REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I913 5^ 



tobacco extract such as black leaf 40, i to 800. This will destroy 

 many of the thrips before they have had an opportunity to find 

 shelters in the buds which have opened just sufficiently so that 

 they can make their way down between the stems of the young 

 fruit. Later, if the insects are numerous, it is advisable to spray 

 with the tobacco extract at the above given strength just as soon as 

 the young pears have separated sufficiently so that the thrips at 

 the base of the stems are exposed. This application, in particular, 

 should be directed so that the spray will be driven down into all 

 the crevices of the fruit clusters. Another spraying with the 

 tobacco extract may be advisable after the blossoms fall. This 

 insect works so rapidly and seeks shelter so persistently that time- 

 liness is a prime essential of the spraying. 



False red bug (Lygidea mendax Reut.) . This pest 

 appears to be on the increase, and last summer was so numerous in 

 an orchard near Poughkeepsie as to deform and practically ruin one- 

 third of a good crop of greenings. Fortunately for the owner there 

 were many apples on the infested trees, and the dwarfing and drop- 

 ping of so much fruit was not so serious as it might have been under 

 other conditions. The red bug injury, according to observations 

 made by Mr C. S. Hubbard, begins on the fruit produced by the 

 late blossoms in the center of the tree, and from these shelters the 

 insects gradually work outward. The young apples are frequently 

 pierced to the core. As they develop, depressions with pithy centers 

 extending deep into the tissues may be noted and there is a marked 

 irregularity in the shape ; many of the apples are dwarfed and drop 

 about midsummer. The insects rarely attract notice; the young 

 bugs are bright red in color and shelter themselves largely in curled 

 leaves, producing conditions resembling a serious plant louse in- 

 festation and with ill-defined, brown spots on the leaves, sug- 

 gestive of sun scald, or on tender foliage there may be a discolora- 

 tion resembling that produced by the four-lined plant bug, P o e - 

 cilocapsus lineatus Fabr., on currant leaves. Small apples 

 are seriously afifected by the feeding punctures as described above, 

 the earliest evidence of injury being a slight exudation accompanied 

 by a local discoloration and hardening. The full-grown bugs are 

 shy and not easily captured. 



Both of the red bugs are about one-quarter of an inch long 

 and have the same general shape as the common and well-known 

 tarnished plant bug, Lygus pratensis Linn. They may be 

 easily recognized by their red color, the young being a brilliant red 

 and somewhat resembling large plant lice, except for the absence 



