Blister beetles attracted to lights. — ZSIi . Otto Holstein, Clin*-. T dar- 



ing August, 1901, that he succeeded in getting rid of Mister beel - - 



ts by placing a lighted lamp in a basin of water; the insects flying about the 



light invariably fell into the water and drowned, a little oil upon the eurfa 

 ing it impossible for them to escape. This is an old-time remedy against a no 



of insects, and it is well known that Mister beetles are frequently attracted t<> 



in considerable numbers. The trouble with this remedy, however, is that it is apt 



t" destroy also many beneficial base - 



Parasites of the tent caterpillar ( lisiocampa americana Hair. . — Writing June 

 17, 1902. Mr. F. F. Brooks, Frenchcreek, W. Va., - - rites : this 



species, with report that out of 43 cocoons collected on apple trees 9 yielded moths 

 and 8 the tachina fly (Frontina frenchii Will.), while all the remaindei - - indi- 

 viduals of the ichneumon {Pimpla maura Cr. (. Later, our correspondent -cut two 

 chalcis fly parasites (Miotropis dimocampae Ashm. and Dibrochys boucheai 

 as well as a species of Compoplegine from the same host 



Parasites of the plum curculio. — Mr. Brook- al.-< > sends us fr< >m the same 1' 

 a Braconid parasite of the plum curculio I Conotrachelus nenuphar), viz: Braco 

 litor Say; and a chalcis fly. a species of Eurytoma, also a parasite of the curculi 



Note on Pogonomyrmex barbatus, one of the agricultural ants of Texas. — 

 Mr. Gr. M. Dodge has recently sent specimens of this ant, together with samp. - 



- on which he observed it feeding at Ingram, Kerr County, Tex. The>»- -eeds 

 have been identified by Mr. A. J. Pieters. of the Bureau of Plant Industry of this 

 Department, as Texan grama (Bouteloua texana I, sand bur I Cenchrus tribuloides), and 

 lancedeaved sage [Salvia lanceolata). Our correspondent stated that he had seen the 

 ants harvesting these seeds. 



A Cimbex in British Burma. — Mr. George Field, of Washington, an importer 

 of orchids, found attached to the roots of Dendrobium wardianum, an orchid from 

 British Burma, a rough, brown -ilken cocoon from which issued May 17. I902,in 

 the insectary i >f this Department, a new species of sawfly of the melius Cimbex. This 

 fact is of very considerable interest, since it seems that no 8 - f this genus has 



ever been taken in Farther India. 



Note on the ox warble in Mississippi. — March 27, lvi02. Mr. Lawrei. 

 Johnson, geologist, Pachuta, Miss., wrote in regard to this species, which i- 

 called the ox bot or heel fly | Hypoderma lineata VilL), stating that about two weeks 

 prior to the date of writing, with the first springdike weather, this 8 - had 



appeared in large numbers and had proved a great torment to rattle. The insect did 

 not confine itself to attack on the heel. this, according to popular belief, being because 

 the cattle stamped so much. 



Christian Science for Cattle. — Mr. Franklin, formerly district attorney at San 

 Antonio, Tex., vouches for the tact that two cattle owners at Llano. Tex., treat their 

 co\v> for screw worms by Christian Science. 



Scavenger flies as a creamery pest.— A correspondent at Garris :.. Ifo., 

 writing May 16, 1902, transmitted specimen- of the fly Callipho Des 



with the report that these insects were new. and that they were troublesome in a 

 where milk was kept. They laid eggs in the cream when it was nearly sweet 

 and beginning to turn. Theydid not appear to infest the butter, but tried I b 

 the sweet milk. 



Notes on kissing bugs. — Jume 28, 1902, we received a specimen i 

 90natu8 Linn., from Mr. W. T. Hubbell, Philo, Ohio, with the information that it 

 was caught in the night within the folds of a lady's nightdress after twi 

 her. The lady described the sensation as like the stinu' of a wasp, cans;: 

 and something like a chill, symptoms which, however, might have beendu 

 3, as the lady was not very strong. 



July 28, 1902, Mr. J. ('. M. Johnston, New Wilmington. Pa., sent a minute 

 of a lace-winged fly . with report that it had bitten him on the I 



