^^ JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 4 



VACATION NOTES IN THE ADIRONDACKS 



By W. E. Brixton, New Haven, Conn. 



It was the writer's good fortune to spend two weeks of his vacation 

 July 8 to July 22, 1911, in the to^vii of Jay, Essex County, N. Y at 

 an altitude of over 1,000 feet. The following entomological observa- 

 tions were made there, and most of the species herein mentioned were 

 collected. 



Acres of alders on the hillsides and along streams had been defoliated 

 by the alder flea-beetle, Haltica bimarginata Say {=alni Harr.). In 

 some cases the bushes were bare, but usually the network of the leaves 

 still remained, and turning brown gave them the appearance of having 

 been scorched by fire. The adult is one of the largest species of the 

 genus Haltica, is dark blue and with a longitudinal fold on the outer 

 margins of the wing covers. 



Another and smaller flea-beetle, Phyllodecta vittellinoi Linn. { = vul- 

 gatissima Linn.) was feeding upon the terminal leaves of low-growing 

 willows along the banks of the Ausable River. 



The forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria Hubn., had evidently 

 been quite abundant earlier in the season, as the separate empty 

 cocoons were present on the trunk of nearly every tree, including 

 pmes, and on fences and stone walls. On the under side of large 

 branches of apple trees one could see patches five or six inches in diam- 

 eter of the cast skins or molts of the caterpillars. These trees also 

 showed that considerable eating had been done by the caterpillars 

 earher m the season before the trees had ceased growing. 



The underbrush in the pine woods, near the writer's cabin, was 

 commonly infested by a soft scale, probably Lecanium corni Bouche. 

 The brown empty shells were still clinging to the twigs, and the young 

 were well established along the veins of the leaves as well as on the 

 bark of the twigs. Many twigs and some small bushes had already 

 been killed by this insect, which was noticed on elm, hazel, hop horn- 

 beam or ironwood, sugar maple, yellow birch, paper birch, choke 

 cherry, black cherry and bird or pigeon cherry. 



Oyster shell scale was abundant, and one scrub apple in a pasture 

 had been killed outright by it. 



In climbing Mount Wainwright (one of the lesser peaks) I noticed 

 a paper birch which had been attacked by the bronze birch borer, 

 Agrilus anxius Gory, the spiral ridges caused by the tunneUng of the 

 larvae showing prominently on the upper branches. 



In the fields and pastures the grass was being destroyed by hordes 



