384 Annual Report for 1911 of the Zoologist. 



injurious to grass land in the larval state, but the garden 

 chafer is generally most injurious as a beetle, when it destroys 

 the leaves of various trees. Complaints of injury by it in the 

 grub stage are seldom received. 



General Farm and Garden Crop Pests. 



In this section many cases of attack were reported. Root- 

 crops suffered from aphis, gall-weevil, root-fly maggot, 

 millipedes and surface caterpillars, and there were several 

 complaints of mangold fly. Onion fly was prevalent, and 

 root-knot eelworm was the cause of failure in cucumbers, 

 and was also found in some garden plants sent for examina- 

 tion. There were bad attacks of black fly on beans, and in 

 one case the same pest destroyed a field of vetches. Pea- 

 thrips was again troublesome in garden peas, though not to 

 so great an extent as in some previous years. 



Several cases of lettuce plants attacked by root-aphis were 

 noted, but the dry weather seemed to be the chief factor in 

 the failure of this crop, which rapidly improved on the advent 

 of rain. 



Some caterpillars found attacking hops proved to be those 

 of the Peacock butterfly. Its ordinary food is the stinging 

 nettle, to which the hop plant is allied. 



A case was reported in which nearly all the charlock plants 

 on a farm were infested by the cabbage gall weevil. It 

 brought out very clearly the importance of keeping down a 

 weed so likely to harbour the pests of cruciferous crops. 



Animal Parasites. 



The cases of parasitic diseases of animals brought to the 

 attention of the Zoologist were not numerous, the principal 

 being " Gapes " in fowls, and intestinal worms {Stfongylus 

 paradoxus and S. contortus, &c.) in pigs and sheep. Several 

 animal parasites, especially ticks, were sent for identification. 



Fruit Pests. 



Advice has been given with regard to many fruit pests 

 including numerous aphidaj, apple sucker, mussel scale, red 

 spider and winter moth. 



A very bad attack of garden chafer was reported, an 

 orchard being entirely defoliated and the crop lost. This is 

 an unusual occurrence, for this beetle is not as a rule regarded 

 as a serious pest, though often more or less of a nuisance in 

 the garden, where the grubs live at the roots of a great variety 

 of plants and the beetles strip the leaves from all sorts of trees. 



