[11] Report of tee State Entomologist. 153 



so much injured as to be useless. The fruit plantations in parts 

 of Kent, Hereford, Worcester, and some other counties where 

 fruit is extensively grown, looked as if a hot wind had passed over 

 them." 



Grain nor grass crops have not suffered to any unusual extent. 

 Injury to June grass (Poa pratensis) through a thrips attack, which 

 has been noticed for several years, in which the larva extracts the 

 juices from the upper joint of the grass at its base, causing its 

 speedy withering and drying up, is apparently increasing and 

 largely extending its range. A similar attack on Timothy grass 

 (Phleum pratense) has been reported from Canada the present 

 year, and has also been observed by me in Albany county. I have 

 failed in my effort to rear the larvae to the perfect stage, and 

 thereby verify or disprove my belief that the Timothy insect is 

 identical with that which for a long term of years has been infest- 

 ing June grass," to which Professor Comstock some time since 

 gave the MS. name of Limothrips poaphagus, and has recently 

 published its characteristic features. 



A feature of the year has been a remarkable exemption from 

 aphis injuries. The hop crop was unusually free from aphis 

 presence — in striking contrast with its excessive abundance and 

 destructiveness in 1886. Not a single complaint was received by 

 me of aphis injury to apple trees at the opening of the season 

 when almost annually the insect threatens the destruction of the 

 starting buds and the unfolding leaves. In a few cases only was 

 aphis attack of any kind reported, and then merely to some of 

 the minor garden crops. 



In several portions of the State, the Colorado potato-beetle was 

 very abundant, showing that the pest is not disposed to abandon 

 the territory which it has occupied for a number of years, and 

 that it is still necessary to meet it persistently with the arsenical 

 insecticides, which, properly used, are adequate to its control. 



There has been a notable increase in the operations of the oak- 

 pruner, Elaphidion parallelum Newman., in the southeastern 

 portion of the State, in cutting off the ends of the branches and 

 dropping them to the ground. A number of reports of its injuries 

 — not only to oaks but also to maples — have been received from 

 localities on Long Island. In one instance where the attacked 



♦Report of the State Entomologist to the Regents of the University, S. N. Y., for 1886, 

 pp. 96-98, 



20 



