Report of the State Entomologist. 223 



distributed of our leaf pests — the well-known striped cucumber 

 beetle, Diahrotica vittata (Fabr.). The pear crop, in portions of Cali- 

 fornia, has suffered severely from its attack, during the spring of 

 1887. In one locality (Byron) the trees, as reported, swarmed with 

 the beetles, which commenced upon the buds and continued on the 

 blossoms, eating off the bloom, and frequently penetrating into the 

 calyx. The fruit ceased to grow and dropped to the ground. The 

 pear crop was an entire failure, such as had never been known in the 

 locality before. Quinces were also attacked, but not with fatal results. 

 The same beetle also destroyed the almond crop. Later, they 

 attacked the apple trees, but were driven away by bee^. {Pacific 

 Rural Press, June 11, 1887, xxxiii, p. 527.) 



The cucumber beetle had for a long time been known to feed on 

 the blossoms of the apple and other fruit trees, but had not been 

 previously observed in eating into the buds. 



Remedies. 

 In the event of C. rufipes developing a propensity for feeding on 

 the buds of the apple, the minute beetles could be poisoned by spray- 

 ing with Paris green in water — a rather stronger mixture than that 

 used against the codling-moth — at least one pound to 100 gallons of 

 water. Spraying with a strong solution of whale oil soap or tobacco, 

 should render the buds distasteful to it, and it would also serve the 

 purpose of protecting from the apple tree aphis which makes its 

 attack at the time of the putting forth of the buds, and can be more 

 effectively reached at this period than later when the leaves have 

 expanded. 



Scolytus rugulosus (Eatzeburg). 



The Wrinkled Scolytus. ' ■ 

 (Ord. CoLEOPTERA : Fam. Scolytid^.) 



Eatz. : Forstinsecten, 1837, i, p. 187, pi. 10, fig. 10, pi. 11, fig. 4; ib. edit. 2, 



1839, p. 230 (as Eccoptogaster rugulosus Koch). 

 LeConte: in Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, xvii, 1878, p. 626 (introduc. in U. S.). 

 Riley: in Amer. Entomol., iii, 1880, p. 298 (distribution, etc.). 

 Penhallow: in Houghton Farm — Diseases of Plants, Series iii, No. 2, 



1882, p. 38 ; ib. No. 3, 1883, p. 63 (operations on peach). 

 Hagen: in Oanad. Entomol., xvi, 1884, p. 162 (literature, habits, etc.). 

 Henshaw: ListColeop. N. Amer., 1885, p. 149, No. 9153. 

 Hamilton : in Canad. Entomol., xvii, 1885, p. 48 (variation in color). 

 Lintneb: in Count. Gent., 1, 1885, p. 575 (in cherry, peach and plum); in 



New Eng. Homestead, Sept. 25, 1886. 

 Atkinson : in Journ. Elisha Mitchell Scientific Soc. for 1885-'6, pp. 74, 75. 



