326 Report of the Entomologists of the 



states that the " willow beetle" did serious injury in his nursery 

 at Germantown, during the spring of 1S87, to Carolina poplars 

 and Kilmarnock and A T ew American willows. 



In this State, the only instance of injury to nursery stock by 

 this insect, which has come under the writer's notice, was in the 

 nurseries of the Smiths & Powell Co. of Syracuse. In 1895 and 

 1896 the beetles did serious injury in a few blocks of Carolina and 

 Norway poplars. They were especially injurious during the 

 spring of 1896, threatening to ruin .ill of the Norway and Caro- 

 lina poplars in this nursery. 



HISTORY AND PRESENT DISTRIBUTION. 



The original home of the cottonwood leaf beetle is not posi- 

 tively known. 



In this country, it did not attract much attention until about 

 1876. In 1877 and 1878 the beetles did serious injury to cotton- 

 wood in the prairie states, especially Dakota, Kansas and Ne- 

 braska, where the cottonwood is valued for both ornamental and 

 commercial purposes. In 1884 the cottonwoods in these sections 

 were again seriously injured by the beetles which, it is said, ap- 

 peared in swarms, quickly stripping the trees of their leaves. 



On the authority of Dr. C. V. Riley 3 the habit of feeding on cot- 

 tonwood was acquired long after the species was known as a pest 

 to willows, and he suggests that " a special cottonwood feeding 

 race of the species has of late years been developed." 



The cottonwood leaf beetle occurs throughout the United 

 States, and, according to Mr. E. A. Schwarz, in a recent letter to 

 the writer, is found as far south as the City of Mexico. It is host 

 known as an injurious species along the Mississippi Valley. 



In this State it is little known outside the willow-growing dis- 

 tricts. It first attracted the attention of the willow growers in 



3TJ. S. Dept. Agr. Ann. Rpt. 1S84: 337: reprint from article in N. Y. 

 Tribune, Oct. 0, 1878. 



