187 
INSECTS OF THE YEAR IN NEW JERSEY. 
By John. B. Smith, New Brunswick, N J. 
It was with a considerable amount of curiosity that I looked forward 
to the opening of the season of 1893. The unusual character of the 
winter, the bitter and prolonged cold, without any real open spell, led 
me to expect surprises. There seemed to be among farmers a very 
general opinion that the cold winter had killed off a very great pro- 
portion oT species, and that probably there would be little or no trouble. 
My own experience had led me to believe the contrary, and I was 
curious to see which would prove most nearly correct. As a matter of 
fact both parties were right ; that is to say, some insects were undoubt- 
edly very greatly cut by the severe winter, while others on the con- 
trary hibernated unusually well. Most of the common pests made 
their appearance in their normal abundance, and some indeed were 
considerably in excess ; as, for instance, the Elm Leaf Beetle, which I 
do not remember ever to have seen in anything like the numbers in 
which it made its appearance this spring. A number of others of the 
common species did equally well, while on the contrary others seem to 
have been very greatly reduced in numbers. In the melon fields, in 
which I made observations as soon as there were melons to be observed, 
the striped beetles Diabroticd vittata were in most localities very 
much fewer than I have ever known them. Only in sheltered places, 
near the edges of woods or shrubbery, or near barns or other buildings, 
wasthere much injury. The Boreal Lady Bird (JEpilachna borealis), which 
for several years past has increased steadily in numbers, was this season to 
be counted among the rarities ; only here and there was a specimen to be 
found where in the two previous years hundreds could have been taken. 
The common Squash Bug (Anasa tristis), was also notable by its dimin- 
ished numbers. Only here and there could a specimen be found, and 
egg clusters, usually so prominent everywhere through the fields, were 
this time few and far between. Of the melon lice, which two years ago 
were in such an enormous abundance, I have not yet found trace in any 
part of the Sltate. I made diligent and faithful search, not only in the 
melon fields, but on all kinds and descriptions of plants in their vicinity, 
and studied closely every specimen of louse that at all resembled those 
that I was seeking. To the courtesy of Mr. Walker, of Jamaica, Long 
Island, I owed a considerable number of cocoons of the Squash Borer. 
Those I kept in a breeding cage in my laboratory, looking after them 
from time to time to note the date of pupation. Not until spring was 
well advanced did any of the larvae pupate; that is to say, they re- 
mained in their cocoons in the larva state throughout the winter, and 
did not pupate until a short time before they were ready to transform 
