203 



in tobacco warehouses. References have been made to this insect in Insect Life, 

 volume I, jjp. 357 and 358, and volume ii, pp. 368-9. 



Dark-colored Cattle most subject to Horn Fly Attack. — Apropos of the sub- 

 ject of the color of a host and its relation to parasitism or insect attack, which was 

 discussed on page 265 of the last volume of Insect Life (volume iv), it may be of 

 interest to state that one of our correspondents, Mr. H. B. Paxton, of Lake County, 

 Fla., asserts that the Horn Fly appears to show a preference for dark-colored, 

 Aark briudle, or black cattle. This is a direct contradiction to the statement of Prof. 

 Wallace in his work on Darwinism. In preceding images of the current number it 

 will be noticed that Mr. H. E. Weed, entomologist of the Mississippi Experiment 

 Station, made a similar statement before the last meeting of the Association of Eco- 

 nomic Entomologists. We might repeat here Mr. Howard's assertion referred to in 

 volume IV (pp. 205) that there is no connection between the color of cattle and the 

 Horn Fly. 



Scale-insects not poisonous. — Some time ago Prof. E, R. Lake, of the Washing- 

 ton State Agricultural College, wrote us that the inspector of fruit pests for that 

 State asserts that the use of fruit affected with San Jos^ scale is injurious to the hu- 

 man system. He states that certain physicians have had cases to treat wherein 

 children have evidently been poisoned by the use of fruit affected by this insect. 

 The idea of any scale-insect being poisonous is a novel one, though there is no in- 

 nate improbability of its being the case. 



A Beetle destroying Smuts in Herbarium. — Prof. G. F. Atkinson sent us, before 

 leaving the Institute of Technology, Auburn, Ala., specimens of a beetle which he 

 found destroying the smuts preserved in the herbarium of the Institute. The beetle 

 proved to be Lathridius fiUformls, Gyllh. 



Junonia caenia on Block Island. — Prof. W. W. Bailey, of Brown University, in- 

 forms us that among other Lepidoptera collected by his sou upon Block Island the 

 past summer were specimens of Junonia cwuia, which were confined to a very limited 

 district about the Great Salt Pond. 



The Saddle-back on Helianthus. — Mr. W. J. Morrison, of New York City, in- 

 forms us that he found on September 7 a colony of the Saddle-back Caterpillar (Ent- 

 pretia siimiiJea) on the foliage of Helianthus globosus var. fistuloKus. Although the 

 larva of this moth is known to feed on quite a variety of plants it has not hitherto 

 been recorded on this species to our knowlege. 



Damage to Cocoa in Trinidad. — We have received from Mr. J. H. Hart, of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens at Trinidad, specimens of a leaf-hopper with the information 

 that it is attacking the Chocolate Plant (Theohroma cacao) on that island. This in- 

 sect is a handsome species of the family Membracidse, belonging probably to the 

 genus Horicola. 



"June Bugs " making Mischief in California Nurseries. — San Diego County, 

 Cal., is reported to be afitiicted with " June Bugs." Mr. W. Chappelow, of Mon- 

 rovia, Cal., writes that whole orchards of young trees have been defoliated by them 

 the past season, The insect is not known in his own neighborhood, and as no speci- 

 mens of the insect doing the mischief have yet reached us we are uuable to iden- 

 tify the pest. 



Orange Scale-insects in Bermuda. — We have received from Mr. F. L. Mcllvane, 

 of Hamilton, Bermuda, branches of orange and lime trees infested indiscriminately 

 by Aspidiotus citricola and Chionaspis citri. The interesting point about this sending 

 is that while A. citricola is the most injurious scale-insect of the orange in Florida, 

 it is rare in Louisiana, while with Chionaspis citri the case is exactly reversed, since 

 this species abounds in Louisiana and is scarce in Florida. Here in Bermuda, how- 

 ever, we have a common meeting ground of the two species, and it is likely that in 

 the West Indies we have the original home of each. 



On the Habits of the '^ Variegated Cone-nose."— Regarding the habits of Cono- 

 rhinus variegatus, Mr. J. N. Forbes, of Washington County, Fla., writes that they 



