A PEAR-DEFORMING PLANT-BUG* 



F. H. HALL. 



Several insects may attack pear fruits in such a 

 What way as to deform them. Curculios may pierce them 



deforms in laying their eggs, casebearers may chew minute 



pears? holes through the skin, or green fruitworms may 



destroy considerable areas of both skin and flesh — 

 each species causing an easily recognizable deformity of the fruit. 

 The recent abundance of dropped or deformed pears in many western 

 New York pear orchards, however, is due to a comparatively unknown 

 small insect, the false tarnished plant-bug. 



These little pests, about an eighth of an inch long 

 Work of in their most destructive stages, pierce the tender 



plant-bug. pear stems and the young pears before they are a 



half inch in diameter, suck out the juices, and cause 

 the fruits to drop if the punctures are early or numerous, or deform 

 the injured pears if they still remain on the trees. The injury is a 

 characteristic one — quite different from those produced by -other 

 insects. From the minute orifices left by the punctures drops of 

 sap first exude and may hang for some time, but when these dis- 

 appear the work of the insects shows as small blackish spots or 

 points. As the pears grow, the outer layer of the skin about these 

 spots becomes ruptured, and a light-yellow, mealy-appearing growth 

 of the inner layers of the skin protrudes, making a more or less tri- 

 angular, granular spot; or when two or more spots run together a 

 patch or crack lined and bordered with corky tissue. The yellowish, 

 protruding growth at first makes a marked contrast with the smooth 

 green skin of the little pear; and later the cessation of growth at 

 these points causes depressions and marked general deformity of 

 the fruit. In the flesh beneath, also, hard, gritty granulations are 

 produced, through which it is difficult to cut with a knife. 



The insect causing this trouble is a species very 

 The insect closely allied to the common tarnished plant-bug, 



and its so abundant during hot, dry summers on weeds and 



history. succulent plants about the farm and garden, where 



it often does considerable harm by checking and 

 dwarfing new growth and tender buds. 



* Reprint of Popular Edition of Bulletin No. 368; see p. 308 for Bulletin. 



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