108 BULLETIN 187. 



few minute liymenopterons or four-winged flies ; and we were sur- 

 prised to find, upon submitting them to an expert, Mr. Aslimead, 

 that thej were i)racticallj new to science. He liad received one 

 specimen of the parasite from Illinois and had named it in his 

 manuscript as Apanteles i?erplexus. His manuscript description 

 will doubtless soon be published. 



This little parasite seems to be a valuable friend of man so far as 

 the palmer-worm is a menace to fruit-growing. 



Remedial Measures. 



Historical. — In Deane's quaint account of the outbreak of the 

 palmer-worm in 1791, he states : " I made smokes under the fruit- 

 trees without any apparent effect. As they let tliemselves down by 

 threads, they may be thinned by shaking the trees, and striking off 

 the tlireads." Fitch states that in 1853 some practiced the latter 

 method, repeating tlie operation day after day, but with little bene- 

 fit. He suggested that an old tin pan, smeared with tar or other 

 sticky substance, be fastened to the pole and the caterpillars caught 

 on this as they hung suspended. These primitive and only partially 

 effective methods are too laborious to receive further attention. 



The fact that showers of rain were apparently effectual in ridding 

 the trees of the caterpillai's in 1853, led Fitch to suggest that tlie 

 infested trees be showered with water. And he reports that an 

 Albany fi-uit-grower preserved his trees from the ravages of the 

 pest by drenching them with a whale oil soap solution. Doubtless 

 a thorougli spraying with the soap solution would kill or knock off 

 most of the palmer-worms. 



Fortunately for the frnit-gi-ower, the palmer-worm presents a very 

 vulnerable point of attack, and we can see no reason why it should 

 not readily succumb to our modern methods of spraying for fruit 

 pests. 



The caterpillars bite off and swallow portions of the leaves and 

 of the young fruits. Sometimes they are partially protected in a 

 slight tube or roll of a leaf, or between two leaves, but often where 

 numerous they feed openly on the upper surface of the leaves. 

 Hence it is only necessary to thoroughly spray the feeding g^'ounds 

 of the caterpillars with Paris green to include a dose of poison iu 



