425 
1883 .] Analyses oj Books. 
bores into the pulp of the apple, which is often honeycombed so 
as to be rendered perfectly useless. When mature it is a black 
and white fly, with banded wings. It originally fed upon certain 
species of hawthorn and upon crab-apples, but, by one of those 
changes of habit which we occasionally observe in inseCts, it has 
lately, in New York and the New England States, turned its 
attention to the cultivated apple. It attacks by preference the 
early species, and in some quarters has already rendered their 
cultivation unremunerative, 
Two other noxious species are the “ Pomace flies ” ( Drosophila 
ampelophila and D. amcena'). These also belong to the order of 
two-winged flies, and, from having originally fed upon the de- 
caying fruit found scattered on the ground in orchards, they have 
taken to haunt cider-mills, and vats in which grapes are fer- 
menting. Here they have become quite a nuisance. Worse 
still, if a bird has made a hole in a grape these flies deposit their 
eggs in the pulp, and the larvae bore from grape to grape till the 
whole cluster consists of nothing but empty skins. 
All these inseCts are described at length, and figured for more 
easy recognition. We regret, however, to find that the distin- 
guished author makes use of the neologisms of Prof. Wilder. 
Thus we read that, in the pupa of D. amcena , “ the cephalic 
spiracles projeCl diredlly cephalad .” Such language, in a treatise 
which is intended not merely for scientific biologists, but for 
farmers and gardeners, seems to us not over-judicious. 
Several of the ladybirds (Coccinellidae)are described and figured, 
not by any means as enemies, but as valuable allies, which prey 
upon Aphides, scale-inseCts, &c., and therefore require to be 
known and preserved. A knowledge of their appearance and 
habits is now the more necessary, since by ignorant and careless 
observers they may be confounded with the Chrysomelidas, to 
which group the dreaded Colorado beetle belongs. We have 
known an instance of a gardener who, till informed of his error, 
systematically destroyed the ladybirds, under the impression that 
they were either Colorado beetles or might turn into such. 
As regards the methods used for the destruction of scale- 
inseCIs, “ doCtors differ.” Prof. C. V. Riley, the Entomologist 
to the Department of Agriculture, in a paragraph which has 
somehow been inserted in this work without the knowledge and 
consent of Prof. Comstock, recommends an emulsion of kerosene 
as the best agent, and as having been very satisfactorily used by 
the orange-growers in Florida. Prof. Comstock, on the other 
hand, recommends a solution of 1 lb. “ concentrated lye ” in 
1 gallon of water, to be applied to the tree in winter, and to be 
supplemented if needful in the summer by a wash of f lb. whale- 
oil soap in a gallon of water in which some sulphur has been 
boiled up. The “ concentrated lye ” in question is an impure 
alkali, containing 8*3 parts caustic potash to 917 parts caustic 
soda. 
VOL. V. (THIRD SERIES). 2 F 
