K0TEt4,FR0M THJi] DIVISIONS : ENTOMOLOGY. IG'J 



from a sliiuy sliiglike g-iub. The insect in question, Leriui bilineata, 

 is believed to be an accidental importation ir^m South America, 

 whence it may not unreasonably be suspectd to have come with forage 

 during the South African war about twenty years ago. Since 1913 

 it has been reported from Durban, Cedara, Paulpietersburg, and Mooi 

 River in Natal ; from Piet Retief and Wakkerstroom in the Trans- 

 \aal; and from the Tarka and Bathurst Districts of the Cape Pro- 

 vince. The experience of Piet lletief tobacco growers indicates that 

 the insect is a pest that may necessitate systematic spraying with an 

 arsenical poison several times everj^ season, and that this may con- 

 siderably increase the cost of tobacco production. The beetles are long 

 lived. The female lays eggs oft and on for several mouths, generally 

 in clusters of 15 to 40, and to a total of 1000 to 2000. The eggs are 

 long and yellow, and the clusters are easily found on the leaves of the 

 food plants. The slimy grubs feed up rapidly, and in summer mature 

 in about two weeks from the laying of the eggs. They then go to the 

 ground to pupate, and the beetles emerge in about another fortnight. 

 Breeding ceases during the fall and adult beetles live over to the 

 following summer. Living beetles have been foand deep in a bale of 

 cured tobacco, and are said by farmers to be common in curing sheds. 

 It is therefore suspected that the pest is being spread with shipments 

 of newly baled tobacco, and that in the fall and winter it may also 

 hide itself in other produce and thus be carried to distant places. 

 Besides tobacco, the insect feeds readily on stinkblaar {Stravioniinn) 

 and on several weeds {P Ivy salts and Nicandra) closely related lo the 

 Cape gooseberry. The plants are sometimes quite destroyed. 

 Fortunately tlie insect feeds but little on the potato plant. 



Imported Pests. — The tobacco leaf beetle is not the only South Ame- 

 rican insect that has spread to South Africa. The Argentine ant is a 

 notorious example. It is popularly supposed to have reached the Cape 

 Peninsula with forage from Argentina during the South xVfrican war ; 

 but as a matter of fact it occurred both at Stelienbosch and King- 

 williamstown years before, and it is likely to have got to South Africa 

 from Madeira. Another apparent introduction liom South America 

 is a Melyrid beetle named Astyliis atromaculatus, which in the last 

 few years has been observed to be verj- common in lucerne fields near 

 Pretoria. It is a small yellow and black beetle somewhat resembling 

 the smallest of the Mylabrid beetles that so commoiily feast on flowers, 

 often showing a partiality for the blossoms of broad beans and of apple 

 trees, but the Melyrids have the reputation of being beneficial insects. 

 Their larvae are said to l)e carnivorous, and the beetles are credited 

 witli living on insect eggs and small soft-bodied insects. 



Toktokje Beetles in }LiUions. — During December, Mr. P. E. 

 Potter, Divisional Superintendent, South African Railways, Pretoria, 

 sent to the Division of Entomology specimens of a toktokje beetle that 

 he wrote occurred in great numbers for about five miles along the 

 railway near Granite (Zouti)aiisberg District). He added : " Some 

 two years ago, I am told, the beetles infested the neighbourhood in 

 millions. They were able to eross over one rail by means of the 

 ballast, which was packed on the outer side. ])ut they could not escape 

 from between the rails, as the inner side afforded a sheer height of 

 some 3i inches, and the beetles w^ro thus tr;q)ppfl between the rails 



