1896.1 Gl 



the past year. It was noticed iu July that the leaves o£ the hops 

 were very much eaten in a curious ragged way, especially towards the 

 centre of the leaves ; in many cases only the large veins were left, 

 the entire central soft tissue being eaten away. The damage looked 

 at first sight as if caused by some root trouble, but on examination it 

 was clearly seen to be the work of an insect. The destruction took 

 place during the night to a serious extent. On stirring the earth in 

 the hills thousands of young earwigs (F. auricularia) were found 

 during the day time. I counted as many as 120 in one hill. They 

 were nearly all wingless, that is, immature forms, a few adults were, 

 however, also pi'esent. At night one could watch these insects by the 

 aid of a lantern devouring the foliage with great rapidity, especially 

 the young tender leaves. As these pests grew the damage naturally 

 increased, and much harm was done to the young plants. The whole 

 of a five acre plot was attacked. At sunrise all the earwigs, or 

 anyhow most of them sought refuge under the ground. It seems the 

 adults readily take to the wing on certain nights, especially when the 

 moon is bright. Numbers later in the year used to fly into my house 

 of a night, attracted by the lights. Possibly in this way fresh 

 recruits were constantly coming to the hop garden. Soot dusted 

 around the hills kept them in check, but unless renewed every week 

 is not successful. F. auricularia is often very abundant and de- 

 structive to flowers and vegetables, but this is the first and only attack 

 on hops that has come to my notice. 



Calocoris fultomaculatus. 

 Considerable damage has been caused to the hops during the past 

 year by tbe Hemipteron Calocoris fulvomaculatus. My attention was 

 first called to it in June near Tonbridge, many of the hop gardens in 

 that district being badly infested with this bug—" shy-bug," as it is 

 generally called by the growers, on account of its timid and active 

 nature. Its food-plants seem to be chiefly the hop and currant. 

 Hundreds could be seen and caught in most gardens on the upper 

 tender parts of the bines, sucking out the sap and leaving behind a 

 distinct scar, as figured in the Journal of the S. E. Agricultural 

 College (No. 2). The females lay their eggs on the poles and upon 

 the older bine, and most likely in other places as well, at present 

 unknown, each female laying about 100 eggs. They mostly dis- 

 appeared from the gardens at the end of July. Two other Hemipterons 

 belonging to the genus AntJiocoris were also abundant, one nemorum, 

 the other confusus. Both were sufiiciently abundant to do much harm 

 to the tender hop leaves, which they attacked during the summer. 



