495 



Trioza alacris is at present limited to a few localities and is a potential 

 enemy of sufficient importance to warrant every effort being made to 

 eradicate it while the distribution is still limited. Hibernation occurs 

 in the adult stage upon the food-plants. Eggs are laid in spring on 

 the small leaves of tender shoots of laurel, where the nymphs produce 

 galls, which they desert at maturity and leave to the depredations of 

 other insects such as Pseudococcus. There are several broods in the 

 year, the last one maturing in October and November. Control is 

 difficult owing to the waxy secretion with which the insects are 

 covered and the habit of the nymphs of hiding in the galls. Fumigation 

 effectually kills the eggs and nymphs, and during winter, when only 

 adults are present, plants may be removed to a fumigating house for 

 treatment, and if kept from re-infestation for a few months, can then 

 be re-shipped. Spraying with miscible oils and oil emulsions readily 

 kills all stages, if repeatedly and thoroughly applied. 



Holland (W. J.). Hymenia perspectalis, Hubner, a Greenhouse Pest. 



— Jl. Econ, Entom., Concord, N.H., x, no. 4, August 1917, p. 446. 



The larvae of Hymenia pei'spccfalis are recorded as having done 



considerable damage to young plants of Alternanlhera. If allowed to 



increase in greenhouses, this moth might become a serious pest. 



Weiss (H. B.). Megastigmus aculeatus, Swed., introduced into New 

 Jersey from Japan. — Jl. Econ. Entom., Concord, N.H., x, no, 4, 

 August 1917, p. 448. 



Seeds of Rosa mulliflora that had failed to germinate were found to 

 be heavily infested with a Chalcid identified as Megastigmus acideatus, 

 and examination showed that nearly every shipment consigned to 

 New Jersey from Japan during the spring of 1917 was similarly 

 infested. The larva apparently destroys the entire interior of the 

 seed, leaving nothing but the hard outer covering. 



McNairn (W. H,). Birds in Relation to Agriculture. — Seventeenth Ann. 

 Rept. Agric. Societies of Ontario for Year 1917, Toronto, 1917, 

 pp. 28-35, 5 figs, [Received 4th September 1917.] 



The author points out that man, having destroyed the balance 

 of nature by practically exterminating many plant-eating and 

 carnivorous animals, while increasing the numbers of certain plants, 

 such as grain-producing species, and of certain mammals, such 

 as cattle, requires all the assistance that science can offer to combat 

 the vast hordes of enemies which would otherwise rapidly involve him 

 in pestilence, famine and death. In the face of the depredations caused 

 by insects in growing and stored grain, no more effective allies are 

 available than birds. Those mentioned in this paper are classed under 

 the headings- of birds that destroy mice and vermin, those that feed 

 mainly on insects and those that eat weed seeds, 



HuTSON (J. C), Diaprepes abbreviatus . — Agric. News, Barbados, xvi, 

 no. 399, 11th August 1917, p. 251. 



The varieties of Diaprepes abbreviatus occurring in St. Lucia are 

 D. abbreviatus qiiadrilineatus and D. abbreviatus punctatus, the latter 

 having recently been taken on the leaves of lime trees. 



