248 



by the rain and sun. At the end of October the process of cutting 

 and distributing the lac-bearing branches should be repeated, distribu- 

 tion being made especially on those trees which, having been cut in 

 July, now have fresh growth. As soon as the winter crop has yielded 

 some of its swarm to the trees it is collected and scraped free from 

 the empty lac. This method aims at using the spring crop particularly 

 as a seed crop, although all the empty cells of resin that can be got 

 are collected, while the winter crop is used as a commercial crop, 

 the great advantage of this routine being that it is always easy to 

 arrange for labour in October and November, and the lac is thus 

 handled and transported in the cold weather, with the result that 

 it is not spoilt by rain. 



French (C. Junr.). The Passion Vine Longicorn Beetle {Monohammus 

 fistulaior). — Jl. Agric., Victoria, xvii, no. 2, February 1919. pp. 

 117-119, 4 figs. 



In Victoria Monochamus {Monohammus) fistulator is usually found on 

 Cassinia aculeata and Helichrysum fernigineum in the summer months, 

 in which it probably breeds. A description of the various stages is given. 

 As this beetle may easily spread to cultivated plants, spraying passion 

 vines immediately the beetle is seen with the following formula is 

 suggested : — 1 lb. of coal tar boiled in 2 gals, water, and from 50 to 

 100 gals, water added while still hot, this mixture being strained 

 before use [see also this Revieiv, Ser. A, vii, p. 201]. 



Cotton (R. T.). Insects attacking Vegetables in Porto Rico.— JZ. Dept. 

 Agric. Porto Rico, Rio Piedras, ii, no. 4, October 1918, pp. 265- 

 313, 44 figs. [Received 12th April 1919.] 



Particulars are given of a large number of vegetable pests with 

 the usual remedial measures. Among the insects mentionfed are 

 Scapteriscus vicinus (mole-cricket), and Amphiacusta caribbea (sick 

 cricket), which are both nocturnal in their habits and feed 

 indiscriminately on all vegetable crops ; Cerotoma ruficornis (bean 

 leaf beetle), feeding on the leaves, the eggs being deposited round 

 the roots of the plant and the larvae feeding on them ; Agromyza 

 jucunda (bean leaf-miner), which is reduced to a minor pest 

 by a parasite ; and the Pyralid moths, Nacoleia indicata (bean 

 leaf-webber) and Maruca testulalis (bean pod-borer). The insects 

 attacking beet include PacJiyzancla hipunctalis (southern beet web- 

 worm), which skeletonises the leaves, its other food-plants being 

 chard and weeds of the genus Amarantus, and ZincJcenia fascialis 

 (small beet web-worm). Cabbage is attacked by Plutella maculi- 

 pennis (diamond-back moth), this pest being at its height during the 

 summer months. Systena hasalis (flea-beetle) is a very gejieral feeder, 

 but prefers the tender leaves of the carrot, the eggs being laid near 

 the roots on which the larvae feed. Xylomyges sunia is a general 

 feeder wKich is particularly abundant on chard, the eggs of this moth 

 being laid in clusters of two or three hundred on the leaves. Maize 

 is attacked by the Delphacid leaf-hopper, Peregrinus maidis ; the 

 Syrphid fly, Mesograpta {Toxomerus) polita, the larvae of which feed 

 on the pollen grains and saccharine cells in the axils of the leaves 

 and pupate between the stalk and leaf-sheath ; and the leaf-miners, 



