148 



unless the owner is on the watch for it. It was probably 

 brought to Connecticut from Europe on an importation of 

 young pear trees in 1832, since which time it has spread 

 everywhere through ISTew England and as far west as Mich- 

 igan and Illinois. 



The insect passes the winter in the winged adult condition, 

 hiding under loose pieces of bark, in crevices, or anywhere it 

 can find protection. After a few warm days in spring the 

 eggs are laid, chiefly near where the leaves of the previous 

 year had been attached to the twigs, and in creases on the 

 bark. The eggs, which are orange yellow at first, are at- 

 tached to the tree by a short stalk, and are so small that 

 eighty would need to be placed end to end to measure an inch. 



The length of time spent in the egg is dependent upon the 

 Aveather. If this be warm, the eggs may hatch in two weeks ; 

 but if it be cold, the young may not appear for over a month. 

 When they do appear, however, they crawl to some suitable 

 place and begin to suck the sap from the tree, seeming to 

 prefer the angles between the leaf and fruit stems and the 

 twigs to which these are attached ; and as larger numbers ap- 

 pear later in the season they " overflow " from these places 

 to the under side of the leaves and on the leaf stalks. While 

 feeding, the young produce quantities of a sweetish, sticky 

 fluid called " honey dew," which drops onto stems, leaves or 

 the ground beneath the tree, and gradually dries. Ants, 

 wasps and bees find this material much to their taste, and 

 gather in large numbers to feed upon it. In some cases 

 when the psylla is particularly abundant such quantities of 

 honey dew are produced that it falls like a fine rain, and in 

 any case when it dries it forms an ideal place in which a 

 black, sooty fungus may grow, and this gradually turns such 

 places black, and gives the leaves and twigs the appearance 

 of having been covered with soot. This fungus does not 

 itself attack the tree, but where it is present it and the honey 

 dew close up many of the openings through which the tree 

 obtains its air, and thus indirectly affect its health. 



The young psyllas suck the juices from the tree, and molt 

 several times during their growth as their skins become too 



