REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 227 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



to make soft, without being sloppy. Scatter well, in quantity according to the number 

 of locusts. They will be attracted for at least 40 feet by the smell. The horse dung 

 is preferable when fresh, but will do several weeks old, even after being washed con- 

 siderably by rain. The above remedy has proved and must prove a great success 

 wherever used correctly. A simple way to keep locusts on the edge of fields is to sow 

 a strip of rye around them. This grows much more rapidly than wheat and takes a 

 lot of eating down to kill it. By this means the locusts are held where they are easily 

 got at. Ploughing a strip next the wheat was also found effective. In this section 

 all used poison and only a few acres of crop were destroyed. I am convinced that, had 

 we begun the fight earlier, hardly a bushel of grain would have been lost. It is no 

 exaggeration to say that dead locusts could be gathered up in wagon loads and at 

 times be smelt for half a mile. Mr. Cullen, or Mr. Fortune, and one of our family, 

 with horse and rig, kept the locusts from about 600 acres during the entire season. 

 The locusts consisted mostly of the Lesser Migratory Locust (M. atlanis). M. 

 Packardii was numerous, and there was a small percentage of M. spretus, M. hivittatus, 

 Camnula pellucida and Gomphocerus species. We are greatly indebted to the Hon- 

 ourable Minister of Agriculture and to Mr. McKellar, his Chief Clerk, for promptly 

 fcrwarding Paris green when required, and for two visits of the last-named gentleman. 

 ' In reply to your inquiry, we find the following treatment very useful in prevent- 

 ing locusts and crickets from eating binder twine, as they are very apt to do when the 

 grain is standing in stooks. Soak the balls of twine in a solution of 2 pounds of 

 bluestone to 12 gallons of water for half an hour, then dry thoroughly. Introduced 

 by Mr. H. Vane, of this place.' — Norman Criddle. 



Predaceous and parasitic insects seem to have increased at Aweme later in the 

 season as the following extracts show : — 



' September 15. — I send you two beetles of a species which has several times been 

 found among locusts' eggs, the pods of which were broken open apparently by them. 

 These beetles have been very abundant during the summer in company with several 

 others somewhat similar.' — N. Criddle. 



The beetles referred to above were Carabldae of the genus Amara, perhaps A. 

 carinata, Lee. or A. laticollis, Lee, or a nearly related species. Unfortunately the 

 knowledge of this genus is very imperfect. No specialist will undertake to name forma 

 in this portion of the genus with certainty. 



' November 15. — I deeply regret that I was unable to get you the locust eggs. All 

 the best ground was ploughed before I had time to hunt. I am forwarding a few 

 partly broken pods. The coating around the eggs is extremely thin this year, much 

 more so than usual ; it is therefore almost impossible to avoid breaking them. The 

 majority of pods in most places are already broken open and the eggs partly destroyed, 

 principally by a small white larva. I am sending a small box containing some of 

 these, some broken pods attacked and a few other insects found in the vicinity of the 

 eggs, which may have helped to destroy them and which may prove of interest.' — N. 

 Criddle. 



The white larvse were those of one of the small blister-beetles, well known para- 

 sites on the eggs of locusts. A few of them had changed on arrival at Ottawa to the 

 very interesting pseudo-pupae, a curious extra stage of development which occurs in 

 this family of beetles.* There was also the cocoon of a hymenopterous parasite. Upon 

 inquiring from Mr. Criddle if he had noticed any unusual abundance of blister-beetles, 

 he replied that they were decidedly more numerous last summer than usual, especi- 

 ally a small gray kind, of which several hundred would be seen within a few yards, 

 and then perhaps no more for half a mile. No damage to crops by these beetles was 

 noticed. 



Mr. F. D. Cullen, of Aweme, reported that one hundred acres of his crop were de- 

 stroyed by grasshoppers before he received the Paris green, and that they were attack - 



* These proved to be Epicauta PennsyJvanica, DeGeer. 

 16— 15$ 



