90 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
for as soon as warmed by the sun the insects will disperse over the 
vines. . 
The harlequin cabbage-bug, Strachia histrionycha, (Hahn.,) mentioned 
three years ago, (Agricultural Report, 1867, page 71,) has been much 
complained of during the past year as doing great damage to the cab- 
bage in North Carolina and elsewhere. The perfect insect hybernates 
in sheltered places, and the female deposits her eggs in March and April, 
in two rows, cemented together, mostly on the ander-side of the leaf, 
and generally ten to twelve in number. In about six days the first 
broods make their appearance, the young larve resembling the perfect 
insect, with the exception of being wiigless. About sixteen to eighteen 
days elapse from the deposition of the eggs to the development of the 
perfect insect. A second brood appears in July, which probably hyber- 
nates (in North Caroliua) in sheltered places. It is said that fowls and 
birds wil] not eat them, and the only remedy recommended is handpick- 
ing, and, as stated in my report for 1867, ‘as they hyberuate in the per- 
fect state beneath bark, under brush heaps or stones, like the cot- 
ton red-bug, it would be well in winter to search. for them in such 
situations, and in spring to destroy them on their first appearance 
upon the plants, before they have had time to deposit their eggs;” or 
if little heaps of rotting vegetables were left as places of shelter, here 
and there during the winter, so that they might be induced to hyber- 
nate under them, they might readily be destroyed in spring by burning 
straw over the heaps. 
In conclusion, the utility of enacting laws in the different States and 
counties for the preservation of the various inseetivorous birds cannet 
be too highly recommended, as birds are no doubt one of the great agents 
specially desigued by Providence to keep in check the myriads of 
insects which would, if left undisturbed, increase so rapidly as to 
totally destroy certain kinds of vegetation. The English house spar- 
rows, recently introduced into some of our seaboard cities, have become 
entirely acclimated, and have increased rapidly, and it is universally 
acknowledged that where they exist in any numbers the caterpillars, 
which were formerly such an annoyance to pedestrians, have almost 
entirely disappeared. There is little doubt that sparrows will also eat 
certain grains and small fruits whenever they can find them readily; - 
but, as these birds reside in the cities mostly, this is not of much con- 
sequence, especially as, should they increase too rapidly and migrate 
into the wheat fields so as to become a nuisance, a few birds may much 
more readily be destroyed by shot or traps than the myriads of insects, 
which would lie safely hidden amidst the dense foliage of the shade 
trees, or in the crevices of the bark, where the hands of man cannot 
reach without much labor and trouble. An English paper states that 
out of one hundred and eighteen sparrows killed for the sake of testing 
the amount of benefit or injury done by them, only three were found to 
have been living the preceding twenty-four hours on grain; beetles, 
grubs, and larve having been their diet. Out of seventy-five sparrows 
of all ages, there were hardly any without insect remains in them, 
It is somewhat singular that among the multitudes of sparrows and 
other birds imported, we have heard of only one or two instances where 
the robin-redbreast of Europe has been introduced into the public 
parks. This bird is not only insectivorous, but is also everywhere noted 
for its familiar habits and the sweetness of itssong. Toads in gardens 
are great insect destroyers, and are ever busy at dusk or early in the 
morning searching for insect prey. Instances have this past year been 
chronivled of their eating even the acrid potato cantharis (Lytta 
