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Note on a Leaf-hopper. 
Inclosed find specimens of insects which I find feeding on the California Hedge 
Plant. They are new in this city, this year being their first appearance. Their ray- 
ages are apparent, though not yet serious.—[Henry Allison, Texas, July 2, 1889. 
REPLy.—The insect which feeds upon your “California Hedge Plant” is one of the 
leaf-hoppers Known as Ormenis pruinosa. The best remedy for this insect will be the 
application of a dilute kerosene emulsion made according to the formula given upon 
page 3 of Circular No. 1, new series.—[July &, 1891.] 
Destructiveness of the Corn-root Plant-louse in Nebraska. 
I write these few lines to mention the destructiveness of these lice on our corn 
crop of the last season. Some signs of their destructiveness were noticed last year, 
when they weresosmall that only a goodeyecouldseethem. They were light green in 
color. Asthey grew insize fortwo or three weeks, their color changed to alight yellow, 
and then they disappeared, I do not know where. As the corn became an inch or 
two high we noticed it began to turn in color from a healthy green to a sickly yellow. 
This was only in places. On close examination the roots of the corn plants were 
found to be infested by seores of these little green lice. They continued their de- 
structive work for a month or more, thus killing or spoiling each plant upon which 
they fed. They did not eat the plant, but only sapped it through the thin portions 
of the epidermis. They worked in spots of from one-half to 10 acres in a place, all 
through the corn fields of this section of the country. Where they worked the corn 
is a failure. Some farmers have lost as high as one-third of their crop, while others 
have lost but a trifle. In all, the amount destroyed by these lice would amount to 
a greater quantity than would be believed. 
So far no effectual remedy is known, but a new mode of planting corn is looked to 
as being the only way of getting rid of these pests. I have noticed that when corn 
was planted on ground that had raised a crop of small grain the previous year, no 
lice were to be seen, while on ground where corn had been grown for previous years 
the lice were sure to be found. 
From my observations of the past season, I wroutd suggest that the following 
measures be adopted: Plant corn one year alternately with small grain, as, while the 
small] grain is growing, the lice eggs that were deposited in that ground the previous 
year will hatch, and the young finding no corn upon which to feed, will starve. Of 
course many will emigrate to neighboring fields, but by repeating this method for 
several successive years, these lice will surely be thinned out.—[{James Pearson, 
Nebraska, August 25, 1891. ; 
A Parasite of the Cottony Maple Scale. 
I inclose herewith a small Hymenopteron which I take to be a parasite on the 
Cottony Maple Scale. In examining the foliage of maples to-day I found them run- 
ning up and down the twigs. When they would reach a scale they would run over 
it once or twice and then turn round and apply the tip of the abdomen to the edge 
of the scale, remaining in this position a short time, depositing eggs probably. 
I will, as soon as possible, take other specimens and endeavor to breed some of them 
later on.—[ Warren Knaus, Kansas, July 3, 1891. 
ReEpLy.—I am very much obliged to you for the parasite which you found appar- 
ently ovipositing upon Pulrinaria. It is Comys fusca Howard, described in the An- 
nual Report of this Department for 1880, and bred from a species of Lecanium on Oak 
from Mobile, Ala. It has never been bred from Pulvinaria, and your observation is 
therefore an interesting one. You ought to be able to find still other parasites, and 
I hope you will send in any you may be able to breed.—([July 8, 1891.] 
