1905.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 38. 113 



The card catalosfue has now been installed in a new case, 

 capable of holding 90,000 cards, and is in constant use ; in 

 fact, it is probal)ly the most useful single piece of apparatus 

 in the possession of the division. Additional cards are con- 

 stantly being added as new literature is published. 



Insects of the Year. 



The unusually cold weather during the winter of 1903-04, 

 together with a few sudden and marked fluctuations of the 

 temperature, was not without its effect upon insect life, as 

 was shown last summer, though perhaps less than might have 

 been expected. 



The San Jose scale was destroyed in large numbers by the 

 winter-killhig of trees, and to some extent on those Avhich 

 survived the winter. This demonstrates that this insect is 

 not entirely hardy during severe winters in this latitude. 

 Unfortunately, enough succeeded in living to produce many 

 young during the summer, so that this insect is now some- 

 what more abundant than it was a year ago. It is generally 

 distril)uted over the State east of the western slopes of 

 the Connecticut valley, but seems not to have penetrated 

 the Berkshire hills to any great extent. Spraying with the 

 lime-sulphur mixture for this pest has been made use of by 

 many fruit growers and others, and has proved to be an 

 excellent method for its control. 



Plant lice and root maofo-ots have been fairlv abundant 

 this year, due perhaps to their great increase during 1903 

 enabling them to have so many descendants that a larger 

 number than usual succeeded in passing the winter. 



The white fly {Aleyrodes) in greenhouses has apparently 

 spread in all directions, complaints of the destruction it has 

 caused having been received from all parts of the State. 



The red spider (^Tetrani/chnx, spp.) has also been very 

 abundant, both in greenhouses and outside, where a charac- 

 teristic brownish tinge on the leaves of affected plants has 

 often been very noticeable. 



The usual amount of correspondence about the treatment 

 for ants in houses and on lawns, about cut-worms, wire 

 worms, the oyster-shell and scurfy scales and the various 



