50 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



insect is not sufficiently destructive to warrant adopting such 

 measures. 



Elm leaf beetle (Ga I e r ucel 1 a luteola Mull.). This im- 

 ]X)rte(l species continues to be a serious pest of elms, particularly 

 in the Hudson valley, many of the elms of Yonkers, Poughkcepsie, 

 Hudson, Albany, Troy, Schenectady, vScliuylerville and Ithaca and 

 probably other localities in the State being very badly injured. The 

 work at Schuylerville and Schenectady was exceptionally severe and 

 the same is also true of its operations at Ithaca. The major part of 

 the injury in Albany at least was due to delay in appointing a city 

 forester and getting the spray apparatus into operation. Further- 

 more, it is very difficult to secure men who can be relied upon to 

 do thorough work. Experience has demonstrated beyond all ques- 

 tion the practicability of keeping the elm foliage practically intact, 

 even in localities where the pest is very abundant. It is for public 

 spirited citizens in affected localities to insist upon the maintenance 

 of such a standard. 



The observations of the past season show in a most striking 

 manner the extremely local character of this pest. The badly in- 

 fested area in Albany has been restricted for the past decade to the 

 older and more thickly settled fourth of the city. A study of con- 

 ditions in Schenectady showed a similar restriction, the destructive 

 work of the pest being limited almost exclusively to a small section 

 of the older part of the city, in the vicinity of Church street and 

 not extending in any direction more than lo blocks from the center 

 of the infestation. Furthermore, the most severe injury was 

 noticed upon a group of elms near the open belfry of a church, 

 clearly indicating that the insects winter most successfully where a 

 structure of this kind affords abundant shelter. 



Bag worm (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis 

 Haw.). New York city and its vicinity represents about the north- 

 ern extension of this species, as a rule. It was somewhat surprising, 

 therefore, to receive healthy larvae from Germantown, only about 

 40 miles south of Albany. Mr T. F. Niles, who sent in the speci- 

 mens, states that no young trees have been set in this locality within 

 the past 2 years nearer than a quarter of a mile, consequently it 

 would seem as though the species was able under certain conditions 

 to maintain itself considerably farther north than has heretofore 

 been supposed possible. 



Fall webworm (H y p h a n t r i a t e x t o r Harr.) . This com- 

 mon species has been unusually abundant in some portions of the 



