Mr. O. G. Babcock, of College Park, Maryland, has been elected as assistant to the Entomological Division University of Minnesota in charge of the insectary. These two appointees take the places of Mr. C. S. Spooner and Mr. H. B. Scammell respectively, the first of whom goes to Georgia, accepting a flattering offer from the State Entomologist there, the latter having been elected County Inspector of Nurseries and Orchards in Colorado.

According to Science, Dr. L. O. Howard, received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on the occasion of the celebration of the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the University of Pittsburgh.

Prof. J. H. Comstock of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., and Dr. W. J. Holland of Pittsburgh, Pa., have been appointed by the London Entomological Society as its representatives at the celebration of the centenary of the foundation of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Professor Herbert Osborn has been designated to represent the American Association of Economic Entomologists at the Second International Entomological Congress to be held at Oxford, England, August 5 to 10, 1912.

Samuel Henshaw has recently been appointed director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University.

The transmission of insects and nursery stock through the mails. At the suggestion of Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Federal Bureau of Entomology, we reproduce below, sections 7 and 8, order number 6158 issued by Postmaster-General Hitchcock under date of March 23, 1912.

"7. Queen bees and their attendant bees, when accompanied by a certificate from a State or Government inspector that they have been inspected and found free of disease; beneficial insects, when shipped by departments of entomology in agricultural colleges and persons holding official entomological positions; other live insects, when addressed to the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture, to departments of entomology in State agricultural colleges, and to persons holding official entomological positions, and dried insects and dried reptiles may be sent in the mails when so put up as to render it practically imposable that the package shall be broken in transit, or the persons handling the same be injured, or the mail bags or their contents soiled.

Ps. Nursery stock, including field-grown florists' stock, trees, shrubs, plants, vines, cuttings, grafts, scions and buds (which may carry injurious insects) may be admitted to the mals only when accompanied by a certificate from a State or Government inspector to the effect that said nursery stock has been inspected and found free from injurious insects,”

Dr. Howard adds that he is trying to get a modification of this order in regard to the inspection certificate for queen bees.

The above restrictions upon transmission of nursery stock through the mails are essential if we are to prevent the dissemination of injurious insects and fungous diseases. There has been complant for some years respecting this phase of the trathe, and all interested in conserving our agricultural interests can not but welcome this much needed restriction.

E. P. FELT

Mailed April 25, 1912

Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Economic

Entomologists-(Continued)

SPREAD OF THE LEOPARD MOTH IN CONNECTICUT AND ITS INJURY TO SHADE TREES

By W. E. BRITTON, Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn.

The most destructive insect pest of shade trees in New Haven at present is the leopard moth, Zeuzera pyrina Linn. This insect is now at work in nearly every city and town along the Connecticut coast from New York State to the Rhode Island line. It is chiefly a town and city insect, and apparently does little harm in the open country.

First appearing in this country at Hoboken, N. J., more than thirty years ago, the leopard moth has spread slowly southward and inland, but has spread much more rapidly to the north and east, and especially along the coast. At present it is known to be distributed from Asbury, N. J., to Lawrence, Mass., and i. no case has it been recorded as occurring inland more than twenty-five miles.

Though according to Professor J. B. Smith, Colonel Pike as early as 1894 reported that the leopard moth had reached Connecticut, the first definite record was made by Mr. H. M. Russell, who collected adult moths at Bridgeport in 1901. The first Connecticut specimen in the collection of the Agricultural Experiment Station was a male captured at New Haven, July 1st, 1907, by Professor H. W. Foote of Yale University. But the insect must have been present in New Haven for some years, as photographs taken about that time and

Insect Life, Vol. vii., p. 138.

Bureau of Entomology, Circular 109, p. 3.

recently examined show that the trees were then badly injured from its attacks.

Many of the magnificent elms on the central green, planted one hundred and twenty years ago, have recently died and have been removed. Though seriously injured by the repeated attacks of the elm leaf beetle, lack of nourishment and several other troubles, the immediate cause of death appears to be the leopard moth. Similar conditions exist in Wooster Square and the Broadway green, and also along the streets in the older parts of the city where trees still exist. Elms and silver maples seem to be preferred to other trees, though nearly all kinds are subject to attack. The insect is not confined to the center of the city, but is working in silver maples around the outskirts adjacent to the open country.

