THE PEACH BUD MITE. 105 



Economic Entomologists at their eleventh annual meeting, Columbus, 

 Ohio, in August, 1899, and published in Bulletin No. 20 of the then 

 Division of Entomology. 1 The injury to peach nursery stock in 

 Ohio was, however, considered to be due to the plant-bug Lygus 

 pratensis L., as no evidence was found of the presence of the mite and 

 the extent of injury had been observed to coincide with the abundance 

 of the plant-bug in the nurseries. Also, as stated by nurserymen, 

 the Lygus had been frequently observed at work. 



Dr. John B. Smith described a similar injury to peach in New 

 Jersey under the caption "Peach Thrips," 2 and figures a block of 

 trees badly injured, and also a block of trees which had been sprayed 

 June 9 with undiluted kerosene. In the peach shoots examined by 

 Dr. Smith nothing was found in the dry ones, whereas in every one 

 that was yet moist from 3 to 5 minute, immature thripids were 

 discovered. Dr. Smith's evident conclusion was that the thrips 

 were responsible for the trouble. Also a letter is quoted by Dr. 

 Smith from Prof. W. B. Alwood to the effect that he had worked 

 on the peach thrips since 1891. He was certain injury was due to a 

 thrips and had determined the insect to be tritici. 



In a further note by Prof. Johnson in Entomological News 3 he 

 calls attention to the symptoms of injury by the peach bud mite, 

 and states that the characteristic silvering of the leaves noted by 

 Rolfs and Fuller had not been noticed by him associated with the 

 new mite in Maryland. On the contrary, trees in the nursery rows 

 affected with the peach bud mite were easily distinguished by their 

 dense green foliage and the bunching of twigs. 



In a report of the Virginia State entomologist 4 Mr. J. L. Phillips 

 treats of this affection at some length under the title "Notes on 

 Thrips, Disbudding Insect, or Stop-back of Peach, as Observed in 

 the Nurseries of Virginia." The author states that many unsightly 

 peach trees growing in nurseries in the State had been noted dur- 

 ing the few years previous and that injury appeared to be confined 

 almost entirely to nurseries located in the sandy soils of eastern 

 Virginia, where the trees grow very rapidly when given proper care. 

 Thrips were not observed by Mr. Phillips in sufficient quantity nor 

 in position to fix the responsibility for the disease. On the other 

 hand, mites were found to be very plentiful in the tips of the injured 

 trees in a number of instances, and the conviction was expressed that 

 the trouble was due to them. Experimental evidence on this point 

 was obtained by placing around uninjured seedlings in pots the 

 tops of seedlings showing the affection, with the result that the 



i Bui. 20, n. s., Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 72, 1899. 



2 Twelfth Ana. Rept. N. J. Agr. Coll. Exp. Sta., 1899 (1900), p. 427. 



3 Ent. News, vol. 10, May, 1900, p. 471. 



« Fifth Rept. Va. State Ent. and Path., pp. 50-61, 1904-05. 



