19 



The infested district in Georgia is not less than sixty miles long by forty wide, and 

 embraces Union County on the east, Gilmer on the west, and Polk County, Tennessee, 

 on the north. They have been injurious two years, but in the summer of 1881 they 

 were most destructive. 



It is stated in the Practical Entomologist that the eggs are deposited in masses of 

 fifty upon the limbs of the tree. A piece of apple bark before me presents an irregular 

 patch over three inches long, and one-fourth to one-half inch broad, the eggs closely 

 crowding upon each other. As there are many hundreds, they have doubtless been de- 

 posited by a number of moths, which attests the truth of Mr. Davenports's statement 

 regarding their falling in showers like snow. 



They are deposited for the most part on the under side of the limbs on the top of 

 the trees, and not only upon the bark, but the tufts of moss are covered by clusters of 

 them. The eggs are smooth, dull, irregularly ovoid, slightly flattened upon the sidles, 

 rounded at the bottom, while the top is depressed, with a whitish rim or edge, forming 

 a perfect oval ring ; colour yellowish brown, resembling brown glue ; length of examples 

 before me, -04 inch ; width, lying upon the flattened side, -03 inch ; thickness, or smal- 

 lest diameter, -02 inch. They are deposited in curved or straight rows of a dozen 

 or more (or less), these lines forming masses often of many hundreds. 



The name Eagonia subsignaria, is given on the authority of Mr. Davenport, sup- 

 ported by his descriptions in answer to my questions, as I have had no means of deter- 

 mining the species. There is no doubt in my mind, however, of the insect's identity. 



The Hop- Vine Borer. 



The casual reader, calling to mind only the half dozen hop-vines usually seen about 

 the kitchen garden, or trailing upon some farm out-building, can hardly realize the pos- 

 sible losses to hop growers by insects. According to the last census (for 1879) New 

 York State alone had over 39,000 acres in hop yards, producing nearly 22,000,000 lbs. 

 of hops, which, at an average of 28c. per lb., would aggregate a value of over $6,000,000. 

 Bearing these figures in mind, with an annual loss of 10 per cent, from only one insect 

 — the hop borer — (and 25 to 50 per cent, of injury has been reported) a loss of $600,000 

 would result in this single State. 



With such a destructive agent in the hop field, is it not a little singular that there 

 is little or nothing "in the books " on the subject, and that the pest is in all probability 

 an unknown and undescribed species ? I am not able to give its name — Prof. Comstock 

 writes me he is working it up — but as I have accumulated a mass of interesting data on 

 the subject in my census work, I deem it proper to make known now the experience of 

 intelligent growers in different sections of the country, for the benefit of those who have 

 not yet learned how to fight the pest, leaving the* scientific name and details of habits 

 and natural history to be supplied hereafter. 



The only mention that I can find of an insect boring into the crown of the hop 

 plant, in the manner set forth by numerous correspondents, occurs on page 33 of the 

 Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario for 1872, by Rev. C. J. S. Bethune. As 

 an appendix to his paper on Hop Insects, he gives descriptions of an unknown larvae 

 feeding "upon the crown of the root," and which he was unable to rear. The size of 

 the larvae and the general points of description agree so well with the unscientific de- 

 scriptions given by my correspondents, the growers, that I unhesitatingly pronounce 

 them to be the destructive hop borers, which are the subject of this paper. 



The pest has been known to cultivators of the hop for many years — indeed it is re- 

 ported from Oneida County that it has always been known in the locality — and other 

 hop growing districts have felt its presence for longer or shorter periods. In Juneau 

 County, Wisconsin, it was first noticed in 1867, while the observer in Waupaca County 

 had not noticed it prior to 1881. The percentage of destruction varies in different sec- 

 tions from almost nothing — where kept under control, or yards are new — to 25, 50, and 

 even a greater percentage where the yards are old, badly infested, or not looked after. 

 These facts lead a New York grower to state, in his opinion, that it is best to abandon 

 yards after six or eight years' culture, and change to new ground, for " grubs will get 



