No. 4.] THE ELM-LEAF BEETLE. 289 



THE ELM-LEAF BEETLE IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



BY A. H. KIKKLAND, M.S. 



In many localities in Massachusetts the imported elm-leaf 

 beetle* has proved a pest of the first rank, and, while but a 

 recent accession to our insect fauna, apparently has come to 

 stay. Since 1895 its depredations in the Connecticut valley 

 have given it considerable local notoriety, and last year at 

 Groton it duplicated the damage caused at Springfield and 

 Northampton. 



That this insect will prove a serious pest in the near future 

 in many of our larger cities seems the only conclusion to be 

 drawn from the experience of other States, notably New 

 York and Connecticut. It attacks, and, if neglected, kills, 

 our most valuable species of shade tree, and is slowly but 

 surely spreading over the State. In the present paper the 

 writer aims to set forth the essential facts concerning the in- 

 sect, in order to aid citizens, and more especially park ofii- 

 cials, in detecting and combating it wherever it may occur. 



A European Insect. 

 Like many of our most dangerous insect pests, the elm- 

 leaf beetle is an importation from Europe. Dr. E. P. Felt, 

 State entomologist of New York, who has made quite an ex- 

 tensive study of the literature on this insect, is authority for 

 the statement that it is chiefly injurious in the southern por- 

 tions of France and Germany and in Austria and Italy, al- 

 though it is generally distributed over a large part of Europe. 

 The first record of damage by this insect in America is that 

 given by Harris, who states that in 1838 and 1839 it stri[)ped 

 the elms in Baltimore, Md., and vicinity. It is generally 

 conceded that the beetle was introduced in that locality some 



* Galerucella luteola Muller. 



