POPULAR BULLETIN REPRINTS. 



A NEW FEUIT TREE ENEMY IN NEW YORK * 



F. H. HALL. 



A recent surprise to entomologists is the finding 



Advent of of pear thrips in New York State. This insect 



pear thrips. has been present in California in destructive 



numbers for several vears, but was unknown in 

 the East until in the spring of 1911. Before this time, for a 

 period extending back at least five years, it had been at work, 

 unrecognized, in a limited section of the Hudson Valley — in 

 about three townships in the vicinity of Germantown ; but the 

 pear growers whose orchards were infested, in some cases to a 

 very injurious extent, had thought the damage due to frost, spray 

 injury or other causes. The few who had seen the insects on the 

 buds or in the blossoms could not believe these tiny creatures the 

 cause of such severe injury as occurred in some of the orchards ; 

 but investigations made by the Station Entomologist during 1911 

 have proved the trouble due to the insect and have established 

 its identity with the pear thrips (Euthrips pyri) which is caus- 

 ing California fruit growers so much harm. 



Beside the three townships on the east side of 



Extent of the Hudson, in Columbia and Dutchess counties, 



infestation, the insect is apparently present in a few orchards 



further down the Hudson, on the opposite side of 



the river, and in at least one orchard in western New York. 



Further study will probably show that it is much more widely 



distributed than is now kno^vn ; since it is easily overlooked 



when not abundant, and its work ascribed to other causes even 



when it is numerous and destructive. 



*A reprint of "Popular Edition" of Bulletin No. 343; see p. 341 for the 

 Bulletin. 



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