110 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



feeder that under ordinary conditions it does not inflict serious 

 damages, and is usually fairly well controlled by natural enemies. 

 Black banded Lecanium, Lecanium nigrofasciatum 

 Perg. This small insect has previously attracted comparatively 

 little attention in this State. It was noticed briefly in our previ- 

 ous report and was brought to the attention of Dr Lintner in 

 1896, by examples sent from Poughkeepsie, where it had been 

 exceedingly abundant on a hard maple. It has been observed in 

 relatively small numbers on soft maples in Albany till the last 

 few years, when it has become plenty on certain trees, and during 

 1902 it was found to be present in immense numbers on many 

 soft maples. The insects were so abundant that a large amount 

 of honeydew was excreted, and the growth of the trees seriously 



checked by its work. 



Forest insects 



Willow and poplar curculio, Cryptorhynchus lapathi 

 Linn. This destructive weevil has been quite injurious to nursery 

 stock in western New York during the past season. Its presence 

 is usually indicated externally, in the case of willows, by a purp- 

 lish discoloration of the bark on either side of the transverse 

 burrow and by the drying and shrinking of the thin bark directly 

 over the gallery. 



The full grown larva or grub burrows in the center of small 

 stems, frequently for a distance of 3 or 4 inches, and the pupal 

 cell is found near the extremity of this burrow [pi. 6, fig. 1]. The 

 galleries of the young grubs occur around buds and at the base of 

 small limbs and frequently partly girdle the tree. Their presence 

 is not so conspicuous as the work of older individuals and is 

 usually indicated by a brownish discoloration with a few minute 

 borings near the entrance. 



Larvae, pupae and adults were found in infested stock sub- 

 mitted for examination July 18. A number of adults were bred 

 in the course of a few weeks. The insect was so abundant in 

 some nurseries as to cause serious loss and, on account of its 

 working within the stems, is a difiicult one to control. The 

 destruction by fire of badly infested trees appears to be the most 

 practical method of checking it, though something may possibly 

 be accomplished by spraying the stems of young willows and pop- 



