386 



time. The remedy, of coarse, will be to spray the Cauagre, upon which 

 the beetles breed, with one of the arsenical mixtures, at the time when 

 the larxiB are in full force feeding upon the leaves, which is February 

 and March in Arizona. 



AN ALEURODES ON TOBACCO. 



Prof. P. Gennadius, Director of the Bureau of Agriculture, Ministry 

 of the Interior, Athens, Greece, wrote us under date of March 25 that 

 he had found an Aleurodes on the Tobacco plant, a description of which 

 he had recently published in a Greek journal which we have not seen. 

 We can not at present tell whether Professor Gennadius named the' 

 species, though we infer not. He wrote us later (May 21), sending 

 samples of the leaves infested with the Aleurodes of the Tobacco plant. 

 These present a whitish-speckled appearance from the abundance of the 

 small insects covering them. In this last letter he writes that the in- 

 sect has caused a good deal of damage to the tobacco plantations of the 

 valley of Trichonia. It has been observed that after continued rains it 

 disappears, probably being washed away in numbers, as it is a very 

 small and delicate insect. It thrives and multiplies rapidly, however, in 

 dry weather. Plants growing in poor soil show its attacks earlier. The 

 attacked leaves become nearly useless, acquiring a very bad taste. 



A CORN ROOT-WORM IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



The larva of Diabrotica 12punciata has been sent to us by Dr. J. W. 

 Thomas, of Abbeville, S. C, with the statement that it was taken im- 

 bedded its full length, head up, in the heart of a stalk of corn at the 

 base. He writes that this insect cost him at least 100 bushels of 

 corn in the j^ear 1857, and is this year damaging the stands of corn 

 generally. In 1887 it was confined to the bottom lands, but now the 

 uplands are attacked. Sandy bottoms are exempt. Corn planted be- 

 fore the 1st of April was not injured much, but all planted in April 

 seriously damaged. It is likely also that corn planted even as late as 

 June would not escape its ravages. A strong top dressing of lime 

 would help to reduce its numbers, and to let the land lay in fallow 

 through one summer, when it can be spared, will starve out the major- 

 ity of them. The most jjracticai idea that can be suggested for this 

 insect is to spray all cucurbitaceous plants in the vicinity of corn-fields 

 later on in the season with a dilute arsenical solution, with the view of 

 destroying the perfect beetles, which would otherwise winter over and 

 deposit their eggs aboutthe corn roots the following spring. 



A DEER EOT FLY. 



We have received, through the kindness of Mrs. A. E. Bush, of San 

 Jos6, Cal., specimens of the larva of a bot-fly infesting the deer. The 

 larva} sent were taken from a pocket under the jaw of a yearling deer 

 from Humboldt County, Cal., and as nearly as caii be determined 

 belong to an undescribed species of the genus Cephenomyia. The 



