[25] Report of the State Entomologist. 167 



In St. Lawrence county. — June 29, 1887, larvae of this species were 

 received for name from Dr. E. L. Sturtevant of the State Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, which had been sent to him by Mr. E. Phelps of 

 De Kalb Junction. When the package was opened the following day, 

 one of the larvae had already inclosed itself in its cocoon. It is 

 believed that this is the earliest recorded date of larval maturity. 

 The following notice taken from the St. Lawrence Republican of July 

 27, 1887, will give some idea of the immense number in which the 

 "worm " made its appearance: 



Mr. David Page of Jerusalem Corners, in this town, has given us an 

 account of a remarkable pest of worms which recently infested his 

 premises. There are three larch or tamarack trees growing in his 

 door yard. About July seventh, very soon after the extremely hot 

 weather set in, a few worms appeared upon them, feeding upon the 

 leaves. The next day they had doubled in number, and in a day or 

 two had become a countless host, completely covering the trees, so 

 that the end of the finger could not be placed even on the trunk of 

 one of them without touching one or more of the worms. They also 

 covered apple and maple trees and shrubbery, and the grass 

 beneath, but ate nothing, so far as could be discovered, except the 

 leaves of the tamaracks. They swarmed upon the house and piazza, 

 and it became necessary to sweep them from the latter every few min- 

 utes. They accumulated in little windrows along by the house. The 

 countless hordes of worms became an object of great curiosity and 

 interest to people of the neighborhood, and Mr. Page and his family 

 became really alarmed as to the result of this invasion; but in scarcely 

 a week from the time of their first appearance they disappeared as 

 rapidly as they had come, and in a day or two none of them were to 

 be found. The tamaracks were left as bare as in winter, but no other 

 signs of damage were visible. Whether the worms had gone into the 

 ground or what had become of them seems not to have been ascertained. 



In Otsego county. — Other examples of the larva and two of the 

 cocoons were received by the State Entomologist, July ninth, from 

 Rev. Henry IT. Swinnerton, of Cherry Valley. He has kindly fur- 

 nished, on request, some observations made by him, extracts from 

 which are herewith given, as showing interesting habits of migration, 

 etc. of the larvae, when occurring on isolated trees. Under date of 

 July ninth, he wrote: 



I send you specimens of a worm that has appeared in considerable 

 numbers on a larch tree on the lawn of Mr. Lansing, my neighbor. 

 They began dropping off in a pattering shower, and are migrating 

 towards some maples not far off. 



Additional particulars of the migration were furnished under date 

 of July twelfth: 



The larch saw-fly worm seems to have disappeared, and within a 

 very limited distance from the tree from which they started. They 

 crept in an easterly direction diagonally toward the street, about 



