xxii Report of the Entomologist. 



of the common apple-tree tent ca.terpi\\a.r {C/tswca7npa americaiia)^ 

 and many of the trees were entirely stripped of their foliage by the 

 ravenous hordes of these caterpillars; at the present time (July 

 1st), the forest-tent caterpillar i^Clisiocavipa disstria) is ravaging 

 acres of shade and forest trees in several parts of the State (it was 

 mistaken for the gypsy moth in Delaware county) ; the pearpsylla 

 has again appeared in immense numbers in many pear orchards 

 and the crop of fruit is seriously threatened. On the other hand, 

 however, as we predicted in Bulletin 133, the army-worm seems 

 not to have attracted attention anywhere in the State this year, 

 although thousands of armies of the worms ruined thousands of 

 acres of field crops last year ; many of the larger plum growers 

 in the State have been agreeably surprised this year to find that 

 their old and dreaded enemy — the plum curculio — did not appear 

 in numbers sufficient to make it necessary to go to the trouble 

 and expense of fighting it; one of our largest quince growers also 

 writes that the quince curculio {Conotrachehis crataegi) also ap- 

 peared in surprisingly small numbers this summer ; we had in- 

 tended to begin a critical study of the life-history of white grubs 

 this spring but were unable to find enough of the May beetles to 

 start the experiment ; for two or three years the crops of New 

 York farmers have suffered from hordes of grasshoppers, but this 

 year, doubtless owing to the work of their enemies and to climatic 

 conditions, grasshoppers appear to be scarce in many localities. 



Thus the year 1897 has thus far been one of peculiar interest, 

 from an entomological standpoint, in New York. The facts 

 given in the above paragraph have been brought out by our 

 extensive correspondence and by personal observations while 

 engaged in lecture work under the auspices of the Nixon Bill. 



No new outbreak of any insect pest has thus far occurred 

 which seemed to necessitate carrying on extensive experiments 

 at the insectary in the study of its habits or methods of combat- 

 ing it. Our time has been fully occupied in continuing work that 

 was begun last year or in previous years, also in preparing some 

 of last year's results for publication, and in attending to the mass 

 of correspondence arising from the sudden and unusually destruc- 

 tive outbreaks of the well-known insect pests mentioned above. 



