It is rather to be regretted that this insect has been endowed with such a long scientific name, Thyridopteryx ephemaeriformis, but that cannot now be helped. I devoted three or four seasons to its special history, and followed it in all its transformations from the egg to larva, pupa, imago and to the egg again; and in 1854, under the name of Oiketicus Pennsylvanicus, I published my paper in the Pennsylvania Farm Journal, then published at West Chester, Pennsylvania, but I was too late. My name was superseded by Dr. Harris, who named it Oiketicus coniferum, from specimens sent to him from Virginia, although I believe he had never bred it; but, it appears that Dr. H. subsequently referred it to Stephens' genus, Thyridopteryx, and changed the specific name, as above.

It has an interesting and remarkable history, but I have neither time nor space to repeat it here. I think I must have known it half a dozen years before I saw it on a coniferous tree.

Lancaster, Feb. 16th, 1886.

The "elm-leaf beetle" is not so easy to manage as the " bag-worm," especially when the trees are very large and high, and the bark is rough. As you stated, in your reply to your correspondent in the January number of the GARDENERS' Monthly, there is very little use spending time in providing means to prevent these beetles from crawling up the trunks and large branches of the trees, for they seldom, if ever, resort to that process of getting to their leaves. Notwithstanding their apparent sluggishness when partially chilled, or when very young, they soon become very deft flyers. On one occasion I gathered about two hundred of the pupae at the base of an elm tree, and put them in a paper box, some 3 or 4 inches in length and about 2 inches deep. On opening the box three days thereafter, to notice what progress they had made in transformation, fully a dozen of them made their escape by flight, before I could close the box again.

I saw the first elm-leaf beetles (Galeruca xanthomaloena) in Lancaster county, at least ten years ago. They were brought to the March meeting of the Linnaean Society by Mrs. Gibbons, of Gordonville, and she reported that she found a large number of them behind the screen of a fireplace in her house. It is therefore certain that these beetles hibernate during winter, and that, for that purpose, they do not always go under ground or under the bark of trees. For the past four or five years, they have been exceedingly numerous and destructive in and about Lancaster city, and yet little or nothing has been done to arrest their progress, other than the cutting down of an occasional tree: and, perhaps, under the circumstances, nothing else could be done. When the larvae (small bluish-black bristled worms) are fully matured, they desert the leaves and slowly crawl down the branches and the trunks to the ground, and if they found loose earth or grass there, they would no doubt pupate in them. But here in Lancaster city most of the infested trees had hard brick pavements beneath them.

At such places, the seams between the bricks, the cavities around the bases of the trees, and the gutters, were conspicuously yellow with their pupae - piled up on each other, and they were swept up and burnt and scalded by the pint measure; but nobody attempted to spray them. It seemed too big a job to spray great branching trees, 30 or 40 feet in height; and yet where the trees are small, and it is desired to kill the larvae on the leaves, thorough sprayings with Paris green or London purple, would destroy the greater number of them.

But they invariably come down from the trees to pupate - at least the great body of them do - therefore, if the earth around the bases of the trees, was in some manner hardened, approximating to a brick or stone pavement, that great body might all be gathered and destroyed, even on the largest trees. But when the trees are very tall, and the bark is very rough, they don't by any means all reach the ground. I have seen the cavities and the fissures in the bark of such trees, filled with their yellow pupae, as far up as my vision could detect them. These would therefore require a stiff brush on a long handle, or a powerful spray with a liquid poison. Now, this requires persevering labor; but, unfortunately, nothing but labor will accomplish the desired end.

This insect has been introduced into America from Europe, where it, at one time, was very destructive. More than half a century ago, in this country, it made its first recognized appearance at Baltimore, Maryland, on which occasion all the beautiful elm trees in a public park had to be cut down, and the branches burned.

The pupa looks as if it might be a desirable "tid-bit" for a small bird, but we have few small birds where elm trees are grown, except the English sparrow, and that bird "lets them severely alone." It is not the English sparrow's nature, being a granivorous bird; it therefore, is not to be held responsible. Two years ago there was a sparrow rookery here not much more than a hundred feet from a badly infested elm tree. There were from fifty to a hundred sparrows hatching and rearing their broods at the time the beetles were pupating, and many of these birds were going in and out all the time. Now, it is well-known that even granivorous birds feed their young on animal food, but these sparrows were not known to appropriate any of these beetles - their pupae, nor their larvae. To a small extent they did attack the seventeen-year cicada last summer, as it came out of the ground, and fight about it too; but dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, geese, ducks, skunks, rats and mice did the same. The sparrows fought about them because other animals wanted them.

It is of some importance that people should learn to recognize the elm-leef beetle when they see it, so that when they find it in a state of hibernation, they may at once know what to do with it. Of course most of the damage is done in its larva state, but when the beetle is found in autumn, winter or early spring, and then destroyed, the broods of the following summer will be greatly diminished. In addition to its capture and destruction at the base of the tree, by some suitable device, it has been recommended to jar the trees, spreading sheets on the ground under them, and then gathering the larvae and destroying them; but this remedy could not well be applied to a very large tree, such as I have heretofore alluded to. It is said that jarring is mainly depended on in Europe, and probably in an ordinary sized tree it may be effectual, but certainly not to very large ones, where the branches overhang the roofs of a house or other building, or extend halfway across a street, or other vegetation.

The applications of liquid poisons, it is recommended, should be made between the middle of May and the first of June, when the larvae are quite young and tender, if they are hatched at all, but the spraying should be thorough, and the undersides as well as the uppersides of the leaves made wet with it. The Agricultural Department at Washington city, under the supervision of the entomologist, has demonstrated that London purple is the most efficient poison for the destruction of the foliage-fiend of the elm, mainly because it seems to injure the leaves less than the green.

There are three broods of these insects at least, during the year, but the third one appears to be the worst. It is, however, only a question of numbers, the earlier broods being comparatively the least numerous, which is nearly always the case with double or treble-brooded insects that hibernate in winter.

If the elm-leaf beetle has no parasites infesting it, it is at least preyed upon by carnivorous species of insects, as well as myriapods, spiders, etc. There must, however, be an immense number of them destroyed from meteorological and climatic causes, because those that survive the winter are generally, comparatively few, but those few may become a multitude before the end of the season.

Lancaster, Pa.