University of the State of New York NINTH REPORT ON THE Injurious and Other Insects OF THE! STATE OF NEW YORK KOR XHK YKAR 1 892 [From the Forty-sixth Report on the New York State Museumj By J. a. LINTNER, Ph. D., State Entomologist ALBANY UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 1893 CONTENTS. PASB. Transmittal 293 General Notes for the Year 395 Injurious Insects : Anthrenus scrophulariee and Attagenus piceus, two Carpet Beetles 299 Tenebrio obscurus (Fabr.) — The American Meal-worm 307 PoUenia rudis (Fabr.) — The Cluster Fly 309 Murgantla histrionica (Halm.) — The Harlequin Cabbage-bug 315 Psylla pyricola (Foerster) — The Pear-tree Psylla 317 Chortophaga viridifasciata {De Geer)— The Green-striped Locust 330 Notes on Various Insects, etc. Eriocampa cerasi (Peck) — The Cherry-tree or Pear-tree Slug 335 Papilio Cresphontes (Cramer) — The Yellow-banded Swallow-tail 336 Podosesia syringae (Harris) — The Syringa Borer 338 Carpocapsa pomonella {Linn.) — The Codling Moth 338 Dynastes Tityus {Linn.), as a Fruit-eater 343 Crioceris asparagi {Linn.) — Tlie Asparagus Beetle 343 Systena frontalis {Fabr.) — Injuring Gooseberry Foliage 343 Chauliognathus Pennsylvanicus, the Pennsylvania Soldier-Beetle 344 Pissodes strobi {Peck) — The White-pine "Weevil 344 Myzus cerasi (Fabr.) — The Cherry-tree Aphis 345 Pemphigus tessellata {Fitch) — The Alder-blight Aphis 346 Phylloxera vitifoliaa {Fitch) — The Grapevine Phylloxera 347 Crangonyx mucronatus {Forbes), a Blind Shrimp in Wells 347 Insectivorous Birds for Protection 349 Insect Attacks : Resistance of Fleas to Insecticides 353 White Grubs Injuring Nursery Stock 353 The White Grub Eaten by the Robin 356 A Maple-tree Pruner, Elaphidion parallelum Nervm 357 The Striped Cucumber beetle, Diabrotica vittata (Fabr.) 361 The Grape CurcuUo, Crapomus inajqualis {Say) 364 292 Contents. Insect Attacks — {Continued) : paqb. The Peach-bark Seolytus, Phloeotribus liminaris (Harris) 365 An Unrecognized Attack on Pease 368 The Plum-tree Aphis, and the Brown Rot 868 The Currant Aphis, Myzus ribis (Linn.) 370 Aphides and Myriapods as Aster and Lily Pests 371 Some Apple-tree Insects 372 Beet Insects 374 Diseased Austrian Pines 376 APPENDIX. (A) Catalogue of the Known Homopteka of the State of New York IN 1851 881 (B) Entomological Addresses •. 414 (C) List of Publications of the Entomologist 439 (D) Publications of the Entomologist During the Years 1870-1874.. 446 (E) Contributions to the Department 461 (F) Classified List of Insects Noticed in this Report 465 General Index 467 REPORT. Office of the State Entomologist, Albany, December 10th, 1892. To the Regents of the University of the State of New York : Gentlemen. — I have the honor of presenting to your Board my Ninth Report on the Injurious and Other Insects of the State of New York, embracing some of the studies and observations of my department during the current year. The year has been one of remarkable exemption from insect injuries, as the result, beyond question, of meteorological con- ditions unfavorable to the multiplication of our more common insect pests. This has been particularly noticeable in the very few complaints that have been received of injuries to fruits — certainly not one-fifth of the average of preceding years. While this, in part, may be ascribed to the better knowledge of methods of dealing with the enemies of fruits to which our fruit-growers are becoming educated, and to the rapidly growing use of insecticides and spraying implements, certain it is that several of our more noxious insects, which almost annually are the cause of serious injury, did not present themselves in sufficient number to call for active operations against them. Thus, apple trees for the most part, escaped their customary early spring visitation of the aphis. Aphis raali. The cherry-tree aphis, Myzus cerasi, was not prevalent. The orchard tent-caterpillar, Clisiocampo. Americana^ was far less abundant than in preceding years. Not a single communication came to me relating to the operations of the eye-spotted bud-moth, Tmetocera ocellana, which had been exceedingly destructive in 1891, and a general cause of complaint from the orchardists of Western New York. The pear-tree Psylla, Psylla pyricola, which threatened, in its excessive increase, to extend its destruction to ])ear trees in the Hudson river valley to other portions of the State, has not, during the past season, inflicted any appreciable harm. 294 Forty-sixth Report on the State Museum No very severe attacks have been reported to me upon either garden or field