THE CLOVEE MITE. 3 



panying the original description ^ is the following note by Dr. S. A. 

 Forbes, State entomologist of Illinois : 



At Normal, early in May. the general occurrence of a large and conspicuous 

 brownish red mite was noticed upon clover and bluegrass, the former of these 

 plants, especially, sometimes suffering severely from the pest. The leaves of 

 the clover tui-ned yellow and their growth was arrested where the mite was 

 abundant. The effect upon the bluegrass was similar. 



As a matter of fact, the bureau records contain reports of the 

 occurrence of the species over the territory indicated by the map 

 (fig. 2). These records illustrate its great variety of food plants as 

 well as the effect of climatic and other natural conditions upon its 

 habits; they are, however, far too voluminous to include in a publi- 

 cation of the nature of this circular. 



DESCRIPTIONS. 



These mites are sufficiently shown in figure 1 to obviate the neces- 

 sity for a lengthy description. "Wlien young they are of a decidedly 

 red color, but become brown when fully deA'eloped, even then being 

 smaller than the head of a pin. They are very familiar objects 

 moving about over cloA-er leaves that have a more or less whitish 

 appearance. The discoloration of the leaves is in part due to the 

 feeding of the mites, and also to the tiny white web that they leave 

 behind them as they move about. The eggs are minute, round, red, 

 and shining. 



FOOD PLANTS. 



From the foregoing it will be observed that this mite is a general 

 feeder and may be expected to attack clovers, alfalfa, bluegrass. and 

 probabh' other grasses, among them timothy. It may affect oats and 

 probabh' other grains including buckwheat. Mr. George P. Weldon 

 calls attention to the fact that it had not been observed attacking 

 L'pricot or quince and appeared less on peach than on most other 

 fruits in Colorado.- 



Judging from what sve know of an allied species, Tetr'anychus 

 hitnaculatus Harvey, the pest is likely to become more abundant 

 and injurious in the drier sections of the country than where the 

 atmosphere is more humid. It does not necessarily follow that the 

 mite will attack the foliage of the tree on which it has deposited eggs. 



SEASONAL HISTORY. 



Throughout the eastern portion of the country the life cycle and 

 seasonal histor}^ of this species probably do not materially differ 

 from those of other mites. With the coming of cold weather in late 



1 Loc. cit. 



2 Bui. 152, Colo. Agr. Coll. Exp. Sta., p. 6, 1909. 



