10 



4. The Tree Cricket (CEcanthus nivev.^ Serv.) 



Of all the insects affecting the canes of the raspberry, this in our experience is the most 

 troublesome ; it is not, however, confined to the raspberry, we have already referred to it at 

 some length as injuring grape vine canes in our paper on " Insects Injurious to the Grape," 

 in the report for 1870. We shall notwithstanding, even at the risk of a little repetition, detail 



its history and describe its manner of 

 ^ working, since no doubt to many of our 



present readers the report of 1870 is not 

 ^ available. In the accompanying cut, fig 5 

 represents the male and fig 6, the female. 

 Their colour is pale green, and they are 



exceedingly lively and musical, chirping merrily among the green leaves all 

 the day. The perfect insects appear in the fall of the year, and it is then 

 that the mischief making female in the carrying out of her instinctive 

 desire to protect her progeny becomes such an enemy to the raspberry 

 grower. She is furnished with a long ovipositor which she thrusts more 

 than half way through the cane and down the opening'' thus made she 

 places one of her long narrow yellow eggs, a second one is then deposited in the same manner 

 alongside of the first, and thus the work is continued until from five to fifteen eggs or more 

 have been placed in a row. The stem of the plant thus operated on is very much weakened, 

 and is liable to break off on very slight provocation, or where this does not occur the branch 

 sometimes dies beyond the punctured part; should it, however, survive and also escape being 

 broken in winter, it is very apt to break from its own weight as soon as the foliage appears in 

 spring, and thus the crop of fruit which would otherwise be secured is lost. 



Early in spring the eggs begin to swell, and about midsummer, or sometimes a little 

 earlier, the young insects appear, which much resemble the perfect insect in form, but lack 

 the wings. When first hatched they feed on plant lice, and very probably continue to do so 

 until nearly full grown. We have seen the matured insect feeding occasionally on ripe plums. 

 Since they are known to destroy plant lice, it has been urged by some that they should be 

 treated rather as friends than enemies ; but we are of opinion that the injury they do far 

 more than counterbalances any good deeds which can be placed to their credit, and we should 

 heartily vote for their destruction. In the first place we would advise fruit growers to kill a& 

 many of the perfect insects in the fall as possible, which may be done by suddenly jarring the 

 canes, when the insects fall to the ground, and then before they have time to hop or fly away 

 stamp on them with the foot. The second and probably the most effectual way to lessen their 

 numbers is to cut out, late in the fall or early in the spring, all those portions of the canes 

 which contain eggs, and burn them. Wherever the eggs are deposited the regular rows of 

 pinhole punctures can be readily seen, and ofttimes their presence is rendered more promi- 

 nently apparent by a partial splitting of the cane. We have dissected the bodies of many of 

 the females at different times, and found them to contain from twelve to sixteen eggs; it is 

 possible that, in the case of all we have thus examined, some eggs may have been placed 

 before the insects came into our possession ; still we do not think that the number of eggs 

 ever exceeds much the highest figure given. 



Besides attacking the canes of the raspberry and grape, the tree cricket often injurcB 

 those of the blackberry and the smaller branches of plum, peach and some other trees : but 

 above all others they seem to have a preference for the canes of the Black-cap raspberry. 



AFFECTING THE FLOWERS. 



5. The Pale Brown Byturus (By turns unicolor. Sat). 



This insect is a small beetle which we have found to be very destructive to the blossoms 

 of the raspberry. It is a native of America, and was first described by Thomas Say in 1823 

 from a specimen brought from Arkansas. It is a little more than one-eighth of an inch long 

 — Say's specimen was three-twentieths — of a pale reddish or yellowish brown colour, and 

 densely covered with fine pale yellowish hairs. The surface when seen under a magnifying 

 power is thickly punctured. Dr. Packard, State Entomologist of Massachusetts, in hi* 



