

59 



to the ground by it. Some of the branches brought to me were from 

 three-tenths to seven-tenths of aD inch in diameter. Each contained 

 the mature and active larva' withiD a closed cell in its burrow prepared 

 for pupation. E. parallelum Newm. (regarded by many as identical 

 with the preceding species) was very abundant in early June in the 

 maples bordering- the avenues in the grounds of Governor Morton, 

 Ellerslie, in Dutchess County. Not a maple was seen which had not a 

 score or two of the recently fallen pruned brandies lying beneath it, 

 although previous gatherings had been made and destroyed. 



The asparagus beetle (Crioceris asparagi Linn.) is continuing its 

 spread in the central and western counties of the State. In my ninth 

 report reference is made of its appearance at Geneva, Ontario County, 

 in the year 1881, and at Rochester, Monroe County, in 1892. June 2 

 of the present year (1806) Mr. A. P. Case, of Vernon, Oneida County, 

 sent to me asparagus twigs bearing numerous eggs of the beetle and 

 shoots eaten by the larvae. He writes: 



The insect has appeared since May 30 on all of the asparagus beds here, -where 

 they have never before been seen. Every sprout is covered with the worms, and tlis 

 new seedling shoots are alive with the full-grown worms, and newly hatched ones 

 are burrowing into the stalks. The tops of the eatable shoots are alive with the 

 mature -worms, which eat them off as they appear. The crop is worthless for this 

 year. 



To-day a further extension of the insect within our State has been 

 brought to my notice in examples given me by Mr. Ottornar lleinecke, 

 of Buffalo, N. Y., which were collected by him the present week from 

 wild asparagus growing in the outskirts of the city. 



The ash-gray blister-beetle (Macrobasis unicolor Kirby) was received 

 June 9 from New York City, where it was reported as feeding destruc- 

 tively on a locust hedge. The young and tender leaves at the end of 

 the branches had been eaten over the entire extent of the hedge of 

 about GOO feet in length. They were driven away or killed when the 

 pyrethrum powder recommended for them was applied. Examples of 

 the same insect came June 25 from Factoryville, X. Y., where they 

 were rapidly destroying the leafage of potato vines. 



Chinch bug. — A correspondent from Almond, Allegany County, writes 

 that the insect is very thick on his new seeding and has ruined his 

 pastures, and that it has destroyed his meadows for the past four or live 

 years. They were working in the greater part of his 300 or 400 acres of 

 land, Mr. E. P. Van Duzee in his collections in Erie and Niagara 

 counties the present year has met with only a few scattered individ- 

 uals of the species. 



The San Jose scale (Aspidiotus pemieiosus Comst.) has apparently 

 found the climatic conditions unsuited to its establishment in all except 

 the extreme southeastern part of our State. Its existence in a few 

 localities has been reported to me, but in each instance another scale 

 has been mistaken for it. At the Kinderhook locality, where it was first 

 discovered in the Hudson River valley, it has been nearly exterminated. 



