305 



ten days the j)erfect motli appeared. Specimens were forwarded to Mr. 

 V. P. Chambers, of Covington, Kentucky, who is making a special study 

 of our micro-lepidoptera, and he decided it to be Anarsia (Zeller) prui- 

 nella, (Clemens,) probably A. Uneatella (Zeller) of Europe, (Fig. 10,) the 

 larvaof which was described by Mr. Clemens as taken June IG, full grown, 

 and about to transform on the limbs of a plum, but Fig. 10. 



no food-plant is mentioned. The tail of the pupa is ^^T^^^^^^fcicr-- --. 

 attached to a little button of silk, in an exceedingly "-^^^^^^ '^ 

 slight cocoon. There M'as scarcely a single young '""^i^^' 

 tree in the peach-orchard examined, that was not 

 more or less injured by this little pest, and at least ^f^^SOS^^lf^ 

 as many as twenty to fifty injured twigs were found _ '' / ^^^ 

 on some very young trees. After the insect leaves 

 thetwig, the injured part dries up and breaks off. ^^c^t:^^:^^-^^^^^^ 

 This insect was also seen, though in much smaller num- ""^^-iws.-^i^ia^^aasEa^ 

 bers, last season, in Maryland and Virginia, and apple-trees are also 

 frequently observed injured in a similar manner in Maryland, and it is 

 probable that the damage is done by the same worm, but as w^e have 

 not yet succeeded in breeding them from the apple, we cannot say with 

 certainty. 



The larvfE are about 0.25 of an inch in length, head black, body dark 

 reddish brown, with lighter rings, the third ring being more conspicu- 

 ous and whitish ; the moth is quite small, and measures 0.40 to 0.00 of 

 an inch in exi^ause of wings, and is of a pale-gray color, with a few 

 blackish spots on the upper wings. Should this insect increase in num- 

 bers as much during the next year as it has done since the last, it 

 threatens to be a great scourge to peach-growers. The only way to de- 

 stroy them is to go around the peach-orchard in May and June, and cut 

 off such terminal shoots as appear to be withering or drying up, and 

 then burn them with the caterpillars inside. This at least would pre- 

 vent their multiplying to such an extent as to be very injurious at pres- 

 ent. When not so very numerous, they appear only to serve to some- 

 what prune the trees, as they take oft' merely the tips of the branches. 



Mites in pear-leaves. — In May many leaves of the pear-tree were 

 observed to be covered with dark-brown blotches somewhat like a fun- 

 goid growth, but upon examination by Mr. Taylor, microscop- 

 ist of the Department, these blotches were found to be inhab- ^^" 

 ited by myriads of small mites almost invisible to the naked 

 eye. These mites appear to run all over the leaves, but espec- 

 ially to burrow in the brown patches, which appear to be en- 

 tirely eaten out by them. Their bodies are long, cylindrical, 

 yellowish white, with only two pairs of legs, placed very far for- 

 ward near the head, and they move with considerable agility. 

 They are also marked with a multitude of rings, and have two 

 long hairs or bristles and two shorter ones on the end of the 

 abdomen. There i? a somewhat similar mite mentioned by 

 Packard as the Pyphlodromus pyri, of Sheuten, which is said to 

 live under the epidermis of i)ear -leaves inEurope, but no mention is 

 made o the brown blotches on the leaf, apparently formed by the mite. 

 In his figure also the head is much more obtuse than those examined in 

 the Department. A thorough drenching with whale-oil soap-suds 

 would doubtless destroy many of them, as their bodies appear to be 

 very soft. All infested leaves, likewise, should be immediately removed 

 and burned as soon as discovered. 



Insect Injuries. — The Colorado potato beetle {Doryphora decern- 



