TYPE OF LETTER SENT TO FOREIGN POSTAL OFFICES IN RELATION TO PARCEL POST PACKAGES FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES OF NURSERY STOCK. Sir: By direction of the Postmaster General, I have the honor to enclose here with for your information a copy of "The Plant Quarantine Act" of August 20, 1912, together with a circular of information to importers of nursery stock and rules and regulations for the enforcement of the Act, issued by the Secretary of Agriculture. You will observe that the Act provides that importers in this country must take out permits to import nursery stock as defined by the Act, and that nursery stock so imported must conform to certain stipulations concerning certification in the country of origin, labeling, and consular declaration. The provisions of the Act and the rules and regulations for its enforcement, issued by the Secretary of Agriculture, will be applied to importations of nursery stock in the mails from foreign countries, and, consequently, will be applicable to parcel post packages, containing such stock, imported under the parcel post convention between our two countries. Enclosures. Very respectfully, A. A. FISHER, Acting Second Assistant Postmaster General. The following order relates to the Hawaiian quarantine on account of the Mediterranean fruit fly. ORDER OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL CERTAIN FRUITS, SEEDS, VEGETABLES, AND OTHER PLANT PRODUCTS UNMAILABLE IN HAWAII Order No. 6655. Office of the Postmaster General, The fruits, seeds, vegetables, and other plant products, named in Quarantine Order No. 2, issued by the Secretary of Agriculture on September 28, 1912, under the authority of the Act of Aug 20, 1912, known as The Plant Quarantine Act, are hereby declared to be unmailable in Hawaii for transmission into or through any other State, Territory, or District of the United States, so long as such order of the Secretary of Agriculture remains in force. Postmasters in Hawaii shall exercise the greatest possible care to prevent the acceptance for mailing, contrary to this order, of any of the plant products described in the order of the Secretary of Agriculture, and for this purpose shall inquire of all persons presenting parcels for mailing to any other State, Territory, or District of the United States whether they contain any of the fruits, seeds, vegetables, or other plant products declared to be unmailable. Bananas and pineapples may be admitted to the mails in Hawaii for transmission to any other State, Territory, or District of the United States, only when accompanied with a certificate from a Territorial or Government inspector to the effect that they have been inspected and found free from the Mediterranean fruit fly. FRANK H. HITCHCOCK, This order is accompanied by a reprint in full of the notice of quarantine No. 2 (domestic) relating to the Mediterranean fruit fly, promulgated by the Secretary of Agriculture, September 28, 1912. The following order relates to the gipsy and brown-tail moth quarantine: ORDER OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL RESTRICTIONS ON THE MAILING OF CERTAIN TREES AND PLANTS Office of the Postmaster General, Order No. 6674. Coniferous trees, or parts of trees, and decorative plants, of the area quarantined for the gipsy moth, referred to in Quarantine Order No. 4, issued by the Secretary of Agriculture, on November 13, 1912, under authority of the Act of August 20, 1912, known as the Plant Quarantine Act, may be accepted for mailing only when for transmission within such quarantined area, and when they do not exceed the limit of weight prescribed by law for fourth-class matter. Forest plant products, field-grown plants, and plant products for propagation, of the area quarantined for the gipsy moth, and the deciduous trees or shrubs, and parts thereof, of the area quarantined for the brown-tail moth, on the movement of which restrictions are placed by the Quarantine Order of the Secretary of Agriculture, may be accepted for mailing to any point outside the quarantined area only when accompanied with a certificate of a representative of the Department of Agriculture to the effect that they have been inspected and found free from the gipsy moth and browntail moth, respectively, and do not exceed the limit of weight prescribed by law for fourth-class matter. FRANK H. HITCHCOCK, This order is accompanied by a reprint in full of quarantine No. 4 (domestic), with