23 



repeatedly opened these cones without being able to find any 

 larvae or other indication of insect agency/* Clearly E. E. S. is 

 a botanist and not an entomologist! Mr. Walsh, in the Proceedings 

 of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia, 1864, states that 

 in the cabbage-like gall which infests Salix longifolia there 

 dwell the Cecidontyia whicli is the maker of the gall, and alto- 



■ 



gether about two dozen other species of insects, which he enum- 

 erates, and which are more or less dependent upon the gall-maker 

 for their existence ! In the cones which appear to have more par- 

 ticularly attracted the attention of E. E. S., the larvae of the 

 gall-maker, a species of Cecidomyia^ inhabits the very heart or 

 center of the cone. Mr. Walsh says that '* out of twenty galls 

 opened November 15, all contained the cocoon. The first imago 

 appeared April 5 and the last May 10/' In addition to the true 

 gall-maker the larvse of another gall-gnat ''live in great num- 

 bers under the scales/' and, furthermore, the eggs of a meadow- 



grasshopper are often found under the scales — as many as fifty to 

 one hundred in a single cone. 



At least twenty distinct galls are known to occur on the 

 willows of the States east of the Mississippi. These have been 

 elaborately described, and the habits of the insects producing 

 them carefully studied. If our entomological brethren have en- 

 countered any difficulty in the investigation of these galls, it has 

 arisen not from the absence of *^ indications of insect agency " 

 in their production, but rather from the difficulty of discerning 

 the true gall- maker when found in the midst of so many gall- 



guests. 



M, S. B. 



Weeds. Professor Halsted, late of the Agricultural College,^ 

 Ames, Iowa, who has recently come to New Brunswick, N. J,, 

 is evidently in the midst of weeds, for he writes us concerning 

 the flora of the vicinity of New York and especially the ballast 

 plants, and hhits that he would like a note in the BULLETIN, 

 stating that he desires a report of the twenty worst weeds in any 

 locality. The injuriousness and range of our native and intro- 

 duced weeds can be determined only by the combined reports of 

 many careful observers, and we trust our readers in all parts of 

 the country will aid in this important work. It is suggested that 

 the easiest method of making such a report is by checking off the 



