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find it entirely free from worms, while the stacks are badly eaten, and swarming 
with worms of all sizes. Evidently, if larvee or eggs had been upon the growing 
clover the worms should now be found in all of the hay.—[G. M. Dodge, Missouri, 
December 27, 1891. 
The Box-elder Bug attacking Fruit in Washington State. 
First LETTER.—Inclosed I send some bugs for your inspection. They appeared 
last year, but did no damage till this summer, when they attacked the fruit in great 
numbers, destroying large quantities of plums, peaches, apples, and some grapes. 
They suck the juice from the fruit, leaving it dry and fibrous. When about half 
grown they begin to grow wings and become spotted with black. Before that time 
they are blood-red. [I. N. Newkirk, Columbia County, Washington, October 22, 
1891. 
Repiy.—The insect which you sent is arather common bug known scientifically as 
Leptocoris trivittata. In some parts of the West this bug has in late years become 
known as the *‘ Box-elder Bug” on account of its seeming preference for the Box-elder 
‘ Negundo aceroides), a tree which is commonly grown for shade in many of our cities. 
We have seldom heard of this insect damaging fruit as you describe, but in 1885 re- 
ceived a similar account from Kanab, Kane County, Utah. The Entomologist would 
be much interested to know whether the Box-elder tree grows in the vicinity of your 
orchard. In the Utah occurrence insects bred upon the Box-elder and deserted this 
tree for the ripening fruit. The best remedy which can be recommended is to spray 
the bugs wherever noticed in any numbers with a dilute kerosene-soap emulsion 
made according to the formula given upon page 3 of Circular No.1, second series. 
The application should be made as early in the season as possible, asthe bugs breed 
rapidly, and every one killed in the spring will be a considerable saving. Search 
should be made for their breeding places, and they should be destroyed, if possible, 
before they make their appearance upon the fruit. [October 30, 1891.] 
Second LETTER.—In reply to your inquiry relative to the growth of Box-elder in 
the vicinity of those Box-elder Bugs, as you call them, I will make a general state- 
ment which I deem pertinent to the inquiry. The bugs have been generally distrib- 
uted in Columbia and Garfield counties, within the bounds of my knowledge. There 
are quite a number of timber cultures scattered through these counties in which Box- 
elder is the principal timber used. I havea grove of these trees standing beside my 
orchard. These bugs are a tolerable make-shift for bedbugs when young, crawling 
into beds and biting quite sharply. They have been noticed hanging in bunches like’ 
bees, to Box-elder branches.—[I. N. Newkirk, Washington, November 10, 1891. 
Notes on the ‘‘Blood-sucking Cone-nose.”’ 
FIRST LETTER.—Is not the Conorhinus sanguisugus a relative of the genus Reduvius? 
‘They fly at night, alighting in a straight flight near a light, to seek on landing a 
dark nook to hide. They are more common in fresh, cool, damp weather, becoming 
scarce towards July. They are very active. I found one disturbing a settlement of 
bedbugs, another eating what I think was a young Blattid. Their bite is very 
severe and deep. I believe they have some hooks to cling with while sucking, and 
have a kind of venom, making the wound sore and itching, with a burning pain last- 
ing two, three, and four days. While at a high temperature the sensation is more 
acute, the general effects do not last so long. I use volatile alkali against all such 
‘stings of insects so far with success; never tried spiders yet, and do not care to. 
[Emile J. Longuemare, Missouri, September 14,1891. * * * 
REPLY: Conorhinus sanguisugus comes very close in classification to the genus Redu- 
vius, and both genera occur in the same subfamily. Your having observed Conorhi- 
nus feeding on a Blattid (?) is very interesting and well worth going on record. 
Your experience also with the bite of this insect is quite a common one, and many of ~ 
