224 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The amount of damage done by these worms at times must be consid- 

 erable. Mr. Norton states that the larvae of iV. trilineata occur in enor- 

 mous numbers occasionally upon the weeping willow, sometimes wholly 

 stripping large trees of their leaves. Although the amount of damage 

 done to the locusts in this vicinity the past season was not such as to 

 materially iujure them, still we may expect such injury any season. 



In case of their appearance in destructive numbers they can probably 

 be kept in check by syringing the trees with a whale-oil-soap solution, 

 thrown by a garden syringe or a fountain pump, where it can be used 

 with safety. Paris-green water will be found an effectual remedy. 



An ichneumonid parasite has been bred from the cocoons of this Ne- 

 matus, and was determined by Mr. Oresson as I'hygadeuon pubescena 

 Prov. 



Specimens of this saw fly were referred to Mr. Edward I^orton for 

 determination. Mr. iSTorton decided that they represented a new spe- 

 cies, of which he furnishes the following characterization : 



DESCRIPTIVB. 



Nematus 8IMILARI8 Norton (n. sp.)- 



Color reddish yellow ; a spot on head ; three vittae on thorax ; banda on tergum, 

 and hinder tibia and tarsi black. 



Size of N. interge}-.^ $ Antennae about two-thirds the length of body ; the first and 

 eecond articles very short, the third, fom-th, and fifth longest, subequal, black. Color 

 of head aud body reddish yellow ; face below the antennae whitish ; a square black 

 spot on occiput, extending to back of head and extending down the ridges of basin 

 before ; head wider than thorax ; pro and mesothorax black, with the sutures paler, 

 and a more or less distinct V on prothorax ; scutels pale — basal plates and a band on 

 each segment of tergiim black ; ovipositor sheathes black, a small dark spot below 

 the anterior wings ; legs yellow — paler about the trochanters ; the anterior tarsi 

 blackish above ; the hinder tibiae and tarsi black, with their tips pale ; wings hyaline — 

 emarginate at costa ; nerves black, about the costa brown ; basal half of costa clouded. 



5 Three females. — Tliis belongs to the group of N. integer, S. pomum, Jbospes, &c., 

 which are so much alike, and at the same time so varialile in the amount of black, 

 that the comparison of a large number of specimens and study of their larva is needed 

 to distinguish them. 



THE LESSER LOCUST LEAF GELEOHIA. 



{Gelechia robiniae/oliella Chambers [new species].) 

 Order Lepidgptera ; family Tineidae. 



Spinning two locust leaves together and feeding between them, leaving the outer sur- 

 face and the larger ribs untouched, a minute, greenish white slender larva, which 

 transforms to a chrysalis in the same situation. 



To the list of insects injurious to the black locust, given by Mr. 

 Chambers in a recent number of the American Entomologist (vol. iii, 

 jSTo. 3), we have to add a new species of Tineid, which we call the Lesser 

 Locust Leaf Gelechia, in contradistinction to Gelechia pseudacaciella 

 Cham., which has very similar habits, but which is considerably larger. 

 (See notes of the year.) 



The small light-green larvae of the species under consideration were 

 &ist noticed in the latter part of August. They were invariably found, 

 each, between two leaves which had spun together, eating the surfaces 

 thus inclosed, but not eating through to the exterior surface. From 

 this time up to the middle of October, when the leaves were fast falling, 

 larvae, evidently of the same brood, were at work. Some had already 



