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potatoes I found as iiigli as one huudred aud fifty-three in the shell of one i)otato 

 that they had hollowed out. While assorting potatoes a few days ago I found many 

 alive ; also what I believe to be deposits of their ova. By informing me of the name 

 of the insect you will greatly oblige many farmers and gardeners, — [W. S. Young, 

 Woonsocket, Dak., March 1, 1889. 



Reply. — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 1st instant and the worms 

 sent in the accompanying box. They belong to one of the common Western species 

 of "thousand-legs," and judging as nearly as I can from the crushed specimens re- 

 ceived they are the lulus virgatns of Wood. Your account of the extraordinary 

 abundance of this insect is very interesting, and I have seldom heard of a similar 

 case. Your only plan will be to attempt to trap them on a large scale by placing 

 slices of potato poisoned with Paris green in spots where they are most abundant. 

 This course will occupy coasiderable time and will be quite troublesome, but it is the 

 best recommendation I can make. If you adopt this plan please let us know of its 

 success.— [March 18, 18H9.] 



The Bean Weevil in California. 



At a meeting of our Horticultural Society held to-day, Mr. O. N. Cadwell exhibited 

 specimens of beans from his place in Carpinteria showing the ravages of an insect 

 new to us, and I have taken the liberty of sending you a few of the beans with the 

 insects for you to identify. Mr. Cadwell thinks they were introduced in the " Golden 

 Wax" bean during 1887, but he does not remember where they came from. The in- 

 sect is discovered while the beans are yet in the pod aud just beginning to ripen. 

 They attack the "Limas" and all other varieties as far as observed. As the raising 

 of "Lima" beans is an important industry with growers in the Carpinteria Valley, 

 they are naturally nervous about this new enemy. I have no doubt you are familiar 

 with the pest and can enlighten us about it. * * * — [H. C. Ford, Santa Barbara, 

 Cal., February 6, 1889. 



Eeply. — Your letter of February 6, with specimens, has been received. The insect 

 which is damaging beans at Carpinteria is the common Beau Weevil (Bruchus obsolt- 

 tus). It will not be necessary for me to write you at length concerning this insect, as 

 Mr. Matthew Cooke in his work on the "Insects of the Orchard and Vineyard" has 

 compiled a short account of it from my writings, accompanied by figures, upon page 

 334, under the name of Bruchus /rt/jrc— [February 18, 1889. J 



Method of mounting Eggs of Insects for progressive embryologic Study. 



* * * 1 mail you to-day a slide of newly hatched larvie of J/-c<ia rirgo. * * * 

 Possibly you may be interested in the method I use in observing the development of 

 the embryo, which is simple aud consumes but little time, though probably used by 

 others, although devised by myself. In summer evenings, when moths fly into the 

 house I capture them, placing each in a pasteboard pill-box three-fourths of an inch 

 deep and 1 inch in diameter, marking the cover with a reference letter and, under this 

 letter, entering in a record-book date of capture. If a female, I usually find next 

 morning a number of eggs, which I distribute equally into a number of homeopathic 

 phials each about 1 inch high, placing the same reference letter on the corks and 

 numbering the corks from 1 upwards. Then I till No. 1 with carbolic acid on the 

 first day; No. 2 on the second, and so on until the last day I fill a bottle containing 

 the newly hatched larvse. I find the acid renders the eggs perfectly transparent, so 

 that the embryo can be observed in various stages of development. I mount in ben- 

 zole balsam direct from the carbolic acid, the larvic sent you being prepared by this 

 process. * * * — [Edwin A. Hill, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Saint Louis and Chicago 

 Railway Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 4, 1889. 



