REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



287 



has been in constant dispute and which has important scientific and 

 economic bearings. 



Mr. II. G. Hubbard, though suffering much from malarial troubles so 

 common in Florida, has continued the work on insects affecting the Or- 

 ange, and I have included a valuable article from him on the nature and 

 treatment of the so-called orange rust, which so disfigures and depreci- 

 ate the market value of the Florida oranges. The accuracy of his ob- 

 servations I have, in many cases, been able to verify personally. 



Dr. A. S. Packard has continued the special work he has been en- 

 gaged on and contributes the results of further investigations as to the 

 cause of death of evergreens and other forest trees in Northern New 

 England and New York. 



Mr. J. B. Smith has worked out the hitherto unknown life-history of 

 the worm that so seriously affects the fruit of the Cranberry and which 

 proves to be an undescribed species of Acrobasis, closely allied to the 

 Rascal Leaf-crumpler of the Apple, and which I have named vaccinii. 

 He reports that the efforts of the cranberry- growers to protect the crops 

 from its numerous enemies have been more successful than formerly, 

 since the publication of his report upon them, the agent being water, 

 where available, and, where not, the kerosene emulsion and London 

 purple. Experiments which I desired as to the influence on the 

 dimorphism of the Cranberry Teras, as also on the hibernation and sum- 

 mer migration of the Hop plant-louse, w r ere unsuccessful. 



Mr. Lawrence Brunei- lias been engaged at West Point, Nebr., in the 

 further study of locusts. He reports a few of the genuine Bocky Mount- 

 ain locust in that State, but from the data which he has been able to 

 collect believes that no danger threatens, during the coming season of 

 188$, the farmers of that portion of the Mississippi Valley known as the 

 Temporary Begion, and which the species temporarily invades. 



I hope soon to see the day when the appropriation for the work of 

 this Bureau will be sufficiently increased to permit the employment of 

 field agents in every State in which agronomic interests predominate ; 

 for, aside from the fact that the surroundings of Washington City and 

 the insufficient conveniences in the Department buildings do not permit 

 of much satisfactory field work and experiment, the insects peculiar to 

 different sections of the country, affecting particular crops, can only 

 be advantageously studied in such sections or where such crops are 

 most at home. Such field agents should work, as far as possible, in co- 

 operation with, or at least not in conflict with, whomever in the State 

 may be engaged in similar w^ork. 



The office force of the Bureau has remained unchanged, and with each 

 year becomes anore proficient in the special work assigned to each individ- 

 ual member. An ever increasing correspondence has absorbed the chief 

 time of myself and principal assistants, though a number of experiments 

 have been carried on and a large number of biographic facts recorded. 



Under your instructions I made a trip to Europe during the summer, 

 sailing the latter part of May and returning the first of September. 

 This was the first time since my connection with the Department t hat 

 1 have been absent any length of time, and Mr. L. O. Howard acted as 

 assistant in charge during my absence, and deserves my thanks for the 

 efficient manner in which he attended to the correspondence and for 

 the assistance he has rendered in the preparation of this report. 



I visited the International Forestry Exhibition at Edinburgh; made 

 many necessary notes from the chief insect collections in England and 

 France; took steps looking to assistance in the introduction of beneficial 

 insects; studied certain questions bearing on silk-culture, and, at the 

 invitation of the French minister of agriculture, spent some time in 



