EXPERIMENT STATION EEPOET. . 541 



but was abimdant enough to be troublesome in gardens, vineyards, 

 and especially on apples. It was in Burlington county that I saw the 

 insects, most commonly on young apples, but I am informed that they 

 were equally conspicuous in other southern counties. 



The matter becomes interesting from the fact that we are approach- 

 ing the end of the twenty-year cycle referred to in Bulletin No. 82, 

 issued in 1891, when the insect began to decline in numbers. 



The records then made by me show that at Vineland, where my 

 observations were carried on, the insects became plentiful enough to 

 be offensive in 1885 or thereabouts, and they increased annually until, 

 in 1900, the climax was reached, the vineyards having been by that 

 time almost completely wiped out. I was then informed that a similar 

 invasion had been observed nineteen years before, the climax coming- 

 after a four or five-year period. Most of those whose memory reached 

 back to that time said ''about twenty years ago," and the only definite 

 date that I obtained left it open whether the year previous, making 

 the twenty-year cycle, had not been as bad or worse. If history repeats 

 itself, and there is really a somewhat definite period of rise and fall, 

 the three or four years next to come will see a gradual increase of 

 injury, culminating in 1909 or 1910. 



Unfortunately, so far as methods of control are concerned, we 

 have not advanced much since 1890. 



THE ASIATIC LABY-BIRD. 



The record of the experiments made with this insect during the 

 three or four years last past was rather fully given in my report for 

 1904, page 575, and at this time I need only record the observations 

 of the current year. Up to the end of September, 1904, the insects 

 were noted in the orchard, and up to October 12th, 1904, they were 

 kept under laboratory conditions. 



May 25th, 1905, Mr. Dickerson examined very carefully that sec- 

 tion of the Du Bois orchard in which the insects had been released, 

 and more especially those trees on which specimens had been found 

 breeding in 1904. No treatment of any description had been given, 

 and the trees were quite as much infested as at any time in the past, 

 but no trace of the Chilocorus similis was seen. One larva and one 

 adult Chilocorus were noted, but they were out of reach and were 

 apparently tivulnerus. There was not the least appearance of any 

 feeding upon the scales in any place. 



