426 



into the trap. The editor of the Canadian Live-Stock Journal, accord- 

 ing to the Press account, saw twenty- eight cows put through this con- 

 trivance in twenty-eight minutes, including the placing of the device 

 at three barii doors. 



THE BUFFALO GNAT. 



In volume ii of Insect Life (pp. 7-11) was published a report of 

 a trip to investigate buffalo gnats, which was written by Mr. Marlatt. 

 His investigation resulted in finding that the buff'a'lo gnats about 

 Frierson's Mill, La., were largely due to the occurrence of a great raft 

 of logs in the Bayou Pierre which was formed in 1872-73. The raft 

 furnished excellent breeding places for the larva^, and dammed the 

 stream to a certain extent, causing the Hooding of the adjacent lowland, 

 furnishing additional foothold for larvjie and also driving the adults to 

 the higher land every spring. The raft originated in an attempt of 

 the United States Government to close Tone's Bayou, which connects 

 Bayou Pierre with the Eed Eiver, and to confine the water of Red 

 Eiver to its own channel. From the outlook in 1889 it seemed that 

 unless Bayou Pierre were cleaned out, at an expense of some $25,000, 

 the gnat would continue to be a great nuisance. The i)resent spring 

 Mr. L. S. Frierson has written that for the first time since 1889 there 

 were no buffalo gnats. He further stated that last year for the first 

 time the water almost ceased to run through Bayou Pierre, and became 

 so stagnant in and about the raft of logs that a green scum was formed 

 upon the surface. The nuisance has thus corrected itself without the 

 apparently necessary removal of the log raft or dam. 



A NEWLY imported SCALE INSECT. 



When Mr. Koebele stopped at Hawaii on his second Australian mis- 

 sion, he collected among other things a new species of Pulvinaria, which 

 occurred on guava. This, with other material, he sent to Mr. Maskell, 

 who in 1892 described the species in the Transactions of the Xew Zea- 

 land Institute (p. 223) as Pulvinaria psidii. The adult female of this 

 insect is yellow or yellowish brown, sometimes with a greenish tinge, 

 and secretes an ovisac consisting of a mass of dry, cotton-like wax, 

 which is often accompanied by a black fungus. Correspondence during 

 the past two or three years with i^ersons in Hawaii, especially Mr. Wil- 

 liam G. Wait, of Kailaua, X. Kona, Hawaii, indicates that this insect does 

 a great deal of damage to coffee plantations in the Sandwich Islands. 



In June, 1894, specimens of a Pulvinaria were received from Mr. 

 Samuel B. Parish, of San Bernardino, Cal., which he stated had recently 

 appeared on his plum trees, infesting the leaves and to some extent the 

 branches and immature fruit. Up to that time he had found it only 

 upon a few trees of the wild goose variety, which were scattered among 

 other plums of American and Japanese races. He found only old trees 

 infested, the younger ones being free. The affected trees bore a sickly 

 appearance, and the fruit was inclined to drop. Specimens sent at that 



