60 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



fruit worms and occasionally cause serious injury in orchards by 

 gnawing holes in the small fruit. Observations in apple orchards at 

 both Poughkeepsie and Bangall the latter part of May showed these 

 pests to be unusually abundant, and in an orchard at Kinderhook 

 small pear trees only three years old were rather commonly infested 

 with four or five caterpillars. The pests were so numerous in this 

 latter case as to cause an appreciable amount of injury to the foliage. 



Observations of Professor Herrick in 19 13 showed that these 

 moths fly in very early spring and deposit their whitish or flesh- 

 colored, ribbed, flattish globose eggs singly in scars, especially leaf 

 scars on the branches. The larval habit of eating into the young 

 fruit makes it difficult to control this species satisfactorily by ordinary 

 spraying, though as a rule the pests are not very destructive in well- 

 sprayed orchards. 



Pear thrips (Euthrips pyri Dan.). This new and minute 

 insect pest has been very injurious locally here and there in the 

 Hudson valley. On May 12th we examined a pear orchard at 

 Clarksville of some 1000 trees which, we were informed, bore a full 

 crop last year and showed nothing in the way of blossom blight. 

 The Seckle and Bartlett pears were badly injured, one-half to three- 

 fourths or even more of the blossoms being blighted. The Kieflers 

 were practically free from the trouble and were just breaking into 

 bloom. A most remarkable condition was observed the latter part 

 of May in a small pear orchard at Bangall. The trees, mostly Seckles, 

 were very badly infested and the damage was so pronounced in the 

 case of a number as to result not only in the blasting of the blossoms, 

 but the destruction of the young leaves so that the upper half of the 

 trees was practically bare, while the lower, branches were in fairly 

 good foliage. The crop of Seckle pears in this orchard was practi- 

 cally ruined and there was a serious reduction in the yield of the 

 Bartletts. A larger pear grower near Hudson reported an estimated 

 loss of 300 barrels of Seckle pears. Mr William Albright of New 

 Baltimore considered that the pest had been unusually injurious, 

 owing to the cold, backward weather holding the buds in check 

 and giving the thrips an extended opportunity for work. The 

 injury was confined mostly to the Seckles. and he noted a marked 

 restriction of the infestation to trees standing in low places or under 

 a hill. He also observed an abundance of thrips on certain apple 

 trees, having counted as many as 19 in one blossom. A pronounced 

 limitation to certain localities or portions of orchards continues 

 to be a feature of attacks by this pest, and in the ease of the Clarks- 

 ville orchard it would appear as though there may have keen a some- 



