m 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW TORE 
noticed by Mr. Mackenzie—has been found to be a sovereign cure for this 
malady. I doubt not but that by it many of your Albany trees may be 
saved, which will otherwise perish. Fish oil, or any other kind of oil or 
grease, thinly applied, everywhere over the bark, so that its glossiness, is 
merely perceptible, is all that is required. 
Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry have also sent me specimens of this same 
insect, as being abundant upon the maples, especially the soft maples, at 
Rochester. It is, therefore, very common at this time, probably, over a 
large portion of our State. In former years, I have occasionally met 
with single specimens of this scale on the trees here, in Washington county. 
An insect of this same kind occurs upon the maple in Europe, and is named 
Lecanium Aceris by entomologists. The fullest account of this insect 
which I have seen is in Curtis’s British Entomology, where it is staled that 
“a white, flowery-like matter, in which the minute young are to be ob¬ 
served,” grows underneath the scales. As it is a fibrous, cotton-like mat¬ 
ter, not at all pulverulent like flour, which our insect grows, I think it is a 
distinct species from that of Europe, and have, therefore, named it in my 
manuscripts, Lecanium Acericorticis, i. e. the maple bark scale insect. 
Yours truly, 
ASA FITCH. 
