736 



vessels or it will lose all insecticidal property. It was long supposed 

 that pyretlu'um of any insecticidal value could only be grown in 

 Dalmatia, and the people of that country encouraged this idea in 

 order to protect their own industry. The cause of the failure of the 

 early attempts to grow it elsewhere was the use of too good a soil and 

 too much manure and water ; really good pyrethrum can only be 

 grown in a poor, stony, limestone soil in which hardly anything else 

 will thrive. 



BuRGST (C.A.L. Smits van). A Minute Hymenopteron Aspidiotiphagus 

 sclioeversi, sp. n.- — TIjdschrift v. Entomologie d. Nederl. Entom. 

 Ver., s'Gravenhage, Iviii, 1915, pp. 292-295, 1 plate. [Received 

 11th October 1915.] 



Sixteen individuals of this new parasitic Chalcid were bred from 

 males of HemicMonaspis {Chionaspis) aspidistrae, on Aspidistra in a 

 greenhouse at Gouda in Holland. 



Ballou (H. a.). West Indian Wasps.— ^^r/c. News, Barbados, xW, 

 no. 349, nth September 1915, p. 298, 4 figs. 



Polistes crinitus (Jack Spaniard) is abundant in most of the Wind- 

 ward and Leeward Islands, but is rare in Barbados, where P. annularis 

 (wild bee) occurs. The latter occurs also in St. Vincent and has been 

 introduced into Montserrat. P. bcUicosus (cow bee) occurs in Barbados. 

 Polyhia Occident alis (maribunta) is the common wasp in Grenada ; 

 while in the Virgin Islands, a wasp which very much resembles it in 

 size and general appearance is Megacantliopus indeterminabilis. The 

 three species of Polistes are well-known enemies of many other insects. 

 In St. Vincent, P. annidaris controlled the cotton worm [Alabama 

 argillacea] to such a degree that for some ten years the use of Paris 

 green or other insecticide was suspended. It was introduced into 

 Montserrat for the purpose of controlling the cotton worm, biit owing 

 to the attacks of the Pyralid moth, Dicymolomia pegasalis, Walk., 

 which lives in the nests of the wasp, this introduction has only 

 partially succeeded. 



Kirk (T. W.). Tests of spraying compounds : lime-sulphur. — Jl. 



Agric, Wellington, N.Z., xi, no. 2, 20th August 1915, pp. 129-134. 

 The susceptibility of New Zealand-grown trees to scorching by lime- 

 sulphur is much greater than that of trees in the United States, and 

 only the absolute necessity for a substitute for Bordeaux mixture 

 resulted in lime-sulphur being exhaustively tested. Commercial lime- 

 sulphur is usually of 33° Be. strength and costs about Is. 9d. per gallon 

 in bulk. A home-made stock solution, which is equally effective 

 though weaker and therefore allowing of less dilution, can be prepared 

 according to the following formula at a considerably reduced cost : — - 

 Sulphiu, 100 lb. ; roche-lime (95 per cent, pure), 50 lb. ; water, 

 50 gals. The lime is slaked with hot water ; the sulphur is mixed to 

 a paste and added with sufficient water to make up to 50 gals. This 

 mixture is boiled vigorously, loss by evaporation being replaced. 

 By testing the strength with a Baume hydrometer, the proper degree 

 of dilution is ascertainable by reference to a table which is given and 

 which ranges from 20° to 34° Be. 



