234 The Insects of the Past Year and Progress in Insect Studies. 



xanthomelcena (Schr.) was first noticed in 1838, ou elms in Baltimore 

 and its vicinity; the grain aphis, Siphonophora avence (Fabr.), probably 

 about 1850, but not injurious until 1861; the cabbage butterfly, 

 Pieris rapm (Linn.), observed in 1858, at Quebec, Canada; the aspara- 

 gus beetle, Crioceris asparagi (Linn.), introduced probably in 1856 or 

 1857, and first seen at Astoria, Long Island, in 1859; the hop-vine 

 aphis, Phorodon humuli (Schrank), recorded for the first in 1862; 

 the currant worm, Nematus ribesii (Scop.) (formerly known as N.ven- 

 tricosus Klug), introduced about 1860, it is believed at Rochester, 

 K Y.; the carpet beetle, Anthrenus scrophularim (Linn.), about 

 1870, in New York city and in California; the clover-root borer, 

 Hylesinus trifolii (Mull.) (lately referred to Hylastinus ohscurus 

 Marsh), about 1875, first observed in Yates county, N. Y., in 1878; 

 the pear midge, Diplosis pyrivora Riley, in 1877 or 1878, atMeriden, 

 Conn.; the larch saw-fly, Nematus Erichsonii (Hartig), first seen in 

 1880, on imported larches, at Brookline, Mass. To the above formid- 

 able list, a score of others, introduced within the period embraced, 

 might be added, the injurious character of several of which would 

 entitle them to special mention. I will only add to the list, at this 

 time, by mention of, and brief reference to, one which has been 

 brought to our notice during the past year, and which is exciting so 

 much interest in Massachusetts that the governor of the State has 

 deemed it proper, in his late message, to call public attention to it, 

 that, if possible, it may not be permitted to extend over the State, and 

 other States of the Union. The insect is the Ocneria dispar of Lin- 

 naeus, popularly known in its winged stage as the Gypsy moth. It is 

 an old pest of European countries, more particularly perhaps in 

 Germany than elsewhere, where at times its caterpillar has stripped 

 the foliage from entire forests. It is one of the kind known as poly- 

 phagous or having a great number of food-plants. Hardly any shrub 

 or tree, whether fruit or forest or ornamental, is rejected, and garden 

 vegetables and other products are also eaten by it. It is evidently 

 adapted to a very broad distribution, occurring, as it does, throughout 

 Europe, Northern and Western Asia, and in Japan. 



It was accidentally introduced in the United States in the year 

 1869, by an entomologist, Mr. L. Trouvelot, then living near Glen- 

 wood, Medford, Mass., who was engaged in experiments with the 

 production of cocoons suitable for silk manufacture, from our native 

 silk worms and a few foreign species. From some cocoons of the 

 Gypsy moth, brought over by him, the winged insects emerged, and a 

 few chanced to escape. Their progeny, adapting themselves to the 



