265 



These two measures employed simultaneously have given excellent 

 results where infestations were beginning ; and where they were already 

 severe, thousands of larvae have been caught in the trenches while 

 trying to escape from the banded area, and are there easily destroyed 

 by insecticides. Lead arsenate sprays have been successful in nurseries 

 and young plantations. An apparently successful attempt has been 

 made to propagate artificiall}^ the diseases mentioned above. 



L. monacha is recorded as occurring normally in most of the districts 

 of France, but, although a somewhat serious infestation occurred 

 in Belgium two years ago, there has never been a severe outbreak 

 in France. It is quite possible, however, that such an invasion might 

 occur at any time, particularly during periods of heavy infestations 

 in other parts of Europe, and it is thought that it would be advisable to 

 prohibit for a time the importation of timber from Czecho-Slovakia. 



In 1921 also, the Pyralid, Phlyctaenodes sticticalis, was a menace 

 to the beet crop that is grown to supply the important sugar industry 

 of Czecho-Slovakia. In some districts this moth was so numerous 

 as to attack not only the beets but also the neighbouring fields and the 

 edges of the forests, in which the needles of all the coniferous trees 

 were eaten, except those of Pinus austriaca. 



MiEGE (E.). Sur une Invasion des C^reales au Maroc par la Sesamia 

 nonagrioides. — Bull. Soc. Path. Veg. France, Paris, viii, no. 4, 

 October-December 1921, pp. 145-147. [Received 13th March 

 1922.] 



Sesamia vuteria [nonagrioides), which has occasionally been reported 

 as damaging sugar-cane in Morocco, was found in abundance in 1920 

 on maize and sorghum, which are important crops in that country ; 

 while in 1921, wheat and oats in the Experiment Station at Rabat were 

 infested, particularly the hard varieties [Triticum durum), though 

 barley growing in adjacent plots was untouched. An entrance is 

 ■effected just below a node, and the larva works upwards, traversing 

 the various nodes, but generally stopping at the middle of the highest 

 intemode, about 8 in. below the base of the head. The larvae 

 develop much more successfully in solid-stemmed varieties. The 

 infestation of these grain crops seems to be to some extent accidental, 

 and the moth has not yet become perfectly adapted to them, for the 

 majority of the larvae die in the stubble before completing their 

 development, presumably largely from insufficiency of nourishment, 

 as well as owing to the high degree of parasitism by various imidentified 

 enemies. The damage done to grain has, however, amounted in some 

 cases to as much as 25 per cent, of the crop. 



Marchal (P.) & FoEx (E.). Rapport Phytopathologique pour les 



Annees 1919-1920.— ^ww. Epiphyties, Paris, vii (1919 & 1920), 

 1921, pp. i-lxxxvii. [Received 15th March 1922.] 



The organisation of agricultural work under the Service des 

 Epiphyties is reviewed. The larvae of Nygmia phaeorrhoea {Euproctis 

 chrysorrhoea) increased to such an extent in 1919 and 1920 that com- 

 pulsory destruction of the nests was instituted. This, however, was 

 not rigorously carried out, and it was found better to depend chiefly 

 on the collection of nests, for which a certain payment was made. 

 The Botanical Gardens of Orleans collected in this way 2,183,000 nests 

 in the course of their campaign. 



(6239) s 



