REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST 231 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. io 



some cherries near Homer, Ont. It is not improbable that this insect is also attacking 

 cherries in Quebec from which reports of similar injury were received. This imported 

 insect was recorded by Dr. Fletcher in 1906*. He received it from Mr. W. R Palmer, 

 Victoria, B.C., where it was injuring some cherries. This was its first recorded appear- 

 ance in Canada, and Mr. Palmer stated that he first noticed the holes in cherries in 

 1904. Infected cherries should be destroyed as soon as the injury to fruit is noticed. 

 The Raspberry Cane Borer (Oberea bimaculata Oliv.) was reported generally from 

 Ontario and Quebec, in some instances being particularly abundant. The Strawberry 

 Flea Beetle (Haltica ignita Til) was destructive to strawberry plants at Nelson, B.C. ; 

 over 180 specimens were collected from a single plant by jarring. This species also 

 feeds upon other Rosacea 1 . In Prince Edward Island the Strawberry Crown Borer 

 (Tyloderma fragarioe Riley) was seriously injurious to the plants, and growers report 

 that it is becoming more abundant annually. The only remedy is to dig up and burn 

 infested plants before the fruiting season closes, that is, before the insect leaves the 

 plant. Old beds should be thoroughly ploughed in the fall. 



INSECTS AFFECTING FOREST AND SHADE TREES. 



The Spruce Budworm (Tortrix fumiferana Clemens). The inquiries and 

 reports received by the Division during last summer indicated that the depredations 

 of the insect were more extensive than in the previous year to which reference was 

 made in my last report. So serious did the situation appear, that many of the 

 holders of timber limits were not unnaturally alarmed and feared the destruction of 

 the spruce. 



As the Department of Lands and Forests of the Government of the Province of 

 Quebec, has a body of forest rangers throughout the province, arrangements were made 

 by Mr. G. C. Piche, Chief Forestry Engineer of the Province, to obtain reports from them 

 as to the distribution of the insect, and we drew up a questionnaire. The results of 

 this inquiry and of the information which the Division of Entomology has received 

 indicate that the insect is abundant in certain areas from Lake Timiskaming on the 

 west to Lake St. John on the east and is sparingly distributed throughout the whole 

 province down to the international boundary. The most serious devastations hava 

 been recorded from the region having River Desert and the upper Gatineau on the 

 west to the Rouge River and Lake Ouareau on the east, from the region southeast of 

 Lake St. John and from the River St. Maurice. In British Columbia, where I visited 

 the infested areas last year and again this year, the most severely infested region is the 

 southeast region of Vancouver Island from Salt Spring Island and Maple Bay south 

 to the Saanich Peninsula. The accompaying map shows the recorded distribution 

 of the Spruce Budworm in Canada at the present time. 



In British Columbia some of the second growth Douglas Fir has been killed as a 

 result of the repeated defoliation by the caterpillars. Visits were made to the Chicou- 

 timi and Rouge River regions in Quebec in January. In both these regions it was 

 found that the balsams had suffered more than the spruce. The tops of the trees were 

 denuded not only of foliage but also of buds. The injuries had caused severe bleeding. 

 The tops of some of the trees which were felled were dead, but otherwise no injury 

 could be found. Nor was there any evidence of an unusual secondary invasion by 

 bark beetles. Cocoons of Braconid .parasites indicated that these natural agencies were 

 at work. From material which Mr. Arthur Gibson collected at Baskatong in 1909, a 

 new parasite was reared. This has been described under the name of Nasonia tortricis 

 by Mr .C. T. Brues, in ' The Canadian Entomologist,' vol. 42, p. 259, 1910. 



* In Can. Ent., Vol. 41 p. 70, this species is described under the nam© Rhagoletis intrudens 

 n. sp., by J. M. Aldrich. 



