THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 121 



red that these two winged plant-lice belonged to the same species as 

 the minute wingless larvae with which the infested roots were 

 swarming. The truth of the matter probably was, that the two wing- 

 ed plant-lice got upon the infested apple-root by accident, on their 

 road from the nursery to Dr. Fitch's orchard. Indeed we can almost 

 say with certainty to what species they belonged ; for on comparing 

 Dr. Fitch's very minute and elaborate description with the Beech- 

 twig Plant-louse (Pemphigus imlricator, Fitch), which comes out in 

 the winged state in the very same time of the year as he met with his 

 two specimens, it agrees sufficiently well to apply to that species. If, 

 on the other hand, we Compare his description with our specimens, it 

 not only disagrees generically, as already explained, but neither the 

 size nor the markings will correspond at all. 



We consider it, therefore, to be sufficiently certain that the Apple- 

 root Plant-louse does not belong to the genus (Pemphigus), to which 

 all subsequent authors, in deference to Dr. Fitch's authority, have 

 hitherto referred it, but to the very distinct genus (Eriosoma) to 

 which the notorious Wooly Plant-louse of Europe belongs (Eriosoma 

 lanigera, Hausm.) 



Natural Remedies. — From the enormous rate at which all Plant-lice 

 multiply, it is plaiD that, if there were no check upon the increase of 

 the Apple-root Plant-louse, it would in a few years' time sweep away 

 whole orchards, especially in southern latitudes. Luckily for the 

 fruit growers and fruit-lovers, there exist two at all events, and pro- 

 bably three such checks. The first is a very minute parasitic fly, 

 which Prof. Haldeman figured and described in 1851 as infesting in 

 the larva state his supposed Wooly Plant-louse.* The second is a 



footless maggot (Fig. 66 a) about 

 one-half an inch long, and of a 

 dirty yellow color. It is gene- 

 rally found more or less covered 

 with mud, and with the woolly 

 matter secreted by the lice, and 

 is not by any means easily dis- 

 cerned. It changes in the fall to 

 the pupa state (Fig. 66, b) from 

 which, in the following spring, there emerges the perfect fly (Fig. 

 66, c) which'tnay be known as the Root-louse Syrphus-fly. The fol- 

 lowing is the description of this fly, in its different stages, which ap- 

 peared in the American Entomologist. 



The Root-louse Syrphus-Fly. (Pipiza radicum, n. sp.) § Shining brown black. Head 

 clothed with short, rather sparse, white hairs, especially the lower part of the anterior orbits and 

 the entire space below the antennae. Mouth dark rufous. Antenna; compressed, with the joints 

 proportioned as 2, 2, 5 ; joint 2 twice as wide as 1, and 3 twice as wide as 2 ; of a dull rufous color, 

 edged above, narrowly on the inside, widely on the outside, with brown black. Thorax very finely 

 rugoso-punctate, with some short sparse white hairs, especially laterally. Abdomen finely punctate, 



* This fly belongs to the Chalcis family in the Order Hymenoptera, and was named Eriophilus 

 mali by Prof. Haldeman. The figure and description will be found in the Farm Journal for 

 1851, pp. 130-1. 



-J-. 



