106 THE EEPORT OF THE No. 36 



NOTES ON INJURIOUS INSECTS IN BRITISH iCOLUMBIA IN 1912. 



E, C, Treheene^ Division of Entomology, Ottawa. 



The following notes and Oibservations were made during the past season. Ex- 

 cept for a visit to the States of Oregon and Washington, returning by way of the 

 Lower Kootenay district and the upper region of the Okanagan, I spent the entire 

 summer at Halgie, in the Eraser Valley, where the Dominion Entomological Field 

 Station was located. Particular attention was paid to the insects of the smaller 

 fruits, and the chief insect studied was the Strawberry Root Weevil (Otiorhynchus 

 ovatus) the most serious insect pest of this district. 



Apple Insects and Others. / 



The Bud Moth (Tmetocera ocellana) was particularly abundant in the 

 orchards of the Lower Eraser Valley this summer and undoubtedly affected the 

 crop to a marked extent. 



The Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma erosa) was also especially abundant, 

 complete defoliation of apple trees resulting in some cases. This insect is an 

 annually occurring pest in the Eraser Valley, and yearly causes considerable annoy- 

 ance to fruit-growers. Through the agency of the Agassiz Experimental Farm I 

 received a number of inquiries on this insect and its remedial measures. While on my 

 trip to the States to the south, I made special inquiries on the varieties of Tent 

 Caterpillars common to the Pacific Coast States, and was informed that together 

 with a species that corresponds directly to the Eastern Orchard pest, which is to be 

 found throughout the West, there are at least three species native to the Pacific 

 Coast States, viz., Malacosoma erosa, M. pluvialis, M. constricta. The first two 

 feed upon almost everything in the orchard but the pear, which under normal con- 

 ditions seems immune. Constricta devastates the Oak, sometimes attacking the 

 Prune. Erosa, so far as I could gather, in a general way, is confined to the territory 

 west of the Cascade Range of mountains, whereas pluvialis is to be commonly found 

 in the interior. 



The Kootenay District this year was visited by a species of climbing cutworm, 

 which caused the growers considerable worry (from my reference) in the Nelson 

 District. Passing through this District early in September, my attention was 

 drawn by Mr. Morrice Middleton the Assistant Provincial E[ortioulturalist for that 

 District, to the destruction of a number of young newly-set apple trees by the effects 

 of the Paris green in the poisoned bran mixture, which mixture he had recom- 

 mended to control the cutworms. The growers had made the mixture of the usual 

 strength, but had thrown it up around the butts of the trees, which, from the action 

 of the arsenic, by the middle of summer became completely girdled. I saw an or- 

 chard of som e 200 odd trees in which fully 45 had suffered in this way, and the 

 owner was complaining that no reference was to be found in any of his books of 

 reference on the possible effects of Paris green. 



Several inquiries came to hand on the subject of beetles which attack the 

 buds and blossoms of the young apple trees. The insects proved in most cases to 

 be the adults of Elater beetles, and several species are involved. Mr. Venables, 

 of Vernon, reports Corymbites inflatus as destructive in the Okanagan District. In 

 the Lower Eraser Valley, I noticed elater beetles devouring the blossoms, including 

 the calyx cups, the pistils and stamens, and also observed occasions where buds were 



