Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

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Article beginning on page 273.
Psyche 5:273, 1888.

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Aiig~st~Dscember igSg.1 ps 2THE. 273
THE STRAWBERRY ROOT LOUSE (APHIS FORBES1 N. S.) BY CLARENCE MOORES WEED, COLUMBUS, OHIO. [Partial reprint from Bull. Ohio agricultural experiment station, September 1889, v. 2, no. 6. p. 148-150.1
During the latter part of August Mr.
S. R. Kramer, of Gahanna, Franklin
county, Ohio, brought me specimens of
a small louse infesting the roots of straw- berry plants, which he reported to have
ruined a plantation some two and a half
acres in extent. An examination of
the plants upon the station grounds
showed that a large proportion of them
were also infested by the same insect;
and on inquiring of prominent horticul-
turists recently assembled at the state
fair, I found that many of them were
only too well acquainted with the pest,
and that it is quite generally distributed over the state.
The insect proved to be a species of
Aphis. to which attention was first
called by Professor S. A. Forbes in the
Thirteenth report of the state entomolo- gist of Illinois ( p. 102-103).
On the station plants the lice occur
both upon the roots and lower portions
of the crowns. In both situations they
are carefully attended by the small brown ant (Lasius alienus) which mines
about the roots, upon which it probably
places the lice, and carries them away
in its jaws upon the approach of danger
-treating them in fact exactly as it treats the corn root louse
(Aphis maidis) in
corn fields. From the discovery of the
deposition of the plant-lice eggs about
the strawberry roots recorded by Pro-
fessor Forbes, I surmise that the ants
take care of them through the winter,
in the same way that they have been
found, by the author just mentioned,
(Amer. nat., v. 21, p. 579) to care for
the egg's of the corn root louse.
Mr. Kramer informs me that he first
found these lice upon his plants about
the middle of "fly. when they were very
abundant.
A great many of the lice on the
crowns and roots were infested with
hyinenopteroiis parasites.
DESCRIPTION.
Although Professor Forhes published
an accurate description and figure of
this strawberry root louse, he did not
give it a specific name, and conse-
qliently I have proposed that it be named in honor of its discoverer, and called
forbesi. The form now present on the
roots is shown magnified at Fig. I, and
may be described as follows :




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274 PSYCHE. [August-December 1889.
APTEROUS VIVIPAROUS FEMALE.
Length . . . . I .o mi-,.
Width . . . . .4mm.
Body, small, ovate. Color, dark
bluish-green : head, yellowish or green- ish ; antennae, yellowish-brown toward
base, darker apically ; eyes, reddish ;
legs, yellowish or yellowish-brown, ex-
cept the tibio-femoral artichlations and tarsi, which are dusky ; cornicles, yel- lowish or yellowish-brown at base,
darker apically ; cauda varying from
bluish-green to yellowish or yellowish-
brown. Antennae about half as long as
body, roughened, as shown at Fig. 3,
six-jointed3 ; joints I and I1 sub-equal in length, I being slightly broader than I1 ; 111 long, slightly longer than IV
plus V, but a little shorter than VI ;
IV about half as long as IT1 ; V 'ihort, two-thirds as long as IV ; VI longest.
Cornicles long, slightly tapering,
flanged at tip. Cauda prominent,
flattened, with a number of curved hairs along the margin. Prothorax with a
blunt tubercle on each side.
Described from many living speci-
mens taken on roots of strawberry
plants, 7 September, 1889.
Although I agree with Forbes and Lichtenstein that what is here called the sixth joint of the antenna is really the prolongation of the fifth, I follow the gen- eral practice of calling it distinct for sake of brevity and convenience.
CLASSIFIED LIST OF FOOD PLANTS OF AMERICAN BUTTER- FLIES, DRAWN FROM SCUDDER'S 'bBUTTERFLIES Ol? THE EASTElRN UNITED STATES."
[Names followed by an * indicate the plants for which the species concerned have a decided preference.
Those enclosed in parentheses are exceptional or doubtful.] OENEIS SEMIDEA. cy$eraceae, Car?x
vulgaris var. hyperborea.
OENEIS JUTTA. c&beraceae, carex oligo-
sperm3 ;* Gramineae ; (Ju?~caceae, Juncus articulatus).
CERCYONIS ALOPE. Gramineae.
CERCYONIS NEPHELE. Gramineae.
ENODIA PORTLANDIA. (Ui'ticaceae, Celtis
occidentalis) ; Gramineae.*
SATYRODES EURYDICE. Cy$eraceae, Scir-
pus eriophorum, Carex bromoides ; Gi'clini- neae.
NEOKYMPHA PHOCION. Gra~zi11eae, Pani-
cum sanguinale, Dactolytenium aegyptiacum. CISSIA EURYTUS. Leyuminosrze, Trifo-
lium; Xyyidaceae, xyris torta; Gramineae.* CHLORIPPE CLYTON. Rosaceae, Prunus ;
Aristolochiaceae, Aristolochia ; Urticaceae, - Celtis occidentalis.*
BASILARCHIA ARCHIPPUS. Rosaceae, Pru-
nus, Pirus, Chrysobalanus oblongifolius; SaZicaceae,* Salix nigra, S. livida var. occi- dentalis, S. sericea, Populus balsamifera vai. candicans, P. ti-emiiloides, P. monilifera, P. dilatata.
BASILARCHIA ASTYANAX. Rosacene,* Pru-
nus, Pii-us, Crataegus, Cydonia; Gros.wZa- ceae, Ribes; Ericaceae, Vaccinium stami-



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