502 



Bakee (A. C). Generic Classification of the Hemipterous Family 

 Aphididae.— C/.>S. Dep. Agric, Washington, B.C., Bull. 826, 10th 

 August 1920, 109 pp., 16 plates. 



This systematic paper gives descriptions of, and keys to, the super- 

 family Aphidoidea, the family Aphididae, and the sub-famihes, 

 tribes, subtribes and genera of that family. 



HuRD (W. E.). Influence of the Wind on the Movements of Insects. — 



Mthly. Weather Rev., Washington, B.C., xlviii, no. 2, February 

 1920, pp. 94-98. [Received 28th September 1920.] 



Weather has perhaps more effect on the control of insect life than all 

 other factors combined. The influences of temperature and wind 

 pressure on the hfe and, more particularly, the movements of insects 

 are discussed in this paper. The distribution of insects by wind is 

 brought about either by involuntary flight, when the insects are carried 

 from their local haunts, as in the case of Simuhids, scales, gipsy moth 

 [Porthetria disbar] larvae and mosquitos, or are diverted in the course 

 of their migration, or,- in the case of more helpless types, such as Aphids, 

 the insects may instinctively place themselves in the path of an air 

 current, by crawling to the tops of plants just before a storm so that, 

 when the first onrush of wind occurs, they can drop into it and are 

 carried to new areas. The wind is also an important factor in carrying 

 scent from food-plant to insect, or from one insect to another, and 

 this is frequently followed by flight against the wind. 



The importance of wind to migratory swarms of locusts is well 

 known ; swarms flying from Montana to Missouri have been knowTi to 

 travel as far as 200 or 300 miles a day over the prairie during favourable 

 winds. Two of the most sharply defined extensions of the Mexican 

 cotton boU weevil [Anthonomus grandis] in Texas occurred in 1915 

 and 1916, and were largely due to the sweeping winds •experienced in 

 those years. Many other instances are quoted from existing literature 

 of remarkable dispersion of insects by wind agency. 



Froggatt (W. W.). Orchard and Garden Mites. No. 1. Blister Mites 

 . (Family Eriophyidae). — Agric. Gaz. N.S.W., Sydney, xxxi, no. 8, 

 August 1920, pp. 577-580. 



Short notes are given on the Acarina generally, the family Erio- 

 phyidae, and three species of this family that have been introduced 

 into Australia, viz. : — Eriophyes pyri (pear-^eaf blister mite), E. vitis 

 (vine-leaf blister mite) and E. (Phyllocoptes) oleivorus (silver or orange 

 rust mite). 



Growing Wheat damaged by Cut-worms. — Jl. De])t. Agric. S. 

 Avstralia, Adelaide, xxiii, no. 3, October 1919, p. 282. [Received 

 27th September 1920.] 



An outbreak of cut-w'orms that destroyed young wheat and all 

 other plants, except the so-caUed Cape dandelion, on an area of about 

 twelve acres is recorded. The species concerned, in the order of 

 importance were Persectania {Mamestra) ewingi, Euxoa (Agrotis) infusa, 

 and tw^o other species belonging to Agrotis or an allied genus. The 



