314 Forty-first Report on the State Museum. 



Harmlessness of the Lady-bird, Adalia bipunctata. (The Owl [Glens 

 Falls, N. Y.], February, 1887, ii. p. 15 — 8 cm.) 



The cause of the unusual abundance of this harmless insect in dwell- 

 ings during the past winter, is its entrance for hibernation after its 

 great abundance last year as a destroyer of the innumerable aphides 

 which infested the hop and other crops. It deserves protection wherever 

 met with. 



The Aphididse, or Plant Lice. (Proceedings of the Western New York 

 Horticultural Society at its thirty-second annual meeting, January 

 26 and 27, 1887, pp. 85-97.) Issued in March, 1887. 



The paper is arranged under the following headings : Systematic 

 Positiorrof the Aphididae — Features of the Aphididse — Distribution 

 of the AphididEe — Injuries from tlie Aphididte — Propagation of the 

 Aphididae — Imperfect knowledge of the Aphididee — Recent Discoveries. 



A Wood-eating Insect. (Country Gentleman, for March 31, 1887, lii, 

 p. 257, c. 1 — 18 cm.) 



Inquiry made of a long-horned beetle which had recently appeared in 

 a dwelling in Albany, in numbers, is answered by its identification as 

 Xijlotrechus colonus (Fabr. ). Nothing is known of its life-history, except 

 that it has been bred from oak and maple. It may have been carried 

 within doors in the larval stage in fuel, or it may have emerged from 

 furniture recently manufactui^ed. Instances are recorded where beetles 

 have escaped from furniture after their imprisonment for fifteen years. 

 They may have come from the hickory wood stored (as stated) in the 

 basement. [See revision and extension of the above in pages 93-96 

 of this Eeport.] 



How to Prevent the Cabbage-maggot. (New England Homestead, for 

 April 9, 1887, xxi, p. 136, c. 5—35 cm.) 



No general preventive or remedy is known, as the materials used are 

 variously affected by the character of the soil where applied. The fol- 

 lowing are discussed: Tobacco-dyst sprinkled on the plants to pre- 

 vent egg-deposit. Dressing the ground before planting with 150 

 bushels of shell-lime to the acre. Gas-lime worked into the soil. 

 Ammoniacal liquor applied to the roots. Decoction of burdock stems 

 and leaves. Decoction of tansy. Puddling the plants with a mixture 

 of earth and cow-dung or night-soil. Dipping in soot and water. Dip- 

 ping in hellebore solution. Avoid use of fresh barn-yard manure. — 

 Eeports of experiments with the above are requested. 



Currant Worm Remedy. (Popular Gardening, for April, 1887, ii, p. 

 120-121—8 cm.) 



An effectual remedy may be had in sprinkling powdered hellebore on 

 the lower leaves of currant bushes when they first show the small holes 

 eaten by the larvae of the first brood ; or the leaves may be picked off 

 and crushed. Will distribute the egg-parasite, Trichogramma pretiosa, 

 if the parasitized eggs can be obtained. 



