254 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 6 



the work of the United States Bureau of Entomology on the insects 

 affecting sugar cane in the southern United States. 



The moth stalk-borer, Diatrcea saccharalis Fabr., is generally dis- 

 tributed over all the cane areas in the island and the species is respon- 

 sible for the greatest amount of damage of any insect attacking sugar 

 cane in Porto Rico. The species was determined for the writer by 

 Dr. H. G. Dyar. The Spanish equivalent for the common name of the 

 insect is "el barreno-polilla del tallo de la cana." The local natural 

 enemies of the sugar-cane moth stalk-borer observed to date are: an 

 egg-parasite, Trichogramma pretiosa Riley (?) ; a Tachinid fly, Tachi- 

 nophyto (Hypostena) sp., collected from the gallery of the larva by 

 Mr. T. H. Jones at Rio Piedras, determined by Mr. W. R. Walton; 

 and the fungus parasite, Cordyceps harheri, determined by Dr. R. 

 Thaxter of Harvard University. 



The injury to the roots of sugar cane by the white-grubs of May- 

 beetles, Lachnosterna spp., is the most acute insect pest problem before 

 the Porto Rican sugar-cane planter. The several species involved 

 have been referred to Mr. E. A. Schwarz, who states that some of 

 them are new. Aside from the Lachnosterna one other species of the 

 sub-family Melolonthides has been collected from the cane field, as well 

 as several species of the related sub-family Dijnastides, that is, the so- 

 called "hard back" and Rhinoceros beetles. One of the cane field 

 hard-back beetles is a species of the genus Ligyrus. The Spanish 

 equivalent for the common May-beetles is " el caculo moreno nocturno " 

 and for the white-grubs, "el gusano bianco." The hard-backs are 

 called "el caculo negro nocturno." The local natural enemies of 

 May-beetles are the wasp, Canipsomeris dorsata Fabr., bred from the 

 larva of a Lachnosterna collected by Mr. C. T. Murphy of Guanica 

 Centrale, determined by Mr. S. A. Rowher; the wasp, EUs sexcincta 

 Fabr., collected from flowers by Mr. T. H. Jones, determined by Mr. 

 Rowher; two species of Tachina flies, the first collected by the writer 

 in company with Mr. B. H. Doidge, Manager of the Pagan sugar 

 estate of Guanica Centrale, and the second collected by Mr. T. H. 

 Jones, referred to by Mr. W. R. Walton;^ and the blackbirds known 



1 Since the above was written Mr. Walton has determined the Tachina fly col- 

 lected by the writer and Mr, Doidge to represent a new species and the species 

 collected later by Mr. Jones to represent not only a new species but also a new 

 genus. The former species, taken on April 29, 1912, has been described by Mr. 

 Walton under the name Cryptovidgerda aurifacies in the Proceedings of the Ento- 

 mological Society of Washington, Vol. XIV, 1912, pp. 198-200. The latter species 

 taken by Mr. Jones on May 14, 1912, has been described by Mr. Walton under 

 the name of Eulrixoides jonesii in Entomological News, Vol. XXIV, No. 2, 1913, 

 pp. 49-51. Both of these flies were discovered at the Librada coffee plantation, 

 Anasco valley, Porto Rico, as parasites within adult Lachnosterna. 



