REPORTS OF OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS. 51 



The Leaf -folder — During the latter part of the summer my attention 

 was called to a serious depredation of the leaf-folder in some nur» 

 near Des Moines. Examination of the leave- showed the presence of 

 large numbers of the larvae, with a considerable number of pnpae, and 

 from these pupae I obtained, during the early part of October, consider- 

 able numbers of the winter form of the leaf folder (Teras m The 

 species has been somewhat prevalent during the past few years, but 

 this season became much more destructive and caused considerable 

 damage to several acres of yearling trees. The indications at the time 

 my attention was called to them were that the use of poison would be 

 effective for the larvae still immature, but they were so rapidly matur- 

 ing that it seemed hardly desirable to adopt such measures for the 

 present season. Both pupae and larvae were in such condition, however, 

 as to be destroyed by pinching, and this was recommended on account 

 of the benefit it should give for the coming season. 



The Leaf Skeletonizer (Pempelia hammondi] occurred in considerable 

 numbers in the nurseries where the leaf-folder was destructive, and was 

 responsible, probably, for about 20 to 25 per cent of the damage. Had 

 the injuries been noted somewhat earlier practically all the damage 

 done by this species could have been avoided by a spraying with 

 London purple or Paris green, but at the time mentioned the season had 

 so far passed that it seemed impracticable and of little use to make 

 applications. 



Nomophila noctuella. — In two of my previous reports I have called 

 attention to the great abundance of this pyralid moth, and suggested 

 the probability of its being a destructive species in pastures and 

 meadows. The immature stages have, however, not been observed, 

 and no opportunity has been presented for giving the species a 

 special study. Last season Mr. E. P. Felt, at Cornell University, 

 bred the larvae, and presents in the Canadian Entomologist voL 

 xxy, p. 129) a summary of the life history of the species with figures 

 of the larva and adult. He found it to feed upon clover primarily and 

 also upon grass, aud his observations seem to establish the economic 

 importance of the species. Evidently this species is distributed very 

 generally throughout the country, and judging by the abundance of 

 moths in this locality it must rank as one of the particularly destructive 

 species. According to Mr. Felt, the collection of adults at lights would 

 be of little avail in this species, as those which gather at lights are for 

 the most part males. In the related species belonging to the genus 

 Crambus I have shown that the individuals coming to lights are m a 

 large part females loaded with eggs, and it seems to me that it is desira- 

 ble to obtain still more complete records as to the individuals attracted 

 to lights before a final conclusion is reached as t<> the value <»f this 

 method. The difficulty of attacking the insect in any other manner, 

 except by plowing, makes the use of lights, if in any degree successful, 

 an important method of destruction. 



