58 



THE AGRICOLTURAL NEWS. 



Februaey is, 1911. 



INSECT NOTES. 



A SUMMARY OF ENTOMOLOGICAL IN- 

 FORMATION JN THE AGRICULTURAL 

 NEWS AND WEST INDIAN 

 BULLETIN IN 1910. 



The following article concludes the information that is 

 being given, under the above title, in this and in the last 

 number of the AgrwulUiral Newt-. 



The sweet potato weevil (Ci/las formicarim) is men- 

 tioned on p. 42, and an illustration is given by which it 

 should be possible to recognize this pest if it should appear 

 in these islands. It is known to occur in the United States 

 and in British Guiana, but at the present time it is not 

 reported from the Lesser Antilles. 



Cacao pests in Jamaica are dealt with on p. 330. The 

 insects included in this account are ants, which destroy the 

 cacao tiower.s, a wood-Lioring beetle and the girdler weevil of 

 the orange {Praepodes vittatwi), which also attacks cacao. 



Cocoa-nut insect pests are considered on p. 26, where 

 accounts and illustrations of scale insects, white fly and 

 ■weevils are to be found. 



A short article on the cow-pea curculio {Ckalcodermus 

 aeneus, Boh.) which appeared on p. 378, gives an account of 

 a pest which does not occur in the West Indies, but may 

 eventually be introduced. 



The notes on the pe.sts of domestic animals are two, one 

 on the screw worm (p. 122), and one on ticks (p. 157), the latter 

 ■with special reference to the method of freeing pastures from 

 ticks by a system of rotation. The former of these mentions the 

 remarkable occurrence of the maggots of an insect related to 

 the screw worm in a flying fish just caught from the sea. 

 An article on house-flies and disease (p. 298) calls 

 attention to the part played by these insects in the trans- 

 mission of typhoid and other diseases. 



Papers on insecticides include two on carbon Ijisul- 

 phide, Part I, p. 74, Part II, p. 90, two papers on lead 

 chromate, p. 159 and p. 314, and a general article on 

 insecticides, p. 282. The last of these discusses stomach 

 poisons, contact poisons, fumigants and repellents. The first 

 gives a general account of carbon bisulphide and of its use as 

 an insecticide. The notes on lead chromate deal with a new^ 

 insecticide which, though not as poisonous as many of the 

 better-known substances, has the advantage of not being 

 injurious to plants to which it may be applied. 



Beneficial insects form the .subject of insect notes as 

 follows: Lady -birds and Weevil borers, p. 106; Natural 

 Enemies of Sugar-cane Pests, p. 138; The Black Scale 

 and its Parasite, p. 170, and The Introduction of the St. Vin- 

 cent ' .lack Spaniard' into Montserrat, p. 378, The first of these 

 ■\vas referred to earlier in the ijresent article when consider- 

 ing the root-borer of the sugar-cane. The notes on natural 

 enemies of sugarcane pests refer to the endeavours in Hawaii 

 to establish natural enemies which shall control the sugar- 

 cane borer {Sphenophorua o/jscurus), and give the results of 

 a visit to New Guinea (Papua) in search of parasites. 



The occurrence of the black scale, and its control by the 

 parasite [Zalophotkrir mirum), are dealt with on p. 170, and 

 there is also on the same page reference to other natural 

 enemies of cotton pests. The Jack Spaniard {Polit^tes annul- 

 aris) seems to have been successfully introduced into Mont- 

 serrat from St. Vincent, according to the note on p. 378. 



Experiments with scale insects were carried out in 

 Grenada with reference to a better control of these pests and 

 the concomitant black blight, and results are presented on 

 p. 362. 



A report on Uganda insect pests, p. 42, gives a brief 

 account of certain African insects which are of interest 

 because of their similarity to West Indian forms. 



The Brussels Congress of Entomology, at which Sir 

 Daniel Morris represented the Eoyal Colonial Institute and 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture, was reported on at 

 p. 298. 



A method of detecting the presence of eel worms in cane 

 fields was suggested on p. 314. This consists in growing 

 plants known to be susceptible to attack, and examining their 

 roots from time to time. 



The papers on entomological subjects which have 

 appeared in 1910 in the Wi^t Indian Balktin are four in 

 number, two of these; Legislation in the AVest Indies for 

 the Control of Pests and Diseases on Imported Plants (Vol. 



X, No. 3, p. 197), and The Disinfection of Imported Plants 

 (Vol. X, No. 4, p. 349), are closely related since they both 

 deal with the diseases and pests of imported plants. Another 

 ■n'as entitled Notes on Lime Cultivation (Vol. XI, p. 39), 

 and the last was on the Nomenclature of Scale Insects (Vol. 



XI. p. 35). The article on legislation gives an account of 

 the various legislative enactments and proclamations in the 

 West Indies which have had for their object the prevention of 

 the introduction of diseases and pests from foreign countries 

 and neighbouring Islands. That on disinfection of imported 

 plants deals with the treatment to be given to such plants, 

 and discusses the several substances which might be used, 

 with accounts of the properties of each and the method of 

 application. 



The paper on nomenclature of scale insects is a revision 

 of the technical names in accordance with recent studies by 

 eminent authorities in order that the names, both technical 

 and common, that have been in use in the West Indies may 

 be compared by readers of the publications of the Department 

 with those that have recently been generally adopted. 



The paper entitled Notes on Lime Cultivation contains 

 accounts of experiments recently carried out in Montserrat, 

 and gives an historical review of the pests and diseases 

 recorded, together with remedial measures adopted for their 

 control, and an estimate of the value of natural enemies of 

 certain pests. 



In South India and Ceylon, mangoes are attacked by 

 a weevil {Cyi/ptorhi/iicla(.< niaiKji ferae), which is closely 

 related to the sweet potato weevil, scarabcc. or Jacobs 

 (Cri/ptorki/nchns batatae). The insect breeds in the stone 

 of the fruit; the eggs are laid on young fruits and the 

 larvae feed on the stone until they are fully developed, 

 when they eat through the pulp and pass the pupal stage in 

 the soil. In regard to this pest, a writer in the /■Yomfa 

 Fruit and Produce lA'cc.f, 1910. No. 40, p. 2, mentions the 

 dancer that it may be introduced into other countries, where 

 it is unknown, with mango seed, and suggests that, as the 

 insect is believed to hasten the maturity of the fruit and to 

 cause it to fall from the tree, comj.i'tent inspection should be 

 made of all such imiiortcd seed. 



