199 



together in this brief paper. While the work of the various insects is 

 ^(Mierally understood, many of their habits are not known, are indeed 

 entirely new to me, and, so far as my researches in enconomic literature 

 have gone, are as yet unknown to ot'aers. 



DIPLOTAXIS HARPEKI AS A STKAWIJEKRY PEST. 



Specimens of this Scarabi^eid came to me May 24: from Campbells- 

 burg, Ind., through the Practical Farmer and Fruit Grower of Grand 

 Ivapids, Mich. The accompanying letter from Mr. Brown stated that 

 tiiey were injuring his strawberries and had already done some injury 

 to his wheat; that they attacked the smaller and weaker plants over 

 his 2^-acre field of berry plants and very quickly destroyed them. A 

 subsequent letter explained that the beetles remained about three 

 weeks. They fed at night and in the daytime buried themselves an 

 inch or two below the surface of the ground. As high as two dozen 

 specimens were found at a time on a single plant. The beetles appeared 

 on the wheat first, but as it became too tough they migrated to the 

 newly set strawberry field near by. An old strawberry patch adjoin- 

 ing this one was not harmed. The soil is a light clay loam and the 

 beetles were not noticed to ajipear in any one place, but appeared to 

 be equally distributed over the whole piece. Paris green was tried, 

 but with no evident effect. 



The species is closely allied to Lachnosterna fusca, and its nocturnal 

 habits appear to be the same. The form is that of Lachnosterna, but 

 the beetles are not much larger than the rose-chafer. Our college 

 collection contains specimens from Michigan, Illinois, and the District 

 of Columbia. 



A DIPTERON RASPBERRY GIRDLER. 



Early in May a letter from a Lansing fruitgrower reached me, from 

 which the following is taken : 



A few days ago I noticed that some of the young shoots of my raspberry canes 

 were withering. On examination I found the cause to be a small worm or grub 

 about an eighth of an inch long and as large as a small needle. It seems to enter 

 the shoot at the tip and works its way downward for several inches and then makes 

 a complete circle near the outside of the shoot so close to the bark that it can be 

 distinguished by close inspection without breaking the shoot. Here the worm is 

 I'ouud. and of course the shoot dies. 



The next day the berry patch was visited, and I found that about half of 

 theyoung shoots had already been destroyed by the maggot. The keeper 

 had guarded the field closely, and as soon as a shoot wilted had broken 

 the stems off and burned them. In fact, he had been so vigilant in the 

 work that I was unable to secure but few specimens for myself. At 

 this time the maggots were about 5™°' long, white, with black jaws, 

 truncated posteriorly, and sloping gradually to the pointed head. In 

 general appearance they resemble very closely the larva? of Anthomyi- 

 idai. They work only on the young shoots of the black varieties of 



