INSECTS AFFECTING PARK AND WOODLAND TREES 



419 



square miles in different swamps. It was reported "from Schroon Lake 



to North Elba and about Mount Marcy." The work of this sawfly was 



observed on larches during the years 1884 to 1886 in several counties of 



northern New York by State Botanist Peck, who kindly reported the 



depredations to Dr Lintner. Again in 1887, larvae of this insect were 



received by Dr E. L. Sturtevant of the State Agricultural Experiment 



Station from Mr E. Phelps of De Kalb Junction. The abundance 



and destructiveness of this pest is well described in the following notice 



from the Si Lawrence Republican of July 27, 1887. 



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 dooryard. About 

 July 7, 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, com- 

 pletely 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 tamarack. They swarmed upon the house and piazza, and it 

 became necessary to sweep them from the latter every few minutes. They 

 accumulated in little windrows along the house. The countless ho,rdes 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 

 appearance they disappeared as rapidly as the)' 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. 



The work of this insect was also brought to Dr Lintner's attention the 

 same year from Cherry Valley, Otsego co., by Rev. Henry U. Swinnerton, 

 and a brief paragraph published in the Country Gentleman July 14 of that 

 year doubtless refers to the work of this insect at Sharon. The follow- 

 ing account of personal observations by Dr Lintner in the southern 

 portions of Hamilton county, gives a very good idea of the seriousness 

 of its attack. 



