278 



Verbascum. — A number of beetles, chiefly of the genera Gymmdron 

 and Cionus, infest the blossoms and leaves. The latter are attacked 

 by three flea-beetles of the genus Longitarsus and by 18 species of 

 caterpillars, including CucuUia verbasci, L., C. scrophnlaviae, Cap., 

 C. lychnitis, Rbr., and C. thapsiphaga, Tr. The caterpillar of Gortyna 

 [flavago] mines the stems, and the closed blossoms are infested by 

 the larvae of the gall midges, Asphondylia ditfonri, Kieff., Perrisia sp., 

 and Contayinia anthophthora, F. Low. A fourth gall midge lives in 

 the thickened inner leaves of the one-year rosettes. 



KiBA FiiRRE (J.). L'Oliver. [The O\\ve.]—Consell Provincial de 

 Foment, Barcelona, 1920, 98 pp., 38 figs. 



A series of lectures on the olive and its cultivation are here issued 

 in pamphlet form. 



Pests of the trunk and branches include a Scolytid borer, 

 Phloeotribus scarabacoides {oleae), which causes withering of the 

 branches. As this beetle prefers unsound wood it may be trapped by 

 hanging cut branches in the tree in the second half of March ; these 

 must be removed and burned by May. Individuals that have escaped 

 the traps may be killed by a lead arsenate spray. Saissetia (Lecanium) 

 oleae can be combated with a Bordeaux mixture containing 2 per cent, 

 soft-soap and 1 per cent, essence of turpentine, applied from June to 

 October. Another spray for this scale contains 1 part lysol in 

 100 water, and is applied in May and again earl}' in July. If the 

 effect is unsatisfactory, spraying must be repeated in August and 

 September. 



The leaves are attacked at night by Otiorrhynchus mcridionalis. 

 Spraying with lead arsenate, jarring the tree, or fumigation with 

 carbon bisulphide injected into the ground — where the beetle shelters 

 by day — are the remedies advocated. Another leaf pest is the cater- 

 pillar of Glyphodes {Margarodes) unionalis ; it is difficult to combat 

 because it shelters within a case m.ade of leaves ; a lead arsenate 

 spray is usually employed. 



The leaves, fruit and branches are infested by Aspidiotus villosiis, 

 against which fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas, not later than 

 June, is the best remedy. The winter generation of Prays oleellus 

 feeds on the leaves from October to March, the second generation 

 on the ovaries from April to June, and the third on the fruit from July 

 to September. If the ground is properly cultivated, this moth does 

 not appear, because the pupae in the ground are destroyed. This 

 pest may be combated by spraying with arsenicals, h^sol, tobacco 

 extract 12° Be., or nicotine of 93-94 degrees purity. Psylla oleae 

 deposits its eggs in the flower-shoots, and its cottony secretion prevents 

 the buds from opening. No satisfactory method of dealing with it 

 has been found. 



The fruits are attacked by the olive fly, Daciis oleae, against which 

 the usual poison-baits are advised, the system devised by Lotrionte 

 [R.A.E., A, ii, 289, 452] being specially recommended. It is, of 

 course, necessary that the whole district should practise this method 

 if it is to be effective. 



