226 SLUGS, FLUKES, EELWOKMS, ETC. 



The little dark red Acari, like small crimson Spiders 

 in shape, and large enough to be clearly distinguished 

 without the help of magnifiers, are often to be found 

 in vast quantities on bark of various kinds of orchard 

 trees in spring. For attacks of this sort scraping the 

 bark so that there may be as little shelter as possible 

 for small vermin of any kind in its crannies, is one 

 very good measure of prevention. As a remedy 

 washing or syringing with a mixture of soft-soap and 

 sulphur is very useful, and probably the mixture sold 

 under the name of the " Chiswick Compound," by the 

 Chiswick Soap Co., Chiswick, Middlesex, would answer 

 well, as a very similar one has long been known to do 

 in South Australian practice. There is difficulty 

 without special care and mixture of ingredients in 

 dissolving sulphur in soft-soap wash, but in the above 

 mixture I find it becomes thoroughly dissolved in about 

 sixteen hours after being diluted to the desired point 

 for safe application with water. 



The Gall Mites, or Phytopti, give us an example of 

 yet another form. These (see Fig. 163), 



fit will be seen, are of a cylindrical shape, 

 and also have only two pairs of legs. They 

 • give rise to various kinds of malformations 

 of growth, as the bunches of deformed 

 twigs on Birch trees, sometimes two or 

 three feet in diameter, popularly known as 

 ^_^ Witches' Brooms ; also the crimson spike- 

 ^^p^ like growth often seen on the surface of 

 C^v^-^' Sycamore leaves, and various other forms 

 ' of which one of the most injurious to fruit- 



FiG. i()3. growers is knob-like diseased growth of 

 Black Currant buds, caused by the Black Currant 

 Gall Mite, the Plujtoptus ribis. 



The foregoing short notes of some very specially 

 injurious kinds of farm or orchard pests are not placed 

 in technical scientific sequence, but are simply given 

 in order to lay before the reader some of the chief 

 points in which these Slugs, or Mites, or Millepedes, 



