in order, cherry, walnut , plum, apple and willow. There are 

 two other Ermine moths. While HypJiantria textor is spotless, H. 

 punctata n. sp., has a black dot on the center of each front wing 

 {Trans. JSf. Y. St. Agricul. Soc, for 1856, p. 388), and H. cunea, of 

 Drury, has numerous small black spots on the front wings. 



1858. Wheat-Midge. (Transactions N. Y. State Agricultural Society, 

 for 1857, xvii, 1858, pp. 319, 320.) 



Extract from a letter of Dr. Fitch, narrating a comparison made by 

 the distinguished French entomologist, M. Amyot, of our wheat-midge 

 with the Cecidomyia tritici of Europe, and the pronounced identity of the 

 two. Also, absence of any wheat-midge parasites in this country, and 

 steps taken for their importation from Europe. 



1858. Say's Heteropterous Hemiptera. (Transactions N. Y. State 



Agricultural Society, for 1857, xvii, 1858, p. 754.) 



Preface to description of new species of Heteropterous Hemiptera of 

 New York, by Thomas Say, New Harmony, Indiana. December. 

 1831 (lb., pp. 755-812). Printed from a transcript copy made by Dr. 

 Fitch from one of the two copies known to be extant. 



1859. Entomology. No. XVIIL— The G-olden Tortoise Beetle. 



(The Country Gentleman, Jan. 20, 1859, xiii, p. 50 — 66 cm.) 

 Gives its operations on convolvulus and other food-plants, characters 

 of the family of tortoise-beetles or Cassididce, and generic distinctions. 

 Describes, with figures, this species, Coptocycla aurichalcea, of which C. 

 punctata, although an older name, should be regarded as a synonym, 

 for reasons given. 



