298 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 11, 1915. 



INSECT NOTES. 



k- Bfe 





WEST INDIAN WASPS. 



Certain species of wasps are known in the West Indies 

 as Jack Spaniards, and the names wild bee, cow bee, and 

 maribunta are also applied to these insects. fefiT^.^yB- ' * ' 



The most common and generally distributed in the 

 Leeward and Windward Islands of these wasps is the one 

 to which the name Jack Spaniard is must usually applied. 

 This is Polities crinitus. It appears to occur throughout 

 the Windward and Leeward Islands, being abundant in 

 most of those islands, but is rare in Rarbados. It builds 

 a nest which is attached by a stem at one end, the nest being 

 rather long and narrow. 



The wild bee in Rarbados 

 is Polistes annularis. It occurs 

 also in St. Vincent and has 

 been introduced into Mont 

 serrat. It is a larger insect 

 than P.-crinilus, building a simi- 

 lar nest, attached by a stem at 

 one side. P. annularis is dis- 

 tinguished by the bright-yellow 

 crescent-shaped patch on the 

 base of the abdomen. 



The cow bee P. hellicosus 

 occurs in Barbados in the 

 West Indies, but it is also 

 recorded in the Southern 

 United States. It is a darker 

 insect than the wild bee and 

 differs from that insect in the 

 nianner of building its nest, 

 which is attached by a stem 

 situated near the middle, instead of at cue side. 



In Grenada, the maribunta (Polybia occidental 'is) is 



the c imcii wasp. It is a much smaller insect than the 



three species of Polistes just mentioned. 



In the Virgin i -lands a wasp 

 very much like the maribunta 

 in size and general appearand' is 

 Megacantht put indeti rminabii. 

 The Jai k Spaniard (Polistes 

 rrinitus) i- the insect which has 

 been mentioned in publications of 

 this Department as /'. fuscatus- 

 instablis. 



Probably all these wasps 

 arc predaceous in their hal.it of 

 feeding, t Jertainly some of them 

 arc, for the three specie- of 

 I'olist. - are will known enemies 

 of many other insects. In 

 St. Vincent, the effect ol the 

 feeding oi Po • ••■ % annularis on 

 fchecotton worm was of 30 much value thai for Borne ten yean 

 cotton was grown in that island without n it to the 



Fig. 



13. Nesl of Pohstes 

 annular is. 



Fig. II. N< si ol Polistes 



annularis showing 



the disease. 



other islands 

 in other islam 



Fig. 15. Polistes bellicosus 



Paris green or other poison for the control of this pt-t which, 

 during these same years, caused SO much loss and expense in 

 Polistes bellicosui in Barbados, and P. crinitus 



. are also active predators on caterpillars and 

 other insects. En St. Vincent 

 the value of P. annularis 

 as an enemy of the cotton 

 worm is so much appreciated 

 that planters build sheds in 

 and near cotton fields in 

 order to encourage these 

 wasps to make their nests 

 there, and to give them 

 ample nesting opportunities 

 where they may be free 

 from disturbance. 



The Barbados wild bee, 

 or St. Vincent Jack Spaniard, has been introduced into 

 Montserrat in the hope of establishing it in that island 

 where it might help to control the cotton worm. So far, 

 this introduction has only partly succeeded, and it has 

 been discovered that this is due to the action of a so-called 

 disease which destroys the young brood in the nest. (Fig. 14.) 

 This disease proves to be due to the attack of a small 

 moth, the larva of which penetrates through and through 

 the nest, apparently destroying the larvae And pupae of the 

 wasp. 



When the moth larvae become full-grown they pupate 

 in the cells of the wasp's nest, each cell containing a cocoon, 

 which terminates outwardly in a ridged cover or cap which 

 can be distinctly seen in the cell of the nest. 



The moth which causes this diseased condition has been 

 identified by the Imperial Bureau of Entomology as 



FlG. 16. Shed lor Jack Spaniards. 



Dicymolomia pegasalis, Walk. A hymenopterous insect, 

 probably parasitic in its hal.it-, has also I. ecu bred from these 

 diseased nests, but whether it attack- the wasp or tin- moth 

 has not yet l>een determined. 



This parasitic or predac 1- moth is probably not 



confined to Montserrat, a similar diseased condition of nests 

 of P. crinitus having been observed in St. Kitts, and it seems 

 likely thai the abundance and consequent usefulness of .lack 



Spaniard- a- enemies of UlSeCl pests are materially affected by 

 the action of this small moth. 



H.A.B. 



