NOTES FROM THE BIOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT, O. A. C. 



early tulips and should be kept back as long- 

 as possible, As about half of the bulbs do 

 not bloom they should be planted rather 

 thick in large pans, pots or boxes. The 

 double tulips are also very satisfactory for 

 forcing in the house and succeed better than 

 outside. Some of the best are : Murillo, 

 Couronne d'or and Imperator rubrorum. 

 Murillos when well grown in the house and 

 fully expanded have measured nearly six 

 inches in diameter. If the house is not too 

 warm the flowers of double tulips will last 

 from ten days to two weeks. 



The perennial border is often bare looking 



after the spring bulbs have done blooming, 

 but we find that the border may be kept 

 bright by growing Iceland poppy, the seed 

 of which should be sown broadcast. This 

 beautiful poppy makes a fine show of colour 

 until other flowers begin to bloom. They 

 also take away the patchy appearance of a 

 border which has but a few clumps of per- 

 ennials and fill up the gap until the annuals 

 begin to flower. 



W. T. Macoun, 



Horticulturist. 

 Central Experimental Farm, 

 Ottawa. 



NOTES FROM THE BIOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE ONTARIO 

 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.— IV. 



THE BUFFALO TREE-HOPPER. 



>RUIT-GROWERS during the spring 

 pruning of their orchards frequently 

 come across limbs disfigured with 

 oval-shaped scars (Fig. A) which are 

 decidedly injurious to the tree. Frequently 

 the affected limbs break off" during strong 

 winds, and as the grubs of borers are often 

 found in these broken limbs, the inference 

 is too often made that the borers are the 

 mischief-makers. The real cause of the 

 scars, however, is a greenish bug about 

 one-third of an inch in length, triangular in 

 shape, and with some slight resemblance to 

 a buffalo, hence the name — Buffalo Tree- 

 Hopper. (Figs. C and D). 



In late summer and autumn, it is often 

 possible to catch these tree-hoppers, or to 

 watch them at work depositing their eggfs 

 in slits on the twigs. My illustration (Fig^. 

 B) shows the slits, not at the time of de- 

 position, but in the spring when the scars 

 have become quite large and unsightly. 



The females deposit their eggs on young 

 wood in late summer, preferring but little 

 the two or three years old growths on young 

 trees to those on old trees. The curved 

 slits are made close to each other, enclosing 

 a portion of bark, and in each of these slits 

 six or more eggs are laid. The purpose of 

 the double slit is apparent, for if only one 

 were made the eggs deposited in it would 

 almost certainly be damaged by the subse- 

 quent rapid healing process. With the two 

 slits, arrang-ed as they are, the enclosed 

 portion of bark is killed, and the eggs are 

 preserved from injury by any subsequent 

 growth. 



The eggs remain over winter in the slits 

 and hatch about the first of June. During 

 the winter and following seasons the slits 

 gradually widen, and the scar becomes oval 

 in outline on account of the dropping away 

 of the enclosed central piece of bark. 



It would appear that the Buff'alo Tree- 

 Hopper does not confine its attentions to 

 apple and pear, but will produce scars on 



