Report of the State Entomologist 335 



comes to us with a bad reputation, and, therefore, effort should 

 be made to arrest its spread. The Cornell University Station 

 would accomplish a good work, if they would not permit us to 

 hear of its operations beyond their own borders. The wheat 

 stubble of their farm may, at the present time, entirely monopolize 

 the living and unfledged material in this country.* It is thought 

 that it may have been brought over from England in straw used for 

 packing. 



The Gtpst Moth. 



It is of no little interest to the naturalist, when the date and locality 

 of introduction from abroad of a species of injurious insect can be 

 definitely ascertained, that its rate and lines of distribution may be 

 more accurately determined, and change of habits under its new 

 environments observed. The last half century, prior to which but 

 little attention had been given to the study of insects in this country 

 affords approximate data of the kind, for several of our notable insect 

 pests. Thus, to cite a few of these: The elm-leaf beetle, Galeruca 

 xanthomelcena (Schr.) was first noticed in 1838, on elms in Baltimore 

 audits vicinity; the grain aphis, Siphonophora avence (Fabr.), probably 

 about 1850, but not injurious until 1861; the cabbage butterfly, 

 Pieris rapce (Linn.), observed in 1858, at Quebec, Canada; the asparagus 

 beetle, Grioceris asparagi (Linn.), introduced probably in 1856 or 1857, 

 and first seen at Astoria, Long Island, in 1859; the hop-vine aphis, 

 Phorodon humuli (Schrank), recorded for the first in 1862 ; the currant 

 worm, Nematus ribesii Scop, (formerly known as N. ventricosus Klug), 

 introduced about 1860, it is believed at Rochester, N. Y. ; the carpet 

 beetle, Anthrenus scrophularice (Linn.), about 1870, in New York city 

 and in California; the clover-root borer, Hylednus trifolii (Miill.) 

 [lately referred to Hylaslinus obscurus Marsh.], about 1875, first 

 •observed in Yates county, N. Y., in 1818; the pear midge, Diplosis 

 pyrivora Riley, in 1877 or 1878, at Meriden, Conn.; the larch saw-fly, 

 Nematus Erichsonii (Hartig), first seen in 1880, on imported larches, 

 at Brookline, Mass. To the above formidable list, a score of 

 others introduced within the period embraced, might be added, the 

 injurious character of several of which would entitle them to special 

 mention. I will only add to the list, at this time, by mention of, 

 and brief reference to, one which has been brought to our notice 

 during the past year, and which is exciting so much interest in 

 Massachusetts that the Governor of the state has deemed it 



* Publication has since been made of the capture of a single example of the species, 

 at Ottawa, Canada, in 1887, by Mr. Harrington, and of three examples by Mr. Van Duzee, 

 at Buffalo, on the 9th and 11th of June, 1889, showing that it has already attained a 

 somewhat extended distribution.— ( Canadian Entomologist for February, 1890, xxii, p. 40.) 



