71 



The other bottle contains a small species of coleoptera, which the college students 

 found attacking the hooks in the library of the college. — [S. S. Rathvon, Lancaster, 

 Pa., May 15, 1890. 



Reply. — The first of the specimens wh^ch you send is of considerable interest. It 

 is not a saw-fly larva but apparently a weevil of the Phytouomus group. It closely 

 resembles that of Phytonomus j)unctatus, the clover weevil which was described in my 

 report for 1881-2. The occurrence of one of these insects upon Timothy is something 

 entirely new so far as our knowledge goes. We advise that you urge the two stu- 

 dents of Franklin and Marshall College to collect as many as possible of these larvae 

 and send them to me alive in a tight tin box with a supply of food. If the insect is 

 very abundant it might pay to send one of my assistants to study it. Please inform 

 me as to this. The insect which is damaging books in the college library is the com- 

 mon Sitodrepa panicea. We would advise the use of fresh California Buhach for this 

 insect.— [May 19, 1890.] 



California Notes. 



I have sent by this mail two boxes, one containing Isosomas, Cynipids, Chalcids, etc., 

 and the other, grasses and galls belonging thereto. I have mislaid the seed-pods of 

 the grass from which Isosoma No. 547 was bred, and will send it later. On the same 

 grass I found a peculiar larva boring from near the top down and often into the root, 

 where they spin a long thin transparent tube to pupate, in fact the habit is the same 

 as the wheat saw-fly, CepJius j)y(im(vus ; as yet none of the mature insects have come 

 out. 



This reminds me that while at Napier, N. Z., in a similar species of grass I found 

 also a larva resembling this in size and habit. 



In the same grass puparia of the Hessian fly were found in the Santa Cruz Mount- 

 ains. — [A. Koebele, Alameda, Cal., April 18, 1890. 



Rkply. — In answer to yours of the I8th ult. with box containing Isosoma, etc., I 

 will say that the Isosoma No. 547 is very near if not identical with /. hordei. 



The work of the Cephas in the same grass as the above, is very similar to that of 

 C. pygmwus, though nothing can be said definitely till the fly has been bred. 



The CIdorops, found boring in the stem of a grass (Agrostis vulgaris) in a meadow 

 near Edgewood, Siskiyou County, Cal., must be bred before any determination can 

 be made. Apparently the same species, forming less conspicuous galls, may be bred 

 from the salt marsh grass in company with No. 263, {Isosoma sp.,) found growing 

 near Alameda. — [May 1, 1890. J 



Ants and Melons. 



I called on one of my neighbors, a farmer to-day. He complained of the injury 

 small ants were doing to his watermelon plants. They seemed to have fixed their 

 abode in the hills and gather in quantities about the neck of the vine as it comes out 

 of the ground, sucking the juices out of same, and causing the infested plants to look 

 wilted. It will not do to put kerosene about the hills, I suppose, and I could think 

 of nothing else. I promised to write you and learn what is the treatment proper. — 

 [W. H. Edwards, Coalburgh, W. Va., June 23, 1890. 



Reply. — Your letter of the 23d, inst. is duly received. Your informant certainly is 

 mistaken in supposing that the small ants which were found clustering about the 

 base of watermelon vines were doing any injury. They were doubtless attracted by 

 the presence of aphids, probably the common melon plant-louse {Aphis cucumeris). If 

 you think it worth while you might have specimens collected and forwarded so that 

 the determination can be accurately made and recommendations as to remedies 

 given.— [June 24, 1890.] 



7940— No. 2 3 



