48 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



and should therefore receive special attention if it is desirable to 

 preserve them. The range of this pest is still extending as shown 

 by the receipt of specimens from Ellenville and Gloversville, local- 

 ities not previously known to be infested. 



Beetle work in 1912. The season opened with every indication 

 that extended and severe injury would result. Numbers of the 

 beetles began feeding early and on June 5th their work on elms 

 at Nassau was much more conspicuous than it had been for some 

 years. Many of the leaves on the lower branches were badly 

 riddled and those in the tops of the trees showed no perforations. 

 The indications then were favorable for exceptionally severe dam- 

 age. Egg masses were just being deposited, those observed being 

 moderate to large size and containing from five to about thirty- 

 five eggs. A period of relatively cool weather occurred the second 

 week in June. The official records of the weather bureau state that 

 in New York lower temperatures were recorded during that month 

 than any previous June since the weather service was established. 

 The maximum temperature at the Albany station dropped from 8o° 

 to 85 ° F. during the first few days in June to 70 ° and even 63 , 

 the minimum falling as low as 41 ° on the 8th. Our studies of this 

 insect in 1898 show that this markedly cool weather came at about 

 the beginning of the ten-day period when the beetles should deposit 

 approximately half of their entire quota of eggs. As a consequence 

 of these abnormal conditions, oviposition was checked and the 

 hatching of eggs greatly delayed with a corresponding backward- 

 ness in the feeding of the grubs. An examination of conditions at 

 Nassau on June 24th showed that comparatively few egg masses 

 had been deposited and there was little evidence of work 

 by young larvae. Only a few about one-quarter grown were dis- 

 covered. The same conditions appeared to prevail in Albany and 

 up to that time, so far as our observations went, comparatively few 

 eggs were found. On July 3d most of the grubs on Manning 

 boulevard, Albany, were only about one-quarter grown, a few being 

 half grown. On July 7th a few full-grown grubs were observed at 

 Nassau, though a number of smaller larvae were still feeding. 

 At Mount Vernon many grubs were only half grown July 10th, 

 though pupae were rather numerous on a few trees and some 

 recently transformed beetles were observed. 



The season was also peculiar in the uneven character of the 

 injury. The elm leaf beetle is well recognized as a local species. 

 The season of 1911, as stated above, was marked by an unusually 



