628 



Breeding-cages for Insects. — Qtrhj. Jl. Scient. Dejyt. hid. Tea Assoc, 

 Calcutta, part 2, 1915, pp. 47-48, 2 plates. 



Two simple breeding-cages for insects are described. The first 

 type is useful for rearing leaf-eating caterpillars and is made from an 

 ordinary cylindrical lamp-chimney, provided with a mre gauze cap 

 at each end. Any size chimney may be used, but one about 10 inches 

 long with a diameter of 2| inches is most generally useful. To make 

 the cap a strip of thin metal |- inch wide is bent into a ring which just 

 fits over the cylinder, and the end is soldered. A piece of wire gauze is 

 then soldered across the opening of the ring, and a small strip of thin 

 metal, about 1| inch long and f inch wide, is soldered by one end to 

 the inside of the ring to act as a spring, w^hich clips the cylinder firmly 

 and keeps the cap from falling off. A piece of hoop iron is bent so as 

 to form a stand on which the cylinder may be laid horizontally. 



The second type of cage is primarily designed for rearing sucking 

 insects on small plants. It is made from a large and wide pear- 

 shaped lamp-chimney or globe, such as that of a hurricane lantern, 

 which rests in a metal socket. This socket consists of two cylinders 

 of sheet metal of equal diameter, each about 2 inches long, joined end 

 to end by a strip of wire gauze bent into a ring of the same diameter 

 as the cylinders. The top of the glass globe is closed by a gauze cap 

 or by muslin. This cage is placed over the plant and the bottom rim 

 of the metal cylinder is pressed about 1 inch into the soil. 



Gibson (A.). Cutworms and their Controh^Dominion of Canada Dept. 

 Agric, Entom. Branch, Ottaiva, Bull. no. 10, 1915, 31 pp., 20 figs. 

 [Received 11th August 1915.] 



Injury by cutworms is mostly effected in the spring and usually 

 ceases before the end of June. Euxoa oclirogaster (red-backed cut- 

 worm) is found throughout Canada, attacking all kinds of garden and 

 field crops. In Ottawa, this species passes the winter in the egg-stage. 

 Eggs deposited in October hatched on 20th April ; the larvae pupated 

 on 10th June and the adults began to emerge on 20th July. In 

 Manitoba, larvae pupated on 24th and 27th June and adults emerged 

 on 15th July. In most seasons the larvae become full-grown in the 

 latter half of June. Agrotis ypsilon is especially destructive to garden 

 crops. In eastern Ontario larvae were numerous in the latter half of 

 May and during the first week of June. There are probably two 

 generations annually, adults having been collected in Ontario on 

 16th May and 25th October. Larvae collected in July entered the 

 earth to pupate on the 17th, and adults emerged on 7th August. 

 Lycophotia margaritosa {Peridronia sai(cia), variegated cutworm, 

 occurs periodically in destructive numbers. There is no limit to 

 the host plants. There are probably two broods annually in Canada, 

 the moths appearing in June and again after the middle of August. 

 The species may hibernate in the pupal or adult state. Euxoa messoria, 

 which attacks vegetables, flowers, small trees and shrubs, was very 

 prevalent in 1914 in Ontario and Quebec. Adults have been found 

 in August and September. LycojjJiolia (E.) scandens is often responsible 



