290 



A NEW ELM INSECT. 



In Garden and Forest for January 15, 1890, p. 30, Prof. J. B. Smith 

 calls attention to a new elm insect (Zeuzera pyrina Fabr.) evidently im- 

 ported from Europe, the moths of which for some time past have oc- 

 curred in increasing numbers every year in the city of Newark, N. J., 

 particularly about electric lights in the neighborhood of elm trees. Ex- 

 amination failed to show any of the larvse in the trunks or roots of the 

 elm trees. Recently, however, numbers of the larvse were found in the 

 small twigs of a felled tree and the pupae in burrows in the larger 

 branches. The terminal twigs of many of the trees at Newark are re- 

 ported to be dying as a result, it is supposed, of the attacks of this in- 

 sect. Recognizable figures of the moths and larvse are reproduced 

 from drawings by Mr. John Angelmann. The adult insect is a large 

 white moth with blue-black spots, known to English collectors as the 

 leopard moth. 



SOOT AS A REMEDY FOR WOOLY APPLE-LOUSE. 



The New Zealand Farmer for December, 1889, p. 524, refers to the use 

 of coal soot to destroy the root form of the " American blight" (Schizo- 

 neura lanigera). The soot is buried 6 or 7 inches below the sur- 

 face of the affected tree and is said to give very satisfactory results. 

 The use of soot is in the same line as the old remedy of wood ashes 

 which will be found to be equally satisfactory. The alleged efficacy of 

 the soot against all other insect pests of the apple is as is pointed out 

 more than doubtful. 



METAMORPHOSES OF FLEAS. 



Mr. W. J. Simmons read before the Microscopical Society of Calcutta, 

 March 5, 1888, an interesting paper on "The Metamorphoses of the Dog- 

 flea," which has since appeared in the American Monthly Microscopical 

 Journal, vol. 9, pp. 227-230. He presents some novel phases of flea 

 life, well calculated to excite one's interest in these quite generally 

 anathematized insects. It is stated that there are twenty-five different 

 species of fleas; the dog, cat, fowl, marten, rat, squirrel, hedgehog, mole, 

 pigeon and bat each having its own species, while it is a curious fact 

 that there are also vegetarian species, two of which are mentioned. 

 One of these latter lives in brushwood, while the other is a lover of 

 mushrooms. Besides these, the flea which attacks man has not been 

 mentioned, to which must be added the jigger of tropical America, this 

 being also a true flea. Mr. Simmons makes a considerable point of the 

 order of length of the tarsal joints in the classification of fleas. 



Following his notes on the transformations of the dog-flea we find: 

 Eggs were deposited early in the morning of October 17, 1886. These 

 were put in a glass and covered with a pane of the same material. On 

 the morning of October 19, about fifty hours after deposition, most of 

 the nits had hatched out, but a few took twenty four hours or so longer. 



