314 Report of the Department of Entomology of the 



from the healthy tissues by the whipping of the wind, which may 

 cause the affected foliage, usually on the growing shoots, to assume 

 a ragged or frayed appearance. 



The principal injury by this insect is the piercing of the young 

 pears which later become much scarred and misshapen. The 

 young nymph thrusts its proboscis deeply into the substance of the 

 tiny pear and on withdrawing it sap flows from the puncture. The 

 sap dries, leaving a blackish spot. (See Plate XI, figs. 2 and 3.) One 

 nymph may make many wounds, and the perforations, which at 

 first seem small and inconsequential, result in a disfiguration which 

 becomes increasingly conspicuous as the young pear develops in size. 

 (See Plate XII.) When the fruits have become as large as filberts 

 they are conspicuously marked with hard, granular spots of irregular 

 shapes, varying in size from a pin prick to one-quarter of an inch. 

 Wherever they occur the epidermis is ruptured and uplifted while 

 the exposed surfaces are mealy-like and of a light yellow color, 

 contrasting strongly with the healthy tissues. (See Plate XIII.) By 

 cutting into the fruit one will find hard, flinty areas which form cores 

 in the flesh. When these are numerous the knife cuts with difficulty 

 through them. Similar injuries may occur on the stems. Occa- 

 sionally a number of the diseased spots may coalesce, producing a 

 large crack which extends deeply into the flesh of the pear. Severely 

 injured fruit, besides being badly deformed, may also be stunted in 

 its growth, which may seriously affect its market value. (See 

 Plate XIV.) 



The Bartlett pear, which is one of the most desirable varieties, is 

 especially subject to attack. The Angouleme has frequently, in 

 some orchards, suffered to an equal degree. Other kinds susceptible 

 to injuries are Clairgeau, Seckel and Kieffer. From this range of 

 varieties it would appear that none of the leading sorts are likely to 

 be exempt from injury. 



This pest has for many years been very destructive in the orchard 

 of Mr. S. Wright McCollum, Lockport, and in 1908, when our 

 attention was called to its destructiveness in his plantings he esti- 

 mated that 75 per ct. of the pears had been attacked, of which 

 only 25 per ct. would, when mature, prove salable. The most 

 injured specimens were picked off soon after the occurrence of the 

 damages. The loss arising from the compulsory thinning of the crop 

 was stated to be about five hundred bushels of pears, which does not 



