48 WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



fungus, not an insect, was first discovered in the 

 northeastern states in the New York Zoological 

 Park, by its chief forester, and it was then and there 

 that a fierce battle was fought, of two years' dura- 

 tion, to find means by which it could be stamped out. 

 But the effort was in vain. The chestnut blight has 

 baffled all efforts to hold it in check, or to end its 

 evil progress. It was also in the Zoological Park 

 that the hickory-bark borer was vigorously attacked 

 for the first time in the vicinity of New York. 



In the summer of 1912, 1 made a few notes of the 

 ravages of insects in progress at that time, under 

 my observation, and of the efforts that were being 

 made to stop them. Here is the memorandum : 



July 12: -The bag insects, in thousands, are devouring 

 the leaves of the locusts and maples. 



The elm beetles are at work on the foliage of the elms ; and 

 spraying operations are in progress. 



The hickory-bark borers are slaughtering the hickories; 

 and even some Park people are neglecting to take the measures 

 necessary to stop them. 



The tent caterpillars are being burned. 



The aphides (plant-lice) are destroying the tops of the 

 white potatoes in the school garden of the New York Uni- 

 versity, just as the potato-beetles do. 



The codling-moth larvae are already at work on the apples. 



The leaves affected by the witch-hazel gall-insect are being 

 cut off and burned. 



This schedule did not attempt to take into 

 account any save the most conspicuous of the insect 

 pests that were in evidence on that one day. It is 



