290 



through the winter. The ground should be thoroughly prepared in 

 the autumn and harrowed two or three times during the winter. No 

 cover crop should be planted before cotton. When the weevil first 

 appears, the colonies should be stamped out when possible by killing 

 the weevils and taking up the first plants that show infestation. 



Fryer (J. C. F.) & Petherbridge (F. R.). Reports on Further 

 Investigations on the Capsids which attack Apples.- JZ, Bd. Agric, 

 London, xxiv, no. 1, April 1917, pp. 33-44, 1 plate. 



This paper supplements a previous one [see this Review, Ser. A, 

 iv, p. 107] and records a number of spraying experiments conducted 

 with the object of determinmg the best control for Capsid bugs. One 

 of the difficulties in connection with spraying is that the period during 

 which the bugs hatch and that of the blossoming of apples may to 

 some extent coincide. These investigations confirm the former 

 conclusions that the most serious pests are Plesiocoris rugicollis and 

 Orthotyhis marginnlis, which are almost indistinguishable in their 

 early stages, while the bugs of the genera PsaUus and Almctotomus 

 are of secondary importance and almost harmless. These bugs must 

 be regarded as a definite pest of both black and red currants, as well 

 as of apples, while they have been known to attack willows that were 

 actually touching the branches of an apple tree, the latter remainmg 

 almost neglected. This choice of various food-plants points to the 

 probability of a still further increase in the activities of these pests. 



Experiments with various spraying mixtures showed that nicotine, 

 even when highly diluted, is fatal to the bugs, provided they can be 

 thoroughly wetted with the spray, and is the best insecticide to use. 

 It may be applied in conjunction Avith soap, lime-sulphur or Bordeaux 

 mixture, the choice depending on local conditions. Nicotine is often 

 objected to on the ground of expense, but the results of the experiments 

 under review justified its use. The highest proportion of marketable 

 fruit was obtained from a plot sprayed with nicotine, 3 oz., soft soap, 

 4 lb., water, 40 gals. A mixture of lime-sulphur (sp. g. 1.3), 1 gal., 

 nicotine, 2| oz., and water, 40 gals., also gave good results, but did 

 not kill the bugs so quickly. The chief difficulty in spraying is to 

 reach the insects that shelter in the trusses, under leaves, or between 

 leaves that have been spun together by winter moth larvae. Emphasis 

 is laid on the fact that the gain from spraying cannot be judged m 

 Capsid attacks even by a thorough examination of sprayed and 

 unsprayed plots ; in the present instance only a very slight advantage 

 was observable in the nicotine-sprayed plots and it was not until the 

 apples were picked and graded that the importance of the nicotine 

 spray as a control was proved. 



Matsumura (S.) & Adachi (J.). Synopsis of the Economic Syrphidae 

 of Japan. — Entom. Magazine, Kyoto, Japan, ii, no. 4, February 

 1917, pp. 133-152. [Received 3rd May 1917.] 



In this paper, which is a continuation of a previous one [see this 

 Review, Ser. A, iv, p. 335]. some new genera of Syrphids are erected 

 and some new species described, but their economic relations are 

 not given. 



