ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY ENTOMOLOGY. 155 



a pine forest, there need be no fear from damage by tlie gipsy moth caterpillars, 

 provided the trees are properly protected from invasion from without by the 

 use of sticky bands. This discovery is considered to be of great practical im- 

 portance as it will permit of the general planting and cultivation of white pine 

 without fear of damage from the moths. 



During the year experts were employed to investigate the wilt disease of 

 the gipsy moth, which is probably bacterial, but no definite conclusions were 

 arrived at. 



An investigation during the summer by G. P, Clinton of the fungus disease 

 of the brown-tail moth, due to Entomophtliora aulicce, led him to express the 

 opinion that the outlook for a practical application of this disease by means 

 of the distribution of infected material is unfavorable. At the same time, as 

 the unusual dryness of the season afforded the most unfavorable conditions 

 possible, it is considered that a continuation of the investigation is necessary, 

 particularly since in 1907 considerable success was met with in the dissemina- 

 tion of the disease. 



A report by F. Silvestri, of the Royal School of Agriculture, Portici, Italy, 

 following an investigation of the work of suppression, is presented in which 

 the author recommends a continuation of the work along the same lines, par- 

 ticular emphasis being placed. upon the work with parasites. 



The report of L. O. Howard, under whose direction the work with parasites 

 is being carried on, is appended to the general report. " There have been 

 imported, in all, 23 species of hymenopterous parasites, of which 16 are 

 European, 6 are from Japan, and 1 at least is common to both regions. Eleven 

 of these have been reared from the gipsy moth, 6 from the brown-tail moth, 

 nnd 6 from both insects. A number of species of secondary parasites have 

 been reared and have been killed. Of dipterous parasites, at least 29 distinct 

 species have been imported, of which nearly all are parasitic upon both gipsy 

 and brown-tail moths. Of Coleoptera, 5 species have been imported, all of 

 which will feed upon both gipsy moth and brown-tail moth. This makes a 

 total of 57 beneficial species, enemies of gipsy moth or brown-tail moth, or 

 both, that have been brought over in the course of this work." 



The outlook is deemed more favorable than at any period during the prog- 

 ress of the work. While success seems an ultimate certainty, the time at 

 which obvious results will be apparent is as yet uncertain. 



The Hawaiian sug'ar cane bud moth (Ereunetis flavistriata), with, an 

 account of some allied species and natural enemies, O. H. Swezey (Hatoaiian 

 Sugar Planters' Sta., Div. Ent. Bui. 6, pp. -)0, pis. Jf). — E. flavistriata, variously 

 known as the bud moth, budworm, or sheath moth of sugar cane, is very abun- 

 dant in all cane fields throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Its eating of the 

 leaf sheaths and the leaves does no apparent injury to the cane as it is done 

 on the dead or nearly dead leaves. The eating of the rind may be considered 

 as injurious in the extent to which it may allow an entrance for fungus spores, 

 etc. The eating of the eyes, however, is a very serious injury not merely from 

 its producing a condition, or an opportunity for the admission of fungus spores, 

 but chiefly by its rendering the cane valueless for seed. 



The larvfe of this moth also feed on dead leaves of palms, bananas, pine- 

 apples, and Pandanus, and among the bananas on the bunch, eating dead tissues 

 and sometimes the skin of the fruit. The eggs are laid singly or often a few 

 near together on the inner surface of the leaf sheath, sometimes on the outer 

 surface as well, deposited lengthwise in the slight longitudinal grooves of its 

 surface. The larvae become full-grown in 8 weeks from the time of hatching, 



20872— No. 2—10 5 



