225 



stout, dark brown, longicorn Beetle has been found associated with the 

 branches. In all cases the appearance is the same : the branch has 

 been gnawed awav in a circular somewhat rounded manner almost to 

 the middle, and has then broken ofi by its own weight. Branchts of 

 over an inch in diameter have been severed in this way. 



Mr. John Cooper. Griddy Hall, St. Elizabeth some time ago brought 

 a branch of Gamarina in which this had been carried out. Mr. Arthur 

 George has contributed similar specimens from the cotton tree, Erio- 

 dendron anfractuosum,, and from tlie Congo Pea, Cajanus ifuiicus. 



Specimens of the beetle and the branches were sent to Dr. L. 0. 

 Howard, Chief of the United States Department of Agriculture, and 

 he has very kindly replied as follows : 



I have your letter of the 10th of December and the very interesting 

 specimen of a Longicorn beetle and of its work. There is no doubt that 

 the beetle is the cause of this amputation of the branches, as is indi- 

 cated not only by its specific name, but by earlier references to the 

 literature. My assistant in Coleoptera. Mr. E. A. Schwarz, determines 

 it as Oncideres amput ito^, Fabr. The original descriptions make use 

 of the following words : " Habitat in Americae insulis ramos etiam 

 crassiores abscindere dicitur " Fabricius, (Entom System. 1, 2, p. 276 ). 

 'i he larva is described and figured by W. Kirby (Trans. Linn. Soc, 

 XIII, 1821, p. 6U4; tab. 2o, figs. 1-4). I am glad to receive the 

 specimens, which will be deposited in the TJ. S National Museum. We 

 have in the United States four c ^n generic species, which have precisely 

 the same habit, but they are smaller insects and confine their attacks 

 to very much smaller twigs. 



I am, &c. 



L. 0. Howard." 



Other specimens in the Institute's Museum, such as Lagochirus 

 araneiformis, ure clos.Ty allied to the Oncideres amputator, and no 

 doubt have the same destructive action on trees. It does not seem 

 likely, however, that the loss of branches ever becomes so great as to 

 be regarded in a serious light by the agriculturist. 



Stink-bugs attacking the Irish Potato. 



A short time ago Mr. J. G. Stewart, Westphalia, Guava Ridge P. O. 

 wrote as follows of some insect attacking his Irish Potatoes :- -I have 

 planted somT- Irish Potatoes and they are just growing. Last week 

 when I went to inspect the field I found these insects swarming upon 

 nearly all the plants. Whenever the insects swarm in this way the 

 plants always fade away and die." 



On examination of the specimens accompanying the letter showed 

 them to be one of the stink-bugs. They were kindly identified by Mr. 

 VV. H. Ashmead, of the L^nited States National Museum, as Spartocera 

 '.batatas, Fabr., who also states that it is a well known pest of the potato. 



The stink-bugs belong to the order Hemiptera, which includes many 



