214 
Psyche 
[December 
THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER ON LONG ISLAND 1 
By S. M. Dohanian 
Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
The land area of that part of New York State known as 
Long Island and composed of Kings, Queens, Nassau, and 
Suffolk counties, is 30 percent greater than that of the State 
of Rhode Island. Of the 878,720 acres of land on Long Is- 
land 126,108 acres were under cultivation in 1929 accord- 
ing to the latest available agricultural census. Long Island 
is about 120 miles long, its greatest breadth being 20 miles. 
An irregular range of low hills extends most of the length 
of the Island a little north of the center ; south of this range 
the surface is comparatively level, while to its north hills 
and valleys predominate. The average elevation of the 
land along the north side is about 100 feet, there being only 
4 or 5 hills with an altitude greater than 300 feet. 
Outside of a considerable residential portion practically 
all of Nassau County, a large part of the townships adjacent 
to it on the east, and the entire eastern half of Suffolk 
County (where the soil permits) are under intensive culti- 
vation. The chief products are potatoes, corn, cauliflower, 
lima beans, and various truck crops. The 1930 census fig- 
ures show that 40,350 acres were planted to potatoes, 6,257 
acres to field corn, and 4,957 acres to sweet corn. 
The first infestation on Long Island by the European corn 
borer (Pyrausta nuhilalis Hiibner) was discovered in Kings 
County (Brooklyn) in August 1923. 2 The larvae found 
1 “The Long Island Project,” conceived by D. J. Caffrey, was started 
in 1927 by R. A. Vickery. R. E. Kimport continued the work from 
1928-1930 under the direct supervision of Mr. Caffrey, in 1931 under 
B. E. Hodgson, and in 1932 and 1933 under A. M. Vance. Acknowl- 
edgement for helpful criticism in the preparation of this paper is due 
A. M. Vance, and D. W. Jones. 
2 During the period 1923-1928, unsuccessful efforts were made 
both by State and Federal agricultural authorities to eradicate the 
corn borer infestation in this and contiguous areas. 
