56 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



though it has not been possible to determine the Hmits closely. 

 Specimens of partly grown and full-grown larvae and a number of 

 cocoons were received from Nyack, July i8th. The material clearly 

 indicated that feeding had been in progress for some weeks and estab- 

 lished the fact that there are two if not three broods of this insect in 

 New York State. A common parasite of some of the smaller leaf 

 feeders, namely, Exorista pyste Walk., was reared from the 

 material. This encourages the hope that eventually native enemies 

 of allied or associated leaf feeders will prove of considerable service 

 in preventing the undue multiplication of this recentl}^ introduced 

 insect. 



Quince curculio (Conotrachelus crataegi Walsh) . 

 The erratic appearance of this curculio has long been a matter of 

 record, though so far as the writer recalls, nothing has appeared 

 showing a great variation in emergence the same season. Several 

 quince curculios were received Ma}'' 31st from A. B. Clarke and Son, 

 Milton, Ulster county, accompanied by the statement that they were 

 very injurious to pears. The curculios were feeding actively upon 

 the young fruit transmitted with the communication, eating deep 

 holes into the sides of the pears. These holes were characteristic 

 feeding punctures, each being circular, with a diameter a little less 

 than one-sixteenth of an inch and opening into an irregular cavity 

 with a diameter of about one-eighth of an inch. Subsequent 

 correspondence developed the fact that quince bushes were in the 

 near vicinity and the attack upon pears was probably accidental 

 and due either to the lack of quinces or to the fact that the fruit 

 had not sufficiently developed. A similar change of food habit in 

 the plum curculio to adjacent crab apples, serious injury resulting 

 to the latter, has been observed in earlier years. 



The above was followed by a report from L. F. Strickland, 

 inspector of the State Department of Agriculture, announcing the 

 first appearance of quince curculios in the vicinity of Lockport, 

 Niagara county, July 9th. This latter is about the time curculios 

 usually appear in the western part of the State, though as evidenced 

 by earlier records, occasionally there are wide departures from this 

 presumably somewhat normal date of emergence. The climatic and 

 other conditions in the Hudson valley and the western part of the 

 State do not vary sufficiently to explain this difference of 5 weeks in 

 the appearance of the adults, though they might easily account for a 

 range of a week or 10 days. Evidently the quince curculio is likely 

 to issue from the soil during a considerable period and since the most 

 effective method of controlling the pest is by spraying just after the 



