IOl8 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Rensselaer county (W. C. Hitchcock, Cropseyville)— 1 have been 

 unable lo fnul that a single colony of the tent-caterpillars [Clisio- 

 campa am eric an a] was destroyed by the frost of some lo days 

 ago, though I found a number of caterpillars which had been killed. I 

 have never known the appletree tent-caterpillars to be more plenty than 

 at present. I have observed the orioles, vireos, chickadees, and wood 

 sparrows feeding on them. May 21. The stalk-borer, Hydroecia 

 nit el a, is doing a great deal of damage in some cornfields. One 

 appletree has been nearly destroyed by plant lice, Aphis mali, 

 which cause the leaves to curl so badly. June 16. Grasshoppers have 

 become a serious pest in this immediate vicinity. Farmers are in many 

 instances cutting their oats in order to save them, and one declares that 

 more oats lie on the ground than remain on the stalk. In two cases 

 buckwheat has been entirely destroyed. Aug. i. I find that the grass- 

 hoppers are most numerous in a belt reaching from Castleton through 

 the towns of Schodack, Sandlake, Poestenkill, Brunswick and Pittstown, 

 more numerous in some places than in others, but causing much damage 

 all the way. The horn fly[Haematobia serrata] has never been 

 so numerous as now. Aug. 13. [The principal species of grasshoppers 

 concerned in the above recorded depredations prove from examples sent 

 to be the red-legged grasshopper, Melanoplus femur-rubrum 

 DeGeer, and the large Carolina locust, Dissosteira Carolina 

 Linn.] 



Rockland county (S. B. Huested, Blauvelt) —Tent-caterpillars 

 [Clisiocampa americana] have appeared as usual but not in 

 large numbers. The cool wealher has undoubtedly retarded them. 

 May 9. May beetles are unusually prevalent this season, and, by an 

 experiment with a lighted lantern in a tub partly filled with water on the 

 piazza over night, we caught about 50. They have been quite destruc- 

 tive to the young shoots of plum, seeming to prefer the choice buds of 

 climax plum. The pear midge [D i pi o sis p y r i v o r a] has appeared 

 in numbers. But two potato beetles [Doryphora lo-lineata] 

 have been seen so far. There are but few elm leaf beetles as yet. May 

 26. The elm leaf beetle [G a 1 e r u c e 1 1 a 1 u t e o I a] was very destruc- 

 tive some years ago, but now it is present in very small numbers. The 

 oaktree-pruner [Elaphidion villosum] is more injurious than 

 usual, strewing the lawn with branches cut from the trees. July 20. 



St Lawrence county (Mary B. Sherman, Ogdensburg)— Spring 

 cankerworm moths, Paleacrita vernata, were unusually numerous 



