REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 213 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



efficient are small active parasitic insects of the hymenopterous genus Aphidlus, 

 which fly about among the colonies of slow moving plant-lice and lay their eggs in 

 them. These hatch and the grubs feed inside their victims and destroy them. Infested 

 plant-lice become swollen and hard, and subsequently the parasites emerge through 

 a round hole on the back, or, others of the genus Praon coming out beneath the body, 

 spin their cushion-shaped cococns by which the dead plant-lice remain attached to 

 the plant. In addition to these, several kinds of lady-bird beetles destroy vast num- 

 bers, both as perfect beetles and when in the dark-coloured crocodile-like larval form. 

 These lady-bird beetles are oval in shape, flat beneath, and on their red or yellowish 

 rounded backs bear two or more black spots. These well known beneficial insects are 

 so frequently misjudged in their friendly relations with farmers that it seems well 

 to give the above brief description, and again to mention that they are almost invari- 

 ably friends and should not be destroyed. 



The tapering slug-like larva? of the Syrphus or Hovering Flies, about half an 

 inch in length, are also invariably present where there are plant-lice and destroy enor- 

 mous numbers of them. 



' Regina, Assa., August 22. — I send you by this post samples of grain and insects 

 on wheat. On the farm of Mr. Bell, of Davin, green insects have appeared. When 

 I heard of this I drove to his farm. He showed me how the insects had emeralded 

 the canvas of his binder, but, when we went to the fields, the insects were gone. He 

 6howed me how they had done damage, and we got a few of the insects which I send.' — 

 N. F. Davin. 



' Hicksvale, Assa., August 23. — I am sending you a few heads of wheat inclosed 

 in an envelope with a green insect on them. You can see by the berry how they have 

 affected the grain. It is something terrible the mischief they have done in my wheat 

 fields. They are also on some of my neighbours' wheat. Please let me know what the 

 name of the insect is and if any remedy is known, should it attack my wheat another 

 year.' — J. J. W. Bell. 



' Hicksvale, Assa., September 4. — I am sending you a parcel of wheat heads in a 

 large envelope. As you will see, some of the heads are perfect, while others are very 

 poor, with some good berries on the heads. There is a very small insect ; if you will 

 take the bunch of heads and strike them on a white paper a few times, you will find 

 plenty of the insects. I secured some of these by spreading some paste on paper and 

 sticking them on it, which I will inclose in this letter, also some bugs which seem to 

 me to be hunting for and eating the insect. No. 1 is the small insect which you will 

 find on wheat heads. No. 2 is the bug which appears to be eating No. 1. No. 3 -is 

 another insect which has infested my wheat fields, also my neighbours', and destroyed 

 hundreds of acres. I may say that there is a lot of wheat which was attacked by No. 3 

 that is not worth cutting, and is not being cut. I have in patches about 30 acres, I 

 think, which I am not going to cut. Please let me know as early as possible what these 

 insects are and how they affect the wheat.' — J. J. W. Bell. 



The insects sent by Mr. Bell were : No. 1, a Phlceothrips of an undescribed species, 

 the characteristic marks of the presence of which were very apparent on the green 

 chaff of the wheat heads sent. Nc. 2, the Thirteen-spDtted Ladybird (Hippodamia 13- 

 punctata, L.), a persistent and always abundant enemy of plant-lice in the West. No. 

 3, the Grain Aphis, which had evidently injured the grain to a serious extent. 



' Hicksvale, Assa., October 15. — Yours of the 11th September to hand in due time. 

 I examined the standing wheat and could not find any of the insects which you call 

 a Thrips, but I should think, if they had been on it, that they would have left it, as it 

 was dead ripe and no substance in it for them to feed on. You seem to doubt that the 

 grain was injured by the insect you call the Grain Aphis. To let you know how thick 

 they were, the first day I was cutting wheat, there was a strip of grain only a few rods 

 wide in the piece infested by them, and before night my binder canvas was coloured 



