64 



Four hundred acres of trees — Oak, Turpentine, Ironwood, Bloodwood, 

 and Gum (in the order named) — have been entirely denuded the pres- 

 ent season. The remedy used was to jar the insects from the trees and 

 crush them on the surface of the ground. In the New York case it 

 will be remembered that we found that the insects dropped their eggs 

 upon the ground, where they were easily destroyed by burning over 

 the leaves. The only other occurrence of this character which we 

 recollect to have seen was noted by Mr. Olliff' in the same journal for 

 June, 1891. In this case the species was Podocanthus wilMnsoni. 



Transactions of the New Zealand Institute for 1891.— The Transactions 

 and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute for 1891, volume xxiv, 

 Wellington, May, 1892, have just reached us in the form of a large 

 volume of 755 octavo pages. The volume posesses special interest from 

 an entomological standpoint since it contains a further installment of 

 Mr. Maskell's important "Coccid Notes," a communication describing 

 new species of Lepidoptera by E. Meyrick, a catalogue of the described 

 species of New Zealand Araneidae by A. T. TJrquhart, with descriptions 

 of new species of Araneae by the same author, and a paper on instincts 

 of insects by G. V. Hudson. 



Mr. Maskell's paper covers some 65 pages and is illustrated by thir- 

 teen carefully executed plates. A number of new species and genera 

 are described and all the new forms are carefully figured. The paper 

 is accompanied by a partial bibliography and also by a most interest- 

 ing description of Mr. Maskell's mode of systematic investigation, giv- 

 ing an account of his method of preparing specimens for study. We 

 regret to notice that he still retains his eccentric terminations for his 

 larger groups. The reported proceedings of the seven local societies 

 which together compose the Institute indicate a vivid interest in scien- 

 tific matters in New Zealand. The discussions of the Wellington Philo- 

 sophical Society are reported in a particularly full manner and indi- 

 cate that among the members of the society there are many men of 

 broad scientific information. 



Insects injuring the Cabbage in Mississippi.— Mr. H. E. Weed, of the Miss- 

 issippi Station, publishes in Bulletin 21 of the Station (June, 1892) an 

 illustrated account of the insects which he has found injuring cabbages 

 in the State of Mississippi. Twelve species, ranging fi^om the Imported 

 Cabbage Worm to the Wavy-striped Flea-beetle, are mentioned, and 

 the principal i)oiut of economic importance which is brought out re- 

 lates to the remedies for the Harlequin Cabbage Bug. Mr. Weed has 

 followed out the idea, which he was the first to suggest, of killing the 



