318 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



relating to them will be read with great interest. I hear from them in Florida, but 

 not in such numbers as here."— [G. C. Snow, Yates County, New York, in New York 

 Weekly Tribune, November 11, 1874.] 



"About forty years ago my father set out a grove of locust trees for fencing pur- 

 poses, at the foot of a rocky, wooded hill. The trees throve, and for years have 

 furnished the farm with posts and stakes. When they were young we began to 

 notice on them, now and then, the insects known as " Walking-sticks," and some 

 fifteen years ago they began to increase rapidly, appearing in summer on the locusts, 

 to which at first they seemed to confine themselves, entirely stripping them of their 

 leaves, and have done so every second year since. 



" The locusts have nearly all succumbed to the repeated attacks of these repulsive- 

 looking pests, which have for some time extended their operations to the adjoining 

 native trees, most kinds of which they feed upon ravenously. 



"I have never by observation been able to discover when or where the eggs are 

 deposited, nor can I find more than a description of the insect in any book within my 

 reach. Will you throw a little light on the subject, and can you suggest any method 

 of destroying these pestiferous walking-sticks?"-— [R. E. R., Ferrisburgh, Vt., in. 

 Rural New Yorker, November 7, 1874.] 



"In June last we gave an account of a remarkable visitation of myriads of the 

 insect known as the walking-stick (Spectrum femoratum) in Yates County, New York^ 

 and asked for information as to the appearance elsewhere. The following from 

 Mr. E. H. Conklin, Cumberland County, Pa., is the first response, which we hope 

 may call out others. Mr. C. says: 'This insect, though not at all common, and 

 seldom numerous, has made its annual appearance in our peach orchards for forty 

 years, and only once in this time have they been so numerous as to be injurious. In 

 this instance, which was about ten years ago, these insects denuded a row of locust 

 trees that formed a shelter on the northwest side of a peach orchard. For half sl 

 dozen rods from this locust row the peach trees were also stripped of their leaves. 

 Previous to this time we never saw them on any other trees except the peach. As to 

 color some are light green, and others brown, amongst male and female. The female 

 has a much heavier body than the male.'" — [American Agriculturist, August, 1877.] 



A further account of great injury to oak timber by this insect on Mr. Snow's farm 

 was given in the American Agriculturist for June, 1877, and when applications were 

 made through the editor of the said journal for more definite information and for 

 some practical recommendations, so little was any one able to comply with such a 

 request, I deemed the matter of sufiicient interest and importance to warrant further 

 investigation. A couple of visits to Esperange farm enabled me to clear up the 

 insect's natural history, and suggested, as the sequel will show, a simple and feasible 

 means of preventing its injuries. 



Mr. Snow has about 50 acres of woodland, consisting of fine young trees, mostly 

 the second growth of hickory, and of difi"erent species of oak. In 1874 the trees on 

 about 25 acres were totally defoliated. In 1875 the insects appeared in fewer num- 

 bers. In 1876 they were even more numerous than in 1874, and covered a larger 

 area. In 1877 again they attracted less attention, while last summer I found that 

 Mr. Snow's accounts were by no means exaggerated. By the middle of August the 

 bulk of the pests were going through their last molt, and by the end of autumn they 

 had stripped most of the trees, showing, however, a decided preference for the blacky 

 red, and rock-chestnut oaks over the white oaks and hickories, which they affect but 

 little till after the first-mentioned trees are stripped. The underbrush was also very 

 effectually cleaned of its foliage, and the insects hung from and clung to the bare 

 twigs and branches in great clusters. They settle to roost on the witch hazel, but 

 do not defoliate it until the other trees mentioned are x^retty bare. Sumach and 

 thorn are also little affected, while peach and apple in an adjoining orchard were 

 untouched. Whenever they have entirely stripped the trees and shrubs they move 

 in bodies to fresh pastures, crowding upon one another and covering'the ground, the 



