THE PEAR PHYTOPTUS. 121 



be seen that there has been a living creature there at all. 

 The first step towards a knowledge of this was made 

 nearly a hundred and fifty years ago by Reaumur, the 

 celebrated French entomologist." 



Fortunately for us in Victoria, there is, I believe, no 

 authentic record of the presence of any of the bud- 

 destroying phytopti, which, according to all accounts, are 

 much more to be dreaded than those attacking the leaves 

 only. So far as can be ascertained, as quoted by Murray, 

 there are four species named and described as living in 

 buds, and 46 that prey upon leaves, these latter insects 

 being again subdivided into various genera, and as in 

 tetranycJms, or Red Spider, these bear the generic names 

 of the various plants on which they feed, as pruni, for the 

 plum ; mali, for the apple ; vitis, for the vine, and so on. 



With regard to the life-history of these singular little 

 animals, Mr. Crawford gives it as his opinion, "That there 

 are two ways in which the Mite survives the winter when 

 all the leaves are shed; first, by hybernating among the 

 hairs of and in the leaf-bud, and secondly, by forming 

 colonies under the tender bark of the last year's growth, 

 as I have found them in both situations. It may be the 

 eggs are laid in the buds, as very young leaves, when still 

 unfolding, have often very small galls, which are then ot 

 a pink colour. I expect, therefore, that the majority of 

 the Mites quit the leaves on the approach of their fall, to 

 take up their winter quarters in these places. The Mites 

 that fall with the leaves would soon die, -but their eggs 

 might be blown about with the decayed leaves, and by 

 chance alighting on the pear trees, colonize them. The 

 wind, birds, and insects are, doubtless, the principal means 

 of disseminating this pest in the summer time. The 

 number of living phytopti on an ordinary-sized pear 

 tree that is badly attacked must amount to several thou- 

 sands, if not millions; so that, allowing for a most lavish 

 waste of life, the chances of a few being carried to other 

 pears in the neighbourhood must be considerable." 



Here we have the practical experience of a gentleman 

 who has done so much in a verv unostentatious manne^ 



