138 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



ApKit 28, 1906. 



INSECT NOTES. 



appearance. The accompanying illustration is from a photo- 

 graph, and shows the features already mentioned. 



This specimen was forwarded for identification to the 

 Director of the Royal Botanic Qarden.s, Kew, who writes- 

 that the fungus is Isdria Sjihinguni, Schweinitz. The 

 moth has been identified at the I'.ritish Museum (Natural 

 History) as a 'sphinx moth of the genus Anrery.r, probably 

 Anrery.i; fasviata, a con'mon West Indian and South American 

 species.' 



White Ants attacking Sugar-canes. 



The Agricultural Superintendent, St. Kitt"s, has for- 

 warded to the Imperial Commissioner specimens of sugar- 

 cane attacked by white ant.'', or Termite.s, with the 

 information that a whole field is seriously attacked. 



The termites attacked the canes at the base of the stalk, 

 and had so thoroughly tunnelled out the inside as to 

 destroy them. Both old and young canes were attacked. 

 No large nests w^ere to be .seen, but the small white in.sects 

 were ii> every stool of canes. In the specimens forwarded 

 by Mr. Shepherd, there were only the workers, no queens or 

 soldiers, and the conclusion is that these are merely 

 individuals scattered from some enormous nest that has been 

 broken up in the vicinity, or that there are underground nests 

 in or near the field from which the insects travel forth. 



It is proposed to plant with cotton, the fields in which 

 the sugar-cane is attacked, and it is believed that thorough 

 tillage and a change of crop will eBectually check this pest. 

 The field will be burnt over, and the subsequent breaking up 

 of the old stumps and forking or [iloughing the soil will 

 expose the insects to the sun and birds. 



The Agricultural Superintendent has recommended, ahso, 

 that these fields .should be planted in cotton as this crop 

 would be less likely to be attacked by the termites remaining 

 in the soil than the canes. 



Moth attacked by a Fungus. 



A short time ago the Imperial Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture received from Mr. R. J. Graves, of Belle Vue estate, 

 St. Andrew, Grenada, a large Siihingid moth on which 



The Cacao Beetle in Grenada. 



The following extract from a letter from the Agri- 

 cultural Superintendent at Grenada to the Imperial 

 Commissioner of Agriculture gives an account of 

 a practical method of dealing with the cacao beetle in 

 that island ; — 



The chief trouble in this district is the cacao beetle 

 {Steirastoma depressimi). ilany pounds are spent each year 

 in fighting this pest. Gangs of boys are employed to collect 

 the beetles, for which they are paid so much pier dozen. 

 ilr. Gall, the manager, has also adopted a plan which 

 works very well, and of which I have seen no account 

 published, though it may be familiar to you. When, 

 pruning, the branches, etc., cut off are left on the groumi 

 as a bait, while all wounds on the trees are carefully 

 tarred. After about a week, when these branches have 

 wilted, the beetles visit them freely, and deposit their eggs, 

 and then some three weeks later, when full of grubs, the 

 branches are carefully collected and burned, or buried. The 

 former treatment is preferable, for if the soil is stony, and 

 the prunings cannot be buried deeply, the beetles work their 

 way out. In such situations, where burying is adopted, 

 I advised the covering of the prunings with lime to aid in 

 killing the grubs. 



In a recent number of the Wed Imlian Bulletin 

 (Vol. VI, p. 94) an account is given of the method 

 practised in Surinam, consisting of tying pieces of the 

 bark of the silk cotton tree round the cacao trunks to- 

 furnish hiding places for the beetles, from which they 

 are collecteil. Possibly a combination of this with the 

 method described by Mr. Anstead would 

 result in increased effectiveness. 



Fig. 3. ruNtJus growing on a moth. 



a yellowish fungus was growing. The moth was attached to 

 a leaf by masses of the fungus, and from the body and \\ings 

 of the insect other of these masses grew upward and outward 

 in the furin of long spines, giving the whole a remarkable 



Cotton Insects in the Transvaal. 



In the Transvaal Ai/n'cu/lural Journal 

 for January 1906, it is stated that the cotton 

 boll weevil is not present in South Africa, and 

 it is ho[)ed, by carrying out preventive measures- 

 such as fumigation with carbon bisulphide, 

 and treating with formalin, not only to keep 

 out this and other insect pests, but also to 

 prevent the introduction of many fungous 

 diseases of cotton. The cotton boll worm 

 is already present in the Transvaal, and has 

 done considerable damage to the experimental 

 plots in diflFerent parts of the colony. 



It is interesting to note that the Transvaal 

 has adopted the fumigation of imported cotton 

 seed with carbon bisuli)hide as recommended by 

 the Imiierial Dejiartment of Agriculture {Aijri- 

 cultural Neirs, Vol. IV, p. 102), and that 

 in that colony disinfection with formalin is practised in 

 the same way that the disinfection with corrosive sublimate 

 is in the West Indies, to prevent the introduction of fungoid 

 di.seases of the eottou plant. 



