JOURNAL 



OF 



ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



OFFICIAL ORGAN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS 



Vol. 5 JUNE, 1912 No. 3 



Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Annual Meeting 

 of the American Association of Economic 

 Entomologists — (Continued) 



SPREAD OF THE LEOPARD MOTH IN CONNECTICUT AND 

 ITS INJURY TO SHADE TREES 



By W. E. Brittox, Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn. 



The most destructive insect pest of shade trees in New Haven at 

 present is the leopard moth, Zeuzera pyrina Linn. This insect is 

 now at work in nearly every city and towii along the Connecticut 

 coast from New York State to the Rhode Island line. It is chiefly a 

 town and city insect, and apparently does little harm in the open 

 country. 



First appearing in this country at Hoboken, N. J., more than thirty 

 years ago, the leopard moth has spread slowly southward and inland, 

 but has spread much more rapidly to the north and east, and especiallj^ 

 along the coast. At present it is known to be distributed from Asbury, 

 N. J., to Lawrence, Mass., and in no case has it been recorded as 

 occurring inland more than twenty-five miles. 



Though according to Professor J. B. Smith, ^ Colonel Pike as early 

 as 189-4 reported that the leopard moth had reached Connecticut, 

 the first definite record was made by Mr. H. ]\L Russell, who collected 

 adult moths at Bridgeport in 1901.- The first Connecticut specimen 

 in the collection of the Agricultural Experiment Station was a male 

 captured at New Haven, July 1st, 1907, bj^ Professor H. W. Foote of 

 Yale University. But the insect must have been present in New 

 Haven for some years, as photographs taken about that time and 



1 Insect Life, Vol. vii., p. 13S. 



2 Bureau of Entomology, Circular 109, p. 3. 



