640 



damage. Cassida nehulosa, L., was observed on beet plantations, 

 the first eggs being noticed on 22nd May. The eggs were laid on 

 Chenopodiuni (goose-foot) and on Convolvulus ; the larvae appeared 

 on 29th May and pupated about 15th June, the beetles emerging in 

 large numbers on 25th of that month. About 20 per cent, of the 

 adults remained over the winter without ovipositing ; the remainder 

 produced a second generation, the development of which lasted about 

 a month and which hibernated without ovipositing. Larvae of 

 Coeliodes fuUginosus, Marsh., were found on 19th May on the roots 

 of young poppies. About 95 per cent, of the larvae were parasitised 

 by the Ichneumon, Tersilochus moderator, L. Two generations of 

 C. fuUginosus are believed to occur in Kiev, the adults of the 

 second one wintering in the soil. Heads of poppy were injured by 

 Ceuthorrhipichus macula-alha, Hbst., which winters in the soil as an 

 imago inside a cocoon. 



Hylemyia {Leptohi/leinyia) coarctata, Fall., damaged wheat and rye ; 

 the paparia of this species were found in the soil at a depth of 2 or 3 

 inches. The fhes were on the wing during the second half of 

 June and again in September. They were observed to be preyed on 

 by Scatophaga stercoraria, L. Observations on Oscinella frit, L., in 

 the laboratory, show that four generations occur in Kiev ; the larvae 

 of the fourth generation usually hibernate, though a few of them are 

 able to complete their development and produce adults, which, 

 however, do not oviposit. The wintering larvae were found 

 about the end of April, when they had already damaged winter- 

 sown crops ; the second and third generations breed on summer 

 crops, mostly on oats, while the fourth breeds on seedlings of self- 

 sown grain and also on grasses. Although Opomyza florum, F,, is 

 widely spread in Russia, its Ufe-history has been very little studied 

 and it is probably now recorded for the first time as a pest of cultivated 

 crops. Some larvae, and later their puparia, were discovered on 

 30th April inside the stems of winter wheat ; stems injured by the 

 larvae died. The flies began to emerge on 28th May and con- 

 tinued to do so until the 15th June, and were on the wing during the 

 whole summer. They were found mostly on blossoming peas and in 

 lucerne fields. In August and September, they oviposit in winter- 

 sown fields, the eggs being laid in the soil near the seedlings and 

 remaining over the winter. 



Large numbers of larvae of Pteronus ribesii. Scop. {Nematus ventricosus, 

 Kl.), were noticed on red currants and gooseberries near Kiev. The 

 Tachinid, PtycJiomyia selecta, Meig., and another imidentified parasite 

 were reared from them and also from Pristophora pallipes, Lep., which 

 was observed on red currants and has a similar life-history. 



A number of other parasites are recorded, including Prophanurus 

 terebrans, Ratz., from the eggs of Malacosoma neustria ; this species 

 refused to infest the eggs of Lymantria dispar and Orgyia antiqua ; 

 Prophanurus dalmani, Ratz., was reared from eggs of 0. antiqua, 

 but refused those of M. neustria and L. dispar ; it attacked the eggs 

 of Phalera bucej^kala, but no parasites were reared in these cases ; 

 this parasite in nature infested 60 per cent, of the eggs of 0. antiqua. 

 A species of TricJiogramma [Pentarthron) was reared from the wintering 

 eggs of Thecia betulae, L., about 65 per cent, being infested ; they 



