REPORT OF TEE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTAMST - :229 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



FOREST AND SHADE TREES. 



ThfTc has been frequent inquiry during the past year with regard to Ihc depre- 

 dations of insects upon forest trees and also upon trees groAvn for shade or ornament 

 in cities. The Tent Caterpillars are again becoming numerous in some parts of Que- 

 bec and ll;e iVfaritinie Provinces. The Forest Tent Caterpillar has been particularly 

 noticciible in Xova Scotia, and Father Burke reports their webs as ' conspicuous 

 everywhere' in Prince Edward Island. The Tussock Moth, Ilemerocampa Icu- 

 costigma, S. & A., still does harm in the streets of Toronto and, to a less degree, in 

 Montreal. Active measures are being taken by the city authorities, and there is no 

 reason why the unsightly injury to the shade trees, which are such an ornament and 

 advantage in crowded cities, should not be entirely wiped out. The Fall Webworm, 

 Ilijphantria textor, Harris, is decidedly on the increase throughout Ontario and cast- 

 ward to the coast. Its injuries seem to be most severe on elm trees; but every kind of 

 shrub an,! deciduous tree is at times eaten by the larvic. In one instance the foliage 

 of a strawberry bed near Ottawa was badly stripped. In Manitoba and the North- 

 west Provinces the Ash-leaved Maples were much disfigured by an Anthomyian 

 Gall-fly and the siiecimens of the fleshy galls received xluring June and .Tuly were 

 filled with the red larvji? of the fly. This attack has been observed in the West for 

 many years, and the galls are known by the name of the Fleshy IXegundo Leaf-gall. 

 Although misightly on the trees, both in the fleshy" condition and after they dry up 

 for some time, no permanent injury is done to the trees. In the Eastern Townshi])s 

 ■ of Quebec province, in several of the towns, the elms were badly infested by the 

 Woolly Elm-leaf Aphis, Schizoneura nmericana, Riley, which gave the trees a dirty 

 appearance and rendered resting under these trees very uncomfortable from the large 

 amount of honeydew which was emitted. 



There was considerable inquiry with regard to scale insects of all kinds, both on 

 fruit trees and ornamental shrubbery. This was a direct oiitcome of the revived in- 

 terest which has taken place in the injuries of the San Jose Scale, 

 s The Spruce Gall-louse, Chermes ahieiis, L., has spread widely and during the past 

 summer was much inquired about from those in Western Ontario who had bought or 

 who were growing spruces for ornament. The insect was treated of in full in my 

 Report for 1905, at page 190. 



The Vancouver Island Oak-looper, Therina somnlaria, Hulst. — This destructive 

 insect was again enormously abundant on the beautiful oaks around Victoria, B.C., 

 and from these trees the hordes of caterpillars spread to some other trees in the 

 vicinity and stripped them also of their leaves. Small trees were easily protected by 

 spraying with arsenites. 



An occurrence of more than usual interest was the destruction of the seeds of the 

 Silver Maple, Acer dasycarpum, at Ottawa by the larvae of a small Nitidulid beetle, 

 Epurcva rufn. Say. The seed of this tree was produced abundantly in 1906; it was ripe 

 by the middle of June, and at that time fell to the ground. Towards the end of June 

 some sacks of the seed were raked up from the ground and saved for sowing. They 

 had lain on the ground for some days, but were apparently in good condition. Upon 

 examining some of these about a month later, it was found that nearly every seed con- 

 tainted from 12 to IS slender prubs about a quarter of an inch long, of a dirty white 

 colour, with a honey-colorred roughened patch across the middle of each segment on 

 the back. When fully fed these grubs left the seeds, of which they ha<] reduced the 

 contents to a green meal-like powder. The pupal condition was passed just beneath 

 the .surface of the ground and in August swarms of the beetles emerged. There were 

 also found large numhers of the cocoons of a parasite, which emerged early the follow- 

 ing spring. The beetles of the family to which Epuram nifa belongs, are for the most 

 part scavengers in habit, living on dead and decaying animal and vo^getable substances. 

 In the above instance, however, soinul seeds were certainly attacked, and this species 

 can evidently be a dcstru'^tive enemy of one of our favourite shade trees. 



