This group includes the leaf-eating beetles and among them are 

 found some of the most pernicious of the insect pests. 



Probably because this insect first attracted most attention as an 

 enemy to the cottonwood, it was given the name of ' ' Cottonwood 

 Ivcaf-beetle " or the "Streaked Cottonwood Leaf-Beetle." In 

 this State, however, it is little known excepting as a pest to basket- 

 willows and hence is known among willow growers as the ' ' Willow 

 Beetle " or incorrectly "The Willow Bug." The scientific name, 

 " Lina scripta '" was given the species by Fabricius. 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 



Fortunately this insect does not have a wide range of food 

 plants or it would doubtless have become of much more economic 

 importance than it is. Where cottonwoods, poplars or willows 

 are extensively grown, however, it may become a very serious 

 pest. In the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, the 

 insects appear in great numbers, stripping the leaves from large 

 areas of these trees thus causing serious injury throughout the 

 districts where trees of this kind are valued for timber. 



In this State the insect is a serious pest to one of the small, but 

 important industries. Probably the greatest injury was during 

 1894 and 1895. In Onondaga County where basket- willows are 

 extensively grown, from half to three-fourths of the crop was 

 rendered worthless. In the vicinity of Liverpool alone, the crop 

 was estimated to be about 1,200 tons less in 1895 than in 1894, 

 the shortage being caused by the beetles. As a further example 

 one farmer near Liverpool who grows 20 acres of willows, which 

 yield under ordinary circumstances about 5 tons per acre, bringing 

 from $16.00 to $40.00 per ton, harvested in 1894 only about $200 

 worth of marketable willows, and the following year his returns 

 were but little better. This is but one of many cases of the kind 

 that might be mentioned to show the serious injury which this 

 insect is capable of doing. Fortunately the beetles were somewhat 

 less abundant during 1896 and 1897. 



■Identified by Mr. E. A. Schwarz. 



