REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1903 145 



plants and causes more or less injury from year to year. Last 

 July our attention was again called to it on account of its sucking 

 the juices from tender aster shoots and thereby killing them. 

 Mr Egbert Blauvelt of Coeyman, who made the complaint, states 

 that the insects can be killed by thoroughly spraying with a whale 

 oil soap solution, using 1 pound to 9 gallons of water. Clean cul- 

 ture, not only in the garden but in adjacent fields, will do con- 

 siderable toward reducing the numbers of this pest. 



Grain and house pests 



Saw-toothed grain beetle (Silvanus surinamensis 

 Linn.). This little grain beetle is a common species in prepared 

 foods and various grains and though occasionally very abundant, 

 it does not as a rule cause much annoyance in this country. This 

 species was found last August literally overrunning a dwelling 

 house in Albany. The beetles were so numerous that they made 

 their way into everything and the housekeeper could sweep up 

 nearly a pint almost every warm day. They were found in 

 all parts of the dwelling, resting on ceilings, crawling on walls, 

 under mats, tablecloths etc. and even invaded wearing apparel, 

 articles of food, etc. Investigation showed that the source of the 

 trouble was several thousand bushels of oats in the bin of a 

 near-by brewery. The insects were breeding there very rapidly 

 and on warm days appeared in large numbers and invaded near-by 

 dwellings. The best remedy for such an outbreak is fumigation 

 of the grain with carbon bisulfid and similar treatment of the 

 dwelling houses or better still fumigating them with hydrocyanic 

 acid gas. This latter, however, is a very dangerous poison and 

 must be handed with extreme care. 



Fleas. The cat and dog flea (Ceratopsyllus serrati- 

 ceps Gerv.) is a well known pest of domestic animals, and in 

 the public mind is associated only with these animals. There 

 are a number of records of this species propagating to a marvelous 

 extent in houses closed for the summer, and the occupants on 

 opening them in the fall would find their premises literally over- 

 run by these annoying, active and most hardy pests. This has 



