J66 FORTY-SECOND REPORT ON THE STATE MUSEUM. [24] 



The Insect in Europe. 



Ratzeburg, in his celebrated work on Forest Insects, notices the 

 occurrence of this insect in Germany and in other parts of Europe. 

 It had appeared on the larch in the Hartz mountains and in the plains 

 of Holstein, in sufficient numbers to attract the attention of forestry 

 officers, and it was feared that it might become injurious. According 

 to Dr. Hagen, it had only been observed as obnoxious to the larch 

 twice before 1840, and was very rare in Europe. It was not among 

 the extensive collections of European insects brought thence by him 

 to the Cambridge Museum. 



Its Appearance in the United States. 



In the year 1880, Professor C. S. Sargent, Director of the Arnold 

 Arboretum at Brookline, Mass., discovered larvae feeding upon some 

 European larches, Larix Europcea growing in the vicinity. They were 

 submitted to Dr. Hagen, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at 

 Cambridge, and identified by him, from the description and figures 

 of Ratzeburg, as Nematus Erichsonii Hartig. This is the first record of 

 the appearance of this saw-fly in this country, which soon thereafter 

 developed destructive powers entirely foreign to its European 

 character. 



Its Spread throughout New England. 



It is reported as having been injurious to larches in the State of 

 Maine, in 1881, and in 1882 its operations were observed by Dr. Packard, 

 during the month of August, in the vicinity of Brunswick, Me., as 

 detailed in his "First Report on the Destruction of Evergreen Forests 

 in Northern New England," loc. cit. The same year, it also appeared 

 in New Hampshire. 



Its Occurrence in New York. 



The following year (1883) about July twenty-fifth and early in 

 August the effects of the insect were observed at Horicon and Pot- 

 tersville, Warren county, and at Schroon lake in Essex county. By the 

 first of August the trees had been defoliated. The region affected 

 was very extensive, covering many square miles in different swamps. 

 It was also reported " from Schroon lake to North Elba and about 

 Mount Marcy." (Packard.) 



During the years 1884, 1885, and 1886, the same attack upon the 

 larches, or tamaracks, as they are more generally called, was observed 

 by State Botanist Peck, in several of the counties of Northern New 

 "fork. The notes kindly given me of the place, time and degree of 

 injury wrought, were intrusted to a friend for his use and have been 

 unfortunately lost, so that the details can not now be put on record. 



