29f> DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



Tiie suggestions of Dr. Rathvon, regarding the possible existence of 

 two species of Pulvinaria on the maple is of much interest, and as some 

 doubt has been thrown upon the correctness of Mr. Riley's figure.* it is sat- 

 isfactory to have such definite and conclusive corroboration as the above. 

 Dr. Rathvon was not able to find a single specimen of either form in the 

 vicinity of Lancaster, Pa., during the past season, so that I have not 

 been able to make comparisons. He first observed this form on the 

 leaves in 1864, the other on the twigs about 1852. 



In the Prairie Farmer for July 22, 1876, Dr. Cyrus Thomas published a 

 short account of L. acericola, which he states was very abundant in Illi- 

 nois and Iowa that year. 



In 1877 Prof. Townend Glover, in his ''Report of the Entomologist'' 

 contained in the " Eejjort of the Department of Agriculture for 1876,'' 

 page 44, gives a figure (No. 53) of this species, under the name of Leca- 

 nium acericortices Fitch, stating that it " was found on a silver-maple 

 in the Smithsonian Grounds in Washington." This appears to have 

 been the first application of Fitch's name since its publication seventeen 

 years before, all other entomologists having overlooked it because of its 

 not having been contained in one of his regular Reports. Prof. Glover 

 also suggested that L. acericola and L. madurce were but varieties of 

 this. 



In a useful little pamphlet on " Shade Trees, Indigenous Shrubs and 

 Vines, and the Insects that infest them,''' published in. Peoria, Illinois, 

 in the spring of 1877, Miss Emily A. Smith has given a brief account of 

 this bark-louse, {L. acericola) which was first observed in that city on 

 the soft maples in 1874. During 1877 and 1878 Miss Smith made a very 

 careful and pains-taking study of the life and habits of this insect and 

 especially of its parasites and enemies. t A portion of the results of these 

 studies were given to the public in 1878 in the "• Seventh Report of the 

 State Entomologist of Illinois,'" pages 120-131. A synopsis of this re- 

 port had previously been published in the Prairie Farmer for March 2, 

 1878. In the American Naturalist for October and December, 1878, she 

 gives another very interesting illustrated account of this species, having 

 now adopted Fitch's name. L. acericorticis. The illustrations are, unfortu- 

 nately, not very good and sometimes quite misleading, as for example, 

 the sternal region of the female (fig. 2 c) is made to appear quite convex, 

 whereas it is in reality always concave ; in fig. 4 the ventral eyes are made 

 to appear as if on the dorsal surface of the head, etc., etc. The imper- 

 fection of the illustrations is mainly due to the poorly preserved spe- 

 cimens which the draughtsman had to work from. I speak of this freely, 

 because I furnished a portion at least of the specimens.:!: A few errors 

 which have crept into these papers will be noticed in their proper places 

 hereafter. Other articles upon the same subject have been published 



* See Miss SinithV paper in American Naturaliat, 1878, page 660. 



tM. Signoret speakt* thus deservedly of Miss Smith's worli in a letter to the writer: " Pour 

 moi c'est surprenaut de voir uue I'emme s'occuper de uotre science et ainsi bien! je desirai 

 beaucoup que nombrc d'hoinmes en faire autant." 



% See 7th Report of the State Entomologist of Illinois, p. 121. 



