20 
Willow-Plant-louse (Melavanthus salicis) was brought or sent me a num- 
ber of times, showing that it attracted unusual attention, and the eggs 
deposited by the oviparous females were to be found in numbers under 
the buds of willow twigs in late autumn. Of all the species noticed, 
however, the swarms of the Dogwood Aphid (Schizoneura cornt Fab.) 
were most remarkable. This species is referred to more particularly in 
another place. 
OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AFFECTING GRASSES. 
The importance of the pastures and meadows in this State will be 
conceded by every one familiar with its agriculture. Perhaps no other 
single elementisof greater importance, furnishing, asit does, the basis 
for the stock industry of the State. 
The insects infesting meadows and pastures are therefore of the 
greatest importance, and while their depredations are perhaps less con- 
spicuous than those from insects affecting some other crops, I think it 
can be clearly shown that the average annual loss in pastures and 
meadows from insect injuries is equal to if not greater than the crop har- 
vested or the amount consumed by cattle, horses, or sheep in pasture, 
and probably furnishing a total annual loss greater than in any other 
crop. Inordinary pasturage itis common, I believe, to allow two acres 
of land to each cow, or, for convenience, let us say that one acre will 
half supporta cow. At the same time that this cow is feeding there 
are a million insects, more or less, of various kinds feeding upon the 
same area by day and night from the time the snow melts in spring till 
winter forces them to suspend their work. 
The only compensation they can offer is that when dead (and they 
die young), their million little carcasses dropping on the surface of the 
soil return to it some of the material which has been built into their 
tissues, increasing its richness and helping to support succeeding gene- 
rations. | 
In my report upon the Turf Web-worm two years ago, I gave the count 
of burrows that had been opened by squirrels as twenty-five in one 
instance and fifty in another, within a square yard, and it is not prob- 
able that every burrow within those areas had been opened by squirrels. 
The web-worms were, however, uncommonly abundant that season. If 
we reduce the mean of these figures by one-half and allow two web- 
worms to each square foot it means 87,120 to the acre, and then consider 
that these worms cut down quantities of grass that they do not devour, 
it would seem hardly too much to suppose that these alone would prove 
a pretty even match for one half a cow in disposing of the grass grow- 
ing on an acre. 
All are familiar with the depredations of white grubs, and it is hardly 
necessary to ask whether in seasons when these are plentiful they do 
not destroy as much or more than would support at least half a cow. 
Cutworms and Army worms are a constant source of loss in grass 
