604 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



The European Grain-aphis * 



This species is found on the apple, pear, quince and plum in the 

 spring and fall and on the small grains and various grasses during 

 the summer. Until recently it has been the more common form 

 on apple in the East, but is not now so numerous as the apple- 

 aphis. It is an old European species and was evidently imported 

 to this country at an early date, as it is widely distributed through- 

 out the United States. The wingless females are distinctly 



FIG. 457. The European grain-aphis (Siphocoryne avence Fab.): wingless 

 viviparous female, and egg-laying or oviparous female greatly enlarged. 



smaller than the previous species, and are of a light green color, 

 marked with transverse diamond-shaped bands of darker green 

 across the abdominal segments. The honey-tubes are shorter, 

 distinctly enlarged at the middle and flared at the tip, which 



* Siphocoryne avenae Fab. Family Aphididce. See Th. Pergande, Bulletin 

 44, n. s., Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 5 and authors cited above. The 

 author described this species as Aphis fitchii in 1902, and although there 

 seems to be no question that it feeds on grains and grasses during the summer, 

 there are several reasons for believing that there are either two species or 

 that the life history has not been sufficiently observed. Thus in some sections 

 it is exceedingly common on grain but rare on apple, and in others just the 

 opposite condition is found. Further observation may solve these anomalies. 



