60 



THE EEPORT OF THE 



Fo. 36 



" The principal damage has been done by the Cherry Aphis {Myzus cerasi 

 Fab.), whose attacks on the sweet cherry of this Peninsula (Niagara) were simply 

 disastrous. I do not think I should be overshooting the mark if I said that 

 half of the crop was ruined. I saw many cases where not only the foliage was 

 covered but even the fruit, and especially the stalks, with lice." 



Habits and Depredations. 



The cherry aphis is primarily a pest of the sweet cherry. It occurs on, but 

 so far as we are aware, isi never destructive to, the sour cherry.* 



The aphis feeds on the buds and tender foliage and it may even attack the 

 -blossoms and fruit, especially the stems. Infested leaves become tightly curled 

 and when badly attacked turn brown and die. Fitch speaks of aphis-infested 

 leaves " looking as though they had been scorched by fire." The fruit may also 

 be seriously damaged. During the summer of 1915, there was an outbreak 



Cherry Aphids on underside of sweet cherry 

 leaf, natural size. 



of cherry aphis in the Niagara district and in a Vineland orchard the fruit was 

 so badly injured that most of it was left on the trees. The cherries were small, 

 ripened irregularly and many of them were covered with honey-dew and the 

 black honey-dew fungus. 



MiGEATION OF M. CERASI. 



A difference of opinion has existed among entomologists as to whether this 



species is migratory or not. Crosby (1) considers- that the question is unsettled, a 



Sanderson (2) and O'Kane (3) say that so far as known the cherry aphis has "| 



. —i 



♦Since writing the aibove, Mr. P. J. Parrott, Geneva Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 has kindly placed at my disposal the following note from Mr. H. W. Lasher, of Woleott: 

 " Replying to your inquiry re the 'black cherry aphids, I find that some years they do 

 infest the sour cherry. They have attacked in my case, Montmorency, Morello, and 

 Richmond trees. They, do not take a block but trees scattered throughout an orchard. 

 They destroy all the fruit, it falling off when the size of a pea." 



