56 



The Northern leaf-footed plant-bug, Leptoglossns oppositus, though 

 uot a species of great importance, was rarely seen as compared with 

 the previous two years; and the same is true of a species of similar 

 habits and economic status, the horned squash bug, Anasa armigera. 



Of the effect of the cold winter in the South, Mr. H. M. Simons, 

 Charleston, S. C, wrote in response to our suggestion concerning the 

 effect of the climatic conditions upon the imported cabbage webworm, 

 Hellula undalis, that the cold weather had probably caused the decrease 

 of this insect which he had noticed for the season of 1899. He wrote 

 July 22 that the previous winter had been unusually severe, being 

 marked with snaps of intense coldness. It is just such weather as 

 this, in the writer's opinion, that would destroy many individuals of an 

 insect which is not yet thoroughly acclimatized with us. since such 

 sudden changes and severely cold spells are practically never experi- 

 enced in the Old World regions to which this insect is native. Mr. X. 

 L. TVillet reported a similar scarcity at Augusta, Ga.. saying that it 

 was a difficult matter to obtain specimens until the last of August, when 

 practically the first evidence of attack became manifest. Both of these 

 gentlemen reported serious injury the previous year. 



The larger corn stalk-borer, Diatrcea saccharalis 7 vn\s also extremely 

 rare in those localities where it was found abundantly in 1898 and prior 

 to that time. Several fields were visited where individuals had been 

 observed in numbers previously and only a single chrysalis was found 

 after several hours' search. 



At the same time that the stalk-borer was being observed a close 

 watch for the corn-ear worm, Eeliothis armiger, was made. This was 

 comparatively rare upon corn and other crops which it is known to 

 infest. 1 In one locality, however, it was reported troublesome and the 

 later generations did some injury, but sweet corn which it generally 

 injures seriously was very little affected. In Mississippi this species 

 did extensive damage the present year to beans by boring into the pods. 



The American locust, Schistocerca americana, which is usually suffi- 

 ciently abundant a few miles south of Washington to attract attention, 

 was not noticed at all in 1899 in any of the frequent visits paid to the 

 localities where it has always abounded in previous years until Sep- 

 tember 23, when a single individual was seen, a few others being 

 observed later. 



ABUNDANT NOETHEEX FOEZVIS OF INSECTS IN 1899. 



One of the most noticeable of the Northern species which were 

 injurious the present season was the imported cabbage butterfly, Pieris 

 rapce, the first generation of which destroyed many early cabbages. 

 The later individuals of this first generation, it was observed, were very 



1 The fall army worm, Laphygma frugiperda, practically replaced the last two men- 

 tioned insects, heing often found, while in search for them, working on corn in a 



somewhat similar manner. 



