108 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The species can be easily controlled, since it is confined to one 

 food plant, namely peas, and hibernates either within the seed 

 or in sheltered places. 



If the peas for seed purposes are harvested early, promptly 



threshed and treated with carbon bisulfid, none of the insects will 



be able to survive; and Dr Fletcher states that if the peas 



be tightly inclosed in a paper bag, the weevils will be unable to 



escape from their prison, and, if the seed be held over till the 



second year, which may be done without injuring its germinating 



powers, all of the weevils will die, and consequently there will 



be no danger of the species propagating. This simple method 



involves little or no additional expense ; and, if the large growers 



of seed peas will in turn cooperate and fumigate all of their 



stock, there should be comparatively little or no trouble from the 



species in future years. It would undoubtedly be good business 



policy for growers of peas to print on each package a statement 



that the seed has been properly fumigated ; and buyers are urged 



to insist on this treatment or to apply it to seed before it is 



planted. 



Shade tree insects 



Elm leaf beetle, Galerucella luteola Mull. This serious 

 enemy of elms in the Hudson river valley has inflicted consider- 

 able injury during the past season, though it does not appear to 

 have been quite so abundant in Albany and vicinity as in earlier 

 years. It has also been reported as present in reduced numbers 

 at Annandale, Dutchess co. It still ranks however as a pest of 

 prime importance, and, where repressive measures, such as spray- 

 ing with an arsenical poison, are not employed, many trees have 

 sustained very serious injuries. The insect is gradually extend- 

 ing its range in the upper Hudson and lower Mohawk valleys, as 

 is evidenced by its being widely distributed and quite injurious 

 at Schenectady and also by its location recently in large numbers 

 at Saratoga Springs. The latter outbreak is of considerable 

 interest, because it is the most northern locality where very seri- 

 ous injuries have been caused by this species. It was hoped a 

 few years ago that climatic conditions in this and similar local- 

 ities would prevent serious depredations. This opinion has been 

 refuted by its work in 1902; and it now remains to be seen 

 whether the insect will prove to be seriously destructive for a 



