12 BULLETIN NO. 3, DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



Department of Agriculture, 



Entomological Division, 



July 6, 1862. 

 Mr. Chas. G. Rockwood, Newark, K J. : 



Dear Sir : Your favor of the 4th instant, with accompanying box, duly to hand. 

 The worms you send, and which are so destructive to your cranberries, are the larvae 

 of a saw-fly (family Tenthredinidce ; order Hymenoptera) belonging apparently to the 

 genus Dolerus. I have found the same larva feeding on Jimcus at Saint Louis, but 

 it has not before been reported to attack cranberry plants. The subject is therefore 

 of great interest to me, and you would greatly oblige me by sending on as many of 

 the worms as you are able to find, packed according to the above-printed directions. 

 I would also be thankful for any further observations you could furnish on the habits 

 and development of this pest. 

 Yours, truly, 



C. V. EILEY, 



Entomologist. 



Newark, N. J., July 7, 1882. 

 C. V. Riley, Esq., Entomologist, etc. : 



Dear Sir: Your favor of the 6th received. I have written to my farmer to send 

 yon more specimens. We thought when I was there that the worms had nearly done 

 their work; and at noon, when we tried to find them to send you, we could onlv find 

 the old ones. I had earlier in the day found one old one, before I thought of consult- 

 ing you. They had been on the land about two weeks, and at one time parts of the 

 bog were black with them. Worms supposed to be the same had been on a neighbor- 

 ing bog two or three years ago, and disappeared about July 1. They have not been 

 seen there either year since, although the owner thought he found their eo-o-s. The 

 same worms (so supposed) have been this year on farms 5 or 6 miles from us. They 

 are also on the cranberry bogs near by us. We are in the pine barrens. The cranberries 

 are surrounded with dikes or dams, so as to be completely covered with water in the 

 winter, from, say, December 1 to May 10, more or less, according to seasons and accord- 

 ing to the facilities of each location, each not having equal supply of water. We did 

 not get ours fairly flowed last year till near the end of December. I think the water 

 was off by May 10 or 12, having been let down gradually to addle the eggs of insects. 

 We found on July 4, in searching for full-grown insects, dead bodies all in shape, but 

 which when handled fell to pieces. I have told my farmer if he found others to send 

 them to you. 



The cranberry is an evergreen. The worms preferred grass and ate the grass grow- 

 ing among the vines first, and then took only the new this year's tender growth of the 

 vines and the buds for this year's fruit, leaving the vines just as they were before the 

 season's growth began. The old growth was not touched. 



On the reeds where we found the young worms we found no evidence of the youno- 

 worms eating the reeds. In one instance, near the worm, I noticed a little place 

 three-eighths inch long where the reed had been gnawed, and it may have been done 

 by the worm. 



Respectfully, 



CHAS. G. ROCKWOOD. 



P. S.— As to the damage, about three-fourths of the buds for this year on my land 

 have been eaten, and three-fourths of the new growth for next year's bearing. My 

 crop will therefore be cut down three-fourths of the expected yield of 2,000 bushels. 



The new growth has time yet to grow again and form buds for next year. That 

 you may judge of the importance of this matter, I will say that the loss may be esti- 

 mated in money at, say, $2,000. 



