82 



July 19. On the .same date we obtained moths from laryjc received 

 during June from Mr. J. H. Heard, Montreal, Ga., where they were 

 found attacking cabbage. August 8 another lot of larvte were received 

 from Mr. Dor.sett. It was also observed on two earlier occasions in 

 July in 1898 and 1899. 



Arctia nais Dru. {'.) — Specimens of the larvae of what were believed 

 to belong to this Bombycid moth were received November 10, 1898, 

 from Mrs. H. B. Boone, Charlottesville, Va., with report that they 

 had been found in violet beds at that place. 



Injury to owlets hy itiyrlajJods^ sow-hugs, etc. — Different species of 

 myriapods, or thousand-legged worms, and sow-bugs or wood-lice 

 have been reported as occasioning injury to cultivated violets. 



The myriapods are not positively known to be the cause of original 

 damage to plant life, but it is not impossible that they assist in injury 

 after the plant has become weakened by the attacks of true insects, 

 such as cutworms and other caterpillars. Myriapods are scavengers 

 by nature, and the product of damp and neglected soil containing an 

 excess of decomposed vegetaljle matter or soil humus. 



Two species have recently been identified in connection with injur}'^ 

 to violets, and determined by Mr. O. F. Cook, of this depart- 

 ment, as Orthomorpha gracilis (C. L.) Koch, a form found in troul)le- 

 some numbers in and about the District of Columbia, and Camjjodes 

 flavlcornls (C. L.) Koch. The latter was reported January 11, 1901, 

 by Mr. James K. Marks, jr., Arlington, Md., to l)e found in the 

 ground about violet plants, which seem to die as soon as these thousand- 

 legged worms congregate al)out them. It was stated that these 

 creatures ate the small white roots of the plants. 



In the American Florist for December 11, 1893 (Vol. IX, p. 118), 

 the late Dr. C. V. Riley published a short letter in answer to corre- 

 spondence concerning the occurrence of a myriapod identified as of the 

 genus Julus said to be injuring violets, locality not stated. 



A common species of sow-bug, ArnimliUldmin aTinadillo Linn., 

 occurring in the District of Columbia and vicinity, has been reported 

 to do occasional damage to violets. 



A species of sow-])ug was received at this Department in 1890 from 

 New Orleans, La. , with the statement that it was destructive to the 

 flowers of violets and pansies at that place and the present year, March 

 26, 1901, Miss N. L. Horlbeck reported injury to violets at Charles- 

 ton, S. C. 



Sow-bugs or pill-bugs, as they are also called, are not true insects, 

 but crustaceans, but as they as well as the myriapods a,re classed by 

 florists and the public generally with true insects, they may properly 

 receive passing mention in this connection. 



Injury by sow-bugs is apt to be exaggerated in many instances, still 

 these creatures are often troublesome in greenhouses and in similar 



