1917] ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY ENTOMOLOGY. 59 



bee. Losses are said to occur ouly after seasons of drought and no fresb out- 

 breaks of the disease follow the restocking with bees of defunct hives. 



Spore-forming bacteria of the apiary, A. H. McCbay (C7. S, Dept. Agr., 

 Jour. Agr. Research, 8 (1917), No. 11, pp. 399-420, pis. 2, figs. 6).— The first 

 part of this paper consists of descriptions and comparisons of Bacillus mesen- 

 tericus, B. vulgatus, and B. orpheus, three of the five spore-bearing species oc- 

 curring commonly about the apiary, B. alvei and B. larvw having previously 

 been considered by White (E. S. R., 18, p. 561). Reference is first made to the 

 statement of Lambotte in 1902 that foul brood of bees can be produced by 

 feeding them cultures of B. mesentericus vulgatus grown upon a special medium 

 prepared from the juices of bee larvae, and also that by the use of this special 

 medium B. alvei arises as a special variety of the above-mentioned bacillus 

 and produces, on feeding, tissue changes characteristic of the disease (E. S. R., 

 14, p. 67S). 



The second part of the paper consists of a report on inoculation experiments. 

 The author finds that mistakes in the identification of these spore-forming 

 bacteria might well be made, especially without knowledge of their occurrence, 

 and that many of the earlier investigators of bee diseases confused these 

 species. The author's studies of B. vulgatus, B. mesentericus, and B. alvei 

 led him to conclude that the biological differences of the three species are too 

 great to warrant expecting the transformation from one to another in any 

 short period of time. " Even if it is granted that Lambotte fed pure cultures 

 of B. alvei, his results would not agree with those of present-day investigators 

 of bee diseases, since B. alvei has not been found to produce disease in bees 

 upon repeated inoculations." 



A list of 19 references to the literature is included. 



Some weather-proof bands for use against ants, J. R. Hoeton (Mo. Bui. 

 Com. Hort. Cal., 5 (1916), No. 11, pp. 419-^21) .—Thi^ paper describes the best 

 formulas for banding mixtures that were developed in the course of a series of 

 experiments in which some 20 combinations were tested. 



A mixture consisting of corrosive sublimate, which has a repellent and toxic 

 action, and commercial tree-sticky, at the rate 1 : 6, has been found to give the 

 best consistency, no ants crossing and no spreading or renewal being needed 

 for a period of three months. The softness of the mercuric tree-sticky band 

 was equally well maintained by substituting flowers of sulphur for the mer- 

 cury salt. 



New Javanese chalcidoid Hymenoptera, A. A. Gieatjlt (Proc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., 51 (1916), pp. Jf1l9-Jt&5). — Two genera, ten species, and one variety are 

 here described as new to science, among which are Cheiloneuromyia javensis, 

 Cristatithorax latiscapiis, Coccophagus javce, Asemantoideus dubius, Epitetras- 

 tichus lecanii, and Epitrastichus ibseni, all reared from the green scale at 

 Salatiga, Java. 



Some chalcidoid parasites of the seeds of Myrtaceae, A. da Costa Lima 

 (Arch. Mus. Nac. Rio de Janeiro, 19 (1916), pp. 193-203, pis. 2).— This paper 

 includes descriptions of three seed chalcids that attack guava (Psidium spp.) 

 in Brazil, namely, Syntomaspis myrtaceanim n. sp. Prodecatoma sp., and 

 Eurytoma sp. 



Observations on the insect parasites of some Coccidae. — I, On Aphelinus 

 mytilaspidis, a chalcid parasite of the mussel scale (Lepidosaphes ulmi;, 

 A. D. Imms (Quart. Jour. Micros. Sci. [London], n. ser., 61 (1916), No. 243, pp. 

 217-274, pis. 2, figs. 5). — This paper deals at length with the life history, bio- 

 nomics, and economic status of A. mytilaspidis, a parasite of the oyster-sheU 

 scale (L. ulmi) as observed in England. 



