GOOSEBERRY RED SPIDER. Al 
seasons. The infestation is chiefly noticed again now to record, firstly, 
the unusual severity of cold having no effect in preventing reappearance 
of the attack; secondly, the effect of weather in promoting or lessening 
the presence of the pest when once established in active state on the 
bushes; and thirdly, the identification by Dr. Friedrich Thomas, of 
Ohrdruf (the well-known phytopathologist), of specimens of Red 
Spider sent to him from Mr. Nixon’s grounds at Great Kversden, near 
Cambridge, as being of a species hitherto undescribed, and which has 
been named by Dr. F. Thomas as Bryobia ribis. Thus from the minute 
investigations of two skilled experts it appears that we have two kinds 
of Red Spider on our Gooseberry-bushes. 
As both kinds appear so like one another to general observation, 
and also very similar to each other in habits, the difference of species 
appears unimportant practically, but as a scientific point it requires 
mention. 
On the 22nd of February Mr. F. Nixon, writing from Great Evers- 
den, near Cambridge, mentioned :—‘‘I am keeping a careful watch on 
my Gooseberry-bushes, but as yet Iam able to detect nothing wrong” ; 
and still on the 9th of March, so far as could be seen, there were no 
signs of the Red Spider being present. 
This state of things, however, did not continue, for on the 15th of 
March Mr. Nixon sent me specimens of infested sprays, with the obser- 
vation that he greatly feared there was every indication of another 
virulent attack of the Gooseberry Red Spider pest. ‘‘ Last Monday, 
March 11th” (Mr. Nixon noted), ‘‘I was able to find one here and 
there. ‘To-day I can find hundreds. Some of the buds (which are not 
yet open) are at the base almost surrounded by them. They appear 
to be just now hatching out. I shall syringe my bushes with ‘ Anti- 
pest’ as soon as possible.”’ 
The following notes, sent me on April 8th by Mr. Walter Frost, 
Fruit-salesman, Covent Garden Market, are valuable as showing the 
great degree to which amount of attack of the Red Spider is influenced 
by heat, or, on the other side, by cold and wet weather. Mr. W. Frost 
wrote :—‘I found about a fortnight ago, when we had two or three 
hot days, that my Gooseberry-bushes seemed almost covered with Red 
Spider, and at once provided myself with the wash. But the bud then 
was so tender that I hesitated to use it, and since the wet colder 
weather of the last fortnight the pest seems to have disappeared, I am 
afraid only to come again with sunshine. Of course, now the leaf is 
getting strong, and I shall wash if necessary. I hear greatly the same 
report from Kent. Is it possible that the Spiders, developing before 
the leaf, have been killed by cold and wet? I hope so.” 
At the same date as the above, namely, the 8th of April, Mr. By 
Nixon, of Great Eversden, writing with reference to his letter of the 
