90 
Monarthrum fasciatum has been sent me the present year in the 
adult stage boring in both bark and wood of the maple. 
Lriococcus azalew occurs quite abundantly this year on Rhododendron 
catawbiense. The shrub had been growing on the station grounds since 
1897, therefore, it had stood one more severe winter, that of 1898-99. 
The shrub was isolated and the insect not at all likely to have been 
introduced since it was planted. 
Colaspis brunnea has been excessively abundant this year and has 
been reported as destroying young buckwheat and beans. I have also 
noted it attacking four-o’clocks. 
Pseudoccocus aceris has attacked the hard maples, Acer saccharina 
to quite a serious extent in New Philadelphia. No other variety of 
maple was injured. 
NOTES FROM CALIFORNIA. 
By C. W. Woopwortn, Berkeley, Cal. 
This being, I believe, the first time a member from California has 
attended a meeting of this Association it will be quite appropriate to 
givea general account of the entomological situation in the State rather 
than the usual notes on the insects of the year. 
California is not comparable with any other one State, for there are 
included within her boundaries nearly as many climatic conditions as 
are found in all the remainder of the United States. 
The great agricultural region of the State is a large valley surrounded 
on all sides by mountains. The Sacramento River flowing from the 
north and the San Joaquin from the south meet and empty their waters 
in the Bay of San Francisco. This valley is the region of our great- 
est grain fields, orchards, and vineyards. Cut off as it is by mountains 
from adjoining regions, not only does it form a unit as regards its 
climate but the native fauna and flora are quite distinct. Fortunately 
most of the native insects are developed for vegetation of a more or less 
desert type and few have made themselves felt by their injury to cul- 
tivated plants. A few cutworms, some native beetles of several kinds, 
but with habits of the eastern Macrodactylus, and two or three species 
of migratory grasshoppers from the surrounding highlands are the 
most abundant, though small local injury is occasionally done by many 
species. 
There is some variation in the great valley. It is well watered to 
the north and along the eastern side, becoming quite a desert in the 
south and west, except as reclaimed by irrigation. The largest irri- 
gation systems in the State water the southern portion of this valley. 
The trough of the valley is more or less frosty, but along the foothills 
and in the south, even partly on the plains, there runs a thermal belt 
on which oranges are grown to perfection. Still higher up on the 
hills these are replaced by the hardier fruits of the temperate zone. 
