560 



Report on the Agricultural Department, Tortola, Virgin Islands, 1919- 



20.— Barbados, 1921, 12 pp. [Received 27th September 1921.] 



The cotton worm, Alabama argillacea, the cotton-stainer, Dysdercus 

 andreae, and the leaf-blister mite, Eriophycs gossypii, were the chief 

 insect pests of cotton, but only moderate and isolated outbreaks of 

 pests and diseases were noticed during the year. Only 2-1 per cent, 

 of the year's crop was affected by stainers. 



Treherne (R. C). The Colorado Potato-beetle. The well-known 

 Eastern Potato-bug in British Columbia. -.4 i^r/r. //., Victoria, 

 B.C., vi, no. 7, September 1921, p. 164. 



The Colorado potato-beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, has now 

 spread to British Columbia. The history of this pest in the United 

 States is outlined, and the usual remedial measures are described : 

 these can check its development, but its eradication is difficult. Its 

 life-history in British Columbia has not yet been studied. 



Carpenter (G. H.). Insect Transformation. — London, Methuen & Co., 

 Ltd., 1921, x+282 pp., 4 plates, 124 figs. Price 12s. 6^. net. 



In this book the subject of metamorphosis among insects is 

 expounded in a manner that may prove of service to the student 

 and to the general reader. The descriptions of outward and inward 

 growth and change are fully illustrated. 



The chapter of the greatest interest from the economic standpoint 

 is that headed " Growing Insects and their Surroundings," which 

 is a study of the relation of environment to insect transformation, 

 and the numerous insects that are selected as illustrations are almost 

 all of economic interest. This not only involves notes on the very 

 varied forms of insect injury to plants, such as that caused by 

 gipsy moth {Portheiria dispar), winter moth {Chcimatobia brumata), 

 sawflies, Capsid bugs, Aphids, insects that feed underground, leaf- 

 miners, stem-miners and many others, but also includes a survey 

 of predaceous insects, parasites and hyperparasites. An understanding 

 of the effect of environment on insect life, in devising methods of 

 control, both natural and artificial, is essential, and the general 

 review here provided is likely to prove very helpful in this 

 connection. 



The Pink Bollworm in Porto Rico. 



The Director of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology has received 

 the following information from Mr. G. N. Wolcott, Entomologist, Porto 

 Rico Insular Experiment Station, in a letter dated 18th October, 

 1921 : — The pink bollworm of cotton, Plafyedra {Pectinophora) 

 gossypiella, Saunders, has been found in Porto Rico. The first 

 specimens were collected by Sr. Torres in caravonica, or tree cotton, 

 in Humacao on the east coast nearest to .St. Croix ; but it has since 

 been found in other parts of the island, especially in the commercial 

 cotton growing district between Arecibo and Aguadilla, and the 

 most heavily infested plant was at Yauco on the south coast. A 

 larva has also been found in an okra pod. 



