[147] 



Report of the State Entomologist. 



289 



The attack of this little mite is undoubtedly far more frequent than 

 is supposed, for the reason that the creature can hardly be seen 

 with the naked eye, and an ordinary pocket magnifier only shows it 

 as an animated speck. A nasturtium in my garden, which had been 

 for some time showing yellow leaves, or yellow blotches upon the leaves, 

 without any apparent cause, was found, upon examination for this 

 mite, to show its presence in considerable numbers, in the larval and 

 in the adult stages. As an experiment, one of the infested leaves was 

 dipped in water in which some soap had been stirred, with the result 

 of speedily killing all of the mites upon it. 



A Parasitic Mite of a Sexton Beetle. 



Dr. S. A. Russell, of Albany, N. Y., has sent to me an example of 

 one of the burying or " sexton beetles," Necrophorus tomentosus Web. 

 (distinguishable from the other red-banded members 

 of the family by the greenish-yellow down covering 

 its thorax, and the two red bands crossing its wing- 

 covers), thickly infested with a small red mite which 

 runs with great rapidity. Several of them were 

 sent to Prof. Osborn, who is making a special study 

 of our mites with reference to a catalogue of the 

 known species. At this present stage of his studies, ^^os^e' - sexton- 

 he was only able to refer it to the genus Gamasus. beetle, Neceopho- 

 He had previously obtained the same form from EUS tomentosus. 

 another species of Necrophorus. 



[The catalogue — A Preliminary List of the Acarina of North 

 America, by Herbert Osborn, of the Iowa Agricultural College, and 

 Lucien M. Underwood, of Syracuse University — has been published 

 in the Canadian Entomologist, for January, 1886, xviii, pp. 4-12]. 



A Parasitic Attack on the Colorado Potato-beetle. 

 From a gentleman in Middlesex county, Mass., some live potato- 

 beetles, Doryphora decemlineata (Say), were received, to which were 

 attached numbers of " bugs or lice," with the statement that he had 

 found many of the dead beetles thus infested, and only a few live 

 ones that were not attacked, and it seemed as if the beetles would all 

 be killed. 



The supposed lice proved to be a very interesting parasite which 

 has been known for several years past to attack the Colorado potato- 

 37 



