98 



October 12, 1898, Prof. H. L. Osborn, Hamline University, St. Paul, 

 Minn., sent to the United States Department of Agriculture larva? of 

 this species, from which the imago was subsequently reared, taken in 

 flour. It came to a laboratory at Hamline University in a sack, and was 

 transferred to an empty barrel, where it had remained since the preced- 

 ing June. The previous history of the barrel was not known, and could 

 not be traced. Professor Osborn, however, wrote us, under date of 

 October 19, that the flour was purchased in St. Paul in April of that 

 year, and was not opened until fall, as the house was closed during the 

 summer, while the owner was absent. About the middle of September 

 the servant began to use the flour, and from what our correspondent 

 writes, it seems probable that there was every chance that some of 

 the larvse made their escape. As soon as Professor Osborn became 

 acquainted with the identity of the insect he killed all of the larvse that 

 could be found, so that there could be no possibility of their escap- 

 ing and developing; but it is possible that some of them had already 

 made their escape before this time. 



Nothing further has been learned concerning this occurrence, but it 

 is believed best to bring the matter to public notice, so that millers in 

 the vicinity of St. Paul and Minneapolis may be forewarned, and hence 

 the better able to cope with this insect should it make its appearance 

 in their mills and warehouses. The fact that it is the most pernicious 

 of all mill insects is well established, as well as that it is capable of 

 developing upou all sorts of ground cereals. 



In addition to the localities mentioned above, this species has been 

 recorded from North Carolina, Alabama, and New Mexico, but evidence 

 is wanting to show that its occurrence in these States is in mills, or that 

 it is established there otherwise than in the open. It is known to live in 

 the nests of wild bees, and in the three States last mentioned it may not 

 even occur in the vicinity of mills or storehouses. — F. H. Chittenden. 



NOTE ON TWO SPECIES OF "LIGHTNING HOPPERS. 77 



During the past two years two species of hoppers of the family Ful- 

 gorida? have been noticed in considerable numbers on useful plants in 

 the District of Columbia and near-by points of Maryland and Virginia. 

 One of these, Ormenis (Pceciloptera) jiruinosa, or the frosted lightning 

 hopper, as it has been called, is new to the list of apple insects as 

 recently revised by the late Dr. Lintner, while Chlorochroa (Flata) 

 cornea has not been mentioned in the list of grape insects published by 

 Prof. Lawrence Bruner (Eept. Nebr. State Hort. Soc. for 1895, pp. 69-72). 



Both species are reputed to weaken and distort the young and tender 

 shoots and other growth of their food plants by the innumerable minute 

 punctures which they make for the deposition of their eggs and for 

 food ; and both have the singular habit of congregating in rows or ranks 

 of half a dozen or more on the vines or tree twigs which they infest. 

 When disturbed all the individuals retreat to the opposite side of the 

 vine or twig in almost as complete unison as a squad of soldiery. 



