REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 251 



6ESSI0NAL PAPER No. 16 



against some beetles which are little affected by poisonous mixtures, such as the Rose 

 Chafer (Macrodactylus subspinosus, Fab.) and the Striped Blister-beetle (Epicauta 

 viilata, Fab.), and it is probable that it might also be useful against this chrysomelid. 

 It would be well worthy of a trial, should the beetles be found again next year either 

 upon strawberries or afterwards when they have flown to the vineyards. The whale- 

 oil soap now largely used by fruit growers in western Ontario is a fish oil soap contain- 

 ing a large percentage of potash. 



FOREST TEEES. 



The only insect enemy of forest trees which has been the subject of considerable 

 correspondence and which has attracted public attention, is the Birch Skeletonizer 

 (Bucculairix canadcnsiseila, Cham.). It seriously disfigured birch trees in all parts of 

 Ontario and in some parts of the province of Quebec in late summer. The insect was 

 treated of fully in my report for 1892, when a similar abundance of the insect occur- 

 red. In the following year very few birch trees were injured and since 1893 nothing 

 has been seen of it until this year. It is to be hoped that we may experience next 

 year a similar disappearance of this enemy to the birch. 



A NEW ENEMY OF CONIFERS 



(Semiophora youngii, n. sp., J. B. Smith, ms.). 



A very interesting new species of noctuid moth belonging to the genus Semiophora 

 was discovered during the past summer to be a pest of some importance to tamarack 

 or American Larch (Larix Americana, Mx.) and the Black Spruce (Picea nigra, 

 Poir.). The moth, which is a very beautiful species, was reared from the larva, and 

 the first specimens were discovered by Mr. C. H. Young, of Hurdman's Bridge, near 

 Ottawa, a most enthusiastic and painstaking entomologist, as well as a successful 

 breeder of insects. The species has been named in honour of the discoverer, by Prof. 

 John B. Smith, the leading specialist in this group. The first moths were taken by 

 Mr. Young in August, 1899. On May 30 last I visited the Mer Bleue, an extensive 

 peat bog near Ottawa, in company with Mr. Young and Mr. Arthur Gibson. On en- 

 tering the swamp it was at once apparent that some insect was stripping the young 

 tamaracks and spruces, and after a short search we discovered that this had been done 

 by a strikingly handsome noctuid caterpillar about an inch and a half in length when 

 full grown, of a rich velvety brown, with a ruddy or greenish tinge in different speci- 

 mens, the dorsal area showing the richest colours and bounded on each side by the 

 white clear and threadlike lateral stripes. The dorsal stripe of the same intensity 

 as the lateral stripes. The spiracles black and lying on the upper edge of a broad 

 white substigmatal band, 'the lower surface much paler than the dorsal, the whole body 

 finely mottled with small purplish brown spots. The centre of each segment on the 

 dorsum is darker and more velvety than the intersegmental fold. The head is reddish 

 brown finely mottled with lighter spots. 



A large number of these larvae were collected and a fine series of the moths was 

 reared. The moth, as stated above, is a very beautiful species and varies so much that, 

 had not the specimens all been reared from larvae which showed little variation, it 

 might have been supposed that at least two species were represented. The moth mea- 

 sures about an inch and a quarter across the wings and varies in the ground colour- 

 of the wings from a warm gray almost to a velvety black, the usual lines and marks 

 of the noctuidae are distinct in most specimens and, as a rule, heavily shadowed inside 

 with a darker shade of the ground colour. The area beyond the subterminal line is 

 strikingly paler than the rest of the wing, except the reniform mark, which is almost 



