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Fryer (J, C. F.). The Raspberry or Clay-coloured Weevil.— J^. Bd. 



Agric, London, xxi, no. 9, December 1914, pp. 832-835. 

 The year 1914 seems to have been favourable to Otiorrhynchus 

 picipes, variously known as the clay-coloured, red-footed, or 

 raspberry weevil, and complaints of its ravages were received from 

 the end of April to the beginning of July. In one case in the west of 

 England, an orchard, before planting, was partly rough pasture, with 

 much bracken, and partly old cultivated garden land. It was noticed 

 that the trees on the latter had almost escaped injury and that even 

 in the affected portion of the orchard the intensity of the attack varied 

 within wide limits from tree to tree. The larvae of the weevil must 

 have fed on the roots of the trees and bushes. It may be assumed 

 that the weevils were all bred in the orchard where the damage was 

 done and that they are unwilling to travel far along the surface. While 

 trees on the old garden land were barely touched, others only a few 

 yards away on the old pasture land w^ere completely defoliated, and 

 the weevils were reduced to feeding on the bark and twigs. It may 

 reasonably be assimied that the partial cleaning of the orchard would 

 destroy a great number of shallow-rooted weeds, while clumps of deep- 

 rooting forms, such as bracken, would be likely to have persisted here 

 and there. Otiorrhynchus larvae must have concentrated round such 

 roots and the adults are likely to have emerged from these areas and 

 the neighbouring trees suffered. As feeding only takes place at night 

 and the beetles descend into the soil by day, they would probably, 

 unless possessed of a migratory instinct, attack the same trees night 

 after night. From the practical point of view, the necessity of taking 

 full precautions against insect pests whenever rough pasture or derehct 

 land is brought under active cultivation is evident, since insects which 

 are little harmful to pasture may become destructive pests under 

 fresh conditions. In the case mentioned above, spraying with lead 

 arsenate was not successful, and the laborious and expensive process 

 of hand collection was employed nightly for many weeks in order to 

 save the trees from complete destruction. 



Fryer (J. C. F.). Pea and Bean Thrips, or Black Fly.— JL Bd. Agric, 

 London, xxi, no. 9, December 1914, pp. 835-837. 

 FranJdiniella robusta, Uzel, formerly called Thrips pisivora, the 

 pea thrips, a short description of which is given, is distributed over 

 the whole of England and is also recorded from Ireland. The southern 

 and eastern counties suffer most. The eggs are laid in June in the 

 tissues of the stamen sheaths and young pods, rarely in the petals of the 

 flower. They hatch in about nine days and the small orange-coloured 

 young feed on the petals, stamens, etc., and later, on the pods. After 

 three or four weeks, they leave their food-plants and descend into the 

 soil, where they remain quiescent until the spring, when they pass 

 through two stages, which, together, may be likened to the pupal stage 

 of other insects. They mature about a month later and leave the soil 

 in May and June. The species here described is only known with 

 certainty to attack the edible pea and the broad bean, or varieties of 

 these plants. This pest is difficult to deal with when the attack is in 

 progress, but fields affected during the summer, should be ploughed 

 deeply and, if possible, should receive a dressing of lime the following 

 winter. In gardens, the hme may be replaced by naphthaline or 

 other soil fumigants. 



