56 



fected trees, especially seedlings growing by the wayside and in waste places, and 

 the careful collection of all wind-fallen and diseased fruit and its destruction by fire. 

 The coufjuniption of fruit in an unripe conditioii can not be otherwise than prejudicial 

 to the general health of the community, especiallj' in seasons when cholera and like 

 diseases are prevalent, and the tinancial loss to the agriculturist must be immense 

 when we bear in min 1 that the ravages of the codling-moth which attacks the apple 

 in the United States are estimated to annuall^^ occasion a loss to the fruit-growers of 

 the Union of from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 ; the importance of checking the attacks of a 

 similar insect infesting the jieach in Japan must commend itself to your mind. Our 

 own Department of Agriculture at Washington has labored long and laboriously to 

 instruct the fruit-growers of the United States as to the best and most effective means 

 of guarding against the ravages of such insects, and it can not but feel that the Jap- 

 anese authorities have a work to do here which, if accomplished, would be a great 

 benefit to their farming community. — [W. Gr. Hall, Ph. D., naturalist. United States 

 Eclipse Expedition to Japan, Tokio, Japan, September 15, 1887. 



[The above letter was written by Dr. Hall to Hon. R. B. Hubbard, United States 

 minister to Japan, and by the latter was referred to this Department through the 

 Department of State. Commissioner Colman's reply follows. We have since received 

 no further information on the subject.] 



I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2Gth instant, in- 

 closing Dispatch No. 379 from Mr. Eichard B. Hubbard, United States minister at Tokio, 

 which is accompanied in turn by a letter from Mr. W. J. Holland, the naturalist of 

 the United States Eclipse Expedition to Japan. The matter has been referred to the 

 acting entomologist of this Department, who reports that the subject is one of con- 

 siderable interest, but that its full weight can not be determined without a more ac- 

 curate idea of the nature of the insect in question. If it should prove to be one of 

 the insects which already infests the iieach in the United States any regulations to 

 prevent imj)ortation will of course be unnecessary. It is desirable, therefore, that 

 some entomologist in Japan should investigate the matter and determine accuratelj' 

 and specifically the identity of the pest in question. Prof. C. Sasaki, of the Agricult- 

 ural and Dendrological College, Tokio, Japan, is a very competent individual, who 

 has made his name well known by his investigations of j:he Uji parasite of the silk- 

 worm of commerce. 



If your Department will kindly forward this letter to Mr. Hubbard, with the request 

 that he will forward it to Professor Sasaki, requesting him to correspond direct with 

 this Department, we shall be able to get to the bottom of the matter in the shortest 

 I)ossible time. Mr. Holland himself should also be requested to rear the insect and 

 send it in all its stages to this Department. 



Hibernation of the Two-spotted Lady-bird. 



I have observed some little matters the past throe winters in my present house that 

 may or may not interest you. During those winters there has seldom been more than 

 two or three days passed that I have not had " lady-bugs " creeping and Hying about 

 my house. My library is never warmed except in the evenings, but when the room 

 got warm they would invariably come out and be active all the evening, seldom more 

 than one or two at a time, but they have shown themselves continually every few 

 days during that time. At one lime during cold weather there were probably 1,000 

 on the inside of my front door. 1 have fed them milk, beer, water, and mad(Vone 

 drunk on gin ; yes, it was actually drunk and showed it ; they drink readily; after 

 being about my desk for a few days.— [Jos. M. Wade, Boston, Mass., March 31, 1885. 



Rkply. — * * * TIk^ si)ecies you refer to is no doubt the Two-spotted Lady-bird 

 (Coccinelhi hij)ii))rliit(i Linn.), <'ind as ;in interesting point in the nahiial Iiistory of 

 tliis specMcs I would state that of the numy species of Lady-birds so abundant in 

 summer-time almosl every when', this is the only one which has accustomed its«df to 



