38o 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Early history. Dr Hopkins states that there is a record of this insect 

 killing spruce in the neighborhood of Sherburne Vt., in 1831 to 1833, and 

 in 1840, according to Henry Hough, there was serious injury to spruce in 

 Newport, Sullivan co., N. H., probably by the same species. Prof. C. H. 

 Peck, state botanist, when investigating the work of this insect in the 

 Adirondacks in 1874, learned that the greatest destruction of spruce in 

 Lewis county occurred 10 or 15 years before. The same trouble, according 

 to him, was experienced in Rensselaer county about 1854. " A lumber firm 

 found that their spruce timber was rapidly dying, and to make their loss as 

 light as possible, they made haste to open roads in the forest that they 

 might draw out and work up as many dead spruces as practicable before 

 decay should render them entirely worthless, but with all their promptness 

 they suffered no inconsiderable loss, for these dead trees soon became too 

 much decayed to make marketable lumber." 



Professor Peck's investigations are of exceptional interest, particularly 



as we have been fortunate enough to examine specimens collected by him 



at that time, and therefore can be certain regarding the identity of this 



insect. A portion of his observations for the year 1874, follow : 



In August a collecting trip was undertaken in the vicinity ot cake 

 Pleasant, Hamilton county. While there it became apparent to me that I 

 was in a region where the spruces were dying. Standing near the outlet of 

 the lake and looking upon the distant mountain slopes toward the north- 

 east, east and south, patches of brown appeared here and there mingled 

 with the usual dark green hue of the forest. The inhabitants told me that 

 these brown patches were groups of dead spruces ; that the spruce trees 

 were then rapidly dying, and had been for two or three years previous, and 

 that in consequence the value of the woodland was greatly diminishing. 

 One of the most conspicuous of these brown patches was on the slope of 

 Speculator mountain, a little more than half way from the base to the 

 summit. Preparations were therefore made to visit this locality. Once on 

 the ground it needed but little observation to satisfy me that the destructive 

 process was then in operation. The ground under some of the spruces was 

 thickly strewn with their fallen leaves, yet green, and every agitating wind 

 was bringing down more of them. The bark of these trees, and of others 

 already dead, was perforated in many places with small round holes scarcely 

 y% of an inch in diameter. Upon stripping a piece of bark from the trunk 

 of one of the affected trees, the apparent cause of the mischief was at once 



