CHERRY AND HAWTHORN SAWFLY LEAF MINER 
By P. J. Parrott, Entomologist , and B. B. Fui/con, Assistant Entomologist , New 
York Agricultural Experiment Station , Geneva, N. Y . 
INTRODUCTION 
The existence in the State of New York of a leaf miner attacking 
cherry (Prunus spp.) foliage was brought to the attention of the Experi¬ 
ment Station by the receipt of affected foliage during the latter part of 
June, 1910. An examination of the orchard from which the material 
had been collected showed that more or less of the leaves on nearly all 
of the trees of a variety known as English Morello had shriveled and died, 
while here and there were others with well-defined light-colored areas or 
blisters, revealing a loss of chlorophyll. Siftings of earth from beneath 
the trees showed that the causal agent was the larva of a species of 
sawfly. A number of these were carried through successive stages of 
development to the following year, when adults were obtained. Some 
specimens were forwarded to Dr. A. D. MacGillivray, formerly of Cornell 
University, who reported that the insect represented a new species, the 
type of a new genus, and should be recorded as Profenusa collaris. The 
information was also given that the creature had been reared from the 
hawthorn (Crataegus spp.). 
HOST PLANTS OF SAWFLY LEAF MINER 
According to present knowledge, the host plants of the sawfly leaf miner 
are the cherry and the hawthorn. Of the cherries, it has so far largely 
confined its attacks to the English Morello variety. It is not commonly 
observed with the Montmorency or Early Richmond, which would indi¬ 
cate that its presence on these varieties is accidental and occurs when 
they are grown in proximity to the English Morello. The susceptibility of 
one fruit and the apparent unattractiveness or resistance to the insect 
of the other fruits is a curious fact, since all are cultivated varieties of 
the same cherry, Prunus cerasus , and plantings of each kind, growing 
side by side, may be frequently observed in this State. The two sorts, 
Montmorency and English Morello, represent groups of cherries which 
vary more or less in both tree and fruit but have a constant difference 
only in a single character—the juice in the fruits of one is colorless; in 
the other it is red. This sharp discrimination on the part of the sawfly 
leaf miner seems all the more anomalous when considered in the light of 
its extreme partiality to the foliage of certain hawthorns which are only 
remotely related to the cherry. 
( 5 * 9 ) 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
bi 
Vol. V, No. 12 
Dec. 20, 1915 
N. Y. (Geneva)—4 
