323 



Our kuowledge of the parasites of the Hessiau Fly has beeu advanced 

 by two contributious : Professor Forbes describes a Proctotrupid {Pla- 

 tygaster hiemaUs), which he bred from puparia collected in southern 

 Illinois in March. The parasites issued on unknown (hites between 

 April 23 and October 18. 



Mr. Fred. Enock gives a list of the parasites which he bred in 1887 

 from the pui)aria of the Hessian Fly. They are ten in all, three cor- 

 responding to American species, five to liussian s[)ecies, and two unde- 

 termined. We are quite certain that the determination of two of the 

 American species is incorrect, but this question we shall discuss else- 

 where. 



Another interesting and very important question, economically, has 

 been touched upon by Professor Lindeman, viz, that of food-plants of 

 the Hessiau Fly other than the cultivated cereals. He first mentions 

 the finding in England of a single pupal case of the fiy on velvet grass 

 {Holcus lannUis) as recorded by Charles Whitehead in 1887. In June 

 of the same year Dr. Lindeman found in the neighborhood of Moscow 

 two stalks of timothy (Phlceum pratense) infested with larvte of the 

 Hessian Fly; and in June of the year following, 1888, he received in- 

 formation of the injurious abundance of the fly on timothy in the Gov- 

 ernment of Tambow, together with a large number of pupte, which he 

 says were undoubtedly those of the insect in question. In 1887, also, 

 he received from Tambow and Woronesh specimens of "quick grass" 

 {Triticum repens) containing pupm of Cecidomyia destructor. 



Dr. Lindeman thinks there can be no doubt but that nnder certain 

 conditions, such as the absence or scarcity of the ordinary food-plant, 

 the Hessian Fly may subsist on various wild or cultivated grasses. He 

 makes no mention, however, of having reared the adult flies, which 

 leaves the matter of the correct identification of the insect in some 

 doubt. In view of the importance of this question, further observations 

 are highly desirable. 



FUNGIC!IDES AS INSECTICIDES. 



We have elsewhere referred to the fact that Colonel Pearson, of 'New 

 Jersey, discovered that the lime and copper sulj)hate solutions used 

 against the Grape Mildew were also efficacious against the Kose Bug, 

 and our attention has been called by a note in the Rural Kew Yorker 

 for March 23, 1889, to the effect thatF. Bascarolli, a grape-grower in the 

 Tyrol, shows that this same substance is very injurious to locusts and 

 to garden snails. 



KEROSENE so Al> EMULSION AS FUEL. 



It is stated that Dr. Kanffman, a Russian experimenter, has succeeded 

 in solidifying petroleum to be used as fuel, bj' heating it and mixing it 

 with from 1 to 3 per cent, of soap. The latter dissolves in the oil, and 

 the liquid in cooling forms a coirpact mass having the appearance of 



