144 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I906. 



Insecten gives excellent figures in color of the larva, moth, and 

 work of Tinea laricinella, which if it is not the same species as 

 Coleophora larkella so closely resembles it that the same figure 

 would serve for both. 



There would not seem to be any practical remedy against this 

 insect in large growths. Since it eats the inner portion of the 

 needles and leaves the epidermis, arsenical sprays would hardly 

 avail on the larches used for ornament. In nurseries, badly 

 infested trees should be burned. From very small trees the 

 majority of the cases could be removed by hand during the 

 winter. Japanese Larches* are said to be immune from attack 

 by this case-bearer. 



Miscellaneous Notes. 



Of the many insects which naturally come under observation 

 during the season, a few are conspicuous for various reasons, 

 as the attendance of particular parasites, the occurrence in great 

 numbers of an insect not usually abundant, or the appearance 

 of an insect on some plant it does not usually attack. Such 

 instances are often of more than passing interest and are con- 

 veniently recorded under miscellaneous notes of the year. 



YeUoivhead Cranberry Worm on Sweet Gale. The yellow- 

 head cranberry worm, Teras minuta, was present this season 

 over cranberry beds near Charlotte. The culture of these beds 

 had been somewhat neglected and sweet gale, Myrica gale, had 

 crowded into the beds from all directions. The tips of the 

 sweet gale were everywhere conspicuously spun together and 

 examination showed the culprit to be the yellowhead cranberry 

 worm which was working also in the cranberry vines. The pest 

 was attacking the sweet gale to a much greater extent than it 

 was the cranberry itself. This fact was so marked that it sug- 

 gested, as apparently practical, a simple remedial treatment for 

 this locality. It was recommended that all of the sweet gale, 

 which was injuring the cranberries by its presence as a weed, 

 should be torn out except strips of it near the edges of the beds 

 which were to be left as a trap. The sweet gale, left as attract- 

 ive bait for the yellowheads, could be treated to a heavy spray 

 of arsenate of lead early in the spring, in time for the first 

 brood of larvae, thus killing in small space the majority of the 

 pests. The beds, it should be stated, are in a dry bog and resort 



* Insect Life. Vol. IV.. Page 405. 



