48 Forty-first Report on the State MusEmi. 



the action of winds or the vegetal changes that take place at the 

 wounded part, soon falling to the ground, the young larva escapes 

 therefrom and enters the earth. That the food for an insect of the 

 size of Dne indicated by the cuts made by its mandibles could not be 

 furnished by the excised and soon dried tip of less than a half-dozen 

 inches in length, is evident. It is probable that its food-suj)ply would 

 be found among the roots of the plant. 



The Young' Insect Seen. 



Of a large number of the tips which were dissected in the search 



for the insect, in a single one, only, was it discovered, as a minute, 



whitish, oval creature, ai:)parently just from the egg, occupying place 



very near the point of excision. Its structural characters were too 



imperfectly developed to admit of its positive reference to any one of 



the orders, but it .was believed to belong to the Hymenoptera. Other 



tips kept for several days in a moist condition, gave . no further 



developments. 



How the Attack may be Determined. 



If its habits and food be such as above conjectured, there is but 

 little chance of obtaining the insect by rearing it from the egg, unless 

 with the aid of potted plants kept under observation within doors. A 

 better method of ascertaining the author of this secret attack, wovild 

 be, to detect it in its work, by seeking it with a lantern at night. 

 Will those whose interest or curiosity may be awakened by the above 

 account, bear in mind the character of the attack, and embrace any 

 opportunity that may be offered in its recurrence to aid us in the 

 effort to obtain the scientific name of the currant-stem girdler? 



Orgyia leucostigma {Sm.-Ahh.). 



The White-marked Tussock-Moth. 

 (Ord. Lepidoptera: Fam. Bombycid^.) 

 Repetition of the Elm-twig Girdling. 

 The peculiar form of attack by the caterpillar of this moth, noticed 

 in the Second Beport on the Insects of New York, 1885, pp. 8G-89, figs. 

 . j / jr 11-15, in which im- 



^^ ^^< \ --k W t4 "(. / / .'f mense numbers of 



^ % the tips of the elms 



in the city of Al- 

 bany, during the 



summer of 1883, 

 Fig. 23.— The Caterpillar of the White-marked Tussock-moth, • ji n 



Okuyia LBUcosTiGMA. (After EmmoDS.) were girdled m 



the new growth and subsequently fell to the ground, was again 



