lO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



fitchii O. S., from the large, white maggots observed in association 

 with and preying upon white grubs during both 19 12 and 19 13. Ob- 

 servations were also made upon the numbers and injuries by the 

 beetles, and late in the season upon the abundance of small white 

 grubs, which latter when numerous invariably cause serious injury 

 the following season. Local conditions were characterized in brief, 

 practical accounts sent to papers circulating in sections where these 

 pests were most abundant. 



Grass webworms were prevalent and injurious to a number of 

 cornfields in Dutchess county. Control measures, as has been 

 demonstrated by earlier work, must be restricted largely to planting 

 immune crops on badly infested land. These small insects are by 

 preference grass feeders and, under normal conditions, may become 

 exceedingly numerous on land allowed to lie in grass for a nimiber 

 of years. An interesting and rare type of injury was also observed 

 in one of the infested fields. It was caused by a small, yellow field 

 ant, probably Solenopsis debilis Mayr., eating out the con- 

 tents of the kernel, and the com sprout, thus deprived of its normal 

 nourishment, developed very slowly. Brief accounts of these insects 

 are given in this report. 



Shade tree insects. Injuries by the elm leaf beetle continue as 

 in previous years, though local restrictions are perhaps fully as 

 marked as in earlier seasons. There was a great decrease in this 

 pest in 19 1 2, due, as we then believed, to abnormally low tempera- 

 tures in mid June, and the same phenomenon, though to a somewhat 

 less extent, was observed last season. The beetles appeared in large 

 numbers, deposited eggs freely, and yet the subsequent damage 

 was much less than would be expected from the early indications. 

 Checks of this kind are temporary, more or less local and unreliable, 

 as a rule. 



The spruce bud scale, Physokermes piceae Schr., is a com- 

 paratively unknown pest in New York State. It. has been found 

 during the last two or three years in widely separated localities and 

 appears to be responsible for some of the dying branches so fre- 

 quently seen upon healthy trees. A somewhat detailed discussion of 

 this insect is given on a following page. 



The Norway maple, hitherto regarded as comparatively free from 

 insect pests, has been shown by the developments of the past season 

 to be subject to attack by a leaf hopper, Alebra albostriella 

 Fall., and a scale insect, Leucaspis japonica Ckll., the former 

 apparently very serious at times and the latter somewhat resembling 



