lO ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [January, 



manent changes are possible until man intervenes, and then he turns the 

 balance, nine times out of ten in favor of the destructive insect. Few 

 injurious insects are more commonly parasitized than the larva of Pieris 

 rapes, the " cabbage worm." Of the late brood it is difficult to find chrjs- 

 alids that are sound, and if the search be made in Spring, not one per 

 cent, will be found alive. From these few surving pupae butterflies issue, 

 and from the vast number of others the parasites— more parasites than 

 the butterflies could lay eggs; and yet, each season, from the few Spring 

 insects we get swarms of butterflies by Summer, and in mid-Summer 

 hosts of larvae. I have absolutely no faith in the efficiency of parasites 

 to certainly control injurious insects under present artificial conditions. 

 Parasites are natural checks only, and the check may be placed far beyond 

 the point where, in our opinion, the insect becomes destructive. 



The Elm Leaf Beetle. — In number 2 of vol. v, of " Insect Life," issued 

 November, 1892, is an abstract of the minutes of the meeting of the En- 

 tomological Society of Washington for October, 1892, in which occurs the 

 following sentence: " He [Prof. Riley] also read extracts fiom a commu- 

 nication from Prof J. B. Smith, who had found the eggs of a second brood 

 of Galerucella xanthomelcena at New Brunswick, N. J." As it stands 

 there, the sentence is somewhat misleading, and eflfectually contradicts 

 the papers on the subject, published by me earlier in the season, which 

 was not intended. The essential part of my letter to Dr. Riley is dated 

 August 31st, is as follows: " I have to-day — since writing you this morn- 

 ing^discovered here and there patches of eggs of G. xanthomelcena, 

 and one brood of newly-hatched larvae on the new foliage of the elms. 

 The parent beetles are the results of the latest larvae of the first brood 

 and there are very few of them about. I will have to be away for the ne.xt 

 few days, but I will have some of the beetles collected and prepared for 

 study. It is due to myself to say that I found nothing of the kind in pre- 

 vious years, and due to you to say that facts have verified your suggestion 

 that, with abundant fresh food, some of the beetles would, exceptionally, 

 produce a second brood, as in Winter they exceptionally produce a third. 

 It is a remarkable fact that, from early in July until late in August, no eggs 

 should have been seen, while now, quite suddenly, there is no difficulty 

 in finding them, though they are by no means abundant." 



A few days later when I again had an opportunity of examining the 

 trees, eggs had not increased, nor was there any increase later on. The 

 larvae that hatched from them fed slowly, many starved to death, and a 

 very small proportion only reached the imago state. The oviposition for 

 a second brood is decidedly exceptional among the beetles. It is curious 

 that the beetles emerging in July should have made no attempt to oviposit, 

 while of the same brood, some emerging after the middle of August 

 should have reproduced their kind. 



Gom-worm. — This pest, the larva of Heliothis arviiger, has been more 

 than usually abundant during the past season in New Jersey. Its work on 

 corn is well known, and is well illustrated in the plate accompanying this 



