496 



Jarvis (E.)- The Cane Beetle. — Queensland Agric.Jl., Brisbane, \m^ 

 no. 1, July 1917, pp. 37-38. [Received 11th September 1917.] 



While ploughing cane-land during April and May large numbers of 

 small grubs about | in. long are turnecl up, together with third stage 

 larvae of the greyback cane beetle, Lepidiota albohirta, about If in. 

 in length. Most sugar-planters erroneously believe the former to be the 

 young larvae of this species which have emerged from eggs laid during 

 the current season, and the latter to be the full-sized grubs, hatched 

 the previous year. These small grubs are in fact the second stage 

 larvae of L. frenchi, a destructive Scarabaeid beetle, whose meta- 

 morphosis occupies two years, while the complete life-cycle of 

 L. albohirta takes only 12 months. L. frenchi feeds on the roots of 

 cereals and other herbaceous plants, but has already acquired a liking 

 for cane, the fully-grown grubs being usually mistaken for those of 

 L. albohirta. Although one of the more serious cane pests, second 

 perhaps to L. albohirta in economic importance, L. frenchi fortunately- 

 oviposits, as a rule, in uncultivated soil that is densely covered with 

 grass or weeds. Since both L. frenchi and L. albohirta oviposit during 

 December and January and are strongly attracted by luxuriant , 

 vegetation between the rows, the surest means of control lies in 

 maintaining a system of clean culture on land intended for an early 

 crop. If fallow land is ploughed up for an early crop in May or April, 

 the young grubs are apt to be overlooked, and the weeds being then 

 destroyed, the young larvae are obliged to subsist almost entirely on 

 the roots of sugar-cane. 



Les Hannetons de la Canne h Sucre au Bresil. [Sugar-cane Cockchafei s 

 in Brazil.] — Rev. Scient., Paris, Iv, no. 1, 6th January 1917, p. 20. 



Sugar-cane plantations in the eastern part of Brazil are attacked 

 by the larvae of the beetles, Ligyrus fossator and Podalgus humilis, 

 which are also met with in French Guiana. These larvae, which prefer 

 moist conditions, pierce the bases of young shoots and hinder their 

 development. Suggested means of combating them include submersion 

 for 48 hours to kill the larvae, the capture of the adult insects by 

 means of lamps placed above tubs of petrol, the payment of rewards . 

 for insects collected, and the injection of carbon bisulphide into the sub- 

 soil at the rate of nearly 1 oz. per square yard. In cases of severe 

 infestations, a rotation of crops to deprive the pests of their favourite 

 host- plants is recommended. The scale, Pseudococcus citri, is controlled 

 by plunging the cane-cuttings for 20 minutes into a 2 per cent, emulsion 

 of soap and petrol, or into a solution of calcium sulphide at 5 

 degrees Be. 



EoTHSCHiLD (Lord). Supplemental Notes to Mr. Charles Oberthur's 

 Fauna des Lepidopteres de la Barbaric, with Lists of the Specimens 

 contained in the Tring Museum. — Novitates Zoologicae, Tring, xxiv, . 

 no. 2, August 1917, pp. 325-373. 



On p. 355 of this paper, the synonymy of the gold-tail and brown- 

 tail moths is discussed. The gold-tail moth has hitherto been generally 

 know^n under the name Porthesia siinilis, Fuess., but the name given 

 to this insect by Linnaeus was Phalaena chrgsorrhoea, L., though 



