29 



line, Massachusetts.* In 1881 and 1882 it came under the notice of Dr. Packard in the 

 State of Maine ; and in 1883 I observed it in vast numbers in the border townships of 

 Bury and Lingwick in the Province of Quebec, and drew the attention of the Entomo- 

 logical Society of Ontario to the fact. Early in the summer of tlie following year I 

 witnessed a flight of the perfect insects at Quebec, and gathered a number of the exhausted 

 flies from the decks of the ferry-boats plying between Levis and that city. In that same 

 year the tamaracks around my residence were completely defoliated by the larv.-e. It 

 was impossible to approach the trees with comfort. The creatures were crawling every- 

 where around ; and the sound produced by the droppings of their excrementa upon the 

 undergrowth was like an incessant pattering of rain-drops. By this time their ravages 

 had been traced through the length of eastern Canada and into the maritime Provinces. 



It was at first thought that the tamarack would survive the assaults of the Nematus 

 — the more because a second growth of verdure appeared on the trees after the larv^ had 

 left them. So eminent an observer as Dr. Packard was inclined to this opinion ;t but 

 Professor Riley seems to have had a clearer view of the consequences of the insect's 

 attacks. I 



Many entomologists watched the Nematus through its metamorphoses hoping to dis^ 

 cover parasitic foes of the insect. I have not learned that any were successful. The 

 European parasites of the species (if such there were) did not appear; and our native 

 Hymenoptera parasitica had not, it would seem, acquired a taste for the immigrant. 

 Predacious insects, ants, § and ground beetles, || were found to prey upon it, but their 

 attacks made but little impression upon the hordes of the invaders. This was owino' 

 probably to the fact that swamps, in which the tamarack abounds, are but ill suited for 

 the abodes of ants and ground beetles. 



The pest wjxs clearly beyond human control. Ornamental trees around dwellings or 

 in parks might, it was thought, be saved by "spraying," but beyond this nothing could 

 be attempted. 



The appearances, the life history, the operations of Nematus Erichsonii have all been 

 minutely described ; and allusions have often been made to the destruction wrought by 

 the insect in Canada, b<jt on this last point but little definite information has been "iven. 

 With a view to arriving at something more precise in regard to it, I, a few weeks a^o 

 made a visit to the townships in which I had first seen the insect, and in Bury I met by 

 appointment the Rev. R. If. S. Fuller, rector of Bury, Mr. John B. Maddocks, superin- 

 tendent of lumbermen, and Mr. Robert Clark, one of the leading farmers in that section. 

 From conversations with these gentlemen, and from personal observation, I was able to 

 gather the following particulars. 



The tamarack swamps of the Township of Bury occupy about one tenth of its sur- 

 face, or 640 acres, and show on an average forty marketable trees to the acre. The 

 largest of these trees are about 2 feet 6 inches in diameter at the butt — one was found 

 having a diameter of 2 feet 9 inches. The usual size is 2 feet. This represents a growth 

 of 200 years. Two hundred and twenty rings of annual growth was the actual record 

 on the butt of one tree. Besides these marketable trees there are numerous others, in 

 every stage of growth, which, under favourable circumstances, woul 1, in successive years, 

 have attainf-d to marketable value. Of all these trees 98 per cent, are dead and the 

 remainder dying. 



Of the Township of Lingwick one-fifth, it is computed, is tamarack swamp. There 

 is of such swamp one tract, lying partly in Lingwick and partly in Weedon, that is said 

 to be five miles square. The destruction wrought in all this section is proportionate to 

 that in Bury. 



.The tamarack as a shade tree is less valued than the pine, spruce, balsam and cedar, 

 for the reason that its foliage is deciduous ; but in the summer season when grown in the 



*Dr. Lintner, 5th Report on the injurious and other insects of the State of New York, p 22. 



tl8th Ann. Rep. Ent. Soc. of Ont. p. 32 



tibid. 



§18th Ann. Rep. Ent. Soc. of Ont. p. 32. 



II Rep. of Proceedings of the Convention of fruit growers held at Ottawa, 1890, p. 69. 



