1905 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 17 



I have always regarded tlie larvae of Antiqua and Leucostigma as harm- 

 less and very beautiful objects — creatures to be admired. I certainly read 

 with amused surprise the following paragraph in the "Montreal Daily Star" 

 of July 22nd last: — 



"It is now beyond question that in addition to the caterpillars being 

 very destructive to vegetation, they are also poisonous to human beings. 

 They can let themselves down from a tree by means of a silken thread, simi- 

 lar to that made by the spider. They seem especially to like to get down 

 the back of one's neck, and they certainly do some painful work there." 



What a thick skin a man must have who could let a caterpillar alight 

 on his neck, and not brush it off immediately ! 



Still further to alarm the public, and to show "that our troubles have 

 hardly commenced yet," the writer in the "Star" proceeds to describe the 

 ravages of the Gypsy Moth in Massachusetts, and re-produces some of the 

 illustrations from Forbush and Fernald's Eeport. There is a representation 

 of the Dexter Elm with ten men engaged in freeing it from the eggs of the 

 moth. 



There, too, is a picture of the destroying of the eggs in a stone wall by 

 means of cyclone burner. 



Both of these are likely to excite apprehension, but are hardly fair to 

 the Tussocks, who were not the guilty parties in the case. "Give a dog a 

 bad name and hang him!" 



"We remember the "Kissing Bug Scare," in which kissing-bugs multi- 

 plied to such an extent that it was hard to believe that any damsel could 

 go unkissed. 



In this Tussock Moth Scare, whatever damage has been done to trees, 

 the Tussocks — in popular opinion — have been the doers of it. One man 

 told that the gooseberry bushes in the gardens near him had been defoliated 

 — of course tlie Tussocks had done the harm, and not Etififchia rihearia, nor 

 Nematus ventricosus. The larvse of Vanessa Antiopa, Clisiocampa disstria, 

 Hihernia tiliaria, Hyphantria textor, and others, always do their share to- 

 wards denuding the trees; but for injuries done by these the Tussocks are 

 now held blame-worthy. 



To show how easily a mistake might arise: — A person at Quebec, on 

 the look-out for damage by the Tussocks, would notice that the Ash-trees, 

 which formerly were such graceful adornments to the public squares and 

 gardens of the city, were leafless, dead, or dying. "Oh," he would be like- 

 ly to exclaim, "the terrible Tussock Moths!" But the Tussocks were en- 

 tirely blameless in this case. My attention was directed to the trees, in the 

 spring of 1904, by Mr. Joly de Lotbiniere. I examined them carefully, 

 and could find no trace of injurious insects. I came to the conclusion that 

 the death of so many of these beautiful trees was occasioned by the exces- 

 sive drought of the preceding spring. 



I had recorded that on the 11th of April, 1903, and again on the 12th, 

 the thermometer m my yard indicated 82 degrees in the shade. The untimely 

 heat was followed by a long, cold, and exceedingly dry time. Prayers for 

 rain were offered in some of our churches. 



In the end of May and beginning of June, the air was thick with smoke 

 from forest fires. On the 3rd of June the smoke was so dense that the river 

 steamboat "Frontenac" was unable to run. 



I am convinced that the young foliage of the ash trees was so affected 

 by these circumstances that it performed its functions imperfectly. Then, 

 too, the earth was so parched that the roots of the trees must have failed 



