REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I908 4I 



NOTES FOR THE YEAR 



A number of insects have been brought to attention during the 

 past season. Some of the more important outbreaks are noticed 

 in the following paragraph. The large, greenish caterpillar of the 

 imperial moth, B a s i 1 o n a i m p er i a 1 i s Drury, was unusu- 

 ally abundant during August and September, and on Staten Island 

 it was credited with being somewhat injurious. Ordinarily this 

 species is so rare as to attract no attention. The scurfy bark louse, 

 Chionaspis furfura Fitch, has been abundant in several 

 localities. This species has attracted more notice in recent years, 

 partly because the presence of the San Jose scale has increased 

 popular interest in the work of all Coccidae. The scurfy scale, 

 however, appears to have been more destructive during the last 

 five years than the equally common oyster scale, Lepidosaphes 

 u 1 m i Linn. 



Maple trees have been injured somewdiat in various localities by 

 the cottony maple scale, Pulvinaria innumerabilis 

 Rathv., and also by the false maple scale, Phenacoccus 

 a c e r i c o 1 a King. Both of these species are more likely to be 

 injurious in the southern part of the State, though the false maple 

 scale was sufficiently abundant to attract attention at Johns- 

 town. The elm bark louse, Gossyparia spuria Mod., oc- 

 curred in numbers on elms in both Brooklyn and Mt Vernon and 

 also at Schenectady. This latter pest is rather generally distributed 

 in the eastern portion of the State at least and, as pointed out by 

 the writer earlier, the English sparrow is probably an important 

 factor in carrying the pest from tree to tree in our cities. 



Fruit tree insects 



Gipsy moth (Porthctria dispar Linn.). This insect 

 has not to our knowledge established itself in New York State, 

 though a marked advance in our direction was discovered during 

 the season, small colonics having been found at Springfield and 

 Greenfield, Mass., both localities about 50 miles from our State 

 line. The work against this insect in Massachusetts, as shown by 

 our investigations in midsummer, is being most vigorously pushed, 

 particular stress being laid upon preventing its further spread. 

 This species, as has been repeatedly explained, spreads slowly, being 

 dependent largely upon the activity of man and beast for convey- 



