with most of the foliage only from one quarter to one half of the leaf is destroyed. The principal damage occurs during the last week of May and the early part of June or about one month before the harvesting of the fruit. The extent of the damage varies with the season. and if new growth is not abundant the loss of leaves can hardly fail to affect the yield to an important degree. The sawfly proves to be a new species and it also constitutes the type of a new genus. It has been designated by Dr. A. D. MacGillivray as Profenusa collaris.

Polydrosus impressifrons Gyll. We have been watching this species with great interest for several years as its increasing numbers have led us to believe that it is going to develop to be of considerable economic importance. It has become so abundant that during the early summer it is not an uncommon experience to carry the beetles on one's clothes into the home or to observe them on the window screens of buildings. Our attention was first attracted to these insects by their work on young leaves of poplars and willows, and in recent years we have seen them on the foliage of roses, apples and pears. The numbers of the insects would at once suggest to one that they must be causing some harm, but aside from slight injuries to foliage we have never been able to determine just what damage the beetles were causing. During 1912 we observed for the first time an example of their destructive capacity. This was in a large block of willows (Salix caprea), grafted to New American, Rosemary and Kilmarnock varieties, which was seriously injured by the beetles feeding on the young buds of the grafts so that they failed to grow.

So far we have obtained very little information regarding the work of this species in its normal habitat for it does not seem to have attracted much attention in Europe aside from systematic workers. Schilsky says that it is quite common in Germany, and Zimmerman states that in Austria the beetles are not numerous enough to be destructive. Giard intimates that it is a common but not an important insect in Europe. It apparently prefers buds and tender leaves, a habit which is shared by many closely related species, as Polydrosus micans Sch., P. mali Fb., P. sericeus Gll., Phyllobius viridicollis Sch., Ph. maculicornis Germ., Ph. pyri L., Ph. oblongus L., Ph. argentatus L., and Ph. calcaratus Sch., which have been more closely studied in Europe. The fact that impressifrons is apparently of little significance abroad does not warrant the conclusion that it will prove of no importance in this country. In fact we believe that the beetles are already more numerous here than in Europe or more attention would surely have been given to the species.

APPLE AND CHERRY ERMINE MOTHS. At the twenty-second annual meeting of this Association mention was made of the importations of

Yponomeuta caterpillars in the United States in shipments of foreign nursery stock. Since the discovery of these insects special precautions have been taken by the agents of the Division of Nursery Inspection of the New York Department of Agriculture with plantations of imported seedlings, and during the past four years infested plants have been detected in thirteen localities in the state. According to the reports of the nursery inspectors over nine hundred colonies of caterpillars have been collected. From some of this material we have bred two species of moths-Yponomeuta malinellus Zell., which thrives largely on apple, and Y. padellus L., which is a more general feeder; showing preference for hawthorn, plum and cherry. Both species are common and destructive fruit pests in Europe.

Careful inspections of nursery plantations and the surroundings of nurseries indicate that these lepidopterons have not gained a footing in New York. In states where there has not been such inspection the danger that such has taken place is obviously great. With the ability of these insects to survive the conditions incidental to the importation of nursery stock from abroad and to escape ordinary nursery inspection, the wonder is that they have not before this succeeded in establishing themselves along the avenues of trade in America. THE FALSE TARNISHED PLANT-BUG. During some seasons pears in New York are subject to a diseased condition, characterized by the cracking open of the skin in small spots and the formation of protruding granular areas. Fruits seriously affected are usually much deformed and undersized. The nature of the causal agent appears to have been little understood or not definitely known, although some writers have held that the tarnished plant bug (Lygus pratensis L.) is responsible for such injuries. Recent studies by us have shown. that the scarring of the pears is due to the work of a closely-related species (Lygus invitus Say). The damage is done principally by the nymphs which attack both the fruit and foliage of pears. The same species also seeks grape blossoms and punctures the stems as well as the pedicels of the blossoms and fruits, causing imperfect clusters of grapes. In some orchards about Pavilion and Lockport this capsid has been responsible for losses in yields fully as large as those by the pear psylla, which is a great "bug-bear" to most pear growers in this state.

In recent years the work of various capsids on apple and pear fruits has been increasingly conspicuous. In addition to L. invitus, we have also observed the nymphs of Campylomma verbasci Meyer and Paracalocoris colon Say puncturing young pears soon after the dropping of blossoms. The red bugs Heterocordylus malinus Reut. and Lygidea mendax Reut.) are doing considerable damage in many apple orchards

by destroying young apples or causing the fruit to be deformed so that it is unmarketable. The destructive work of these insects during 1912 would indicate that they are going to become a serious item for economic consideration.

