THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



113 



liLADDKK-PLUMS, 



J'"or luiiiiv year:? we have noticed in the mid- 

 dle of .lunc on particular trees of our coranion 

 wildphuu (Primus (imericana), tliat many spe- 

 cimens of tlie fruit were enlarged to thrice their 

 usual size and were uneven and wrinkled on their 

 external surface instead of being smooth and 

 l)lumply rounded. Ou cutting into snch speci- 

 mens, they are found (o be hollow and spongy 

 inside, instead of solid and fleshy; and almost 

 entirely detached from the exterior rind, there 

 lies in the centre the juicy white stone which is 

 found imbedded in the flesli of the normal plum 

 at this season of the year. On the closest ex- 

 amination, we could never detect in these dis- 

 eased plums any tokens of the operations of 

 insects. 



On June "Jth, 186.S, A. Gilbert, of Tipton, 

 Iowa, sent us two pressed specimens, similar 

 to those which we had ourselves found on the 

 Wild Plum, but gathered from his own plum- 

 orchard, lie did not specify what varieties of 

 jilum lie had in cultivation, but he stated dial 

 with him the disease commenced about lour 

 years ago, and has now taken almost complete 

 possession of his trees. Hence it ^\ould appear 

 that, besides the Curculio, there is. still another 

 destructive pest which the unfortunate jjluni- 

 grower has to guard against. \'eril> , this ^\ orU 

 of growing plums seems to be "the pur-uit of 

 fruit under difKcnIties."' 



We can guarantee that this bladder-like <lc- 

 generation of the plum is not caused bj an> 

 insect. What, then, does cause it, if insects do 

 not? We answer that, in all probabilit;, it is 

 caused by a peculiar parasitic fungus, w liich 

 may, or may not, be identical with one which 

 produces very similar cftects in Europe. In the 

 Loudon Periodical called Science Gossip, for 

 August 1st, 18(3tt, we notice an observation that 

 Bladder-plums, which arc described as being 

 almost exactly like our American ones, are 

 common on the Sloe or Blackthorn (Prunus 

 spinosa) in England, and that they are said to 

 be caused by a Parasitic Fungus (Ascomyces 

 deformans). The fruit presents none of its or- 

 dinary succulent characters, the stone is not 

 formed, and the ovule is more or less atrophied, 

 while sometimes a second carpel is produced. 

 From a recent article on Peach Hot bvDr. T. C. 

 Ililgardof St. Louis, we learn that that gentle- 

 man had had such specimens sent him from 

 Europe by the distinguished botanist. Dr. G. 

 Engelmanu of St. Louis; and that from their 

 showing "au empty, degenerated and inflated 

 germ," they were popularly known there as 



" fools."' The tree on which they occurred is 

 said by Dr. Ililgard to be "Prunus padits," 

 which Gray describes as a small Bird Cherry, 

 which is occasionally planted in this country, 

 and resembles the Choke Cherry, but has longer 

 and looser, and often drooping racemes, and a 

 roughened stone. 



We have ou one or two occasions received 

 these "Bladder-plums" from correspondents 

 in Missouri, and Dr. L. D. Morse, and Juo. 11. 

 Tice of St. Louis, both have found them on the 

 wild Chickasaw plum; but Dr. Hull of S. Illi- 

 nois, informed us some time ago that he had 

 never met with them, and that he was entirely 

 unacquainted with any such disease. Hence 

 we infer that however destructive it may have 

 been elsewhere, it has not yet made its ai)pear- 

 ance in Southern Illinois, and possibly may 

 never do so. 



THE TRUMPET GRAPE-GALh. 



(IV/f. ritiroh, O. 8.) 



On page 28 of the present volume of the 

 Ameuran Entomoujgist wc presented the 

 above illustration (Fig. 76) of this crimson 

 Trumpet Grape-gall, and in answer to D. Mc- 

 Clainc of Piermont, N. Y., stated that it was 

 produced by a gall-gnat, and that it was des- 

 scribed in our manuscripts under the name of 

 T7/('.« Utmis. Wc have since been inlormed by 

 Baron Osten Sacken that this gall is his Vitis 

 ciV/co/a, very briefly described in the "Mono- 

 graphs of the Diptera of N. America," p. 202, 

 as an " elongated, conical, red gall, 0.2.5 to O.IJ 

 long; on the upper side of the leaves of the 

 grape." The gall will therefore be known by 

 the last name, our lituus being invalid. Kefer- 

 riug to this gall in a recent letter, Francis 



