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JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



[Vol. 8 



Scientific Notes 



The Box Leaf Miner. There appeared in Newport in the spring of 1912 an insect 

 which threatened to be disastrous to the shrub known as boxwood. My attention 

 was first called to it when it was in the larval form in May. I recognized this 

 insect at once as a miner and endeavored to find out its life history, but being unable 

 to do so I have studied it with the following results : 



Beginning in May when the insect first seemed to gain life in the leaf, I watched it 

 grow until the first of June when it appeared to eat its way through the leaf and Httle 

 flies dropped to the ground, where, after struggling for a few moments suddenly 

 became possessed of wings and flying around at a distance of but a few feet from the 

 plant, soon mated and as near as I could tell seemed to lay their eggs in the upper 

 epidermis of the leaf. This went on for about six days when the flies suddenly dis- 

 appeared and I found large numbers of them on the ground apparently dead, and I 

 came to the conclusion that the male, after copulating, had died and the females 

 after laying their eggs had followed the same course. This was all that I saw of the 

 insect until about the 15th of August when little wart-Uke protuberances appeared 

 on the leaves and upon examination 1 found very small larvae again working there. I 

 paid very close attention, as I thought perhaps within a few weeks there would be a 

 new brood hatched, but I was somewhat dismayed when, after waiting for a couple 

 of months, I found that there was no new brood of flies but that the larvae had gone 

 into winter quarters. 



Being thus assured of the life history of the insect I endeavored to attack it by 

 means of fumigation in the early spring, but failing in this I waited for the flies to 

 appear in June when I prepared as many as a dozen different contact sprays to kill 

 the insect when it appeared in its adult form. We sprayed the flies every other day, 

 making a total of three sprayings, and of all the sprays which I used there was none 

 which gave the immediate satisfaction as did that of soluble sulphur in the powdered 

 form, which 1 used at the rate of four pounds to fifty gallons of water. This was the 

 most effective spray which did not injure the plants and has worked successfully on 

 all estates where used. 



H. C. Walker. 



Conference of Officials engaged in Gipsy Moth Work. On February 13, 

 1915, a conference of officials engaged in gipsy moth work was held at the Boston 

 office of the Bureau of Entomology for the purpose of discussing gipsy moth condi- 

 tions in order to secure as much uniformity of work and general cooperation as 

 possible among those engaged in this project. 



Dr. L. O. Howard, chief of the Bureau of Entomology, presided at the meeting and 

 the following officials and visitors were present : 



Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, Dominion Entomologist, Ottawa, Canada. 

 Mr. L. S. McLaine, Assistant in Gipsy and Brown-tail Moth Work, Ottawa, 

 Canada. 



Hon. W. T. Guptin, Commissioner of Agriculture, Augusta, Me. 

 Mr. E. J. Cady, Special Agent in Charge of Gipsy Moth Work, Portland, Me. 

 Hon. A, L. Felker, Commissioner of Agriculture, Concord, N. H. 

 Prof. W. C. O'Kane, Deputy Commissioner, in Charge of Moth Work, Durham, 

 N.H. 



Mr. Harold L. Bailey, in Charge of Suppression of Insect Pests, Bradford, Vt. 

 Dr. H. T, Fernald, State Inspector of Nurseries, Amherst, Mass. 



