Vol. XVI. Xo. 404. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



331 



The green niuseardine fungus {Metarrhiziuni anisopliae) 

 attacks ihe adults of /^. porioricensis, P. yuanioina, and 

 P. citri in the experimental cages, and some of the immature 

 stages of these species also became infected with this fungus. 



A large percentage of grubs in the breeding cages were 

 attacked and killed by a bacterial di.sease which is considered 

 to be identical with Micrococcus niprofaciens. But at no time 

 were grubs, collected in the cane fields or elsewhere out of- 

 doors, found affected by this disease. Whether the disease 

 is ever fatal to grubs under field conditions in Porto Rico is 

 a point that needs further investigation. 



■J.C.H. 



WARBLE FLIES. 



In the course of the article on Warble Flies in the last 

 number of the Agricultural News, October 6, 1917, reference 

 was made to the discovery t;hac the eggs of these pests are 

 not laid in the hides of cattle, but are fastened to the animal's 

 hairs, mainly those on the legs. It was also noted that the 

 life-history, as modified by this discovery, was given by 

 C. V. Riley in 1892. Since preparing the above article the 

 writer has come across a note in the la.st number of the Journal 

 or Ecmomic Emtoniology for August 1917, which throws 

 some further light on the subject and may be of interest in 

 this connexion. This note, which is reproduced below, is 

 contributed from Agassiz, British Columbia, by Hadwen, 

 who has made many valuable observations and e.xperiments 

 within recent years in connexion with the life-histories of 

 warble flies in Canada: — 



'Credit to whom credit is due On a recent vi.'it to the 

 Bureau of Entomology, through the courtesy of Dr. L O. 

 Howard, the following facts were ascertained. 



' Che anonymous person mentioned by C. V. Riley in his 

 article on the Ox Bot of the United States, 1892, was 

 Mr. F. O. Schaupp, of Shovel Mount, Texas a special field 

 agent of the United States Department of Agriculture. 

 Dr Howard kindly showed me a number of letters from 

 Mr. Schaupp, dated March 1892, proving conclusively that 

 he was the experimenter, ind that Riley merely recorded 

 his observations. The anonymity of tha' time was on 

 account of personal matters relating to Mr. Schaupp. The 

 principal reason for my writing this note is on account of 

 a somewhat severe criticism I made of the late Professor 

 Riley in Parasitology, 191-5, saying that his records were 

 not his own, and also to give credit to Mr. Schaupp for his 

 excellent and valuble experiments on the life-history of 

 H. linentum. Seeing that Professor Riley is dead, and that 

 Mr. Schaupp was buried at San Antonio on November 

 10, 1903, there seems to be no further necessity for keep- 

 ing his name secret. Mr. Schaupp was the first President 

 of the Brooklyn Entomological Society, and is well known 

 for his work in Entomology, e.speci41y on the Coleoptera. 

 In conclusion it might be m»ntioneH that Mr. Schaupp was 

 the first discoverer of the eggs of H. lineatum, and that he 

 also made some valuable noies on the method of ovipo.sition; 

 therefore I think that in future his name should be 

 mentioned in all articles relating to pist experiments on 



warble-tties.' t r. tr 



J.C.H. 



LOCUSTS IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



The South American locust (Schistocerca paranensis) is 

 a terrible scourge when it invades any agricultural district. 

 They are voracious in the extreme, and their powers of 

 destroying vegetation are unparalleled. Produced in count- 

 less swarms they cause immense damage from time to time 



to cultivated crops in the Venezuelan States which border 

 the Gulf of Paria, and they have been known to invade 

 Trinidad in smaller hosts. One curious thing about them 

 is that they discriminate in the choice they make of plants 

 to devour, devoting unfortunat>'ly most of their attention to 

 crops most largely grown in the tropics. In a district 

 visited by swarms of this insect, coco-nut and banana trees 

 are stripped bare of their foliage; cassava, corn, and sugar- 

 cane are eaten to the ground; orange trees are badly damaged; 

 and although cacao trees are usually left alone, when other 

 food is scarce cacao flowers and young pods, and cacao beans 

 when drying are also attacked. The 'bois immortel' {Ery- 

 thrina umhrosa) planted as a shade for cacao trees is always 

 completely stripped of leaves when the locusts invade 

 a district. 



It is no wonder that the Board of Agriculture in British 

 Guiana, in view of the invasion of certain districts of the 

 colony by swarms of these pests in the last month, has 

 issued an Order putting in force stringent measures for 

 dealing with the attack. 



This Order, dated September 17, 1917, first defines certain 

 districts as infected areas within the meaning of the local 

 Plant Diseases and Pests (Prevention) Ordinance, 1914. 



The Order then gives a short description of mature 

 winged insects, of the immature locusts, or 'hoppers', in the 

 wingless stages, and of the eggs, and where they are laid. 



The following directicms are then laid down: — 



(1) Kggs. — The eggs as previously described must be 

 sought for, dug up and destroyed. 



(2) Hoppers.— ^he hoppers must be destroyed by: — 



(a) surrounding them with dry foliage or brush- 

 wood sprinkled with kerosene oil, and burning 

 them; or by 



(6) driving them into a trench 2 feet wide and 

 3 feet deep into which kerosene oil has been 

 poured, the kerosene being lighted after the 

 hoppers are in the trench; or by 



(c) driving them into drainage or other trenches 

 which contain water on whose surface kerosene 

 has been poured; or by 



{d) driving them on to canvas sheets, bags, galvan- 

 ized iron sheets, banana leaves, young troolia 

 palm leaves, or other suitable surfaces which 

 have recently been smeared with coal tar or 

 other thick and sticky liquid, 

 (3) VegHalion. — Vegetation in the immediate line of 

 advance of the hoppers must be poisoned by spraying oi 

 dusting it with one of the following arsenicals: — 



(a) Arsenate of lead paste 4 lb. 

 Water 50 gallons. 



(b) A mixture of 1 &. of Paris green and 5 tt>. 

 of slaked lime. 



Certain officers of the Department of Science and 

 Agriculture are empowered to enter any lands within the 

 infected area for the purpose of the destruction of any locusts, 

 their eggs, and hoppers, which may be thereon, or for the 

 purpose of examination or enquiry into the presence of such 

 locusts, eggs, and hoppers, and into the steps which may 

 have been taken by the occupier of such land for the des- 

 truction of the pests. 



In conclusion, the order prescribes the liability to 

 a penalty not exceedmg $100. of any person who obstructs 

 such authorized officers in the execution of their duties 

 or who fails to comply with the Order. 



It is hoped that these strong measures will serve 

 to control the locust attacks, and to prevent their f urthej 

 spread. 



