104 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



berry, illnstrating his Article on the subject by 

 fifriires;* thouo:h, so far as we can find out, it 

 does not appear that he was acquainted with the 

 sralls that it forms, or, at all events, that he con- 

 sidered the swellingrs produced by it as being 

 what they undoubtedly are— true, genuine, un- 

 mistakable galls. Finally in 1869, through the 

 kind assistance ot Mr. J. B. Miller, of Anna, in 

 South Illinois, who forwarded to us in the April 

 of that year a bountiful supply of these galls, 

 we were enabled to trace the species through 

 all its transformations, and to complete its 

 larval history as a true gall-maker. The fol- 

 lowing remarks by this gentleman on its habits, 

 under date of April 30th, 1869, will, we are 

 sure, be highly appreciated by the horticultural 

 world : 



Thesp borers infest the Philadelphia and Doo- 

 little Raspberrv and the Wilson Blackberry, 

 but thev are seldom found in the High-bush 

 or Rigid-cane varieties. Their habit, as it 

 seems', is to girdle the cane in the previous 

 season, in order to kill it. If they succeed in 

 "this, they are all right; otherwise, they appear 

 to tVppzo out nnd die during the winter, per- 

 haps nwiiiLi to t lie superabundance of sap which 

 tlicii sihtoiiimN rliem. In Blackberry canes this 

 niivfdi-fiiiic Ih'I'.iUs them much more ft-equently 

 tluin ill i;:is|il)iTr\i-aMes. Tliave heard manyeom- 

 plaiiits (luring tlio last winter about the Doo- 

 litlle i;us]il.ciTics wiutPr-killiiis: but I suspect 

 that in re:i.lity it is this little borer, and not the 

 cold weatlier, that has killed them. In fact all 

 of mine that have perished, have perished entire- 

 ly through this cause. 



I fear that this fellow will become in time 

 pretty troublesome here, if raspberrv-growers 

 do not take the proper means to get rid of him. 

 My own plan is to cut the infested canes out 

 and burn them, before the perfect insect emerges 

 from the pith ; for it is there, as you will readily 

 perceive, that he retires to pass into the pupa 

 state, most of them, as I observe, having trans- 

 formed into that state during the last two weeks 

 in Ai)ril. 



Nothing can be more scientifically correct, 

 and, we may add, more practically important, 

 than these last observations of Mr. Miller's, as 

 to the best method of fighting this destructive 

 little pest. From our own observations, we in- 

 cline to believe that the Red-necked Buprestis 

 is much more likely to trouble the Raspberry 

 and Blackberry growers in southern than iu 

 northern latitudes. About eight years ago we 

 noticed a very large number of their galls iu 

 our own Raspberry patch at Rock Island, in 

 North Illinois. Butalthough we gathered great 

 quantities of them about the last of March, 

 when we were pruning and tliinuing out the 

 caues, and although we took the proper means 



Vol. 



for breeding the beetle therefrom, we did not 

 succeed in rearing a single specimen to maturi- 

 ty ; neither could we ever discover in succeed- 

 ing years a single gall in this very same Rasp- 

 berry patch, which contained about three or 

 four dozen hills. Hence we draw the conclu- 

 sion that, in ordinary seasons, the winters of 

 North Illinois are destructive to the species. 



We may add that our Raspberries belonged to 

 two distinct varieties of the imported European 

 species (Subvs /r/^pwA), to which also appertains 

 the Antwerp Raspberry which Prof. Haldemau 

 found to be infested by the Red-necked Bu- 

 prestis. On the other hand, Mr. Miller obtained 

 his galls from the Doolitlle and Philadelphia 

 Raspberries, which are cultivated varieties of 

 our wild Blackcap Raspberry (H. occidentalis) , 

 and some of them Ironi the Wilson Blackberry, 

 which is, we believe, a mere variety of the 

 Common or High Blackberry (B. villosus). 

 Thus it results that the same indigenous gall- 

 making beetle attacks almost indiscriminately 

 three distinct species of the same botanical 

 genus (Bubus) ; one of which, the Common Gar- 

 den Raspberry, is an imported jilaut, while the 

 other two, namely the Blackcap Raspberry and 

 the Common Blackberry, are native Amer- 

 ican citizens. For although iu common parlance 

 we speak of the Raspberry and Blackberry as 

 distinct genera, all botanists agree in classify- 

 ing 'them under one and the same genus. 



The Grape-vine Wound-gall. 



{ Vitie vuhms.) 



In our former article on '• Galls and their Ar- 

 chitects," we described and figured two new 

 galls on the Grape-vine, both of whicli are pro- 

 duced by Gall-gnats. The gall which we are 

 now going to talk about is generated, not by a 

 Gall-gnat, but by a Snout-beetle, and was de- 

 scribed by us for the first time, but without 

 assigning any name to it, in the Missouri Agri- 

 cultural Report for 1868 (pages 131-2). It first 

 becomes visible upon the young caues, and more 

 especially upon those of the Concord variety, 

 towards the latter end of Jul> , the Suout-beetle 

 which produces it generally coming out in the 

 fore part of that mouth. At first it is, as usual 

 with galls, small and inconspicuous; but to- 

 wards the end of the season it assumes the ap- 

 pearance of an elongated knot or swelling, which 

 is for the most part situated immediately above 

 or below a joint (Fig. 70, a). Almost invari- 

 ably there is a longitudinal slit or depression on 

 one side, dividing that side iuto two checks, 

 which generally have a rosy tint. Inside the 



