27;5 
ANNUAL  REPORT  FOR  1904  OF  THE 
ZOOLOGIST. 
Introduction. 
The  most  striking  feature  in  tlie  insect  attacks  of  the  past  year 
was  the  great  number  of  complaints  of  injury  by  green  fly  or 
blight  insects,  which  seemed  to  be  es})ecially  favoured  by  tlie 
prolonged  dry  weather.  All  the  usual  species  appeared  to  be 
particularly'  abundant,  and  some  that  are  seldom  recorded  made 
their  reappearance;  it  was  noticeable  that  the  air  was  often 
full  of  the  winged  iiisects  to  a degree  which  attracted  the 
attention  of  those  not  especially  concerned  with  their  ravages. 
It  has  been  thought  appropriate  in  the  subjoined  Report  to  give 
a general  account  of  these  troublesome  insects. 
Of  the  ordinary  corn  pests  only  the  wheat  midge  has  been 
inquired  about,  and  this  does  not  seem  to  have  been  particularly 
destructive;  but  the  wireworm  and  the  crane-fly' grub,  which 
are  general  root  feeders,  have  done  some  damage  to  corn  and 
other  crops.  Among  insects  injurious  to  fruit  trees,  the 
winter  moth  and  the  apple-shoot  moth  have  been  complained 
of,  and  the  pear  midge  has  appeared  in  some  new  localities. 
The  apple  saw-fly  also,  which  seems  to  be  a comparatively' 
rare  pest,  has  been  the  subject  of  two  inquiries.  The  apple 
sucker,  which  has  attracted  a good  deal  of  attention  of  late 
years,  again  did  considerable  damage,  though  in  some  cases 
the  less  injurious  apple  aphis  seemed  to  be  mistaken  for  this 
pest. 
An  account  is  given  below  of  the  pea  midge,  an  insect 
which,  though  capable  of  doing  much  harm,  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  noticed  by'  any  of  the  writers  on  economic 
entomology  in  this  country. 
A large  amount  of  time  and  trouble  has  been  expended  on 
the  investigation  of  certain  mites  of  the  genus  Tarsonemiis, 
which  appear  to  be  of  great  importance  to  nurserymen  and 
horticulturists,  and  two  new  species  ai-e  described  below.  It 
has  been  impossible  as  yet  to  carry  the  research  very'  far,  as 
the  cases  were  only'  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Zoologist 
in  the  autumn  ; but  an  opportunity  of  continuing  the  investi- 
gation will,  it  is  hoped,  occur  next  y'ear.  Meanwhile,  the  note 
appended  may  be  of  use  to  other  investigators. 
VOL.  65. 
T 
