162 



Reply. — The newspaper clipping and a specimen of an insect which is infecting 

 your hogs has been receiv^ed. This inattei proves to be one of great interest, and so 

 far as I know is the first case on record where hogs have been affected by Bot flies. 

 Examination of the larva which you sent shows that it belongs to one of the internal 

 bots which can only be determined specifically by rearing the adult fly. From the 

 study of the characteristics of this larva it seems to belong to the genus Cephenomyia, 

 the species of which ordinarily infest deer. Did you save any other specimens, and 

 if so were you thoughtful enough to put them in alcohol ? If so we should be very 

 glad to receive additional material, and if any more of your hogs are taken with the 

 same symptoms and you conduct a post mortem, please send us some of the worms in 

 situ with a good piece of the wind-pipe and surrounding tissues. — [August 1, 1890, to 

 Mr. S. S. Cook, Parkersburg, W. Va.] 



A Peach-tree Leaf-beetle. 



I send in a separate package some beetles found eating in a moderate degree the 

 leaves of young peach trees from the pit this spring. They are not common and we 

 wonder if they are liable to do any damage. Will you please tell us what they are 

 and the prospects of their being injurious?— [Henry A. Brainard, San Jos6, Cal.. July 

 22, 18'J0. 



Reply. — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22d instant, to- 

 gether with the accompanying specimens of an insect which is eating the leaves of 

 young peach trees. This insect is one of the leaf-beetles, and is kuown as Chrysochus 

 cohaltinus. It has no common name. Like all of the other beetles of the same family 

 it feeds upon the foliage of different plants, and any of them may at times increase so 

 as to do some damage. This insect, however, is not known as a pest, and we should 

 therefore like to be notified in case it increases to any great extent. It can always 

 be kept in subjection by spraying the trees with a very dilute arsenical solution. It 

 should be remembered that the peach is particularly susceptible to the action of ar- 

 senic, strong solution burning the leaves to a greater or less extent. For a trial ap- 

 plication I would not advise the use of a larger proportion than one-half of a pound 

 to 225 gallons of water.— [July 30, 1890.] 



Mites in a Warm-house. 



I send you the insects on the prunes in this glass ; they are too small to catch and 

 put in a vial. Hold the glass in the sunshine and you can see them move with the 

 naked eye. They are very small. This is what I know about them : I built a warm- 

 house three years ago on a brick wall 16 inches through, sided and ceiled with dressed 

 pine lumber, and painted inside and out. The space between the ceiling and siding 

 (16 inches) was filled with sawdust fresh from the saw and the floor was laid with 

 brick. In three weeks after this house was completed the insect made its appear- 

 ance and staid until cold weather, aud each year in April it has come and staid 

 until cold weather. The color of some of them is red. They seem to want to get 

 about milk and things sweet, like jellies and prunes, and meal seems to be a favorite 

 food for them. They got on the meal in a barrel in the warm-house by the millions, 

 until the top seemed to be covered with dust, and we put the barrel, without cover, 

 out in the sun, in August last, and they kept multiplying as we would skim the top 

 of the meal off, taking the most of the bugs (or what) away, but they would be just 

 as thick again in a day or two. They even crawl across the porch iuto the kitchen. 

 Now, what I most want to know is will they be likely to bother in aa underground 

 cellar dug on the same spot as the warm-house ? We burned sulphur and tobacco in 

 this warm-house by the pound at a time, but it seemed to do no good, and we even 

 washed it inside with diluted carbolic acid, but they were on hand again in a few 

 days. I would like to know all about them, as the little pests have cost me about 

 $200 and lots of vexation. They seemed to come with the warm-house, and now that 

 I have torn it out I don't want to build something else to harbor them. — [Albert 

 Pound, Soonover, Ind., July 25, 1890, to F. M. Webster, La Fayette. 



