220 



Daring this period I had been examining apples remainiu;^ on the 

 trees, and cutting down on the punctures. In only a few cases had 

 any larvae developed at all and in no case did any come to maturity. 



The bearing of the investigation was, that if an orchard is kept clear 

 of fallen fruit there would be no development of curculio on apple trees, 

 since they require a decaying or fermenting mess to feed upon. Great 

 stress should be placed on this point of picking fallen fruit, as it is fully 

 as important as spraying. 



Mr. Fletcher asked whether the curculio punctures did not cause the 

 falling of the attacked apples. 



Mr. Smith replied that they did not. 



Mr. Beckwith said that in his experience the curculio is very abun- 

 dant in apple orchards. He has noticed them flying out of the trees when 

 spraying, on many occasions. 



Mr. Harvey understood Mr. Smith to say that the plum curculio found 

 in the fallen apples was the best condition for development, and for this 

 reason he was pleased to have another argument for picking and de- 

 stroying fallen fruit. It is the only way to get the better of the Trypeta 

 pomonella, but he can not persuade farmers to go to the trouble. If 

 there are two points to be gained, it may be easier to induce them to 

 act. He thought that in his experience the punctured apple dropped 

 early, but that very few larvae matured. He had found many dead 

 larvae in punctured apples, and from one hundred only two beetles were 

 reared. 



Mr. Woodworth thinks that not all the larvae in growing apples die. 



Mr. Cook thinks that the development in growing api)les is extremely 

 rare. He remembers it as a great triumph when on one occasion he 

 was able to show a living larva in a growing apple. 



Dr. Goding stated that he had been unable to prepare a paper for the 

 meeting as he had intended, and stated that he was at present collect- 

 ing and studying Membracidae. He asked all who might have material 

 in this family to send to him for determination and study. 



Mr. Smith read the folio wibg: 



AN EXPERIENCE WITH THE ROSE BUG. 



By J. B. Smith. 



It really was an experience. I had never seen insects in such num- 

 bers, in such constantly increasing swarms, and of such enormous in- 

 dustry. There was lots of fun in experimenting ; but the fun was on 

 the part of the rose bug, and not on the part of the experimenter. I 

 spent a few days during the invasion at Vineland, and it was simply 

 awful. Every cherry was cleared off, and many leaves were devoured. 

 Apple trees presented a great mass of sprawling rose bugs burdening 

 each apple. The fruit itself was not visible^ but its situation was 



