27 



About my house at the Michigan Agricultural College I have planted a little apple 

 orchard of eight trees. The trunks and larger branches of these trees have been 

 thoroughly washed twice each spring, the last week of May and the last week of June, 

 with soft soap, A neighbour but a stone's throw distant set out some fine primates about 

 the same time that I set out my trees. He does not believe in the use of soft soap, prac- 

 tically at least, and his trees are sorely disfigured and greatly injured by the ISai^erda 

 Candida and the aS'. cretata, while my trees are smooth and admired by all. I have some 

 pear trees in the same orchard which were not treated with the soap, one of which has 

 been much injured by the borers. 



This year I used the undiluted carbolic mixture instead of the soft soap. I fully 

 believe this to be an improvement on the soap alone, as in some cases, if but one or even 

 two applications of the soap are made, the effect is not so long continued as to entirely 

 prevent the borers from egg laying. The carbolic acid will tend to extend the period, so- 

 that I believe two applications will in every case repel the beetles. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL PAPERS. 

 By James T. Bell, Belleville, Ontario. 

 Arboreal Auscultation. 



Some time ago, while visiting the Dean and Williams Gold Mine, in the township of 

 Marmora, I was interested in observing the proceedings of some woodpeckers which 

 resorted to some half-dead pine trees in front of my room window. I remarked that 

 after alighting they would run upwards in a zigzag way, stopping occasionally, and apply- 

 ing the side of their heads to the tree, evidently listening for the noise made by a grub 

 while gnawing the wood. Suddenly a bird would begin to dip into the bark, the rapid 

 strokes of its powerful bill making the chips fly faster than a lumberman's axe. On one^ 

 occasion, by the aid of an opera-glass, I saw one fellow transfer something large and 

 white from the cavity he had excavated to the interior of his craw, but the quickness of 

 the action prevented me from ascertaining precisely what it was. 



Thinking of this, it has occurred to me that the presence of a " borer" in a fruit or 

 other tree might be ascertained in the same manner by the use of a tube of wood or tin- 

 plate formed like a stethoscope or ear-trumpet ; by applying the wide end to the tree and 

 the small end to the ear, the exact locality of the grub could be determined, when the- 

 application of a stout brad-awl or small gimlet would put an end at once to his life and 

 his depredations without material injury to the tree. 



How we Captured a Hornet's Nest. 



One fine day last October, while enjoying a ramble in the woods near Belleville, with 

 two of my sons, one of them took hold of a knot which projected from a small half-decayed 

 log, intending to turn it over to search for beetles beneath it. The piece, however, came 

 away in his hand and disclosed the entrance of a nest of black hornets. Of course we 

 retreated " at the double " before the disturbed insects recovered from their first surprise, 

 leaving them to settle down at their leisure. A few days after, taking advantage of a 

 cool morning, I sent my two boys to the wood with a small bottle of chloroform and a 

 hard rubber syringe. According to directions, they injected about a drachm of the liquid 

 into the hole, and threw a handkerchief over the entrance. In about five minutes they 

 opened up the nest, when they found the inmates in a perfect state of slumber, and trans- 

 ferred them without trouble to their cyanide bottles. In about an hour they returned^ 

 bringing me forty-eight specimens of the insect. 



Collection Notes for 1880. 



The early months of 1880 were especially favourable to the acquisition of the hyber- 

 nating Coleoptera, and those which have their permanent habitat among the moss of our 

 woods and swamps. The early disappearance of the snow laid bare their hiding places,. 



