263 



Victoria and South Australia. There are two generations each summer, 

 sometimes three, the overwintering eggs usually hatching in September. 

 The eggs are laid in the ground ; for this purpose a swarm masses 

 together and settles for a day or two on a bare or thinly grass-covered 

 area. In the summer the eggs hatch in 3 weeks. A description of 

 the immature stage is given ; this lasts about seven weeks and during 

 that time there are five moults ; the adult lives for several weeks. 



Fields were sprayed with sodium arsenite at various strengths, 

 and it was fovmd that this poison with a 75 per cent, arsenious acid 

 content used at the strength of 1 lb. to 16 gallons of water and 3 lb. 

 of treacle killed about 70 per cent, of the insects, whilst an 80 per 

 cent, arsenious acid content killed 75-80 per cent. The evidence 

 also showed that the stronger arsenite might be used on the younger 

 grasshoppers at the rate of 1 lb. to 20 gallons of water. It is also 

 suggested that 4 lb. of treacle instead of 3 lb. would spread better 

 and be more adhesive as well as more attractive to the insects. For 

 young insects the spray should be applied to strips of grass about 

 30 feet wide, but for older insects these should be as much as 50 feet ; it 

 should be applied directly on to the insects as well as on the surrounding 

 grass. The scorching of the grass as a result of the spray is superficial 

 and quite temporary. Sheep kept in enclosed areas where the grass 

 had been thoroughly sprayed with the above mixture received some 

 injury which occasionally proved fatal, but its use is considered 

 practically harmless in the fields where the sprayed area is small 

 in proportion to the whole. Starlings and the wood swallow {Artamus 

 superciliosus) feed on these grasshoppers. 



Froggatt (W. W.). a Vine-destroying Longicorn Beetle {Monohammvs 

 sp.). — Agric. Gaz. N.S.W., Sydney, xxx, no. 2, 3rd Februarv 1919, 

 pp. 129-131, 1 plate. 



An attack by a species of Monocliamus [Monohaninius) on grape- 

 vines is recorded but is considered possibly a casual one, the grape- 

 vine not being a suitable food-plant for the larvae of so large a species 

 of Longicorn. On the vines examined the eggs were found on the 

 outer surface of the bark on the main stem about 4 or 5 inches above 

 ground, the larva sometimes feeding under the bark up one side of 

 the stem, but more frequently boring straight up the centre. Pupation 

 takes place in any part of the stem, just under the bark in the end 

 of a burrow. The life-cycle probably takes a year. The larva and 

 pupa are described. The beetle is closely allied to the passion-vine 

 l)orer [M. fistidator] and may be only a variety of that species. 



HoLLiNGER (A. H.) & Parks (H. B.). Euclemensia bassettella (Clemens), 

 the Kermes Parasite (Micro-lepidoptera, Tineoidea, Oecophoridae). 



— Entom. News, Philadelphia, Pa., xxx, no. 4, April 1919, pp. 91- 

 100, 1 plate. 



The conclusion is arrived at both from the authors' own investiga- 

 tions and those of others that the moth Euclemensia bassettella is a 

 parasite of Kermes and not a gall-feeder. Blasfobasis coccivorella, 

 Chamb. (which has not since been recorded) and Laetilia (DaJcriwia) 

 coccidivora, Comst., are the only previously known Lepidopterous 

 larvae infesting these scale-insects. A number of records are given 



