Annual Report for 1911 of the Zooloyist. 385 



Its omnivorous habits make it a difficult i)est to deal with for 

 it is impossible to know where to look for the grubs, and the 

 only measure is to make war upon the beetles, which may be 

 caught and destroyed in great numbers by beating them down 

 from the trees. It is probable that a prompt spraying with an 

 ai'senic wash would have a beneficial effect. 



As usual, " big bud " in black currants has been often 

 inquired about. As far as can be seen the exceptionally dry 

 summer has been inimical to this pest, for diseased l)ushes are 

 not now harbouring nearly as many mites as is generally the 

 case. Sulphur and soft soap spraying experiments have been 

 carried out during the past season both by the department and 

 by Members to whom it has been recommended, and though 

 it will ])e impossil)le to report conclusively until next year, 

 the plants treated seem to have distinctly benefited. It is a 

 troublesome treatment, for it is no use applying it except when 

 the mites are migrating, and this is precisely the time when 

 spraying is otherwise undesirable, for the plants are then 

 flowering and fruiting. The crop is necessarily damaged to 

 some extent but this would be willingly endured if the disease 

 could be eradicated, as it appears to have been in some cases. 



A correspondent states that he found that on experimentally 

 painting some diseased buds with vaseline the mites within 

 were all killed. The eggs, however, survived, and in the case 

 of such buds as were not too severely attacked to open, mites 

 which had crawled out to emigrate were found later adhering 

 to the vaseline. 



The raspberry beetle Byturus tomentosus, has again been 

 under observation with a view to determine more accurately 

 its life history, which presents several obscure points, 

 notably the early appearance of the beetle, which we have 

 found in the soil in February, the occurrence of larva3 in the 

 soil in April, and the difficulty we experience in obtaining the 

 pupal stage at all. 



This year several attempts were made to rear the insect 

 from infested fruit in the laboratory, but we were not success- 

 ful in preventing the fruit from drying up and becoming 

 inedible, and the grubs died. Rather more success attended 

 a repetition of the experiment of last year, when a number of 

 infested bushes were imprisoned in an experimental cage. On 

 examination in August no pupae were found, but a few of the 

 grubs or larvae were discovered some inches below the surface 

 of the soil. These were removed to the laboratory with the 

 idea of making a further investigation of the experimental cage 

 when the removed grubs should have pupated, but uj) to the 

 present time (Noveml)er) they remain in the larval state. So 

 far we have not come across a single pupa or chrysalis. 



VOL. 72. . C C 



