MONTHLY LETTER OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
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be! 31. LOT November, 1916. 
































OffO HEIDEMANN. ee 
; Mr. Otto Heidemann, long connected with the Bureau and custodian of the Hemip- 
tera ih the National Museum, died after an operation on the morning of the 18th at 
ae Homeopathic Hospital at Washington. Mr. Heidemann originally came to the Depart- 
P ttent in 1883 and for a number of years was employed as a wood engraver. With the 
"i development of photo-engraving his occupation was lost and in 1893 he began for the 
j first time the study of insects. It is an unusual thing for a man well beyond fifty 
to take up d© novo the occupation which he is to follow ardently for the rest of his 
E ‘life. Mr. Heidemann became known all over the world as an authority on the group of 
insects which he studied. His address as retiring President of the Entomological 
| Society of Washington on the eggs of Hemiptera was a paper of striking merit. He 
leaves & widow, Mrs. Mica Heidemann, well known as a sculptress and as a maker of 
insect models. [L. 0. Howard.] 
THE COTTONY CUSHION SCALE IN NEW ORLEANS. 
a Mr. H. S. Tucker, in October, 1912, first found the cottony cushion or fluted 
‘scale (Icerya purchasi Mask.) in Louisiana while inspecting a nursery just above 
New Orleans (La. Bul. 145). Since that time the scale has so increased in numbers 
and become so widely distributed that it has recently been observed at points through- 
Out almost the whole of the city as well as at Baton Rouge and at Plaquemine, La. 
The matter was brought to Dr. Howard’s attention last summer, and in accordance with 
his suggestions Mr. J. B. Garrett, State Entomologist, obtained a colony of the Aus-~ 
tralian ladybestle, Novius cardinalis Muls., from Mr. Harry Smith in California. 
Mr. Edward Foster, Assistant State Entomologist, took some of these ladybeetles, and 
the remainder were cared for by Mr. E. R. Barber, of the Bureau. The ladybeetles 
have at this writing increased to over a hundred individuals, and their number has 
| recently been supplemented by about twenty pupae obtained from Dr. E. W. Berger in 
Florida by Mr. U. ©. Loftin. A few of them have been released in a cage erected in 
Audubon Park by the park authorities, and it is planned to propagate the others ina 
heated laboratory or greenhouse if one can be obtained, 
5 On Tuesday, November 21, a well attended meeting under the auspices of the New 
)OUrleans Academy of Sciences was held at Tulane University, and papers were read by 
| Messrs. Garrett, Foster, Barber and Holloway. The city government was represented 
by Commissioner Ricks, and Prof. W. H. Creighton, dean of the College of Technology, 
represented Tulane. Prof. R. 8. Cocks, botanist of the University, pointed out that 
| as the scale is found on Johnson grass and other grasses there is reason to believe 
) that it will attack corn, rice and sugar cane. After some general discussion, a 
Mresolution was adopted stating that the ladybectle should be given a fair test. 
"Another resolution is as follows? 
Whereas, the entire vegetation of the city and its surroundings is in grave 
danger from the presence here in vast quantities of the 'cottony cushion scale’ 
which threatens its very existence, and 
Whereas, a sum of money not less than $10,000 is needed for a vigorous campaign 
of extermination, 
"Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting, consisting of men of science, 
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