P8YLLA PTRI, 



One inquiry, anil I will close for tlio present. What has become of the remedy for 

 the curciilio iliscovere<l by Wm. Quant, gardener to W. C. Langley, Esq., 3d Avenue, 

 Long Island ? (See Jforticultnrist, Vol. G, pp. 583, 584.) Ho a.sserted his "convic- 

 tion tliat bis composition was a radical exterminator;" that he "would keep its nature 

 private until practical men and others [meaning, I suppose, the rest of mankind,] 

 interested were satisfied, after which his receipt should bo open to the world." I have 

 waited patiently for its publicity. Should it prove to be what Mr. Quant confidently 

 believed it would, I know of no discovery recently made, connected with pomology, 

 which would be of equal value to this, in many portions of our country. I should be 

 glad to hear what Mr. Quant's success has been during the past season, and whether 

 he has not given sufficient satisfaction of the utility of his application, to justify him 

 in making it public. 



LEAF FROM MY JOURNAL. 



Psylla Pyri, or Pear Psylla. 



I HAVE found this minute and destructive insect on my pear trees as late as the mid- 

 dle of December, the imperfect insect or pupa still busily employed in sucking the 

 sap by means of its rostrum or piercer, (which is situated under the thorax,) and at 

 the same time discharging its excrement, Avhich is the honey-dew, or sweet glutinous 

 substance so plentifully adhering to and disfiguriug the branches at present. Other 

 insects — the aphis, for example — have also the power of producing the honey-dew ; 

 but of this we will speak hereafter. Ants are said to be very fond of it, and this may 

 account for the multitudes of these restless and proverbially industrious insects I have 

 often observed running up and down a feeble and diseased pear tree this season. The 

 pupa of the Psylla pyri at this time of the year appears to prefer the side of a branch, 

 just above a bud, as its permanent place of residence, as it perhaps finds the sap 

 more abundant there. The head is generally hidden under the bud, leaving merely 

 the black abdomen and wing-cases visible, although they sometimes quit this quiet 



shelter and promenade on the branch, probably in 

 search of better quarters. When taken from the 

 tree, they crawl very slowly, and their general ap- 

 pearance puts one forcibly in mind of that species 

 of insect which is such a terror to all cleanly house- 

 wives, and which generally performs its annual 

 migrations in the city of New York " on or about" 

 the first of May. The pupa of the Psylla pyri is 

 very minute, and of a fiat shape. The wing-cases 

 and abdomen now are black, but I must here re- 

 mark that the colors are said to vary in spring and 

 summer. The legs are six in numl^er, and of a yellowish brown color, growing darker 

 or nearly black toward the tarsi oj- feet, which appear to terminate abruptly an 



PSYLLA TYRL 



