242 Forty-second Report on the State Museum. [100] 



It seems a great pity that something as simple as the <( sulphur 

 cure " can not be found available against the elm-leaf beetle, but 

 until such a discovery shall be made, we shall have to hold fast to 

 the well-tested and efficient method of spraying with Paris green or 

 London purple, with a suitable force-pump, and a sufficient length of 

 hose furnished with an atomizing nozzle; or, later, to cage the mature 

 larvae for destruction in a box, tarred within and on the bottom, 

 placed around the tree trunk, when they descend the tree for pupation 

 in the ground. 



The Box Remedy. 



The box, above mentioned, was suggested by Mr. Glover, in his 

 Annual Report as Entomologist to the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture for the year 1867 : 



Place around each tree a low open box or frame about a foot or 

 eighteen inches in height, at about the same distance from the main 

 trunk, its lower part sunk four or five inches below the surface of the 

 soil, the top capped with strips of bright tin sloping inwards and 

 projecting on both sides like the eaves of a house, and the upper half 

 of the inside boards painted every morning with coal tar or some 

 other viscid substance. The earth within should be covered with 

 cement. It being the habit of the larvae when full grown to crawl 

 down the trunk of the tree, they would, upon their descent, be 

 imprisoned within the frames, being unable to escape either by enter- 

 ing the ground, or crawling outside over the tar and the projecting 

 tin. They would therefore be compelled to change to pupae within 

 the frames, where they could at any time easily be killed by hot water 

 or otherwise, by thousands. The frames should be made so as to be 

 readily taken apart and laid aside at the close of the attack, until 

 they are again needed. 



Mr. Glover remarks that the same box might also be used for pre- 

 venting the female canker worm, Anisopteryx vernata (Peck) from 

 ascending the elms and fruit trees for the deposit of her eggs; but 

 in that case, the tar should be applied to the outside of the box. 



Clastoptera obtusa (Say). 

 The Alder Spittle-Insect. 

 (Ord. Hemiptera: Subord. Homoptera: Fam. Cercopidjs.) 



Cercopis obtusa Say : in Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., iv, 1825, p. 339 ; Compl. 



Writ., Lec. Edit., ii, 1883, p. 256. 

 Clastoptera obtusa Fitch : in 4th Kept. N. Y. St. Cab. Nat. Hist., 1851, p. 53.— 



Uhler: in Cassino's Stand. Nat. Hist., ii, 1884, p. 244.— Comstock : 



Introduc. Entomol., 1888, p. 178.— Provancher: Pet. Faun. Ent. 



Can.— Hemip., 1889, p. 259. 



