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2 Popular Editions of Station Bulletins of the 



Injury to pears, similar to, if not identical with, that common during 

 the past half dozen years in orchards near Lockport, Fairport, 

 Albion, and elsewhere, has been noticed occasionally since 1884, and 

 sometimes ascribed to other insects, sometimes to the common 

 tarnished plant-bug, and, in a few instances, to this less known species, 

 the false tarnished plant-bug, Lygus invitus. Studies by the Station 

 entomologists, beginning in 1908, seem to prove quite conclusively 

 that the false tarnished plant-bug is the guilty insect, since it is 

 usually the most common species present in orchards where injury 

 of this kind is severe; the tiny insects have been watched in the open 

 at their pear-puncturing work; and in observation cages where they 

 were the only insects present, the fruits have developed the charac- 

 teristic injury. 



Study of the little pests has been very difficult, however, and their 

 whole life history has not yet been traced. They are very shy and 

 very active in the orchards, disappearing from sight at the first 

 alarm, and in the breeding cages they are very sensitive, living only 

 a comparatively short time, though provided with an ample supply 

 of their food plants. 



The original host of this species is supposed to be the wild grape 

 since the insects are frequently found on these plants and have been 

 reported as feeding on the blossom clusters and young fruits of 

 cultivated grapes, where they sometimes do considerable harm. 

 They are also said to feed on peach and have been found to attack 

 the young fruits in the observation cages, though not found by 

 Station investigators on peaches in the open, in the Station orchards 

 or elsewhere. 



They appear upon the pear, as tiny nymphs of the first stage, 

 at blossoming time, and during the first two of their five immature 

 forms they feed mostly on the tender, unfolding leaves. They are 

 then very active, yellowish or light green, " spidery " little creatures, 

 moving repeatedly from one spot to another and puncturing the 

 tissues of leaves at many places. The injured leaves later become 

 quite ragged through the dropping out of areas about the punctures. 

 In the last three stages the nymphs feed more largely on the young 

 pears and their stems and move about somewhat less freely. A 

 favorite place seems to be in the sheltered areas within the pear 

 cluster while the little fruits are still upright and close together. 

 In their later stages the nymphs become somewhat darker and 

 develop " wing-pads," so that when they change to adults they are 

 yellowish brown or dark brown in color and have two pairs of wings, 

 the outer pair thickened at the base to serve as wing covers. 



It takes a month or more for the insects to pass through the five 

 " nymphal instars " or immature stages, so they are found on the 

 pear trees in one of these forms through May and the first week 

 or ten days in June, while the adults remain about a month longer 

 in the orchards but finally disappear during late July. 



