46 



Grasshoppers have been plentiful. Melanoplw differential in being 

 especially abundant in some localities, though I am not aware that it 

 has occasioned any unusual concern on the part of farmers. Chinch 

 bugs have been plentiful enough to be met with frequently in collect- 

 ing, but I have not learned of any extensive injuries except in one or 

 two instances in the early summer. Heavy rains and wet weather in 

 July probably served to check them. The Hessian fly has not been 

 attracting much attention, and there is apparently not much to fear 

 from it for the coming crop. The wheat-stem maggot (Meromyza 

 america/na) was found in wheat fields hear Sandusky, but only occa- 

 sional stems were infested, and the loss from this species would not 

 average more than 1 to 3 per cent in the fields examined. 



Chionaspis <-<>fni Cooley was found in a clump of Cornvs asp'erifolii 

 about 3 miles from Sandusky in such quantities that several of the 

 shrubs were nearly dead and others so severely infested that they must 

 very likely succumb by another season. Were the dogwood planted 

 to any extent as an ornamental shrub, this might readily become a 

 serious pest. 



An occurrence of the cigarette beetle (LasiocU rma serricome) was 

 brought to my attention by one of the furniture firms of the city, who 

 reported the damage of certain plush upholstered furniture and desired 

 information as to the insect and especially in reference to the proba- 

 bility of its having gained entrance to the articles while in their pos- 

 session. An examination of the furniture showed the plush covering 

 to be penetrated at points and the insect to occur in considerable num- 

 bers in the cotton immediately beneath the plush and in inam T cases 

 fragments of the plush covering mingled with the cotton. Underneath 

 the cotton, in the filling, no specimens were observed. This evidence 

 seems to show conclusively that the insect had entered after the covering 

 had been put in place and was not due to the presence of the beetles or 

 their eggs or their larva 1 in the material used for filling. It seems 

 that the furniture had been sent to this firm for re-covering: kept in 

 their shops but a few days and returned to the owner, and that the 

 injury had not been discovered until some eighteen months after being 

 in the shops. In the meantime the house had been closed and unused 

 for a period of some six weeks. The conclusion seems evident that 

 the attack originated in an infestation occurring very likely during 

 the time that the house remained unused, the beetles possibly gaining 

 access by means of cigarette packages or some infested articles of 

 furniture, and the fact that the articles were unused permitted the 

 insect to become fairly well established. The firm in question are to 

 be commended for their attitude in the matter, as they were anxious to 

 make good any injury that could be traced to their own factories or 

 to negligence on their part. The fact that no other furniture in their 

 establishment has shown injury from this insect, along with the fact 



