234 HEMIPTERA. 



soon assumes an unhealthy appearance, its growth is checked, 

 its leaves and shoots curl up, and the tree dies by degrees, 

 if not freed from its troublesome guests. Kollar recommends 

 brushing off the insects, when young, with a brush of hog's 

 bristles, and crushing under foot those that fall ; and also 

 advises to search for the winged females in the spring, and 

 destroy them by hand. Such a process would be altogether 

 too tedious and uncertain here. I would therefore suggest 

 the expediency of washing the twigs with a brush dipped 

 in a mixture of strong soap-suds and flour of sulphur. If 

 this be done before the buds expand, the latter will not be 

 injured thereby, while the application will be likely to deter 

 the insects from laying their eggs on the tree. A weaker 

 application of the same, or the common solution of whale-oil 

 soap, may suffice to kill the young insects after they have 

 fastened themselves upon the bark. If the latter be thrown 

 upon the trees with a syringe, it will destroy the insects 

 on the leaves also. 



Others, both sexes of which are also winged, have long 

 and slender bodies, very narrow wings, which are fringed 

 with fine hairs, and lie flatly on the back when not in use. 

 They are exceedingly active in all their motions, and seem 

 to leap rather than fly. They live on leaves, flowers, in 

 buds, and even in the crevices of the bark of plants, but 

 are so small that they readily escape notice, the largest 

 being not more than one tenth of an inch in length. These 

 minute and slender insects belong to the genus Thrips. 

 Their punctures appear to poison plants, and often produce 

 deformities in the leaves and blossoms. The peach-tree 

 sometimes suffers severely from their attacks, as well as 

 from those of the true plant-lice ; and they are found be- 

 neath the leaves, in httle hollows caused by their irritating 

 punctures. 



The same applications that are employed for the destruc- 

 tion of plant-lice may be used with advantage upon plants 

 infested with the Thrips. Mrs. N. G. S. Gage, formerly of 



