96 REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I92I 



15th and at Albany September 23d and 25th. Under date of Sep- 

 tember I2th, a specimen was received from Henry W. Bell of 

 Utica accompanied by the statement that it was one of several 

 millions which had been in Utica the preceding 5 or 6 days. 



Anthrenus verbasci Linn., a 17-year breeding record. April 

 4, 1902, two ears of popcorn, infested by this insect, were received 

 and placed in a two-quart Mason jar and the latter kept tightly 

 closed with no moisture aside from that in the somewhat dried corn. 

 Breeding has continued uninterrupted for a period of 17 years, 

 namely to April 4, 19 19, at which time a living larva was found 

 and there are presumably others alive, though on June 26, 19 18, 

 rather close search failed to disclose anything living. In the spring 

 of 1909 (Econ. Ent. Jour., 2:193) the bottom of the jar was 

 nearly covered with fine, white, globose particles, apparently starch 

 grains, fallen from the eaten kernels of corn, and there was a thick 

 mass of brown larval skins and other debris. Conditions were 

 practically the same in the spring of 1912 (Econ. Ent. Jour., 

 5 1297) except that there was more del^ris. There then remained 

 much uneaten corn and the same is true at the present date, March 

 28, 19 19, except that breeding appears to be reduced to a minimum, 

 though not from any scarcity of food. There would seem to be no 

 reason why breeding may not continue under these conditions for 

 a considerable series of years unless the strain has become depleted 

 through continued inbreeding. 



Those interested in the ability of Dermestidae to adapt them- 

 selves to untoward conditions are referred to the very interesting 

 account by J. E. Wodsedalek (Science 46:366-67, 1917) in which 

 he records the curious results following 5 years of starvation of 

 larvae of Trogoderma tarsal e, which resulted in a 

 gradual decrease in the size of the larvae, the size shrinking even 

 to the hatching length, and increasing with the scarcity and abun- 

 dance of food respectively. 



Says blister beetle (Pomphopoea sayi Lee.) . This 

 large, strikingly colored blister beetle appears to have attracted con- 

 siderable notice in recent years. This may be due in part to the 

 closer attention now being paid to insects and partly to increased 

 abundance. Last summer Prof. C. R. Crosby, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, called our attention to the apparent biennial appearance of 

 the insect and later submitted data showing the receipt at that insti- 

 tution of a considerable number of reports concerning this beetle 

 in 191 7 and even more in 1919. He adds that no records were 



