l894-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. II7 



Report on the Insects of New York. — Dr. Lintner's 8th Report has just 

 come to liand. It is for the year 1891, and therefore fully two years behind. 

 There is no"question as to the value of the Report, for it is up to Dr. Lint- 

 ner's usual standard of thoroughness; but it is at least unfortunate that 

 it is impossible to bring out the Report in time for use in the season follow- 

 ing that in which the studies were made. This is one point in which most 

 E.xperiment Stations have the advantage of State officers whose publica- 

 tions are confined to an Annual Report; for they can by means of Bulletins 

 reach the farmers at the time at which information will be most useful to 

 them. Considerable space is devoted in the Report to a history of the 

 Pear Midge, and the suggestion is made that the larvae be destroyed by 

 killing the blossoms after the eggs have been deposited, by the use of the 

 arsenites in sufficient strength, or drenching the ground beneath the trees 

 after the larvae have entered it, with the kerosene emulsion. The latter 

 recommendation is hardly practical, and would be altogether too expen- 

 sive. I do not think it would be possible to get the farmers to go into the 

 business of manufacturing kerosene emulsions on any scale large enough 

 to enable them to drench an orchard covering acres of ground. Lime or 

 wood ashes are also recommended, but there is no actual experiment to 

 support the recommendation. Blasting the blossoms would undoubtedly 

 be effective could the pear growers be induced to adopt the remedy ; but 

 it is here that the difficulty will be found; for in my experience there is 

 nothing in the world that the average farmer or fruit-grower hates worse 

 than to do anything that will injure a possible fruit, even when it is demon- 

 strated to him that there is not one chance in a thousand of his getting it. 



Another series of articles of great interest is on the Fish-fiies, Chauliodes 

 and Corydalis, giving the life-history of the species and some interesting 

 information concerning their habits. The Report contains altogether too 

 many matters to be referred to at length; but on looking it over the ento- 

 mologist finds that almost everj' subject has been treated in some way 

 since the Report was written, and while Dr. Lintner has brought up the 

 articles to date as far as possible, yet it is, in our hurry-scurry age, already 

 a little behind the time, which, however, does not prevent it from being 

 an extremly valuable one to his constituency. 



Why Erkbis enters Houses. — The query as to why Erebus enters 

 houses, proposed by Prof. Westcott in the last number of the News, brings 

 to mind ahabit of these moths which I noticed while in the Bahama Islands 

 last Sunmier. These islands have numeroOs large caves which are the 

 retreat during daytime of hosts of Erebus, sharing the shelter from the 

 tropical sun with the larged-eared bats of that region {Macrotus water- 

 Jtousii). Occasionally the moths may be started from very thick foliage, 

 but the caves appear to be the favorite hiding-places. It seems that the 

 cave-frequenting habit might quite possibly account for the predilection 

 the species of Erebus show for houses when they straggle in regions where 

 their accustomed shelters are hard to find. — H. F. Wickham. 



