Mann.] 206 [Jan. 1, 



nata have appeared in the fall; further observation is needed to 

 confirm this as a rule. Successive authors have quoted so largely 

 from one to another, without designating their own observations, 

 and without giving the authority for their statements, that little reli- 

 ance can now be placed on the statements of any. 



Mr. LeBaron says, that the first mention of the Canker-worm, 

 which he has met with, dates from 1789, when it is mentioned as 

 occurring in Massachusetts, (2d Illin. Rep., 1872, p. 100). Peck 

 says that the Canker-worm is said to have been observed first in the 

 Southern States, where it is probably a native. (Mass. Mag., 1795, 

 Vii, p. 416). He states, that on the 17th of May, 1794, the night 

 was so cold as to produce ice one-third of an inch thick ; at that time 

 a great part of the Canker-worms were hatched; to these the frost- 

 was so fatal, at Kittery, Maine, where he lived, that very few were 

 seen in 1795. He paid diligent attention at the season of their 

 rising, but found not one female, and saw but one male by accident, 

 on the 6th of April. He says he earnestly wishes that this check, 

 seconded by the endeavors of man, may extirpate this destructive 

 insect. Was not his wish measurably gratified, as far as the A. 

 vernata is concerned? I throw out this question as a suggestion for 

 research. Assuming for the time, that whenever any fall images are 

 mentioned the A. pometaria is referred to, we find that A. pometaria 

 was comparatively rare when Peck was making his observations, 

 while A. vernata was "one of the most obvious and destructive of 

 the insects that inhabit the apple-tree." The Massachusetts Society 

 for promoting Agriculture offered a large premium in 1793 for a sat- 

 isfactory natural history of the Canker-worm, and another for a 

 method of destroying the Canker-worm. The former premium was 

 quickly secured by Mr. Peck, and a lesser one by Mr. At water, but 

 the latter offer remained open and unsatisfied, from year to year, till 

 1813, when it was abandoned. The frost of 1794 (also mentioned 

 by Mr. LeBaron) seems to have been very effective, for it is not till 

 1801 that we find in the " Papers on Agriculture," of the Mass. Soc. 

 Prom. Agric, 8vo., 1801, p. 4, "The Canker-worni has in some 

 places made its appearance again," and in the " Papers " of the same 

 Society, 1807, p. 12, " Orchards have much improved of late [at 

 Newbury] ( since the year 1802 ), owing partly to the disappearance 

 of the canker-worm" and in the " Massachusetts Agricultural Repos- 

 itory and Journal," 8vo., June, 1815, p. 316, " After having been 



