REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 167 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



usual on apple, plum and chexry trees, but were in most cases destroyed by parasites 

 before much damage was done. The Tent Caterpillars, Cankerworms and the Codling 

 Moth were noticeably less troublesome last season than for some years. 



Shade-tree and forest insects were seldom referred to in correspondence, and few 

 serious attacks were observed. In Montreal, Kingston and Toronto the White-spotted 

 Tussock Moth has increased so much that remedial measures are now urgently needed 

 or the beauty of shade trees in these cities will be much marred at no distant date. A 

 remarkable outbreak of the Maple Soft Scale, Pulvinaria inniimerabilis, Eathvon, took 

 place on the street shade-trees last summer in London, Ont., causing much incon- 

 venience to foot passengers, and the same insect also occurred on the shade-trees in 

 Woodstock,' Hamilton, and some other towns in western Outario. The Negundo Plant- 

 louse disfigured shade-trees to some extent in Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary, but not 

 to a very serious extent. An insect which has gradually increased in abundance and 

 now is destructive over a wide area in Canada, is the Spruce Gall-louse represented in 

 the East by Ghermes ahietis, L., and in the West by Chermes sihirica, Cholodk. On 

 small ornamental trees, spraying with a tobacco and soap wash has been effective, but 

 in forests nothing can be done to check the ravages. There are, however, indications 

 in some places that good work is being done by parasites. The unsightly nests of the 

 Fall Webworm have become conspicuously more abundant lately than they have been 

 for several years, and already demand attention from municipal authorities in towns, 

 as well as from fruit-growers in many parts of Ontario and Quebec, as also in British 

 Columbia. The insect occurs right across the Dominion. 



Live StocJc. — The Cattle Horn Fly, which a few years ago caused such extensive 

 losses to dairymen and stoclonen in eastern Canada, has now reached the Pacific coast. 

 Although still occurring in some numbers in the eastern provinces, its most severe at- 

 tacks in 1903 were in British Columbia, where I found it last summer extremely abun- 

 dant in some localities on Vancouver Island. Cattle-owners were not prepared to use 

 the remedies which have proved to a large measure effective in the East ; but, when 

 these were applied, relief was soon apparent. The most convenient remedy in our ex- 

 perience, is to smear the animals on the parts most attacked with a light dressing of 

 pine tar, one pound mixed with five pounds of lard or half a gallon of fish oil.* Speci- 

 mens of the fly were sent from Regina by Mr. Willing, which he had taken on horses; 

 but I saw no annoyance either to cattle or horses during a long journey tlirough several 

 of the cattle districts of the North-west in June and July last. I am hopeful that it 

 is hardly likely this insect will ever be a very serious pest of stock in the dry regions 

 of the West, where the cattle droppings, in which only the fly propagates while these are 

 in a semirfluid condition, dry up so quickly tliat they are soon unsuitable for the larvae 

 to live in. 



Meetings. — Whenever official duties would permit of my absence, no opportunity 

 has been lost of meeting farmers and of attending meetings of farmers' institutes and 

 agricultural associations of various kinds. The subjects treated of at tliese meetings 

 were as stated below : — 



December 26 to 29, 1902: Washington, D.C. — Association of Economic Entomolo- 

 gists : ' Can the Pea Weevil be Exterminated ? ' ; ' Injurious Insects of the Year in 

 Canada.' 



Through the kindness of tlie President of the Association, a special discussion was 

 held on the form.er of these papers, and co-operation was promised by several of the 

 entomologists at^the United States experiment stations, in disseminating information 

 and in applying remedies for the Pea Weevil in those States where pease are grown 

 for seed. 



* This mixture contains twice as much pine tar as in former recommendations. We have 

 found that it keeps off the flies much longer than the old mixture of 1 lb. in 10 lbs. of lard. 



