306 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



REPOKT OF ENTOMOLOGIST 



By PROF. H. A. SURFACE. 



The year 1914 was marked by many peculiar entomological condi- 

 tions worthy of record in the State of Pennsylvania. In the begin- 

 ning of the year, if we had investigated all of the granaries and 

 mills in the southeastern part of the State, we would have found a 

 serious and extensive infestation of stored grains by the little pest 

 known as the Angoumois grain moth, which, however, is one of the 

 five or six different species of insects commonly, but wrongly, called 

 the "weevil." Great loss has been experienced from this pest during 

 the past year, and in fact more than ever before, chiefly because it is 

 gradually reaching into new regions, and farmers at first do not 

 recognize it as a very destructive pest, and, therefore, do not give it 

 the attention that is necessary for its control. Tens of thousands of 

 dollars worth of property have been destroyed by it. For example, 

 we know a prominent farmer in Lancaster county at the present 

 time selling his wheat for sixty cents per bushel to feed to chickens, 

 because it is so badly infested with the larvae of the Angoumois grain 

 moth ; when were it not for this pest, he would receive about two and 

 one half times that price. The means of prevention is to thresh the 

 crop early, to get it out of the straw as soon as possible; and the 

 remedy is to fumigate with carbon bisulphide by pouring this liquid 

 over the grain in a closed bin, at the rate of one pound for each one 

 hundred cubic feet of space occupied. 



Early in the season came reports of canker worms defoliating the 

 forest and fruit trees in the northern, central and western parts of 

 the State. The wingless female ascends the tree from her winter 

 abiding place, in a cocoon in the soil, and lays her eggs in irregular 

 bands around the twigs, or in patches on the bark. She can be kept 

 down by proper banding or by painting the trees with Tangle Foot 

 preparation; but this must be done early before the frost is all out 

 of the ground. The very young canker worms are easily destroyed 

 by spraying with standard arsenate of lead formulae. 



White grubs or "grub worms" (Lachnosterna larvae) were exceed- 

 ingly abundant and destructive both early and late in the season. 

 They became so destructive to lawns late in the fall as to destroy 

 the grass entirely, causing it to burn brown, and cutting off the 

 roots so that it could be rolled back like the sheared fleece of a 

 sheep. There is an effective means of preventing damages by this 

 pest, where ground can be cultivated, and that is to plow the ground 

 in the fall, and run across it two or three times with a disk harrow 

 set to cut deeply but not to scrape nor turn too much; or stir it 

 deeply with a spring-toothed harrow. Cultivate it thus as late as 

 possible in the fall and as early as possible in the spring, and post- 

 pone the planting until late. On a farm one of the best means of 

 getting rid of the white grub is to turn the hogs into a sod field where 

 the pests are found. Remove the rings from their noses and let them 



