A 10 



THE A.GK1CUL1UKAL NEWS). 



llKiJlSMBHU 



i&i;-'. 



INSECT MOTES, 



SUMMARY OF ENTOMOLOGICAL IN- 

 FORMATION, 1919. 

 {Conciu'led ' 



rhr report ut the entomologist in charge of insect con- 

 trol work on certitin groups ot estates in British Guiana 

 (see p. 346) gives records of insect collectionsand other 

 lueans of control. The insects dealt with are pests of sugar- 

 cane. Entomology in I'oTto Rico is the subject of a leview 

 (p. 352) of the Annual lieport of the entomologist of the 

 Insular Experiment Station, Porto Kico, for the year ended 

 June oO. 191.'^. The white grubs of sugarcane constitute 

 a serious menace to the success of the sugar industry. It 

 is recommended that the American skunk and the West 

 Indian toad should be introduced into i'orto Rico as an aid 

 to the control of these hard backs and their grubs. On page 

 .'^5l, in a note on skunks and toads, attention i.s called to 

 the fact that in its native habitat the skunk sometimes 

 becomes a nuisance to the poultry keeper, although it does 

 not often become a seriou>* pest. The warning is given, 

 however, that with such an animal it is not known how it will 

 adapt itself to its new surroundings, and the mongoose is an 

 e.xample of an animal useful in some ways which has become 

 a serious pest. In this connexion also, the article on page 

 378 gives an account of th«( toad in the West Indies, which 

 is cfinsidered a most useful agent in keeping insect pests in 

 check. 



On page 136 will be found a review of an article on the 

 food of the mongoose, which gives interesting facts regard- 

 ing the food of this aiiimal as shown by stomach examin- 

 ations and a comparison is made of the food obtained by tie 

 mongoose in the wet and in the dr\- seasons and in those 

 districts in which the mongoose has been established for 

 a long time, as compared with the more recently infested 

 regions of Trinidad. 



Notes dealing with plant legislation have appeared as 

 follows : at page 10") an account of the establishment of a close 

 season for cotton at Barbados ; at page 121 notice was given 

 of two enactments prohibiting plant importation in St. Lucia, 

 one d-aling with citrus plants, and the other with growing 

 coco-nuts from certain places. Similar prohibitions in 

 Antigua are referred to on page lOo. 



In Grenada (p. 13(1) the importation ol citrus plants 

 from certain places i? prohibited by proclamation. Legisla- 

 tion in Montserrat for the destruction of the wild food-plants 

 of cotton siainers is mentioned on page 153. 



Cockroach control (p. 11) gives an account of experi- 

 ments with traps, and with borax and boric acid in the 

 control of thesi insects Cockroaches eat the.se substances 

 not as food but in the ettort to keep themselves clean. The 

 particles which have adhered to the legs and antennae are 

 removed by means of the mouth parts, and a certain amount 

 of the material is swallowed, A note on an outbreak of 

 field crickets (p. 11) gives a brief account of severe injury 

 caused to young plantings "f trees and vines by enormous 

 numbers of the lommon field cricket in Calilornia Flooding 

 the vineiard or orchard was found to be the most successful 

 treatment. L'nder the heading Miscellaneous Insects (p. 71), 

 iiT-niion is made of .several insects which had been recently 

 ici)-ntitied 't Wa.-.hington or London. On page 187 a note, 

 entilltd Living Insects by I'ost, gives an iccount of the 

 sending of a de.'-tructive gras.shi'pper into California, in violn- 

 ti'>n ot the law. The insects were to be used in trick pho- 

 t'Jttraphy beloie the moiiou picture camera. 



On page 391 there appeared « review of a report or aia. 

 invasion of certain districts of British Guiana by lo«ust» 

 from Venezuela, in which aie given the main points of the 

 life-history, and ihe methods adopted for the control of tha- 

 insect. 



Notice of the occurrence of the European corn borer in 

 the United States was given in the Insect Notes on p.ige 

 186. This is a ilestructive insect with a wide range of food- 

 plants. 



Notes on some insect pests on tropical crops (p. 90) 

 refer to the experiments in the poisoning of the Mexican cottuo 

 boll weevil in the Southern States The poison used was 

 calcium arsenate, which was applied by means of special 

 machinery. An attempt at eradication of the sweet potato 

 weevil on a large scale is being made by means of experi- 

 ments and large demonstration plots in several Gulf States. 

 Investigations ot certain insect pests of citrus fruits in Cali- 

 fornia have resulted in freeing a demonstration plot of JO acres 

 from the citrophilus menly bug, by the combined effect of 

 control of the argentine ant, spraying, and the utilization of 

 natural enemies. 



The control of the fluted scale on citrus trees has been 

 accomplished at New Orleans by the propagation and libeia- 

 tion of thousands of its natural enemy, the Australian lady- 

 bird. 



Batocera rubus an imported beetle recently established 

 in the Virgin Islands and recorded from Trinidad, is a serious 

 pest in the former locality (p. 202 1 



Notes on .>-ome insect pests in Costa Rica (p. 250) refer 

 to the occurrence of the Hawaiian sugar-cane weevil borer, 

 the purple scale, and the spiny citrus white fi}". 



Casuaiina and mangrove trees in Florida are recorded as 

 being attacked by the same boring insect in the notes on [)age 

 282. A note on the food of the wasps which are parasitic oa 

 the soil grubs of the West Indies is given on page 29;^ and on 

 this page there is also an account of insects beini; attracted 

 by smoke. An article on the control of mosquitoes is eivea 

 in two numbers at pages 42 and 58. 



Two articles on popular entomology are given on page 

 330. These refer to mistakes made as a result of the use of 

 different common namts for the same insect, and some ludi- 

 crous stalemctUs made in c^rele^s writing on entomological 

 subjects. 



H. A. B. 



RACES OF THE COCO-NUT PALM. 



In a special article contributed to the Phili(>pinc Agri. 

 cu/lurai Jicvitiv, <<n the coco-nut, its culture and uses, Mr. 

 P. J. Wester, Agricultural Adviser to the Philippine Agricul- 

 tural Department, reaiarks that there is still much to learo 

 about coco nut v irieties, as very little ."ystematic study has 

 been made of them. Existing literature seems to indicate 

 that there are altogether not more than thirty-five distinct 

 coco-nut varieties, a remarkably small number ronsidering 

 the anli(|uity "t its cultivation and its wide distribution. 

 The C'co nut is a plant that must be i>ropagated from .^eed, 

 and is very long-lived, therefore this constancy ot charncter- 

 istics is a distinct advantage to the cultivators of this tree. 

 Were the coco nut to be nearly as variable as most of the 

 trees cultivated for the sake of their fruit in various parts of 

 the world, the planting of .coconuts would be a much more 

 hazardous undert:iking than it is now 



The different races seem to vary in the size of the nut 

 in the percntage of the copra r.htamabic from each nut in 

 the number of nuts produced, and in precocity. 



