lOO 



THE APPLE LEAF HOPPER 



THE WHITE PINE LOUSE; 

 PINE BLIGHT; PINE BARK APHID, 



Chermes pinicortis Fitch. 



Our illustration shows very well the white wooly growth which 



covers these minute aphids, which, hy sucking the sap from white 



pines, greatly weakens and eventually kills the tree. It is a common 



insect in Minnesota, and we have received a number of complaints 



Kis. 15. Tlu' White Pine Louse on bark of pine tree. Original. 



regarding" it, besides personally noting its injurious work on pines in 

 the vicinity of the Twin Cities. It has been noticed and studied in the 

 United .States since 1856. People unacquainted with the fact that this 

 white flocculent matter is a growth from insects, regard it as some 

 form of plant disease, and hence the name of "Pine Blight." 



Whether this insect hibernates in some one of its forms on some 

 food plant other than the pine, or in the ground near the tree afifected, 

 or upon the affected tree itself, is apparently not known to entomolo- 

 gists at the present time. Our knowledge of its exact life history, 

 then, is not complete, but we are in possession of some facts for which 

 we are indebted to E. L. Storment (20th Rep. Insects of Ilinois, 

 1898), who has evidently s])ent nnich time and study upon this some- 

 what unique insect. 



