146 



Work on termites has been continued, and wood treated by various 

 processes was examined in February 1914 ; some pieces of Powellized 

 wood were found to be attacked by Microtermes obesi (anandi), and 

 this process is therefore not so infalhble as has been claimed. Further 

 examinations indicated that exemption from attack depends on tho 

 variety of the wood itself, as well as on the method of treatment, and 

 the preferential tastes of the various species of termites locally pre- 

 valent. A further series of experiments is being initiated. 



Coccus {Lecaniutn) viridis (the green scale), a serious coffee pest in 

 Ceylon and Southern India, invaded Coorg in 1913 [see this Review, 

 Ser. A, ii, p. 578], where it seems likely to become a pest ; the scale 

 was found to be parasitised to a very slight extent by a minute un- 

 determined Chalcidid, apparently Coccophagus sp. 



A consignment of Microsporidiwn polyhedricmn in dead silkworms 

 was received from Egypt, where this organism is said to be effective 

 in the control of Prodenia litura [see this Review, Ser. A, ii, p. 105], 

 but experiments at Pusa gave negative results with silkworms and 

 larvae of P. litura. 



Fletcher (T. Bainbrigge). Some South Indian Insects. Madras : 

 Govt. Press, 1914, xxii -f 565 pp., 50 pla., 440 figs. Price 95. 



The author says in his preface that the insect-fauna of Southern 

 India is probably less known than that of the Himalayan region and 

 that it is only within the past 14 or 15 years that the study of the 

 entomology of this region has been undertaken on scientific lines. 

 This large book is the result of an examination of the collections at 

 Madras with a view to leaving them in order before the author's 

 departure to take up his appointment as Imperial Entomologist at 

 Pusa and it is pointed out that the list of crop-pests, despite the fact 

 that 521 insects are dealt with, is not complete, nor is it likely that this 

 can be the case for many years. Nine chapters are occupied by a 

 general description of insects, classification and nomenclature, 

 metamorphosis, means of defence and communication, tropisms, 

 relations to plants, symbiosis and parasitism, etc. Other chapters 

 deal with insects as pests and their control, and an account of the 

 various methods of dealing with them in genera.1 use. 



The pests themselves are then dealt with under various heads, in- 

 cluding pests of stored products, insects and disease, beneficial and 

 useful insects, with a chapter on some other animals and birds useful 

 or otherwise. An import-ant section of the book is a list of crops with 

 the insect pests of each, with a page reference to the description of 

 the insect concerned. The remainder of the book is devoted to a des- 

 cription of the individual insects in systematic order. Of the 50 

 coloured plates, the author says that they have been reproduced from 

 original drawings made at the Agricultural Research Institute at 

 Pusa and have most of them been previously pubhshed. They are 

 of variable quality and the author apologises for the text-figures, 

 most of which are original and illustrate insects which have never 

 been figured before, as they have been prepared by artists who 

 had no previous experience in making drawings of insects for purposes 

 of reproduction. Despite these defects, the book forms a very useful 

 work of reference, and is well worth the low price charged for it. 



