280 



lias found in western New Mexico at an altitude of 7,000 feet, cluster- 

 ing in numbers upon horses and sucking their blood. The insect proved 

 to be very interesting structurally and allied most closely perhaps to 

 Ceratopogou, biting species of which are found throughout the northern 

 states, and to (Ecacta, a small blood-sucking gnat inhabiting Cuba. 



THE FAMILY APIOCERID^. 



We have just received from the author, Dr. S. W. Williston, a bro- 

 chure extracted from No. 3, Vol. I, Kansas University Quarterly, in which 

 he strongly defends his position in considering that the dipterous genus 

 Apiocera and its allies, Eaphiomidas and Coquillett's recent genus, Apo- 

 midas, are deserving of family rank and are not to be included with the 

 Asilida', Midaida? or Therevida^. In this view he takes up cudgels 

 against no less an authority than Baron Osten Sacken, who considers 

 that the group should form a subfamily of the Asilida;. The paper is 

 a very thorough and, to us, convincing argument in support of the views 

 of the author, in which, by the way, lie is supported by Mik and Brauer, 

 the family having originally been founded by Macquart. It is worthy 

 of note that in this paper Dr. Williston adopts for the first time J. B. 

 Smith's terminology of the mouth-parts, and consequently the author's 

 views of the homologies of these sclerites. He does this, however, with 

 some slight reservation in the statement, " I believe that his studies 

 show a real advance in knowledge of the homologies of these parts, 

 though in some instances his views may require modification or change." 

 To this paper the author adds two notes, one describing a new genus 

 of Blepharocerid* under the name Snowia and containing the sjDecies 

 S. rvfescens, and the other on the American species of Stylogaster. 



The Kansas University Quarterly, from which this paper is extracted, 

 bids fair to become a journal of some prominence. Its general form is 

 excellent and it will undoubtedly possess considerable importance to 

 entomologists, since not only Dr. Williston, but Chancellor Snow and 

 his son, Mr. Wm. A. Snow, as well as Mr. V. L. Kellogg, will undoubt- 

 edly use its pages. 



THE CALIFORNIA REMEDY FOR THE SAN JOS6 SCALE. 



As we have occasionally mentioned, the remedy which is in most fre- 

 quent use for the San Jose Scale or Pernicious Scale {Aspidiotns jjerni- 

 ciosus) in California, is the lime, salt and sulphur wash used upon 

 deciduous trees. The old method of cooking the mixture in iron vats re- 

 sulted in a fair incorporation of the ingredients into a whitewash. Mr. 

 H. P. Stabler, of Yuba City, Cal., in a paper read before the January 

 meeting of the State Horticultural Society and reported in the Pa- 

 cific Eura-l Press of February 4, gives the details of some extensive 

 and important experiments in the use of this wash. By means of a 

 12-horse power boiler and attached pipes, vats and hot- water tank he 



