487 



buds, the embryo buds being undeveloped and offering no shelter 

 for them. Soft cuttings taken in April and May should be soaked 

 for one hour in an insecticide bath, composed of i oz. nicotine (98 per 

 cent.), 4 oz. soft soap and 5 gals, of water, to kill any external mites. 

 They should then be rinsed in cold water and set out 6 in. apart in 

 a cold frame, which should be closed and shaded from the sun. In 

 about a month the cuttings should have rooted and will gradually 

 harden, and the frame should -then be lifted off to ripen the wood 

 fully. This method of propagation from soft cuttings offers possibilities 

 of raising clean stock in plants subject to perennial diseases. Red 

 and white currant bushes are not infrequently infested with E. ribis, 

 and this fact should not be disregarded, as it is a possible source of 

 reinfestation to clean stock of black currants. 



Warburton (C). Annual Report for 1920 of the Zoologist. — //. 



R. Agric. Soc. England, London, Ixxxi, 1920, pp. 247-253. 

 [Received 13th August 1921.] 



General pests during the spring and early summer of 1920 included 

 the turnip-fly [Phyllotreta nemorum], red spiders [Tetranychus] and 

 various caterpillars ; these, however, disappeared with the coming 

 of the July rains. Pests of cereals included the gout-fly [Chlorops 

 taeniopus] in barley, and frit-fly [Oscinella frit] in oats. The latter 

 now attacks winter wheat each year, the source of infestation being 

 the preceding rye-grass, in which the larvae survive long after it has 

 been ploughed in. For this reason, wheat after a bastard fallow is 

 much less likely to suffer than wheat following rye-grass. Wheat 

 bulb-fly [Hylemyia coardata] occurred as usual on wheat, and was 

 also observed for the first time on winter barley. Every bad attack 

 of this fly seems to follow a fallow, and land heavily cropped the 

 previous season often remains free. Observations on its life-history 

 show that oviposition in captivity occurs in mid- July. A few larvae 

 hatch in November, but it is thought that the normal time for hatch- 

 ing is probably in spring. The experiment up to the present tends to 

 confirm the view that the flies select bare ground, and not plants, 

 on which to oviposit. It is thought that the larvae originally fed upon 

 decaying vegetable matter, and that their attack on wheat is a change 

 of habit. Wheat-midge [Contarinia tritici] and thrips also caused 

 some damage to wheat. 



Peas were attacked by Sitones spp. in the early stages, and later 

 by pea-thrips [Kakothrips pisivora], pea-midge [Contarinia pisi], 

 and pea-moth, Cydia nigricana {Grapholitha pisana), the last-named 

 being particularly harmful to late peas. Beans in some districts 

 suffered from the bean-aphis [Aphis rumicis], and Bruchids injured 

 beans in storage. Flea-beetles included Phyllotreta neniormn on 

 turnips, P. concinna on mangels and P. affinis on potatoes. Pygmy 

 beetles [Atomaria linearis] also damaged mangels. Root crops were 

 damaged by wireworms, carrot-fly [Psila rosae] on carrots and parsnips, 

 onion-fly [Hylemyia antiqua], celery-fly [Acidia heraclei] and asparagus 

 beetle [Crioceris asparas:i]. The most troublesome cabbage pest was 

 Barathra {Mamestra) brassicae (cabbage-moth), which bores into the 

 heart of the vegetable and is very resistant to insecticides. 



On fruit, Aphids were the most important pest. Plums were injured 

 by the caterpillars of Cydia (Opadia) funebrana. Loganberries failed 

 owing to grubs of Tipiila sp. at the roots. 



