NOTES ON NEW AND LITTLE KNOWN BRITISH APHIDES. 29 



insect was sent mo by Mr. Fryer from Lymm, Cheshire, this 

 year in September, all being apteras. By its punctures the 

 leaves of the "mugwort" become blistered and distorted, usually 

 rich red in hue or a fine golden red to yellow. Kaltenbach's 

 Aphis gallaruiii is undoubtedly the same species. 



33. Tychca pJiaseoli, Passerini. 



This interesting subterranean Aphid appears to have been 

 quite abundant in the South of England this year, and in some 

 cases on food-plants which have not been previously recorded. 

 The first specimens I received w^ere from Dr. Chapman in 

 August ; he found them feeding on his potatoes at Keigate. 

 Others were sent me from several places in Kent, not only from 

 the usual food -plants, French and scarlet runner beans, but also 

 from brassica roots. In my own garden I found it quite abundant 

 in September on potatoes, and it also swarmed on turnips, and 

 I also found numbers on the roots of old broad beans which were 

 being pulled up as late as October 10th. It has also been taken 

 on the roots of Euphorbia and Amarantliea. It has been recorded 

 from Italy and France as well as Britain, and I redescribed it 

 recently from specimens attacking beans at Ghezireh, Egypt 

 (' Bull. Ent. Ees.,' vi, pt. ii, pp. 149-151, 1915). It is also found 

 in North America on bean roots. 



The attack on potatoes seems to be new. Dr. Chapman wrote 

 me on July 31st, with specimens, saying, " The aphides seem to 

 live comfortably in the old seed potatoes, but not so abundantly 

 as on the stems of the tubers and their rootlets. A plant 

 seriously attacked, somewhat suddenly, from an appearance of 

 health, droops its leaves as if suffering from drought, or as if the 

 branch had been cut off." Those found in my own garden were 

 all on stunted hills, in some cases the bine being thin and welted, 

 the aphides occurring just as Dr. Chapman described. Alatffi 

 appeared at Reigate about July 4th, and I bred a few more from 

 material sent by Dr. Chapman. This aphid is usually attended 

 '"by ants, and Dr. Chapman writes me that on three occasions he 

 saw an ant pick up an aphid and carry it off. The ants I found 

 associated with tliem were Mi/rinica ruginodis. Exactly how 

 .much damage is directly done by this species is difficult to say. 

 Those I found were only on small and stunted plants with very 

 ^few tubers, of small size, but Dr. Chapman found some on a 

 welted plant (an " Up to date ") which had a very fair show of 

 .potatoes. Presumably if attack comes after the tubers are well 

 formed it does not cause much harm, but when it attacks the 

 plants soon after the seed has sprouted out it seems to quite 

 stunt the growth. 



