81 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture 



THE ELM-LEAF BEETLE IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



By A. H. Kirkland, M.S., Assistant Entomologist. 



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 dupli- 

 cated 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 Con- 

 necticut. 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 essen- 

 tial facts concerning the insect in order to aid citizens, and more 

 especially park officials, 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 en- 

 tomologist of New York, who has made quite an extensive study 

 of the literature on this insect, is authority for the statement that 

 it is chiefly injurious in the southern portions of France and Ger- 

 many and in Austria and Italy, although it is generally distrib- 

 uted over a large part of Europe. The first record of damage by 

 this insect in America is that given by Harris, who says that in 

 1838 and 1839 it stripped the elms in Baltimore, Md., and vicin- 

 ity. It is generally conceded that the beetle was introduced in 

 that locality some years previous through the importation of Eu- 

 ropean elms. Since that date the beetle has gradually spread 



* Galerucella luteola Mnller. 