THE GIPSY MOTH. Last in this list of the new destructive insects of New York and more important than all is the Gipsy Moth (Porthetria dispar L.) which was discovered by W. J. Schoene of the Geneva Experiment Station on June 22, 1912. An announcement of the occurrence of this insect in this state and some of the circumstances of the infestation were given in the JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY, Vol. 5, p. 371. It now appears that this pest was largely confined to a few old apple trees in the rear of several residences. No efforts have been spared by the agents of the New York Department of Agriculture to suppress the pest, and it is expected that with the vigorous measures that are being employed it should be exterminated. According to Mr. G. G. Atwood of the Bureau of Horticulture and Nursery Inspection, the presence of this species in the residential section of this city appears to be due to importations of nursery stock which was unpacked in the immediate vicinity of the fruit trees. According to him the infestation was probably started by not more than one mass of eggs, and is not more than three years old. He reports that about eighteen hundred caterpillars, five hundred pupae or pupal cases and twenty moths were collected and destroyed. In the discovery, for the first time, of a colony of the Gipsy Moth in the western portion of the State and not in the region adjoining Massachusetts, that which was little expected has happened. One may well wonder if the pest does not exist in other localities and has so far escaped attention because of the unfamiliarity of local observers with its appearance and importance.

PRESIDENT W. D. HUNTER: This paper is now open for discussion. MR. H. J. QUAYLE: I am much interested in that part of the paper referring to the pear thrips. I would like to ask what experiments have been carried on for the control of this insect.

MR. P. J. PARROTT: In reply I will say that at the New York Experiment Station, we have been conducting experiments, and in this work we have used Black-Leaf 40 with soap or kerosene emulsion, making two sprays from the time the buds burst until the blossom clusters open. In New York State the spring advances rapidly and the buds open very quickly- much more so, I am informed, than in California. My impression is that this problem will be a more simple one than in that state. Spraying for the pest is, nevertheless, expen

sive, and we are now trying to work out a spraying schedule for pears to control the thrips, San José scale, and Psylla, and simplify the work of spraying.

MR. W. W. YOTHERS: Have you used distillate oil in place of kerosene emulsion?

MR. P. J. PARROTT: No; we have used kerosene emulsion exclusively made according to the Government formula.

MR. T. J. HEADLEE: For the sake of more efficient inspection of nursery stock I would like to ask how the ermine moth may be recognized, as it comes in on nursery stock.

MR. P. J. PARROTT: The moths have been imported into this country on seedling apple and cherry trees. The egg masses resemble somewhat immature lecanium scale and they are usually found near the buds. The New York Inspectors have been carefully instructed as to how to make examinations in order to detect them, but I do not believe it is possible for them to find all the egg masses that come in the shipments. The best way to control this pest is by inspecting the plantations of nursery stock during the latter part of May and early June, and destroying the plants that show the webs or tents of the insect.

MR. H. A. GOSSARD: What I wish to say at this time does not perhaps relate to the interesting paper presented by Mr. Parrott, but it is suggested by it. It was formerly the custom of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology to publish, in the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, a review of the more important insect phenomena for the year, so that by reading it one could obtain in a short time a bird's-eye-view of all the important economic happenings in entomology for the whole country for the season. I presume that the abridgment of the Yearbook has compelled the Bureau to drop this feature, although I for one believe this was one of the most important parts of the Yearbook. At present we are obliged to read a large number of State reports and papers similar to the one just given, in order to get this information. The Bureau of Entomology is better fitted than any other agency to furnish this information and I believe that this Association should take the matter up and see if it will not be possible to have these reviews furnished, and published in the JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY.

MR. F. L. WASHBURN: I believe this idea is a very good one, but would suggest that the subject be referred to the Committee on Resolutions for consideration and action.

PRESIDENT W. D. HUNTER: If there is no objection this matter will be so referred.

Adjournment.

Morning session, Thursday, January 2, 10 a. m.

PRESIDENT W. D. HUNTER called first vice-president Headlee to preside.

VICE-PRESIDENT HEADLEE: We will now take up the discussion of the Presidential address.

MR. R. A. COOLEY: Mr. Chairman, I am very sure that we all found the President's address of much interest. It showed evidence of thoroughness and a grasp of the growing question of medical entomology. I might predict that our present Association will soon be divided into two sections; one on agricultural entomology; and one on medical entomology. I believe that this will be the natural course of events and that workers in the latter branch will turn back in years to come and see that this meeting formed the corner stone for such an organization. I was particularly interested in the President's outline of the functions of medical entomology. Many of us who do work of this sort will find questions arising in relation to this and other related branches of science, and we can always turn to this address as a logical statement of the facts. Figures based on such investigations as those outlined, must naturally convince us that we have in medical entomology a subject which will soon develop into one of the main branches of economic entomology. I feel sure that we as a profession should feel very grateful for this paper which will doubtless become a classic.

MR. W. E. BRITTON: I feel very grateful to Mr. Hunter for presenting such an interesting paper. I wish that some arrangement might be made for having a large number of reprints made to be distributed throughout the country in libraries and journals, so that it will have a wider distribution than if published in our journal alone; because I think that people are becoming much interested in papers of this I would be very much pleased to see the paper distributed in this form. Again I wish to thank Mr. Hunter for his admirable. address.

MR. T. B. SYMONS: Unfortunately, I was not able to hear the paper by Mr. Hunter, but we all appreciate this work. I have been thinking that possibly it might be well for this Association to have one joint session with Section K, and that this might bring us in closer touch with medical work which is being done. It seems to me that the closer we can coöperate along this line, the better it will be for all concerned.

VICE-PRESIDENT T. J. HEADLEE: I have seldom had the pleasure. of listening to such a logical and interesting address as the one delivered by our President. It clearly shows that the time is at hand when medical entomology will be considered as important as agricultural entomology, and that perhaps in the future it may even surpass.