Report of the State Entomologist. 17 



Betlian}', N. Y. Larvae had been seen by liim eating into tlie ripe 

 kernels of wheat in the head, but he neglected at the time to save 

 any of them for examination. Later when they were looked for, 

 none could be found. The aggregate injury could not have been 

 very great, for it was stated that " sometimes a head was found 

 with several injured kernels." From the irregular manner in which 

 the eating had been done, it could not have been the work of the 

 Angoumois moth, Sltotroga cereahlla (Oliv.). Mr. Harding thought 

 from the appearance of the depredator as he observed it, that it 

 belonged to the Lepidoptera. Examples of the injured grain have 

 been preserved in the State collection. 



A similar form of attack on plums was submitted by Mr. J. J. 

 Thomas, of Union Springs, N. Y., which could not be identified. 

 Three Lombard plums, nearly ripe, were sent, which had been 

 excavated in each case within one-eighth of an inch of the stem, to 

 the depth of about one-tenth of an inch, and of about the same 

 diameter. The original punctures probably had not been so large, 

 but the skin surrounding it may have shrunken and parted in its 

 drying. The excavations had more or less gum in them. One of 

 the plums showed a smaller puncture a little removed from the 

 larger, but in none could any oviposition or trace of larval opera- 

 tion be discovered. The pits and their contents were in their 

 natural state, with no evidence of having been reached hy the larva 

 of the j)lum-gouger, Coccotorus scateUaris Lee. — a curculionid 

 beetle of general distribution throughout the Mississippi valley 

 whose habit is to penetrate the stone while still tender and feed 

 upon the kernel. The plums were from Mr. H. C. Allen, of Erie 

 county, who states that at least one -half of his crop had been 

 destroyed in this manner — ■ the cavities developing into rot. He 

 had not been able to discover any insect making the puncture. 



Another unexplained attack, presenting itself for the first time 

 the present year, is a girdling of the tips of currant bushes, by 

 some unknown insect, observed in Albany and vicinity during the 

 months of May and June. The observations made and some 

 speculations thereon are given in this Report. 



Some other insect attacks brought to notice the past season ma}^ 

 be found among the " Brief Notes on Various Insects," with which 

 this Report concludes. 



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