174 



Jack (R. W.). Chafer Beetles. — Rhodesia Agric. Jl., Salisbury, xi, 

 no. 8, December 1914, pp. 1144-1151, 3 plates. 



This is a popular account of the injurious Lamellicorn beetles of 

 Southern Rhodesia, the following being figured : Schizonycha puncti- 

 collis, S. infantilis, Anoynala pinguis, A. pallida, Adoretus testaceus, 

 A. picticollis, Pachnoda impressa, P. jlaviventris, P. rvfa, Rhabdotis 

 sobrina, Diplognatha gagates, Tephraea dichroa, Protaetia carneola, 

 Isandula africana, Leptothyrea sp., and Leucoscelis sp. Chafer beetles 

 destroy leaves, fruit, and flowers, and the root-feeding grubs seriously 

 injure tree roots and crops, including maize. For night-flying chafers, 

 spraying with lead arsenate, 3 lbs. to 50 gals, water, is recommended; 

 hght traps may be used as an auxihary measure, a simple form consisting 

 of a lamp overhanging a tub containing paraffin. Very large numbers can 

 be caught by shaking them from the trees on to sheets. For day-flying 

 chafers, a paraffin tin should be charged with a little water with a film 

 of paraffin on the surface, and the clumps of beetles shaken into it in 

 the early morning. Fruit sprayed with a plain wash of lime is said 

 never to be attacked by the fruit-eating beetles. Early ploughing 

 and thorough cultivation in winter is advised against chafer grubs. 



Good Preservative for Native Timber. — Rhodesia Agric. Jl., Salisbury, 

 xi, no. 8, December 1914, p. 1182. 



The following mixture has been found a good preservative of native 

 timber against borers and white ants : 1 gallon boiled linseed oil and 

 4 oz. arsenic. Two coats should be applied, the first being allowed to 

 harden for a week before the application of the second. 



Ballard (E.). Administration Report of the Government Entomo- 

 logist for 1913-14. — Rept. Dept. Agric. Madras Presidency, 1913-14, 

 Madras, 1914, pp. 46-48. [Received 13th March 1915.] 



This report contains a list of insects studied during the year. In 

 one estate, where ploughing was performed before the end of January, 

 the egg-masses of the grasshopper, Colenmnia sphenariodes, were 

 successfully destroyed. Pempheres affinis (the cotton stem weevil) 

 appears to be spreading outwards from Coimbatore ; it is probably 

 only injurious to Cambodia cotton, though present over most cotton 

 districts. The presence of the cholam fly, the eggs of which have been 

 identified for the first time, in the stems of young cholam is stated to 

 have been proved to be due to the larva boring directly into the plant, 

 not, as hitherto believed, following on the attack of Chilo simplex. The 

 eggs of Calocoris angustatus (the cholam bug) have been identified for 

 the first time, being found in green cholam grains. There was a bad 

 outbreak at Manganallur of a swarming Noctuid caterpillar, which 

 destroyed the heads of mature rice. 



Rutherford (A.). Notes. — Spolia Zeylanica, Colombo, x, pt. xxxvi, 

 December 1914, pp. 71-78. 



The records in this paper are mainly of non-economic importance, 

 but in conclusion the caterpillar of the Pyralid, Cryptoblabes jyroleucella, 

 Hmp., is reported as feeding underneath a web on Coccus viridis, Gr. 



