324 The Zoologist — August, 186'6. 



reached the eastern con6nes of Thibet." (See Proc. Ent. Soc. 1853, pp. 93-96, as to 

 this Coccus-product). 



^^ Protection of Trees from Insects. — The following simple method of preserving 

 fruit from the ravages of insects is recommeiuled by the Imperial Society of Practical 

 Hoiticiilture of the Rhone, and by tlie director of the School of Arboriculture of the 

 Pare de la Fete d'Or at Lyons. The quantity of fruit destroyed by insects that 

 deposit their eggs in the blossoms is enormous. Tiiese creatures are said to have a 

 great antipathy to vinegar, the mere odour of which is euouu'h to drive them away, 

 and, in some cases, to destroy them, and nothing more is required than to sprinkle the 

 branches with a mixture of vinegar and water at the moment the blossoms begin to 

 appear. The mixture recommended consists of one part of viuei;ar to nine parts of 

 water, but as French vinegar is very strong, perhaps the amount vi water should be 

 less when Eoglisli vinegar is used. When the liquids are well n)ixed, the solution is 

 to be sprinkled over the flower-buds by means of a gaiden engine or syringe, or even 

 with a watering-pot with a fine rose. M. Denis, the director of the school referred to, 

 tried the experiment last year, and reports that fruit trees so treated were covered with 

 fruit, while those to which the acidulated water was not ajiplied bore scarcely any. 

 The other remedy proposed is against ants and other insects which mount the steins 

 of trees. Take common lamp-oil, and expose it in the sun for three or four days, or 

 until it acquires a gummy consistency and very disa^reealde smell, then with a small 

 paint-brush paint around the tree at about two feet from the ground, a band ol the oil 

 two inches wide, repealing the operation for three or four successive days. It is said 

 that this method will jjrotect the tree for four years at least. Perhaps coal tar might 

 be found to answer the same purjiose." 



Mr. Slainton said that he had recently received a communication from M. Milliere 

 respecting the injury done to crops of rye in the neighbourhood of St. Etienne; 

 Dr. Maurice, of that place, had directed his attention to the subject, but being unable 

 to detect the author of the so-called "epidemic in the rye," had applied to M. Milliere. 

 Mr. iStainton believed that the injury was caused by the larva of the Micro-Lepi- 

 dopterous Ochstuheimeria taurellu, which by buirowing in the stem caused the ear to 

 wither away. 



Mr. Pa.scoe said that last year (see ' Proceedings,' IStiS, p. 90) he had read a note 

 respecting insects alighting on the snow in high mountain regions, and sinking into it 

 from the melting of the snow by the radiation of heat from the insect; in 'The 

 'Zoologist' for the present month, Mr. Albert Miiller, in commenting on the above 

 comuiuuicaiion, quotes Irom F. von Tscliudi's ' Thierleben der Alpeuwell' the following 

 passage:—" Winged insects, which are often carried by the wind to the upper snow- 

 lields, will sink into these sometimes two feet deep, and it has been observed that 

 these creatures settle voluntarily on the ' firn' [that state of the snow when its surface is 

 held together by thin plates or crystals of ice is so designated], extending their wings 

 and limbs, and that tiiey rest in this position at their ease without moving, it being 

 probable that they enjoy the absorption of the oxygen of the ' firn.' If they are taken 

 up and removed to a stone or a piece of wood, they will at once proceed to the ' firn," 

 wheie they extend themselves as if inebriated, and gradually sink in, (seemingly) in 

 full enjoyment. Dug out of a depth of two feet, they sometimes get lively again very 

 quickly ; otherwise, if left to themselves, they soon perish and at once gel decomposed, 



