264 



female of which has the appearance of a globular egg, and it seems at 

 least reasonable that reports of eggs having been found in connec- 

 tion with these larvoe were due to a confusion of the parasites whereby 

 they were taken for eggs. This question is of peculiar interest, as, if 

 this be true the occurrence of Heterop us in America in 184^, would by 

 several years antedate its discovery and description in England by 

 Newport. In 1856, Dr. Asa Fitch described under the name of Aphis 

 maidis a species of Aphides affecting the stems of roasting ears, in 

 August.* And in 1863 Mr. B. D. "Walsh reared what, until quite re- 

 cently, at least, was supposed to be the root form of this species from 

 roots of corn.t Thirty-four years prior to the appearance of the first of 

 these publications, Mr. Tho. Emory, of Poplar Grove (State not gtven), 

 in a communication relating to a disease of wheat known as " Sedging," 

 says, " I believe this insect is the same as that known by the name of 

 the root-louse in corn, so frequently ft)und in that plant, growing after 

 clover, when the land is early flushed, and which occasions so stunted 

 and diseased growth that it rarely recovers until late in the summer, 

 and net then if the season is dry." | 



Another corn insect was reported from Buckingham, Va., in 1828, by Mr. 

 Charles Yancey, the depredator being " a little white worm with copper- 

 colored head," which perforated the stalks of young corn just below the 

 surface of the ground, which destroyed the growth. § This depredator 

 and its method of attack agree so closely with what we know of the 

 larvae of Diahrotica 12-punctata, which has since been observed working 

 similar injury in Virginia, || that it appears quite probable that this is 

 an early exhibit of its destructive propensities. The injury to Blue 

 Grass, which has since been found to be largely caused by a species of 

 Thrips, was observed in ISTew York as early as 1844, but the depredator 

 was not disco vered.|[ 



The advent of the Striped Cucumber Beetle, Diahrotica vittata, is en- 

 veloped in obscurity, but the use of covered frames for the protection 

 of the vines dates back to 1823.** The small beetle, Byturus unicoJor, 

 though studied as a raspberry insect by both Fitch ft and Packard f| in 

 1870, bobs up serenely in the Eural New Yorker as a new depredator, 

 from Michigan, in 1885. §§ 



The new inspiration given to the studies of the economic features of 

 entomology by the establishment of experiment stations is very proper, 



* Second Rep. Ins. N. Y., pp. 318-320, 1856. 



t Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil., vol. 1, p. 300, 1863. 



X Americau Farmer, vol. 4, p. 71, May 24, 1822. 



§ American Farmer, a^oI. 10, p. 3, 1828. 



II Insect Life, vol. 4, p. 104. 



U The Cultivator, New Series, vol. 1, p. 206, July, 1844. 



** Americau Farmer, vol. 4, p. 374, 1828. 



ft Fourteenth Eeport, p. 358. 



\X Insects, New and Little Known. Pamjih., p. 12. 



§V^ Rural New Yorker, August 22, 1885. 



