January 9, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



19 



covery under the sensatioual heading " Another Good Bug. 

 — The Woolly Aphis has found its Sedan." How supremely 

 ridiculous this sort of thing appears to the well-informed en- 

 tomologist I need not tell you, but it may be well for the 

 information of the public to say (as I have not alluded to 

 the matter elsewhere) that a number of different species of 

 ladybirds feed upon the woolly Aphis, and that it is a rule 

 with the insects of this family not to be select as to the par- 

 ticular aphid they prey upon. Hippodamia convergens 

 (the species referred to as the Sedan of the woolly Aphis) 

 feeds, over nearly the whole extent of the United States, 

 upon this particular Schizoneura, among others; and the 

 fact that both the species referred to feed upon various 

 Aphides is well known. That one of the species is also 

 common upon the Pacific coast, and that its being carried 

 there from the East is like "carrying coals to Newcastle," 

 may not, however, be so generally known. All such efforts 

 as this, carried on by persons unfit, from want of any special 

 knowledge, for the mission, must invariably do harm, not 

 only because of the negative results which follow, but be- 

 cause of the lack of confidence in such work which they will 

 .engender in the minds of our legislators. 



I should not think of holding any one responsible for 

 newspaper paragraphs; but in this case the party has sub- 

 stantially confirmed them in statements over his own name, 

 and in interviews which (as announced) he has himself re- 

 vised. 



Method of using^ Bisulphide of Carbon against Grain Weevils. 



The use of bisulphide of carbon against different insects at- 

 tacking stored grain has greatly increased in this country 

 since I first recommended it some thirteen years ago.^ There 

 is, however, considerable diversity in the methods of using 

 it; and the recommendations of some of our writers have 

 evidently been made with no sense of the fact that the fumes 

 are heavier than air, and descend rather than ascend. Pro- 

 fessor A. H. Church, in a recent number of the Kew Bulle- 

 tin, records that he found that a pound and a half of the 

 bisulphide is enough to each ton of grain. He advises that 

 it be applied in the following "way: — 



A ball of tow is tied to a stick of such a length that it 

 can reach the middle of the vessel containing the grain. 

 The tow receives the charge of bisulphide, like a sponge, and 

 is then at once plunged into the vessel and left there, the 

 mouth of the vessel then being tightly closed. When ne- 

 cessary, the stick may be withdrawn and the charge (of one 

 ounce to a hundred pounds) may be renewed. 



The action of carbon bisulphide lasts, in ordinary cases, 

 :six weeks, after which period a fresh charge is required. 

 The bisulphide does no harm to the grain as regards its 

 color, smell, or cooking properties; and the germinating 

 power of most seeds is not appreciably affected, provided 

 that not too much is used, nor its action continued for too 

 long a period. 



The assistant director of agriculture of Burmah is reported 

 to have used naphthaline instead of bisulphide in the follow- 

 ing way, but I should not expect any thing like as good re- 

 sults from the naphthaline as from the bisulphide. 



A hollow bamboo cylinder an inch and a half in diameter, 

 with a stick fitted into the cavity, is pushed down to ihe 

 bottom of the bin. The stick is then withdrawn, and a few 

 teaspoonfuls of naphthaline powder is poured into the bam- 

 boo, which is then drawn out, leaving the naphthaline at 

 ithe bottom of the bin. If the bins are very large, this should 



' Farmers' Review (Chicago), March, 18T9. 



be done once to every ten feet square, and the application 

 should be repeated every fifteen or twenty days. 

 Insecticide Machinery. 



A profitable hour might be devoted to the subject of in- 

 secticide machinery, but I must content myself with a few 

 words. At a trial of such machinery at the Mareil-Marly 

 vineyards during the late Paris Exposition, I had an excel- 

 lent opportunity of witnessing the latest advances made in 

 France in this direction; and it was extremely gratifying to 

 note, that, with whatever modification of the power em- 

 ployed (and many of the machines were very ingenious), all 

 other forms of spraying-tip had been abandoned for vine- 

 yard purposes in favor of modifications of the Riley or Cy- 

 clone nozzle. The superiority for most practical purposes, 

 of the portable knapsack pumps of V. Vermorel of Ville- 

 frauche (Rhone), France, was sufficiently evident. M. 

 Vermorel has identified himself with the regeneration and 

 improvement of French grape-culture in many directions, 

 and is, withal, an enthusiastic student of insect-life. I spent 

 a very profitable day with him last year both at the factory 

 and at his home, where he has established a virtual experi- 

 ment station in the midst of a fine vineyard on American 

 roots, and with every facility for various fields of investiga- 

 tion, none of which are deemed more important than the 

 work in entomology; for he fully realizes how much there 

 is yet to learn of some of the commonest insects destructive 

 to the vine, even in an old country like France. But in no 

 direction has he accomplished as much good as in his work 

 with insecticide and fungicide machinery. His sprayer with 

 independent pump, his diaphragm pump (L' Eclair), and his 

 reservoir with suction and force pump, are all admirably 

 adapted for the purpose they were invented for, and may be 

 obtained in France at a cost of from five to seven dollars, 

 which is tripled before reaching this country, thanks to our 

 present tariff system. 



The Galloway Sprayer. — The last number of the Journal 

 of Mycology, the serial publication of the Division of Vegeta- 

 ble Pathology of the Department of Agriculture, gives full 

 description, with figures, of a knapsack spraying-apparatus 

 for which the special merit claimed is cheapness. 



The combination of a suction and a force pump with knap- 

 sack-reservoir has been frequently made in France, as illus- 

 trated by the apparatus styled the '' C.yclone " of Vermorel; 

 the Japy, Vigeroux, Nouges, and Perrin sprayers; and the 

 sprayer of the society " L' Avenir Viticole." A number of 

 pumps manufactured in this country of this style were men- 

 tioned or described in the "Fourth Report of the United 

 States Entomological Commission." These, in general, are 

 much inferior to the French pumps named, which are, how- 

 ever, modelled after those earlier and cruder forms. There are 

 a host of other French knapsack spraying-machines, which 

 differ from those mentioned by propelling the liquid by means 

 either of air-pumps, diaphragm-pumps, or devices in which 

 the pump is attached to the reservoir by means of a rubber 

 hose. 



In 1888 Mr. Adam Weaber of Viuelaud, N.-J., brought out 

 the Eureka sprayer, a very serviceable knapsack pump 

 modelled after the French machines. The French sprayers 

 will cost, including duty, sliijjping. etc., from eighteen to 

 twenty-five dollars ; the Weaber sprayer is sold for twenty-one 

 dollars, which is but little more than the cost of manufac- 

 ture; Professor Galloway's machine is sold for fourteen dol- 

 lars, or from a fourth to a third less than the Weaber or the 

 French sprayers. 



In the first announcement of this pump in No. 1, Vol. VT.. 



