93 



pushed into the cyanide bottle in an apparently lifeless condition, 

 onl}^ trying to escape after the cyanide had begun to affect them. 



This species {Serrodes inara Cram.) was only found on apples and 

 guavas. Oranges, although ripening nicely in the same orchard, were 

 left untouched. A few specimens of three other species, one of which 

 attacked oranges, were also observed on apples. 



To determine whether or not the moths could be readily attracted 

 to poisoned sweets some tins of jam — strawberry, aiDricot, and plum — 

 were procured and placed in some of the trees. In others the same 

 materials were spread on sheets of paper and fastened to the branches 

 near the fruit. With one exception not a moth paid any attention to 

 the sweets. One opecimen was seen on the edge of the tin of plum 

 jam, but disappeared before I could determine whether or not it was 

 feeding. 



Unless we succeed in destroying the insect in some other stage of 

 development the only way to secure the fruit is to apply netting while 

 the moths are abundant. 



NOTES ON FOUR IMPORTED PESTS. 



By A. H. KiRKLAND, Boston, Mass. 



Up to the present summer Massachusetts has borne the unenviable 

 distinction attaching to the only State harboring the gypsy moth 

 {Portlietria dispar Linn). She now enjoys whatever benefit company 

 affords misery, for during the present month a colonj^ of the insect 

 has been found at Providence, R. I. The infestation in this city is 

 scattered over at least 2 square miles in the residential district. The 

 first specimens were discovered August 1 b}^ an amateur naturalist, 

 Mr. Prescott Newhall, who carried them to Mr. James M. Southwick, 

 formerly entomologist to the Rhode Island board of agriculture. Mr. 

 Southwick rightly conjectured that they were gypsy moths, but to 

 settle the matter beyond doubt, took specimens to the office of the 

 Massachusetts board of agriculture, where the writer was able to 

 corroborate the identification. 



On August 2 the writer made an examination of the colony and 

 found it in the incipient stage, no trees being defoliated. The street 

 trees are quite generally infested, and it seems probable that the 

 caterpillars have spread from the original centers of infestation by 

 dropping on teams and that in this way a large part of the cit}- may 

 be infested. 



Few facts are available at the present writing to show how the moth 

 found its Avay to Providence, a distance of at least 35 miles in a direct 

 line from the nearest infested point in Massachusetts. The colony 

 in question does not show the characteristics of a natural infestation 

 slowly spreading from a central point. Instead, there are several 

 isolated points where numerous hatched Qg^ clusters occur, none of 



