ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



91 



The Tussock Moth (Orgyia leucostigma) is on the increase here. In the neighbor- 

 ing city of Buffalo, it has become a scourge, defoliating the horse-chestnut trees, and 

 attacking other trees as veil. To gather and destroy the cocoons or egg masses in winter 

 seems to be the most feasible method of checking the ravages of this insect. 



The birch trees in the parks are attacked by a new pest, an Agrilus. The species 

 will be determined next summer. 



Crioceris asparagi, Linn., the Asparagus Beetle, (Fig. 58) which according to Dr. 



A. S. Packard, is not a native but an introduced 

 spacies has advanced in its attack upon asparagus 

 plants as far north as Niagara River. Mr. Reinecke 

 informs me that he has found the beetles in abund- 

 ance on asparagus at Buffalo. 



The Punctured Clover-leaf Weevil, Phgtonomus 

 punctatus, Fabr., in August last, appeared in great 

 numbers on the side-walks and fences and on the 

 shores of Lake Erie, but though I have repeatedly 

 examined the clover fields for the purpose of deter- 

 mining the amount of injury done by this particular 

 insect, thus far I have failed to find either the imago 



Fig. 58. 

 or the larvse on a clover plant. 



NOTES ON INSECTS OF THE YEAR.— DIVISION No. 5, LONDON DISTRICT 



By R. W. Rennie, London, Ont. 



In submitting my report as director for Division No, 5 for 1898, I am very glad to 

 state that there have bean no additions to the number of injurious insects in this district, 

 with two exceptions ; in fact there has been a falling off in numbers of older pests that 

 in previous years played great havoc with certain crop3. 



One exception is the Cottony Maple scale (Pulvinaria innumerabilis, Rath von) — 

 Fig. 59 — which appeared in very large numbers this last spring; in fact, in such large 

 numbers did they appear that on one of the finest streets in this 

 city (London), the trees appeared to have been sprayed with white- 

 wash. 



In the fifth report of the U. S. Entomological Commission, 

 there is an article copied from Prof. Riley's report as U. S. Entomo- 

 logist for 1884, ptge 412, in which he states that the females, before 

 the falling of the leaves, migrate to the branches and twigs, and there 

 fix themselves, generally on the underside. Such has not been the 

 case in this city. They were found occasionally on the branches and 

 twigs, but the vast majority were noticed round the spot where a 

 branch had been cut cr broken off] indeed, so thickly that they 

 almost overlapped each other. They have not confined their attacks 

 to the maple, but have also been working on the grape vine. 



It has apparently been quite a study to find out in what manner 

 this spreads. Some think that it is due to planting infested trees, 

 others by birds, insects, water, etc., but if you were to get a colony 

 under the microscope you will soon find out how they spread. 



I have a table three feet in diameter on which I use the micro- 

 scope. One evening I placed a colony on a glass slip under the 

 microscope, which was at one edge of the table, and probably 

 examined them for ten or fifteen minutes, and there left them. 

 Coing back again in about twenty minutes, there were none on the slip, but they 

 could be found at the extreme edge of the table. They do not seem to care what 

 they walk over, anything and everything is the same to them. How many reached 



