Departmental Activities. 205 



Stinksprinkhaans : From reports reaching tbe Division in 

 January there seems to be a general recrudescence of the elegant 

 grasshopper in the Transvaal and elsewhere, and this insect 

 roay be even more troublesome next summer in areas that have been 

 lelatively free during the past few seasons. From Basutoland we 

 learn of an unusual abundance of a large green locust of the foetid 

 group {Phymatius leprosus). Regarding it the agricultural officer, 

 Mr. L. F. Wacher, writes: "This insect has been clearing gardens 

 in the south of Basutoland and doing a good deal of damage. ... 

 It has been reported to me that in certain parts this insect is moving 

 dcwn from the hills and eating the leaves of pumpkins and peach 

 tiees." Concerning the same insect, Mr. C. E. Maitin-Casalis, of 

 Ladybrand, Orange Free State, writes, in effect: "This locust is 

 very destructive, this year at all events. This farm is on the border, 

 and apparently the locusts have come over from Basutoland. Here 

 they have done little or no damage. They are for the present confined 

 ti a small kloof, and are to be found on small dense bushes which 

 grow there. As soon as they are attacked, they resort to the simple 

 and very safe expedient of bolting to the base of the bush. At various 

 trading stations in Basutoland and in certain gardens in Maseru they 

 have not only destroyed all vegetables (lettuce, cabbage, peas, beans, 

 etc.), but have also attacked fruit trees. I have seen them feeding 

 and afterwards there was nothing but peach stones remaining on the 

 trees." 



Wooly Aphis Parasite. — Very satisfactory progress continues to 

 be made by the Division in its eiforts to establish the Woolly Aphis 

 parasite, Aphehnus mali. The Senior Entomologist, Capetown, reports 

 that the colony he started in a Stellenbosch apple orchard is doing 

 splendidly, and colonies placed in and around Pretoria are also flourish- 

 ing. During January liberations were made in and near Johannes- 

 burg and at Middelburg, Standerton, Heidelberg, and Yentersdorp. 

 Transvaal Province, and at Clocolan, Orange Free State. Out of 

 doors, the period from giving newly emerged adults opportunity to 

 breed to the time their first progeny begin to appear on the wing has 

 proved to be only about 21 days in December and January. It is, 

 therefore, evident that when and where conditions are favourable, the 

 insect can multiply with extraordinary rapidity. Some colonies have 

 been reared in bell jars at the laboratory and these have 

 been kept warmer at night than were the out-of-door colonies. The 

 development of the insect is evidently greatly accelerated by such 

 circumstances, for in two generations in succession the life-cycle in 

 the jars has required only 10 to 13 days. 



Cotton Insects. — During the last week in January Entomologist 

 Geo. C. Haines accompanied the Chief of the Tobacco and Cotton 

 Division on a tour of inspection of cotton fields in the bushveld of the 

 E/Ustenburg District. On the whole the general condition as to insect 

 pests was good. As usual, bollworms were the most serious, but the 

 average percentage of infestation was very low, about 5 per cent. 

 Ratooned fields uniformly showed a higher infestation than first-year 

 fields, some having fully 25 per cent, of the bolls infested. On the 

 whole, the Sudan bollworm predominated, but the American boll- 

 worm was decidedly the more prevalent in some fields. The spiny 

 bollworm was found in most fields, but nowhere as abundant as the 



