17 



this year. The larvae, cocoons and imagines agreed exactly with the figures of Nematus 

 Erichsonii (Hortig), in Professor Riley's report to the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 for 1883. 



I had noticed these larvae on the larch trees in former years, but they were not so 

 generally abundant, and I had not the opportunity to study them. 



My father has told me that about thirty years ago the tamarack woods were entirely 

 defoliated, and looked as though scorched by fire, and he thinks that the saw-fly larvae were 

 probably the cause. It was more noticeable at that time, as there were large tracts of land 

 covered with tamarack forest that have now entirely disappeared. 



Another insect has proved to be peculiarly injurious this season to young growing 

 beans. It is a small dipterous fly, and specimens sent to Professor Eiley were determined' 

 by him as Anthomyia angustifrons, Mirgen ( — A. calopteni, Riley), the larvae of which 

 have been hitherto known to feed upon the eggs of Caloptenus. During the past summer 

 the larvae attacked a field of golden wax-beans that were planted about June 15th, and on 

 that part of the field that was most seriously injured, at least nine-tenths of the crop was 

 destroyed. About ten days after planting, as very few of the beans had grown to the 

 surface of the ground, an examination was made for the cause, and it was found that nearly 

 every bean was infected by from 1 or 2 to 20 or 25 small, long, white maggots. Some of 

 the beans attacked had hardly sprouted, while most of them had grown from one to two 

 inches, but being planted deeply, they had scarcely reached the surface. Both the stems 

 and seed-leaves were attacked. These larvae were first noticed on June 25th ; by the 28th 

 many of them had pupated, and hardly a maggot could be found after July 2nd. The flies 

 emerged about July 10th. If this bean-feeding habit of the insect should become general, 

 it might prove very annoying. 



Grasshoppers of several species were very abundant and injurious, hundreds of bushels 

 of grain having been destroyed by them, while pasture and grasses were much injured, and 

 many young fruit trees were defoliated. Some farmers reported in early September that 

 their buckwheat had been so devoured by grasshoppers that only the stumps of the stalks 

 remained. 



Cicada canicularis Harr. was not so common this season as it has been some years. 



Females of the fall canker-worm moth (Anisopteryx pometaria) were taken depositing 

 eggs on apple trees, Nov. 21-24. This insect is not common in our part of the country,, 

 and is not noticeably injurious. 



Larvse of the pear-tree slug (Selandria cerasi) were found as late as October 30th, or 

 later. They are not abundant and give us no trouble. 



The fall web-worm, Hyphantria textor, has become more abundant and troublesome- 

 during the past three or four years.. Young larvae were first noticed July 10th, and new 

 lots continued to hatch until about the middle of August. 



A fresh specimen of the cotton moth (Aletia xylina, Say) was taken September 19th. 



On July 12th, a large number of small parasitic flies emerged from a dead cut-worm 

 (Noctuidae). These parasites are evidently the Copidosoma truncatelkim Dalman, which 

 is so well figured by Professor Riley in his Report to the IT. S. Department of Agriculture 

 for 1883. 



Early in December I took a living specimen of Cyrtophorus verrucosus Oliv. in the 

 wood of the wild red cherry (P. pennsylvanica Linn.), and also found a large number of 

 larvae which I think were of the same species, as they occupied similar cavities to that of 

 the beetle. The larva of a Lepidopterous insect (probably .ZEgerian) was found under the 

 bark of the same tree. 



On December 8th, a living pupa of Tremex columba was taken from the heart of a 

 green beech log, the log being over ten inches in diameter. At the same time larvae of 

 Scup&rda calcarata were taken from the heart of Populus tremuloides. 



