April, ’23] 
BRITTON: APPLE AND THORN SKELETONIZER 
207 
parts of the country where different conditions exist in order to obtain 
definite information. 
The next paper is by W. E. Britton. 
RAPID SPREAD OF THE APPLE AND THORN 
SKELETONIZER, HEMEROPHILA PARIAN A CLERCK 
By W. E. Britton, State Entomologist, New Haven, Conn. 
Abstract 
This European insect, Hemerophila pariana Clerck, first appeared in the United 
States in Westchester County, N. Y., in 1917 and in Greenwich and Stamford, Conn., 
in November, 1920. In 1921, first brood injury was prominent and adults were 
abundant in Greenwich and Stamford and before the close of the season records in¬ 
dicated that this insect occurred in all counties of Connecticut except Windham 
County. Late in 1922, unsprayed apple trees were brown from its attacks in the 
vicinity of New Haven and northward through Hartford. It was also observed in 
Windham County, Conn., and in Huntington and Amherst, Mass. Adult moths 
were very abundant on window screens in late fall and it is believed that it passes 
the winter in the adult stage, and that it spreads chiefly by adults moving with the 
prevailing winds. Dr. Felt reports an invasion just south of Albany, N. Y. It is 
believed to be in northern New Jersey, though definite proof is not at hand. 
This insect was first discovered in Westchester County, N. Y., during 
the summer of 1917, and was apparently an accidental introduction, 
perhaps from Europe. The center of the infestation was at Irvington, 
Westchester County, but it was soon found across the river in Rockland 
County. Dr. E. P. Felt early published a brief note 1 calling attention 
to the presence of the pest, and later gave in a bulletin 2 and also in one 
of his reports 3 fairly complete accounts of the insect. He warned me to 
watch for it in Connecticut as the Infestation was only a few miles from 
the Connecticut border. 
It was not until November 1920 that the insect was noticed to be 
present in Connecticut, first at Belle Haven, in the town of Greenwich, 
where its injury was the most conspicuous, but later in Stamford where a 
small amount of injury occurred here and there. Both of these towns 
are situated in the extreme southwest corner of Fairfield County, and of 
the State. A brief account of this insect based upon Dr. Felt’s publi¬ 
cations, and recording its occurrence in Connecticut was published 4 
in my twentieth report as State Entomologist. 
The following summer, 1921, reports indicated that the injury caused 
^Journal of Economic Entomology, x, 502, October 1917. 
2 Cornell Extension Bulletin, No. 27. 
3 Thirty-third Report N. Y. State Entomologist, 33, 1917. 
4 Report Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 190, 1920. 
