93 



above. All the timbers in the floor of the Sunday school room were 

 completely tunneled out by the termites, and the floor in many places 

 had given. away. The insects were still issuing through holes in the 

 floor near the furnace and from under the carpet in a small room adjoin- 

 ing. After this hasty examination, I was convinced that the entire floor, 

 the sills of which rested directly upon the ground, would have to be 

 removed. The floor was taken out a few days later and my suspicions 

 were well founded, as all the sills had been entirely honeycombed. Tbe 

 insects had also gone up the studding which had been used for lath and 

 plaster against the stone walls for about G feet. Even the laths bad 

 been mined until they were mere shells. The insects had also tunneled 

 into the hard wood of the rostrum and into the partition dividing the 

 Sunday school room from the class room. It was necessary to remove 

 all the woodwork in the room and replace it with new. About 2 feet of 

 earth was removed and the new floor placed on joists resting on iron 

 girders set upon brick piers. All the heavy timbers were also dipped 

 in tar. 



The black peach aphis. — The black peach aphis (Aphis prunicola) 

 was the next insect to command my attention. April 12 I was called 

 to examine a block of 400,000 peach seedlings in which this insect had 

 made its appearance. Its distribution has been very general over the 

 State, the greatest injury having been done to young peach trees in 

 nurseries just as the buds were shooting. The loss to nurserymen 

 alone, to say nothing about the losses sustained in one and two year 

 old orchards, has been considerably in excess of $50,000 this season. 

 No such an outbreak has been recorded in this State for the past eight 

 or ten years. 



The clover-leaf weevil. — The clover-leaf weevil (Phytonomus 

 punctatus) made its appearance and was first observed by us April 12, 

 doing considerable injury in fields near Annapolis Junction. Two days 

 later we noticed the appearance of Empusa (Entomophthora) spharo- 

 sperma, a fungous disease attacking the larva. . By the 1st of May it was 

 very difficult to find a living larva. Their dead bodies were every- 

 where seen curled about leaves, weeds, straws, in fact, rubbish of all 

 kinds in the field. 



The corn crambus. — The corn crambus (Crambus caliginosellus) 

 appeared in corn at many places in the State the latter part of May 

 and early in June, causing considerable apprehension about the safety 

 of the crop by the growers. One field, near Hyattsville, was visited 

 by us May 31, at which time several pupae were found. Tbe most of 

 the larva? were fully grown. July 6, we examined other fields near 

 Mason Springs, Charles County, at which time we found nearly 

 matured larvaB. 



The corn stalk-borer.— The corn stalk-borer (Diatrwa saccharalis) 

 has been very common and troublesome in the southern and eastern 

 shore counties this season. It is known t- most of our planters as the 



