40 
ft®w with a liberal application of fresh gas-lime, if it can be conveniently obtained 
*of perhaps a hundred bushels to the acre. I believe that this would prove the best 
^possible method of arresting severe attacks of the two great clover pests, the clover- 
seed midge (Cecidomyia leguminicola ) and the clover- root borer (Hylastes Irifolii ), when- 
ever they occur within easy reach of the gas-works of our cities, &c. 
This recommendation followed Dr. Lintner’s previous statement* to 
^the effect that the best remedy he was prepared to offer was '“ turning 
deeply under the infested fields while the larvae are most abundant ” or 
adopting our suggestion made in the report of the Entomologist, U. S. 
Dept. Agr. for 1878, p. 251) “cessation from clover culture for a period 
of time.” These radical plans for extermination need not, however, be 
adopted unless the total destruction of the seed crop lias been brought 
about, or unless the work of the midge is combined with that of the 
ifcoot-borer ( Hylesinus irifolii ), and both hay and seed crops are de- 
stroyed. Where damage by the midge alone is concerned it will be 
well to give the remedy first mentioned — early cutting — a fair trial. 
Colaspis flavida injuring the LeConte Pear. — The LeGonte 
pear is a very popular fruit in parts of the South, and a great deal of 
capital is invested in its culture, particularly in parts of Georgia, from 
which State enormous quantities are shipped every year to northern 
markets. Although, strictly speaking, it is a secoud-class fruit, its ex- 
treme prolificacy and hardiness render it valuable. It lias been claimed 
that it is blight-proof and that insects will not injure it, but both of 
these assertions are unwarranted, as young trees, up to four or five 
years of age, frequently blight, and as the present season has developed 
an insect enemy of some importance. 
This insect is the well known Colaspis flavida , commonly known as 
the “Grape-vine Colaspis.” Specimens were forwarded to us, July 23, 
1885, by Mr. L. 0. Bryan, of Savannah, together with a newspaper ac- 
count of the method of work and the damage done in Liberty County, 
Georgia. The injury complained of was simply the work of the adult 
"beetle, and consisted in riddling the young growth and the tender young- 
leaves as they unfolded in May with small holes, as close together “ as 
the holes in a pepper box.” We treated this species in our Third Mis- 
csouri Report, showing that in the larva state it feeds on the roots of 
strawberries, and, after issuing as an adult beetle, it feeds at first on 
strawberry leaves and afterwards flies to the vineyard, where it riddles 
the leaves of grape. It is also found feeding on clover leaves in July 
and August near Washington, and may be found throughout the woods 
on the wild grapevines. The species seems to be single-brooded in Mis- 
souri, and is probably so also in Georgia. "No other larval food-plant 
than strawberry has been found, though doubtless such exist. 
No satisfactory remedy has been proposed against the insect in the 
larva or pupa state, but where the adults occur on pear trees in any 
"The [nsectsof the Clover Plant, Fortieth Ann. Rept. N. Y. State Agr. Soc. for 1880, 
Author’s Edition, pp. 11-15. 
