127 



"As the iujiiiy began before it was possible for the seed to liave been 

 fertilized, its eflect to blast the iiower was evident ; and as the botanists 

 tell us that the receptacle of the strawberry will not swell out to form 

 the fruit unless the seed develops, tlie connection of the Thrips with 

 the so-called 'buttoning' seems beyond dispute. 



"This species attacked in a similar way flowers of raspberries and 

 blackberries, and with a like effect. 



"I may also say concerning- the relation of Thrips to 'silver-top' in 

 Grass, that as far back as 1883 I made some studies in northern Illinois 

 of 'silver-top' in timothy, in which I reached a provisional conclusion 

 that this injury was sometimes due to Thrips; but as I could not verity 

 my supposition I dropped the matter at the time. I proceeded by 

 collecting" several hundred stems of timothy in which the whitening of 

 the heads was just beginning to show, and examined them in compar- 

 ison with others clearly uninjured. A large percentage of the former 

 contained the Thrips in numbers ranging from one to half a dozen, 

 behind the upper sheath of the stem, usually just above the uj)per node, 

 while the sound stems were almost invariably without them. Com- 

 stock's later observations on the breeding habits of the Thrips finally 

 confirmed what was with me only a supposition." 



Mr. Webster stated that a species of Thrips had attacked young 

 onions growing in the greenhouses of the Experiment Station at Colum- 

 bus, feeding on the extremities of the young tops." 



Mr. Howard said that Mr. Fletcher's experience with blister beetles 

 the present season was a common one, species having been sent to the 

 Dei^artment of Agriculture with reports of damage fi'om all parts of 

 the country. He suggested that their extraordinary abundance was 

 probably due to the great abundance of grasshoppers last year. 



Mr. Forbes said that some years ago in Hlinois these beetles had 

 been exceedingly and destructively abundant following a season of 

 great abundance of grasshoppers. 



Mr. liiley presented the following pai:)er : 



AN AUSTRALIAN SCYMNUS ESTABLISHED AND DESCRIBED IN 

 CALIFORNIA. 



By C. V. Riley. 



The rapidity with which the Australian Yedalia cardinrdis has estab- 

 lished itself in California is familiar to everyone. But the Yedalia was 

 not the oidy scale-feeding Coccinellid which was sent or brought 

 over by Mr. Koebele on his first trip to Australia in 1888-'89. Among 

 others, he brought several species of the genus Scymnus, which in due 

 time were set at liberty in the vicinity of Los Angeles. One of these, 

 subsequently described by Dr. D. Sharp as Scymnus restitutor (Insect 

 Life, vol. i, p. 364), was lost sight of, while another much smaller 



