Cl]e faabiati Entomologist, 



VOL. XVIII. LONDON, FEBRUARY, 1886. No. 2 



NOTES OF 1S85 ON SOME INJURIOUS AND OTHER 



COMMON INSECTS. 



BY JOHN C. JACK, CHATEAUGUAY, QUEBEC. 



Read before the Montreal Branch Eiit. Soc. of Out., gth Feb., 1886. 



The past season was remarkable, in our locality, for the general scarcity of 

 diurnal Lepidoptera, and also of many of the Coleoptera, especially among 

 the Scarabeidae, Cerambycidae and Buprestid^. Many species of these, 

 usually plentiful, seemed rare this year, and even Lachnosterna fusca was 

 not nearly so abundant or injurious as it is generally. Perhaps, with the 

 exception of Colias philodice, the most common butterfly was D. archippus, 

 which I have never seen so common. I do not think I saw a single speci- 

 men of P. cardui, althougli it was very abundant last year. Picris rapce 

 was less numerous and ajDpears to be decreasing in numbers every year, 

 largely owing, no doubt, to the attacks of the parasite Pteromaliis 

 piipariim. The birds also, especially the Fly-catchers, do not get 

 full credit for the good work they do. Insects of all other orders seemed 

 to be about as abundant as usual, and several species proved to be more 

 than usually numerous and destructive. 



The Buffalo Tree-hopper ( Ceresa bubahis Say) was again very abun- 

 dant, doing very much injury to apple and pear trees in young orchards. 

 On July 5th I found some larch trees (Larix Americana) with the foliage 

 very much destroyed by Saw-fly larvas, and on examining the trees in the 

 woods and surrounding country, I found that they were all attacked. At 

 this time most of the larvae seemed to be a little more than half grown, and 

 they continued to feed until about July 15th, when some of them made 

 cocoons. Many of the trees were now entirely defoliated, and the branches 

 and twigs literally covered with the larvae, many of which were drop- 

 ping to the ground, and with the faUing " frass " made a sound like that of 

 fast falling rain drops. Three days later (July 1 8) very few of the larvae 

 were to be foimd, most of them having formed cocoons among the old 



