Notes on the Immature Stages and Biology of a Birch Case-Bearer

During the summer of 1927 case-bearing larvae were found causing serious injury to white and gray birches near Newport Mountain, in the town of Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine. The infestation was not considered important, as it occurred on an area that had suffered recently from fire and on trees that were in a somewhat weakened condition. During the summer of 1928, however, the insect was found in other parts of Bar Harbor attacking healthy trees and causing almost complete destruction of the leaves of those trees so that it can be said to be an important pest of birch trees in the infested area. The insect does not appear to be widespread in its distribution for, with the exception of the relatively heavy infestation on Mount Desert Island, most of which is within the limits of the town of Bar Harbor, there are but two towns on the mainland (Trenton and Ellsworth) in which the insect has been found. The limited area of the infestation on the island and the spread of the insect along the main road of travel from the island to the mainland and on the mainland would lead one to assume that the insect concerned was either a relatively recent introduction from some foreign country or a species occurring in some other part of this country and but recently transported to Mount Desert Island. This was not found to be the case, however, for specimens of the adult which were sent to Mr. Carl Heinrich, of the United States National Museum, were determined by him as belonging to a new species ( Coleophora salmani Heinrich) the description of which appeared in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, Vol. 31: 18, 1929.