Apri], '12] HOUSER: GOOSEBERRY GALL MIDGE 181 



abouir the first and these in turn becoming infested, there is formed 

 ultimately a large knot or cluster of galls. A typical cluster is illus- 

 trated in figure 1. Occasionally the injured cluster succeeds in putting 

 out feeble growths which usually take the form of undersized twigs. 

 Such a cluster, starting to develop, may be seen in figure 2. These 

 growths appear at the end of the_first or second season as illustrated 

 by figure 3. As a rule, however, this secondary-, "witch-broom" 

 like growth does not develop, and one finds the infested plant with 

 numerous, large, rounded gall-clusters located on any part of it as 

 shown by figure 4. 



History of the Insect. The work of the gooseberrj' gall maker was 

 discovered for the first time during the summer of 1906 on the farm 

 of Mr. C. D. Smith, Camp Chase, Ohio. Since that time the wTiter 

 has examined gooseberry bushes in various parts of the state whenever 

 the opportunity afforded, and while a student in Cornell University 

 he sent a number of letters to some of the more important small fruit 

 growers of New York State, by way of inquiry concerning the insect 

 but it has never been found anywhere other than at the place of the 

 original discovery. 



]Mr. Smith has been a rather extensive grower of gooseberries, 

 having had at one time about an acre devoted to this crop. At the 

 time the trouble was discovered, however, a good many of the bushes 

 were dead and there was scarcely half an acre remaining. 



During the last five years, so many of the plants died that the plot 

 was destroyed, with the exception of a few plants and these are in a 

 bad way. While it is true that the old age of the bushes undoubtedly 

 was responsible in part for the present condition of affairs, it cannot 

 be denied that the gooseberry gall midge has played an important 

 role in the proceedings — so important, in fact, that the writer considers 

 it a serious pest when it becomes established in a planting. 



The Adult Insect. A detailed description of the adult will not be 

 given here as it may be had in the publication already cited. Briefly, 

 however, it may be said that it has the general appearance of the 

 typical Cecidomyiid, with its long, ungainly legs and generally delicate 

 structural characters. The gross appearance as to color is reddish 

 brown. 



The adult is very frail and doubtless lives but a very short time, as 

 the eggs are laid within a few hours after the insect emerges. It is 

 not at all likely to be seen by the casual observer unless it so happens 

 that he be about at the time of emergence, as the adults which the 

 author p^rocured, were obtained only after practically every resource 

 in the way of breeding devices had been exhausted. The main diffi.- 



