8o NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



associated bronze-colored cutworm and also the greasy cutworm. 

 There were complaints of serious injury to com by webworms and 

 damage by the lined com borer was also reported. 



Investigation by the Entomologist of the European corn borer, 

 shows it to be very destructive in eastern Massachusetts. The 

 occurrence of the pest in New York State would probably mean great 

 losses unless there was effective control. Potentially it is a serious 

 enemy of corn and other important crops. It is extremely desirable 

 to prevent its spread. The history of other pests in this country 

 suggests that actual extermination, though costly, would be true 

 economy. There should be at least a determined effort to accom- 

 plish this through federal and state agencies. 



Field crops. There was some injury to beans by the seed corn 

 maggot. This was much less than in 191 7 in spite of the fact that 

 there was considerable wet weather. The comparative immunity 

 was due largely to modifications in methods, care being taken not to 

 put beans on wet land and if this was necessary, shallow rather than 

 deep planting seemed to be the rule. 



Potato aphis appeared toward the end of June on Long Island and 

 later developed in the Hudson valley and was reported from the 

 central part of the State. The history of the attack was very similar 

 to that of 191 7. The damage was markedly less, owing to the 

 farmers more generally appreciating the status of the pest and being 

 ready to adopt control measures whenever conditions justified them. 



Black flea-beetles were unusually abundant and injurious on Long 

 Island, in the Hudson valley and in some other sections of the State, 

 the damage being limited mostly to potato and tomato plants recently 

 transplanted. The probabilities are that poor culture the preceding 

 year, due presumably to scarcity of labor, was a factor in producing 

 conditions favorable to injury by this pest. 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 wood- 

 lands 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 human habitations has been greatly emphasized 



