26: 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



head hidden in tiie little cavity he had made, he would sin^ away, pos- 

 sibly to cheer his mate. The females were very busy burrowing, throwing 

 out the sand with considerable force with their strong fore legs; sometimes 

 they dug singly, but often two or three together, preferring some sort of 

 shelter as of a small tuft of grass. Others were busy egg laying, with the 

 long ovipositor thrust deep into the sand, sometimes nowhere near a 

 burrow. Occasionally it seemed as though a burrow had been made, the 

 eggs deposited, and the little cavity filled up again, as in several places 

 where eggs were found, the ground had that loose, freshly-dug appearance. 



Carefully scraping away the soil disclosed the eggs, quite near the sur- 

 face, sometimes only three or four lying together, again a dozen or more. 

 No trace of cell or egg-case was found, although the eggs adhered to- 

 gether more or less. In some of the burrows and on the surface a larva 

 w'as found, evidently of some predacious beetle, which fed upon the eggs. 

 From the fact that the crickets only oviposit in dry soil, it is suggested 

 that wetting down the bogs, and if possible the dams as well, about the 

 middle of October, might prevent breeding there. 



The larva brought in is Carabid, but I have not attempted to fix the 

 genus. 



The Horn Fly Again.— In the "Industrialist," for October 8th, Prof E. 

 A. Popenoe records the appearance of this insect in Kansas during the 

 present year. The rapidity with which it has spread is simply marvelous. 

 First noticed in 1886, it has in six years overrun almost one-half of our 

 territory, extending north and south from Florida to Quebec, and west to 

 Kansas. The conclusion that the railroad lines have been largely instru- 

 mental in spreading the insect would be almost irresistable were it not 

 that the shipment of cattle moves rather from west to east. Unlike 

 Stotnoxys calcitrans this species does not seem to bother horses. 



The Strawberry Weevil. — In Bulletin No. xviii, of the Delaware College 

 Experiment Station, Mr. ISI. H. Beckwith gives us an account of injury 

 done by Atithoftotnus mtisailus to strawberries in Kent County. Delaware. 

 He has found the larvae in the injured buds and has bred the beetle June 

 loth. These beetles mated; but refused to oviposit on potted strawberry 

 plants. They have been found in the field as late as September, and 

 Mr. Beckwith suggests that there are probably two, and possibh three 

 broods during the season, but he is unable to give us any information as 

 to another food-plant, or the method of hibernation. Collectors of Cole- 

 optera have taken this species at almost all times during the season, but 

 I am not aware that any food-plants have been recorded. It is one of 

 those interesting forms that without apparent reason increases surprisingly 

 for one or two years, does a great amount of injury and then drops l)ack 

 into obscurity for a longer or shorter time. Our successors in the next 

 century will undoubtedly look back with wonder at the ignorance and 

 stupidity of the students of the present day who failed to see the (to them) 

 perfectly clear relation between the effect and the cause, but it is as un- 

 doubtedly true that no reasonable explanation of the fact has been ad- 



