468 



on the poisoned grass. Strong kerosene emulsion forms a suitable 

 contact poison for young hoppers. Netting has proved useless in 

 Malaya, on account of the rough nature of the land. According to 

 Mr. F. de la Mare Norris, the poison method has given the best results 

 in open grass and lalang lands, but has also been valuable in dealing 

 with swarms in the vicinity of jungle. It has been used in rice fields 

 where it is desirable to poison a band on the edge of the field before 

 the locusts have entered it. In Northern Selangor, locusts were 

 exterminated by the bag-trap method. Attempts to destroy flying 

 locusts have failed, except in one case where the swarm had settled 

 to oviposit. 



No WELL (W.). The Efficiency of Fungoid Parasites of Scale-Insects. — 



Agric. News, Barbados, xiv, nos. 337-338, 27th March & 10th 

 April 1915, pp. 110 & 126-127. 



The fungus control of insects offers an alternative to the use of 

 poisonous sprays, but it depends entirely on the particular circum- 

 stances of the case as to which method is more efficient or less trouble- 

 some. Fungoid parasites are at a disadvantage, in that they do not 

 become very effective until their hosts are plentiful. The more 

 thoroughly they kill off their hosts, the less material they have to hve 

 upon. When the chances of infection have been thus reduced, the 

 surviving insects, or colonists from another area, start a fresh wave 

 of infestation, which in time is again overtaken by the rising numbers 

 of the fungus. Caution should be observed in making use of infested 

 material, lest scale-insects not already present on the plants should 

 be introduced. In one case, recently collected leaves of grape-fruit, 

 on which the scales were w^ell infested with three species of fungi, were 

 found to have numbers of young examples of the mussel scale (Lepiclo- 

 saphes) crawling over them more than a week after they were picked 

 and dried. 



Urich (F. W.). Entomologist's Report.— Mmw^es of the Electing of the 

 Trinidad Bd. Agric, no. 3, 19th March 1915, p. 11; no. 4, 

 16th April 1915, p. 15. 



In connection with the work on cacao beetles, the Siparia and Erin 

 districts, where spraying and cutting out of larvae had been regularly 

 performed, were practically free from larvae. A series of spraying 

 experiments for the beetles was carried out at Maraval. It has been 

 found that thrips from Immortel [Erythrina] flowers are not of the same 

 species as those attacking cacao, but have been identified as 

 Franklinothri'ps insular is . 



In the Arima and Diego Martin districts, thrips and cacao beetles 

 and their larvae are not numerous. A sweet potato borer, not yet 

 identified, has been observed ; the larva forms tunnels into the stem 

 and root of the plant. Rotation of crops and selection of uninfested 

 slips for planting are recommended ; when grown on a small scale, 

 the cutting out of affected stems in the early stages would be beneficial. 



