1899] HARRINCTON — IvXIRA I.IMIIAI. I X SIX "IS. 125 



FoLirc. since 1880. A few years ago I had a solitary rosebush, 

 and not much of a rosebush either, which nourished during the 

 summer all three species. All growers and lo\ers of small fruits 

 know only too well the worms which defoliate so rapidly the 

 currant and gooseberry bushes. These also are the larv.e of a 

 European saw-fly, A'cjiiatus ribi'sii Curtis, and the species is one 

 of our earliest immigrants, making itself quite at home and 

 prevailing in spite of hellebore and other applications. 



Of insects that have made themselves conspicuous in recent 

 years b\' their works of destruction Xcmatus crichsoaii Hartig, 

 holds a leading place, from the wide spread devastation it has 

 wrought in the tamarac forests from the Atlantic westward. The 

 Larch saw-fly is almost undoubtedly an importation from 

 Europe, and. matriculating at Harvard in 1880 on European 

 larches, it swept rapidly through New England and was reported 

 three years later as causing serious injury to our native larches 

 in the Province of Quebec. In 1885 it was found at work in this 

 district and by 1890 it had overspread the whole countr\- from 

 historic Louisburg to points far west and north of Ottawa. The 

 tamarac forests suffered as if a fire had overrun them, and it is 

 ditlicult to estimate the loss that this insect has caused to the 

 country. It still abides with us, ready each year to attack an\' 

 trees that still struggle for existence and put forth a feeble 

 foliage, or such young larches as may be found growing up. 



A small black saw-fly, Fciuisa varipcs appeared a few years 

 ago at the Central Experimental h'arm upon imported Alders, 

 of which the foliage was much disfigured by the larvae mining 

 in the leaves. The insects spread to the alders in Dow's swamp, 

 but the species does not appear to have established itself. 



Closely allied to the saw-flies is CepJius pygiiueiis Linn'., the 

 larvie ?)f which burrow in the stems of wheat. It occurred here 

 some years ago, but has not since been observed. 



Of Diptera can only be mentioned a species which of 

 J'ecent years has become notorious, viz., the Horn-fl}-, Ihviiiato- 

 /;/rtJ-r/';'c2'/a Rob. -Desv., first noted in America in 1887 and in 

 Canada m 1892; It receives its name from its habit of massing 



