260 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 17 
The exact area of infestation in Pennsylvania is not definitely known. 
It is evident that the shipment of ripe peaches from infested areas has 
done much this year to extend the range of the pest. It is known to be 
present only in the southeastern quarter of the state at this time. 
Vice-President S. B. Fracker: The next paper is by Mr. W. P. 
Flint. 
A NEW APPLE PEST, METACHROMA INTERRUPTUM 
By W. P. Flint, Urbana, III. 
Occasionally we encounter some native insect that is acquiring a 
taste for cultivated crops in preference to its natural food. This 
appears to be the case of the feeding on apple and peach by the willow 
beetle, Metachroma interruptum Lee. 
During the summer of 1921, several lots of apples were sent to the 
Experiment Station at Urbana showing a type of injury different from 
that known to be caused by any of the insects which commonly feed on 
this fruit in Illinois. In 1922, apples showing this same type of injury 
were received from nearly all the orchard sections of the State and a few 
orchardists reported 5 to 10% of the fruit in their orchards had been 
damaged. 
A search of these orchards during the day in an attempt to find the 
insect causing this injur} 7 was unsuccessful. An examination at night 
however ,showed hundreds of small brown beetles crawling about over 
the foliage and feeding on the fruit. The beetles were first found during 
the last week of June but had been feeding before this. They had all 
disappeared by July 4, 1922. The insect was identified by Doctor C. P. 
Alexander and W. S. Blatchley as Metachroma interruptum , family 
Chrvsomelidae. It is supposed to be a western species feeding on the 
willow and to occur but rarely in Illinois and Indiana. Correspondence 
with the entomologists in the group of states lying west of the Mississippi 
has shown that Metachroma interruptum is fairly common in South 
Dakota and Kansas, but there are no records of its feeding on fruits. 
In 1923, an attempt was made by Mr. J. H. Bigger of the State 
Natural History Survey to work out the life history of the insect. 
Owing to pressing calls for assistance in chinch-bug control, this work 
was not completed. A few additional facts were gathered concerning 
the habits of the adult beetles. The spring this season was cool and 
most of the common insects did not appear as early as usual. Meta¬ 
chroma was not found feeding on the apples until the last week in June 
