89 



ate it greedily. Mr. Meech says "for this meritorious service I desire 

 tbey should have full credit as among the insects beueflcial." This 

 beiieficial habit, however, is more than counterbalanced by their appe- 

 tite for fruit, to say nothing of the damage done by the larva. 



A NEW REMEDY AGAINST THE WOOLLY APPLE-LOUSE. 



Maurice Maindron, in a summary of the habits of this insect, illustrated 

 by a very handsome plate in the July number of the Revue Hortlcole, 

 quotes the following formula from Dr. Cramoisy : 



Grams. 



Pyroligneous acid rectified to 7 or 8 degrees 1, 000 



Salicilic acid 2 



Red oxide of mercury 1 



Fuclisine .25 



This solution is diluted with 30 parts of water when the vegetation 

 is active, but is used i)ure in winter time. A month or two after the 

 application of this caustic, according to Mr. Kiinckel d'Herculais, the 

 old epidermis of the tree on which the eggs are found tails in powder 

 and the bark becomes smooth, shining, and of a beautiful mahogany 

 color. 



OVIPOSITION OF THE PLUM GOUGER. 



Regarding the egg-laying habits of the Wild-Plum Weevil or Plum 

 Gouger, Goccotorus scutellaris [Anthonomus prunicida Walsh], shown at 

 Fig. 12, while they have been described (see Walsh, First Eep. Ins. of 

 Illinois, pp. 72-78; Riley, Third Rep. Ins., Mo., pp. 39-42), the follow- 

 ing confirmation will prove interesting. Mr. Lawrence Bruner writes 

 us from West Point, Nebr., under date of June 16, 

 18S8: "I have just witnessed a female specimen of 

 the Wild-Plum Weevil in the act of depositing an &gg. 

 The modus operandi is very simple, and requires but 

 a minute and a half to two minutes for the perform- 

 ance of the entire operation. She first spreads out to 

 their fullest extent all of her legs, braces them, and 

 Fig. 12.- coccotorus ^^^" draws her beak or rostrum to as nearly a perpen- 

 •scutteUans. (After dicular positiou as possiblc, then by gnawing and 

 with a twisting motion soon works her snout into the 

 young fruit until it is buried a trifle above the bases of the antennae, 

 the latter being held close against and directed upward along the ros- 

 trum ui)on the head while the hole is being made. She now draws out 

 her beak and deliberately turns about, and after a few preliminary 

 thrusts of the ovipositor inserts the latter into the hole just made with 

 the beak and deposits a single egg that is of the same diameter as the 

 puncture. The egg is of a dirty whitish, somewhat transparent color, 

 and is plainly visible with an ordinary pocket lens, being uncovered 

 and nearly flush with the surface. It soon becomes covered by the 

 healing of the injured fruit. This curculionid does not make the semi- 



