100 Bulletin 187. 



Extent of ravages in 1900. — Siuklenlj, during the second 

 week in June last, many fruit-growers in New York discovered 

 that what was apparently a new insect pest was seriously injuring 

 the foliage and young fruit on their trees. We received daily 

 several letters, accompanied by specimens of the caterpillars, which 

 proved to be palmer-worms. In some sections our correspondents 

 reported that mucli damage was being done in apple orchards. 

 Reports of damage by the pest came to us from central and western 

 JN^ew York only, and included the following nine counties : Chau- 

 tauqua, ^Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Monroe, Wayne, Cayuga, Tomp- 

 kins and Oneida. In many orchards the caterpillars ruined thou- 

 sands of the young apples, and had not the crop been so unusually 

 large the loss from the palmer-worm's ravages would have been 

 much more noticeable and serious. 



So far as we know, the insect did not attract attention in 1900 in 

 its old haunts anywhere in New England, but confined its ravages 

 to central and western New York. Perhaps this was simply a pre- 

 lude to a more general outbreak next year, but we are hopeful that 

 it may have again entered upon another half-century period of 

 obscurity, and thus will not again trouble this generation of fruit- 

 growers. 



Food-Plants. 



In describing the first outbreak of this insect in 1791, Deane states 

 that " I have seen them only on apple trees and oak trees, in any 

 great abundance." In 1853 Harris found the caterpillars on his 

 plum and cherry trees, and apple orchards in New York and New 

 England wei'e their favorite feeding grounds ; Fitch states that 

 " apple trees and oaks seemed to suffer most, but all other trees and 

 shrubs were more or less infested with these worms at this time." 

 In 1872 what is now considered the palmer-worm moth was reared 

 in Kentucky from caterpillars found feeding in the large glol)ular 

 galls formed on oak leaves and known as "spongy oak-apples."" 



* Thi^ moth was aptly named qnercipomonella — the oak-apple moth. In 

 Packard's volume on Forest Insects, p. 202, Riley gives under this name a 

 detailed description of the larva and pupa of an insect found " folding up the 

 leaves of the black oak in little tubes " in 1868. These descriptions of Riley, and 

 that of Chambers of the larva he found in "oak-apples," agree fairly well with 

 our i)ahner- worms, which are quite variable. 



