EXTRACTS. Ill 



could thus easily attach itself to an insect or })ird. Early in 

 191G a few cotton seeds were brought to Barbados from 

 another island and planted in concrete tanks covered with 

 cages of fine mesh wire. No cotton had been grown in these 

 previously and no cotton is grown in the district. The 

 first leaves of the plants from these seeds showed the 

 characteristic signs of leaf-blister mite attack, and there 

 seems to be no possibility that the mites could have found 

 their way to these plants except on the seed. The disin- 

 fection of all cotton seed used for plantinor in a solution of 

 one part corrosive sublimate to 1,000 parts water is therefore 

 recommended. (Agric. JS'eivs, BarJ>ados, xv. JS^o. 3G8, i^rd 

 June 1916, p. 186.) 



Tsetse Flies. — Five species of Chalcidoid parasites were 

 bred from the puparia of Glossina morsitans in Nyasa- 

 land, one of which is a hyper-|)arasite of G. morsitans 

 through the ant Mutilla glossinse. [Waterston, J., Bidl. 

 Ent. Researcliy Loud., vi. 4, 1916.) 



Insect Carriers of Fungus Disease. — Leafspot disease of 

 peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), due to Gercospora perso- 

 na ta, may be disseminated by insects. Positive tests were 

 given by four orders of insects, namely^ Orthoptera 

 (grasshoppers and katydids), Lepidoptera (larv?e of 

 Heliothis obsoleta), Coleoptera (Megilla maculata, 

 Epicauta vittata, and Chauliognathus sp.), and 

 Rhynchota (leaf-hoppers). Grasshoppers were found to 

 be capable of carrying conidia on the surface of the body 

 for very considerable distances, and the passage of the 

 conidia through the alimentary tract of these insects did not 

 affect their germination. The spores of Puccinia cassipes, 

 Alternaria sp., and Fusarium sp. were also found in their 

 excremc nt. The ineffectiveness of crop rotation, coihbined 

 with seed treatment, in eliminating leafspot is thus probably 

 due to the fact that wind and insects are disseminating 

 agents. ( Wolf, F. A., Jl. Agric. Research, Washington, D. C, 

 V. 19, 1916.) 



