96 



not yet determined. It is quite generally parasitized and I got only 

 two adults. The coniinon practice of topping the canes destroys most 

 of the larvjB and the insect is thus not likely to become seriously 

 troublesome. I have found it also in Raspberry canes. 



Last year I found only a few isolated specimens of the larvae of 

 Selandria riiM, and, hearing nothing of any injury from this slug, did 

 not even mention it in my bulletin. This year the insect develoi)ed 

 abnormally in some plantations and destroyed the fruit on many acres 

 of raspberries and on a few acres of blackberries. Even where not 

 positively injurious, it was much more abundant than last year. 



I found also, quite commonly, a leaf-roller larva on Blackberry, from 

 which I bred a species of Plioxopteris closely allied to fragarice Eiley. 

 It did no real damage, but its occurrence is interesting, because I did 

 not see it at all last year. 



The sweet-potato crop is an important one in New Jersey, and no 

 better-iiavored tubers are raised anywhere. The vines suffer from a 

 variety of insects, and sj^ecial attention was paid to them during the 

 season. All the Cassids, so well figured in Dr. Eiley's Second Missouri 

 Report, are represented in this State, but are single brooded. A little 

 pest that has thus far bafiHed ixiy efforts to get at its life-history is a 

 flea-beetle, Chcetocnema confinis Lee. It makes its appearance quite 

 early, as soon as sweet potatoes are set out, and that is anywhere from 

 May 1 to June 1. 



It starts generally from the edges of the field adjoining a road fence 

 or a wood, and spreads rapidly over the whole field, eating peculiar 

 and characteristic channels on the upper surface. The leaves dry up 

 and die, and often this kills the plant; I watched the insects from the 

 middle of May to the middle of June, when they had about disappeared, 

 and I failed utterly in finding any trace of their larvae on sweet-potato 

 vines. I examined a large number of plants from the roots to the tip 

 of the runners, slicing them up completely, and did not see anything 

 that looked like a beetle larva. The inference is that the beetle breeds 

 on some other plant, though I failed to find them anywhere else. In 

 some fields cutworms did considerable injury in their well-known way. 

 I bred none to maturity, but the larvte seemed to be very like those of 

 Carneades messoria, and so Dr. Riley determined them for me. 



It is rather curious that all these sweet potato pests attack the vines 

 almost immediately after j)lanting, when they are least able to resist 

 attack. After the vine starts running it is beyond danger of injury. 



Insects injurious to the Cucurbitace;e have formed the main line of 

 study during the season, and of these pests the Squash Borer [MeUtUa 

 ceto) has received the most attention. 



I have succeeded in clearing up about all of the moot jjoints in its 

 life-history, and have found what I think is a practical way to prevent 

 serious injury. To ascertain about how many eggs a single female 



