586 



The Black Currant Gall-Mite. [Jan., 



although the work has been reported upon in 1904,* 1905,! and 

 I906,t and a further report will be issued shortly, a general 

 Hsume of the work up-to-date may prove useful. 



When the work was commenced there was little reliable in- 

 formation respecting the life-history of this particular species. 

 It was, therefore, absolutely necessary to make a careful and 

 detailed study of the mite and its habits. Before the work 

 was sufficiently advanced to publish an account of these investi- 

 gations, various papers were published which deserve mention. 



Firstly, in I90i,§ Mr. Robert Newstead issued a valuable 

 paper, in which much of the life-history was given, together 

 with an account of various experiments with different insecti- 

 cides, &c. 



This was followed in 1902II by a very full and interesting 

 account by Mr. E. J. Lewis, the most complete account which 

 had up to that time been given. Later in the same year Mr. 

 Cecil Warburton and Miss Embleton added a number of in- 

 teresting facts.^ 



In 1904 I issued an account of the results obtained from my 

 five years' work, and numerous short accounts of the mites' 

 life-history have since been published, compiled from the above- 

 mentioned papers. 



Extensive spraying experiments were carried out at Woburn, 

 and an account of these was given in the Second Report of the 

 Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm in 1900 (see pp. 13 — 20). 



The Black C2irrant Bud Disease. — The appearance of diseased 

 plants has been described by Newstead.** It is not difficult to 

 recognize. If -we take a portion of an infested tree, it will be 

 noticed that certain of the buds have a distinctly globular or 

 swollen appearance and are more or less distorted, whereas the 

 normal buds are smaller and conical. When buds are badly 

 attacked they never open into leaf, but for a time they retain 



* " Some Recent Investigations on the Black Currant Gall-Mite.'' Birmingham, 

 1904. 



t "Report on the Injurious Insects . . . observed in the Midland Counties 

 during 1904." Birmingham, 1905. 



X "Report on the Injurious Insects „ , . observed in the Midland Counties 

 during 1905." Birmingham, 1906. 



§ Journal, Royal Horticultural Society, 1901, vol. xkv., pp. I-15, 7 text figs. 



li " Rpts. S.-E. Agric. Coll., Wye, 1902," pp. 1-26, i pit. and i text fig. 



II " Linn. Soc. Journ. — Zool.," 1902, vol. xxviii., pp. 366-378, pis. 33, 34. 

 Journal, Royal Horticultural Society, 1901, vol. xxv., pp 1-15, 7 text figs. 



