ELM LEAF BEETLE. 817 



were invaded, and the elm trees ravaged. In New Haven the 

 pest was perhaps at its worst in 1895 and 1896. In 1896 many 

 of the trees on the older streets about the center of the city were 

 sprayed with poison by the street department. The following 

 season the pest was less serious, and continued to subside until 

 1901, when it was again comparatively destructive. From 

 1902 it diminished in abundance until 1906, when considerable 

 damage was done to the trees. 



So far as is known the distribution of this insect in America 

 is confined to the lower altitudes of Southern New England 

 and the Alleghanian region. From Charlotte, N. C, its southern 

 limit," the elm leaf beetle now extends as far north as North 

 Conway, N. H. Up to this time, however, the beetle has done 

 no particular damage in New Hampshire. Regions generally 

 infested include the whole of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 

 necticut, Southeastern New York, New Jersey, Eastern Penn- 

 sylvania, Delaware, Maryland and a portion of Kentucky, though 

 isolated outbreaks have occurred in Western New York, Penn- 

 sylvania, West Virginia, Ohio aaid North Carolina. It is of course 

 found in Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, and probably in 

 Maine. Kentucky, therefore, contains the western limit of the 

 distribution of this insect, though we may expect that soon adjoin- 

 ing states may become infested. The insect exhibits a marked 

 tendency to spread farther along river valleys than over moun- 

 tains, and is distinctly a pest of city and village trees rather than 

 of trees in the open fields and roadsides of the country. 



LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 



The overwintering beetles come out of their winter quarters 

 during the warm days of early spring, mate, and as soon as 

 the leaves unfold they begin to eat small round or oval-shaped 

 holes through them. Many leaves are thus riddled as though shot 

 had been sent through them, and appear like the illustration on 

 Plate LIV b of this Report. 



During the latter part of May and early in June females 

 deposit small clusters of yellow eggs on the under sides of the 

 leaves. The period of ovipositing extends over about four weeks, 

 and each female may lay five or six hundred eggs. In about a 

 week the eggs hatch and the young larvs or grubs feed upon the 



