48 



probably due to an irritation in the tissues of the plant 

 caused by its feeding. They are lined with a thick growth 

 of very fine hairs (Fig.'46), among which 

 the mites live. The leaf-blister mite is 

 almost microscopic in size. It is so 

 small that even when very abundant 

 the individual mites can scarcely be 

 seen, even with the aid of a good magni- 

 fying glass". The amount of injury 

 done by the pest is sometimes very 

 severe, but the loss from this cause has 

 been less since planters and others have 

 become more familiar with it. 



The leaf-blister mite first occurred 

 as a pest of cultivated cotton in 

 Montserrat, in 1903. It was soon 

 afterward found to be attacking cotton, 

 both wild and cultivated, in all the other islands of the 

 Leeward and Windward groups. It has not, however, made 

 its appearance in.JBarbados.* 



Fig. 46. Section 



through gall made by 



leaf -blister mite on 



cotton leaf. 



Greatly enlarged, 



(From N.Y. 



Entom. Soc.) 



Fig. 47. Cotton leaf attacked by leaf-blister mite. 

 Reduced. (Original ) 



* Since this pamphlet has been in the press the leaf blister mite has 

 been found on cotton in Barbados (Feb. 1912). 



