February, '15] 



RUGGLES: OBEREA TRIPUNCTATA 



79 



Morning session, Tuesday, December 29, 1914, 10.00 a. m. 



President H. T. Fernald: The meeting will please come to order. 



Vice-President Herrick: I move that the discussion of the pres- 

 idential address be deferred until later in the session. Carried. 



President H. T. Fernald: The first paper on the program will 

 be read by Mr. A. G. Ruggles. 



LIFE HISTORY OF OBEREA TRIPUNCTATA SWED. 



By A. G, RuGGLES 

 Division of Entomology, Department of Agriculture, University of Minnesota 



On June 14, 1911, the Superintendent of Parks of St. Paul, Minne- 

 sota, asked for help in diagnosing and combating a pest on the elm 

 which was new to him. All the trees along one of the finest avenues 

 in St. Paul were found with numberless dead leaves hanging from 

 terminal twigs. The ground was strewn with leaves, reminding one 

 of the fall season. In order to keep the lawns and boulevards in 

 shape, the leaves had to be raked up each day and the insect was 

 proving a nuisance if not a serious pest. 



No adult insects capable of doing this damage were seen then nor 

 upon careful search later. As the eggs found seemed quite fresh, it is 

 possible that the beetles may have been working at night or that they 

 were all through ovipositing and had disappeared. In the spring of 



1912, no adults nor egg-laying injuries were seen. Owing to a tem- 

 porary absence from the state in 1912-13, no adult insects causing 

 the damage have been taken in the field, up to the present time. The 

 literature available gave only two references to an insect that might 

 have been responsible for this damage.^ These referred to Oherea 

 ulmicola Chittenden. The work of this insect and the one in question 

 corresponded very closely and since that time, in our notes, this insect 

 has been referred to as Oherea ulmicola. Observations were made 

 daily for a while, and weekly later, for the entire growing season of 

 1911 and the entire season of 1912. During my absence from the 

 state in 1912-13, my assistant, Mr. George Peake, took care of the 

 collected specimens and brought in new ones from the field from time 

 to time. In January, 1913, under insectary conditions, and in May, 



1913, under natural conditions, the larvae pupated, the adults emerging 

 ten days to two weeks later. 



Since returning to the state, no opportunity occurred to study this 



1 Forbes, S. A. Twenty-fourth State Entomologist's Report of Illinois, 1908, 

 Bull. III. State Lab. Nat. Hist. Vol. VII, Art. 1, pp. 10 and 11. 



