29 



If success attends attempts to cultivate these organisms, it is 

 intended to distribute them in the first year of an outbreak so as to 

 produce rapidly the conditions that prevail at the end of one. 



Karny (H.). Die neuen australischen Thysanopteren der Mjoberg- 

 Ausbeute. (Vorlaufige Mitteilung.) [The New Australian Thy- 

 sanoptera from the Mjoberg Collection. (Preliminarv Communi- 

 cation.)] — Casopis ceskoslovenske Spolccnosti Enioniologicke, 

 Prague, xvii, no, 1-4, 1920, pp. 36-44. 



Of the Thysanoptera collected by Mjoberg in Australia only seven 

 species were already known ; twenty-nine new species and one new 

 variety are here described. The following new genera are erected : — 

 Ophthalmothrips, Aspidothrips, Pygmaeothrips, Empresmotlirips, Bag- 

 nalliella, Acrothrips and Titanothrips. Keys are given to the species 

 of Horistothrips and Adiaphorothrips. 



Myers (J. G.). Insect Pests of Lucerne and Clover. — N.Z. J I. 



Agric, Wellington, xxiii, no. 3, 20th September 1921, pp. 156-162, 

 13 figs. 



The most noticeable pest of lucerne and red clover in New Zealand 

 is Heliothis {CMoridea) obsolefa, the caterpillars of which appear in 

 great numbers in March and attack the flower heads of red clover. 

 Nysiiis hitttoni is the commonest insect in the fields, and has attacked 

 lucerne in abnormal numbers. This bug is indigenous, and also 

 occurs on numerous wild plants. Rhopalimorpha obscura (one-striped 

 plant bug) sucks the unripe seeds of grasses, and the nymphs and adults 

 have been found on lucerne and red clover in considerable numbers. 

 Zizera labradus is very common. This butterfly has been recorded as 

 a serious pest in Australia, and may become so in New Zealand. 

 Phytometra {Pliisia) chalcites (maize looper caterpillar) is less common. 



Anuraphis {Aphis) bakeri (clover aphis) and Briichophagus 

 funebris (clover seed Chalcid) have not previously been recorded in 

 New Zealand, but are both common in America. Their life-histories 

 have already been noticed [R.A.E., A, vi, 139, 399J. The Syrphids, 

 Micronius tasmaniae, Melanostoma fasciatimi, Syrphus novae-zealandiae , 

 and an unidentified Hymenopteron are natural enemies of A. bakeri 

 in New Zealand. B. funebris was abundant on red clover about to 

 be cut for seed, lucerne being attacked to a less degree. This 

 Chalcid affects the quantity of the seed crop, and is maintained by 

 the sowing of infested seed. No natural enemies of it have been 

 recorded in New Zealand. 



OsBORN (H. T.). A Dust Insecticide against Leaf hoppers. — Hawaiian 

 Planters' Record, Honolulu, xxv, no. 4, October 1921, pp. 167-170. 



In view of the success of nicotine sulphate in dust form against the 

 walnut aphis [Chromaphis juglandicola] and other pests, experiments 

 were undertaken in July 1921 with a nicotine dust spray against the 

 sugar-cane leaf hopper [Perkinsiella sac char icida]. The formula used 

 contained not less than 5-9 per cent, nicotine sulphate, 44 per cent, 

 inert carrier and 50 per cent, sulphur dust ; this was applied by a hand 

 duster. The spray used for comparison was 1 pt. nicotine sulphate 

 to 1,000 pts. water, with about 21b. whale oil soap to every 50 U.S. 

 gals, water, an ordinary knapsack sprayer being used. From the results 



y 



