53 



THE COTTONWOOD LEAF-BEETLE IN NEW YORK. 



The common cotton wood leaf-beetle of the western tree claims {Lina 

 scrijyta), which has frequently done so much damage in the tar West by 

 defoliating- young trees, and old ones, too, for that matter, and which 

 was treated at length by Prof. Riley in the Annual Keport of this 

 Department for 1885, has appeared in injurious numbers in Onondaga, 

 Oswego, and Cayuga counties, X. Y., as we learn from an interesting 

 article by Dr. J. A. Liutner, in the New England Homestead of July 26. 

 It has appeared in the plantations of ozier willow, which grow in the 

 Seneca River valley, and threatens this small but important industry. 

 Dr. Lintner shows that the insect is readily killed by an arsenical 

 spray, which the character of the crop renders easy of application. 



RESIN WASH AGAINST THE GRAPE ASPIDIOTUS. 



On page 5 of the current number of Insect Life we refer to the 

 occurrence of Aspidiotiis uv(v Comst. on grape-vines near Beltsville, 

 Prince George County, Md. This vineyard was visited by Mr. R. S. 

 Lull, then a member of the office force, in the late fall of 1893, who 

 found that about two dozen vines were affected, and that two had been 

 killed outright, while a number of the others were dead or dying. By 

 his advice all the vines in the vineyard were sprayed once with winter 

 resin wash, during the winter of 1893, while all those known to be 

 affected were sprayed twice. The locality was visited by Mr. Coquil- 

 lett on July 20, 1891, and after a careful examination he found that, to 

 all appearances, the scale had been exterminated. 



NOTES FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 



A Scale Insect on Laurel Oak. — Mr. Louis A. Berckmans, of Augusta, Ga., sent 

 us some time a<;o specimens of a Rhizococcus found upon what he called English 

 Laurel. The tree, however, seems to be really a laurel oak, Quercus laurifoUa, and 

 the insect is lihizococcus quercus Comst. 



Anthrenus varius feeding on a Comb. — Some time ago Mr. D. W. Coquillett sent 

 us from California a larva of Anthrenus varius which he had confined in a bottle with 

 a tooth from a horn comb. He reports having actually seen this larva feeding ujjon 

 the tooth. This is the first recorded instance, so far as we know, of this food-habit 

 of Anthrenus. 



Living Larvae on Snow. — Mr. JaraesFletcher, Dominion Entomologist of Canada, 

 sent ns some time ago specimens of Tipulid larvie which a correspondent of his had 

 reported to be present in large number on the snow near Whitby, Ontario. These 

 insects winter in the larval state, near the surface of the ground, and were j^robably 

 tempted out by a warm day, when, the ground becoming hard again, they were 

 unable to return to their winter quarters. In Insect Life (vol. iv, p. 335) we have 

 recorded other instances of living larv;e found on the surface of snow. 



Mud Wasps in Deserted Paper-wasps' Nests. — Mr. C. F. G roth, a member of 

 the New York Entomological Society, has recentlj' sent us some interesting ento- 

 mological notes, and among other things mentions the occurrence of a species of 



