91 



Buxton (P. A.). Insect Pests of Dates and the Date Palm in Mesopo- 

 tamia and Elsewhere.— 5 /<//. Entom. Res., London, xi, pt. 3, 

 December 1920, pp. 287-303, 1 plate. 



This paper is to some extent a revision of a report previously noticed 

 [RA.E., A, vii, 189] on the failure of the date crop in Mesopotamia 

 in 1918,' but in' addition to dcaUng with the insects observed in that 

 country, it gives a summary of all that has been written on date pests 

 in various parts of the world, with a full bibliography. 



The date pests that occur in Mesopotamia include :— Lepidoptera : 

 Spermaiophora hornigii, Led., and Ephestia calidella, Gn., which do 

 httle damage, E. cautella, Wlk.,v/h\chis of ten a warehouse pest, Arenipses 

 sabella Hmps., which is apparently confined exclusively to stored 

 dates, and an unidentified Gelechiid [the first moth mentioned 

 in the previous report] which is a very serious pest. Coleoptera: 

 Orvctes elegans, Prell ; {Rhynchophorus fernigineus, Oh v., is considered 

 almost certainly not to occur in Mesopotamia). Rhynchota : Parlatona 

 Uanchardi, Targ. Acarina: Oligonychus (Paratetranychus) ? simplex, 

 Banks, which is a serious pest, and is probably aided in its spread by 

 the wasp, Polistes hebraeus, which frequents the diseased clusters of 

 dates attacked by the mite. 



DiETZ (H. F.) & Barber (H. S.). U.S. Bur. Entom. A New Avocado 

 Weevil from the Canal Zone.—//. Agric. Res., Washington, D.C., 

 XX, no. 2, 15th October 1920, pp. 111-116, 3 plates. 



Heilipus perseae, sp. n., here described by Barber, was found in the 

 Panama Canal Zone in native wild avocados. It is closely related 

 to H. lauri. Boh., and H. pittieri. Barber, and has recently been 

 intercepted entering the United States. 



The eggs are laid on the fruit just under the skin. The young larvae 

 often damage part of the pulp before entering the seed, but once in the 

 latter they confine their activities to it. 



If the embryo is not injured, the seed germinates ; but when a seed 

 becomes infested with two or more larvae, it is usually so badly riddled 

 that it cannot germinate. Seeds infested with larvae of Heilipus seem 

 also to be subject to the attacks of several kinds of " dry rots," which 

 follow along the tunnels, invade the embryo, and kill it. These fungi, 

 at any rate under laboratory conditions, seem to be indirectly responsible 

 for the death of a considerable number of larvae and pupae. No natural 

 migration of larvae from one seed to another has been observed. The 

 duration of the larval stage is probably not less than three months. 



Pupation takes place in a spherical cell in the seed itself, and as 

 many as four adults have been reared from a single seed. The 

 minimum duration of the pupal stage is 12 to 15 days. 



The adult weevils eat the young leaves, half -ripe fruit and stems of 

 avocado, and fresh avocado seeds. In captivity they drank a con- 

 siderable quantity of water. In fruit injury the outer skin was first 

 eaten off, and then the surface of the pulp as it became dry. On the 

 young stems the bark layers were gnawed off first and the woody 

 areas were then eaten through, so that all the parts above the injury 

 collapsed. 



The weevils lived at least 10 days without food. The longest time 

 any individual remained alive was 116 days. The apparently long 

 duration of the larval stage and the known longevity of the adults 

 indicate that there is but a single generation in a year. It is probable, 



