40 



do nothing to keep down the pests, while in the lower and more level 

 country they believe that the locusts will never do much harm until 

 the swarms which have developed higher up the mountain side, 

 having eaten all they can find, descend in search of food. The 

 peculiarities of the chmate tend to produce the sudden appearance 

 of vast swarms. The month of May in 1911 was exceptionally cold 

 and wet, and the hatching of the ova was delayed in consequence. 

 A rapid change to great heat caused a sudden hatching, and over an 

 area more than 25 miles long the whole country-side swarmed with 

 hoppers ; as its conformation made operations exceedingly difficult, 

 though much good work was done, large numbers reached the adult 

 stage and migrated to other areas. 



During the last four years, although Dociostaurus {Stauronotus) 

 maroccanus was the chief pest, Calli'ptamus italicus also appeared in 

 large numbers, though the eggs were much attacked by the Bombyliid 

 fly, Cytherea obscura. 



Tettigonia (Decticus) aJbifrons, F., is widely distributed and very 

 plentiful all over the island, and has damaged grain and also a few 

 vineyards. This insect has been observed to be associated with certain 

 locusts, in some cases in very large numbers. Though a partial 

 grain-eater, it may be forgiven the damage done because of the 

 number of locusts it destroys. The other long-horned locusts, 

 Uromenus (Ephippigera) rugosicollis and Dericorys annulata, Fieb., 

 are not much to be feared, though they tend to increase. Their 

 area of operation is necessarily limited, and, although they have 

 carnivorous propensities, they do considerable damage at times 

 to the grain called " TimiHa," [a variety of hard wheat sown 

 in March, Triticum amyleum, known in good Italian as "grano 

 marzuolo"] which is the last to be cut and the only succulent 

 material left in the hottest part of the year. Mylabris 

 variabilis, Pall., var. lacera, KUst., is common in the egg tunnels 

 of D. maroccanus, and eats the egg-masses. Another species, 

 M. schreiberi, Reiche, also found in Sicily, has been observed doing 

 similar work in Algeria, and Kiinckel d'Herculais observed in France 

 vast quantities of M. variabilis following swarms of Calliptamus 

 italicus. Brysson observed in France that Mylabris frequented places 

 where Oedaleus (Pachytylus) nigrofasciatus, De Geer, Springonotus 

 {Oedipoda) coerulans, L., Calliptamus italicus, L., Gomphocerus rufus, L., 

 and various species of Stenobothrus were abundant. Mylabris 

 schreiberi has been found by Kiinkel in the egg-masses of 

 locusts, and specially those of D. maroccanus. The author found 

 Mylabris larvae in July in the holes of D. maroccanus, and in August 

 he caught several female Mylabris in the act of ovipositing in the soil 

 close to the nests. 



Another Olerid beetle, Trichodes ammios, F., var. flavicornis. 

 Germ., was found by the author exclusively in the egg- pits of 

 D. maroccanus in fair numbers, and in well-established haunts of 

 D. maroccanus hundreds of this Trichodes might be seen flying round 

 the flowers of species of Centaurea. T. apiarius, L., is a parasite of 

 bees ; T. alvearius, F., lives in the nests of Osniia, Megachile and 

 Anthophora ; T. octopunctatus, F., in those of Chalicodoma rufescens, 

 Licht. The Bombyliid fly, Cytherea obscura, F., is the most active and 

 numerous of the egg-parasites of D. maroccanus and probably of other 



