326 



been described [see this Review, Ser. A, iii, p. 266]. Cbanging the time 

 of blooming of the clover seed crop is recommended. If both a hay 

 and seed crop are desired, the hay should be mowed 10 days to two 

 weeks earUer than usual, in order to prevent development of the 

 maggots by drying up their food-plant. This practice hastens the 

 development of the second crop of clover heads, so that the second 

 generation of midges have but few green heads in which to lay their 

 eggs. A common practice is to pasture sheep on clover during April 

 and then remove the sheep and obtain a seed crop. In this case the 

 clover should be clipped after removal of the sheep and any clover 

 heads destroyed. 



Hylastinus obscurus (clover root-borer) is the most serious pest of 

 red clover in the Pacific Northwest. The beetle passes the winter in 

 the adult stage in the tunnels in the clover roots made by the larvae of 

 the previous season. In spring the adults leave the tunnels and fly 

 over fields of young clover, the females depositing eggs in the sides of 

 the root and the crown of the plant ; these give rise to the adults of 

 the next generation about 1st August. Alsike, lucerne, vetch, field 

 beans and peas may all serve as breeding-places for the beetles. 

 Cultural methods are the only control as yet known. Immediately 

 after the harvest of the first year crop, the field should be ploughed, 

 in order to turn up infested roots and starve the grrubs inside. This 

 should be done early in July before the larvae pass into the pupal stage. 

 All self-sown clover should be destroyed. 



RuGGLES (A. G-.) . Spraying Number. — Minnesota Insect Life, St . Paul, 

 Minn., iv, no. 1, April 1917, 8 pp., 2 plates, 12 figs. 



This number contains a spraying calendar with descriptions and 

 illustrations of several types of spraying apparatus. 



Henry (6. M.). The Coconut Red Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferruginem. 

 — Trop. Agric., Peradeniya, xlviii, no. 4, April 1917, pp. 218-219. 



This insect is commonly found damaging coconuts in Ceylon. 

 Caryota urens and Arecu catechu are other species of palms which 

 probably constitute secondary hosts of the weevil. Eggs are laid in 

 cuts or wounds in the stem, frequently in holes made by the rhinoceros 

 beetle [Oryctes rhinoceros], the damage being done by the larvae ; 

 these, immediately upon hatching, burrow into the wood, converting 

 the inside of the stem into a soft pulp in which the grubs live and tunnel 

 in every direction. The fermenting mass inside the stem attracts 

 other weevils and ultimately the plant is destroyed, though the presence 

 of the beetles may be quite invisible from the outside. The length of 

 the larval period is apparently unknown, but is probably long. When 

 mature, the larva forms a cocoon of broken fibres of the stem inside 

 the galleries. No parasitic or predatory enemies of R. ferrugineus have 

 as yet been found in Ceylon. The usual method of dealing with the 

 pest is to clear out all the grubs and damaged tissue of the tree and fill 

 the hole with tarred fibre. Injections of carbon bisulphide through 

 an augur hole bored in a slanting direction have been tried, the hole 

 afterwards being stopped up with tarred fibre. This plan has not yet 

 been sufficiently tested, but owing to the difficulty of obtaining carbon 

 bisulphide in Ceylon it is not likely to be generally adopted. Trapping 



