FIELD ENTOMOLOGIST. i 3 
In the latter part of Apiil winged insects appeared and a general 
spreading of the pest from tree to tree and orchard to orchard took 
place. Multiplication was enormously rapid. The injury continued 
to increase in severity through the summer. Lace wings and syr- 
phus fly larvae, as well as the adults and larvae of lady beetles, served 
to do much good later in the season, but did not succeed in reducing 
the aphids enough to prevent great injury. Eggs of the green aphis 
were first found in the fall at Grand Junction on October 16. When 
first laid, the eggs are green, but finally turn to a glistening black. 
Injury —They have been a great hindrance to the growth of young 
apple trees set the past spring or the preceding year, and older trees 
have not been exempt from their attacks. Missouri Pippin apples 
of all ages have suffered heavily, the aphis apparently preferring this 
variety to any other common in the Valley of the Grand. Badly 
infested trees through the summer present a most disgusting ap¬ 
pearance, the aphids becoming so numerous that the whole tree as¬ 
sumes a sticky coating of the secretion from the bodies of the insect. 
This “honey dew” secretion attracts swarms of flies and ants, and 
the trees often emit a very disagreeable odor. 
The effect upon the tree, if young, is a severe retarding of its 
growth. A form of injury noted this season, thought to be due to 
this insect, was an odd and greatly deformed growth of the fruit 
itself. Nero and Winesap apples were found affected in this way. 
The young apples, when only from one-fourth to one-half inch in 
diameter, had been so thickly covered with aphids that their growth 
had been suddenly checked. Later on, their growth had been re¬ 
sumed principally from the outer end of the apple, producing what 
might be called a “double apple,” with a constriction at the middle 
point. Other apples were caused to grow in greatly gnarled or 
knotted forms. All were greatly dwarfed in size, seventeen Winesap 
apples at harvest time being contained, in one instance, within a 
common match box. 
Treatment —Trees heavily infested had their leaves tightly curled, 
due to the presence of myriads of the aphids upon their under surfaces.' 
With the aphids thus concealed within the curled leaves, it was found 
almost impossible to cover their bodies with any contact spray ap¬ 
plied, and the practice of summer spraying against them was any¬ 
thing but a success. Individual trees were, in cases, cleared up, but 
other trees near by and left untreated usually very soon reinfested 
them. 
Spring and early winter treatments were also carried out in 
experiments against this insect. 
The spring spraying was directed against the eggs of the pest 
and gave the best promise of its successful control. In an experi¬ 
ment with a number of contact sprays applied April 5, just after 
the eggs had begun to hatch, it was found that the lime and sulfur 
wash proved the most successful. In this instance, 15 pounds of 
lime and 15 pounds of sulfur per 50 gallons of water were used, 
and practically all of the eggs and hatched aphids were destroyed. 
