REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 15 



vears and served as a model for others that were erected later at the Experi- 

 ment Stations. (See Bull. 3, Cornell Ag. Ex. Sta. 1888). 



At the time Professor Comstock was making a special study of wireworms, 

 and in this connection he contrived an ingenious root-cage where the larvae could 

 be observed while feeding upon the roots of the plants growing in the soil of the 

 cage. (Figs. 16 and 17.) 



He also contrived a special cage divided for a short depth into 60 compart- 

 ments to determine the effect of salt in driving wireworms deeper into the soil. 



Professor Slingerland described in Cornell Bulletin 78, 1894, a large cage 

 designed especially for the study of the Cabbage-root Maggot. This was essen- 

 tially a framework screwed together and covered with tarlatan, and was 7 ft. 

 long, 3 ft. wide, 3 J ft. high at the front, and 2 ft. at the back (Fig. 18). This 

 form of cage has been used extensively (Fig. 20) in field and insectary investi- 

 gations (See Brittain, Bui. 9, N. S. Dept. Ag.). 



Rearing Parasites — On account of the important part played in the control 

 of injurious insects by parasites considerable attention has for some years been 

 given to the study of these small forms. The greatest advance, however, in the 

 methods of rearing has been made in connection with the campaign in Massa- 

 chussetts against the Gypsy and Brown-tail moths. The introduction of para- 

 sites of these moths from Europe and Japan, concerning which much was un- 

 known, necessitated first a careful study of their habits and later the elaboration 

 of methods of rearing them on a large scale for distribution in the affected zones. 

 As a result, several new devices and cages have come into use. Fiske has des- 

 cribed several of these in Bui. 91, U. S. Bur. Ent. One of these is a rearing 

 cage for tachinid parasites of the cocoons of the brown-tail, which was specially 

 devised to meet peculiar conditions. A simpler form (Fig. 25) was used for 

 rearing the parasites from the hibernating webs. 



Mr. G. E. Sanders of Anapolis Royal, N.S., contrived a box for breeding 

 Apanteles out of brown-tail caterpillars (Fig. 21) . A large box-like cage was made 

 for the reception of three or four thousand brown-tail webs. There the larvae 

 were fed for about a month, or until the webs of the Apanteles are observed among 

 the food. The brown-tail larvae are then killed with poisoned food and the cage 

 left open to allow the Apanteles to emerge and fly away. This method of preserv- 

 ing the parasites had essentially been previously adopted by Riley in Missouri 

 for the rascal leaf-crumpler and the bagworm, by DeCaux in France for the 

 apple Anthonomus weevil, by Comstock for the imported cabbage worm and 

 the Cotton Caterpillar, by Berlese in Italy for the Grapevine Cochylis, and by 

 Silvestri in Italy for the olive fly and other pests. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. J.D. Tothill, of the Dominion Entomological 



