200 REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY? OF THE 
bers at Melrose, Mass., in 1895 by Dr. C. H. Fernald. The presence 
of this insect in the willows about Boston and other towns in eastern 
Massachusetts had been known for many years. During the follow- 
ing year the beetle was found at Buffalo, N. Y., by Ottomar 
Reinecke; and in 1901 Mr. A. F. Burgess collected one specimen 
near the city of Ashtabula, Ohio. In 1903 the insect was ‘found in 
two nurseries in the State of Wisconsin by Mr. Christian Bues, the 
State nursery inspector,' and in 1904 Prof. M. L. Washburn reported 
that he had received specimens of C. Japatht from North Dakota 
where it had been found upon poplars that had been imported into 
that state from a New York nursery.” 
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 
THE BEETLE A NURSERY AND A SHADE TREE PEST. 
The poplars, willows and alders, while not counted among our 
most valuable or most beautiful trees, serve useful purposes and are 
well worthy of preservation. They claim our attention not only 
for their quick growing qualities and economic value, but also for 
the native beauty possessed by many of the-species. Indeed certain 
schemes of landscape decoration would be incomplete without some 
of the more attractive kinds. The native willows perform an im- 
portant function as holders of the soil along the margins of lakes 
and streams; the poplars on account of their: hardiness and rapid 
growth are invaluable as shade trees in newly settled suburbs; and 
in western New York the growing of the basket willow is an im- 
portant industry. 
In Europe this insect has been long recognized as an injurious pest 
upon alders and willows, and its work and life history: have been a 
fruitful source of much discussion by German zoologists. The 
beetle is reported to be destructive in England, Germany, Austria 
and Denmark. There are many instances on record of injury to the 
basket willow and to the alders along the streams and in the forest, 
and more especially to the plantations of willows and alders culti- 
vated for commercial purposes, which have, often been destroyed. 
From New Jersey, Dr. J. B. Smith reported that “C. lapathi was 
spreading and was doing serious injury to willows. Nearly all the 
clumps of willows near Newark and Arlington had been destroyed, 
and some fancy and garden trees had been killed.” % 
1 Wis. Agrl. Expt. Sta. Ann. Rpt., 21:275. 10904. 
2 Ninth Annual Report of the State Entomologist of Minnesota, p. 115. 
8 Can) Ent; 233 221. 
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