57 



PEAR TREE SAW FLY. 



Nematis Species. 



This insect is closely allied to the former, but its mode of attack is differ- 

 ent. While the pear slug devours only the fleshy part, this insect eats the 

 whole blade of the leaf, leaving often only the ribs. 



The eggs are laid in a slit in the leaf, cut by the ovipositor of the female. 

 The young larva eats a hole through the leaf and keeps enlarging this as it 

 grows. The larva full grown measures half an inch in length, has thoracic 

 legs, twelve pro legs, and two anal pro legs; the general color, greenish yel- 

 low; eyes, black. 



The adult insect is described by the late M. Cooke as having a span of 

 wings of three fifths of an inch, the body three tenths of an inch in length; 

 the upper part of the head and thorax black; abdomen yellow, with black 

 transverse bands on dorsal half of each segment; wings clear, of a brown- 

 ish hue. 



Remedies. 



Spraj'ing with paris green, at the rate of one pound to one hundred and eighty gallons 

 of water, is a good remedy; if this is objectionable, white hellebore, one teaspoonful to a 

 bucketful of water, is reported as doing good service. 



RED SPIDER OR MITE. 



Tetranychus Telarius. 



This insect is probably a native of the State, as I have found it almost 

 everywhere on wild bushes and weeds, and very few orchards are truly 

 exempt from it. It is found on evergreen as well as deciduous trees, and 

 is, especially in dry seasons, and in localities where the air is dry, quite a 

 formidable pest. 



The varieties of trees most affected by it are the almond and the prune, 

 but many varieties of plum sufTer severely, as well as pears and apples. 

 The mite hatches in the springtime, often with the expanding first leaves 

 and blossoms, from eggs laid in the fall of the year, and just before hatch- 

 ing turn a very bright red, which, when they are numerous, color the trunk 

 red; the empty cases remain on the tree and are transparent white. Unfor- 

 tunately all insects do not hatch at once, but in course of many weeks, and 

 this makes their total destruction very ditiicult, as when in the egg state 

 they are extremely hard to kill. 



The larva of the red spider has only six legs, but, after having pupated, 

 it comes out a perfect insect with eight legs. 



The red spider injures the leaves and the tender twigs b}' eating portions 

 of the epidermis, and being very numerous, soon cause the leaves to lose 

 their bright color; they become of an ashen hue — a very characteristic mark 

 of the presence of the mite. 



YELLOW MITES. 



In the interior of the State a yellow species of mite is often found doing 

 much damage to pear trees. The remedies adopted for the red spider are 

 equally as effectual. Young nursery stock attacked has been kept very 

 clean by frequent sprayings of cold water. 



Remedies. 



To destroy this insect in the egg state is a very hard matter, anything found strong 

 enough daniaging the tree. We have, therefore, to resort to washes during the suinnier 

 or spring. For this purpose sulpliur washes seem especially adapted. We know of noth- 

 ing better than the sulphide of soda and soap wash, applied copiously to the tree as soon 



