REPORT OF TEE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 209 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



necessary to point out that Paris green ia practically insoluble and therefore cannot 

 be absorbed^ by the plant. The only danger in its use is from its corrosive eflPects on 

 vegetation, if thrown accidentally on to foliage where it can remain for some time. 



Western Wheat-stem Sawfly (CephiLS occidentalis, Riley and Marlatt) .— From 

 time to time specimens of this sawfly have been reared from the stubble of wheat 

 fields in Manitoba and the Northwest provinces; but the attack has never been of 

 a serious nature, and it was thought that probably the insect was naturally a depre- 

 dator on some of the native western grasses. The matter has been investigated very 

 carefully by Mr. Norman Griddle, of Aweme, Manitoba, and he has found that two or 

 three native grasses are regularly attacked, even when growing in close proximity to 

 fields of grain. He writes : ' The Western Wheat-stem Sawfly was enormously abun- 

 dant this year. I think fully three-quarters of the stems of the bunch grass which we 

 have been calling. Agropyrum caninum, contained the larvae. Wheat and rye were 

 also infested to a moderate extent round the edges of the fields next to the prairie. 

 Fully 10 per cent of the cultivated Western Rye grass, Agropyrum tenerum, had also 

 larvae in the* stems, which of course prevented the seed from forming. During the 

 winter and early spring the larvae can be found about an inch below the ground in 

 the stems near the root.' 



The remedies which suggest themselves for this insect are the burning over of 

 stubble in autumn or early spring, and the mowing of the coarse-stemmed grasses 

 round the edges of wheat fields. 



ROOTS AND VEGETABLES. 



There has been the usual loss in gardens and in field root crops from the well 

 known pests ; but careful clean gardening and prompt attention have, as is always the 

 case, prevented extensive injury. In one or two instances, as the cutworms in the 

 West, which attacked not only field crops, but spread into every garden in the infested 

 districts, the Sugar Beet Webworm in Southern Alberta, and an outbreak of the 

 Spotted Cutworm, Noctua c-nigrum, L.. at Leeds, Ont., it required much effort to 

 hold the devastating swarms in check. 



The Colorado Potato Beetle was more than usually abundant in Manitoba. 



Aweme, Man., November 26. — ' The Colorado Potato Beetle was plentiful every- 

 where and did a great deal of damage to the foliage of potatoes. I noticed, however, 

 that it was in much larger numbers on the plants of the Three-flowered Nightshade, 

 Solarium triflorum.' — N. Criddle. 



Norquay, Man., September 25. — ' The Colorado Beetle has been worse than ever 

 before ; it appeared in great numbers and very early on my early potatoes, which they 

 would have destroyed utterly, if I had not sprayed them. They did not attack the 

 main crop, which was put in later, until quite late in the season, and then only in 

 patches. This fact was also noticed by several othei-s in the neighbourhood. The 

 insect was so general all over the province that the supply of Paris green was cleared 

 out to the last ounce. The newspapers spoke of this beetle as a new thing: in Mani- 

 toba; but I saw it here in 1SS9, and about 1893 a patch of potatoes planted in a small 

 clearing in the bush about a mile from me was entirely devoured. Since that time 

 I have been using Paris green every year until last year, when I did not see a single 

 beetle.' — W. 11. Holland. 



Several other correspondents in Manitoba spoke of the destruction by the Color- 

 ado Potato Beetle, and an effort was made to secure combined action in controlling 

 the insect. In the older provinces there was the usual occurrence of this insect, and, 

 where the plants were not sprayed, there was much loss. In Prince Edward Island 

 the loss was reported as unusually large and the beetles as more numerous than for 

 many years. The Rev. Father Burke states that prompt application of the ordinary 



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