-8 Nov., 1907.] Insect Pests in Other Lands. 683 



in Australia under any conditions. The pest, however, that in my opinion, 

 after very close observation has done more damage and is still at work on 

 the lantana is the "" Maui Blight" {OrtJiesia insignis) one of the Mealy 

 Bugs, known as a very destructive pest to the tea plant and other shrubs in 

 India and the East. It must be stated, however, that the entomologist did 

 not introduce this doubtful pest ; it was accidentally introduced on the 

 island of Maui, but has been widely spread all over the other islands by 

 the ranch men, and is attacking other jilants and may be a very grave 

 plant pest to reckon with in the future. I therefore strongly advise that 

 under no conditions should we introduce anv of these insects intO' Australia 

 to kill lantana; even if thev killed everv bush out, our conditions of plant 

 life are so different that it is hard to sa\ where the pest insects would stop 

 after the original host plant died out. 



The Hawaiian Islands are the adojjted home of a great man_\ cosmo- 

 politan pests, and though many useful inserts, among them Australian 

 ladybird beetles, have from time to time been introduced, the injurious 

 ones are very much in evidence. Among those most e\-ident in the beauti- 

 ful gardens that surround Honolulu are the two foliage pests, known as 

 the "Japanese Leaf Beetle " {Adoretiis umbrosiis) and Fuller's Rose 

 Beetle {Aramigiis julleri) the latter an American importation. If b\ any 

 accident either of these beetles were ever introduced into Australia with 

 plants from America, Honolulu, or Japan, which could very easily happen 

 in soil round the roots of plants, the nurserymen and rose growers would 

 have twO' verv formidable pests to deal with. 



At the request of the manager of the American Sugar Company, 

 accompanied bv Mr. Van Dine, I visited the Island of Mooliki and spent 

 several davs on their ranch to see t'.ie damage caused to their stock by a 

 species of flesh fly allied to our sheep maggot flies, and also to stud\ the 

 habits of the " Horn Flv," which was introduced from America some \ears 

 ago with stock and has spread all over the place. It is one of the worst 

 I)lood-sucking flies, breeds in cattle manure, and co\-ers the shoulders and 

 sides of tlie cattle in thousands and infes^ts horses but slightly, but does a 

 great deal of damage to sheep, for scab is common on most of the ranches 

 and wherever there is a sore or wound on the sheep these flies swarm and 

 keep it from healing. Most of the old sheep have a raw sore up to 6 inches 

 in diameter on some part of the bodv, the combined result of scab and horn 

 fly, so that they have little chance to get fat or grow wool. This also is a 

 pest that we should be on the watch for in Australia, as it is exident by its 

 introduction into Hawaii that it could be brought into Australia, and a 

 native of Texas would soon flourish in similar climate and conditions. I 

 also found " Horn PTv " abundant in all dairies \-isited about the town. 



The great industry of the islands is, as you are aware, sugar planting, 

 which produced 137,750 tons of sugar last year. The Economic Entomo- 

 logists working at the Sugar Planters' Experiment Station therefore confine 

 their attention to the sugar cane pests in which the planters are particularly 

 interested, and have carried out mnn) interesting experiments in ch.ecking 

 injurious insects that have damaged the sugar cane crops. Some years ago 

 a e-mail leaf hopper {Perkinsella saccharicidd) made its appearance as a 

 pest in the cane fields, and about 1902 swarmed in such numbers — sucking 

 up the sap and depositing their eggs both in the leaf stalks and the cane 

 stems — that the whole fields were black wiUi fumagine, and through the 

 injuries tbiey caused rust and fungi damaged the tif»sues of the stalks. 

 These injuries caused a great loss in the vield of juice, and Messrs. Perkins 

 and Koebele came to Australia (whence much cane had been introduced 



