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NEW YOBK STATE MUSEUM 



would soon carry it over the entire State, it would unquestionably be a 

 wise economy if its extermination could be attained through the 

 expenditure of a million of dollars. It may be recalled in this connec- 

 tion that the wheat-midge inflicted upon the wheat crop of the State 

 of New York in one year — 1854 — an estimated loss of fifteen mil- 

 lions of dollars. (Report of the ^Entomologist to the Regents of the 

 University JS. JV. Y. for the Year 1893.) 



Gortyna immanis (Guenee). 



The Hopvine Grub. 



(Ord. Lepidoptera : Fam. Noctuid^j.) 



A correspondent, Mr. A. B. Ryder, writing from Barnersville, in 

 Schoharie county — one of the principal hop-growing counties in the 

 State of New York — makes complaint of the ravages of " the grub," 

 and asks for an effective remedy for it. He writes: 



Operations of the Grub. 



The hop grub is the greatest enemy that the hop-growers of this 

 county have to contend with. It makes its appearance in the spring 

 about the time that we are making our first tying. We notice that 

 the tops of the vines are stung by some insect, and on examination we 

 find a tiny worm in them, which in a few days falls to the ground. 

 Here it eats into the hop roots so that the hill winter-kills the follow- 

 ing winter. The grub gets to be about an inch long. I suppose that 

 it is a fly or some other insect that deposits an egg in the head of the 

 hopvine and develops into the grub. If so, where does the fly come 

 from, and how can we prevent having so many grubs ? Any informa- 

 tion that you can give me will be thankfully received, and a remedy 

 for the prevention or destruction of the grubs would be worth thou- 

 sands of dollars to our hop-growers. 



A copy of the Second Report on the Insects of New York, contain- 

 ing the life-history of the insect as worked out by Prof. J. B. Smith, 

 was sent to Mr. Ryder, which would tell him what the insect was, of 

 its habits, nature of its injuries, its transformations, etc. For the reme- 

 dies and preventives to be used, he was referred to the excellent and 

 full study of the insect by Professor Smith, published in Bulletin 4 of 

 the Division of Entomology — U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, 1884. As this bulletin is now virtually out of print, the 

 following summary of its provisions is here given for the benefit of 

 hop-growers. 



