44 



THE REPORT OF THE 



No. 19 



In connection with the bandages, I find that sacking is the best material for bandages. It 

 is the cheapest as well as the most easily applied and re move J. Success with bandages requires 

 careful attenti(m to them every two weeks. They thould be removed from the trees and exam- 

 ined for cocoons, then replaced. It is next to impos- 

 sible to examine the burlaps thoroughly without 

 removing them from the tree. 



The Haseltine trap lanterns were kept burning 

 nearly every night from June 7th to Septemljer 7th. 

 to ascertain the kinds of insects that are attracted to 

 such lights. The results are somewhat startling on 

 account of the capture of a large percentage of decid- 

 edly beneficial insects. For example, 30 per cent, of 

 all the forms taken were Ichneumon flies ; nearly 

 2 per cent, were Lady beetles and Ground beetles ; 21 

 per cent, were Dung beetles ; 3 per cent, were 

 Mosquitoes and Crane-flies ; 1 per cent. Fireflies. 

 Sixty per cent, of the whole number taken were com- 

 posed of injurious forms, such as May beetles, S(|uash 

 Fig. 17. Codling moth. Quarter of an bugs, Cabbage worms. Cucumber beetles and moths" 



w?r'r^ UA^lllV^u I ;"^"7 ^''^T'^ r^ u^^ The strangest thing in connection with the trap lantern 

 worm (a) ; the moth (/and g) ; chrysalis (d) ■ >^ ^ f 



larva (e), its head and first segment (h) ; experiments was the complete absence of Codlini:: 



cocoon (i). Riley. ,, ^ . • , , ^i r 



moths, it IS evident that as a meiins or capturnig 



Codlint' moths, these trap-Janterns are. a decided failure. 



The Potato Stalk-Borek. — {Trichobaris 3-notatn.) 

 Under date of Sept. I4th, Mr. J. A. Auld, M.P.P. for South Essex, wrote me regarding a 

 serious insect attack of the potato vines on Pelee Island, and sent samples of the dying stalks. 

 These branches were widely tunnelled from the base to near the tip. The potato crop will be a 

 partial failure this year and the loss will be serious. In 1900, Pelee Island shipped 30,000 

 bushels of potatoes, but in 1901, there will be few bushels to spare. 



Thg cause of the trouble is a small snout-weevil (Fig. 18, c) which depo.sits its egg in the 

 stalk some time in late May or early June. X small white grub (Fig. 18, a) hatches from the 

 egg, and begins at once to tunnel fhe centre out of the stalk. It is then nearly half an inch in 

 length, with wliitish body and brown head, and legless. It constructs within the tunnel a rudu 

 cocoon out of fibres or clay within which it changes to a pupa, (Fig. 18, b.) The pupal stage 

 probably does not last longer than two weeks, for in the same stalk I found grubs, pupa' and 

 adults. The adult beetle remains in the vines all winter according to Dr. J. B. Smith. 



The only outward appearance of the presence of a pest is the premature blackening of the 



stalks, and consequent wilting ; but when the 

 stalks were handled, and pressure aj^plied, they 

 collapsed more readily than would normal 

 plants. 



Although this Borer is well-known in many 

 parts of the Wt stern States, in Iowa, and Ne- 

 braska, lor example, this is the first record of its 

 presence in Ontario as a destructive potato 

 insect. Fortunately remedial treatment is both 

 simple and practical, from the fact that the 

 adult renrains in the vines over winter. If the 

 vines are gathered and burned as soon as possible after the potato harvest, the majority of the 

 adults .will be destroyed. 



Fig. 18. 



-Potato SDalk-horer ; a, grub ; h, pupa ; 

 c, beetle. 



