52 N. S. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



they find trees, but we have been unable to rear them to the adult larvae 

 on ordinary ground herbage such as clover, cinquefoil, strawberry, etc. 

 However, we have demonstrated that where the drop from the trees is 

 heavy and the nests not picked until spring that even if perfect work were 

 done and every last nest picked from the trees, there would be enough 

 Brown-tails survive in the nests that had already dropped, and enough 

 find the trees so that under ordinary circumstances we would get the next 

 season about 70 per cent of the number of nests taken the previous year. 

 We therefore endeavor to get just as many nests as possible off the trees 

 in the early part of the season, not doing the work so as to get every last 

 nest in any district, but working the heavily infested orchards only,dur- 

 ing November and December, so as to get the greatest number of nests 

 possible, going over the same territory later doing careful tree to tree work. 



In regard to the actual picking work we find it very difficult to get 

 every last nest from the trees, the nests may be prominent and easily seen, 

 or they may be in a gnarled fruit spur close to the limb, and almost in- 

 visible. On a clear dry day the nests will be very conspicuous, on a damp 

 day following a rain when the nests are wet and almost the same color as 

 the bark, it is impossible to get more than 75 per cent of the nests. The 

 inspectors work such days but they always return to the same territory 

 on a clear day as they know from experience that they have left nests be- 

 hind them. So far very little, we might say no assistance has been rend- 

 ered by the public in collecting and destroying nests. Most people seem 

 to think that it is not up to them to help in any way. Great assistance 

 could be rendered if each property owner would examine his trees in No- 

 vember before the winter drop begins, and burn all Brown-tail nests 

 found. We found last season that a lot of good could be done by the apple 

 pickers as the nest shows up conspicuously during early October being 

 easily located by the cluster of brown skeletonized leaves surrounding the 

 nest. Apple pickers could very easily gather a large number of nests wh en 

 picking their apples. Toward the last of October as the leaves begin to 

 turn brown and drop, the nests become more inconspicuous, appearing 

 again as soon as the leaves drop from the trees. 



Parasites. 



During the past three years the Dominion Entomological Branch has 

 introduced the European predacous climbing ground beetle Calasoma 

 sycophanta partly to prey on Brown-tail moths and partly in advance of 

 the Gipsy moth which will come sooner or later. Two true parasites, a 

 tachinid Compsilura concinnata and a Braconid Apantetes lacteicolor, and 

 one fungus disease Entomophthora Aulicae, of these parasites only the 

 Apanteles has yet been recovered. With the equipping of our new La- 

 boratory at Annapolis the introduction, increase and spread of parasites 

 of the Brown-tail will increase but we cannot look for quick spectacular 



