THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



147 



Grain Aphis vs. Rust. — The May 

 crop reports given out by the Department 

 of Agriculture of Georgia, show very 

 clearly how injurious the Grain Aphis has 

 been to wheat and oats in that State. 

 These grains have also suffered very much 

 from rust, and many of the correspond- 

 ents are disposed to consider the rust a 

 consequence of the Aphis work. That 

 the punctures and the saccharine excre- 

 tions of plant-lice greatly encourage the 

 growth of some kinds of rust, there can 

 be no question whatever. Other kinds, 

 however, as the ordinary Orange rust {Fiic- 

 cinia graminis) have little or no connec- 

 tion with these insects. The reports from 

 the Department would be a great deal 

 more valuable if they were analyzed by 

 some competent hand, and the loose gen- 

 eral references, which carry no definite 

 meaning, were rendered more specific and 



explicit. 



-^ — * 



Continued Destruction of Tobacco 

 Plants by Flea-beetles. — The Farmers' 

 Home Journal of Kentucky gives the fol- 

 lowing account of the continued injury to 

 tobacco, appending many reports in con- 

 firmation. We call attention to what we 

 said on p. 123 of the May number : 



There has been a flood of "bug" letters in the 

 last week ; and according to the tenor of these 

 advices no portion of the State, or indeed of the 

 entire tobacco belt East or West, is exempt from 

 the evil. Reports from the southern and Green 

 River counties are most unfavorable, but the dam- 

 age appears to be general, including the Western 

 district, or the Purchase, and also the Mason 

 County district. In some sections of the State a 

 number of farmers have used canvas to cover 

 their plant-beds, and alwaj's with the best results, 

 as the covering not only proves to be a complete 

 protection against the bug or fly, but also ha'stens 

 the growth of plants. In some neighborhoods 

 there is the curious spectacle of uncovered beds 

 entirely stripped of plants, in the immediate 

 vicinity of covered beds full of uninjured and 

 flourishing plants. 



Advices from Tennessee indicate great destruc- 

 tion of plants, and injuries are also reported from 

 Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio. A Virginia dis- 

 patch of the 6th inst. stated that the bugs have so 

 reduced the supply of plants that not more than 

 a quarter of an average area can be planted. 

 The Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture 

 reports that there will be only half an average 

 supply of plants in that State. 



The annual meeting of the Entomo- 



logical Club of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, will 

 be held at the Museum of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, corner of 

 Berkeley and Boylston Streets, Boston, 

 commencing at 2 P. M., Tuesday, Au- 

 gust 24, 1880. 



It is proposed to send to every member 

 of the American Association, and to all 

 others who may favor the undersigned with 

 their address for that purpose, a circular 

 announcing the special subjects which will 

 be presented at this meeting of the Club ; 

 and therefore all entomologists who desire 

 to read communications at that time, are 

 requested to notify one of the undersigned 

 before August ist. This will ensure a 

 fuller discussion of the topics presented, 

 and, it is hoped, a larger attendance. — 

 Samuel H. Scudder, Pres., B. Pick- 

 man Mann, Secretary, both at Cambridge, 

 Mass. 



Mold and Phylloxera. — M. Rom- 

 mier recently stated before the Paris 

 Academy, that where mycelium was devel- 

 oped on phylloxerized roots, kept in a 

 vessel at 15^ to 20° temperature (R.), the 

 insect disappeared, whereas, without such 

 myceleum it continued to multiply. What 

 conclusion of practical value can be 

 drawn from such fact we fail to see, as it 

 must be the experience of everyone who 

 has studied Phylloxera in glass tubes, that 

 those very conditions of excessive warmth 

 and moisture which would permit the 

 growth of mycelium, are the very condi- 

 tions which would prove fatal to the 

 insect. Any inference that mycelium 

 itself destroys the Phylloxera is certainly 

 unwarranted, if we may judge from our 

 own experience. 



An excellent review of the recent pro- 

 gress in insect anatomy is given by Mr. 

 Edward Burgess, in his annual address as 

 president of the Cambridge Entomologi- 

 cal Club. Those interested in the subject 

 will find the address in full in the March 

 number of Psyche. 