In Bridgeport the conditions are nearly as bad as in New Haven, but in the smaller coast cities like Stamford, South Norwalk and New London, the injury, though present, is not as serious or as widespread. We have not examined all of the inland cities, but the pest does not appear to be present in Hartford. A little injury at Danbury is reported by Mr. F. A. Bartlett. Danbury is about twenty-five miles inland, or as far from the coast as the pest has yet been recorded in America. At Wallingford, twelve miles from New Haven, the damage is rather severe.

Infested trees in late summer and fall drop many twigs which break off during storms and high winds because tunneled by the small larvæ, which usually fall with the twigs. Some twigs wilt and hang upon the tree, but this is more apt to take place the second summer, when the borers are larger, and larger branches are attacked. After several years of injury a tree exhibits dead branches above the foliage mass, giving it the well-known staghorn appearance. The branches die because they are quite or nearly girdled, and though the tree may sprout below, the new growth is at once attacked, and the tree soon dies.

On old trees having rough bark, like the elm, it is difficult to detect the burrows, and this can be done only by a close examination of the under sides of the branches. The frass and the white covering of the outlet are the chief guides, and the latter may be between plates of bark so as to escape notice altogether. On young trees having smooth bark, like the maples, it is a much simpler matter, and the borers may be killed by the use of a hooked wire or by injecting carbon disulphide into the tunnel and closing the outlet.

In the vicinity of New Haven the adults fly from about June 20th to the first week in August, but they are most abundant the first half of July. Males are numerous around the are lights in the evening,

and females, though much less common, may be found resting on telephone poles and on the trees. The females are poor flyers, and do not as a rule go far from the point where they emerge. For this reason trees set closely, with branches interlacing, are usually more severely injured than those well separated from each other.

In cities, many larvæ in the fallen branches are killed by being carted away and burned. Bats unquestionably devour many adults, mostly males, around electric lights. It is thought that birds, particularly woodpeckers, have prevented the leopard moth from spreading into the open country. In Europe four parasites are known, one of them having long been recognized in this country, but not as attacking the leopard moth. In fact, no American parasites have been observed. Doctor Howard has promised to import the European species in the hope of bringing relief to the infested cities of the northeastern states.

It is outside the scope of this brief paper to give a description or life history of the leopard moth, but full accounts, with references to literature, may be found in Bulletin 169 of the Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn., which has just been sent to the members of this association, and also in a recent paper by James W. Chapman, entitled "The Leopard Moth and Other Insects Injurious to Shade Trees in the Vicinity of Boston," published by the Bussey Institution of Harvard University.

A THIRD BROOD OF CODLING MOTH IN KANSAS IN 1911

By L. M. PEAIRS, Manhattan, Kan.

During the summer of 1911 the Kansas experiment station carried. on several tests in orchards in northeast Kansas and also conducted spraying demonstrations in other orchards in this section. The writer was in charge of the work in these orchards and had, in the course of the work, opportunity to make quite extensive observations on the behaviour of the codling moth throughout the greater part of the

season.

While nothing greatly out of the ordinary occurred early in the season, the conduct of the insect was so different in September from the recorded habits that it was evident that an abnormal condition obtained. This could be explained only by the assumption that a third brood had been produced.

The season was in many ways, abnormal. A spring with not more than the normal amount of rainfall was followed by severe and practically unbroken drouth throughout May, June, July, and a part of August. Some rain fell late in August and in September the rainfall

was rather heavy. The drouth was accompanied by excessive heat continuing until about September. September conditions were really more like June than autumn.

The apples were not noticeably undersized in spite of the dry weather perhaps because it was an "off year" for the apple crop and so no trees were heavily loaded.

In the course of the experimental work counts were made of all the apples set on over one hundred trees but bands were placed on only fifteen unsprayed trees in Doniphan county orchards and it was from these trees that all data used here was obtained, although it was evident that similar conditions obtained in the other orchards. Band records were not quite complete as some collections were missed during August when the writer was forced to be absent from the orchards, but the records from the fallen fruit show that the band records, though incomplete, are not misleading. It was at first the intention to keep emergence records of all larvæ collected but other work interfered so only pupation records were kept. In the following table the number recorded as having pupated does not indicate the true percentage, as most of those larvæ which did not pupate, especially in the early part of the season, died.

The writer's experience with the codling moth and all published records from this latitude indicate that by far the greater percentage of those larvæ comeng down from the trees after August 1st do not