ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 85 



Professor Southwick, in reply to a question, stated that they 

 had no Gipsy Moths {Ocneria dispar) in New York City oi' 

 vicinity. 



A species of Sap-fly, supposed to be a Sciai'ia, has proved 

 quite mischievous among the park trees of New York City. If a 

 limb is cut off, it often happens that the scar is induced to bleed 

 by the white worm-like larvae of this dipterous insect, which are 

 able to keep up the flow until cold weather. This sap, which 

 becomes sour and of the consistency of thin jelly, runs down the 

 trimks, rendering them very unsightly, and no doubt the ti'ees are 

 weakened by its continuous loss. These spots are conspicuous on 

 several species of trees but the elm is the more often affected, and 

 the wood, thus softened and exposed to the action of the atmos- 

 phere and to the spores of fungi, soon becomes a rotten spot in 

 the tree unless the progress of decay is arrested. The remedy has 

 been to spray the spots with a carbolic acid solution ; then, when 

 nearly dry, to brush the scar clean with a rice-root brush, dry off 

 with plaster of Paris and apply paint or shellac (or liquid celluloid 

 if the tree is a valuable one), after which there will be no more 

 trouble. Incidentally, reference was made to fungous disorders or 

 pests, and Professor Southwick remarked that there were a great 

 many species working on the trees and shrubs, and that Agaricus 

 ulmarius was conspicuously destructive ; that a well-developed 

 bunch of it was found upon a scar from which a limb has been 

 removed only two weeks before. He added that the mycelium of 

 the fungus penetrated the wood a long distance and soon destroyed 

 its structure. 



Being questioned as to the possibly fatal effect upon poultry 

 from eating apples that have been sprayed with the London 

 purple solution. Professor Southwick said that as the solution 

 contained as much lime and as much flour as of the London 

 purple, and should be put on in a spray as fine as mist, he 

 doubted whether any harm would come to any poultry from the 

 quantity of the fruit they would eat. 



