244 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4-5 EDWARD VII., A. 1905 



(See ' Canadian Entomologist,' vol. xxxvi., 1904, p. 306.) After careful examination 

 tJiey were decided to_ be an undescribed species, which was named in honour of Mr. 

 Willing, as a recognition of the excellent work he is doing in working up the natural 

 history of the North-west Territories. The caterpillars attain full growth during Juno 

 and then Isave their burrows in the twigs, and penetrating a short distance into th^j 

 ground, spia. close cocoons from which the moths emerge early in July. Some 

 caterpillars of this moth, however, reared here in the Division of Entomology, 

 pupated in the twigs where they had been feeding. It cannot be said 

 that this insect doeS' very serious injury to the Negundos; but it is sometimes ex- 

 tremely abundant and by destroying shoots makes it difficult to train these favourite 

 trees in the way desired by those growing them as shade trees. 



The Negundo Plant-louse ( Chaitophoms ncgundinis, Thos.). — As might be ex- 

 pected from the enormously extended area over which the Ash-leaved Maple or Box- 

 elder is cultivated of late years, the insects which attack it are gradually spreading 

 from the west with their host plant. One of the most . troublesome of these is the 

 Negundo Plant-louse, which for many years has been a disgusting pest of shade trees 

 in the West, covering the trees with honey-dew during the summer and making them 

 very unsightly objects instead of ornaments, in the streets, by reason of the copious 

 growth of the Sooty Fungus (Fumago salicina) , -which always develops as a consequence 

 of their attack. Erom several points in Ontario during the past sunjmer, even as far 

 east as Ottawa, this plant-louse was reported upon the Ash-leaved Maple trees. When 

 not controlled by sprajdng with kerosene emulsion or whale-oil soap solution, these 

 pi ant- lice do serious injury to the trees they infest; and they are S'O persistent in their 

 attacks that many lovers of trees in the West have given up the cultivation of the 

 desirable and quick-growing Negundo, for other trees less subject to insect attack. 



The Aspen Beetle (Lina Iremuloe, Fab.). — Mr. Norman Griddle, of Aweme, Man., 

 writes : ' These beetles, which three or four years ago were so enormously abundant 

 and did so much harm by stripping the aspen poplars, are once more on the increase. 

 They were especially destructive to the young shoots of the aspens, causing many 

 young trees to die.' 



In 1900 and 1901 this bettle was so abunxlant and destructive on tl:ie prairies that 

 many miles of beautiful aspen poplars so useful in that country for firewood and shade, 

 \^ere stripped Fare of foliage, and a great many of the trees died. This was particu- 

 larly the case in the Tiger Hills, Man., and in the Moose Mountain and Qu'Appelle 

 districts, N.W.T. 



Willow Beetles. — For the last three years willows in the prairie provinces and 

 in British Columbia have been very much injured by the small chrysomelid beetle, 

 Gjalerucella decora. Say. This is a small brown beetle, soft, and rather flat in shape, 

 which, both in the perfect and larval states, feeds on various kinds of willows, stripping 

 the green surface of the leaves and leaving the bushes seared and brown. Mr. Griddle 

 says : ' Willows at Aweme were completely stripped by these beetles and their larvae. 

 Later in the season, aspen poplars (P. tretnuloides) were also attacked by the same 

 beetles to such an extent that any one knocking a tree would shake down countless 

 numbers from the leaves, which sounded, as they fell on the dead leaves beneath, like 

 a shower of rain. These insects pass the winter beneath the dead leaves, and attack 

 the trees as soon as they come into leaf the following spring. Many trees were killed 

 by them some years ago.' 



The Vancouver Island Oak-Looper [Therina (Ellopia) somniaria, Huslt]. — As 

 stated in my report for 1890, the beautiful oaks on Vancouver Island are periodically 

 stripped, every few years, by hordes of the caterpillars of a geometrid moth. 1904 saw 

 cne of these visitations. Mr. J. K. Anderson writes : ' The Oak Looper {Ellopia somni- 



