204 THE MINIATUEE FEUIT GAEDEN 



or else syringed with them. The prunings should 

 always be carefully destroyed. 



The American Blight, Woolly Aphis (ScMzoneura 

 lanigera), infests the apple, and may be recognised by 

 the white cottony or woolly-looking growth on the 

 insect, whence one of its names. This aphis is chiefly 

 to be found in neglected orchards, where it collects in 

 the cracks in the bark, &c., of the trees. The washes of 

 soap recommended for the other aphides may also be 

 used successfully for this species. 



The Mussel Scale (Mytilaspis pomorum), so called from 

 its resemblance to a minute mussel scale, attacks many 

 different kinds of trees, but particularly the apple. The 

 scales are not the iasects themselves, but a covering by 

 which the female, a whitish grublike iasect, is sheltered, 

 and under which she lays her eggs and then dies. The 

 male is a minute two-winged fly. The young ones 

 which hatch from these eggs are very small, flat, and 

 whitish. They have eyes, antenna or feelers, a rostra 

 or beak, and six legs, and run about actively for a short 

 time before they settle down, fix themselves on to the 

 bark, and after a time change to pupae. They 

 damage the young shoots by inserting their rostra 

 and sucking away the sap, also injuring the cells of the 

 shoot. The scales should be removed by lathering the 

 shoots with soft soap and then scraping them with a 

 blunt knife. It is best done in the spring, as then the 

 larvae are also killed. 



The Oyster Scale (Biaspis ostreceformis) is another 



