Ninth Eeport of the State Entomologist 361 



Dr. Fitch, in writing of the transformations of the oak-priiner, states 

 that some of the worms enter their pupa state the last of autumn,, and 

 others not till the following spring, to come forth as perfect beetles in 

 June. Mr. F, Clarkson, of New York city, in a recent number of the 

 Canadian Entomologist (1886, xvii, p. 188), states that this insect was 

 very abundant in Columbia county, this Stale, in 1878, and that the 

 .September winds brought showers of twigs and branches to the 

 ground, containing nearly full-grown larvae, in tunnels of from ten to 

 iifteen inches in length. Some of these, which had been placed in a 

 room having very nearly the condition, thermometrically, of the tem- 

 perature without, were opened in the early part of November, and 

 were found in every instance to contain the beetle, — the transforma- 

 tion from the larva to the imago having been completed in less than 

 eight weeks. It is not stated whether the season had been an unusually 

 warm one, through which the ordinary development of the insect may 

 have been hastened. 



Remedy. — It is seldom that the operations of this insect amount to 

 more than a moderate pruning of the infested trees, but, as in the 

 instance above brought to our notice, they are seriously mai'ring the 

 beauty of the trees that they occupy, it is important that the attack 

 should not be permitted to continue and extend itself. As the insect 

 remains within the fallen branches until the following spring, and it is 

 probable that very nearly all the tunneled branches fall to the ground, 

 we have a simple and easy method of arresting the injuries We have 

 only to collect and burn the severed branches as soon as they fall, or at 

 any time during the autumn, and the deposit of eggs for another brood 

 the following season will be prevented. If danger is apprehended that 

 the species may be continued through a few of the insects remaining 

 upon the tree, watch should be kept for withering ends of branches 

 ■during the summer and early autumn, which may be removed and 

 destroyed, or the outer limbs may be beaten, after the burrowing 

 operations have ceased, with a moderate force, which would serve to 

 break off anj' partially excised branches which the winds had failed to 

 remove. 



Diabrotica vittata (Fabr.). 

 The Striped Cticumher Beetle. 

 A squash plant, of a growth of nine inches above the ground and 

 three inches of stalk beneath, was submitted, June 30th, for examina- 

 tion and for some method of destroying the insects attacking it. 

 1893 40 



