71 



plant. The foliage was about 5 feet above the ground, and above the 

 egg mass it was drawn together and fastened by a webby substance. 

 These eggs, placed in a phial and carried in the pocket, hatched 

 August 24:. Many egg masses w^ere subsequently found and hatched 

 out. 



The beetles were very numerous and destructive during the months, 

 of August and September on ornamental trees and plants in the 

 nursery yards, iio plants except different species of Auricarias being 

 exempt from attack. They appeared to eat the foliage of the castor 

 bean with as much gusto as that of the Lima bean, and the pungent 

 flavor of the young growth of the camphor, pepper, and the different 

 eucalypti apparently suited their palates equally as well as the succu- 

 lent young growth of canna. They were repeatedly taken at work 

 on these plants. The foliage of all species of acacia for sale here is 

 greedily eaten, excepting perhaps A. cultriformis and A. armata^ and 

 the writer has seen the market value — $2.50 — of potted camellias and 

 Sterculia acerifolia destroyed by these pests in twenty-four hours. 



While at Oceanside, San Diego County, September 9, the writer 

 noticed, in the orchard of the Rev. Mr. Dodd, a large number* of 

 insect castings on the foliage. While searching for the cause, an 

 immature and apparently sound apple dropped to the ground. An 

 examination showed that its stem had been freshly severed by some 

 insect. Mr. Dodd, on having his attention called to this, stated that, 

 he had found a brown beetle eating the stems, and upon investigation 

 the writer traced the injur}^ to Fuller's rose beetle, the culprit being 

 found at w^ork in several instances. Time was very limited here 

 and no opportunity was offered of studying this interesting phase of 

 the subject. 



This insect, in all of its stages, has been found by the writer, from 

 Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County, to El Cajon, San Diego County. 



THE GIANT SUGAR-CANE BORER. 



(Castnia Ucus P'ab.) 

 By C. li. Marlatt. 



The appearance of an important new sugar-cane pest in Demerara, 

 British Guiana, has some interest for us, inasmuch as the West 

 Indian sugar-cane borer, also known as the " larger cornstalk-borer " 

 {Diatrcea saccharalis Fab.), for many years an important enemy of 

 cane and corn in the United States, traveled northward through the 

 West Indian Islands from the same region, reaching Louisiana at an 

 early date and now ranging as far north as Virginia and Maryland. 



That this new cane insect may come north seems doubtful, as the 

 family to which it belongs is essentially tropical. While belonging to 

 an entirely distinct family, the habits of this new cane pest closely par- 



