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bugs. He claimed that the records back to 1834 verified his theory, 
and the chain of drought and chinch bug years he gave as 1834. 1841, 
1847, 18.54. 1801, 1807, 1874, and 1881. Following this supposed law, 
he predicted chinch bugs in 1887. and, as the writer showed in Bulletin 
17 of the Division of Entomology, his prediction was verified. The 
year 1894, coming at the end of the following septenary period, has 
also verified the supposed law of this unknown writer. He claims that 
the rainfall increases from each drought year up to the third or fourth 
year, and then decreases. The chinch bugs increase as the drought 
increases, reach their climax in the climax drought year, and are killed 
off by the heavy rainfalls of the following spring. 
THE LEAF-FOOTED BUG ATTACKING PLUMS. 
We are very much interested in a recent letter from Prof. R. H. 
Price, of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, which is accom- 
panied by specimens of the leaf-footed bug {Leptoglossus phyllopus), and 
in which he states that these bugs have done considerable damage to 
plums during the last two years, injuring them, in fact, more than the 
plum curculio. The bugs puncture the buds for food, and the fruit 
becomes knotty. It will be remembered that Mr. Hubbard, in his 
'•Report upon Insects Affecting the Orange." describes a similar habit 
on the part of this insect in the orange groves of Florida. Mr. Hub- 
bard ascertained that the normal food-plant of the insect was a large 
thistle which grows commonly through the South, and he states that 
both young and old are frequently found in large numbers upon the 
head of this thistle. We have urged Prof. Price to search for this 
plant in the vicinity of the plum trees, and if found to destroy the bugs 
upon it with pure kerosene. The thistle may be used as a trap crop 
for this purpose. 
IS ICERYA AX AUSTRALIAN GENUS I 
In a paper just received from Mr. W. M. Maskell, entitled " Further 
Coccid Notes," from the Transactions of the ^New Zealand Institute 
for 1893, the author shows that Icerya cegyptiaeum (Dougl.) has been 
received by him from Mr. Froggatt. taken in Sydney on Goodenia ovata, 
and I. rosce II. & H. from the same locality on Halea gibbosa. The 
latter he describes as "var amtralis," since it differs slightly from the 
typical specimens described by Professor Riley and the writer from 
Key West, Fla. He says, in conclusion, " the question now arises 
whether Australia may not be the original home of all Iceryas. There 
is scarcely any doubt about I.purchasi; 1. Jcoebelei is certainly Austra- 
lian; I. cegyptiaeum and I. rosce are found there: I. montserratensis 
seems to be possibly a variety; I. seyeltelhirum has as yet been reported 
on sugar-cane only from Mauritius, and I. palmer i on grape from Mex- 
ico; but even these may, after all, turn out to be Australian also." Sub- 
sequent facts may show Mr. Maskell to be right in this supposition, 
