INSECTS AFFECTING PARK AND WOODLAND TREES 54 1 



checked by collecting and burning the fallen leaves. Possibly it would be 

 amenable to arsenical sprays were they applied early in the season. 



Bibliography 

 1897 Lintner, J. A. Ins. N. Y. 12th Rep't, p. 214-17 



Maple leaf cutter 



Incurvaria acerifoliella Fitch 



Maple leaves with irregular, oval holes x / IO to */ lo inches in diameter may have been 

 injured by this species. 



This peculiar leaf feeder is occasionally rather abundant on maples in 

 the eastern part of New York State. It is particularly common in the 

 forests, and in May 1850, according to Dr Fitch, its work was so prevalent 

 as to attract popular notice. Dr Fletcher of Canada records an instance of 

 severe injury in 1885, stating that the foliage on four acres was almost 

 entirely consumed, the flat, disklike cases of the larvae carpeting the ground 

 and occurring in great numbers on the tree trunks. Some beeches were 

 also attacked after the maple foliage had been devoured. 



Description. The moth has a wing spread of about ^ inch, with the 

 fore pair a brilliant steel blue, sometimes bluish green with purplish reflec- 

 tions. The hind wings are a pale smoky brown, translucent, with pale blue 

 and purple reflections and a pale brown fringe. The top of the head bears 

 a tuft of erect, bright orange hairs, the thorax is a brilliant steel blue and 

 the abdomen a dark satiny brown. 



The full grown larva is about ^ inch long, slender, flattened, cylindric, 

 with slight constrictions marking the segments. It is a dull white with the 

 head and three thoracic segments a pale rusty brown and an interrupted 

 broad dorsal stripe. 



Remedies. This species can probably be controlled by timely spraying 

 with an arsenical poison. 



