82 EXPERIJMEXT STATION. [Jan. 



INSECTS OF THE YEAR 1911, IN MASSA- 

 CHUSETTS. 



H. T. FERNALD. 



No unusual destruction by insects has been obsen^ed in Mas- 

 sachusetts during the year which has just closed. On the other 

 hand, many different kinds have contributed toward the loss 

 which has been experienced, and several not usually met with 

 have been in evidence. 



The unusually hot, dry summer was of course favorable to 

 the rapid increase of plant lice and the San Jose scale. Cut- 

 worms were also very abundant and did much damage, and 

 the elm-leaf beetle was unusually destructive, though in most 

 to\\ms this pest is now quite well kept in check by spraying. 

 It was first found in ISTantucket this summer in small numbers, 

 on five or six elms, near the center of the town, not, as 

 perhaps might have been expected, on the trees nearest the 

 wharves. 



The leopard moth, Zeiizera pyrina L., is now present almost 

 everywhere in eastern Massachusetts near the coast, and has 

 even reached Nantucket. It does not seem to have worked its 

 way far inland, however, and, as in other States, its injuries 

 are most pronounced in the cities and larger towns. 



The 12-spotted asparagus beetle, Crioceris 12-punctata L., 

 which has been working its way northward, was taken at Con- 

 cord and Roslindale near Boston in 1909. It was not observed 

 at Amherst until last summer, which might indicate a more 

 rapid dispersal along the coast than inward. 



The cottony maple scale, Pitlvhtaria inmnnerahilis Eathv., 

 has been unusually abundant in the Connecticut valley this 

 year, many of the soft maples being so thoroughly covered with 



