REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 171 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



be found wise on special occasions to leave a torde of cutworms alone all the time they 

 are confining themselves to weeds, but to watch them carefully and have everything 

 ready to apply the poisoned baits, should they change their taste and turn to the far- 

 mer's crops. What I Viah to point out to farmers now, is that in outbreaks of cut- 

 worms, both in gardens and also in field crops, the poisoned bran is a practical remedy 

 which they will do well to try, over a small space, at any rate, whether they believe in 

 its efficacy or not. I have occasionally met people at farmers' institute meetings who 

 jeered at this remedy and declared that it was of no use. In every instance, however, 

 I have found, upon pressing the matter, that it had never been tried by those 'who con- 

 demned it. In field practice, then, it is plain we have two good remedies for cutworms, 

 first the keeping down of all weeds in the autumn, so that the egg laying female moths 

 may not be attracted to the fields, and the poisoned bran or poisoned bait in spring, 

 when the cutworms are found at work. 



Grasshoppers or Locusts. — The same satisfactory report which was made last 

 year with regard to the injurious occurrence of locusts in Manitoba can be repeated 

 for 1905. The only injuries by these insects which were brought to my notice in 

 1905, were in Manitoba, and were of a trifling nature. This was probably largely due 

 to the nature of the season in those districts, where in the past they have done so 

 much harm. Mr. W. J. Black, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Manitoba, 

 writing on this subject, says : ' That celebrated Manitoba intruder, the grasshopper, 

 was not in evidence during the past year to the same extent as previously. A few 

 farmers in the municipality of South Cypress found it necessary to use Paris green 

 to destroy the insects during the early summer; but, owing no doubt to an abundant 

 rainfall in the season when crops were growing, no serious damage has resulted. 



Mr. Norman Griddle, of Aweme, Man., says : — ' Locusts are no longer trouble- 

 some here. In the Stockton district a strip of wheat on light soil was noticed which 

 had b(5on eaten into for about fifteen feet. This was the only place that I have heard 

 of where any damage was done, and, so far as I could see, no effort had been made to 

 stop their depredations. 



The Pea Moth (Semasia nigricana, Steph.). — The caterpillars of the Pea Moth 

 were abundant in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and also in some parts of Que- 

 bec province and in northern Ontario. In the past there is no doubt that injury by 

 this insect has been confused with that of the Pea Weevil. This is largely due to the 

 foolish and widespread use of the word 'bug,' for every kind of insect; but in this 

 case I find that it has been the cause of the useless expense and trouble in treating 

 a large number of seed peas for an insect which was nowhere near the seed but was 

 passing the winter safely in the fields where it had destroyed a crop the previous year. 

 The Pea Moth has come much more into prominence during the past two seasons, 

 owing to the almost total absence from our Canadian pea fields of the Pea Weevil 

 {Bruchus pisorum, L.). The presence of the Pea Moth in Canada as an enemy of cul- 

 tivated crops may be said to be a regular occurrence in all the eastern provinces, from 

 1 he Atlantic seaboard as far as the eastern counties of Ontario. In the province of 

 Ontario, although sometimes widespread and serious outbreaks occur, they are of a 

 very intermittent nature and for many years no injury can be detected in cultivated 

 peas. There is, however, in wild leguminous plants a native insect with a very similar 

 caterpillar, which is widely distributed through most parts of Canada. Although the 

 work of this insect has been detected many times, up to the present the moths have 

 not been reared. 



Owing to the importance of the injury by the Pea Moth, I have, when occasion 

 arose, tried experiments to see whether spraying the peas immediately after the pods 

 were formed with a poisoned soap mixture might not be effective in the same way 

 that a similar treatment is for the Codling Moth. The insect occurs so seldom at 

 Ottawa that it is difficult to arrange experiments. Some years ago Mr. J. E. Wetmore, 



