ENTOMOLOGY. 
141 
knowledge of an orange house having been cleared of both red spider 
and thrips by a long-continued steaming from flues made exces¬ 
sively hot for the purpose. Here there was no bark bed, or other 
shelter for the insects to hide in, but the naked paved floor, and 
that nearly flooded with water, and in which they probably perished. 
The steaming was certainly intense for several hours, but it was 
effectual. 
Were it possible to hit on some glutinous wash which would in the 
first place entangle and arrest the insects for a day or two, and being 
of innocuous quality when first applied, and scale off when dry, so that 
the stomata or pores of the leaves would not be too long closed—would 
be, one would imagine, a good remedy. Perhaps even simple gum- 
water, diluted to so thin a consistence as to be applied by a common 
syringe, might be effectual. It contains neither acrid nor pungent 
qualities to endanger the health of the plants ; and if it be not liable 
to remain too long as a varnish upon the foliage, might answer well. 
It would certainly be a much more agreeable application than 
either tobacco or brimstone, in a collection of sweet plants or fruit- 
trees. 
Soap-water we would consider another good application; and this 
not for its bitter quality derived from the alkali in its composition, 
but from the unctuous nature of the grease, which drying on the 
leaves, and also on the bodies of the insects, clogs their action, and 
disgusts, perhaps, their palates. 
Lime-water, impregnated with sulphur and tobacco juice, is 
strongly recommended as a defence against the attack of insects, or as 
an effective means for their expulsion. This, however, is more 
adapted for trees iu the open air, than for delicate plants under glass; 
but a weak mixture of these ingredients might be useful even in the 
stove. At any rate, all the above applications are worth a fair trial; 
for something very simple may at last be discovered to rid us of 
this insignificant plague. Our friend A advises attacking the in¬ 
sects in their earliest stage of existence; and it is with this view 
that we recommend glutinous applications as a means of preventing 
migration. 
Of the American blight —This blight , as it is called, has borne 
many different names since it was first noticed as so destructive to 
apple-trees in our orchards and gardens. It has been called the 
frothy insect, the mealy coccus, the mealy aphis, the woolly aphis 
(A. lanigera), the woolly coccus (C. lanigera ), &e. But it seems to 
be settled by Leach, who makes it the second genus of his family 
aphiile, under the name of eriosoma, in allusion to its woolly ap» 
