EEPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 269 



stance of the leaf ou the side where they are, leaving the veins and the 

 opposite epidermis untouched, producing a 'skeleton' leaf. As they 

 grow older, however, they devour all portions of the leaf, and often eat 

 also the petioles and tender stems. Opportunity has not been given 

 to determine the osact length of the larval life of this insect, but judg- 

 ing from observations made, this cannot greatly exceed a Aveek. Par- 

 ties living in the region where the insect was present in great numbers 

 give ten days as the length of the time in which the chief destruction 

 was accomplished." 



On attaining its full growth the worm spins up, amid the debris on the 

 ground at the base of the plant, in fi delicate brownish cocoon of irreg- 

 ular shape, and transforms to pupa, in which state it remains from one 

 to two weeks. 



I^ATURAL ENEMIES. 



There is little to say under this subhead. From oar correspondents 

 it would appear that an occasional lady-bird (species not determined) 

 destroys it, while various ground-beetles (genus Hariyalus and Calosoma) 

 also feed upon it. Professor Poi)enoe [loc. cit.) states that he has bred 

 a Tachma from it, and is under the impression that " this parasite is or- 

 dinarily present in suflQcient force to be a considerable check upon the 

 increase of the caterinllar," as he had seen frequent evidence of tiie lat- 

 ter being parasitized. For the rest, it will find enemies in all the com- 

 mon predacious insects in the regions where it abounds. The insect is, 

 also, less abundant where poultry have the run of the garden. 



KEMEDIES. 



The only remedies that seem to have given satisfaction (though Miere 

 is abundant opportunity for further experhnentation) arc the arsenical 

 fioisons. Of these London purple and Paris green are the chief forms 

 used, the former being the cheaper and preferable on account of its 

 color. We understand that it can be readily obtained iu accessible 

 towns in Kansas for 8^ cents per i)ound by the barrel. This poison can 

 be distributed in any one of the various ways that have been described 

 in our several reports. The method most satisfactory and the particu- 

 lar method will depend on the jparticular crop to be ]>rotectcd. In broad 

 grain and cotton fields, where the exigencies of the case warrant the 

 expenditure, theire is no better method than by the use of the barrel or 

 tank pump, with the cyclone nozzle, figured and described in our re- 

 ports for 1S81-'S2, and 1SS3. A simpler method is to mount an open 

 l)arrel in a cart and employ one or two men with a fountain or aqua- 

 pult pump to spray broadcast on either side. A greater amount of 

 ground can be gone over in this way than in any other, and if care be 

 taken to use sufficiently fine spraying-nozzles, that will not clog, this 

 method will give great satisfaction as being, all things considered, 

 the cheapest. In limited areas or gardens the poison may be sifted dry. 



The fact that the worms surround themselves with more or less of a 

 web does not in the least protect them from the poison, and they are 

 readily killed, as shown by the results of experiments tried in Kansas 

 this season. We may quote, as an evidence of the good to be accom- 

 plished by poisojiing in the simplest and crudest way, from an article 

 by M. E. Grant, of Crawford County, Kansas, republished from the 

 Girard Press in the Eeport of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture 

 for the month ending June 30, 1885, p. 17 : 



We havo learned this morning of a plan user! by one of our enteri^rising farmers 

 of this locality to kill these pests. He is using Paris green, dissolving it in hot water, 



