410 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWb 



Decemeek 28, 1918. 



SUMMARY OF ENTOMOLOGICAL INFOR- 

 MATION DURING 1918 

 ( Concluded. ) 



Moth, borers of sugar-cane in Mauritius- Bulletin No. j 

 of the Mauritius Department of Agriculture gave an account 

 of the moth borers, four in number, of sucarcane in that 

 i.s'and. This bulletin was reviewed at page 26. 



Cotton. The insect notes deiling with insect pests of 

 cotton during the year were as follows: 'Cotton Staintr 

 Control in St. Vincent', p. 2G6: The Spread of the 

 Mexican Cotton Boll Weevil in the United States.' p. 298; 

 and 'Cotton Insects in Arizona', p, 330. A note on 

 machines for the treatment of cotton seed for destruction of 

 the pink boll worm in Egypt appeared on page 4'0. Cotton 

 seed from Para, infested with the pink boll worm, arrived at 

 Barbados, and the cargo was prohibited from landing. This 

 was dealt with in a note on page 376. An account of the 

 recently passed (irdinances relating to cotton pests will be 

 found on page 391. 



Sweet potatoes. Articles in which accounts are given 

 of insects attacking sweet potatoes appeared at pages 42 and 

 346. The first of these was entitled The Sweet Potato Koot 

 Weevil'. The second includes two notes: one on weevils 

 attacking sweet potatoes and yams, and the other on ter- 

 mite injury to sweet potatoes. A note on page 69 refers to 

 the prohibition of the importation of sweet potatoes and 

 yams into the United States from .January 1, 1918. This 

 action was taken to prevent the further importation into that 

 country of the sweet potato root weevil and the scarabee of 

 the sweet potato. 



Indian corn. The control of corn caterpillars includ- 

 ing the corn ear worm, the cotton boll worm, and the moth 

 borer of the sugar cane, all of which have attacked corn in 

 St- Vincent, are the subjects of the insect notes at page 218. 

 The use of starch instead of lime as a carrier for arsenical 

 poisons is dealt with at some length in these notes, and 

 successful results reported from St. Lucia and St. Vincent. 



jy/ole cricket. The West Indian mole cricket or 

 'changa' formed tlie subject of two insect notes on page.s 1 06 

 and 122, being a review of Bulletin 2^ of the Porto Rico 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. 



Locusts. The insect notes at page 202, entitled 'The 

 South American Locust in British Guiana', give an account 

 of the invasion of the Xorth West District, British Ouiana, 

 by a huge swarm of locusts from Venezuela. 



fack Spaniards. A note on the establishment an<l 

 spread of the .Jack Spaniard {Polistes annularis) in Montser- 

 rat, into which island this insect wa.s introduced in 1910, 



•was given on page 



279. 



Red spider. The notes on the red spider {Tetranychus 

 telarius), on page 90, give an account of this troublesome 

 mite, and the four best spray mixtures out of a list of .seven- 

 ty-five tried. These were: (1) potassium .sulphite. (2) lime 

 sulphur, (.'i) kerosene emulsion, and (4) Hour paste. Another 

 mite pe.st well known in the West Indies is that which causes 

 the disease known a.s scaly leg of fowls- A note on page 297 

 gives methods of treating this disease. 



I'aros'ttes of hard hack grubs. The insect notes on i)age 

 250 entitled 'Feeding Habits of the Parasites of Hard P.ack 

 Grubs', give an account of the accidental circumstance which 

 seems to have been vital to to the success of e.^tablishing 

 Tiphia parallela in Mauritius. This insect is a parasite of 

 the grub of the brown hard back which has been such 



serious pest in that island. Another reference to the occur- 

 rence of hard back grubs, and their control by pigs is to be 

 found at page 328. 



Fleas. Two articles on fleas and their control appeared 

 at pages 122 and 138. These give accounts of several kinds 

 of fleas, aud recommend measures for their control. A note 

 on the use of Paranaph for the destruction of fleas is given at 

 page 217, under the heading An Efficient, (^)uick, and Safe 

 Insecticide' 



Mosi/uitoes and malaria. The insect notes at page 

 43 present an account abstracted from the Rhodesia 

 Agricultural Journal, October 1917, which discusses the- 

 increased knowledge with regard to the nature of malaria and 

 the method of its transmission, and recommends measures for 

 the jirevention ()f malaria. In a note on page 233, the ijues- 

 tion 'Are mo.s.|uitoes of non-marshy (listricts capable of 

 transmitting malaria.'' is discussed. 



Mosi^uito control. An article on mosquito control, 

 which appears in two numbers of the Agricultural News, at 

 pages 374 and 388, reproduces a lecture by Dr. Pierce, the 

 leader of the class for the study of the entomology of disease, 

 hygiene, and sanitation at Washington. This gives a good 

 account of the various operations involved in systematic mos- 

 quito control, as applied to the neighbourhood camps, of towns, 

 and villages, and the treatment of swamps, margins of ponds 

 and lakes, and coastal bays and indentations. 



The class for the study of the entomology of hygiene and 

 sanitation was formed in May 1918 by members of the Staff 

 of the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, with the idea that men would be required 

 for the sanitary work in connexion with the control of disease- 

 transmitting insect." (see page 234). 



The ralue fif zoology to human o'cl/arc. This is the sub- 

 ject of the Ln.sect notes at page.s 154 and I/O- It is taken 

 from an account in .Science, of speeches by Dr. L. O. 

 Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology at Washington, 

 and by Dr. H. M. Smith, of the Bureau of Fisheries, ac the 

 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science at Pittsburg, December 1917. Dr. Howard touched 

 on the many ways in which insects affect the welfare of man, 

 and Dr. Smith referred to the many zoological problems to 

 be met and solved in the proper administration of work in 

 connexion with the conservation and protection of the food 

 fishes of the coast and lakes of the United States. 



The production of light in certain animals. The 

 notes dealing with this subject appeared in two parts: the 

 first in the last number of '\''olume XVI, and the second at 

 page 10 of the present Volume. These notes refer to light 

 production on the part of animals of different groups, but it 

 is pointed out that it is among insects that this phenomenon 

 is developed to the greatest extent. 



A note regarding the necessity for avoiding the intro- 

 duction of insect pests was presented on page 56. Some 

 •■f,000 insects recognized as pests in other countrie.s, not yet 

 known to occur in the United States, might at any time be 

 imported. 



Qua.ssia extract as a contact insecticide is dealt with on 

 page 74. The conclusion reached was that, although valua- 

 ble for certain insects, it is uncertain in its action, and too 

 expensive to become a general insecticide for all aphides. 



The production of beeswax in British Kast Africa is the 

 subject of a note on page 91. giving a brief account of the 

 collection and preparation of beeswax from the wild hives 

 in the country. 



H.A.B. 



