106 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
injuries to blackberry and to raspberry canes, and last May our 
attention was called to damage, probably the work of this insect, 
by Mr J. S. Kimberly, of Hamilton N. Y., who states that the 
maggots were quite destructive to blackberry and raspberry fields 
in that locality. 
The parent insect is a small fly, and the most practical method 
of checking this species is by cutting the wilted tips well below 
the point of injury as soon as they appear and burning them. 
The raspberry cane-girdler is a small beetle known as Oberea 
bimaculata Oliv., and works in a similar manner. It may 
be distinguished from the preceding by the fact that it does not 
begin its burrows till in June, and that the wilting is caused 
by series of punctures forming two rings around the cane from 
Y% to 1 inch apart, which the small beetle makes with its mandi- 
bles, and between which the egg is deposited. The latter insect 
may be controlled in the same manner as the preceding. 
Grass and grain insects 
Clover mite, Bryobia pratensis Garm. This little mite 
is a very common species and occasionally is present in immense 
numbers toward the end of the season, at which time it may cause 
serious injury by sucking the vital fluids from the leaves. 
Mr L. L. Woodford, of Berwyn, has recently called our attention 
to what, for this State, is an abnormal abundance of the eggs. He 
states that one peachtree was so badly infested that many square 
inches of its surface presented a red color on account of the 
abundant eggs. In some places areas the size of a silver dollar 
appeared as if splashed with red paint. A twig, submitted with 
his communication, showed myriads of the characteristic eggs 
around every bud and at the base of each branch. They were so 
numerous as to give a distinct red coloring to an irregular area 
around each prominence. Dr C. L. Marlatt has recorded 
instances where the eggs were much more numerous on trees in 
the western states, but, so far as known to us, this species is not 
usually so abundant in the East. The eggs may be destroyed, as 
shown by experiments of Prof. C. P. Gillette, by spraying in win- 
ter with the standard kerosene emulsion diluted with but 5 parts 
of water. It is very probable that the 10% or 15¢ mechanical 
