104 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



berry, illnstrating- his Article on the subject by 

 figures;* though, so far as we can find out, it 

 does not appear that he was acquainted with the 

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

 sidered the swellings 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 remarksby this gentleman on its habits, 

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

 sure, be highly appreciated by the horticultural 

 world : 



These borers infest the Philadelphia and Doo- 

 little Raspberry 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 freeze out and die during the winter, per- 

 haps owing to the superabundance of sap which 

 then surrounds them. In Blackberry canes this 

 misfortune befalls them much more frequently 

 than in Raspberrv canes. Ihave heard many com- 

 plaints during the last winter about the Doo- 

 litfle Raspberries winterrkilling; but I suspect 

 that in reality it is this little borer, and not the 

 cold weather, 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-grow^ers 

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

 My own plan is to out the infested canes out 

 and burn them, before the perfect insect emerafes 

 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 April. 



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 in 

 northern latitudes. About eight years ago we 

 noticed a very large number of their galls in 

 our own Raspberry patch at Rock Island, in 

 North Illinois. But although we gathered great 

 quantities of them about the last of March, 

 when we were pruning and thinning out the 

 caues, and although we took the proper means 



Quarterly Journal of Science and Agriculture, 1846; see 

 also a paragrapli by the same aathor in the Farm Journal, 

 Vol. 1.0.193. 



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 oidinary 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 {Rubus Idaeus), to which also appertains 

 the Antwerp Raspberry which Prtif. Haldenian 

 found to be infested by the Red-necked Bu- 

 prestis. On the other hand, Mr. Miller obtained 

 his galls from the Doolittle and Philadelphia 

 Raspberries, which are cultivated varieties of 

 our wild Blackcap Raspberry {R. occidentalis), 

 and some of them Irom the Wilson Blackberry, 

 which is, we believe, a mere variety of the 

 Common or High Blackberry (jB. villosus). 

 Thus it results that the same indigenous gall- 

 making beetle attacks almost indiscriminately 

 three distinct species of the same botanical 

 genus (Rubus) ; one of which, the Common Gai- 

 den Raspberry, is an imported plant, while the 

 other two, namely the Blackcap Raspberry and 

 the Common Blackberry, are native Amer- 

 ican citizens. For although in 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 fxrape-yine Wound-gall. 



( Vitis vulnus.) 



In our former article on " Galls and their Ar- 

 chitects," we described and figured two new 

 galls on the Grape-vine, both of which 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 anj' name to it, in the Missouri Agri- 

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

 becomes visible upon the young canes, and more 

 especially upon those of the Concord variety, 

 towards the latter end of July, the Snout-beetle 

 which produces it generally coming out in the 

 fore part of that month. 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 knotorswelling, 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 into two checks, 

 which' generally have a rosy tint. Inside the 



