956 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. V, No. at 
During the summer the writers were assisted by Miss Dorothy Walton, 
and for three months by Miss Meta Neuman. These young ladies pre¬ 
pared the mounts of much of the summer material. 
NAME OF THE SPECIES 
The green apple aphis was first described by De Geer in 1773 (1, p. 53) 1 
as follows: 
Aphis (pomi) flavo-virides, comiculis longioribus, pedibus antennisque nigre¬ 
scent ibus, Pomi. 
After giving this brief description De Geer enters upon a discussion 
of the insect, describing the different forms and giving interesting 
observations on the life history. For so early an account this is a very 
complete one and is much more valuable than many of those of more 
recent date. 
In 1775 Fabricius (2, p. 737, no. 19) redescribed the species as follows: 
A. Pyri, mali. 
Habitat sub pyri mali foliis. 
Corpus viride, antennis pedibusque fuscis. Abdomen nec marginatum, nec 
plicatum. Anus terminator stylo nigro. Corniculi cylindrici, nigri. Variat corpore 
toto rufescente, pedibus fuscis et interdum pedibus lividis, geniculis fuscis. 
This name, Aphis mali Fab., was that by which the insect was com¬ 
monly known until recent years. There seems, however, little reason 
for having adopted it, as Fabricius himself in 1794 (3, p. 216, no. 29) 
gives De Geer's insect as synonymous with his. He, however, uses his 
own name “mali” for the species and disregards De Geer's “pomi” 
altogether. “Mali” then, became the accepted name for the species. 
Unfortunately in this country the name “mali” was for many years 
applied to an entirely different species, now known as “avenae Fab.," 
under the. impression that it was the apple insect of Fabricius. This 
error was first introduced into the literature of this country by Fitch 
(5, P* 65), and the same author later (6, p. 753-764; repr. p. 49-60) 
gave a very good description of avenae, under the name “mali” In 
this, however, he was only following European entomologists, such as 
Walker (4, p. 269), who used the name “mali " for an entirely distinct 
aphis. 
Eater writers followed in the same path, some, such as Buckton (7, p. 
44, pi. 50), even confusing several species under the name. Sanderson 
(10, p. 191) used the name “padi” for this species in 1901. In more 
recent years De Geer's name has been given preference, and in this coun¬ 
try the descriptions of Smith (9) and Sanderson (11, p. 130) have fixed 
the species to which it should be applied. The insect herein discussed 
must then be known as “Aphis pomi De Geer." 
1 Reference is made by number to “literature cited,” p. 992-993. 
