1909.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 75 



Insects of the Year. 



BY H. T. FERNALD. 



The year has been an interesting one, not becanse of any 

 serious outbreaks giving an unusually good opportunity for a 

 study of such pests, but because of the large number of species 

 which have caused injury in different portions of the State. 



The San Jose scale still holds the center of the stage, its 

 spread being rapid through the orchards and among ornamental 

 trees and shrubs of various kinds. The unusually dry summer 

 and fall and the unusually late continuance of warm weather 

 have been distinctly favorable for this insect, an extra brood 

 having made its appearance in a number of places. As a 

 consequence, many plants first infested late in the season have 

 begun the winter with a large number of partly developed scales 

 on them, and these promise to seriously affect such plants next 

 year. The same influences seem to have also favored other scale 

 insects, all of which have been much in evidence. 



The weather conditions have also been advantageous for plant 

 lice, which have been unusually abundant. Among these the 

 spruce gall louse has perhaps attracted particular attention, 

 judging from the correspondence, though the woolly apple louse 

 has also been much in evidence both on the branches and on the 

 roots of the trees. 



The elm-leaf beetle has been extremelv abundant and destruc- 

 five in most parts of the State. Its work was very irregular, 

 however, for while some places suffered severely, adjoining 

 towns, in some cases, showed but little injury. In general, the 

 more southerly towns of the State and others not lying more 

 than three or four hundred feet above the sea level were most 

 infested, while the hill towns suffered but little or not at all. 



Cutworms, wire worms and root maggots appear to have been 

 less abundant than for several years, while the squash bug, 



