198 



Insect Pests. 



Life-History and Habits. 

 The wingless viviparous female is black and rather shiny, with 

 yellowish and black legs. This female as a rule appears low down 

 on the leaves in spring and has sprung from an egg laid on the 

 cherry tree. She soon produces pale lice, which darken and grow 

 into wingless viviparous females, and these 

 seem to ascend to the top shoots, over 

 which they swarm and produce countless 

 living young, which spread on to the leaves 

 and feed beneath them and cause them 

 ^^■H^B^X to curl up, and in dry weather soon kill 



J^QSn|k them. In July many change to pupse, 



^^^^MKki^ which have an olive-green appearance 



.WJ^^^H ' with yellowish wing cases. These give 



^QBR^'^ rise to winged viviparous females, which 



^ ^ •. » have a black thorax, greenish abdomen 



and black cornicles, with broad trans- 

 parent wings ; this female is about -^^ i^^^^^ 

 long. What becomes of these I do not 

 know. They certainly suddenl}^ leave the 

 cherry trees. 

 Bnckton (5) records the viviparous form on the currant at the 

 end of October. Do they fly back to the cherry ? 



Certainly we find the eggs on the cherry (6), and the oviparous 

 form has been found there and is described as being dark shiny brown ; 

 the male, which is also found in October, is brownish-black with 

 yello\^'ish abdomen with five brown transverse bars and lateral spots. 

 The egg-laying females I have found as late as the 5th of November 

 on young cherry trees in Kent. The oviparous females are wingless ; 

 the males are winged, and are said by Whitehead to occur in mid 

 September. Each female lays from one to four eggs, sometimes on 

 the shoots, but, I have noticed, especially on any suckers growing 

 round a tree. They are black and shiny and placed near a bud. The 

 time of egg-laying must vary, for we find it recorded from September 

 to October, and it has been seen by myself as late as November. 



Wallace (4) records two swarms during the year, one in June 

 and the other in October. The latter swarm contains the males. 



[F. E. 

 54.— NYMPH OF THE CHEUm 



APHIS (Myzus cerasi). 

 (fireatly enlargerl.) 



PPtEVENTION AND TREATMENT. 



There is no doubt that autumnal washing would do much 

 good by destroying the late generation before the eggs are laid. 



