1900] POCKET OR BLADDER PLUMS. 79 



time it was considered that the galled growth was of insect origin, and 

 still the nature of the attack is not as well known as could be wished ; 

 and it is sometimes the cause of so much loss to the Plum crop, that 

 the history and means of prevention of the infestation should be 

 known. 



On July 2nd of the past season, the Kev. E. N. Bloomfield kindly 

 sent me the following preliminary note from Guestling Rectory, in 

 Sussex, which was followed by some more information regarding the 

 appearance of diseased fruit on Damsons, or Plums, at Guestling. 

 Mr. Bloomfield remarked : — 



" On Saturday last I had sent to me some enormously swollen 

 Damsons. . . . There were good Damsons on the same twigs 

 somewhat larger than a large pea. The affected Damsons were not 

 only enormously bloated, but utterly disorganized and distorted, as well 

 as blotched, and no one would possibly have guessed what they were. 

 I should be glad to know if you have met with such specimens, and 

 also whether you can tell me what causes them. I did not cut into 

 any of them, but Mr. Connold informs me that he could find no trace 

 of larvae in any of those he examined." — (E. N. B.) 



Mr. Edw. T. Connold (Honorary General Secretary to the Hastings 

 and St. Leonards Natural History Society) wrote me on the following 

 day (July 3rd) from 7, Magdalen Terrace, St. Leonards-on-Sea, re- 

 garding the attack, as follows : — 



"At the suggestion of the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield, I am sending 

 you some of the galled fruit of Damson I discovered last week on trees 

 at a farm in Guestling. Can you tell me the cause or maker of them ? 

 . . . The swollen fruit herewith is about the largest ; none I 

 measured exceeded one and three-quarter inches in length by one and 

 and a quarter inches in girth ; very sappy, and when confined from 

 the air a whitish fungus grows rapidly. I have examined many, but 

 have failed to trace any creature upon or within them. Several have 

 shown small round holes, as though a hymenopteron had eaten its way 

 out, but upon dissection the interior was quite clean and free from 

 puparia." — (E. C.) 



On July 6th Mr. Bloomfield kindly wrote me again (from Guestling 

 Rectory) : — 



"As you are not sure whether you have ever chanced to see 

 the diseased Plums, I now send you a few. I find they are at the 

 present time in all stuyes on the trees. The green Plum begins to 

 turn yellow and swells up and gradually becomes darker, still con- 

 tinuing to swell. There were a good many diseased Plums on the 

 trees, but they were not so conspicuous as I had expected; my 

 friend at St. Leonards having sent me the largest specimens."— 

 (E. N. B.) 



