100 



The Prodeuia differs from the Aletia of our Southern States in at 

 least three important points — the moth lays her eggs on one or two 

 leaves only, the papal period is passed in the ground, and the cater- 

 pillar feeds on various crops, as berseem, maize, and barley. There 

 are at least five broods in a season on the cotton. Sometimes, if the 

 cotton is sown on land recently in berseem (a winter forage plant), the 

 stems of the young cotton plants will be eaten close to the ground, 

 thus necessitating replanting. The habit of the moth in placing her 

 eggs mostly on one or two leaves is the clew to the best remedy — the 

 picking of these leaves before the larvre leave them. About a month 

 after this the cotton should be heavily flooded to destroy any caterpil- 

 lars which escaped and are now, as pup?e, in the ground. The intelli- 

 gent use of these two measures prevents any serious damage to the 

 crop. 



The Egyptian boll worm (Earias insulana), known to us through the 

 writings of Frauenfeld and others, is, like our own form, not so easily 

 controlled. One egg is laid by a moth on a boll, the larva, hatching, 

 gnaws into and destroys the contents of the boll. It passes the winter 

 in a grayish white cocoon which is fastened to the bracts of a flower. 

 Xo real remedy has been found; the only measure of value is the burn- 

 ing of the cotton wood as soon as possible after the gathering of the 

 crop. 



Two other insects are mentioned as of minor importance. One, a 

 plant-louse, Aphis ulmarce, sucking the leaves; the other a Lygaeid, 

 Oxycarenus hyalinipennis, which infests the bolls damaged by the 

 Earias. — X. B. 



A COTTON STAINER IN PERU. 



We recently received from Mr. Eduardo Fowks, of Paita, Peru, a 

 bug congeneric with and rather closely resembling the well-known 

 cotton stainerof the Southeastern United States (DysdercussutureUus), 

 a full account of which was published in Insect Life (Vol. I, p. 234), 

 and which was further mentioned in the writer's account of insects 

 affecting the cotton plant (U. S. Dept. of Agric, Farmers' Bulletin, 

 No. 47). The Peruvian insect, which proves to be Dysdercus ruficoUis 

 Linn., has the same habits as our North American species, piercing the 

 bolls and staining the cotton, reducing the value of the cotton, 

 according to Mr. Fowks, "from 4 to 6 cents a pound." The common 

 name (presumably Indian) is Rabi atadi, which signifies "tails tied 

 together," the name being given from the fact that the adult insects 

 are usually found attached in this way. During 1898 the damage to 

 two cotton plantations at Paita from this insect was at least 8 1.0,000. 



BIOLOG-IC OBSERVATIONS ON HARPALUS PENNSYLVANICUS DEG-. 



One of the commonest insects over a wide extent of territory in this 

 country is the ground beetle, Harpalus pennsylv aniens DeGL In the 

 late Dr. Riley's First Missouri Report (p. 59) the adult of this species 

 is figured, as also a larva, which latter is fully described and which was 



