APPLE. FRUIT — APPLE THRIPS. 103 



apples, plums, and other fruits wither and fall from our trees, 

 often literally covering the ground beneath them. Young apples 

 are thus blasted in consequence of the punctures and wounds 

 which they receive from the Apple worm or Codling moth, the 

 Plum weevil, and other insects. Among these destroyers is one 

 which has hitherto escaped notice, more in consequence of its 

 minute size, probably, than its rarity; for we suspect it will 

 prove to be a common insect. 



In the month of August several apples were noticed upon the 

 trees, which were small, withered, and ready to %11, yet without 

 any of those worms in them which occasion the destruction of so 

 much fruit at this season of the year. On searching for the cause 

 of this withering of these apples we found a small 

 cavity or little hollow at the tip end, commonly close 

 beside the relics of the flower. This cavity had the 

 appearance of having been gnawed; it was about the 

 size of a pea, and its surface of a black color. Several 

 of these cavities were occupied by a minute slender 

 insect; and from appearance I inferred that the young of these 

 insects had taken up their residence upon the apples whilst they 

 were quite small, and by wounding them slightly day after day, 

 had retarded their growth and finally caused them to wither. It 

 is possible that some other insect had originally produced these 

 wounds, and that these which were now there had been attracted 

 to the wounds to suck their juices; but every appearance indi- 

 cated that these were the real culprits. They pertain to the 

 group THRipsiDiE, which is composed almost entirely of minute 

 species like the present, which subsist upon the juices of plants, 

 especially melons, cucumbers, beans, &c, to which they are often 

 quite injurious, producing small decayed spots upon the leaves. 

 They also occur in numbers upon different flowers. We have 

 several American species of these insects, none of which have yet 

 been studied out and described. This which occurs in wounded 

 spots upon young apples, appears to pertain to the genus named 

 Phlaolhrips by Mr. Haliday, and I propose for it the specific name 

 Mali^ or the Apple Thrips. 



