218 



Second letter. — I have to thank you for your communication dated 7th instant^ 

 with particulars regarding the insect I forwarded {Acanthacara similis). It is only 

 within the last month or two that I have noticed the appearance of this insect on 

 my Pineapple x)lants, and the damage done so far has been trifling, as I have only 

 succeeded in finding two specimens actually on the plants. The green outer surface 

 and edges of the leaves attacked are eaten, leaving the white fiber exposed, and 

 causing the leaf above the part eaten to wither and die. — [December 15, 1888. 



Hylesinus trifolii in Ohio. 



Your favor of the 30th ult. received. I am not fortunate enough to be the pos- 

 sessor of the volume you mention, viz: Report of 1878. I have the reports of 1877 

 and 1879^ but neither mentions the Clover Root-borer, so I have had noway of identi- 

 fying the beetle except from reports and descriptions given in the Ohio Farmer and 

 other agricultural papers. But, from all I can learn from the above sourees, I am con- 

 fident that it is Rylesinus trifolii. However, to be certain, I went to my field Decem- 

 ber 5 and obtained specimens, imago and pupa, which I inclose. * * * The tap 

 root of the clover was in every case eaten hollow, and the borers were hibernating in 

 the crevices quite close to the surface of the ground. The past season was the second 

 that the field has been mowed. * * * — [\y. 3, Hall, Wakeman, Ohio, December 

 7, 1888. 



Reply. — Your letter of the 7th instant, accompanying specimens, came safely. 

 You are right iu your identification of the Clover Root-borer as Hylesinus trifolii. This 

 insect has spread greatly in the last few years, and no satisfactory remedy has been 

 suggested beyond plowing under the clover in the spring of the second year and 

 planting some other crop. * * * — [December 11, 1888.] 



"Wisconsin Letter on Cicada septendecim. 



* * * There are many strange stories told about them [the Cicadas] and not a- 

 few egregious mistakes written about them by authors, some claiming that the male 

 never eats anything during its existence as a perfect insect. * * * They derive 

 their nourishment from vegetable substances. Soft maples seem to be a favorite 

 tree for them to feed upon. I have seen trees several inches in diameter covered with 

 them, their probosces driven into the bark almost their full length, and I could see no 

 difference between male and female ; they seemed to feed alike, but I have never seen 

 them thus engaged until about the middle of the afternoon. Their excretion is a clear 

 transparent fluid. * ^ * The season was an uncommonly growing one ; vast num- 

 bers of the eggs were grown in and over by the rapid growth. The vast amount of 

 dead leaves seen on the trees was causedby the puncturing of small twigs, and larger 

 ones on both sides. The heavy foliage, when violently moved by strong winds, broke 

 the weakened limbs and but few eggs matured in tbe broken twigs. I have noticed 

 in blackberry twigs that the newly hatched insects in some cases worked their way 

 into the soft pith when egress was prevented. Among their enemies are hogs, some 

 of which were reported to me as having died from eating too many of them before 

 they took wing. Poultry, birds, and especially crows are destructive to them. One 

 insect that seems to have escaped notice as an euemj' is the Soldier Bug. It inserts- 

 its long bill into the puncturt of the twig and eats the eggs.— [John March, Shuils- 

 bury, Wis., December, 1888. 



A Proposed Remedy for the Chinch Bug. 



Several years ago I had a small rye field intended for green feed, and on one side of 

 said rye field there was Indian corn and on the other there was what we call Texas 



