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commercial products, seasoned orange wood, hickory, tanbark oak and 

 cord wood of live oak, the adults being active from April to mid- 

 September. 



Insect enemies of these powder-post beetles are Clerids, Histerids 

 and Cucujids. Many species of ^small, Hymenopterous parasites also 

 attack them, their emergence holes being much smaller than those 

 of the beetles. These parasites are not sufficient to keep the beetles 

 under control. 



As a prevention against injury by Lyctus, material in yards and 

 storehouses should be inspected annually, preferably in November 

 and February and any showing evidence of infestation should be burnt. 

 All wood in store should be classified and the oldest used first. The 

 more valuable material should be treated between October and March 

 with two coats of hot boiled linseed oil, which will render it immune 

 to attack. The sapwood portions of cabinet work and furniture should 

 be varnished or treated with paraffin wax, or any other substance 

 which closes the pores of wood, in which the eggs are laid. Material 

 once infested is generally useless and should be burnt. If slightly 

 damaged, it should be treated by one of the methods given below, 

 kept in quarantine for a time and perhaps re-treated. This should be 

 done from October to March in storehouses and before 1st April in 

 the open. The treatments suggested are : — (1) Immersion in or liberal 

 applications vath a brush of pure kerosene oil. (2) Similar treatment 

 with any of the following mixtures applied hot : 3 parts creosote and 

 1 part kerosene ; 3 parts kerosene and 1 part creosote (to obtain 

 deeper penetration) ; or 1 part creosote and 3 parts naphtha. 

 (3) Steaming the wood under pressure. (4) Submitting the wood to 

 temperatures over 200° F. in dry kilns. (5) Fumigation with sulphur 

 dioxide. 



French, Junr. (C). Two Destructive Insect Pests of Plane and Elm 

 Trees in Victoria. — Jl. Dept. Agric, Victoria, xv, no. 5, May 1917, 

 pp. 308-310, 2 plates. [Received 18th July 1917.] 



Maroga unipunctana, Don. {Cryptophaga gigantella, Walk.) (cherry 

 borer moth) injures plane and elm trees in Victoria, the larvae boring 

 tunnels into the limbs and penetrating to the heart of the tree. A 

 sawdust-like excrescence on the bark shows where the caterpillars have 

 been at work. This should be cleared away and a piece of rag soaked 

 in carbofic acid should be plugged into the opening and closed over 

 with clay or soap. The grubs can often be reached and destroyed by 

 probing the tunnels with a piece of strong wire. The trees may be 

 sprayed with coal-tar water, made by boifing 1 lb. coal-tar in 2 gals, 

 water and adding 50 to 100 gals, of water before cooling. 



The larvae of Teia anartoides (painted apple moth) eat the foHage 

 of plane and elm trees ; they can be controlled by spraying with 

 1 lb. arsenate of lead to 25 gals, water. 



Banana Borer. — JL Jamaica Agric. Soc, Kingston, xxi, no. 5, May 

 1917, pp. 169-173. [Received 18th July 1917.] 



In a long Memorandum, dated 7th April 1917, the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture for the West Indies, Sir Francis Watts, expresses the 

 opinion that the black weevil borer of bananas [Cosmopolites sordidus], 

 while capable of creating a certain amount of trouble in banana fields, 



(3999) a2 



