406 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



State and, as a rule, did not cause damage enough to warrant 

 repressive measures being adopted. 



Woolly elm leaf louse (Schizoneura americana 

 Riley). This woolly plant louse was met with in considerable 

 numbers on the leaves of American elms at Saratoga Springs and 

 Nassau. It frequently produces considerable deformity and curl- 

 ing of the foliage, the leaves sometimes forming large, irregular, 

 distorted masses. In most cases single leaves are partly curled 

 so that one side forms a cavity under the other half, the concavity 

 being filled with plant lice and peculiar masses of powder-covered 

 honeydew. The species was so abundant on some small trees, 

 that the whitened particles of honeydew fell on foliage beneath 

 and gave it the appearance of being spotted with a dilute white- 

 wash. The growth of such infested trees is undoubtedly checked 

 considerably. 



Garden insects 



Violet sawfly (Emphytus canadensis Kirby) . This 

 species is well known as a violet pest, and about the middle of 

 June our attention was called to its depredations on pansies at 

 Nassau. Investigations resulted in finding three or four of the 

 dark colored larvae at the base of several plants. They had fed 

 to such an extent that the pansies were unable to make a satis- 

 factory growth. This species can undoubtedly be controlled by 

 spraying the foliage with an arsenical poison, a proceeding hardly 

 advisable in the case of most flowering plants. It is possible to 

 find most of the sawfly larvae by digging about the roots of the 

 plants, where they take refuge during the day, and this is probably 

 the best method of checking the insect where the number of plants 

 to be protected are relatively few. 



Cucumber flea beetle (Crepidodera cucumeris 

 Harr.). This minute, black, hopping flea beetle about ^V ii^ch 

 long, is more or less abundant each year. Last season it appeared 

 to be unusually numerous and inflicted considerable injury on 

 tomato and potato plants, particularly on the latter, before the 

 tomato plants had been set out. Thorough spraying with a pois- 

 oned bordeaux mixture is one of the most effective methods of 

 controlling this species. Dusting the plants with plaster of paris, 

 ashes etc., is of some value and is particularly to be recommended 

 for tomato^vines, specially after the fruit has begun to develop. 



Stalky. borer (Papaipema nitela Guen.). The work 

 of this species is quite characteristic and has attracted consider- 



