216 



ROYAL SOCIETY 0¥ CANADA 



with its plum-colouretl \vin<^-case.s, glossed with guld, head, thorax and 

 body metallic green with the same golden sheen as the wing-cases, the 

 antenn.T dull black and the legs dark purple. Although so beautiful 

 to look at, the beetles are extremely destructive when, as is frequently 

 the case in the West, they appear suddenly in fields of l>eans and vetches; 

 moreover, they omit an abominable odour, and, if crushed, the juices 

 of the body have such a vesicating power that they will readily blister 

 the skin which may come in contact with them. In a state of nature 

 these beetles feed upon the Astragali, or ^lilk-vetches, and other Legum- 

 inosse growing wild on the western prairies. The species is credited 

 with being one of the most inveterate enemies of the Rocky Mountain 

 Locust, vast numbers of the eggs of which are destroyed by its larvi\?. 

 (Rep. Exp. Farms, 1892, p. 155.) 



I 



Fodder Crops. 



The Cottony Gra.çs Scale (Eriopellis fcstucœ, Fonsc). — In the 

 Report of the Ivxperimental Farms for 1895 (p. 1-15), is an account with 



an illui<tration of a curious 

 scale-insect which has occa- 

 sionally done harm to pas- 

 tures and meadows in Nova 

 Scotia. It was first sent in 

 by Prof, A. H. Mackay, who 

 stated that it occurred in 

 large numbers over an ex- 

 tensive marshy flat in Cum- 

 berland County, N.S., every 

 blade of dead grass having 

 one or more egg-sacs attach- 

 ed. The young insects hatch 

 in spring, and feed on the 

 leaves and stems of grasses, 

 the females becoming full- 

 grown in July and soon after 

 the middle of tlie month 

 laying their eggs in con- 

 spicuous cloiigated oval sacs 

 of closely-felted, white, 

 downy threads. As the 

 eggs do not hatch until the 

 following spring after they 

 are laid, burning over the 



w o m. ^ .. r. c, , " <^ld fog " or dead grass 



Fig. 8.— The Cottony Gra.ss Scale : egg-sacs on "' ° 



grass-natural size. eilla-r late m the autumn or 



