209 



Fig. 37.- 



-Ocneria dispar. niale- 

 (after Kirby). 



-natural size 



that the moth does not seem to have found its way into the collections 

 and is not mentioned in the check-lists. Last summer, however, it 

 attracted considerable attention, and specimens were sent from Medford 

 to the agricultural experiment station at Amherst, where Mrs. C. H. 

 Fernald, in the absence of her husband, recognized the species. Several 

 newspaper articles were published during the season, notably those in 

 The Neiv England Farmer, for July 13, and The Boston Transcript of 

 October 31 and November 14. 



Professor Fernald on his return from Europe undertook a thorough 

 investigation of the matter, and in a special bulletin of the experiment 

 station of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, published by the as- 

 sistance of the secretary of the Board of Agriculture, and received by 

 us November 29, has published an eight-page account of the species, 

 with illustrations of the larva and pupa taken from Eatzeburg, and both 



sexes of the moth drawn from nature. 

 Professor Fernald gives popular de- 

 scriptions of the difl'erent states, and 

 as a remedy recommends spraying all 

 trees in the infested region with Paris 

 green (1 pound to 150 gallons of water) 

 soon after the hatching of the eggs in 

 the spring, for two or three years under 

 competent direction, and predicts the 

 entire destruction of the pest if this course is followed. In Europe it 

 is generally held in check by its natural enemies, but occasionally it 

 becomes very destructive. In 1817 the cork- 

 oaks of southern France suffered severely, and 

 in 1878 the plane trees of the public promen- 

 ades in Lyons were nearly ruined. Last sum- 

 mer Professor Fernald saw the moth in im- 

 mense numbers on the trees of the Zoological 

 Garden in Berlin, where the caterpillar had 

 •done great injury, and the opinion was ex- 

 pressed to him by prominent entomologists in 

 Europe that if the species should get a foot- 

 hold in this country it would become a far 

 greater pest than the Colorado Potato-beetle 

 •on account of its prolificness, and the great 

 number of its food-plants. The European food- 

 plants are, among others, Apple, Pear, Plum, 

 <Jherry, Quince, Apricot, Lime, Pomegranate, 

 Linden, Elm, Birch, Beech, Oak, Poplar, Wil- 

 low, Hornbeam, Ash, Hazel, Larch, Fir, Azalia, 

 Myrtle, Eose, and Cabbage. It is found in 

 nearly all parts of Europe, and in southern and western Asia, extend 

 ing as far as to Japan. 



Fig. 38. — Ocneria dispar, larva- 

 natural size (after Katzeburg). 



