A STRAWBERRY "WHITE-FLY" OR "MEALY- 

 WING." 



Aleyrodes sp. 



Ill the fall of 1897 and again in July, 1900, we received speci- 

 mens of strawberry leaves which were seriously infested witli a 

 peculiar scale-like insect ; the iirst specimens came from Sparkill, 

 Kockland Co., N. Y., and those last year from Rossville, Staten 

 Island, or not far from the first. The following statements from 

 letters of our correspondents well describe the insects' work : 



'' Our strawberry plants are full of very small white liies. They 

 seem to suck the sap out of the leaves ; they are on the under sides 

 of the leaves, and when disturbed fly aw^ay. The leaves turn black 

 on the outer edges where they are infested badlj^ and some plants 

 are nearly or quite killed by them. Certain varieties are more 

 infested than others. 



"The leaves I enclose w^ere taken from plants set this spring 

 which have been attacked by sniall white insects on the under sides 

 of the leaves," writes our Rossville correspondent in July, 1900. 

 " When I touched the plants, the flies, not larger than a grain of 

 salt, but perfectly white, would rise up by the thousands in clouds. 

 The plants started off very vigorously with large healthy runners. 

 Finall}^, I noticed that the plants began to look dead, leaves began 

 to die and the runners began to wilt and dry up. Some of the 

 plants are dead. The patches that were in bearing were also found 

 to be badly infested later in the season. While picking the fruit, 

 the upper sides of the leaves seemed glossy like varnish, and the 

 pickers remarked that their hands were covered with a stickiness. 

 Later on the plants had a black, smutty appearance. These plants 

 were very vigorous but now the greater part of them have turned 

 brown and died out entirely." ~ 



173 . 



