M CURRANT. 



surecl 2h to 3 lines in length, and contained the pest in all its 

 stages. I could not, however, find any of the mites behind 

 the leaf-stalks as previously, so that I concluded they had 

 taken up their winter quarters for good, and had set to work 

 in earnest to ruin the crop of fruit while yet in the bud." 



From the above observations it will be seen that the mites 

 first established themselves between the base of the leaf-stalk 

 and the young buds early in June (June 2nd), but were not 

 found actually inside them until July 27th. 



In my own experiments of the present year (1898), on 

 opening various Black Currant galls on January 25th and 

 28th, which I was favoured with, at my request, from the 

 Woburn Fruit Farm, Piidgmont, Bedfordshire, I found a few 

 eggs present. 



These were oval or ovate when in characteristic condition, 

 but sometimes irregular in outline, apparently from being 

 pushed out of shape by the developing mite within ; but I was 

 not fortunate enough to find a specimen in the very act of 

 developing (as I have seen in the case of the Phutoptus of the 

 Birch knots), and thus did not have the opportunity of seeing 

 (and figuring) the mite coming out of the egg in the four- 

 legged condition in which it continues through life. 



In the case of specimens from Woburn, I was particularly 

 struck with the large size of the egg in comparison with the 

 mite, and turning to the observations of Dr. A. Nalepa on 

 this subject, I find that he notices that "the eggs" [of the 

 Gall Mites] "are relatively to the minuteness of the creatures 

 of considerable size. . . . The egg-shell is thin, flexible, 

 and formed of chitin." The author also remarks : — " In the 

 latter part of summer and in autumn the mites leave the galls 

 in multitudes to take possession of their winter quarters — 

 that is, the buds. This emigration also is of frequent occur- 

 rence during summer when the previously inhabited buds 

 dry up."* 



Prevention and Eemedies. — The method which is most 

 frequently tried is breaking off the galled buds and destroying 

 them, and though it cannot but be that in this way a great 

 deal of the mite presence is got rid of which would have 

 otherwise spread infestation, yet the plan is very far from 

 answering as could be wished. 



* ' Die Naturgeschichte der Gallmilben,' von Prof. Dr. Alfred Nalepa, 

 pp. 15, 18. (Erganzter Sonderabdruck aus dem ix Jahrsberichte des K.K. 

 Staats-Gymnasium in Wien, iv Bezirk). For technical description of Phijtoptus 

 ribU, Nalepa, species of llibes (Currant) infested by it, and also figures, the 

 reader is referred to ' Beitriige zur Kenntniss der Gattungen Pliytoptus,' by 

 the same author. (Besonders abgedruckt aus dem Ixii Bande der Denkmal 

 Naturwissenschaftlichen Classe der K. Acad, der Wissenschaften, Wien, 1895). 



