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Entomological Work at Cornell. — Bulletin No. 3 of the Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station at Cornell University contains three entomological 

 articles by Professor Comstock ; the first on the Insectary of Cornell 

 University, the second on Preventing the Ravages ot Wire Worms, and 

 the third on the Destruction of the Plum Curculio by Poisons. The 

 first article contains a description of the new building which has been 

 erected by the experiment station for work upon insects, Avlth a full- 

 page illustration of the building. The building contains a laboratory 

 for the experimenter and his artist, a workshop and a dark room for 

 photograph purposes ; also quarters for a janitor and a store-room for 

 apparatus. In the basement there is a boiler for heating the building 

 and a conservatory with conveniences for potting plants ; a coal cellar 

 and a cold-room for the storage of hibernating insects. Back of the 

 main building, which is a two-story cottage, and attached to it, is the 

 conservatory, which is divided by a partition into two rooms each 30 

 feet in length, one of which is used as a hot-house and the other as a 

 cold-house. Several new devices for use in the study of insects are also 

 described, the most important one being a root-cage for observing sub- 

 terranean insects. We have for many years hoped to build such an in- 

 sectarium on the Department grounds to aid us in the laboratory work 

 of the Division, and the fact that plans that would permit the realiza- 

 tion of this wish have been before Congress for two years without action 

 very well illustrates the difficulties in accom])lishing anything of this 

 sort at Washington as compared with some of our State institutions. 



The second article relates the results of a series of experiments in 

 trapping Wire Worms and their parent beetles. It was found that by 

 the baits used — sliced potatoes, unsweetened dough, sweetened dough, 

 and clover — many more mature beetles than larva? were captured. A 

 number of interesting facts were proved but the principal result arrived 

 at is that by the use of small bunches of cut clover (the best bait) 

 poisoned with Paris green water and placed at intervals through a corn 

 field, under bits of board, large numbers of the parent beetles can be 

 killed. 



Sweetened dough, made of one part of sugar to ten parts corn meal 

 and sufficient water to make a dough, was found to be next in efficacy 

 to the clover, although its attractiveness was considerably less. The 

 use of the clover bait is the same idea which we have put into practice 

 and recommended for Cut Worms, and doubtless, in view of Professor 

 Comstock's experiments, the same trap will attract both Cut Worms 

 and Wire Worms. It is noticeable that the Click Beetle, second in 

 abundance of any of those caught in traps, was Drasterius dorsaUs, 

 and it is worth while to remark that our experience has shown that this 

 insect is quite likely to be a beneficial species, feeding in its larval state, 

 at least a portion of the time, upon other insects. Figure 11 of the 

 paper is unfortunately not named and can not be identified from the 

 illustration. 



