487 



food-plant. The winged parthenogenetic individual alighting on 

 either food-plant can give rise to winged individuals and later to 

 apterous ones that form a new colony, as many as 1,600 individuals 

 being produced within twenty days after its arrival. 



The enemies attacking these Aphids include a Syrphid, Baccha 

 <lnvata, one larva of which devours about ten Aphids daily. The 

 life-cycle of this fly occupies 18 to 20 days. The larvae of the 

 €occine]lid, Neda sanguinea, are also predaceous upon Aphids. The 

 most important insect enemy is a Braconid, Aphidius testaceipes, 

 the female of which deposits nearly 100 eggs and may parasitise as 

 many as 20 Aphids. This parasite causes such depredations among 

 Aphids that the appearance of winged forms soon becomes necessary 

 for the continuation of the species. 



PiCARD (F.). Description d'un Cynipide aphidiphage nouveau 

 {AlJoxysta kiefferi, sp. n.), Parasite du Pueeron de la Betterave. — 

 BuU. Soc. Entom. France, Paris, 1919, no. 13, 9th Julv 1919, 

 pp. 238-240. 



While studying the parasites of Aphis rumicis {euonynii) (beet 

 aphis), the winter-eggs of which are laid on spindle-wood {Euonymns 

 spp.), the author discovered a new parasitic Cynipid taken at Mont- 

 pellier, which is described under the name, Alloxysta kiefferi, sp. n. 

 The female only has been found, although in the case of other species 

 of this genus males appear to predominate. All the individuals found 

 were taken within a few days at the end of May and beginning of 

 June. At the same time a Braconid of the genus Trioxys, allied 

 to T. heraclei, Hal., was found in great abundance, and also a 

 predaceous Chalcid, Asaphes {Isocratus) vulgaris, Wlk. 



The inter-relations of these various Hymenoptera are not definitely 

 known. Many authors have considered the Cynipids to be true 

 primary parasites of the Aphids ; others consider them to be hyper- 

 parasites, A third hypothesis, that of hyperparasitism by the 

 Braconids at the expense of the Cynipids, is hardly tenable in view 

 of the fact that the Braconid parasite of a given Aphid is always more 

 iibundant than the Cynipid. The truth can only be discovered by 

 the study in captivity of Aphids reared from eggs, and this is rather 

 a difficult matter. Asaphes vulgaris has also been considered to be 

 a hyperparasite, but there is no definite proof of this. 



Dubois (P.). Centre l8 Pueeron lanigere du Pommier. — La Vie 

 Agric. et Rur., Paris, xv, no. 37, 13th September 1919, pp. 

 197-198. 



Besides the usual petroleum emulsion against woolly aphis of 

 apple [Eriosoma lanigerum] successful results have been obtained 

 by spraying all crevices and cavities of the trunk and branches with 

 5 oz. of sodium sulphoricinate and 35 oz. of soft soap dissolved in 

 -5 pints of rain water in the autmnn, and watering the roots with 

 f oz. of potassium carbonate dissolved in 5 pints of water to which 

 have been added 3 oz. of sodium sulphoricinate, 2 oz. of methylated 

 spirit and 1 oz. of titrated nicotine (2 oz. to 1 pint). This may also 

 be aj)plied in the spring as a spray. 



