XIII. 
REPORT ON INSECTS OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1888. 
By E. W . Silvestee, F.R.Met.Soc. 
Head at Watford, 22 nd March, 1889. 
The abnormal heat and drought of the summer of 1887 was 
unusually favourable for insect propagation, and consequently laid 
a foundation for the attacks which were made by insects in the 
advance of the next year’s spring, but, so far as evidence appears, 
after the heavy midsummer rainfall of 1888 serious injury ceased 
to be generally felt. This had its natural effect upon the numbers 
of insects in this county to be noticed in the annual report which, 
through the kind co-operation of old contributors and a few new 
aids in the work, I have now to introduce to your notice. Miss E. 
A. Ormerod has, with her usual kindness, allowed me to draw 
copiously from her extensive resources, and I gratefully acknow¬ 
ledge her help. 
Dr. Brett has sent to me the following extract from the 1 Daily 
Hews,’ which will have interest to members of our Society, as 
it alludes principally to the Hessian fly, which Miss Ormerod first 
noticed as appearing in our county in 1886 :—“ The cold, wet 
summer of last year does not seem to be altogether an unmixed 
evil. It will he remembered that some time ago there was a great 
deal said and written about the Hessian fly and its appearance in 
Hertfordshire. Another enemy was added to the long list of 
farmers’ foes, and there were no means of knowing how near we 
were to a plague such as this little creature causes every now and 
then in America and on the continent of Europe. In 1887 
specimens were sent in to the Agricultural Department from 
various parts of the country, but, according to Mr. Whitehead, 
Agricultural Adviser to the Committee of Council, no similar 
reports have been made since last harvest. ‘ There is every reason 
to hope,’ he says, ‘ that the wet season, in other respects lament¬ 
able, has freed this country, at all events for a time, from this 
dreadful scourge.’ Dr. Packard, in his account of the Hessian fly 
in America, calls attention to the fact that its ravages are greatest 
where the wheat is early, and that late crops are not sufficiently 
developed to receive the eggs at the time of their deposition. Pro¬ 
fessor Riley maintains that the insect is only dangerous when two 
annual generations are uniformly produced, which means that there 
must be two years in succession in which the wheat is early and 
the spring and summer mild. A cold spring or a wet summer is an 
effectual check on its multiplication. Hence it seems that there 
is but little danger in this variable climate, and if farmers keep a 
sharp look-out for its first appearance even this limited risk may be 
discounted.” 
The bean-beetle (.Bruchus rufimanus) has again been troublesome, 
though Messrs. E. Dixon and Sons inform me that new samples are 
much more free from this pest than those of the previous year. 
