INSECTS INJURIOUS TO STONE FRUITS 655 



trees is, however, poorly developed, insipid, and covered with 

 the sooty fungus so as to be almost unsaleable, and the trees are 

 stunted and rendered more liable to the attack of other insects. 



Life History. There is but one generation a year. In the 

 winter they are mostly nearly grown female scales. These mature 

 early in the spring and deposit their eggs in a mass beneath the 

 body, wh'ich forms the hard scale above them. In Missouri the 

 eggs hatch about June 10th, and continue to hatch for a month. 

 The male scales are much smaller than the females, elongate^ 

 slightly convex, and greenish-white in color. Late in July the 

 winged males appear and live about a week. The young female 

 scales continue growth during the summer and hibernate when 

 about two-thirds grown. 



Control. Lime-sulfur wash is entirely ineffective against this 

 species. Kerosene emulsion of 20 or 25 per cent, applied during 

 the dormant season will destroy the hibernating females, according 

 to Sanders. Spraying with kerosene emulsion 15 per cent, or 

 whale-oil soap, 1 pound to 4 or 5 gallons of water, just as the eggs 

 are hatching, is possibly the best treatment. As the eggs hatch 

 for the period of a month, a second application may prove 

 advisable. 



The Black Peach-aphis * 



The black peach-aphis is a native species which has been most 

 injurious in the Middle Atlantic States, but has become widely 

 distributed on nursery trees. It attacks the roots, tender shoots 

 and foliage of the peach. When occurring on the roots, trees are 

 often seriously injured before its presence is suspected. Young 

 trees are particularly affected, the injured trees having a yellowish 

 sickly foliage. Usually, however, the presence of the aphides 

 on the young shoots and leaves will be an indication of its inhab- 

 iting the roots also. In the spring and early summer the aphides 

 cluster on the tender shoots at the crotch of the tree and low 



* Aphis persicae-niger Er. Sm. Family Aphididoe. See C. P. Gillette, 

 Bulletin 133, Colo. Agr. Exp. Sta., p. 37; A. L. Quaintance, Journal of Eco- 

 nomic Entomology, Vol. I, p. 308, Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agr., 1905, p. 342. 



