THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



63 



mediately dropped into bags and in them 

 carried to the place where they are to be 

 burned, and there emptied into the fire. 

 If every one having blackberry bushes in 

 their gardens would practice this method 

 of destruction, this pest would soon cease 

 to do much harm. 



Several species of Borers infest the 

 Blackberry : the most common one is the 

 larva of a small, slender, red-necked beetle, 

 the Obereaperspicillata of Haldeman. The 

 small, legless grubs bore the pith of the 

 canes, causing them to die prematurely, 

 or so weakening them that they are broken 



[Fig. 18.] 



DiASTROPHOS NEUULOSUS; a, gall ; b^ slice of same showing 

 cells and grubs nat. size ; c, larva ; rf, pupa — enlarged (after 

 Riley). 



down with the wind. As there are some 

 fourteen or fifteen species of the Oberea 

 now known, it may be that more than one 

 species breed in the Blackberry. Thus far 

 however I am not a\yare that they have 

 been very injurious, but it would be well to 

 gather all infested canes and burn them 

 with their contents. 



The Blackberry is subject to the attacks 

 of several species of gall-insects. A fuzzy, 



prickly gall on the twigs is produced by a 

 four-winged fly {Diastrophus cusa/tce/or- 

 mis O. S). Another species of the same ge- 

 nus [Diastrophus nebulosus O. S.) produces a 

 large pithy gall on the canes, but both of 

 these gall-makers have very formidable par- 

 asitic enemies which keep them in check. 

 There are also a few leaf-eating beetles, slugs 

 and caterpillars, that sometimes attack the 

 Blackberry, but they are seldom sufficiently 

 numerous or injurious tp attract much at- 

 tention. The larger species are readily 

 destroyed by hand-gathering, and the 

 smaller ones can usually be driven off by 

 dusting the plants with lime. 



The most formidable enemy however 

 of both the Blackberry and Raspberry is 

 what is called the Orange-rust ( Uredo rubo- 

 runi). It is perhaps more abundant on the 

 Black-cap raspberry [Rubiis occidentalis) 

 than on the ordinary varieties of the Black- 

 berry ; still it is sufficiently abundant and 

 destructive to all to attract the attention of 

 horticulturists throughout the country. I 

 do not know of any remedy except to stamp 

 out the disease by rooting up every af- 

 fected plant and burning it. It may be 

 that applications of lime, salt, or some 

 similar substance would check the disease, 

 and while these may be safely tried as pre- 

 ventive measures, the destroying of all in- 

 fested plants should not be omitted. 



{To be continued.^ 



THE RELATION BETWEEN INSECTS AND 

 PLANTS, AND THE CONSENSUS IN 

 ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE.* 



BY LESTER F. WARD, A. M., WASHINGTON, D. C. 



The object of this paper is rather to show 

 the importance of a more connected study 

 of these two great departments of Natural 

 History than to present new facts in either 

 of them. The prevailing practice of 

 isolating them and carving out of each a 

 number of exclusive specialties, while it is 

 necessary and advisable within certain 

 limits, nevertheless allows, when univer- 

 sally followed, a large class of important 



* This paper, read at the St. Louis meeting of the A. A. 

 A. S., was placed in our hands in the Fall of 1878 when we 

 expected to commence the publication of the Entotnolo^st^ 

 and with the author's permission has been held by us since 

 that time.— Ep, 



