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land; and set out nearly one thousand yomig orchard trees, most of them being peach 

 trees. This was towards the end of Marcli, and in the lirst week of April, during 

 the first warm days of the year, immense num})ers of a small Flea-beetle, which proved 

 to be Crcpidodera rujipes, appeared on the young trees on which the first buds were 

 just pushing out. 



Long before the time of my visit (April 14) the beetles had done as much damage 

 to the trees as can possibly be done by a phytophagous insect. Not a single green leaf 

 or living bud was to be seen on the neAvly-planted trees. Yet the beetles were still 

 very numerous on the trees, and this in spite of several applications of insecticides 

 made by Mr. Murrell from April 8 to April 14. On one tree, which had not been 

 recently treated with insecticides, I counted 52 beetles. Most other trees harbored a 

 much smaller number of specimens, averaging about 15. The presence of the beetles at 

 this time was at first glance difficult to account for, since there was apparently 

 nothing left on the trees for the beetles to feed upon. Examination showed that 

 those buds which at the time of the invasion were most advanced were attacked at 

 the tip, and the beetles eat or buirowed their way through the center of the bud 

 through its very base within the stem. The outer folds of leaves of such buds were 

 left intact, quickly died and dried up, while within the buds almost always one or 

 more beetles could be found with their heads deeply buried in the base of the bud 

 in order to feed upon the exuding sap. The younger buds were devoured bodily and 

 the beetles then crowded around the base to lick up the sap. Other beetles, for 

 which there was no room on such places, were wandering up and down the trees in 

 search of buds hitherto overlooked, many copulating pairs being seen among them. 

 Other beetles driven by hunger were also seen eating the bark of the tips of the trees. 

 In a few instances some of the older leaf buds had opened before the attack of the 

 beetles commenced^, but there was no crowding of beetles on the young leaf, though 

 occasionally one or more of those oblong holes on the surface of the leaf, so character- 

 istic of the feeding habit of Halticids, could be found. It was plainly to be seen 

 that it was not so much the leaf substance as the sap of the trees the beetles were 

 so eager to get at. 



As a matter of course the damage done to the young trees must be very severe, 

 and this the more so because the beetles do not give the trees the slightest chance to 

 recuperate. My impression was that should the beetles remain in force on the 

 trees for a week longer the trees would necessarily be killed. 



Several choice varieties of peach trees are planted in this orchard, but all of them 

 appeared to be equally subject to the attacks of the beetles. Some pear trees, how- 

 ever, had suffered less. Here only the tips of the young buds had been eaten, so that 

 at least a few, though mutilated, leaves had made their appearance. 



Another orchard, not far distant from that just described, and situated on the slope 

 of the same ridge, presented a little more varied conditions. Here the lowest and 

 most sheltered portion of the old clearing was plowed three years ago and planted 

 with peach trees. Two years ago another portion of the clearing, higher uj) the slope 

 of the hill, was added to the orchard, and then Mr. Murrell noticed first the appear- 

 ance of the beetles. But this invasion, which took place also very early in the spring, 

 was less severe than that of the present year, when the highest part of the clearing 

 was plowed'and set out with peach trees. The beetles attacked and injured the 

 newly set trees as well as the two-year old trees in the same way as on the first-men- 

 tioned orchard; but the three-year old trees suffered much less. It appears that at 

 the time of the appearance of the beetles the buds of these trees were considerably 

 more advanced than those of the younger trees ; they unfolded faster than the beetles 

 could destroy them. Thus the trees were at the time of my visit in full foliage, al- 

 though many beetles were upon them riddling the leaves with small holes. 



As to other food-plants of the beetle, there was no chance of making any observa- 

 tion on the parts of the orchards just laid out, since besides the fruit trees there 

 was not a single plant on the newly-plowed ground. The surrounding forest still 

 presented a very wintery appearance, and not a single specimen of the beetle could 



