New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 327 



1875, when more than 50 acres of willows in Onondaga County 

 were practically destroyed. From that time until 1893 the beetles 

 did not appear in sufficient numbers to do serious injury. In the 

 spring of 1894 the beetles appeared in swarms throughout the 

 willow growing sections of the central part of the State, greatly 

 reducing the yield of marketable willows. During 1895 and 1896 

 there was no apparent decrease in the number of beetles and the 

 injury to the willows was not lessened. In 1897 the beetles were 

 somewhat less numerous, but still sufficiently abundant to do great 

 injury to the willows. 



Although widely distributed throughout the State, the dis- 

 tribution of the species as a seriously injurious pest is practically 

 limited by Oneida, Madison, Onondaga and Cayuga Counties. 

 Although basket willows are grown commercially in at least eight 

 counties west of Cayuga, the beetles have not been found in suflv 

 cient numbers to do serious injury. 



FOOD PLANTS. 



The principal food plants of this species are willow and cotton- 

 wood. It has also been found upon the box-elder. 



HOW THE WILLOWS ARE INJURED. 



The nature of the injury caused by the beetles will doubtless 

 be better understood after a brief explanation of the method of 

 growing basket willows. The principal species cultivated is the 

 European osier, Salix viminalis. As previously stated by Dr. 

 Lintner 4 the willows are propagated by cuttings. These cut- 

 tings are nine inches in length and are set six inches into the 

 ground, and about fourteen or fifteen inches apart in rows about 

 three feet apart. The young willows grow rapidly, a good growth 

 averaging from five to six and one-half feet in a season. They 

 are large enough to cut the second year, but produce only about 



♦ New York State Entomologist Kept., 1895: 185. 



