385 



THE PHYLLOXERA IN COLORADO. 



Mr. EugeDe Weston, of Cailon City, Colo., informs ns by letter tbat 

 there is some danger of the Phylloxera becoming a dangerous enemy 

 in that part of Colorado. One of the vine-growers of his vicinity, evi- 

 dently a man of conscientious principles and a good neighbor, found the 

 Phylloxera in a lot of California vines that he had ])urchased, and at 

 once dug up and burned six hundred valuable grape roots which he 

 feared might be infested. But a leading nurseryman of the same place 

 has been charged with sending out large quantities of vines this season 

 which had been imported from Califorjiia and showed indubitable signs 

 of the disease. Mr. Weston informs us that the results will be closely 

 watched and the necessary legislation secured if found expedient. 



THE EHIZOCOCCUS ON GRASS. 



Mr. James Fletcher, Dominion Entomologist of Canada, sends us some 

 specimens of the egg sacs of a Rhizococcus on grass, which he received 

 from a correspondent, Mr. A. H. McKay, of Pictou, Nova Scotia. They 

 were found in large numbers over an extensive marshy flat in Cumber- 

 land County, Nova Scotia, every blade of dead grass having a Rhizococ- 

 cus attached to it. This is the same si)ecies which is mentioned on page 

 345 of Insect Life, Vol. I, as occurring on grass in Custer County, 

 Dalv., and this locality is the onlj' one from which we had previously 

 received it. It is undoubtedly a new species of this remarkable genus. 

 Mr. Fletcher inclosed also with the specimens a dipterous parasite, 

 which proves to be a species of Leucopis. The parasitism of this genus 

 on Coccidiie is mentioned in a note on page 258 of the same volume of 

 Insect Life. 



A new grape pest in the southwest. 



A beetle new to entomological literature in the role of a grape pest 

 has been sent to us from Arizona by one of our correspondents, Mr. 

 William J. Howerton, of Florence, Pinal County. It proves to be Gas- 

 troidea formosa Say, one of the Flea-beetles, of which the habits have not 

 been previously recorded. The eggs from which proceed the only brood 

 so far determined are deposited in January and February, in clusters on 

 the under side of the leaves of the Caiiagre or Tuberous-rooted Rhu- 

 barb, a native plant of Arizona, and the beetle's natural food [)lant. 

 The imagos appear in great numbers in March and the early part of 

 April, when they attack the loaves of the grape, and this year have 

 done considerable damage to vineyards in Pinal County. Some vines 

 are greatly damaged while others near by may be scarcely touched, and 

 whole vineyards are apparently exempt while others within a quarter 

 of a mile are considerably infested. At the date of our correspondent's 

 letter, May 18, the beetles had relaxed their attacks upon the grape 

 leaves and disappeared, nor were any eggs or larvae to be found at that 



