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species in this order, which have been determined by Mr. William J. 
Fox, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Theo. Pergande, of Washington, the lat- 
ter reporting upon the ants and the former upon the other members of 
the order. Their papers are published in the proceedings of the Cali- 
fornia Academy of Sciences, Vol. Iv, second series, and reprints have 
been received from both authors. 
ANTS AND THE FRUIT-GROWER. 
Items concerning the offices of ants in the orchard and garden 
are constantly being published in the horticultural and agricultural 
press, and the most diverse opinions are expressed. We happened 
among our recent newspaper clippings to find two absolutely con- 
tradictory statements, the one entitled “Ants a Help to Fruitgrow- 
ing,” in which the author states that ants are of the most valuable 
assistance to the farmer by acting as perpetual insect destroyers, the 
other referring to damage done in vegetable gardens in the way of 
eating lettuce seed and other small seeds, and ‘‘sucking the life out 
of acres of young cucumbers and melon plants.” The truth of the 
matter is that, on the whole, ants do more harm than good. It is true 
that they destroy a certain number of injurious insects, but they like- 
wise carry off small seed, and frequently ruin lawns and flower beds. 
The principal damage which they do, however, aside from their work 
as household pests, is in their care of injurious plant-lice and bark- 
lice, and in their great assistance in spreading these insects. They 
are probably responsible for the greater part of the damage done by 
several species of plant-lice. It has been recently proved, for example, 
that the common Corn-root Plant-louse would have difficulty in hiber- 
nating if it were not for the fact that its eggs are carried into the nests 
of the little brown Lasius alienus, and there cared for during the winter. 
CANADIAN SAW-FLIES. 
Under the title “Fauna Ottawaensis, Hymenoptera Phytophaga,” 
Mr. W. Hague Harrington published in the Ottawa Naturalist for 
November, 1893, an important list of the saw-flies and horn-tails which 
he has collected in and around Ottawa. The list comprises 166 species, 
and indications are given of date of capture, and a few other notes as to 
food habits are scattered through the list. 
CHILEAN ODYNERID A. 
Mr. Edwyn C. Reed has just published in the Anales de la Univer- 
“sidad, a paper entitled ‘“‘Synopsis of the Chilean Wasps of the Family 
Odyneride,” forming a portion of a series which he intends to eall 
“Chilean Entomology.” Thepaper consists mainly of a bringing together 
in synoptical form of the species heretofore described by other authors, 
and three new species are characterized. 
