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night, and let it lie in the wagon all day, and when he took it out at night the wagon 

 box would he literally pink with them, they were so numerous. This was about the 

 middle of August. I was away from home at the time, but he put some of them in 

 a box to keep until I returned. I thought perhaps they were so well preserved you 

 could identify them. ^ * * Last year we had the Chinch Bug, but I have only 

 seen a very few of them this year. — [Miss E. J. Phillips, Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga 

 County, Ohio, September 21, 1888. 



Reply. — * * * The insect which you send this time is a common Clover Seed- 

 Midge {Cecidomyia legimmiicola Lintuer). This insect was first discovered by Prof. J. 

 A. Lintner in 1878 in New York State, but has since been found as far West as Wis- 

 consin and north into Canada and south into Northern Virginia, so it is not at all 

 strange that it should occur in your vicinity. It is particularly destructive to the 

 clover-seed crop, but does not injure the quality of the hay. The insect was treated 

 in the Annual Reports of this Department for 1878 and 1879 and also in Bulletin 12 of 

 this Division. A very satisfactory remedy consists in cutting the first crop of clover 

 from two to three weeks before the ordinary time, thus allowing that generation of 

 the maggots no opportunity to mature. — [September 25, 1888.] 



Formula for a Buffalo Gnat Application. 



As I planted on the Mississippi River many years ago, I think my experience with 

 Buffalo Gnats may be useful to others, as I never lost by them. 



In the fall I always caught a quantity of fish with a seine, and got a quantity of 

 oil from the oflfal. Early in the spring I put 5 pounds of roll sulphur in a large iron 

 pot, and when melted poured in 2 gallons of pine-tar, stirring and taking the pot from 

 the fire, and stirred in 5 gallons of fish oil until it was cool. 



When the season came for gnats, each plowman was provided with a gourd con- 

 taining a pint or two, which he hung up at the end of his row, and was instructed 

 to examine the throat just behind the jaw, where they first attack. As soon as he 

 observed any gnats, he passed the alarm along the line, and every plowman smeared 

 the mixture over the nostrils, throat, and flanks of his animal. I protected my work- 

 oxen the same way. The stock cattle were protected by smoke, or by lying on the 

 sand-bars left by the river. I always had everything ready for the gnats, and as I 

 protected my animals instantly I never had any animals iujured by them. — [P. H. 

 Skip with, Oxford, Miss., August 30, 1887. 



The Acid Secretion of Notodonta Concinna. 



In rearing a brood of caterpillars, figured in Harris' work as ''Red Hump" (Noto- 

 donta concinna), I discovered that they had the power to emit quite a quantity of 

 strong hydrochloric acid, strong enough to be decidedly corrosive to the skin and 

 easily perceptible in the atmosphere. This act was often performed when suddenly 

 disturbed, and was noticed only in the older ones, though it might have been preseut 

 when younger, but, if so, was unnoticed. As I find no mention of this power in any 

 of the works at my disposal, I referred the matter to you, feeling, if not known be- 

 fore, you would be interested in it. — [Charles S. Denham, East Pepperell, Mass., Au- 

 gust 22, 1887. 



Reply. — * * * So far as we can learn this acid secretion has not been noticed 

 in print in reference to this particular species ; but it is well known that many of the 

 Philodontid larvse allied to it have the power of ejecting from glands between the 

 head and first segment such an acid liquid or vapor. A number of articles have ap- 

 peared in the last two years in European entomological magazines in reference to 

 this secretion, and we have noticed it in some four or five of our native species. 