regulations in relation to the gypsy and brown-tail moth promulgated by the Secretary of Agriculture, November 13, 1912. The following two orders relate to the use of the mails for the shipment of domestic nursery stock. The first of these orders (No. 6675) is an amendment of an older order (No. 6613) to bring it into conformity with the wording of the Federal Plant Quarantine Act as to definition of nursery stock. It also provides that the parcel shall be plainly marked to show the nature of the contents and the name and address of the sender. The second of these orders (No. 6696) makes it possible for the proper state official to be advised of the arrival and delivery of all mail parcels of nursery stock. Order No. 6675. ORDER OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL Office of the Postmaster General, Paragraph 8, Section 496, Postal Laws and Regulations, is hereby amended as follows: 8. Nursery stock, including all field-grown florists' stock, trees, shrubs, vines, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, fruit pits and other seeds of fruit and ornamental trees or shrubs, and other plants and plant products for propagation, except field, vegetable, and flower seeds, bedding plants, and other herbaceous plants, bulbs, and roots, may be admitted to the mails only when accompanied by a certificate from a State or Government inspector to the effect that the nursery from which such nursery stock is shipped has been inspected within a year and found free from injurious insects, and the parcel containing such nursery stock is plainly marked to show the nature of the contents and the name and address of the sender. Order No. 6696. FRANK H. HITCHCOCK, ORDER OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL Office of the Postmaster General, Paragraph 1, Section 549, Postal Laws and Regulations, is amended as follows: Provided, That on written request, postmasters at offices of address may furnish a State officer of any State having a law regarding the inspection of nursery stock coming into the State the names of persons to whom are addressed parcels of nursery stock received from any point without the State, marked as provided in paragraph 8, Section 496; but there shall be no delay in the delivery of such nursery stock to the addressees. FRANK H. HITCHCOCK, TWO NEW COCCIDE By T. D. A. COCKERELL A New Coccid from the Philippine Islands Drosicha lichenoides n sp. 9. Length 12 mm. or a little over, breadth 8.5, height 5; light reddish; strongly emarginate anteriorly; smooth above, with the segmentation distinct; legs and antennæ very dark brown; antennæ about as long as anterior femur trochanter. Microscopie characters measurements all in microns?; eyes on prominent tubercles; antennæ 9-jointed, the third joint slightly constricted before the middle, the last joint long and slender; measurements of joints (1) 240, (2) 240, (3) 336, 14 to 8 each about 320, 9-590, femora stout; claws strongly curved, the claw digitules represented by a pair of stiff bristles, pointed toward but not reaching end of claw greatest diameter of femur of middle leg 480, tibia of middle lg 1120 long, with about 12 short spines on inner margin; tarsus of same leg exclud ing claw) 480, measured along middle line; lateral margins of insect densely beset with very short hair (about 50 long), but with occasional long slender hairs, 640 to 1120 long, these long hairs (dark in color) rather numerous at the caudal end. Habitat, Los Banos, Philippine Is., 1912 (C. F. Baker). Five specimens in alcohol sent by Professor Baker, who writes that in life it is covered with thin short waxy hair-like material. It lives on the bark of Ficus nota (I do not find any species of this name in the Index Kewensis), "frequenting so far as I observe only areas covered with whitish lichen patches, the color of which it imitates so closely as to be very effectually hidden. It is commonly attended by ants, which lead to its discovery." Dr. W. M. Wheeler has kindly determined this ant as Dolichoderus bituberculatus Mayr. By the 9-jointed antennæ, this is related to Drosicha maskelli (Ckll.) but in lichenoides the ninth joint is much longer and more slender in proportion to the basal joints. D. corpulenta (Kuwana) is also related, but larger, longer in proportion to its width, and has very different antennæ, the joints much shorter in proportion to their breadth (in lichenoides the joints beyond the second are considerably