32 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



History. 



The cherry fruit sawfly was first reported in the year 1883 by 

 Matthew Cooke/ who found the larvte as damaging fruit of the cherry in 

 the Suisun Valley. The insect was named Dolerus cookei by Warren T. 

 Clarke,^ who made observations of its work in the Suisun Valley during 

 the years 1^05 and 1906. Both of the first reports were brief because 

 little was then known of the life history. In 1911, Mr. S. A. Rohwer 

 named the species Hoplocampa calif ornica from specimens received 

 from Suisun, California, March 10, 1910, collected by R. W. Braucher.^ 

 The life history and all obscure points relative to this insect were 

 definitely cleared up by Mr. S. W. Foster in Bull. No. 116, Part III, 

 Bur. Ent. U. S. Dept. Agrcl., Jan. 31, 1913, entitled "The Cherry 

 Fruit Sawfly." 



On May 6, 1913, specimens of young cherries infested with the larvse 

 of the sawfly were received from Mrs. Hattie Buffington from Nevada 

 City. Mr. J. E. Hassler, County Horticultural Commissioner of El 



Fig. 3. — Larvse of the cherry 

 fruit sawfly, Hoplocampa cookei 

 (Clarke). Enlarged. (Original.) 



Dorado County, forwarded similar specimens to the writer on May 11, 

 1913, from Placerville, California. Though the insect has been long 

 known to exist in the Suisun Valley the only other records of its 

 existence come from Mr. P. J. O'Cara, Medford, Oregon, until those 

 received by the writer from Nevada and El Dorado counties. These 

 widely recorded infestations indicate clearly that in all probability the 

 insect is more or less commonly distributee! from central California to 

 southern Oregon and infests native fruits not yet discovered. 



Damage. 



Considerable damage has been done to cherry crops in the Suisun 

 Valley according to Mr. Foster, who reported 80 per cent infestation in 

 April, 1909. On the Buffington place in Nevada City there were only 

 three or four cherry trees and practically all of the fruit was rendered 

 worthless. Two trees belonging to Mr. Hassler have been severely 

 infested for two years (1912 and 1913), the injury having never been 

 noted until 1912. Nearly every cherry was ruined. 



Mr. P. J. O'Gara reports more damage to prunes and plums than to 

 cherries at Medford, Oregon, and has been conducting spraying work 

 for three years, 



ilnj. Ins. of Orchard, Vineyard, etc., pp. 137-138, 1SS3. 



2Can. Ent. XXXVIII, pp. 351-352, 1906. 



3Tech. Ser. No. 20, Pt. IV, Bur. Ent. U. S. Dept. Agrcl., p. 143, May 27, 191L 



