57 



Mr. E. J. Preston has sent, under date of May 21, samples of the 

 caterpillars of various sizes, with some of nearly full growth. He rep- 

 resents tliem as skeletonizing the foliage in several of the orchards in 

 his immediate neighborhood. Efforts had been made to stay their 

 ravages through Paris green spraying. When used in several orchards 

 by a person employed who was familiar with spraying methods, a mix- 

 ture of 1 pound of the green and t pounds of lime to 200 gallons of 

 water did not seem to kill a worm. The same in 150 gallons of water 

 was also ineffectual. A third spraying with loo gallons of water was 

 next tried, the result of which had not been ascertained. 



It would seem from the above, provided that the Paris green was of 

 the standard purity, that the cankerworm is almost as resistant to the 

 effects of Paris green as is the larva of the gypsy moth. 



Mr. Preston refers to the observed habit of the caterpillar, which has 

 been frequently noticed elsewhere, of dropping from the leaves when 

 they have been nearly all consumed, and hanging by a thread until 

 carried by the wind to some neighboring tree, or else dropping to the 

 ground. 



To the orchardists of Amenia the cankerworm is popularly known 

 as the " fire worm," from the appearance of the leaves after all their 

 green has been eaten away, as if they had been swept over by fire. 



The insect has also been reported from several localities in west- 

 ern 2s T ew York, the seasonal conditions having been favorable for its 

 multiplication. 



( 1 «c(£cia rosaceana Harr., known as "the oblique-banded leaf-roller," 

 which feeds on an unusually large number of food plants, has been quite 

 abundant and destructive in apple orchards. It has been sent to me 

 from several localities in eastern and central New York as having been 

 very injurious, not only to the foliage, but later in the season to the 

 young fruit, into which it ate rounded holes of considerable size, often 

 extending to beyond their center. Their injury had been quite serious 

 in the orchard of Mr. Morris Tompkins, of Germantown, Columbia 

 County. The moths were known to him from having reared them from 

 the caterxnllars, and on June 13 such numbers were drawn to light at 

 night that apprehension was felt of the work of a second brood. Walsh 

 and Riley have recorded as a habit of the caterpillar its gnawing off the 

 rind of green apples, but I do not recall mention of its destroying the 

 fruit by eating large holes into the interior. 



Another caterpillar of larger size, of about an inch in length, of a 

 pale-green color, and marked with white lines and dots, is also charge 

 able with eating into the fruit after the manner of the Cacoecia. I failed 

 to rear the examples that were sent me, which I thought might be 

 Nolophana malana Pitch. It has, I believe, been brought to the notice 

 of Mr. Slingerland, and he has probably succeeded in rearing the moth 

 from it. 



The galls of a cecidomyiid larva on choke-cherry (Primus virginiana) 

 were brought by State Botanist Peck from Bethlehem, N. Y., May 28. 



