348 



Hewitt (C. G.). Corrections in Entomological Records. — Agric. Gaz. 

 Canada, Ottawa, iv, no, 5, May 1917, pp. 357-358. 



The author points out that on p. 818 of the Agricultural Gazette of 

 Canada, for October 1914, i, no. 10, in a paper by J. W. Eastham 

 [see this Review, Ser. A, iii, p. 71], the army worm, Cirphis (Heliophila) 

 unipuncta, is recorded as having done considerable damage in British 

 Columbia and as being parasitised by Braconids and Tachinids. The 

 insect referred to was not, however, C. unijmncta, but probably 

 Phytometra {Plusia) calif or rdca. The importance of verifying reports 

 regarding the occurrence of insects is urged, in order to avoid mistakes 

 in entomological literature. 



Berey (W.). a Chair of Economic Ornithology. — Scottish Naturalist, 

 Edinburgh, no. 66, June 1917, pp. 121-135. 



The author, while advocating a great reduction in the numbers of 

 sparrows, protests against their wholesale destruction, pointing out 

 that a systematic examination of nearly 300 sparrows, mostly from a. 

 fruit-growing district, showed that the great bulk of the food carried 

 to the nestling young consists of weevils and the larvae of other noxious, 

 insects. The black-headed gull was also found to be a land-feeder ; 

 22 nestlings were examined and an analysis of their food showed the 

 remains of two small fish, 33 useful beetles, 6 earthworms, 51 harmful 

 beetles and other insects, as well as 31 wireworms. 



As regards the pheasant, the crop of one individual killed in marshy 

 ground contained nearly 200 wireworms, and exhaustive analyses of 

 the crop contents of 183 pheasants obtained from all parts of the 

 country and at various times of the year have disclosed the remains 

 of over 100,000 injurious beetles and other insects, a varied assortment 

 of vegetable refuse, 421 wild berries, weed seeds, etc., and only 37 

 husks and fragments of corn. The examination of the crop of one 

 young cock pheasant from Argyllshire yielded — Diptera : Bibio 

 lepidvs, 2,286 specimens ; Coleoptera : Lochmaea suturalis (heather 

 beetle), 508 specimens ; ants and grasshoppers, 6. Lochmaea 

 suturalis is particularly destructive, rendering patches of heather^ 

 varying in size from a few square yards to thousands of acres, entirely 

 useless as food, for cattle, sheep, or grouse. Only two methods of 

 control are suggested, one, that of burning the heather in the height of 

 the summer, being likely to prove more injurious to the grazing value of 

 the moors, as well as to the grouse, than the results would justify ; the 

 other being the protection of black game and pheasants, which both 

 devour the beetles by thousands, while grouse never touch them. 

 In spite of this, both black game and pheasants have been recom- 

 mended for wholesale destruction by the Board of Agriculture. 



A Plague of Caterpillars. — Gardeners" Chronicle, London, Ixi, no. 1589^ 

 9th June 1917, p. 229. 



Apple and pear trees in the south of England, after apparently 

 promising a record fruit crop in 1917, were suddenly attacked by the 

 worst infestation of caterpillars known for 17 years. The most 

 numerous species are the common tissue moth {Scotosia dubitata), the 

 brindled beauty moth [Phigalia pedaria], the winter moth [Cheimatobia 



