37 



shows that where introduced with manure or compost they may injure 

 certain crops. We quote a portion of bis letter: 



* * * "I am a trucker, and I find these maggots are becoming more 

 numerous every year. The first that I ever saw was four years ago, 

 when they got into my cold frames and destroyed some of my plants. 

 Since then they have beeu on a rapid increase; at the same time I 

 never was very much alarmed on account of them until last fall, when 

 1 plowed my ground (which I always do in the fall, preparatory fpr 

 spring) I found them to be very numerous. They inhabit the earth uot 

 singly, but in masses. * * * I tried to count a batch of them and 

 found that the number would not end in hundreds, but lead to thou- 

 sands. When I find them in my cold frames the only remedy I have is 

 to lift all the ground, together with the plants, and cast them out. The 

 area which they occupy is from 10 to 24 inches. They are found very 

 close to the surface, just so that they have a very slight protection. 

 When I plowed my ground in the fall I found them under old cabbage 

 leaves and under anything that would shield them from the light. 

 * * * The only soil that I have as yet found them in is such as has 

 been heavily manured for several years in succession. In fa<;t it seems 

 to me that they breed in the manure; at least I have found them in old 

 manure that I had purchased from parties who had kept it over a year, 

 and consequently it was very fine and seemed to suit them. Cold and 

 freezing seem to have no effect upon them. Just as soon as there is the 

 least thaw, if there are any plants suitable to their taste, they will at- 

 tack them." * * * [0. F. Walters, Northumberland, Pa., March 23, 

 1885. 



We advised as a remedy the plentiful sprinkling of the infested earth 

 with a kerosene emulsion, well diluted where plants are liable to be 

 damaged, but strong where used on earth in the spring before plants 

 have been set out. 



Ax Enemy to Silkworms. — The common Spined Soldier-bug (Po- 

 disus spinosus Dall.) is a well-known predaceous insect, and is often men- 

 tioned in treatises on injurious insects as one of the beneficial enemies 

 of the destructive species. It has turned up the present season, how- 

 ever, in the role of a noxious insect itself. Mr. E. J. McAuley, of Oak- 

 dale, 111., who fed his silk-worms on leaves of the Osage Orange, found 

 that certain specimens of the bug, brought in by accident upon the 

 leaves, played havoc among his worms, sucking their juices and de- 

 stroying them. This naturally suggests that the leaves of both Osage 

 and Mulberry should be carefully examined for predaceous insects be- 

 fore giving them to the worms. 



Great Damage to Beans by Blister Beetles.— Nut tail's Blister 

 Beetle [Cantharis nuttalli, Say), one of the largest and most beautiful 

 species of its family, has often been reported as damaging field crops. 

 In the Annual Report of the Department for 1ST!) it was recorded ;i^ 

 doing damage to beaus at Fargo, Dak., and the present season it has 



