65 



An outbreak of the white- marked tussock moth (Orgyia [Hemero- 

 campa} leucosiigma) occurred in Cleveland during the summer, and 

 many shade trees were defoliated. I am informed by Mr. M. H. Hor- 

 vath, who is the superintendent of the city parks, that the trees in 

 some localities were defoliated by the last of July and that the suc- 

 ceeding growth of leaves which the trees put forth were devoured by 

 the second brood of larva?. As the trees in this city, except in the 

 parks, have a desperate struggle to maintain an existence, few will be 

 able to survive any continued amount of defoliation. 



Late in August the black locusts that are abundant on the hills in 

 the valley of the Ohio River were badly stripped by the small beetle 

 Odonlota dor sails. The trees were bare and brown in many locali- 

 ties, and the defoliation was general from Gallipolis, Ohio, to Guyan- 

 dot, AY. Va., a distance of over 50 miles. Mr. Runner, my assistant, 

 who reported this outbreak, states that he was informed by parties 

 who had traveled extensively through West Virginia that the same 

 conditions existed in the Cumberland Mountains. It would not pay 

 to carry on any extensive work for the suppression of this insect, but 

 in case j)ersons are planting locust trees to be used for posts or poles, as 

 is the case in some sections of this State, it is possible that this insect 

 may cause considerable loss. 



Mr. Webster stated that while in Ohio he had planted, at Wooster 

 several apple trees, the roots of which were badly infested with the 

 woolly aphis. The 3 T oung trees had made a good growth, but he was 

 unable to state what their condition was at the present time. He 

 called attention to the fact that he had reported the defoliation of the 

 locust trees along the Ohio River by Odontota dorsalis about seven 

 years ago. 



A paper was next, read entitled — 



OBSERVATIONS IN 1903. 



By E. P. Felt. Albany, N. Y. 



The following brief accounts relate to some of the more important 

 species brought to notice during the past season. The year will be 

 remembered on account of the exceeding abundance of plant-lice, 

 particularly of species of economic importance. The attack was not 

 only characterized by excessive severity, but also by an undue pro- 

 longation, and this latter may have been due in part to unusual rains, 

 which were not favorable to the comparatively unsheltered natural 

 enemies, and therefore probably hindered them in their beneficial 

 work. The apple-tree plant-louse (Aphis mali Linn.) was one of the 

 most conspicuous of the destructive forms, and its ravages were so 



22564— No. 46—04 5 



