241 



Platyparea poeciloptera (asparagus fly) is a serious pest, particularly 

 of the young plants that remain in the ground for three years. The 

 remedy is to remove all the heads before 15th March and burn them, 

 and all debris of the plants should be collected and burnt during the 

 winter. Bibionid flies are troublesome among the vegetable crops 

 grown on marshy lands ; the larvae can be caught by means of slices 

 of potato laid along the rows, or they can be destroyed by hot water or 

 kerosene emulsion sprays, or by carbon bisulphide injections. 



Antlionomiis ponwrum (apple weevil) is frequently present in orchards 

 after a mild winter, causing the flowers to wilt. The trees should be 

 treated in wdnter with an application of a 20 per cent, solution of iron 

 sulphate, with a little lime and clay, or with a solution containing 

 10 per cent, iron sulphate and 5 per cent, copper sulphate. 



WoLCOTT (G. N.). El Caculo Taladrador del Tallo del Cafeto {Apate 

 francisca, F.). [Apate fnincisca, F., boring in Coffee vShoots.] — 

 Porto Rico Insular Expt. Sta., Rio Piedras, Circ. 48, October 1921, 

 6 pp., 2 figs. [Received 8th March 1922.] 



In Porto Rico, the Bostrychid, Apate francisca, ¥., does serious 

 damage to coffee plants by boring in the stems, making irregular 

 tunnels in an upward direction. The beetles are often found in numbers 

 in one shoot, and as they generally choose the smaller ones these 

 become very weak and either die or break off in the wind. Eggs are 

 laid in the tunnel after the plant has died, for the larvae cannot 

 develop in living ones, and the adults prefer to oviposit in recently killed 

 trees rather than those that are already dead and dry. Other food- 

 plants are citron, cedar, wllow, mesquite [Prosopis], flamboyant 

 [Poinciana regia], Casuarina, Acacia and mahogany. In one case 

 more than 30 individuals were found tunnelling in a sugar-cane, but 

 no eggs had been laid. A sure way of kilHng the beetles is to inject a 

 few drops of carbon bisulphide into the entrance hole and immediately 

 plug it up. Trees that have been killed by the borers should be 

 burnt, and it is better to cut and burn any plants that show signs 

 of infestation. 



Isaac (P. V.). The Turnip Gall Weevil.— //. Minist. Agric, London, 

 xxviii, no. 12, March 1922, pp. 1130-1132, 6 figs. 



Centhorrhynchus pleitrostigma, Marsh, (turnip gall weevil) does 

 considerable damage by causing galls on the plants. The weevils 

 generally feed on the leaves, tender bark, young pods and flowers of 

 turnips and cabbages, and the flowers and f oHage of charlock and hedge 

 mustard, and are usually found on the lower surface of the leaves or 

 in the soil close to the infested plants. The egg is laid in a cavity in 

 the bark of the root, one female laying one to four per day, with a 

 total of about 60. 



There are two races of the beetles, each having one generation in a 

 year. The one that is by far the more important economically appears 

 about the beginning of June and oviposits from late August throughout 

 the autumn, djang oft" in the winter. Turnips in all stages and other 

 plants of about six weeks old are preferred for oviposition. The eggs 

 hatch in about five days, or longer in cold weather, and the larvae 

 hibernate in the galls, resuming feeding in the spring and continuing 

 throughout March and April, when they leave the galls and pupate 



