67 



meadows suffered very severely over quite a tract of country. The 

 " hopper-dozer" or sheet iron pan was used to advantage in destroying 

 them, but the locust mite (Trombidium locust arum) was much more effi- 

 cient, though its effect came too late to protect the crop. 



The harlequin cabbage bug (Murgantia histrionica) continues to 

 increase in numbers and severity of attack along the southern border 

 of the State, where it was first observed three or four years ago. I 

 can not understand why it should push northward so much more 

 rapidly in the interior than along the coast, if its progress is being 

 carefully noted in the east. It has been reported with specimens fully 

 30 miles north of the Ohio River, and at that rate of progress will reach 

 the latitude of Columbus and Philadelphia the coming year,* whereas 

 in Xew Jersey it has pushed northward very slowly. In Ohio it is 

 spreading to the north at the rate of about 25 miles per year. Through 

 the assistance of Prof. H. A. Morgan, entomologist of the Louisiana 

 Experiment Station, an experiment is being made in introducing tgg 

 parasites of this pest, and one lot received from Professor Morgan has 

 been liberated near Portsmouth, on the Ohio River. Whether we shall 

 succeed in colonizing these parasites and whether or not they will 

 withstand our northern winters are problems yet to be solved, but we 

 hope for the best. 



The bag worm (Thyridopteryx ephemerceformis) is reported by the 

 superintendent of parks of Cincinnati as giving unusual trouble this 

 season, notwithstanding that it has been fought industriously, and 

 as I thought, successfully, during the last two years. This pest has 

 long been known in southwestern Ohio, as far north as Dayton, but 

 it was only within the last two years that Dr. Kellicott and myself 

 have been able to locate it as far north as latitude 40°. Last winter I 

 received what appeared to be the abandoned sack of a male from 

 Grand Rapids, Ohio, within 25 miles of Toledo, on Lake Erie. As I 

 have since received specimens from points intervening between this 

 and Dayton, and have in no case been able to trace its introduction to 

 trees or plants brought from more southern points, it would appear 

 that the species has established itself locally throughout almost the 

 entire latitude of western Ohio. 



The asparagus beetle (Grioceris asparagi)\s pushing its way westward 

 across northern Ohio, having proven quite destructive this season 10 

 to 15 miles west of Cleveland. On the other hand, I find that it is only 

 making its first appearance along the extreme northeastern border of 

 the State, about Ashtabula, Andover, and Youngstown. Strangely 

 enough, I have invariably found it in a locality first on isolated plants 

 escaped from cultivation. 



In the discussion following this paper Dr. D. S. Kellicott, of Columbus, reported 

 its appearance at Licking Reservoir, a little north of Columbus and to the east ward, 

 while on my arrival homo I learned that specimens had been sent io the station 

 from Paint Valley, Holmes County, only about 20 miles south of Wooster, which is 

 in latitude 40° 48'. 



