72 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the terminal part of tibia brown; terminal part and tibia and tarsi 

 yellow, a double row of twelve strong spines on the inner side of 

 hind tibia, several inconspicuous spines on fore and middle pairs. 



Abdomen about two and one-half times as long as width of meso- 

 thorax, cylindrical to eighth segment, then abruptly pointed. Spines 

 on sides and around tip of abdomen dark brown, conspicuous ; those 

 on last two segments are long and approximately equal. Color of 

 abdomen dark brown, connective tissue yellow. 



The young closely resemble the adult structurally, though there 

 is a variation in size, and this stage is also characterized by the 

 absence of wings. 



Life history. Investigations on both sides of the continent show 

 that this pest winters in the soil, appearing upon the trees as the 

 young leaves push from the buds, and feeds by preference upon the 

 more tender and essential parts of the fruit buds. The slender, 

 dark brown thrips may be found crawling between the partly opened 

 leaves and working their way to the base of clusters of fruit buds. 

 This habit of sheltering themselves among the growing tissues ma- 

 terially lessens the efficacy of spray applications. Buds thickly in- 

 fested with thrips become sticky, the blossom buds assume a brown, 

 blasted appearance, the bud scales drop in unusual numbers, while 

 affected blossom clusters gradually shrivel and fall. The stems of 

 the young fruits are also injured, frequently resulting in an early 

 dropping. The affected leaves are small, more or less crinkled, and 

 with a characteristio spoon-shaped development. This condition may 

 be true of extended areas, limited to a few trees here and there in 

 an orchard, or confined to portions of trees and, in the latter in- 

 stance, result in a very uneven setting of fruit (see plates i, 2). 



The microscopic eggs are deposited in minute slits in leaf and 

 blossom stems. The whitish, red-eyed young soon appear and feed 

 like the darker parents, on the tender leaves for about two weeks, 

 drop to the ground and remain in the soil unchanged till fall. The 

 insects produce small wounds on the foliage, the aff'ected tissues 

 drop out or break and seriously injured leaves are, as a consequence, 

 badly perforated and quite ragged in appearance. 



Food plants. This minute enemy attacks a variety of deciduous 

 fruits, having been recorded from apple, apricot, cherry, fig, grape, 

 peach, pear, plum, prune, quince and the English walnut. The prin- 

 cipal damage, as indicated by the common name, is to the pear. 



Distribution. This insect was first discovered in California, has 

 been recorded from a number of localities in the Hudson valley and 

 at Geneva, and also reported from England. Its minute size and 



