50 



The Grapevine Tomato-Gall, ( Vitis tomatos.) 



{Made by Lasioptera vibis 0. S.) 



(Order, Diptera, Family, Cecidomyidae.) 



The following clipping ■will show that 

 this gall, which is quite common on the 

 River Bank grape and its cultivated varie- 

 ties, has not remained unnoticed by the 

 curious, and that it has, like the others, its 

 ruit resemblances. 



Freak in a Vineyard. — In gathering 

 grapes to-day we found one of the clusters 

 in shape a perfect tmnato. It is of quite 

 large size, and on the outside is divided into 

 eight segments or lobes, having a seed to 

 correspond with each segment or lobe. It 

 was found on a cluster of one of Rogers' 

 Hybrids, and a peculiarity is, that the grape 

 is blue, while this is red. In flesh and seeds 

 and all else it is a perfect grape. President 

 Wilder's Trophy tomato stands about three 

 rods from the vine. I call upon President 

 Wilder to explain with what sort of propa- 

 gating qualities he has invested his Trophy 

 tomato, to know, if we continue the cultiva- 

 tion of that fruit, whether our apples, plums, 

 cherries, etc., will or will not turn into Tro- 

 phy tomatoes. I have saved the eight seeds 

 for the further solution of the problem. If 

 President Wilder declines an explanation 

 for fear of the consequences, I call upon all 

 the horticulturists of America to commence 

 at once an investigation and I will furnish 

 them with the hide, which I have carefully 

 preserved as a testimony against him. — 

 Rural New Yorker. 



Fig. 40. 

 Dausville, Livigston County, N.Y. Oct. 6th, 1872. 



E. L. Dorr. 



It is the most variable gall with which I am acquainted, as it may be found of all sorts 

 of fantastic shapes, from the single, round cranberry like swelling on a tendril to the large 

 collection of irregular bulbous swellings on the stem or leaf-stalk ; sometimes looking not un- 

 like a bunch of currants or a bunch of grapes, but more often like a bunch of diminutiTe 

 tomatoes, such as the Cluster Tomato, grown by Mr. J. C. Ingham, of St. Joseph, Michigan. 

 It wa.? first briefly described together with the fly which produces it, by Baron Osten Sacken 

 (Diptera of N. A., part I. pp. 201-2). The substance of the gall is soft, juicy and translucent, 

 the flavour ijleasantly acid, and the colour yellowish-green, with rosy cheeks, or else entirely 

 red. Each swelling has several cells (Fig 40(7) in each of which is nursed an orange-yellow 

 larva, which, upon the dissolution of the gall, enters the ground to transform, and emerge a 

 pale reddish gnat with a black head and antennae and gray wings. 



This gall-maker is subject to the attacks of at least two different enemies — one a speciea 

 of Th rips, which invades the cell and destroys its inmate, and one a true Hymenopterous 

 parasite, 'belonging Apparently to the family Prodotrupidce, and which after killing the gall- 

 maker, spins a cocoon within the cell. 



