548 



THE TARNISHED PLANT BUG DAMAGING CELERY. 



We have not before called attention to the fact that, according to the 

 American Garden for June, 1890, this well-known polyphagous insect 

 has varied its diet of late by putting celery on its bill of fare. An ex- 

 tensive gardener and fruit grower in Kansas writes to the editor that 

 unless he can find some effective remedy, he will have to give up grow- 

 ing celery. The bugs appear on the plants by the thousands, and ruin 

 the leaves by sucking the sap. Pyrethrum and kerosene emulsion are 

 recommended. 



THE DOWNY WOODPECKER FEEDING ON THE LARV^ OF THE COD- 

 LING MOTH. 



That these birds feed upon the larvje of the Codling Moth has been 

 known for many years, Trimble * having shot individuals with such 

 larvte in their stomachs. The method of feeding has, I believe, never 

 been described in print. At a farmers' institute, held at Auburn, Ind., 

 Mrs. S. H. Hine, an elderly lady residing at Sedan, Ind., presented a 

 very interesting paper on the habits of woodpeckers. In this paper 

 Mrs. Hine, who is a most careful observer of birds, stated that she 

 had seen this species feeding on these larvae, extracting them from, 

 the apple while the latter was hanging to the tree. In a conversation 

 with this lady, following the presentation of her paper, she stated 

 that she had observed a downy woodpecker busying itself about 

 young apples, on a tree in her yard, and that she had watched it care- 

 fully until it worked upon an apple within her reach, and, keeping her 

 eye on this identical apple, she approached the tree and picked it. She 

 found that the young larvae had evidently made some progress into the 

 fruit, starting from the calyx, but that it had as clearly been deftly ex- 

 tracted by the woodpecker, and without any injury to the fruit. She 

 had also observed the birds searching the underside of the leaves of 

 apple trees, and apparently seeking for something concealed there, and 

 which she thought might be the adult moths. 



In a conversation with Judge McBride, of Elkhart, Ind., who is 

 also a careful observer of birds and their ways, he stated that he had 

 also observed downy woodpeckers extracting the worms from young 

 apples, and he had never observed that, in so doing, the birds in any 

 way injured the fruit. It seems, then, that the labors of this bird act 

 not only as a preventive, but also afford actual and immediate relief to 

 the infested fruit— F. M. Webster, December 8, 1890, 



OVIPOSITION IN ADOXUS VITIS. 



This is a rather small, blackish or brownish leaf-beetle which occurs 

 in Europe as well as in northern North America. In Europe it is in- 

 jurious to the Grape, the larva feeding on the roots and the beetle 



* A treatise on the insect enemies of fruit and fruit trees, by Isaac P. Trimble, p. 

 113, PI. 10, 1865. 



