• REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I906 53 



This is diic to the fact that its operations in the 1)U(1, destroying- 

 all the foliage and fruit which normally would come from that 

 point, are particularly serious to the vineyardists since a very little 

 feeding- in this manner causes an enormous loss. This pest, as is 

 well known, feeds upon the foliage in June as small brown grubs. 

 Spraying at this time will destroy the young and largely reduce 

 the numbers of beetles which can winter and attack the buds in 

 early spring. 



White flower cricket (O e c a n t h u s n i v e u s DeG.). The 

 slender, whitish adults of this species are rather common during 

 the latter part of the season and the oviposition scars made by the 

 females are frequently met with in twigs and the stouter her- 

 baceous plants. Occasionally this species is so abundant as to 

 cause considerable injury, as w^as the case in the vicinity of Ripley, 

 N. Y., during the fall of 1905, though the injury was not observed 

 till early the following spring. Mr F. A. Morehouse of Ripley, 

 under date of April 30, 1906, submitted specimens of the work 

 of this insect and stated that some vineyards were very badly af- 

 fected, many of the canes dying from the wounds inflicted. The 

 investigation showed that the greatest injury was in vineyards 

 where an abundant w^eedy grow^th w^as present. The most effective 

 method of preventing trouble of this character is clean culture, 

 since flower crickets display a marked preference for weedy places. 



Garden insects 



Tv^elve spotted asparagus beetle (C r i o c e r i s d u o d e c i m- 

 punctata Linn.). This species was observed last July breeding 

 rather abundantly on a small plot of asparagus at Westfield, N. Y. 

 in association with the common asparagus beetle C. asparagi 

 Linn. It w^as not quite as abundant as the latter form though 

 specimens were easily found on the vines and a number captured. 

 This more recent introduction is already widely though locally dis- 

 tributed in New York State. 



Dark sided cutworm fParagrotis messoria Harr.) . 

 This rather common caterpillar w^as responsible for serious injury 

 to primroses and other garden plants at Cold Spring Harbor, L. L 

 The attack occurred during the latter part of ]\Iay. This cutworm, 

 when full grown, is something over an inch long, dingy ash-gra}' 

 in color, darker on the sides, with a dark, dingy dorsal line. Each 

 segment is marked Avith eight small, black, hair-bearing tubercles 

 arranged in two groups of four. The posterior extremity has a 

 greenish tinge and the under surface and legs are somewhat lighter 

 than the upper. 



