365 



Uganda Protectorate, the Uganda Planters' Association are requesting 

 the Government to appoint a competent entomologist to deal with 

 the control of this pest. 



Insect Pests in Barbados in 1915-16. — Agric. News, Barbados, xvi, 

 no. 393. 19th May 1917, p. ir)4. [Received 14th June 1917.] 



In Mauritius, Phytalus smithi (the brown hard-back), a serious pest 

 of sugar-cane, has only just been kept in check by the combined action 

 of planters and the Government in catching the beetles, for which 

 large sums have been paid ; its natural parasite, Tiphia parallela, has 

 been imported from Barbados, but this wasp has only just begun to 

 establish itself. In Barbados there are also some districts in which the 

 pest occurs without its parasite. [See this Revietv, Ser. A, iii, p. 500.] 

 Diaprepes abbreviatus (sugar-cane root borer) has been most injurious 

 where no proper crop rotation is practised. Its control can be effected 

 by the collection of adults and egg-masses, a regular rotation of crops, 

 and the digging up of stumps in infested fields immediately after 

 reaping the crop. Dialraea saccharalis (moth borer) has been a 

 generally distributed pest, which can be effectively controlled only 

 by a systematic collection of the egg-masses and preservation of the 

 egg-parasites. Other sugar-cane pests noticed were Pseudococcus 

 calceoluriae and P. sacchari. Tomatoes were damaged by a cutworm, 

 Prodenia dolichos. 



An STEAD (R. D.). The Fluted Scale in Ceylon. — Planters' Chronicle, 

 Bangalore, xii, no. 20, 19th May 1917, pp. 251-252. [Received 

 15th June 1917.] 



The presence in Ceylon of Icerya purcJiasi (fluted scale), a serious 

 pest of acacia and citrus trees in California and Australia, is recorded. 

 It was probably introduced in or about 1915 on acacias from Australia, 

 and has attacked Acacia decurrens, A. dealbata, Casuarina and Citrus. 

 It is partly controlled by Coccinellid beetles and a few insect para- 

 sites, as well as by a parasitic fimgus during the monsoon season. 



DuTT (H. L.). Agrotis at Colgong andGhogha in 1915-16. — Agric. Jl. 

 Dept. Agric. Bihar and Orissa, Patna, iv. October 1916, pp. 15-23, 

 1 plate. [Received 16th Juue 1917.] 



The campaign against Agrotis ypsilon (greasy cutworm), which 

 was begun in August and continued until January, consisted in hand- 

 picking the caterpillars, 133,443 being destroyed, and in catching the 

 moths by means of Andres-Maire traps, 56 of which accounted for 

 437,956 during that period. Heavy irrigation was found as effective 

 as hand-picking against the caterpillars, and at the same time more 

 economical, provided that plenty of water was close at hand. The 

 season was marked by the peculiar absence of the Hymenopterous 

 parasite in the Taurar area ; but towards the end of it a Tachinid 

 parasite was very common, though less effective owing to its numerical 

 inferiority. In the Ekchari district the Hymenopteron was found to 

 have attacked 75 per cent, of the caterpillars collected. 



