THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. .11 



Under these circumstances it is an interesting fact (as showing lio\V a 

 new habit may be acquired under favorable circumstances), that last summer, 

 this insect was positivel}' found feeding upon the Cabbage, which is botanic- 

 ally so very distinct from the nightshade Family. It would be sad indeed if 

 80 all-important an esculent should in the future be doomed to suffer, with 

 the Potato, from the insatiate appetite of such a pest, and I have no idea that 

 cabbage raisers need fear anything of the sort. Yet stranger things have 

 happened ! and certain it is that it was found devouring cabbages by Mr. H. H. 

 McAffee, Superintendent of the Wisconsin University Experimental Farm, 

 while Miss Mary E. Murtfeldt, of Kirkwood, in whose testimony I can place 

 the utmost reliance, found that in parts of JSTorthern Illinois it did consider- 

 able injury to growing cabbages and was even breeding in great numbers 

 iipon them. 



Its Hibernation. — Subsequent experience has corroborated the accu- 

 racy of the account given in my first Report, of this insect's natural history, 

 and as some authors have since claimed that it winters in the pupa state, I 

 must insist that with us it never does, but that the last brood invariably 

 hibernates in the perfect beetle state. Sj)ecimen8 have been found at a depth 

 of eight and even ten feet below the surface, but the great majority do not 

 descend beyond eighteen or twenty inches, and many will not enter the 

 ground at all if they can find other substances above ground that will shel- 

 ter them sufficiently. The beetles are found abundantly above ground in the 

 month of April in the latitude of St. Louis, but often re-enter it after they 

 have once left, especially during cold, damp weather. 



A FEW Words more about Paris Green. — A good deal of objection has 

 been raised against the too general use of this poison, and perhaps with 

 some reason. Mr. H. H. McAfee, who has had a good opportunity of test- 

 ing its value, strongly opposes its use on the grounds of its dangerous 

 nature, and shows in the following paragraph, which is from his pen, that 

 the bugs can be subdued by determined hand-picking. 



With an astonishing large supply of beetles to start on this spring, 

 we have fought them through to this time at an expense of just $20.15, and 

 we have dug potatoes enough to pa^^, at market price when dug, for the 

 seed upon the whole plat, also to pay for the picking of the bugs, and a 

 profit of S6.51, and there j-et remains to be dug over half the potatoes, 

 which, after pajang cost of cultivation and rental, will give a fair profit. 

 There Avill be a slight bill for picking bugs from this on, for the late pota- 

 toes, but we are perfectly sure of a balance of profits, if the potatoes now 

 in the ground never grew another ounce. "Early Rose," yielded at the 

 rate of 232.56 bushels per acre, "King of the Earlies," at the rate of 157.24 

 bushels per acre. I feel sure that we can count on several million less bugs 

 to winter over, than were on the farm last full, and I believe that the 

 expense of gathering them another year may be lessened more than three- 

 fourths, by using proper implements for that work. 



Some persons have even imagined that potatoes grown on hind wliere 

 it has been used are often watery, rank and of bad flavor, and according to 

 the Monthly Report from the Department of Agriculture for Augtr-.t :i:i<l 



