rough the heat she
sends us (I ignore here the utterly insignificant atmospheric _tide_),
it follows necessarily that her influence _must_ be very trifling. In
the next place, all carefully collated observations show that it _is_
so, and not only trifling, but generally absolutely insensible.

For example, different investigators have examined the question of
nocturnal cloudiness at the time of full moon, there being a prevalent
belief that the full moon "eats up" light clouds. On comparing thirty
or forty years' observations at each of several stations (Greenwich.
Paris, etc.), it is found that there is no ground for the belief. And
so in almost every case of imagined lunar meteorological influence. As
to the coincidence of weather changes with changes of the moon, it is
enough to say that the idea is absolutely inconsistent with that
progressive movement of the "weather" across the country from west to
east, with which the Signal Service has now made us all so familiar.

Princeton, April 12, 1884.

* * * * *

APPLE TREE BORERS.

The apple tree borers have destroyed thousands of trees in New
England, and are likely to destroy thousands more. There are three
kinds of borers which assail the apple tree. The round headed or two
striped apple tree borer, _Saperda candida_, is a native of this
country, infesting the native crabs, thorn bushes, and June berry. It
was first described by Thomas Say, in 1824, but was probably widely
distributed before that. In his "Insects Injurious to Fruit," Prof.
Saunders thus describes the borer:

"In its perfect state it is a very handsome beetle, about
three-quarters of an inch long, cylindrical in form, of a pale brown
color, with two broad, creamy white stripes running the whole length
of its body; the face and under surface are hoary white, the antennae
and legs gray. The females are larger than the males, and have shorter
antennae. The beetle makes its appearance during the months of June and
July, usually remaining in concealment during the day, and becoming
active at dusk. The eggs are deposited late in June and during July,
one in a place, on the bark of the tree, near its base. Within two
weeks the young worms are hatched, and at once commence with their
sharp mandibles to gnaw their way through the outer bark to the
interior. It is generally conceded that the larvae are three years in
reaching maturity. The young ones lie for the firs