62 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Jaw., 1902. 
Entomology. 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
By HENRY TRYON, Entomologist. 
1. SrrawBerry—Rep Spier (Letranychus telarius, [L.] Dugés). 
During the last two months it has on more than one occasion been brought 
under notice that on some farms along the North Coast Railway line the 
strawberry plants exhibited here and there the following abnormal features :— 
They had individually given promise of an abundance of fruit, but subsequent 
to flowering this had not set, or if so had remained small and stunted; and in 
such cases, where individual fruits had matured, these were undersized and 
misshapen, and presented one or more shallow surface depressions. Moreover, 
instead of being of a bright pronounced hue, they were dull, and exhibited to a 
greater or less extent a greyish cast of colour, suggestive of skin-injury, or 
even one or more pale-brownish blotches. Further, the sepals at the bases of 
the fruits were similarly marked in some instances, with brown also. The 
plants themselves manifested a somewhat stunted growth, and the foliage, 
except in the case of the older leaves, was to a slight extent mottled, and had a 
general unhealthy appearance. 
These appearances, displayed by a typical example of affected strawberry 
plant, were found to be occasioned by the common spinning plant mite, 
commonly spoken of as the Red Spider (Letranychus telarius, Dugés). These 
mites occurred in all stages of development, from the egg upwards, upon the 
under surface of the leaves; also on the inner surfaces of the green sepals, 
especially towards their bases, as well as generally all over the affected plants. 
Tn all these situations extremely fine threads—only to be seen by aid of the hand 
lense—trayersed the surface of the plant, being especially noticeable on the 
surface of affected fruits, in which latter situation they were suggestive of the 
appearance of fungus-threads (mycelia). 
The red spider was not as prevalent, under the circumstances and in the 
situations mentioned, as in some instances of mite attack displayed by other 
kinds of plant, but it was individually probably more numerous shortly 
subsequently to the season of flowering. 
It is not likely generally to prove prejudicial to strawberry-growing, except 
in dry weather. “Moreover, it may be readily destroyed by copiously spraying 
the plants with water as hot as they will tolerate; or dusting them with air- 
slaked lime and slulphur, or the latter only. It also succumbs to the employ- 
ment of the fungicides recommended for use as a preventive treatment in 
dealing with Leaf Blight (Spherella fragaria), especially sulphide of 
potassium solution (vid. Agricultural Journal, Vol. III., p. 307). 
It is also profitable to consider that the red spider is harboured by 
numerous kinds of weeds and ornamental plants, and that, therefore, strawberry 
plants may derive their supply from such source. 
2. Passton Vine—Scarter Mire (TLenuipalpus sp.). 
Mr. G. Williams forwarded from Rockhampton examples of passion-vine 
leaves attacked in a peculiar manner by Acari belonging to the genus Tenui- 
palpus. These leaves exhibited the following symptoms of injury :—A. light 
reddish-brown band extended all along their toothed margins, and the principal 
veins were defined by the same colour. In each case blotches of reddish-brown 
also occurred here and there along the altered tracks of leaf-tissue. The 
extreme margins of the leaves were, too, somewhat inyolute, or turned down- 
wards and inwards, and throughout the channel thus formed, as well as on both 
sides of the veins, occurred the bright scarlet mites in all stages of develop- 
ment in immense numbers, as well as their similarly-coloured glossy spherical 
eggs. The species of Tenuipalpus are allied to the Red Spiders (Tetranychus), 
but do not spin, as do the latter. A second species occurs in Queensland, com- 
monly upon the lemon. As in the case of the red spiders, they are readily 
killed by any application containing sulphur, eg., lime and sulphur wash, 
