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FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGIST 
Official Organ of The Florida Entomological Society, Gainesville, 
Florida. 
Urals WATSON 22 ce.o dso ae oe toon es ne eens Our ae a ae Sea Editor 
IWVAEE; WEOIN INS Wie 00-25 22s oo toca cs seceevee diesen eee Associate Editor 
Gai 6 Webi 83 02) : Heke de eee ae eb ie Ren ear ie ie Business Manager 
Issued once every three months. Free to all members of the 
Society. 
Subscription price to non-members is $1.00 per year in ad- 
vance; 85 cents per copy. 
THE APHID SITUATION 
The new citrus aphis has at last been identified. Dr. Baker 
of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology states that it is Aphis spirea- 
cola Patch., an insect whose known distribution covers most of 
the United States. Miss Patch, who described the species, is now 
of the opinion that it is identical with Aphis pomi, the Green 
Apple Aphis. At the Station we have been able to readily trans- 
fer the aphis from citrus to apple. 
The origin of the outbreak still remains a mystery. Has the 
insect only recently reached our citrus section, or has it recently 
developed a strain with an appetite for citrus, or has it been here 
on citrus in small numbers for many years to develop into a severe 
pest during the last two years because of weather or other favor- 
ing conditions? It is unfortunate that we cannot definitely 
answer that question, for on the answer hinges the probable 
future of the pest. If either of the first two guesses is the correct 
one, we may expect a prolonged fight. If the last is the true one, 
as Dr. Baker seems to think, we may look for a slump in its num- 
bers perhaps as complete and sudden as its rise. Undoubtedly 
the aphids are fewer now than at any time since March. But 
the present ebb in numbers may be a seasonal rather than a per- 
manent one. All aphids are always scarce at this season of the 
year and there was a similar slump in the numbers of the new 
aphis last summer. If the outbreak of last spring was caused by 
favorable weather conditions one would expect that there would 
