1903 



ENTOMOLOOICAL SOCIETY 



33 



Plum Curculio. The plum curculio although abundant this year has not been felt much 

 on account of the tremendous supply of plums through the country. It simply thinned out 

 the crop and did very little damage. There has always been considerable discussion as to the 

 best method of dealing with the plums in ordinary seasons. Some orchard men prefer jarring 

 the trees, while others place considerable faith in an application of Paris Green. There seems 

 to be some reason for the belief that there is a time in the history of the curculio when it is 

 more readily killed than at other times. One observer reported to me that he always had good 

 results in spraying curculio with Paris Green before the incision had healed. He believed 

 that if he could apply Paris Green in the incision before it healed over, that the young grub 

 would get a poisonous meal when hatched. 



A Cherry Fruit Fly. W. E. Gammage, Oshawa, reports the loss of all his fruit from some 

 English Morello cherries. The cherries began some time ago to rot, and when I examined 

 specimens of the injured fruit I found a maggot within each. These maggots I believe to be 

 the cherry fruit-fly which was quite destructive a year or so ago in New York State. I received 

 some of the infested cherries from Mr. Gammage on Aug. 21st and found them infested with 

 the maggot. Prof. Slingerland in Bulletin 172, Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station 

 says, "We have found young maggots as late as August 16th." The maggots which I found in 

 these Morello cherries were light yellowish white in color, and near the head were two slight 

 projections. These peculiarities corresponded with the description given of this pest by Prof. 

 Slingerland. According to him the maggots hatch from eggs laid by a pretty little fly as small 

 as the common house fly. Their wings are crossed by four blackish baiids, and have also in 

 addition a blackish tip. The maggot confines itself to a single cherry and lives within it during 

 its whole life which may last three or more weeks. Many of the maggots would be full 

 grown when the fruit would be ripe. They change to pupfe on the ground or at the bottom 

 of baskets and rubbish. There seems to be but one brood per season and most of this is passed 

 as pupa. In England where the pest is better known remedial treatment has not been en- 

 tirely successful. Spraying seems (o be out of the question for before it can pass beneath the 

 skin the maggot is wiLliiu the fruit, and the pupa is within the ground. Undoubtedly much 

 can be done to check this pest if the infested fruit were picked up and burned before the 

 maggots turned into pupa), but this is hardly practicable, unless the whole crop were picked 

 and burned before the maggots became matut-e. Cultivation has been tried in Australia in 

 the hope that the pupte might suflFer by the process of cultivation, but their results were not 

 satisfactory. Much can be done to keep this in subjection by allowing hens free access to the 

 cherry orchard, especially if the ground were stirred up occasionally so that the pupa might be 

 more readily exposed to the poultry. 



Fear Tree Fsylla. This insect has been very injurious this past season, more especially in 

 A correspondent writes this regarding it : " When I came home on 

 July 4th, many trees were fairly covered with it. The 

 insects were mostly wingless forms with a few winged 

 forms. (Figs. 4 and 5. ) They are found in tJie axis of 

 the leaves, along the petiole and along the blade, but 

 chiefly found on the leaves a short distance from the 

 vein or just in the axis of the secondary veins or mid- 

 vein. In the first place, the tissue of the leaves dries 

 up in spots where they are situated, but in the latter 

 case they cause a drying of the tissue along the edge 

 of leaf. When the Psylla is situated in the outer 

 Pear-tree Psylla ; adult winged female, ^^is of the leaf, the petiole seems yellowish in color 

 (After u's^Wpt"of AoTiculture) ^^^ ^^^ attachment to the stem seems weak. About 



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the Grimsby district. 



