42 



APPLE. 



suds or kerosine emulsion, but — and here is the important 

 point — the appKcation must be made before the insect is pro- 

 tected by a scale, or when the scale is yet very thin and 

 newly formed." 



In the case referred to it is said that kerosine will not 

 certainly kill the eggs, "yet if soap-suds be used to dilute the 

 emulsion, the . . . mass will be so impregnated with the 

 soap, and become so compact, that the young will be unable to 

 make their way out. ... In this case dilute three quarts of 

 kerosine emulsion with one pound of whale-oil soap dissolved 

 in eight gallons of water." 



The above recipes, though not especially advised as treat- 

 ment for the Apple Scale, would probably be very beneficial, 

 and mention of several serviceable applications will be found 

 in the paper on *' Currant and Gooseberry Scale." 



Apple-suckers, or Apple Chermes. 



Psylla mali, Schmidberger. 



PsYLLA MALI. — Apple-suclcers, from life : nat. length, one-twelfth of an inch. 

 Pupa of Pear-sucker, also magnified (after Prof. W. Saunders). 



The minute insects figured above, which are hardly an 

 eighth of an inch in length from the head to the tip of the 

 transparent wings, and are usually of a beautiful bright 

 green colour, sometimes do great mischief by sucking away 

 the juices of the young Apple buds, and later on in the spring 

 by similarly sucking away the juices of the stalks of the 

 blossom or blossom-buds. 



The figure above shows this Chermes, or Apple-sucker, 

 greatly magnified, with its wings spread, and also with them 

 raised in act of taking flight. The figure of the pupa is 

 added to give a general idea of its appearance, from that of 

 the very nearly allied species, the Pear-sucker, as I had not a 

 specimen of the P. mali in this stage at hand. 



