Pebruary, '15] 



CURRENT NOTES 



157 



IMr. J. D. Xeuls, Bureau of Entomology, will conclude his life-history studies of 

 date scale insects at Mecca by the end of this year and will then resume his former 

 detail as an assistant in the citrus fruit laboratorj^ at Pasadena with Mr. Woglum. 

 This laboratory is the one formerly located at Whittier. 



The work on the control of the house fly which has been under way in Washington 

 during the season T\-ill be continued at New Orleans for several weeks. E. R. 

 Barber will conduct the experiments at New Orleans. Mr. Hutchinson will com- 

 plete the work at Washington and inaugurate an extended series of experiments to 

 determine certain points about the hibernation of the fly. 



The Bureau of Entomology has estabhshed a field station at West Springfield, 

 Mass., about two miles from the center of Springfield and near the Connecticut line 

 where investigations on cereal and forage crop insects will be conducted for New 

 England. ^Ir. Harrison E. Smith has been placed in charge, and the buildings are 

 now being erected and will be occupied by the Bureau in February. 



The biological investigations in California of the grape Phylloxera, by the Bureau 

 of Entomology, have now been pretty well completed, and Mr. W. M. Davidson 

 will spend the winter in Washuigton, and will be engaged in the preparation of his 

 report and necessary illustrations. The field work with remedial measures against 

 the Phylloxera will be continued under the direction of Mr. R. L. Nougaret. 



Mr. R. A. Cushman, Bureau of Entomology, who is engaged in an investigation 

 of Hymenopterous parasites of the grape berry moth and other deciduous fruit in- 

 sects at North East, Pa., is just now on a trip of investigation through Ohio, Indi- 

 ana, Michigan, and will later visit the New England States to determine the distri- 

 bution and seriousness of the apple seed Chalcis. 



Mr. Wm. B. Parker, formerly entomological assistant engaged in investigations 

 of insects injurious to sugar beets, hops and stored products, has severed his connec- 

 tion with the Bureau of Entomology and is now engaged as agricultural adviser of 

 the University of California, with headquarters at Ventura, Cal. Mr. Roy E. Camp- 

 bell assumes the position made vacant by Mr. Parker at the Sacramento station. 



A greenhouse 16 feet 8 inches by 33 feet 10 inches has been built in the yard of the 

 insectary of the Bureau of Entomology, to be used for experiments with greenhouse 

 insects, including their control by means of fumigants and other remedies, and is 

 expected to afford much greater opportunity for testing of insecticides against the 

 more difficult pests to control. 



During October a report on the occurrence of the pink boll worm of cotton at Madi- 

 son, Fla., was received by the Bm^eau of Entomology. Immediate steps were taken 

 by several offices in the department to eradicate the pest, but it was found on investi- 

 gation by W. D. Pierce that the insect was Batrachedra rileyi, which occurred in 

 unusual numbers in bolls affected by the anthracnose disease. 



T. E. Hollo way, Bureau of Entomology, reports some striking results from the 

 experiments, to determine the effects of the burning of sugar-cane trash during the 

 fall, on the sugar-cane borer and its parasites. The infestation by the borer was found 

 to be much fighter where the trash was not burned. Presumably this is due to the 

 fact that the burning of the trash destroys large numbers of parasites. 



The outbreak of Alabama argillacea during the past season seems to have been the 

 most severe for many years. In parts of Arkansas and Mississippi all of the green 



