106 Forty-third Report on the State Museum. [10] 



growers in California over the result of tliis first attempt to fight 

 our insect pests of foreign origin, by the importation of their 

 natural parasites. They regard the fate of the Icerya as sealed, 

 and predict that before the close of the year it will have been 

 practically exterminated in all parts of the State where the 

 lady-bird was early let loose upon it. 



As an additional triumph for economic entomology, in winning 

 from a high source attestation to the value of its services, I 

 would mention that the French government has recently con- 

 ferred on Professor C. V. Riley the high honor of enrollment as a 

 Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, in consideration of his 

 researches in applied entomology, particularly with reference to 

 their value to French agriculture. 



Returning from this digression to the notable insect events of 

 the year : 



The apple-tree tent-caterpillar, Clisiocampa Americana, whose 

 abundance last year was unparalleled, again appeared in many 

 sections of the State in immense numbers, consuming a large 

 portion of the foliage of the orchards, and thereby greatly 

 impairing the value of the fruit — in its diminished size, imper- 

 fect flavor, and tendency to early decay. 



A remarkable multiplication of an insect such as we have only 

 occasionally to note, was that of a species closely allied to the 

 above, viz., the forest tent-caterpillar, Clisiocampa sylvatica, 

 which occurred in Washington county, N. Y., in the early part of 

 June. In a large hard-maple grove, in the town of Kingsbury, 

 its depredations were seen to an extent never before witnessed by 

 me. In a tract of perhaps ten acres in extent, on the entire north 

 side, where the attack had evidently commes^pced, the trees, 

 although some of them were two feet in diamefter and seventy 

 feet or more in height, had not a single leaf upon them ; the 

 green leaf-stalks and portions of the principal ribs alone remain- 

 ing. The larger limbs, in places, were covered with masses of the 

 caterpillars, as if, after wandering fruitlessly over the leafless 

 trees in search of food, and without an inherited instinct for 

 migration, their social propensities had led them to collect 

 together for sympathy in this their time of need. They were not 

 yet full-grown, and later, no doubt, driven by hunger, they would 

 resume their travel and complete the defoliation of the grove, 

 unless a fungus attack, which was observed, should spread and 

 arrest further ravages. 



