CHERRY AND HAWTHORN SAWFLY LEAF MINER 



By P. J. Parrott, Entomologist, and B. B. Fulton, Assistant Entomologist, New 

 York Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y. 



INTRODUCTION 



The existence in the State of New York of a leaf miner attacking 

 cherry (Primus spp.) foliage was brought to the attention of the Experi- 

 ment Station by the receipt of affected foliage during the latter part of 

 June, 1 910. An examination of the orchard from which the material 

 had been collected showed that more or less of the leaves on nearly all 

 of the trees of a variety known as English Morello had shriveled and died, 

 while here and there were others vnih well-defined light-colored areas or 

 blisters, revealing a loss of chlorophyll. Siftings of earth from beneath 

 the trees showed that the causal agent was the larva of a species of 

 sawfly. A number of these were carried through successive stages of 

 development to the following year, when adults were obtained. Some 

 specimens were forwarded to Dr. A. D. MacGillivray, formerly of Cornell 

 University, who reported that the insect represented a new species, the 

 type of a new genus, and should be recorded as Profenusa collaris. The 

 information was also given that the creature ha9~l5§en"reare3"''from the 

 hawthorn {Crataegus spp.). 



HOST PLANTS OF SAWFLY LEAF MINER 



According to present knowledge, the host plants of the sawfly leaf miner 

 are the cherry and the hawthorn. Of the cherries, it has so far largely 

 confined its attacks to the English Morello variety. It is not commonly 

 observ-ed with the Montmorency or Early Richmond, which would indi- 

 cate that its presence on these varieties is accidental and occurs when 

 they are grown in proximity to the English Morello. The susceptibility of 

 one fruit and the apparent unattractiveness or resistance to the insect 

 of the other fruits is a curious fact, since all are cultivated varieties of 

 the same cherry, Prunus cerasus, and plantings of each kind, growing 

 side by side, may be frequently observed in this State. The two sorts, 

 Montmorency and English Morello, represent groups of cherries which 

 vary more or less in both tree and fruit but have a constant difference 

 only in a single character — the juice in the fruits of one is colorless; in 

 the other it is red. This sharp discrimination on the part of the sawfly 

 leaf miner seems all the more anomalous when considered in the light of 

 its extreme partiality to the foliage of certain hawthorns which are only 

 remotely related to the cherry. 



Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. V, No. 12 



Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Dec. 20, 1915 



bi N. Y. (Geneva)— 4 



(519) 



