148 APPENDIX. 
In the case of the specimens from Woburn, I was particularly 
struck with the large size of the egg in comparison with the Mite, and 
turning to the observations of Dr. A. Nalepa on this subject, I fina 
that he notices that ‘‘ the eggs”’ [of the Gall Mites] ‘‘are relatively to 
the minuteness of the creatures of considerable size. . . .. The 
egg-shell is thin, flexible, and formed of chitin.” The author also 
remarks :—‘‘In the latter part of summer and in autumn the Mites 
leave the galls in multitudes to take possession of their winter 
quarters—that is, the buds. This emigration also is of frequent occur- 
rence during summer when the previously inhabited buds dry up.’”’* 
The preceding notes give, I think, a fairly complete summary of 
the history and also of the life-history of this infestation up to the 
present date. The following observations refer to various methods of 
treatment by which it has been endeavoured to check the mischief 
caused by this attack, some of which have appeared to be beneficial 
for a time; but none of which, so far as I am aware, have proved 
permanently reliable. 
The first notes that were sent me of injury from Currant Mite were 
forwarded in the year 1885, when on March 25th the bud galls were 
already causing much injury on the specimens sent me; and later on 
specimens were sent me from the neighbourhood of Cottenham, Cam- 
bridgeshire, by Mr. Arthur Bull, with the information that about half 
an acre was affected, and that he was using ‘‘a dressing of two parts 
sulphur and three parts lime boiled together in water (2 1b. sulphur 
and 3 1b. lime, 8 gallons of water), which is further diluted at the 
rate of two or three pints to a large pail of water, applied with a 
syringe to the infested bushes.” The effect of this application was 
that little or no damage was done, but the remark was made that ‘it 
seems difficult to clear the garden altogether.”’ 
In 1887 the infestation was reported as seriously troublesome in 
various localities, amongst these Clydesdale being especially men- 
tioned; and on March 15th Mr. W. James le Tall wrote me regarding 
it from Hackenthorpe, West Sheffield, mentioning that ‘‘If the disease 
once gets into a plantation of Black Currants, it passes from tree to 
tree till all are infested, and from being a fruitful plantation it becomes 
in three or four years almost fruitless. No cure is known for the 
disease here but destroying the infested trees. This disease I have 
* «Die Naturgeschichte der Gallmilben,’ von Prof. Dr. Alfred Nalepa, pp. 15, 18. 
(Erganzter Sonderabdruck aus dem ix Jahrsberichte des K.K. Staats-Gymnasium 
in Wien iv Bezirk). For technical description of Phytoptus ribis, Nalepa, species 
of Ribes (Currant) infested by it, and also figures, the reader is referred to 
‘ Beitriige zur Kenntniss der Gattungen Phytoptus,’ by the same author. (Besonders 
abgedruckt aus dem lxii Bande der Denk, Mat-Naturwissenschaftlichen Classe der 
K. Acad. der Wissenchaften, Wien, 1895). 
