DiriSIOK OF ENTOMOLOGY 869 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



infected area in the New Eni?land States will render such methods less potent in deal- 

 ing with the insect outside the orchard and cultivated areas. Our efforts are directed 

 ^vit•h a view to keeping the insect in cheek, so far as is practicable. In my last annual 

 report the preliminary efforts to introduce the native parasites of the Brown-tail and 

 Gipsy Moths into Canada were described. - Through the continued courtesy and most, 

 welcome co-operation of Ur. L. O. Howard, Chief of the United States Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, and of his assistant, Mr. A. F. Burgess, in charge of the Gipsy Moth Work, we 

 were able to make more extensive importations of parasites during the summer of 1913. 

 This was made possible by the veiy kind provision of accommodation at the Gipsy Moth 

 Parasite Laboratory, Melrose Highlands, Mass., for our officer, Mr. L. S. !McLaine, who 

 had charge of the work of obtaining the parasitized material. 



COLLECTION OF PARASITES. 



The parasites which we were desirous of obtaining were: Apanteles lacteicolor 

 Vier., which iiife&ts the hibernating cateriDillars of the Brown-tail Moth; and the Taoh- 

 inid parasite Compsilura concinnata Meig., which we had successfully introduced into 

 New Brunswick in 1912. These parasites will attack both the Gipsy and Brown-tail 

 caterpillars, and the caterpillars of several of our native lepidoptera upon which fact 

 the success of work in introducing and establishing them depended. We also desired 

 to obtain further supplies of the predaceous beetle Calosoma sycophania, which suc- 

 cessfully withstood the winter of 1912-13 at Fredericton. 



During the winter of 1912-13, 6,500 parasitized winter webs of the Brown-tail Moth 

 were collected from six localities in Massachussetts, and placed in cold storage. On 

 May 6, they were removed and the young larvas were fed in Fiske trays. The first Apan- 

 teles cocoon appeared on June 1. The work of feeding and picking over the trays was 

 an almost intolerable operation on account of the poisonous hairs and great heat. Mr. 

 McLaine and his helpei-s deserve great credit for the admirable way in which this work 

 was carried on under most trying circumstances. As the cocoons of Apanteles were col- 

 lected they were put into an ice-box until a sufficient number had been obtained to ship 

 to our laboratory at Fredericton, N.B. It was found that the best niethod of shipping 

 the cocoons was in iced refrigerator boxes by express. The Tachinid parasite C. con- 

 cinnata was reared from Gipsy Moth caterpillars in preference to Brown-tail Moth cat- 

 erpillars to avoid the hairs of the latter. The caterpillars were collected as near the 

 fifth stage as possible to reduce the labour of feeding. The first collection was made on 

 June 25. In order to facilitate the collection of the caterpillars, trees were burlapped 

 in four localities. The caterpillars were fed in Fiske trays and the first Compsilura 

 puparium was noted on July 2. The following; is a summary of the results : — 



Caterpillars from 6,500 Brown-tail Moth winter webs reared, from which 

 46,548 cocoons of Apanteles lacteicolor were obtained and forwarded to Frederic- 

 ton, N.B.; a total of 49,119 Gipsy Moth caterpillars from ten localities were fed, 

 from them 5,Y38 puparia of Compsilura concinnata were obtained and shipped to 

 New Brunswick. Early in June 200 adults of the predaceous beetle Calosoma 

 sycopJianta were collected and shipped to New Brunswick. In addition, 975 

 larvae of Calosoma in all stages were collected in various localities and fed in 

 the laboratory until they entered the ground for pupation; they will hibernate 

 at Melrose Highlands and be shipped later to Fredericton, N.B. 



There were also sihipped to New Brunswick 475 cocoons of the parasite 

 Meteorus versicolor Wesm., which is an imported parasite of the Brown-tail 

 Moth, and also parasitizes the catei-pillars of the White-marked Tussock Moth 

 and the Fall Webworm. 



Ottawa. 



