200 LETTERS TO DR. FLETCHER [CHAP. xix. 



tion confirmed, and then I mean to write to you again and 

 send a few more males. I found seven with hardly more 

 than that number of females ; also I found specimens of the 

 white stuff that Schmidberger observed the larvae fed on, 

 and I have asked Professor Bernard Dyer to analyse it 

 for me. He is a very kind as well as skilled helper. I 

 cannot find the least sign of disease about the attacked trees : 

 if the bark had been washed it could not be cleaner from 

 Scale or moulds of any kind, but the havoc is dismal what 

 my correspondent calls "a slaughter " of trees. 



We have now got the subject of Agricultural Entomology 

 regularly announced as one of the subjects (voluntary) for 

 examination of the Senior Candidates of our Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society of England. I have been trying to get this 

 arranged for some time, and I hope it will do good. 



I have drawn up the questions as practically, i.e., on as 

 practical points as I could. 



December 16, 1889. 



Your letter was hardly started this morning when I 

 received the confirmation from Mr. Oliver E. Janson 

 of my identification of the fresh supply of Shot-borers 

 from plum wood being quite correct, beyond doubt 

 X. dispar. So I have great pleasure in enclosing two 

 males and two females in a thin quill. They are 

 packed in fine bark clippings, which they have shredded 

 out themselves, so I hope they will travel safely. These 

 are from plum stems, and in some cases they attack the 

 branches. I have just now written a letter to the Worcester 

 Herald, warning fruit growers to be on the alert, giving 

 as much practical advice as I could compress into reason- 

 able space, and especially recommending burning infested 

 trees. 



December 24, 1889. 



I think that Agricultural Entomology is moving forward, 

 but we are much hampered at present by various difficulties, 

 which I fancy you would dispose of very rapidly on your 

 side of the Atlantic. I suppose that in a sort of confidence 

 I may mention that by private liberality of a Scottish 

 advancer of science a lectureship of Agricultural Ento- 

 mology is being endowed at Edinburgh University, but 

 then comes the rather comical difficulty : Who ever is to 

 take the position of lecturer ? I am complimented by the 

 expression of a wish from the authorities who have the 

 election in hand that I should take it ; but then Lady 

 Professors are not admitted in Scotland. We know of 



