422 



ments. The board, in its appendix, expresses its regret that its efforts 

 have not been seconded by the persons more immediately interested, 

 and in view of the loss which the reputation of the province in the 

 matter of pure grain and ilours would sustain in its export trade, pub- 

 lishes the penalties attached to any violation of the statutes in the 

 matter of selling unsound grain and flour, and threatens to give due 

 publicity to all violations. The measures to be taken in stamping out 

 the pest are published again. 



A NEW ENEMY OF THE FALL WEB-WORM. 



Mr. J. C. Duffey, of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, has recently 

 published in the Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Science, 

 vol. V, No. 3, a paper entitled " Transformations of a Carabid {Flochi- 

 onus timidus) and Observations on a Coccinellid Enemy of the Red 

 Spider." The larvaj of the Plochionus were found in the webs of Hy- 

 phantria cunea feeding upon the web-worms and from two to twenty of 

 these Carabid larvae were found in nearly every web. By July 1. the 

 Hyphantria larvse had entirely disappeared. The same state of affairs 

 was observed with the second brood of web-worms, which began to 

 appear July 22. Soon after this date, the adults of Plochionus made 

 their appearance in the webs, laid their small white eggs in numbers, 

 and from these larvae soon hatched and began feeding upon the web- 

 worms. Thirty-two of the Carabid eggs were found in a portion of the 

 web covering a single mulberry leaf. The larvae reached full growth 

 in 16 days and remained in the i^upa state from 9 to 12 days. The 

 pupa state was passed in the web and indeed the entire life round 

 of the insect, as observed by Mr. Duffey, was arboreal. Mr. Duffey 

 thinks that the insect hibernates as a beetle, but of this he is not sure. 

 Short descriptions of the newly hatched and full grown larvae are given 

 and rough figures also accompany the article. The second portion of 

 the paper treats of Scymnus punctum and of its feeding upon the Eed 

 Spider. Descriptions of the full-grown larva and pupa and figures of 

 the same are also given. Miss Murtfeldt made similar observations on 

 the Hyphantria feeding habits of Plochionus last year and sent us notes 

 thereon, but learning that Mr. Duffey was about to publish his inter- 

 esting observ^ations which had priority we withheld those of our agent. 



A CHEERY-TREE BORER IN MAINE. 



Mr. G. Warren Smith, of Eockland, Maine, who is a large cultivator 

 of cherries at Camden in that State, called on us recently and reported 

 very great injury to his cherry trees by what is evidently, from his 

 description, the cherry-tree borer {Dicerca divaricata). The trees are 

 injured most during the third and fourth year of their growth and the 

 work is not confined to the trunk, but extends to the small branches. 