crops. No complaint has reached me of injury to any of our grains from the grain aphis, Siphonophora cuvencB, although again appearing in Columbia county, nor did the hop- vine aphis, Phorodon hmnuli^ very materially affect the yield of our hop yards. The year has further been an exceptional one in that no new insect pest of marked economic importance has come under my notice calling for special investigation. Several of the minor attacks to which my attention has been drawn, will be noticed in the " Notes for the Year," to follow. It was hoped that time would have been found to enable me to complete for publication some studies commenced in former years, but this has been prevented by a serious and protracted illness. I have also reason to regret that owing to this illness, I was compelled to cancel a number of engagements for address- ing the farmers and fruit-growers of our State and scientific bodies, during the winter months. While the work of this Department would be largely extended and promoted by attend- ance at such meetings, it would at the same time make ample returns to your entomologist in information that he could not as well obtain through any other means. The addition to the State Collection for the year has been over 2,500 specimens. Memoranda commenced on April 1st, show the number of specimens collected by me, 2,419. Of these 2,323 have been labeled and 1,411 mounted. The Contributors to the Collection number fifty-tliree. A list of their contributions is appended to this Report. The cus- tomary list of the j)ublications of the entomologist during the year, embracing thirty-three titles, accompanied with brief sum- maries of contents, will also be found in the Appendix. The additional room and cases for which arrangements had been made, as stated in my report for 1891, have not yet been provided. This want has interfered with and impeded work which has been commenced in the classification of the biological material, both dry and in alcohol, and which is not at present conveniently accessible for reference or for stud}^ Respectfully submitted. J. A. LINTNER. GENERAL NOTES FOR THE YEAR. In the absence of any serious outbreak of insect injury during the year, the following notes on some of the more common species that are with us in greater or less abundance annually, may be put on record. The fall tent-caterpillar, Hyphantria cunea (Drury), has been noticeably abundant in various parts of the State — in Oswego county and elsewhere. The injury to the foliage of the elm and horse-chestnut trees on the streets of Albany by the caterpillar of the white-marked tussock-moth, Orgyia leucostigma (Sm.-Abb.), which has been remarked upon in preceding reports, was again quite serious during the past summer. The falling to the pavement of the tips of the elm twigs, consequent on the girdling of the stem by the young larvje for food, was not nearly as abundant as that noticed in 1883 (see Second Report on the Insects of New York) and in some subsequent years, nor was the insect so gen- erally distributed throughout the city. But in certain localities, at about the time of cocoon spinning, the caterpillars could be seen by hundreds on the sidewalls of corner houses, as upon my own residence shaded by several large elms. A row of tall elms opposite had the foliage so severely eaten during the months of June and July as no longer to serve the purpose of shade, and not to be recognizable as elms at a short distance from them. Several horse-chestnut trees in the vicinity were entirely defoliated, excej^t that portions of the larger ribs were left uneaten. The Dryocampa ruhicunda (Fabr.) catei-pillar very seldom appears in harmful numbers in New York or the eastern States, but an excep- tional occurrence of it was reported from Monticello, Sullivan count}^, N. y., on the grounds of Mr. John D. Lyons, where a number of soft maple trees, which had been set out by him a few years, before, were completely defoliated by it during the sunmier. In several of the western States, as notably in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, the soft maples planted as shade trees in cities are annually almost stripped of their foliage.* • Bulletin No. 14, vol. iii, 1890, of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Nebraska, pp. 54-59. 