REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I912 9 



having trees which were attacked by these pests have been advised 

 to cut and burn all infested pines prior to the opening of another 

 season. 



Hosts of Ambrosia beetles belonging to the genus Platypus at- 

 tacked freshly sawn, sappy mahogany in the yard of a veneer 

 cutting company near New York City and inflicted severe loss 

 besides causing grave apprehensions. An investigation showed that 

 the insects originated from a shipload of logs from Panama. The 

 infested material was removed and the few insects remaining soon 

 disappeared. 



The destructive work of the locust leaf miner, noticed in our 

 preceding report, was studied the past season and additional in- 

 formation secured in relation to its habits and methods of control. 

 The most severe injury, as in 191 1, resulted from the feeding of 

 the beetles. 



The woolly bark louse of the white pines has been the occasion 

 of several complaints during the past season, and an investigation 

 showed that in some instances at least, large trees were seriously 

 weakened, if not destroyed, by this insect. 



A previously unknown though sparse colony of the periodical 

 Cicada was located at Geneseo as an outcome of the interest aroused 

 by the appearance of the enormous brood last year. 



Flies and mosquitos. There has been a general interest in con- 

 trolling the house fly and preventing the superabundance of 

 mosquitos. Both of these insects have been the subject of cor- 

 respondence, and a number of bulletins giving directions for rem- 

 edying undesirable conditions have been distributed. 



An unusual departure was the working out of the life history 

 of a common blowfly, Phormia re gin a Meign., and a 

 flesh fly, Sarcophaga georgina Wied., under controlled 

 conditions. These two insects, though exceedingly common, were 

 comparatively unknown except in a very general way. The details 

 of this investigation, undertaken for the purpose of solving a specific 

 problem, are given more fully in this report. 



Gall midges. This large group of small flies has continued to 

 receive attention. We have succeeded in identifying the wheat 

 midge of Fitch, which proved to be an undescribed species, discov- 

 ered and described a second form recorded as living in heads of 

 American wheat, and reared another. The last was identified 

 through the cooperation of European entomologists as Thecodi- 

 p 1 o s i s mosellana Gehin. In addition, a number of new gall 



