53 
THE COTTONWOOD LEAF-BEETLE IN NEW YORK. 
The common cottonwood leaf-beetle of the western tree claims (Lina 
seripta), which has frequently done so much damage in the far West by 
defoliating young trees, and old ones, too, for that matter, and which 
was treated at length by Prof. Riley in the Annual Report of this 
Department for 1885, has appeared in injurious numbers in Onondaga, 
Oswego, and Cayuga counties, X. Y., as we learn from an interesting 
article by Dr. J. A. Lintner,in the New England Homestead of July 26. 
It has appeared in the plantations of ozier willow, which grow in the 
Seneca River valley, and threatens this small but important industry. 
Dr. Lintner shows that the insect is readily killed by an arsenical 
spray, which the character of the crop renders easy of application. 
RESIN WASH AGAINST THE GRAPE ASPIDIOTUS. 
On page 5 of the current number of Insect Life we refer to the 
occurrence of Aspidiotm uvce Comst. on grape-vines near Beltsville, 
Prince George County. Md. This vineyard was visited by Mr. R. 8. 
Lull, then a member of the office force, in the late fall of 1893, who 
found that about two dozen vines were affected, and that two had been 
killed outright, while a number of the others were dead or dying. By 
his advice all the vines in the vineyard were sprayed once with winter 
resin wash, during the winter of 1893. while all those known to be 
affected were sprayed twice. The locality was visited by Mr. Coquil- 
lett on July 20, 1891, and after a careful examination he found that, to 
all appearances, the scale had been exterminated. 
NOTES FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
A Scale Insect on Laurel Oak. — Mr. Louis A. Berckmaiis. of Augusta, Ga., sent 
us some time ago specimens of a Rhizoeoccus found upon what lie called English 
I Laurel. The tree, however, seems to be really a laurel oak, Quercus lauri folia, and 
I the insect is Rhizoeoccus quercus Comst. 
Anthrenus varius feeding on a Comb. — Some time ago Mr. D. W. Coquillett sent 
us from California a larva of Anthrenus varius which he had confined in a bottle with 
a tooth from a horn comb. He reports having actually seen this larva feeding upon 
the tooth. This is the first recorded instance, so far as we know, of this food-habit 
of Anthrenus. 
Living Larvae on Snow. — Mr. James Fletcher. Dominion Entomologist of Canada, 
i sent us some time ago specimens of Tipulid larv;e which a correspondent of his had 
reported to be present in large number on the snow near Whitby, Ontario. These 
i insects winter in the larval state, near the surface of the ground, and were probably 
tempted out by a warm day, when, the ground becoming hard again, they were 
I unable to return to their winter quarters. In Insect Life (vol. iv. p. 335) we have 
, recorded other instances of living larva- found on the surface of snow. 
Mud Wasps in Deserted Paper-wasps' Nests.— Mr. ('. F. Groth, a member of 
the New York Entomological Society, has recently sent us some interesting ento- 
mological notes, and among other things mentions the occnrreneo of a speeies of 
