52 



now we ate afraid tliey will do too mucli damage, and we are at work putting Paris 

 green on the trees to see if tbat will kill them. * * * They are also spreading to 

 the willows, and also to the young Kilmarnock willows and New American. — [Thomas 

 B. Meehan, Germautowu, Pa., July 6, 1887. 



Reply. — * * * The insect which you find on the leaves and shoots of your 

 Carolina poplars is the common Streaked Cottonwood Leaf-heetle (Liiia scripia). This 

 iusect "was described by Professor Eiley in his Annual Report for 1884, ou pages 3^0 to 

 340. The article was suggested by the great damage done by this insect in the newly- 

 planted timber claims of the Northwestern Territories during the summer of 1884. 

 The question of remedies is discussed in this article also, — [July 8, 1887. 



Hibernation of Mosquitoes. 



[The following letter was the second from Mr. Wade on this subject. Uis first letter 

 mentioned incidentally that mosquitoes wintered in large numbers in his cellar, and 

 the following is in reply to our request for specimens.] 



I tried to catch some of the mosquitoes by day-light, but they were too wide-awake; 

 so I let it go until this evening, when I tried to catch and box them alive, but it 

 seemed as though two flew out every time I put one in. I have got a few for you, 

 probably enough ; if not, I will try again. The cellar is very cold, and yet in one 

 corner is a tin furnace conductor of heat. It seems as though they avoid the warm 

 corner, as they were thickest all the time in the coldest part of the cellar. They seem 

 nearly as lively as in the summer, and I notice they are j^aler in color than those out- 

 side in the open air. A few weeks ago they were so thick (in this cellar, of course), 

 that my housekeeper would hold the lamp up to them, and in a very short time 

 the inside of the chimney would be a half-inch deep or more. I gave John Butter- 

 worth, an English microscopist, now travelling here, a small bottle full of them to 

 take home. To-day, though cold, I could look out of any of my windows and see 

 them flying as in summer. It is many weeks since any of us were bit. I have never 

 known them so bad anywhere as they were here the -past summer, and yet it is high, 

 dry, rocky ground. — [Jos. M. "VVade, 158 Federal street, Boston, Mass., Nov. 16, 1884. 



Reply. — I have carefully examined the mosquitoes you sent with your favor of the 

 IGth instant, and I find them in no way different from one of our common and widely- 

 distributed species which is supposed to be the CuUx ciliatiis of Fabricius. You are 

 no doubt aware that, so far as we know, our northern mosquitoes pass the winter 

 in the imago state and that, like most other insects, they choose places of a uniform 

 and pretty low temperature. Thus they pass the winter in a semi-torpid condition 

 without taking food, whereas in a warmer place they would be kept ali\e and 

 perish for want of nourishment. 



The fact that you found such immense numbers of mosquitoes in your cellar shows 

 that they must have been unusually numerous with you the last season, and further 

 that your cellar must have been particularly attractive to them as a suitabl«» plnco 

 for hibernation. Still, upon careful inspection of the locality in qiiestion, il ought 

 not to be difficult to ascertain the reason for this remarkable gathering of mosquitoes 

 as related by you. — [November 24, 1884.] 



Leaf Hoppers and the " Die-back " of the Orange. 



On yesterday I sent you by mail a bug, like inclosed, asking that I might be 

 infoinied of its name and habits. To-d.'iy I send two more Avith samj)l('s of orange 

 twigs in the grove where these bugs are inconsiderable numbers. 1 can't, for a fact, 

 say tin; bugs are the cause of die-back, but certainly tlie prosum])tion is great. They 

 art'- constantly on the trees in consider.ible numbers; tluy do not seek roots or trees 

 with scale ou or any form of ins«'ct or fungus. Tliey are ou the n<>w twigs or the 

 gvowlli ])rior to tlie l.ist, and, as yon will observe, the damagr. is to those jiarts of the 



