377 



Reply.— This insect belongs to the only genus of the Coccinellidte or " Lady-birds" 

 ■which is plant-feeding in its habits. It is Epilachna corrnpta. I can suggest no better 

 remedy than Paris green. 



Baridius trinotatus is an insect which can only be fought by pulling up and burning 

 the infested stalks. It is a tedious remedy but a sure one. As the insect transforms 

 within the stalk this remedy is efficacious at almost any time. 



Intrusion of the Elm Leaf-beetle in Houses. 



I now take the liberty to intrude upon your time with a few words concerning the 

 habits of this (the Elm-leaf) beetle, with which you may not be so unfortunately 

 acquainted as I am. It was in 1883, in the fall house-cleaning, that my attention 

 was called to these creatures, then unknown to me, massing themselves in close packs 

 behind pictures. In 1884 I noticed the trees for the first time being stripped, and 

 that fall more bugs came in, and in the spring of 1885 they appeared in great quan- 

 tities about the windows, but soon left the house for the trees, as we suppose. Dur- 

 ing the summer of 1885 the Elm trees were wretchedly stripped, and last August, as 

 early as the 6th, these beetles came to the house in swarms. The house was thoroughly 

 netted, but nets were of no use. They only disappeared during real winter weather 

 to re-appear this spring, in April and May, in quantities. The old-fashioned garret is 

 full of them ; killing off day by day with powder makes no dilference except for that 

 day. The shingled roof is full ; the window boxes where the cords play are full ; the 

 windows are daily covered, especially on the upper part, with quantities. They eat 

 no flannels or woolens of any kind, never bite nor molest the body except liking to 

 sleep in one's bed; they fill drawers, boxes, books, etc., and show no disposition to go 

 out to the trees, and what they subsist on is a puzzle. Please excuse this great lib- 

 erty ; the truth is, that with every effort to bear the plague philosophically, the 

 natural dislike of the housekeeper to be worsted in a battle with any even the most 

 aristocratic insect prevails in my case, and I thought it just possible you might be 

 able to tell me- of some one thing that would give me the victory I desire, at the sacri- 

 fice of my hospitable instincts. — [H. S. Onderdonk, Great Neck, Long Island, N. Y. 



Reply. — The account which you give of the great numbers in which the Elm Leaf- 

 beetle infests your house is very interesting, but I am sorry to say that I can offer 

 you no encouragement in regard to any rem^y beyond what you will find published 

 in Bulletin G of this Division (which we have already sent you), and beyond the free 

 use of Persian insect powder in your house. 



Re Lestophonus. 



Yours of the 2 1st instant, inclosing duplicates of the articles on the Lestophonus and 

 its parasites, is just received. The facts are so clearly and correctly stated in these 

 articles for Insect Life that I am unable to suggest any change or alteration. 



In regard to the manner in which I treated Koebele's second sending of Australian 

 parasites I will say that Mr. Koebele advised me to subject the contents of each box 

 to chloroform, then open each box and destroy all of the Chalcids and transfer the 

 Lestophoni to the tent. However, I was unwilling to expose the Lestophoni to such 

 a risk of life, so I had constructed two sacks of a muslin so thin that I could easily dis- 

 tinguish from the outside the Chalcids from the Lestophoni as they rested on the in- 

 side of the sack; the sacks were about 3 feet high by a foot and a half in diameter, 

 and were sufficiently close in texture to prevent the escape of either the Lestophoni or 

 the Chalcids. In these two sacks I emptied the contents of the boxes of parasites, 

 tied up the tops of the sacks, then destroyed the Chalcids by pinching them between 

 the thumb and finger, without opening the fiacks, after which the sacks were opened 

 and the Lestophoni liberated into the same tent in which I placed the first consign- 

 ment of these flies. 



The Chalcids are easily distinguished from the Lestophoni as they sit on the inside 

 of the sacks, not only by their more slender form, but especially by their habit of 



