256 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, 



of trees are iDJured by it. The worms ai)pear in May, and eat the fo- 

 liage of the aiiples, elms, «&c., until tbey attain their full growth in late 

 June. Tliey then descend into the ground and transform three or four 

 inches below its surface. The moths issue in October, and the tcingless 

 female ascends the nearest tree, where copulation with the winged male 

 takes place. The female is furnished with an extensile ovipositor, with 

 which she thrusts her eggs under loose bark and in crevices on the 

 trunk and large limbs. The sudden appearance of these insects in or- 

 chards widely separated from previously infested trees is accounted for 

 by Mr. Coquillett by the supposition that, while in copulation, the male 

 flies with tlie female. 



Among the natural enemies of this insect, the ones most frequently 

 met with are the Fiery and the Rummaging Ground Beetles (Galosoma 

 caUidum and C. scrutator). Mr. Coquillett states that he has frequently 

 found the latter climbing about in. the tops of trees searching for the 

 caterpillars. The blue-jay is mentioned as being among the most ef- 

 fective of the bird enemies of the worms. 



As to remedies, the bandages and traps used for the ordinary spring 

 canker-worm will answer admirably, though, owing to the somewhat 

 different history of the insect, they should be applied at a different time 

 in the year. The object being to prevent the wingless female moth from 

 ascending the tree, the bandages should be placed in i^osition by the 

 first of October and continued for six weeks or more. Mr. Coquillett 

 has found that tarred-paper bauds are as serviceable and cheap as any- 

 thing that can be found. Ordinary carpenters' sheathing-paper is the 

 best. A strip of the ordinary width should be tied around the base of 

 the tree, leaving no part of the trunk exposed between the paper and 

 the gTound. The tar with which the paper is then smeared should be 

 mixed with a little castor oil to prevent it from hardening too rapidly. 



The lime-tree winter-moth is represented in all stages at Plate VI, fig. 4. 

 The colors of the larva are bright yellow, lighter beneath, with ten crinkly, 

 longitudinal lines down the back, and a rust-colored head. The male 

 moth has rusty, buff fore wings, while the hind wings are much lighter. 

 The female is grayish, with a parallel row of black patches down its 

 back. 



The resin inhabiting Diplosis {Dijylosis resinicola O. S.). — In 1S68 

 Mr. Sanborn exhibited before the Boston Society specimens of a " Ce- 

 cidomyions larva," which he had found feeding in companies of thirty 

 or forty in the pitch exuding from wounds in the bark of Pimis rigida. 

 " Whether they were the prime cause of the injury to the tree was not 

 I)lainly apparent.' ' (See Proc. Bost. Soc. oSTat. Bist., XII, 93.) In the pro- 

 ceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia, 1871, p. 345, 

 Osten-Sacken records the discovery of similar larvae in the exuding 

 resin of Finus inops at Tarrytown, ~S. Y. Tiiese he reared to the perfect 

 state, and gave the species the name Diplosis resinicola. 



Early in May the two or three year old branches of Pimis imps in the 

 vicinity of Washington were observed to be quite extensively infested 

 by these insects, which were then in the larva state and actively feeding. 

 They shortly turned to pupae, and the first midge emerged May 26. On 

 June 11 larvae of the same species were found upon the twigs of Pitms 

 rigida at Ithaca, Isi'. Y. Pupae were also found in the same twigs, and 

 June 13 the first midge issued. In February, 1880, 1 collected specimens 

 of similar larvae at Orange Lake, Florida, on twigs af Finns taeda, which, 

 upon the appearance of the adults on March 1, were found to be of the 

 same species. 



Plate VI, fig. 5 shows well the work of this insect. The lumps of exud- 



