108 



night, while in the hottest part of the daj^ they got under cover out of 

 the sun. It was an interesting sight to see so many of them jumping 

 and hopping like frogs. The}^ were so large and ravenous that it took 

 much vegetation to appease their appetites. They soon cleaned out a 

 garden. The species appears to be peculiar to arid regions. 



NOTES FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 



Tobacco for mushroom fumigation. — John T. Cochran, Claymont, Del., writes 

 that tobacco fumigation has been practiced with some success for mushrooms. It did 

 not entirely remove the insects, but killed many of them. Our correspondent 

 believes that a mild fumigation with tobacco stems, as suggested by us, at frequent 

 intervals before the crop begms to show, will keep down insect pests. 



Insect injury in Texas. — Mr. John Nagle, a Texas correspondent, of Gaines- 

 ville, Cook County, writes under date of July 4, 1902, that every year the State loses 

 25 per cent of all crops through insect depredations, not including losses from other 

 causes, the latter modifying clause being added because the year 1902 at that time 

 gave promise of being one of great deprivation, as many farmers would suffer for the 

 bare necessities of life in that portion of the State at least, where people were going 

 10 miles for water for use on their farms. 



The apple twig-borer {Amphicerus bicaudutus Say) injuring honey locust. — 

 This species, which is also called grape cane-borer and which is known to attack a 

 variety of fruit, forest, and shade trees as well as shrubs, was received May 24, 1902, 

 from Mr. W. S. Eobb, Lacrosse, Ivans., who reported that it was feeding on honey 

 locust. As in the case of attack to apple, the beetles perforate the bark near a bud, 

 thorn, or branch, generally above, and work directly toward the heart. 



The pear-blight beetle in the Pacific region.— May 23, 1902, Mr. Harry G. 

 Smith, Vancouver, AVash., sent twigs of Italian prune injured by this species, known 

 also as the shot-hole borer {Xyleboms dispar Fab.), with the information that con- 

 siderable injury was done in that region. Mr. Smith stated that the proportion of 

 trees killed in his young orchard was about 10 to 75. June 12 we received a package 

 of specimens from Ely, Oreg., containing beetles and a score or so of bits of twigs 

 showing injury by this insect. These are the first instances of injury, to our knowl- 

 edge, that have been recorded for this species in the far West. It would be inter- 

 esting to learn how general the attack is, and whether the insects were introduced from 

 our Eastern States, where the species has been present for half a century or more, 

 or from Asia, where it occurs in Siberia. 



Peculiar larval habits of a leaf -beetle affecting prickly ash. — During 1901 

 and 1902 ]\Ir. J. D. ^Mitchell, Victoria, Tex., sent specimens of Trlrhabda brevieoUh, 

 stating under date of May 4 of the former year that the larva? burrow into the ground 

 where it is slightly raised, making runs or galleries, from which they crawl out and 

 about day and night, but never more than a few inches from the colony home. The 

 following year he reported that he had found a large colony tunneling into a small 

 hillock and crawling around on the surface of the ground, and had observed also that 

 the pupal stage was passed in the ground, the mature insects issuing about ten days 

 from the time tliat the larva; disappeared. May 7, 1902, he noted that a large colony 

 of the beetles, which are not unlike the common elm leaf-beetle {Gahrncella luleola) 

 in appearance, had about ten days later completely defoliated a large prickly ash 

 ( Xanthnxylum americanum). As with other species of this genus, the beetles are 

 very sluggish, seldom flying, but dropping to the ground when touched or disturbed, 

 and crawling slowly. Mr. E. A. Schwarz, of this office, has observed the same species 

 at Victoria, Tex., often entirely defoliating the brush-like trees of this worthless 

 plant. What is considered to be the same species occurs in Michigan and all over 

 the Eastern States wherever this plant occurs. 



