1910 EI^TOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 17 



On receipt of this letter I at once sent all the specimens I had with a request 

 that he keep one of each species and return the other two. A considerable num- 

 ber of twigs were also sent through the kindness of Mr. Alfred Eastham, who hap- 

 pened to be about to visit the infested district. Dr. Hopkins in reply to my note 

 accompanying the specimens said : 



"I have your letter of the 1st. inst., and two spcimens of balsam mounts, also two 

 specimens of beetles mounted on card points, and have just now received a bundle of 

 pine twigs collected July 6'th, at Niagara-on-the-Lake. 



" The beetles in balsam are evidently a species of Pityophthorus, but it is impossible 

 to identify them beyond the genus when mounted in this way, and even the genus is 

 uncertain. They are far better for identification mounted dry. The other two specimens 

 on card points represent an undescribed species, evidently of the genus Conophthorus, 

 and is allied to a number of species that we have found to be injurious to the living 

 twigs of pine, Douglas fir, etc., in the Western States. I am retaining one of the speci- 

 mens for further study, and am returning the others to you as requested. 



" The specimens of twigs are of unusual interest. A superficial examination seemed 

 to indicate that they represented the common troubles investigated in New England last 

 season, which were found to be due to several causes. A more thorough examination, 

 however, revealed the fact that certain of the twigs with a peculiar grayish appearance 

 were infested with living larvae, apparently a Pityophthorus, and in one dead twig an 

 adult Pityophthorus was found. We shall have no trouble in rearing these larvae to the 

 adult stage, after which we shall be able to identify them and shall write you further. 



" One or two forms of the twig blight are also represented by the specimens sent, 

 one associated with a light yellow spot on the twig, which is believed to result from the 

 presence of the nymph of spittle insects, which are often very abundant on pine twigs. 

 Some of the twigs are also thickly infested with Chermes pinicorticis, which reduces the 

 vitality of the twigs and trees. These Chermes are of special interest, because they 

 have alternate hosts, that is, one or more genei'ations will develop on pine and then 

 migrate to spruce, where they cause galls on the twigs, from which they migrate back 

 to the pine, larch, etc., and there is one form of twig blight which is commonly met with 

 where the white pine and spruce grow together. If, later in the season, you find that 

 twig blight is developing under such conditions, I shall be very glad indeed to have 

 specimens of the twigs." 



It is too soon yet to expect any further word from Dr. Hopkins. 



I have not had much chance to visit districts where the white pine is found 

 so that I cannot at present say just how far this insect has spread through the 

 province, but since Dr. Hopkin's last letter I have found its work in a pine grove 

 about three miles south of Stoney Creek, and Mr. Jarvis has found it in Peel 

 county near Inglewood. 



It is quite clear that if these beetles were to become very abundant they could 

 do enormous damage to our pines. So far they can hardly be said to be very serious, 

 although about five per cent., or possibly more of the twigs have been killed. Trees 

 that were infested last year did not seem any worse infested this year. 



It must not be supposed that all the dead twigs seen on pine trees are killed 

 by these insects, because in several districts numerous twigs had died, but on exam- 

 ination there was no evidence of any insect work. 



Last year when in Prince Edward County I observed what was to me a new 

 kind of injury on apples. It took the form of small, circular, brown, dead areas 

 about one-quarter of an inch in diameter and one-eighth in depth. The skin over 

 these cavities was always ruptured in the centre. Apples thus damaged were shown 

 last year at our annual meeting, but no one seemed to know the cause. A few 

 weeks after the meeting on looking over Prof. Crandal's excellent bulletin on the 

 Plum Curculio I felt convinced that this insect had done the injury; consequently 

 this autumn I asked Mr. McVannel, the Agricultural Representative at Picton, to 

 see whether he could find any of the Curculios at the work. He discovered two 

 early in September, and on the twenty-fifth of the same month, while in the same 

 county, I found four of the insets at these cavities, two of them having just 

 finished making fresh ones. 



