384 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 5 



time would be caught at a later date providing the dipping was con- 

 tinued over a number of years. 



Conclusion. From the above brief account of the work which has 

 been done and is being done, in South Africa, it will be seen that — 

 although the tick problem is a large one, much has been accomplished. 

 It is now for the farmer to put into practice what has been learned of 

 the ticks and the methods of their eradication. Many progressive 

 farmers have built dipping tanks and are regularly dipping their 

 cattle. There are still many who have not yet adopted good methods 

 of ridding their farms of ticks, but it is to be hoped that soon, by a 

 united effort, the farmers will at least reduce the number of species of 

 ticks which annually cause them loss. 



THE EGG LAYING HABITS OF ADOXUS VITIS IN FRANCE 



By C. R. Crosby 



In speaking of the egg laying habits of the California grape root- 

 worm {Adoxus ohscurus vitis) H, J. Quayle (Calif. Agr. Exp. Station, 

 Bull. 195, p. 11, 1908) states, ''The eggs of this beetle are laid usually 

 in crevices beneath the layers of bark on the old wood. 

 The same insect in France, according to Mayet, lays in the neighbor- 

 hood of thirty eggs either singly or in patches on the under side of the 

 leaves. This number is probably simply an approximation. The fact, 

 if it is a common occurrence, that they are laid on the under side of the 

 leaves, is the most striking difference between the habits in California 

 and in France." In a footnote Quayle cites, Ma5^et's Insectes de la 

 Vigne, p. 308, as authority for this statement. 



This is certainly a striking difference of habit and out of curiosity 

 the writer consulted Mayet's work and found on page 308 a statement 

 to that effect but also discovered that it did not refer to Adoxus vitis 

 at all but to Altica am/pelophaga. On page 326 Mayet describes the 

 egg laj'ing habits of Adoxus as follows: "Le nombre des oeufs pondus 

 est d'une trentaine environ; ils sont deposes, en captivite, dans les 

 anfractuosites et les fentes du recipient ou on eleve I'insecte, les 

 replis de papier, etc. II est probable qu'a I'etat de liberte ils sont 

 toujours places sons les ecorces, non loin du collet de la souche; c'est 

 dans conditions — la M. Maurice Giard dit avoir observe plusieurs 

 pontes." This agrees closely with the habits of the beetle in California 

 as described in detail by Mr. Quayle. 