296 Forty-sixth Report on the State Museum The cabbage Plusia, Plusia brassicoe (Riley), which is so great a pest to cabbage growers in tlie southern States, but is by no means common in the State of New York (see Second Report on the Insects of JVew York), has been complained of as giving much trouble in a green- house at Garden City, L. I., N. Y. Rev. Dr. Cox has written of it : " The caterpillar sj>ecially affects young parsley, but will also feed con- tinuously on heliotrope, pelargium, and, in fact, on almost any green thing." The canker-worm, Anisopteryx vernata (Peck), was so abundant in some orchards in Monroe county as to have nearly destroyed the foliage. Orchards in Cooperstown, Otsego county, were so despoiled by the caterpillars as to present the appearance of having been scorched and shriveled by fire. The apple-worm of the codling-moth, Garptocapsa poinonella, was lesi injurious than usual throughout most of the State. An extensive fruit-grower and nurseryman of Rochester has written me of it : " Codling-moths in our orchards were almost extinct, it being difficult to find an apple with the larva or its burrows in it. I can not account for this, as ordinarily they are very abundant with us." Although I have stated that nothing had been reported to me of injuries from the eye-spotted bud-moth, Tmetocera ocellana (Schiff.), during the year, I have since learned, on special inquiry, that it has been continuing its ravages in Western New York, Avithout diminution, but rather on the increase, and that it threatens to become a permanent pest. The cow horn fl}^, Ilmmatohia serrata R. Desv., the introduction of which into New York was announced in my preceding report, has during the year become generally distributed over the State. It is known to me to occur in forty-four of the sixty counties, and with scarcely a doubt is present in each one. The rapidity with which this insect has spread throughout the country is almost, or quite, without a parallel in the histories of our imported pests. First know^n in the United States only six years ago, it has at the present time become an annoying pest to cattle in New England, Florida, Mississippi, Kansas, and many of the intermediate States, and in Canada from the western part of the Province almost to Quebec. Severe injuries to potatoes and to strawberry plants from the white grub of, probably, Lachnosterna fusca (Frohl.), were reported from Cattaraugus county. Examples, for identification, of Lachnosterna trlstis (Fabr.) were received from Mr. J. S. Smart, of Cambridge, N'iNTH Report of the State Entomologist 297 Washington county, which had appeared in large companies in the month of May in localities in the neighborhood and devoured the foliage of trees, showing a })reference for the sugar maples. The elm tree beetle, Galerucella Xanthomelmna (Schr.), or G. luteola Mull., as we may, in obedience to the law of priority be obliged to call it, has not, so far as we know, reached Albany in its steady northward progress. It is said to have done much damage to elms in Dutchess county in June. One of the Chrysomelid flea-beetles, Systena frontalis (Fabr.), was observed as quite destructive to the foliage of the gooseberry at the Geneva Agricultural Experiment Station, early in August. It is believed that this is the first time it has been found to attack the gooseberry. The Colorado potato beetle, Doryphora decemlineata (Say), although twenty years have passed ^ince it first entered the State of New York, is still contmuing with us, — less abundantly in some years than in others, but always in sufficient numbers to call for protection from its destruc- tiveness by the use of Paris green or London purple. Spraying or sprinkling the vines with one of the arsenites is now quite generally practiced throughout the State. During the 3^ear it has been reported as doing much damage in Chautauqua and Albany counties, but perhaps not greater than in other counties where no mention of its injuries has been made. In its progress northwardly the insect has reached Prince Edward Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, north latitude 46 J^ degrees, and has caused great damage to the potato crop the present year. The plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst), was quite liarmful to plums in Orange and other of the Hudson river counties, and in Monroe county about Rochester. The little Curculiouid beetle, Otiorhynchus ovatus (Linn.), for some unexplained reason, frequently intrudes in large numbers in dwelling- houses. In August, examples for name were received from Moriches, Long Island, where they were infesting a house to the extent of being an annoyance to the household. For notice of some similar occurrences see my 2d Report, page 51, 4th Report, page 14, and 6th Report, page 107; also Zvisec^ ii/