349 



Supposed Gall-Mites on Blue Gum. 



I send some leaves of the Eucalyptus Blue Gum or the Eucalyptus resiniferus in- 

 fested with scales out of a garden where Aiijndiotus auraiitii has been imported by the 

 reckless transfer of a rose tree from a garden in Misoria infested with Red Scale. At 

 least that is the decision that I arrived at, but the villagers are convinced that the 

 disease on the orange and lemon trees has spread from the Eucalyptus. It is in a 

 part of the island where up to the present Red Scale had been unknown, but strange 

 to say I have not noticed this disease on the Eucalyptus in any other part of the 

 island, neither is there any other Eucalyptus, but the two infested, within a radius 

 often miles, neither have I noticed this particular disease on any other trees. 



The village is situated about 300 feet above the sea and about one mile from the 

 northern coast. ^ * ^ —[Alfred K. Bovill, Nikosia, Cyprus, February 6, 1893. 



Reply. — # » * The Eucalyptus leaves have been carefully examined for both 

 insects and fungi. Mr. B. T. Galloway, Chief of the Division of Vegetable Pathology 

 of this Department, has carefully examined them for fungi and has been unable to 

 find any trace of Mycelial or other fungus growths. We have sectioned and exam- 

 ined them for traces of insect work and can not find any evidence of such w^ork. The 

 larger of the spots are seen to contain, ujion removing the epidermis, one or more 

 minute pits, lined with a glistening amorphous substance resembling, to some extent, 

 the pits occupied by the gall-mites or rust-mites of the family Phytoptidse, although 

 no trace of any mite or of a cast skin of one of these creatures can be found. The 

 most likely hypothesis, however, is that the damage is done by some member of this 

 family, but this can only be determined by an examination of fresh material, and that 

 can only be done in Cyprus. If you have a compound microscope at your disposal 

 you should be able to settle the question yourself. If this theorj^ prove correct, the 

 best remedy will be to collect and burn all fallen leaves and by a careful studj to 

 determine the ijeriod when the mites are not inclosed within their galls, at which 

 time they may be destroyed by the application of a dilute kerosene emulsion to which 

 a small quantity of flowers of sulphur has been added. This course is pursued against 

 Phytoptus pyri, a similar creature, which damages pear trees in this country. — [March 

 17," 1893.] 



NOTES FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 



In Favor of the English Sparrow. — Good words for this important pest are so 

 rare that it is almost a pleasure to record that our correspondent, Miss .Jennie R. 

 Bush, of San Luis Obispo County, Cal., finds it destroying a scale insect upon the 

 climbing rose. The sjiecies of scale has not been determined. 



The Tomato Worm in the Leeward Islands.— Mr. C. A. Barber, of Antigua, 

 sends us specimens of the common Protoparce cingulata, with the statement that it 

 is doing great damage to fields of sweet potato on the island of Antigua. 



Early Locust Ravages. — Mr. F. A. Swinden, of Brownwood, Tex., informs us 

 under date of March 21 that young grasshoppers are hatching out by the thousands 

 in the vicinity of Brownwood, and that 200 acres of crops were destroyed last year 

 and many eggs deposited. He has not sent in specimens, so that the species has not 

 yi't been determined. 



The Indian Meal Moth.— In Insect Life, Vol. ii, pp. 170-171, we gave a long 

 list of the substances upon which we had found the larva of Plodia interpunctella to 

 feed. We add to this published statement the fact that we have recently received 

 specimens from Mr. A. S. Fuller, of Ridgewood, N. J., which were found feeding 

 upon stored seeds of the Salamander lettuce. 



The Horn Fly in Southwestern Texas.— Mr. J. D. Mitchell, of Victoria County, 

 Tex., sends us specimens of the Horn Fly, which, he says, made its appearance in 

 that county in the fall of 1892. They are very abundant this spring, and reached 

 23i23— No. 5 5 



