NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 9 



tion in Saratoga county, they being repeatedly found in partly 

 rotted cornstalks. Similar conditions were also observed the fol- 

 lowing winter, which latter was much milder. 



A distinctly unusual feature was the submission in 1919 of leather 

 jackets or maggots of the crane fly, Pedecia albivitta 

 Walk., accompanied by the statement that they occurred in large 

 numbers in Schuyler county in an oat field and were presumably 

 causing some injury. 



Other field crops. The season of 1919 was marked by a very 

 unusual outbreak of the green clover worm, Plathypena 

 s c a b r a Fabr., upon beans, the greenish white caterpillars feeding 

 generally upon the leaves of both common and lima beans and caus- 

 ing serious to somewhat general injury in various parts of the 

 State. The insect was not observed in appreciable numbers the 

 following two seasons. 



Asparagus beetles and root maggots were unusually abundant in 

 the vicinity of Albany in 1920, the latter at least being unduly 

 favored by the cold, wet weather of the spring. Several species of 

 wire worms caused rather severe injury in the environs of Albany. 



Codling moth. Field studies of this important insect have been 

 continued in cooperation with the Bureau of Plant Industry, State 

 Department of Farms and Markets, special attention being given 

 to securing exact records of evening temperatures as well as the 

 maxima and minima, and correlating them with the egg-laying 

 habits of the moth. The accuracy of this work has been materially 

 increased by the cooperation of the United States Weather Bureau 

 in loaning thermographs and supervising the setting up of the 

 instruments. The field work has been in direct charge of L. F. 

 Strickland, agent, who was located at Lockport. Details are given 

 in the body of the report. 



Shade tree insects. The elm leaf beetle and the white-marked 

 tussock moth have not attracted an unusual amount of attention, 

 though both have been locally abundant. 



A recently introduced willow leaf beetle, Plagiodera ver- 

 sicolora Laich., was brought to notice in 1919 and has become 

 somewhat generally and widely distributed in the southern portion 

 of the State, causing rather severe injury locally. 



Unusual injury to soft maples by the callous borer, S e s i a 

 acerni Clem., was found in the vicinity of Buffalo, the borers 

 occurring in a considerable number of soft maples. In some cases 

 the trees were partly girdled. 



