112 



tlie ej?g-, may be fouud in the stems of this plant during the mouth of 

 August, the more advanced stages nearest to the ground. The main 

 stem in the one selected and the work of the beetle may be readily de- 

 tected by their scarred and pitted appearance. Except from being 

 larger, the larvte of this species do not differ materially in general ap- 

 pearance from the preceding. The punctures which are so apparent 

 in the adult beetle are also to be observed in the pupiie. 



Of the breeding habits of variegatus Horn, I know nothing, and only 

 refer to the species here in order to record its occurrence in an ant-hill 

 in the mouth of December. 



I have observed wrens Say about plants of Evening Primrose, but 

 have not observed them ovipositing. Moreover, have observed them 

 of various sizes and in great numbers in localities where there were no 

 plants of the Primrose. 



Byssematus lineaticollis Say breeds in the seed pods of Asclepias m- 

 carnata, the larva feeding npon the seeds and transforming to the adult 

 in the late autumn. The larva is white, robust, and much wrinkled, 

 with sparsely-placed, short bristles distributed over the body; the head 

 is much smaller than first segment, yellow, with mouth parts darker. 

 Length when extended 6™"\ In the vicinity of La Fayette, Ind., the 

 larvjB are preyed upon by a species of Bracon, the larva? of which leave 

 the body of their host and spin small brown cocoons within the seed 

 pod, several parasites inhabiting a single larva of Bhyssematus. 



June 18, 1889. 



EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 

 The Spread of the Australian Lady-bird. 



The Vedolia has multiplied in numbers and spread so rapidly that every one of my 

 thirty-two hundred orchard trees is literally swarming with them. All of my orna- 

 mental trees, shrubs, and vines which were infested with white scale, are practically 

 cleansed by this wonderful parasite. About one month since I made a public state- 

 ment that my orchard would be free from '' Icerya by November 1," but the work has 

 gone on with such amazing speed and thoroughness, that I am to-day contident that 

 the pest will have been exterminated from my trees by tlie middle of August. People 

 are coming here daily, and by placing infested branches upon the ground beneath my 

 trees for two hours, can secure colonies of thousands of the Vedolia, which are there 

 in countless numbers sucking food. Over fifty thousand have been taken away to 

 other orchards during the present week, and there are millions still remaining, and 

 I have distributed a total of sixty-three thousand since June 1. I have a list of one 

 hundred and thirty names of persons who have taken the colonies, and as they have 

 been placed in orchards extending from South Pasadena to Azusa, over a belt of 

 country ten miles long and six or seven in width, I feel positive from my own ex- 

 perience, that the entire valley will be practically free from Icerya before the advent 

 of the new year. You will be as much pleased to read this as I am to write it. — [ J- 

 R. Dobbins, San Gabriel, Cal., July 2, 1889. 



