106 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



injuries to blackberry and to raspberry canes, and last May our 

 attention was called to damage, probably the work of this insect, 

 by Mr J. S. Kimberly, of Hamilton N. Y., who states that the 

 maggots were quite destructive to blackberry and raspberry fields 

 in that locality. 



The parent insect is a small fly, and the most practical method 

 of checking this species is by cutting the wilted tips well below 

 the point of injury as soon as they appear and burning them. 



The raspberry cane-girdler is a small beetle known as O b e r e a 

 bimaculata Oliv., and works in a similar manner. It may 

 be distinguished from the preceding by the fact that it does not 

 begin its burrows till in June, and that the wilting is caused 

 by series of punctures forming two rings around the cane from 

 y 2 to 1 inch apart, which the small beetle makes with its mandi- 

 bles, and between which the egg is deposited. The latter insect 

 may be controlled in the same manner as the preceding. 



Grass and grain insects 



Clover mite, Bryobia pratensis Garm. This little mite 

 is a very common species and occasionally is present in immense 

 numbers toward the end of the season, at which time it may cause 

 serious injury by sucking the vital fluids from the leaves. 



Mr L. L. Woodford, of Berwyn, has recently called our attention 

 to what, for this State, is an abnormal abundance of the eggs. He 

 states that one peachtree was so badly infested that many square 

 inches of its surface presented a red color on account of the 

 abundant eggs. In some places areas the size of a silver dollar 

 appeared as if splashed with red paint. A twig, submitted with 

 his communication, showed myriads of the characteristic eggs 

 around every bud and at the base of each branch. They were so 

 numerous as to give a distinct red coloring to an irregular area 

 around each prominence. Dr C. L. Marlatt has recorded 

 instances where the eggs were much more numerous on trees in 

 the western states, but, so far as known to us, this species is not 

 usually so abundant in the East. The eggs may be destroyed, as 

 shown by experiments of Prof. 0. P. Gillette, by spraying in win- 

 ter with the standard kerosene emulsion diluted with but 5 parts 

 of water. It is very probable that the 10$ or 15$ mechanical 



