REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 197 



" During the winter there may often be 

 found in the crevices and cracks of the 

 bark of the twigs of the apple tree, and 

 also about the base of the buds, a number 

 of very minute, oval, shining black eggs. 

 These are the eggs of the Apple-tree 

 Aphis, known also as the Apple - leaf 

 Aphis, Aphis malifolice Fitch. They are 

 deposited in the autumn, and when first 

 laid are of a light yellow or green color, 

 but gradually become darker, and finally { /™: g ^ apferous P vivfplro^4 S 



kl^k v male - [After Weed.] 



"As soon as the buds begin to expand in the spring, these eggs 

 hatch into tiny lice, which locate themselves upon the swelling buds 

 and the small, tender leaves, and, inserting their beaks, feed on the 

 juices. All the lice thus hatched at this period of the year are [vivi- 

 parous] females, and reach maturity in ten or twelve days, when they 

 commence to give birth to living young, producing about two daily for 

 two or three weeks, after which the older ones die. The young locate 

 about the parents as closely as they can stow themselves, and they also 

 mature and become mothers in ten or twelve days, and are as prolific 

 as their predecessors. They thus increase so rapidly that as fast as 

 new leaves expand colonies are ready to occupy them. As the season 

 advances, some of the lice acquire wings, and, dispersing, found new 

 colonies on other trees. When cold weather approaches, males as well 

 as females are produced, and the season closes with the deposit of a 

 stock of eggs for the continuance of the species another year." 



The habits of this aphis are very similar to that of the Boxelder 

 Plant-louse, mentioned in the report for 1889; and it is usually kept 

 within bounds by the same insect enemies that attack that and other 

 plant lice. 



REMEDIES. ( 



The kerosene emulsion if sprayed over the trees at the time of 

 hatching or afterwards will kill all the lice that it reaches. If strong 

 soap-suds are sprayed upon the trees at the time the buds are opening, 

 or if weak lye or tobacco water be used instead, many of the young 

 lice will be destroyed. Saunders says: " A frost occurring after a few 

 days of warm weather will kill millions of them ; in the egg state the 



