410 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



I I] - EMBER 18, 1915. 



INSECT NOTES. 



SUMMARY OF ENTOMOLOGICAL INFOR- 

 MATION DURING 1915. 



[n continuation of the custom which has prevailed foi 

 several years past, the information which has appeared in the 

 A Itural News during 1915 relating to insecl and mite 

 I — t > of crops and animals is briefly summarized in the 

 following ni 'i'" 



General gical reports, which have been reviewed 



and summarized duringthe year, are those from Barbados, 

 IVi'tn l!ieo. Nigeria and Mauritius. 



The pests of peas and beans have been considered in five 

 numbers of this journal, and the pink boll worm of cotton 

 has been t] ol three articles. 



PESTS IN BARBADOS. 



This information consisted of a review of the entomo- 

 logical portion of the Annual Report on the Barbados Depart 

 ment of Agriculture for the year ended March 31, 1914. The 

 points of chief interest are the attacks of termites on sugar 

 the Id or ripening rants being attacked by what is 

 supposed to be a species of Eutermes. The fumigation of 

 ; i -Is. and burning infested tra.-li, stumps and other refuse, 

 cheeked the attack. Trial was made of an ant destroying 

 machine, by means of which fumes of sulphur and arsenic 

 weri forced into the nests. Trials are also mentioned of the 

 nsi of a lime-sulphur paint for killing scale insects on the 

 trunks oi trees. Directions for preparing the paint were 



given. Under the head of sugarcane insects mention was 

 i of tlv brown hard hack Phy£alus smithi and its parasite 



(\Tiphia parallela), the root borer (Diuprepes abbreviates) 

 and of the Leeward Island.- root Inner (Exopkthalmus 

 rsuy< ige 286. 



[NSECTS ol POBKO RICO. 



These notes on page 282, deal with Circular No. 6, 

 ■ ol of the Changa', issued by the Porto Rico Board 



i ! i ommissioners of Agriculture and Bulletin No. 192 of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture on the Insects 



affecting vegetable crops in Porto Rico 



In tin' former of these a satisfactory control of the mole 



is described: it consists in the use of a poison bait, 



applied in a ring around the plant to he protected oi 



red broadcast over the surface of the ground. The 



bait i- made of low grade Hour. 100 Iti., I'aris green 1\ to 



:'. D . thoroughly mixed together. Several insects affecting 

 i [ tble crops are mentioned, chief of which are the sweet 

 o weevil (Cylasformicariur), the Southern beet webworm 

 (Pachyzanchla bipunclalit which attacks the garden beans 

 and sword bean, while the mole cricket is also menti d as 



a serious pest. 



PESTS ol M M KITH S. 



(in page 10, the Insect Notes included a brief review 

 oi thi n ' pests in Mauritius in 1913 and note- on We. t 



n insects. In the former of these it is stated that the 

 sugar-cane grub Phytalvs niiitht was not spreading, that the 



ier collected in I'M.", was :;i million against 1"> million 

 i: I'll', that the increased captures were due to the higher 

 price paid tor the insects and to i n ore thorough knowledge 

 of the habits of the 1 tie. 



Tin- lawn cutworm, for several year- a serious pe-t, was 



ssfully controlled by a kerosene mixture composed of 



by weight of common soap dissolved in 20 parts of 



watei with 10 pot- of kerosene thoroughly stirred in: to 



24 parts of this is addeil lb' parts Phenyl or 12 parts 



Creoline. Applied in a '_' per cent, solution in water this 

 mixture does not injure grass and may be used at the rate 

 of 11 gallon- per 80 square feet tor tin- destruction of 

 subterranean caterpillars and the larvae of the Oryctes 

 beetle. 



< >n the same page, the notes on West Indian Pests, are 

 taken from the monthly circulars containing Items of 

 Departmental Interest which are sent in to the Imperial 

 i ommissioner each month from the several island.-. 



NIGER] w PESTS. 



The report on agricultural pests in Nigeria, by W. A. 

 Lamborn was reviewed in two numbers of the Agricultural 

 News at pages 74 and 90. Thi- report contained interesting 

 accounts of the insect and mite pests of cotton, cacao and 

 maize, with brief notes on the pests of certain miscellaneous 

 plants. 



PESTS OP PEAS AND BEANS. 



On page 154, an article on pea and bean weevils gives 

 an account of the weevils species of the genus Bruchus which 

 attack the stored grain and refers to the leaf eating cater- 

 pillars and to those which bore into the growing tip- of the 

 plants. The article which appeared on page 218, referred to 

 the Bruchus weevils and to a stem borer which had appeared 

 in St. Vincent, a sjjecies of Cryptorhynchus. This borer 

 was further dealt with by Mr. S. C. Earland of St. Vincent 

 in a paper which was published in two parts, at pages 346 

 and 362. The bean leaf caterpillar in Florida was the 

 subject of a note on page 26. 



The bean weevils. (Bruvhus rkine»si& and other.-) infest 

 the beans and peas in the field and develop in the stored 

 grain. The ripened' seeds should be fumigated with carbon 

 bisulphide when they are stored and naphthalene used freely 

 with thi' stored grain (page 154). The leaf eating caterpillars 

 (Anticarsia [Thermesia] yemmitalis) and Laphygma trugi- 

 perdu, which is better known as a pest of maize, may be 

 controlled fairly well by the use of arsenate of lead. The 

 leaf roller (Ewiamus proteus) may also lie controlled by the 

 same means. 



The pests dealt with Under the title Insect PestS of Lima 



Beans in St. Vincent, pages 346 and .'!ii.'!, are the Cryptor- 

 hynchus borer, the bean leaf toller, a leaf blotch miner and 

 the bean caterpillar. 



The stem borer was recorded in 1910 as a serious pest 

 of Jerusalem pea it the Experiment Station in St. Vincent. 

 It is now known that the borer attacks thi' Lima bean, cowpea, 

 rounceval pea, Jerusalem pea, and the haricot or French bean, 

 among the cultivated beans, anil that the Phaseolus serni- 

 erectut ami Vigna luteola, two plants growing wild in 

 St. Vincent, are also attacked. 



The life-history of this serious pest lias not 1 ecu entirely 

 worked out. Control measures include rotation of crops, the 

 careful destruction of all old bean vines, hand collecting of 

 the adult, and tic destruction of its wild food plants. 



The blotch leaf miner is a small fly probably a species oi 

 Agromyza. The larva, a .-mall maggot, tunnels under the 

 upper epidermis. No control measures are suggested. The 

 leaf caterpillar is stated to be a new one. greenish in colour 



and possessing a leaf rolling habit. Arsenate of lead and 



starch, I -'in dusted "ii the plants i- r mended as 



i ntrol measure. 



PINK BOLL WORM. 



Three articles dealing with this pest have appeared at 

 pages 186, 202 and 250. The Erst two oi these were 



preliminary notes and the in t latiou they contained was 



embodied in the third which gave a t.nilv complete account 

 of the insect. 



