250 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 2, 1913. 



INSECT NOTES. 



PESTS IN ANTIGUA. 



The Bulletin of Eiitoinologkal Research for May 1913 

 (Vol. IV, Part 1) contains an abstract of a report on Insect 

 Pests in Antigua in December 1912, by H. A. Ballou, M.Sc, 

 with illustrations from photographs by the wiiter of the 

 report. 



The article deals with the lime twig borer {Elajihidion 

 mite, Newman) which appeared in certain lime cultivations 

 in Antigua toward the end of 1912 causing some alarm. 

 This portion of the report formed the subject of the Insect 

 Notes in the Agricultural iVeifs for March 1.5, 1913 

 (Vol. XII, p. 90), but notes on other insect pests observed 

 at the same time were omitted for lack of space. It is these 

 latter which have been referred to, besides those on the 

 lime twig borer in the Jlulletin of Entomological Research, 

 to which attention is now directed. 



After the lime twig borer, 

 the principal insert pest found 

 attacking limes was the Califor- 

 nia red scale (Chri/soinjihalits 

 [Aspidiotus] aurantii), which 

 had caused a considerable amount 

 of damage to citrus in several 

 localities in Antigua, being 

 apparently much more destruc- 

 tive than usual on account of 

 the severe drought which had 

 been experienced during 1912. 



Other |>ests of limes were 

 those to be noted ordinarily in 

 Antigua and other islands: the 

 purple scale {Lepidosaphes 

 heckii); the white scale (Chion- 

 aspis citri); the West Indian 

 red scale (Selenaspjidus articti- 

 latiis); and the lantana bug 

 (Ortlieiia insignis). These, how- 

 ever, were not seriously abund- 

 ant, although of fairly general 

 occurrence. 



The green scale {Coccus [Leca- 

 niura] viride) was not recorded 

 during the visit. 



Two species of lady-bird 

 beetles were found commonly 

 on limes, but were more especi- 

 ally prevalent where the Califor- Yi 

 nia red scale was abundant. 

 One of these, was the well- 

 known red lady-bird (Ci/cli'iicda sangninea), and the other, 

 a minute black or bluish black species not larger than a pin's 

 head. 



Cotton fields were carefully examined for any signs of 

 the Hower-bud maggot, but this insect was not at all in 

 evidence during the time of the vi.sit. Shortly afterwards 

 (December 29) it was discovered by Mr. Jackson, Curator of 

 the Ijotanic Station. 



Cotton was attacked by boll wirm on two plantations. 

 In one of these instances a considerable amount of damage 

 had been done. In one particular field, corn and cotton were 

 growing together, and it seemed likely that the corn pro- 

 vided breeding [ilaces for the boll worms, which went from 

 the corn to the cotton. 



11. 



It was recommended that the corn should be removed 

 at once and that ears which were ripe enough for grain 

 should be saved and the stalks fed to the cattle. It was 

 advocated, too, that children should be sent into the tield 

 to collect all injured cotton bolls to be destroyed by being 

 thrown into the cattle pens. It was further suggested that 

 by planting corn in the same tield of cotton, an attractive 

 place for egg Ujing might be provided at the time when the 

 worms, which had escaped, had matured and the moths 

 emerged. If this were done, however, it was pointed out 

 that it would be neces.sary to cut the corn and feed it out 

 before any worms which might attack it should have an 

 opportunity of becoming full fed. 



In the second plantation, the boll worms were 

 less numerou.s, but they had caused some injury, the 

 attack being mostly on the young bolls. The presence of a 

 small amount of ( iuinea corn in the field probably accounts, 

 to a certain e.xtent, for the unusual numbers of boll 

 worms found in this enclosure. At Skerretts Experiment 

 _ Station, cassava was attacked 



by the larvae of the common 

 Sphingid moth, Diloj)honota 

 ello, and sweet potatoes, by 

 the larvae of a butterfly, 

 Janonia sp. The larvae of 

 Biplophoiiota ello were of 

 two distinct colourings, green 

 and purple; but the moths 

 reared from these were all 

 alike. The occurrence of 

 a butterfly larva as a pest of 

 sweet i)otatoes in the West 

 Indies is unusual, this probably 

 being the first record of such 

 an attack. The editor of the 

 Bulletin of Entomological Re- 

 search, appends a note to the 

 effect that this species of butter- 

 fly is probibly Precis lavinia 

 zonalis, Feld.,— -the only species 

 of the genus yet known from 

 Antigua. The larvae of another 

 Nymphalid butterfiy {Acraea 

 terpsichore, L ) liave been re- 

 corded by Mr. C. C. Gowdey 

 as damaging sweet potatoes in 

 Uganda. 



The ordinary potato worm, 

 the larva of Jlerse [Protoparce] 

 OK cingiilata, occurs as a pest of 

 sweet potatoes in Antigua but 

 it was not observed during this 

 visit. A small green caterpillar was present feeding on the 

 leaves of the sweet potato but the adult was not obtained. 



The cowpeas at Skenetts were attacked by a boring 

 larva in the same manner as that on cowpeas recorded in 

 Barbados in 1911 (seeaccount of attack of Ballovia cistipennis 

 in the Agricultural News, \o\. XI, p. 234), and that on 

 Canavalia in St. Kitts observed by the Entomologist during 

 a visit to that island in 1912. The cowpeas at Skerretts 

 were also attacked by leaf eating caterpillars — the larvae of 

 the woolly pyrol moth {Thet mesia gi nimatalis). Associated 

 with these caterpillars were unusually lar^e numbers of a red 

 and black predaccous bug, /elus rutiidus, which were prob- 

 ably feeding on the caterpillars, although this was not 

 actually observed. 



Young Limk Tree Dying from Att.\ck 

 C,\Mi'oRNi.\ Red Scale. 



