REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I918 II 



Similar conditions, possibly more accentuated, may be expected 

 another season. 



Forest tree pests. There has been comparatively little damage by 

 insects to forest trees though there was some stripping of woodlands 

 in the Catskills by caterpillars of the snow-white linden moth. The 

 antlered maple caterpillar defoliated extensive areas in the nearby 

 Berkshires and was reported from one New York locality. The fall, 

 as in 191 7, was characterized by an unusual abundance of hickory 

 tussock moth caterpillars and associated species, though the damage 

 does not appear to have been so extensive. 



Insects and health. The necessity of controlling flies and other 

 insects frequenting hiunan habitations has been greatly emphasized 

 by the extensive mobilization of troops. This was anticipated by 

 the Entomologist in the preparation of Household and Camp Insects 

 (Museum Bulletin 194), which appeared in February 191 7. The 

 publication was widely distributed among military officers as well as 

 to those specially interested in work of this kind throughout the 

 country . There has been a constant demand for the bulletin through- 

 out the season. 



The importance of insect control in camp and field is apparent 

 when it is recalled that diseases have been responsible for more 

 deaths in armies during war times than are caused by wounds and 

 that such infections as typhus, cholera, malaria of various types, 

 trench fever and typhoid fever may be carried by insects and some 

 of the more important of these infections are disseminated only by 

 such agents. It therefore follows that the application of precise 

 knowledge regarding the habits of insects to the extremely varied 

 conditions encountered by an army in the field and particularly an 

 appreciation of the benefits resulting from the avoidance or ameli- 

 oration of conditions favorable to the reproduction of dangerous 

 insects, means an enormous advantage to the units in a position to 

 utilize such knowledge. 



The broader phases of insect control and sanitation were discussed 

 by the entomologists at the Pittsburgh meeting of the American 

 Association of Economic Entomologists and as an outcome a special 

 committee, of which the State Entomologist was a member, was 

 appointed for the purpose of promoting the better utilization of the 

 entomological talent of the country in army sanitation. There 

 have been several conferences with representatives of the surgeon 

 general and a niunber of entomologists are now demonstrating the 

 utility of their calling as active members of sanitary corps. Fur- 

 thermore, the Entomologist, upon the invitation of the camp surgeon, 



