REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST IQI2 g 
having trees which were attacked by these pests have been advised 
to cut and burn all infested pines prior to the opening of another 
season. 
Hosts of Ambrosia beetles belonging to the genus Platypus at- 
tacked freshly sawn, sappy mahogany in the yard of a veneer 
cutting company near New York City and inflicted severe loss 
besides causing grave apprehensions. An investigation showed that 
the insects originated from a shipload of logs from Panama. The 
infested material was removed and the few insects remaining soon 
disappeared. 
The destructive work of the locust leaf miner, noticed in our 
preceding report, was studied the past season and additional in- 
formation secured in relation to its habits and methods of control. 
The most severe injury, as in IgII, resulted from the feeding of 
the beetles. 
The woolly bark louse of the white pines has been the occasion 
of several complaints during the past season, and an investigation 
showed that in some instances at least, large trees were seriously 
weakened, if not destroyed, by this insect. 
A previously unknown though sparse colony of the periodical 
Cicada was located at Geneseo as an outcome of the interest aroused 
by the appearance of the enormous brood last year. 
Flies and mosquitos. There has been a general interest in con- 
trolling the house fly and preventing the superabundance of 
mosquitos. Both of these insects have been the subject of cor- 
respondence, and a number of bulletins giving directions for rem- 
edying undesirable conditions have been distributed. 
An unusual departure was the working out of the life history 
of a common blowfly, Phormia regina Meign., and a 
flesh fly, Sarcophaga georgina Wied., under controlled 
conditions. These two insects, though exceedingly common, were 
comparatively unknown except in a very general way. The details 
of this investigation, undertaken for the purpose of solving a specific 
problem, are given more fully in this report. 
Gall midges. This large group of small flies has continued to 
receive attention. We have succeeded in identifying the wheat 
midge of Fitch, which proved to be an undescribed species, discov- 
ered and described a second form recorded as living in heads of 
American wheat, and reared another. The last was identified 
through the cooperation of European entomologists as Thecodi- 
plosis mosellana Gehin. In addition, a number of new gall 
