52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
showed that a few living scale insects occurred here and there. 
There was also some evidence of oil injury, though it is impossible 
at the present time to state whether this is great enough to be a 
permanent detriment. This can be determined only by subsequent 
observations and treatment. Another tree in the central part of 
the State, most thoroughly sprayed several times with this prepa- 
ration, was entirely free from living scale insects though evidence 
of oil injury was a little more marked than in the first mentioned 
instance. These preparations are worth experimenting with though 
conclusions should be drawn with the greatest care. A few years 
ago we were told that crude petroleum could be applied in a diluted 
form without injury to trees and for a while this was accepted 
as true, but the work of later years has shown this to be erroneous, 
except possibly under unusually favorable circumstances. The so 
called “soluble oils” presumably differ not very much from those 
employed in earlier years, except that they have been brought into 
a very finely emulsified condition. There is danger that successive 
annual applications to trees may eventually result in serious injury, 
and a word of warning in regard to these preparations is therefore 
timely. 
Grapevine root worm (Fidia viticida Walsh). This 
destructive enemy of the vineyardist continues abundant in the 
Chautauqua region and during the past season has been excep- 
tionally numerous in certain vineyards. It is, as experience has 
shown in the past, such a local insect that one part of a vineyard 
may be very badly infested and another portion less than 100 yards 
away comparatively free from the pest. These conditions render 
it very difficult to make any general statements concerning this 
insect. There is no question but that it is becoming more abundant 
in certain vineyards here and there throughout the grape belt and 
its numbers have increased materiaily in the past year or two in 
some vineyards on the hills back from the lake.- The insidious 
nature of this insect’s operations renders it advisable that all growers 
should keep a close watch for the appearance of the pest in any 
numbers, and in case it becomes abundant they should adopt meas- 
ures for its prompt suppression rather than allow it to multiply 
unrestricted and perhaps cause irreparable injury. 
steely flea @beetle (Haltica chalybea Ml) Thisepes 
owing to the continued cold weather of early spring retarding the 
grape buds just after they had begun to open, had an exceptional 
opportunity to work and therefore caused more injury than usual. 
