SCHIZONEUEA LANIGEKA. 91 



The popular name of this pest in England is 

 the " American blight." Dr. Asa Fitch^ in his re- 

 port on the noxious insects of New York, however, 

 strongly protests against the idea of its being 

 an exportation from America. Serville and Amyot 

 state that it was first seen in Europe in 1787, and 

 that probably it came through England from America. 

 Sir Joseph Banks traced its origin in England to a 

 nursery near London, whose owner it appears had 

 recently received a consignment of apple trees from 

 the New World. The ravages of the insect were at 

 first confined to the vicinity of London, but the pest 

 speedily spread into the Devonshire orchards, and with 

 such effect, that at one time the making of cider around 

 threatened to be abandoned. There seems to be some 

 doubt whether or not France received it in its travels 

 eastward. It was noted in the Department of the 

 Cotes-du-Nord in 1812, and in 1818 it was found in 

 the gardens of the Ecole de Pharmacie of Paris. In 

 1822 it was common in the Departments of the Seine, 

 the Somme, and the Aisne. It reached Germany in 

 1801 and Belgium in 1812, Throughout France to 

 the Mediterranean it is now common, but Passerini, 

 in 1863, said that then it was not frequent in Italy, 

 though met with in Liguria. The fact that the apple 

 bark is now known to harbour the egg, is a sufficient 

 explanation of the wide area over which the insect now 

 has obtained a footing. Prof. Cyrus Thomas, laying 

 stress upon the fact that the cultivated apple is not an 

 American production, states his conviction that the 

 pest moved from Europe to America. As, however, it 

 is found there on the native crab, this objection would 

 seem to vanish. 



Prof. Riley believes that these American apj)le- 

 feediog Schizoneiirince are identical with the European. 

 From the description of the western insects I do not 

 doubt that they are so. 



