December, '11] BRITTON: BARBERRY PYRALID 



521 



impossible to see that any of the trees sprayed in the spring had been 

 benefited to any marked degree. This we beheve is due to the fact 

 that the breeding period of the Gloomy Scale is quite protracted 

 and while the weaker spray mixtures which can be used in the summer 

 without injuring the leaves will kill the young unprotected scale, 

 they are not strong enough to kill the old scale which later gives birth 

 to more young. 



Nothing in this report, however, is to be construed as having any- 

 bearing upon the value of the various mixtures tried as San Jose scale 

 remedies. 



The writer acknowledges his indebtedness to Mr. S. C. Clapp, 

 field inspector of this office, for his assistance in inspecting the sprayed 

 trees. 



THE PYRALID (OMPHALOCERA DENTOSA GROTE), A PEST 

 OF BARBERRY HEDGES 



By W. E. Britton, Agricultural Experimsnl Slalion, New Haven, Conn. 



On August 12th, 1908, Dr. F. P. Gulliver of Norwich, Conn., 

 sent to the station some curious black and white caterpillars which 

 were feeding upon the leaves of common barberry, Berberis vulgaris 

 Linn. This plant, though introduced from Europe, has become 

 naturalized in New England and is far more common in Connecticut 

 than the native species B. canadensis Pursh. The writer was away 

 on a vacation, and his assistant, Mr. Walden, who was in charge of 

 the department, not recognizing the caterpillars, wrote to Doctor 

 Gulliver asking him to send more material, which he kindly did. 

 The writer examined the capterpillars on his return September 1st, 

 but they were entirely unfamiliar to him. In his experience of four- 

 teen years in the State he had not at that time ever seen the species 

 before. A few specimens were inflated, and the others placed in 

 the breeding cages for the purpose of rearing the adults, but none 

 were obtained. The following season the insect was not observed 

 by any one connected with this office. 



In 1910, however, this insect was more abundant than previously, 

 and a number of caterpillars were found feeding upon not only the 

 common barberry, B. vulgaris and its purple-leaved form, but also 

 on the Japanese barberry, B. thunbergii D. C. which is used rather 

 extensively for hedges,^ though not as commonly as California privet 

 and on another species of barberry. Enough material was secured in 

 1910 to enable us to rear the adults, and both sexes were obtained. 



During the annual task of inspecting nurseries the work of this 



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