REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 191 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



spread widely and very rapidly northward. In 1882 it reached Canada, and for three 

 or four years after that did an eaormou8 amount of injury by stripping the leaves 

 from the tamaraclcs, or American larches. The attack was very severe, and, although 

 from the injury being done comparatively early in the season, the trees were able to 

 pugh forth a certain amount of foliage ; after three or four years of being strippe^d, the 

 larches over millions of acres, and practically over the whole of eastern Canada, were 

 almost wiped out. With this large destruction of its food plant the insect practically 

 disappeared, and little has been heard of it until last year, when it again became 

 noticeable upon ornamental European larches and in a few places was observed on the 

 young growth of larches in swamps. During the past summer there has been a marked 

 increase in the numbers of the larvae or false caterpillars. The injury is mentioned 

 incidentally in correspondence from many points. Rev. Father Burke writes from 

 Prince Edward Island : — ' I am sorry to say the Larch worm is again appearing on the 

 new growth, and I fear we may have it much more abundantly next year.' In the 

 Nova Scotia Crop Report for November, 1905, a correspondent writing from Richmond 

 county says : — ' Insects have again been destroying jvmiper trees.' This is a reference 

 to the Larch Sawfly. The American larch, known also extensively in this country un- 

 der its Indian name of the tamarack, is called in the Maritime Provinces by the inac- 

 curate name of ' juniper,' a name which is also curiously, and with equal inaccuracy, 

 given in the upper Ottawa country to the Banksian or Jack Pine. In New Brunswick 

 I saw evidences of the work of the Larch Sawfly at several places along the Interco- 

 lonial Railway and in Ontario for hundreds of miles along the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way between Ottawa and Lake Superior. The larches at Nepigon, Ont., north of the 

 lake, showed no injury, and I am under the impression that so far this new outbreak 

 of the Larch Sawfly has not as yet reached west of Lake Superior. The tamarack 

 swamps west of Nepigon were scanned carefully in passing along the railway, and a 

 large swamp Xvas examined more critically near Douglas, Manitoba, but no trace of 

 the larvae was seen. Specimens of the larvce were sent from Burlington, Ont., by Mr. 

 R. C. Cummins at the end of June. 



A feature of the last outbreak of 1882 to 1885 was the rapidity with which the 

 attack spread and the suddenness with which it disappeared. Occasional specimens of 

 the sawfly or of the colonies of larvse have been seen from time to time since 1885; 

 but there has been no noticeable destruction until the present year. The territory over 

 which this insect is known to have spread in the old outbreak^ is all through Ontario, 

 Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, right up to Labrador {teste Dr. Robert Bell and 

 Mr. A. P. Low) . We have no information relating to the vast tamarack swamps north 

 of Saskatchewan and Alberta ; but there is little doubt that this enemy spread through 

 all districts where the American larch grew naturally, and that the depredations of 

 this one insect resulted in an enormous loss to the Dominion in one of its valuable 

 assets. Unfortunately, no remedy, can be applied over the vast areas of forest where 

 the insect is likely to occur, should it increase again; but upon ornamental grounds 

 small groups of trees can be easily protected by the ordinary spraying methods. The 

 best poison probably for this insect would be a spray of Arsenate of lead 1 lb. in 40 

 gallons of water. 



The Larch Case -bearer (Coleophora laricella, Hbn.). — In the month of May last 

 the young leaves of the European and other larch trees on the lawns and in the Botanic 

 Garden of the Central Experimental Farm, were seen to present a bleached white ap- 

 pearance; and, upon examination, it was found that the upper ends of the leaves had 

 been hollowed out and were shrivelled. It was then found that this work had been 

 done by large numbers of the small European Elachistid moth Coleophora laricella, 

 Hbn. Although this insect has been recorded as injurious to larches in America on a 

 few previous occasions, this, I believe, is the first occurrence of the Larch Case-bearer 

 in Canada. Dr. Howard has kindly referred me to the American literature of the 

 subject and tells me that he himself saw the larvse very abundant some years ago in a 



