1905 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



11 



insect and an outline of its life history ; as this was published in our Report 

 for 1903, it is unnecessary to go over the same ground again. In September 

 last the Park Superintendent and one of the aldermen asked the local mem- 

 bers of the Society to report upon this insect and the Tussock moth to the 

 City Council. This was accordingly done, and on the 2nd of October we at- 

 tended at the City Hall and were invited by the Mayor to present any report 

 we had to make. 



a h 



Fig . 3 . Tussock moth : a wingless female moth on its cocoon ; h young 

 caterpillar ; c chrysalis of female ; d of male ; e male moth . 



Fig. 4. Tussock moth : full-grown cater- 

 pillar. 



Fig. 5 . Cottony maple scale ; female scales 

 with tufts containing eggs . 



The Tussock moth (Figs. 3 and 4) was the subject of newspaper articles 

 in the local press from time to time during tiie summer, and fears were ex- 

 pressed that, as it was very destructive in Toronto and doing some injury in 

 Hamilton, it might soon reach London. We were able to assure the City 

 Council that this dreaded insect had been well known in London to ento- 

 mologists for thirty or forty years, and that during the past summer it had 

 been as plentiful as usual. It was not, however, numerous enough to be a 

 cause of any alarm, and no injury to the trees of the city could be charged 

 t«^ it. A simple method of preventing its increase was suggested and will no 

 doubt be carried out, namely, the gathering and destroying during the win- 

 ter the masses of eggs laid by the wingless female moth on her cocoon. 

 These are white and conspicuous and in most cases within easy reach; they 

 are so few in number that any householder could clear the trees on his own 

 premises in a few minutes, and the work of removing them from the city trees 

 would involve but little labor. It was recommended that only the cocoons 

 bearing egg-masses should be destroyed, as the others contained either empty 

 male chrysalids or parasites. 



With regard to the Cottony Maple Scale, we were unable to suggest any 

 practicable remedy. Two methods of dealing with the insect were mentioned 

 as worthy of adoption by anyone who wished to protect his own trees : first, 

 the spraying of the trees during the winter with the lime and sulphur wash 

 that is found so effective in the case of the San Jose Scale, in order to destroy 

 the female scales that winter on the twigs and branches of the trees; and 

 secondly, by spraying of the trees with kerosene emulsion towards the end of 

 June and during the first two weeks of July — three or four times in all — in 



