120 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



quite badlj injured. On the wliole, the insect did very little dam- 

 age in 1895 compared with the destruction wrought in 1894. 



The future outloolc. — What little information we have indicates 

 that the insect is going into hibernation in considerable numbers 

 on some trees, but the outlook for 1896 is encouraging. Never- 

 theless, it will not do to be too sanguine. Every tree known to 

 harbor the pest should be carefully examined this fall, daring the 

 winter, and especially early in the spring. 



Previous to last year. New York orchards had never suffered 

 from the attacks of this or any other Lecanium scale, and they may 

 not be threatened so seriously again for many years to come. But 

 we can never tell when to expect most of our insect foes to appear 

 in alarming numbers, so that our fruit growers must be continually 

 on the alert and watch this plum pest closely every year. 



Its name. — Experts are not yet agreed upon the name this 

 Lecanium should bear. It has lately been decided by Mr. New- 

 stead, of England, that it is identical with the Europen insect — 

 Lecanium prunastri. Messrs. Cockerell and Maskell conclude 

 that it is probably identical with Lecanium. juglandis which 

 Bouche found on black walnut in Germany over fifty years ago.* 



Its history and distribution. — The fact that isolated specimens 

 of this insect can be found on almost any large plum tree in cer- 

 tain portions of the State, indicates that it has been with us for 

 many years. The few years preceding 1891, happened to offer 

 the conditions most favorable for its multiplication in excessive 

 numbers in western New York ; and it then forced itself upon our 

 attention by its destructive work. 



Mr. L. O. Howard, U. S. Entomologist, reports (Yearbook of 

 U. S. Dept. of Agr. for 1891, p. 272) that there are two 

 other distinct kinds of Lecaniums affecting plum trees in the 

 United States. One of these passes the winter in the same stage 

 as does our New York species, while the other hibernates as a 

 nearly full-grown, rounded female. Our New York species has 



* Mr. Maskell Avrites us on October G, 1895: " I have examined your 

 insects, and agree with Mr. Cockerell that on the whole they are nearest 

 to Lecanium jnrjlandis. I don't quite see how your insect can be L. 

 pruuastri which has very marked epidermal puncta. I don't think you- 

 will go far wrong in calling it L. juglandis." 



