relinquished his attention to the revision for the purpose of devoting his entire attention to his duties as Representative, deeming it inconsistent for him to hold both positions at the same time. Though he has not been able to act with them during the session of the Legislature as they desired, the undersigned feel grateful to him for his suggestion to them, privately, and his attention to their work when before the committees, as well as his aid in perfecting them in the House.

The Commissioners do not regard it as their duty to urge the Legislature to take any particular course in regard to the completion of the revision. That the chapters which have been mentioned above, will, of necessity, be revised either by a commission, or by some subsequent Legislature without such aid, there can be no doubt. The necessity is imperative. There is, also, a call for the publication of the entire revision when it shall be completed; and it has been the expectation that such a book would be published, either upon the adjournment of this or the next Legislature.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

H. B. HURD,

MICHAEL SCHÆFFER,

Commissioners.

NOXIOUS INSECTS IN ILLINOIS.

INTRODUCTION.

[Second Report.]

TO HIS EXCELLENCY, JOHN M. Palmer,

Governor of the State of Illinois:

SIR-I herewith transmit my second annual report upon the Noxious Insects of Illinois.

A few words are necessary, by way of introduction and explanation. It is perhaps generally known to those who take an interest in such matters that the whole of the first edition of the first annual report, -comprising five thousand copies-was burnt, in company with other state documents, in the public bindery, at Springfield, on the 23d of February, 1871. Near the close of its session, the General Assembly erdered the reprint of a part of these documents, and amongst others, the report of the State Entomologist. This reprint was made in the month of August, from a single copy, which was the only one that happened to be preserved, the manuscript also having been mislaid and lost. The printing was done without the supervision of the author, and though for the most part correct, a considerable number of slight verbal errors were overlooked which, so far as they have been detected, have been corrected under the head of errata, at the end of this report.

In the introduction to that report I stated my intention, as soon as the work of preparing it was off my hands, to devote my time for the remainder of the winter, to assorting and labeling the duplicates in the Walsh collection and my own, with the view of furnishing a suite of the insects of the State for the Industrial University, in compliance with one of the requirements of the law by which the office of State Entomologist was created. Accordingly, the greater part of the winter was devoted to this work, and the labeling of the specimens in the two most extensive Orders-the Coleoptera and the Lepidoptera-was completed. It was my intention to go through with the other Orders Vol. III-12

in the course of the winter of 1871 and 1872, so as to have a tolerably full suite of the insects of the State, in all the Orders, ready to be transmitted to the Industrial University in the spring of 1872. But the element of fire, which is so terrible when beyond the reach of human control, has again thwarted my designs. The great conflagration which laid the city of Chicago in ashes, included in its fatal embrace, amongst many other fine buildings which were supposed to be fireproof, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, which contained the most valuable scientific treasures of the West, and amongst them, the extensive collection of insects known as the Walsh Cabinet. When we consider the many years which that indefatigable entomologist had devoted to the accumulation of this collection, and still more when we take into view the scientific research and the extensive correspondence and exchanges, by which he had succeeded in attaching to almost every specimen its correct scientific name, thus making it a standard of reference, not only for the entomologists of this State but of the country generally-it is a difficult task for the lover of this science to reconcile himself to this almost irreparable loss. It is a source of some consolation that the greater part of the duplicates of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, which had been prepared for the Industrial University, had not been returned to the academy, and therefore escaped the flames. I had also at my residence two large drawers of the original cabiner, containing the families Staphylinida, Histerida, Nitidulido, Chrysomelida and Coccinellida, making, in connection with the duplicates, something like a tenth part of the whole collection.

It will be observed that the pageing of this report is made continuous with that of the preceding one. The object of this is to facilitate indexing when a number of these reports shall be bound together in one volume.

I am indebted in this, as in the former report, to Mr. C. V. Riley, for the figures which illustrate it, with the exception of those of the two Willow insects, which were engraved by Baker & Co., of Chicago, and the bug-catching machine, at the end of the volume, which wae engraved at the office of the Prairie Farmer.

I have again to express my thanks to the managers of the leading railroads of the State for free passes over these great thoroughfares. Respectfully submitted.

GENEVA, December, 1871.

WILLIAM LEBARON,

State Entomologist.

INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE APPLE.

g

Explanation of figures.-a, the eggs; b, the eggs magnified; c, the Canker-worm or larva; d, the cocoon; e, the pupa; f, the male moth; g, the female.

THE CANKER-WORM.

(Anisopteryx vernata, Peck.)

Order of LEPIDOPTERA. Family of GEOMETRIDÆ.

Harris's Treatise, (Ed. 1862) page 461; Riley's 2d Rep., p. 94.

Amongst the many kinds of insects which are injurious to mankind a comparatively small number have been so extensively destructive, and have become so generally known, that they might be appropriately called, by way of distinction, first-class noxious insects.

In order to be entitled to this bad preeminence, an insect must possess a certain number and degree of obnoxious qualities. In the first place it must depredate upon some one of the more valuable productions of the soil upon which mankind depend for subsistence and profit. In the next place it must be sufficiently numerous to attract general notice, and to demand the most prompt and energetic measures for its suppression. And, thirdly, it must extend over a sufficient area of country to make itself felt, not only upon individual welfare, but also upon the commercial interests of the country.

Tried by these tests but very few of the many insects treated of in our Reports and Treatises upon noxious insects, can be admitted into this primary class; and of these some would enter without question, whilst the claim of others would be regarded as debatable. Amongst

the insects which take this rank without doubt or question, may be mentioned the Hessian fly, the Chinch-bug, the Oyster-shell Bark-louse, the Plum-curculio, the Codling-moth, the Colorado Potato-beetle, and lastly, the notorious Canker-worm, which is the subject of the present article.

Whilst it is important to examine, describe and name all the species of noxious insects, partly for the convenience of reference, and partly because we do not know how destructive any one of them may hereafter become, yet it is chiefly by the continued and repeated investigation of the most notorious and destructive species, and the record of every fact and experiment which may throw light upon their history and the most effective means of combatting them that the entomologist can expect to render an essential service to the farmer and the horticulturist.

With this end in view, having had a good opportunity to observe the Canker-worm and the moth which produces it, during the past season, I determined to submit the habits of this notorious and long known insect, to a renewed and careful scrutiny. I am in hopes that the observations and experiments here recorded will enable us hereafter to combat this destructive insect more successfully than we have heretofore done.

ITS HISTORY.

The Canker-worm is a native American species, and is one of the longest known of our noxious insects. The earliest record of its history that I have met with is printed upon a discolored scrap of an old book, the title of which is lost, which was sent to me by Mr. Jonathan Huggins, of Macoupin county. As the extract ie brief and is worth preserving on account of its antiquity, I here transcribe it:

"CANKER-WORMS.-In the year 1789, the Rev. John Cushing, of the county of Worcester (Mass.), communicated to the Academy of Arts and Sciences, a method to destroy Canker-worms in the egg. It is as follows: In autumn, before the ground be frozen, take an iron bar and make a number of holes under each tree, near the body; thrown in a few kernels of corn into each; let in swine; and they will root the ground over and over, which will not only so disturb the eggs deposited in the ground as to destroy them, but it will be very salutary to the trees. Nothing is better to make apple-trees flourish than to have hogs turn up the ground under them.

"This method (added Mr. Cushing) I had from Mr. Edward Raymond, of Sterling, who has tried it with success."