167 



I send you a piece of the wood with souie of the bugs in it and some of them in a 

 quill. I have found them three-quarters of an inch deep in the wood. I would like 

 to know if they will kill the trees.— [B. Foster, Daytona, Fla., June 16, 1890. 



Reply. — The beetle which accompanied your letter and which you found boring 

 in orange trees is one of the family of Bark-boring Beetles, Scolyfido^, which includes 

 a number of our most injurious insects. The species in question is Xylehorus jjuhescens 

 and breeds in oak and other semi-tropical trees. The mature beetles burrow in trees 

 of all sorts but have nevor been known to infest healthy living orange trees, but 

 when found in the orange always occurs in the dead or diseased wood. It can not, 

 therefore, be considered injurious to the orange. The freeze of last winter, which 

 you say killed many of the orange trees, accounts for the presence of numbers of 

 this insect.— [June 20, 1890.] 



Rhizococcus on grass. 



I send you by mail this day some Coccids. I found them yesterday in the same 

 field referred to in Insect Life, Vol. II, No. 10, April, 1890, page 326. This is the first 

 time I have seen them since about February 1. They are on the same field and about 

 the same numbers. They have not been observed in any other place. 1 fail to see 

 that they have atfected the grass in any way. — [ Jatnes Powers, Lexington, Ind., 

 June 16, 1890. 



Reply. — I have just received your letter of June 16, together with the accompany- 

 ing specimens of Bhizococcus on grass. I am glad to get additional information on 

 this interesting Coccid and will file it for future use.— [June 18, 1890.] 



The Grape Curculio. 



Is there anything that will destroy that most abominable pest, the Grape Curculio 

 {Cceliodes inaqualxs), which is on my grounds in countless numbers, doing more harm 

 than all else combined ?— [G. R. Wood, Lyndon, Ky., July 2.3, 1890. 



Reply. — Your letter of the 23d, regarding the damage done in your vineyards by 

 the Grape Cuiculio, has been received. I fear very much that I can not help you in 

 this matter. I published a short account of this insect in my first Missouri report, 

 and Mr. B. D. Walsh is the author of a more elaborate account in his first report as 

 acting State entomologist of Illinois, published in the Transactions of the Illinois 

 Horticultural Society for 1867. Xo suggestions of any great value have ever been 

 made. Mr. Walsh thought that at the time the eggs were being deposited, say about 

 the middle of June, some good could be done by shaking the beetles from the vines 

 upon sheets, as is done in the case of the Plum Curculio. If it can be ascertained by 

 observation just when the beetle begins to be abundant upon the vines, a spraying 

 with a kerosene emulsion will doubtless destroy many of them. In order to make 

 these of any avail, you will have to familiarize yourself with the appearance of the 

 beetle, if you do not know it already. It would be interesting to make some obser- 

 vations on the feeding habits of the beetles early in the season, as it may be that 

 they feed upon the grape leaves or stems, in which case we should have a ready 

 remedy in the application of an arsenical mixture, as in the case of the Plum Cur- 

 culio. Does this insect appear in numbers upon your grounds every year and is it 

 very common in your neighborhood? I have rarely heard of it of late years, or I 

 should otherwise have made further observations in the lines which I have just sug- 

 gested.— [July 26, 1890.] 



Scale-insects in California. 



I send with the same post as this a small scale found in an orchard here two weeks 

 ago. I sent specimens to Professor Coquillett, but he could not name it. The tree 

 it is on is commonly called the box-elder. It seems to me to be a species of Acer. I 



