Vol. XXVi] EXTilMOLOCICAL NEWS. 473 



Notes and Ne-ws. 



■MTOMOLOOIOAL OLKANINOS raoil ALL QUABTBB8 

 OP THB OLOBB. 



Pmraattc of Belhtra oUiqaa G. and R (Lep., Dip.) 



Many larvae of Bellura obliqua have been collected by myself and by 

 licctors in the vicinttr of Newark for many years without find- 

 trace of parasites. Last winter I collected about forty larvae 

 o! inu species at Qiffwood, New Jersey, which lies beween South .^m- 

 boy and Keyport and is about 25 miles from Newark, south on the 

 RArilan Bay. When the larvae were collected they did not show any 

 Ugn or trace of beinK oarasitized and they kept alive without showing 

 any licn until the middle of May, which is about two weeks longer than 

 any of the larvae which were collected in the vicinity of Newark have 

 ever taken to pupate. On the 17th of May. three dead larvae were 

 foimd in the cage and on examining them it was noticed that a parasite 

 had done its deadly work. Dead Tarv^r were found every day there- 

 after ant ' tmber reached ■ me out of the forty, showing 

 about s' per cent par 



The Urvac ut the paraaite, whicn turned out to be Hyfosiena tor- 

 iricu Coq^ eat oat the tnhatance of the host until only the skin is 

 left and ia Maw enact cat throoi^ a part of die skin. Some leave the 

 ho«t while olhcn pupate within the skin of the dead host. 



It teems afanott impottihle for parasites of this order to reach the 

 lanrae of obliqua as this species feeds in T^fPha (Cat-tails), but it 

 cannoC be a hard task, as so many are attackeo, but another peculiarity 

 b that this parasite should be so abundant in one place and unknown 

 in othert.— HctMAN H. BaaaMi. Newark. New Jersey. 



Corthylttt punctatitsimut Zimm. in New Jertey (CoL). 



Thit intect. known as the "Pitted Ambrosia Beetle" and recorded in 

 "Insects of New Jersey" from Hagle Rock and Cape May, was found 

 September 8th. at Somerville, N. J., where it was infesting Rhododen- 

 Sron uuurimmm. Kaitmia latifolia and Asalea mollis. The work of the 

 insect Is indicated by a yellowing and wilting of the leaves, followed 

 bgr the complete death of the pfamt The dead shoots break off easilv 

 near the grooid where the insects always work. According to Dr. E. 

 P. Felt, who sives an accotmt of this species in the a^th Report of the 

 State Kntomolofcist of New York, Museum Bull.. 175, the beetles enter 

 the side of the $trm near the ground. Once inside, numerous horizon- 

 tal iranrrir« and vertical brood chambers are constructed, which, of 

 cour kea the stem. In one infested azalea stem collected at 



Soi. Q the above date, fifteen adults and three pupae were 



fcmnd. 1 lie operations of the insect appear to be confined mostly to 

 plants growing hi shaded situations where there is an abundant mulch, 

 and tfab was true of the infestation at Somerville. Mr. E. A. Schwarz, 

 who studied the pest in hucklelierries. states that the beetles are prob- 

 afily tnbtcrranean. appearing only rarely above ground. Other record- 

 ed food pfauitt are sugar maple, sassafras, dogwood, hazel, huckleberry 

 water bccdi, iroowood. rhododendron. The only remedy is to cut and 

 bum infested stems, tadcing care that they do not break off at the 

 point of injury and alk>w some of the beetles to escape.— Hasky B. 

 Wnst. New Bnmswkk. N. J. 



