196 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9IO. 



COLOPHA ULMICOLA 



Byrsocrypta itlmicola Fitch. 



TheJaxcs idmicola Walsh. 



Pemphigus idmicola Packard. 



Pemphigus idmicola Smith. 



Colopha idmicola Monell. 



Glyphina ulmicola Thomas. 



Colopha compressa (Koch) Lichtenstein and Cholodkov- 



sky et al. 

 Colopha eragrostidis Middleton. 



In spite of the fact that this species is recorded by many and 

 from many locahties, very few original observations have been' 

 published since the Riley-Monell paper. From the character of 

 most of the records of Colopha ulmicola it is c[uite impossible to 

 tell whether they refer to idmicola or colophoidea. Probably a 

 verbatim quotation of the more significant accounts would be a 

 convenience for the purposes of this bulletin, — that is to bring 

 together what is known concerning the gall aphids of the elm 

 for America. 



Fitch's characterization (1858) is reproduced entire as fol- 

 lows : 



"347. Elm Gall-louse, Byrsocrypta Ulmicola, new species (Homoptera. 

 Aphidae.) 



"In June, an excrescence or follicle like a cock's comb, arising abruptly 

 from the upper surface of the leaf, usually about an inch long and a 

 quarter of an inch high, compressed and its sides wrinkled perpendicular- 

 ly and its summit irregularly gashed and toothed, of a paler green color 

 than the leaf and more or less red on the side exposed to the sun ; open- 

 ing on the under side of the leaf by a long slit-like orifice ; mside 

 wrinkled perpendicularly into deep plaits and occupied by one f-^male 

 and a number of her young, some of which are often strolling o'.itside 

 upon the under surface of the leaf, minute oval yehowish white lice 0.02 

 long, with blackish legs, the female more or less coated with white meal 

 on her back, 0.07 long, oval and pale yellow with blacklish legs and 

 antennae. Though I have not yet met with winged individuals, they in 

 all probability pertain to the genus to which I have referred this species 

 above. The galls may frequently be noticed on elm leaves. By the mid- 

 dle of summer they become tenantless, dry and hard and of a blackish 

 brown color." 



Walsh's (1862) description of the insect reads: 

 "Thelaxes ulmicola Fitch. New imago. — Black, more or less pruinose. 

 Legs with the base of the femora and of the tibiae sometimes pale. 



