94 THE EEPQRT OF THE Ko. 36 



NOTES ON TWO UNUSUAL GAKDEX TESTS IN NOVA SCOTIA. 



W. H. BkittaIxN, Peovincial Entomologist fok Nova Scotia. 



The Potato Ste.m Boiiku (Gorfi/na inicacea Esp.) 



Like so many of our injurious insects this species is evidently introduced 

 from Europe. A short description of the larva is found in Newman's " British 

 Moths." Stainton, in his " Manual of British Butterflies and Moths " Vol. 1, 

 p. 198, states that the larva feeds in the roots of various Cyperacea?. In " British 

 and European Butterflies and Moths " by Kappel & Kirby, it is said that the 

 larva lives in the roots of Glyderia speddbilis, etc. Buckler iu his " Larvae of 

 British Butterflies and Moths " states that the larva feeds on Equiseliitn. He 

 gives the following- account of the larva : — 



" Larva of H. micaeea, three-quarters grown, 1 1/16 in. long. The color of the hack 

 and sides down to the spiracles was a rather deep purplish red-'browiT without gloss, and 

 a little paler on the thoracic segments and at the divisions; the sides below the 

 spiracles and belly and the legs were paler and of a dingy flesh color; the head, ochreous 

 brown, the mandibles blackish brown; a polished ochreous brown semi-circular plate on 

 the second segment rather broadly margined in front with hlackish brown; a small shin- 

 ing pale ochreous plate on the anal tip, having a terminal border of very small dark 

 warts. At the beginning of July the larva has attained 1% in. long, having meanwhile 

 grown paler on the back and by the tenth of the month the upiper and lower surfaces 

 were both alike, of a deep smoky dull flesh color. In this case the larva had fed on 

 Equisetum, but at this date it ceased feeding and excavated a hole in the earth at the 

 side of its pot; in which by the ISih it emerged to a light ochreous brown pupa % in. 

 long from which the moth emerged in August, 1914." 



Miss Omerod publishes an account of certain outbreaks of the insect in 

 ]")otato stems in her report on injurious insects for 1898. One outbreak occurred 

 at Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and reports of similar outbreaks were received 

 from Melton Mowbray and from Daleally, Errol, N.B., but in this case no 

 moth was reared. She states that larva sent in July 20th pupated the third 

 week in August and moths appeared the middle of Septemlier. This fairly closclv 

 approximates the life history of the insect, as determined for Nova Scotia. In 

 " Entomological Notes " in the Journal of the Board of Agriculture, Vol. 4, p. 

 519, there is a brief account of the insect and its work. Griinberg, in '''Die 

 Siisswasserfauna Deutschlands," published at Jena in 1910, gives a description 

 of the adult of this insect and discusses the food habits of the larvae, mentioning 

 Carex, Biimex and Iris as host plants. 



The insect was first recorded as occurring in Canada by Mr. Gibson in the 

 39th Annual Report of this Society, pages 49-51. Mr. Gibson summarizes the 

 literature dealing with the pest and records its discovery at two widely separated 

 points, viz., Westport, N.S., and Tramore, Ont. In both cases the larva was 

 boring in a corn stalk. 



The moths have also been taken by Mr. Mcintosh at St. John, N.B., wlio 

 records the insect under the name Hydroecia medialis, Smith. The writer records 

 the ravages of the insect in Nova Scotia in a short article published in the 

 Proceedings of the Nova Scotia Entomological Society for 1915, pp. 96 and 97. 



No records of complaints of the work of the insect can be found until the 

 summer of 1914, when serious damage was reported to potatoes in gardens at 

 Yarmouth. Specimens of larvag were obtained and adults reared to maturity 

 from this material. In the same season the rliubarb plantation at the college was 

 risitod by a serious attack of this pest which practically destroyed the crop both 



