358 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



of the adult fly and the beginning of oviposition, control experiments were con- 

 ducted to determine whether the adults could be poisoned during the interim, 

 as previously noted (E. S. R., 31, p. 849). 



It has been found that sodium arsenate at the rate of 4 oz. to a gallon of 

 boiling water to which 1 pint of New Orleans molasses is later added furnishes 

 a spray that is cheap, attractive to the pests, and effective. " In actual prac- 

 tice it has been found that a field may be treated in checkerboard fashion or in 

 alternate strips, leaving an untreated strip of a width similar to the treated 

 areas, since the flies are strongly attracted to the poison bait spray when freshly 

 applied. The frequency of treatment is most important. During fair weather 

 the application of this poison bait once a week regularly is suflacient, but in 

 rainy weather it is desirable to apply it at least twice a week, especially if a 

 shower follows the application. It is urged that the poison bait spray "be also 

 applied to weeds or other vegetation adjoining the onion fields to poison any indi- 

 vidual flies that may be resting at these locations." It is stated that a number 

 of onion growers in Wisconsin tried out this poison bait spray during the sum- 

 mer of 1914 under actual field conditions and harvested almost perfect stands, 

 and the best crop grown in fifteen or more years. 



Insecticides for the control of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa 

 decemlineata), L. B. Smith (Virginia Truck Sta. Bui. U U915), pp. 315-333, 

 figs. 5). — This is a general summary of the results of field work on the control 

 of the Colorado potato beetle conducted in Tidewater Vii'ginia, during the sea- 

 son of 1914. The results indicate that for the farmer who grows 5 acres or 

 more of potatoes Bordeaux mixture (4: 6:. 50), together with arsenate of lead 

 paste from 4 to G lbs., and 1 lb. of Paris green to 50 gal. of mixture has not yet 

 been surpassed as a spray for potatoes by any of the proprietary insecticides 

 now in use either from the standpoint of efliciency or economy. It is thought 

 that the most economical and efiicient results in spraying under Tidewater 

 conditions may be obtained through the application of Paris green and lime 

 dust when the first green shoots are showing, followed as soon as the plants 

 are from 4 to S in. high by some liquid spray, preferably that above mentioned. 

 This should be applied at least every 10 days and the application repeated 

 preferably once a week until the crop is ready for harvest. A description of a 

 Bordeaux mixing plant is included. 



The southern corn leaf -beetle, E. O. G. Kelly {TJ. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 221 

 {1915), pp. 11, pis. 2, figs. 6). — During the last few years the southern com 

 leaf-beetle (Myochrous denticoUis) has become a pest of considerable impor- 

 tance. It first came to the author's attention in the bottom lands of the Ohio 

 River in southern Illinois in 1905, and has since been observed by him in 

 Kansas, northern Texas, and eastern Arkansas. These observations and others 

 by Webster in Louisiana and Ohio "• seem to indicate that it occurs in destructive 

 abundance on lands that have previously been devoted to pasture or on lands 

 which have been allowed to lapse into a semiwild condition, not having been 

 cultivated for several years. The si^ecies is widely distributed over the south- 

 ern half of the Urited States, extending from the extreme southeastern part of 

 Arizona to southern Texas, becoming more numerous directly north of Browns- 

 ville, thence northward to southern Iowa, and eastward to northern Illinois 

 and central Ohio nud to Washington, D. C, the most southeastern point recorded 

 being in northern Florida. 



While numbers of larvae have from time to time been found in the soil, 

 always in close proximity to corn roots which were more or less eaten, in no 



» Jour. N. Y. Ent. Soc, 9 (1901), No. 3, pp. 127-132. 



