56 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
hoppers are invariably accompanied by a partial ragging of clover 
or other acceptable food, and where this does not occur insects are 
not abundant or else are likely to be something else than grasshoppers. 
Later in the summer half-grown to nearly adult grasshoppers 
were to be seen here and there in considerable numbers and in early 
September there were reports of the insects ruining cabbage and 
cleaning up grass fields in portions of the towns of Galway, Charlton, 
Ballston and Northumberland. There was also serious injury to 
some two thousand young pear and apple trees on the place of 
ex-Congressman Peter Ten Eyck near Meadowdale, approximately 
three-fourths of the trees being defoliated. Young trees in other 
sections were also injured in a similar manner. 
The above indicates the desirability of watching developments 
throughout the season. An unusual abundance of grasshoppers 
near valued crops or trees should be destroyed by the early use of 
the poisoned bait. It is our opinion that this material can be 
used much more generally than it has been, especially along roadsides 
and on minor areas where the insects are comparatively thick. 
The total damage by these general feeders is much larger than most 
people realize, while in many cases remedial measures are com- 
paratively inexpensive. 
Grass mite (Pediculopsis graminum Reut.). Stems of 
timothy with prematurely whitened heads were received under date 
of July 16, 1917, from G. P. McRostie, Kingston, accompanied by 
the statement that the meadow from which the sample was taken 
had approximately 50 per cent of the stems thus affected. There 
was a shriveled portion at the base of the leaf characteristic of the 
work of the mite, though none of the pests were to be found in the 
material submitted for examination. A Cecidomyid larva was 
found under the leaf sheath of one specimen. It was impossible to 
rear the insect and it may have been an accidental occurrence, 
though the probabilities are that it was predaceous and possibly 
referable to the genus Aphidoletes. 
The same type of injury was rather common in several fields on 
the state road from Malden Bridge to Chatham and also in the town 
of Ghent. The injury easily amounted to 25 per cent and in limited 
areas might well run to 50 per cent of the heads. This pest was 
also troublesome in Dutchess county. 
This grass mite appears to be widely distributed in the United 
States, since it has been reported from Nebraska, in widely sepa- 
rated sections of Illinois, and is stated by Hodgkiss to be a rather 
common species upon several grasses in New York State. It is also 
