PREFACE. 



The grape root- worm, the subject of the present report, is an 

 insect which during the last ten or fifteen years has attracted much 

 attention on account of its ravages in vineyards along the southern 

 and eastern shores of Lake Erie, comprising in general the grape- 

 growing territory of northern Ohio and the Erie and Chautauqua 

 grape belts of Pennsylvania and New York, respectively. American 

 varieties of grapes, exclusively grown in the above-mentioned regions, 

 have heretofore been singularly free from insects attacking the roots 

 of the plant. The Phylloxera, so destructive to the roots of vinifera 

 varieties in Europe and in California and elsewhere in the United 

 States where these are grown, fortunately does not seriously injure 

 varieties of American grapes. The grape root-worm, however, has 

 come to be recognized as the most serious of the two hundred or 

 more species of insects in the United States which feed directly or 

 indirectly upon our native grapes. 



The destructiveness of the insect in the Erie grape belt in the 

 general neighborhood of North East, Pa., led, through the represen- 

 tations of prominent vineyardists, to a provision b3^ Congress for an 

 especial investigation of the pest by the Bureau of Entomology. 

 This work was begun in the spring of 1907, and a laboratory was 

 established at North East, Pa., which place has been continued as 

 headquarters during the years 1908 and 1909. During the latter 

 two years, by contract entered into between the Hon. James Wilson, 

 Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, and the 

 Hon. N. B. Critchfield, secretary of agriculture of the State of Penn- 

 sylvania, the investigation has been in cooperation with the office 

 of the state zoologist of the Pennsylvania department of agricul- 

 ture. The work has covered a wide range of investigations, in- 

 cluding a thorough inquiry into the life history and habits of the 

 insect, large-scale experiments with remedial measures, and the 

 demonstration of the effectiveness of measures known to be of 

 value, including the renovation and improvement of young and old 

 vineyards already seriously injured. 



Mr. Fred Johnson has been in immediate charge of the field work 

 during the entire period of the investigation, and was assisted in 

 1907 by Messrs. W. B. Wilson and P. R. Jones, the former engaged in 

 field work and the latter in life-history studies. During the years 



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