longer than broad, the seventh about twice as long as broad). The longer antennal joints also separate our species at once from D. contrahens Walker and D. stebbingi (Green); the latter has 8-jointed antennæ. A New Coccid on Grass Recently I had a few hours collecting at Glenwood Springs, Colorado, in the company of Mr. E. Bethel. On a species of Agropyron (probably A. biflorum) we found a mealy-bug in considerable abundance. This insect, first observed by Mr. Bethel, proves to be an undescribed Trionymus. Trionymus violascens n. sp. 9. Length nearly 2 mm., width about .75 mm.; elongated, dark plum color, appearing greyish from a scanty secretion. Very short caudal tufts of white wax, but no lateral ones. Antennæ and legs light ferruginous; legs slender; claw with no inner tooth; claw digitules extremely fine, with very small knobs. Caudal lobes hardly at all developed, each with a bristle about 140 long. Ovisac copious, pure white, forming fluffy masses on the grass stems. Labium short, about 75% long and 50 broad at base. The following measurements are in microns: middle leg, femur+trochanter, 175; tibia, 125; tarsus (excluding claw) 75. Antennal segments: (1.) 38, (2.) 38, (3.) 25, (4.) 23, (5.) 26–29, (6.) 26–30, (7.) 33– 35, (8.) 70-75. The normal antennæ are 8-jointed, but one specimen has a 7-jointed antenna on one side, joint 6 of this antenna measuring 48. Easily distinguished from T. nanus Ckll. and T. californicus Ehrhorn, both of these being yellow or pale yellowish. T. americanus (Ckll.) is much larger, with a differently shaped labium. In spite of the supposed generic difference, there is much resemblance between T. violascens and the Californian Ripersia festucae Kuwana. R. festucae has the antennæ 7 jointed, varying to 6; the labium is considerably broader than in T. riolascens. ON THE FEEDING HABITS OF PIMPLA (ITOPLECTIS) CONQUISITOR SAY1 BY F. A. JOHNSTON, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture. During recent years several instances of the feeding of hymenopterous. parasites at punctures made by the ovipositor in their host have been recorded. Dr. L. O. Howard, in an article in the JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY, Vol. 1, No. 5, 1908, describes the observations of Paul Marchal on the European Tetrastichus xanthomelanæ, in which he was of the opinion that in many cases the ovipositor was used to pierce the egg in order that the parasite might suck its contents. Similar observations were made on this species by Mr. W. F. Fiske when it was imported into this country. In a circular of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station (No. 23, July, 1909) on Tetrastichus asparagi Crawf., Dr. H. T. Fernald mentions the fact that one of the observers of this insect at Concord, Mass., reported seeing the parasite occasionally attack the eggs with its mouthparts, consuming the contents of the egg. This same habit was noticed by Mr. C. W. Prescott of Concord, Mass., and Mr. J. B. S. Norton of the bureau of plant industry. Their observations were later verified by Mr. A. F. Burgess of this Bureau. In an article in the JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY, Vol. 3, No. 3, June, 1910, "On the Habit with Certain Chalcidoidea of Feeding at Puncture Holes made by the Ovipositor," Dr. L. O. Howard mentions observations of Dr. Paul Marchal on the habit of Aphelinus mytilaspidis feeding upon its host, Aspidiotus ostreaformis. He also mentions that these observations of Marchal were soon followed in America by Mr. J. G. Sanders, who noticed a similar habit of Aphelinus fuscipennis apparently feeding on its host, Aspidiotus rapar. Samuel B. Doten in Technical Bulletin No. 78. September 1911, of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Nevada, describes the habits of Meraporus sp. and Pleromalus puparum feeding at punctures in chrysalides of Pontia rapa and of Microbracon juglandis feeding at punctures in the larva of Ephestia kuchniella. While the writer was working on truck crop insects at Riverhead, N. Y., during the season of 1912. Pimpla Itople ctis) conquisitor Say came under his observation as a parasite of Autographa brassica. On October 11 and 12 two males of this species were bred from pupæ of A. brassica and on October 30, while collecting pupa of .1. brassica in the field, a female was observed trying to oviposit in a pupa of 1. . • Published by permission of the Chief of the Bureau of Entomology |