342 



would so far exceed the cost of sprayiug that no one would neglect the 

 opportunity and very little compulsion would be necessary. With im- 

 provident orchardists, and even with others, the cost of the appliances, 

 the lack of time to use them, the lack of knowledge as to actually what 

 to do is the main trouble. The proposed inspectors should simply* have 

 to see that the trees were sprayed at the proper time. Mr. Wight holds 

 up to ridicule the suggestion that heavy fines should be imposed upon 

 the giving away, selling, or otherwise disposing of diseased apples. He 

 shows how imjDOssible it is to exterminate the insect and how univer- 

 sally it is carried about in articles of import. He has seen a larva car- 

 ried over 100 miles on the leg of a pair of trousers, and shows how it is 

 sent in packages of groceries and in cases of hardware and other articles 

 of trade. He calls attention to the important point that there is no 

 clause in the last proposed act to protect mere tenants for short terms. 

 He shows that there are a great many orchards that have been let to 

 tenants on short leases and that many of these orchards have become 

 badly infested before the present occupants were tenants. The result 

 of the last proposed act then would be to place upon the shoulders of 

 tenants the whole expense of cleaning another man's trees, and even in 

 some cases where their term of occupancy would cease before the next 

 crop is harvested. He mentions one case where it would cost more than 

 the trees were worth to cure them and where the tenant would not have 

 have been in occupation to receive a single apple resulting. 



FEEDING HABITS OF THE BEE MOTH. 



A dispute regarding the feeding habits of the Bee Moth {Galleria 

 cereana) has arisen between Messrs. George Balding and C. G. Barrett 

 (see Entomologists' Montlily Magazine, vol. 26, 1890, pp. 19-20, and 157), 

 the former believing that the larva feeds as freely on new as on old comb, 

 the latter asserting that it attacks only old comb. From our own obser- 

 vations we think there can be no doubt that neither is wholly right or 

 wholly wrong, as the age of the comb does not afi'ect the Galleria's work 

 so much as the strength of the colony, which is apt to be least vigorous 

 when the comb is old. 



TINEID MOTHS WITH PIERCING OVIPOSITOR. 



As a most interesting result of careful observations, Mr. J. H. Wood 

 announces in the Entomologists'' Monthly Magazine for June, 1890 (pp. 

 148-150), that in certain species of the genus Micropteryx and in other 

 genera (Mr. Wood only mentions Incurvaria by name) the female " lays 

 her eggs like a sawfly, within the substance of the leaf." The oviposi- 

 tion in M. semipurpurella was watched by Mr. Wood, and when the leaf 

 was examined " it was seen that a small incision had been made on the 

 under side, which led to a rather deep oval chamber or pocket, at the 

 bottom of which the egg lay." For a description of the intricate pierc- 

 ing apparatus the reader is referred to Mr. Wood's description. It suf- 



