[115] 



Report of the State Entomologist. 



257 



cess when prepared "by boiling four or five pounds of tobacco in water 

 sufficient to nearly fill a tin pan " — an indefinite measure, but a pan 

 such as used upon a farm for milk may be presumed. 



Dr. Fitch, at the time of his writing, regarded, as the very best 

 measure for subduing these pests, that of using their natural 

 enemies for the work. This was to be done by collecting from the 

 hedges and borders of the forest in the neighborhood, by the aid of a 

 beating-net, such as is sometimes used by entomologists for gathering 

 insects, or an open inverted umbrella, or some other convenient 

 implement, a few scores of their natural enemies (lady-bugs and 

 their larvae) and, conveying them alive in small boxes and vials, to set 

 them free upon the infested tree. Their increase would be so 

 wonderfully rapid that but a short time would be required to put an 

 end to the aphis attack. 



The convergent lady-bird, Hippodamia convergens Guer. [its orange- 

 red wing-covers dotted with black spots and its black thorax marked 

 with two converging pale lines, 

 as shown in the slightly en- 

 larged Fig. 31 at c, and in Fig. 

 32 more enlarged] could be con- 

 & c veniently used for this purpose 

 Fig. si. — The con- early in the season, as it may be 

 vergent lady-bug, Hip- gathered by thousands during 



PODAMIA CONVEEGENS; .-i £ -»«- 



a. the larva; b, pupa; the montn of Ma y on the common coNYEBGENS.enlarged. 

 c, the imago or beetle. Mayweed {Maruta cotuta), and no better investment 

 could be made by those who wish to destroy plant-lice than in 

 the employment of boys to collect these lady-birds, four or five of 

 which will clear a two-year-old peach tree in as many days (Riley, 

 in New York Tribune for June 17, 1874). 

 33 



Fig. 32.— Hippodamia 



