368 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 1908. 



No observations were made in regard to natural enemies 

 except that a white mite resembling somewhat the figure of "an 

 enemy of the blister mite" * was found October 13 upon one 

 of the galls. A sufficient remedy would apparently be found in 

 cutting off and burning the galls before the first of October. 



As there seemed to be no record for America for the species 

 of mites causing these galls, material was sent to Mr. P. J. Par- 

 rott through whose courtesy the following statements are made 

 possible. 



An examination of the material sent Mr. Parrott November 

 4 showed that the mites had left the flower galls but large num- 

 bers of Eriophyids were taken from the buds, in which the 

 species responsible for the flower galls appear to hibernate. 

 One of the two species present is Briophyes fraxini (Karp.) 

 Nal. which is said to cause flower galls on the European and 

 the green ash in Europe. The other is a new species. This 

 has been described by Mr. Hodgkiss and has been designated 

 by him in his manuscript as Briophyes fraxiniphila. 



The brief description used here with the kind permission of 

 Mr. Hodgkiss gives the following characters by which this mite 

 may be recognized : 



"Body long and narrow. Thoracic shield small. The dorsal 

 setae are of medium length and are widely separated. The legs 

 are stout and the feathered hair has four rays. The thoracic 

 seta? are present. The striae on the dorsum and ventrum of the 

 abdomen are narrow, closely punctured and number about 

 seventy. Abdominal setae are present. The third pair of 

 thoracic setae and the first and second pairs of ventral setae are 

 long. The females measure about 220 microns in length and 

 about 40 microns in width, while the males average about 190 

 microns in length and 46 microns in width. The color of the 

 mites varies from white with pinkish reflections to a deep 

 salmon color in the hibernating- forms." 



*Seius pomi Parrott. N. Y. Agric. Exp. Sta., Bui. 283, plate IV. 



