DESCRIPTION OF RED SPIDER. 48 
But looking at some of the points, which can be seen with the help 
of a moderate magnifier, and are serviceable to know for practical work, 
a very important one is that the Gooseberry Red Spiders, that is, the 
species of Bryobia, are clearly distinguishable, by their foremost pair 
of legs being much longer than the others, from the Hop Red Spider, 
Tetranychus telarius. The life-history is that they are hatched from 
eggs, and at first have only three pairs of legs; with increase of age 
they develop another pair, so that in adult state they are eight-legged 
(see figure, p. 40). The colour in the specimens sent me was brick-red 
of various shades, from bright to ordinary brick colour, and in some 
instances I have found them of a vermilion colour along the back of 
the abdomen, and much darker at the sides. The length was about 
the thirty-second part of an inch, that is, about a quarter of an eighth 
of an inch. 
So far as I am aware, our infestation (so to call it) resembles in all 
points of its life-history and means of prevention of its ravages the 
species, very fully described with all points considered, in the paper on 
the ‘ Red Gooseberry Mite’ (‘ Die rote Stachelbeer Milbe’) previously 
cited, and here also the points of distinction between the above species 
of Bryobia and other very similar kinds, turning much on numbers of 
pairs of scales (Schuppen) on the back or elsewhere, will be found at 
pp. 498—496. 
But for practical purposes for ordinary observers the following short 
report given by Dr. F. Thomas at Miulhausen, in Thuringia, later on 
in 1894, will be found to contain plain and useful information.* In 
this Dr. Thomas spoke on the injury to Gooseberry-bushes caused by 
B. ribis, n. sp., a small red-brown mite of about two-thirds of a milli- 
metre in the length of the body, and demonstrated the extent of these 
injuries by specimens which he had taken just before the meeting from 
a garden in Milhausen. These specimens had become whitish on the 
upper side from the suction of the mites, and the small remaining 
leaves had not power to provide a sufficiency of nourishment; the fruit 
dropped prematurely, and so did the leaves in autumn. 
«‘The mites live from March and April until the beginning or 
middle of June, and in the early part of the spring may be successfully 
combated by plentiful sprinklings of the Gooseberry-bushes with water, 
or occasionally with weak soap-wash. 
‘In May and June the mites lay small shining red eggs, which are 
plainly observable, with the help of a weak magnifying-glass, on the 
twigs, and especially on, and between, the remains of the old bud- 
* «Aus dem Sitzungs-Bericht, der Friihjahrs Hauptversammlung 1894 (zu Mil- 
hausen, in Thiiringen). Sonderabdruck aus Mittheilungen des Thiir. Bot. Vereins,’ 
Neue Folge, Heft vi. 1894, Seite 10 u.11. For both his detailed paper and this 
leaflet I am indebted to the kind courtesy of Dr. F, Thomas.—Eb. 
