326 | Report oF THE ENTOMOLOGISTS OF THE 
states that the ‘“ willow beetle” did serious injury in his nursery 
at Germantown, during the spring of 1887, to Carolina poplars 
and Kilmarnock and New American willows. 
In this State, the only instance of injury to nursery stock by 
this insect, which has come under the-writer’s notice, was in the 
nurseries of the Smiths & Powell Co. of Syracuse. In 1895 and 
1896 the beetles did serious injury in a few blocks of Carolina and 
Norway poplars. They were especially injurious during the 
spring of 1896, threatening to ruin all of the Norway and Caro- 
lina poplars in this nursery. 
HISTORY AND PRESENT DISTRIBUTION. 
The original home of the cottonwood leaf beetle is not posi- 
tively known. 
In this country, it did not attract much attention until about 
1876. In 1877 and 1878 the beetles did serious injury to cotton- 
wood in the prairie states, especially Dakota, Kansas and Ne- 
braska, where the cottonwood is valued for both ornamental and 
commercial purposes. In 1884 the cottonwoods in these sections 
were again seriously injured by the beetles which, it is said, ap- 
peared in swarms, quickly stripping the trees of their leaves. 
On the authority of Dr. C. V. Riley’ the habit of feeding on cot- 
tonwood was acquired long after the species was known as a pest 
to willows, and he suggests that “a special cottonwood feeding 
race of the species has of late years been developed.” 
The cottonwood leaf beetle occurs throughout the United 
States, and, according to Mr. E. A. Schwarz, in a recent letter to 
the writer, is found as far south as the City of Mexico. It is best 
known as an injurious species along the Mississippi Valley. 
In this State it is little known outside the willow-growing dis- 
tricts. It first attracted the attention of the willow growers in 

8U. S. Dept. Agr. Ann. Rpt. 1884: 337; reprint from article in N. Y. 
Tribune, Oct. 9, 1878. 
