58 



the trees in the fall to prevent the climbing of the moths, which 

 mostly issue at that season." (Riley, 8th Report, p 18.) It is all 

 the more important that when either of the canker worms appear, 

 it shall be at once met by insecticides and preventive measures 

 because of the slow progress which the female is able to make 

 from one tree to another, the rapid increase of the pest being thus 

 an impossibility, and if it can be destroyed in the limited region in 

 which it has established itself, the whole adjoining region may be 

 free from it for a very long time. 



The larva of a very elegant moth known as 



Epiri'ita diluiata^ Pack, 

 devours the leaves of many of our forest trees, and is at times a foe 

 to the elm. The larva fig is a measuring worm of a greenish 

 color, lighter underneath, and there is a light line along each side. 

 These are often purplish on the wings. It is a subarctic species, 

 and not likely to be common here. The moth is of a general gray- 

 ish color, dai'k and light shades are very finely intermingled. The 

 wings have a spread of rather more than an inch and a half. 

 Chambers in a paper "On food plants of Tineina, (Hayden Bulle- 

 tin IV. 117,) says of Argyresthia ansterella^ Zeller, I am con- 

 vinced, feeds in some way on it, (American elm,) and in the lat- 

 ter part of May and in June the imago may be found about ^e 

 trees. Bactra argutaria^ C/e;;/., is reported as feeding on the 

 elm. 



There is a group of very small delicate moths, which in the lar- 

 vae state burrow in the leaves of various plants. They are very 

 handsome little insects. The moths are long and narrow, and the 

 hind wings are finely fringed. The larvae feed especially upon the 

 middle part of the leaves, and sometimes, indeed, often the pres- 

 ence of the miner is betrayed by a folding or crumpling of the leaf, 

 although if the mine is mainly on the under side of the leaf, it 

 does not fold, but is simply discolored. The little larva spends its 

 life in the burrow, and transforms into a pupa there. Two spe- 

 cies infest elm leaves, known respectively as Lithocolletis iil- 

 mella^ Cham.^ Lithocolletis argentinotella^ Clem. 



Ocneria dispai-^ L. 



a moth well known in Europe, has appeared in Massachusetts, 

 and is the subject of a special Bulletin by Prof. Fernald. It has a 

 wide range in the Old World. It appears to be quite a varied 



