97 



and alder. In Massachusetts we have noticed it more particularly as 

 destroying ornamental poplars and willows. There are many locali- 

 ties, particularl}^ along our coast, where cottagers are dependent 

 almost entirely for shade upon the Balm of Gilead poplar and one or 

 two species of willow. These trees, brittle at their best, when rid- 

 dled by burrows of the weevil become easy victims of ice storms. 



The remedial measures most in favor are the destruction of the 

 grubs by hand in the fall or winter. Where a tree is badly infested 

 it is hardly worth while to attempt to preserve it. Such trees should 

 be cut and burned, and in their places should be planted the silver 

 maiDle, three-thorned acacia, or other species, that thrive in damp 

 localities. 



DROUGHT, HEAT, AND INSECT LIFE. 



By Mary E. Murtfeldt, Kirkwood, Mo. 



Probably few localities in the Mississippi Valley have suffered so 

 greatly from prevailing atmospheric conditions as has the suburb of 

 Kirkwood during the present summer. Following an unusually dry 

 spring there has been no appreciable rainfall since a brief, but heavy, 

 shower on the 12th of June. Even of the two or three light showers 

 that visited our city (St. Louis), but a few miles distant, scarcely a 

 drop, or but a mere sprinkle, extended to Kirkwood. For many suc- 

 cessive days the mercury ranged from 100° to 110° in the shade, and 

 for only about six days since the middle of June has the maximum 

 temperature fallen below 90°. 



Under such conditions it would seem inevitable that insect life must 

 be much affected. My personal observations, although extending over 

 a very limited area, indicate that this is the case. Early in the spring 

 Aphididae of many species and in incomputable numbers occurred on 

 grain and all varieties of fruit trees and threatened destruction to 

 many choice ®rnamental shrubs. These insects would naturally be 

 reduced as the season progressed, but usually some estiva ting indi- 

 viduals or forms can be found by the close observer. At present, 

 however, the most careful examination fails to reveal evidence of any 

 persisting species. 



Cutworms, which were very destructive upon early vegetables in 

 spring, find now no cultivated plants and no succulent weeds upon 

 which to feed, nor have any species of the moths been noted for many 

 weeks. The "corn ear- worm" or "tomato fruit-worm" of this region 

 (Heliothis armiger) does not find for miles around either of these 

 plants for its sustenance and can not, it seems to me, fail to be so 

 reduced in numbers as to be practically innoxious for at least one or 

 two succeeding seasons. 



Curculio and codling moth, following a season in which both stone 

 and pip fruits were practically a failure hereabout, are scarcely at all 

 in evidence in the dwarfed and flavorless apples, pears, and peaches 



11823— No. 31—01 7 



