8 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



and the severe droughts of earlier seasons, that many trees have 

 succumbed or are likely to perish in the next few years unless 

 radical measures are adopted for their better protectioni. 



There seems to be great difficulty in securing efficient treat- 

 ment, even if the ecjuipment be adequate. This defect has been 

 pointed out and, with a fuller understanding on the part of 

 those compelled to solve the problem, we look for materially 

 better results another season. The elm leaf beetle is not such a 

 serious pest in Europe, and it would seem, in view of the prob- 

 able continuance of the severe injury of the last few years, due 

 in part at least to changed conditions, as though a serious effort 

 might well be made to secure natural enemies, since they appear 

 .to be very effective checks upon this beetle in European 

 countries. 



The cottony maple scale and the false maple scale occasioned 

 repeated complaints, because of serious injury to hard and soft 

 maples, especially in the vicinity of New York City. An un- 

 fortunate condition developed in the city of Mount Vernon. 

 Several hundred hard or sugar maples were seriously injured or 

 killed, following the application of one of the commercial mis- 

 cible oils in early spring. An investigation convinced the Ento- 

 mologist that the trouble was due to the material applied, the in- 

 jury being greatly aggravated by subsequent cold weather re- 

 tarding growth and producing conditions favorable for penetra- 

 tion by the oil. We must therefore classify early applications 

 of oily preparations as dangerous to hard maples. Our findings 

 are given in detail below. 



The extended outbreak by the green maple worm was in- 

 vestigated and must be partly charged to the general destruction 

 of birds and a consequent scarcity of the insectivorous species. 

 Investigations by Zoologist W. G. Van Name showed that nine 

 species were feeding upon the caterpillars, while nine others 

 were in the vicinity, probably for the same purpose. A relatively 

 slight increase in the number of birds would doubtless have 

 prevented the defoliation of the trees. A detailed account of this 

 insect is given in subsequent pages. The spiny elm caterpillar 

 and the white-marked tussock moth are two other shade tree 

 pests which were excessively abundant and the subjects of much 

 correspondence. The ornamental birches are being rapidly 

 destroyed by the pernicious bronze birch borer, the depredations 

 of which were detected the past season in the eastern part of the 

 State. 



