1916 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 95 



deep plough furrow. For bait we used either sweetened shorts, which proved to be 

 far superior to bran, or some green vegetation, such as Stinkweed {Thlaspi 

 arvense), or alfalfa, poisoned with Paris green. The cannibalistic tendency of 

 these larvae proved to be of great benefit, since the poisoned larvae, which soon lined 

 the treated furrow, were eaten readily by subsequent arrivals, and definite experi- 

 ments proved that under these circumstances they themselves furnished a very 

 effective poisoned bait. 



The cutworms appear early in the season, before the spring grain is sown. 

 If they are observed in large numbers in a field which is being prepared for seed- 

 ing, extra care is taken to remove all traces of green growth, a poisoned furrow is 

 prepared right round the field, and seeding is proceeded with as usual. The lack 

 of food results in a rapid migration of the larvae already on the field, and by the 

 end of the week necessary for the germination and appearance of .the crop, the 

 majority of them will have entered a furrow and have been poisoned, while others 

 attempting to enter the field from the outside also will be trapped. Sometimes it 

 is advisable to make more than one furrow along the menaced side of the field, and 

 if the season is so advanced that germination is rapid, it may be necessary to plough 

 subsidiary furrows at intervals through large fields. 



Fortunately, we have no evidence which would lead us to anticipate a frequent 

 recurrence of the pest, and we feel that similar outbreaks to that experienced this 

 year can be held in check by the control measures advocated above. 



The Peesident: I think all will agree as to the very practical nature of Mr. 

 Strickland's paper and at the same time its value on account of the very interesting 

 points he brings up regarding certain biological questions. Mr. Strickland cer- 

 tainly won two victories in the West this past season. He won a victory over the 

 Cutworms, and he won a more important one than that, the obstinacy of the farmer, 

 who is always very ehary about adopting any remedial measures from experts unless 

 you can convince him by demonstration. The way he was able to break through 

 that obstinacy on the part of those farmers who were not willing to accept advice 

 unless they were shown is really one of the valuable lessons we learn from the 

 method we now have of carrying out our work through the field stations. Secondly, 

 the fact that Mr. Strickland had to begin the study right from the yery beginning, 

 and leave behind him all the previous historical matter regarding the treatment of 

 Cutworms under other conditions and in other parts of Canada, shows what a diffi- 

 cult task he had. There are a number of points in his paper which might be 

 the subject of a very interesting discussion; for example, the behaviour of the 

 larva as compared with the behaviour of the moth. They behave practically the 

 same both towards artificial light and towards the natural light of the sun. Apart 

 from its practical interest, of course, this paper does bring forward very emphatic- 

 ally the necessity of studying the behaviour of insects, and I believe that in our 

 practical work we are coming more and more to realize that we shall have to go in 

 for behaviour studies in addition to the study upon which so much of our advice 

 has been based in the past, that is, studies of the life-history. We have many in- 

 stances of that, such as the recent work in regard to the Fruit Flies of various 

 species and work in connection with the relation of the ants to the Corn Eoot Aphis, 

 all of which tends to prove that life-history study only leads so far in many in- 

 stances. That is one of the most important things that Mr. Strickland's paper 

 brings out. The paper is now open for discussion, and I have no doubt that a 

 number of the members would like to take up certain matters. 



Prof. Lochhead : Did Mr. Strickland say what effect the juice of lemon has 

 upon the mixture as an attractant? 



