68 



each may be found. An account is given of the Hfe-history and habits 

 of each insect, both popular and scientific names being given, and such 

 remedial measures are recommended as have been proved effective 

 under conmiercial conditions or such as would seem to be worthy of 

 trial. A list of references to papers deaUng with the same subject is 

 appended to the account of each insect. The illustrations accom- 

 pamnng the text are numerous and well reproduced, and an adequate 

 index is included. A chapter on insecticides gives an account of the 

 more important materials now employed, with directions for their 

 preparation and use. 



Pettit (H. R.). Entomological ffotes.—Qtrhj. Bull, Michigan Agric. 

 Coll. Expt. Sta., East Lansing, i, no. 1, August 1918, pp. 21-22. 

 [Received 12th December 1918.] 



Only one outbreak of the army-worm [Cir2)his unipunda] was 

 recorded in 1918 up to 1st August, some fields of oats being destroyed. 

 The potato aphis [Macrosiphvm solanifolii] reappeared as was expected, 

 but in many districts was efficiently controlled by the larvae of 

 CoccinelUds. Other Aphids have been recorded from many districts 

 to be parasitised by a species of Lysiphlebus. The best remedial 

 measure is a spray of Black-leaf 40 at the rate of | to 1 pint to 100 gals, 

 water, with about 4 lb. common laundry soap added. 



Collin (J. E.). A Short Summary of our Knowledge of the Frit-Fly. 



— Ann. App. Biol, Cambridge, v, no. 2, October 1918, pp. 81-96. 

 [Received 14th December 1918.] 



It is only in comparatively recent years that attention has been 

 directed to the losses in the British Isles caused by Oscinella (Oscinis) 

 frit (frit-fly), the damage done to crops, especially oats, in some years 

 being enormous. Roughly speaking, this is a very troublesome 

 pest throughout the whole of the south of England from Cornwall to 

 Kent, in the Eastern Counties (except in the Fen district), and north- 

 ward in the counties between Wales and the Midlands to Lancashire 

 and Yorkshire, with a few records from Northumberland. It appears 

 to be specially destructive in the counties bordering on the Thames 

 and the Severn, and in Hampshire, Dorset, East Devon and the Isle 

 of Wight. In Wales it has been noted as a pest from counties on the 

 Enghsh border, and it has been recorded as doing damage in Ireland 

 and Scotland. 



Frit-fly damage occurs also in most of Northern and Central 

 Europe, and attacks by Oscinid larvae have been observed in 

 Canada and Minnesota. 



In addition to damage to the young oat plant, subsequent injury 

 to the grain in the panicles is often very great, probably much more 

 so than is generally realised. The returns published by the Board 

 of Agriculture of the average yield of oats in England for the years 

 1910-1915, include the year 1912, when frit-fly attacks were excep- 

 tionally bad, and in Avhich year it is estimated that the yield was 

 reduced bv no less than 6| bushels per acre, the total loss being 

 12,126,198 bushels. 



The plants attacked are rye, oats, barley, wheat, maize, and various 

 grasses. In England, spring oats are chiefly attacked, though attacks 



