466 Insect Pests. 



and farther over the field." Those that had the greatest amount of 

 last year's old leaves on their crowns were the most affected. Writing 

 on the 24th of May, Mr. Bickham stated that " though the attack is 

 certainly a severe one, I cannot say that the blooms, which are now 

 in profuse numbers, are on the whole smaller than they should be, 

 but the stalks which carry them are not so thick and vigorous as 

 they should be." 



Plants sent were kept under control in the open, and it was 

 observed that the trusses of blossom did not suffer very much, but 

 the fruit was affected to no small extent. Yet in spite of what was 

 undoubtedly a very severe attack at Ledbury, the grower picked over 

 two tons of fruit to the acre. 



This insect was not confined to Ledbury, observations showing it 

 to occur for a considerable distance around, one record being some 

 twenty miles away. Specimens of the same aphis were also sent 

 me by Mr. Buley from AYoodnesborough, near Dover. So far 

 Hereford and Kent are the only localities recorded. Probably it 

 will be found elsewhere. The plants were kept under careful observa- 

 tion for some time, and repeated generations of lice were produced, 

 and two winged generations occurred. During a few days' absence 

 from home, the plants were left and dried up, and the history was 

 broken until early in February, when plants from the worst part of 

 the attacked beds near Ledbury were received. These were carefully 

 examined, and black aphis eggs were found on the leaves in small 

 numbers. The ova were in all cases placed on the underside of the 

 leaves near a vein, some near the mid vein, others almost at the edge 

 of the leaf, but always lying alongside a vein. Certainly most were 

 found on old leaves, but not all ; one or two on quite young ones. 

 This shows that the oviparous females must have occurred very late, 

 later even than we get in the apple aphides. 



The ova commenced to hatch on the 12th of March and continued 

 to do so until the 5th of April. The young coming from these 

 winter eggs were very sluggish, dark green, lice. Early in April they 

 became more active and grew more rapidly, and became fully-formed 

 "stem mothers" by the middle of the month and were busy 

 reproducing. Careful search was made at the roots of the infested 

 plants, but no trace of any aphides could be found. It is, therefore, 

 apparent that this strawberry aphis passes the winter solely in the 

 egg stage on the leaves and does not migrate. 



One noticeable feature is that where there is an excessive and 

 dense foliage the aphis is most abundant. On opening some of the 

 plants sent from Hereford, literally thousands of lice and winged 



