581 



The infestation of cotton fields with stainers originates from waste 

 land on which their wild food-plants exist, the chief of these being 

 Eriodendron (silk-cotton tree), Thespesia, and various Malvaceous 

 herbs and shrubs. They also feed, without breeding, on many species 

 of plants. 



Sands (W.N.). Observations on the Cotton Stainer in St . Vi ncent. — 

 West Indian Bull., Barbados, xvi, no, 3, 1917, pp. 235-252. 



The most serious pest of cultivated cotton in St. Vincent is Dt/sd ercns 

 delauneyi, Leth., which occurs abundantly throughout the coastaT"" 

 district. Up to the present it has not been found to breed on any 

 species of plant other than those belonging to the order Malvaceae, 

 or the closely allied Sterculiaceae. Its chief host-plants are 

 Eriodendron anfractuosum (silk cotton), and Thespesia popidnea 

 (mahoe, or John Bull tree), and to a lesser extent, Hibiscus esculentus 

 (okra), Ochroma lagopus (cork-wood tree) and Malachra capitata 

 (wild okra). It has been found feeding, but not breeding, on the 

 flowers of Mangifera indica (mango), Eupatoriimi odoratum, Cordia 

 cijlindrostachjs (black sage), Moririga pterygosperma (horse radish tree), 

 on the fruit of Momordica charanfia and on the secretions of scale- 

 insects. 



Since, by law, all wild and cultivated cotton plants must be pulled 

 up and burnt by 30th April, the insect could not be carried over from 

 one season to another were it not for these wild trees on which it 

 can subsist in the interval. The destruction of these was therefore 

 carried out at Government expense from August 1916 to April 1917, 

 during which time 1,542 plants of E. anfractuosum and 11,570 of 

 T. populnea (besides several thousands of seedlings) were destroyed, 

 at a total cost of £300. 



Other suggested measures are : — a close season for cotton from 

 February to May ; the trapping of the pest by means of cotton seed, 

 seed-cotton, or cotton-seed meal just before the cotton begins to 

 flower ; and the collection of cotton stainers in the field. 



The natural enemies of the insect are few, the chief being the birds, 

 Tyrannus rostratus and Crotophaga ani, as well as domestic fowls, 

 which destroy the bug to a limited extent, a small externally-parasitic 

 mite, and certain ants which prey on the eggs. 



Habla^d (S. C). A Note on Resistance to Black Scale in Cotton. — 



West Indian Bull., Barbados, xvi, no. 3, 1917, pp. 255-256. 



At the beginning of the sea island cotton industry in the West 

 Indies, Saissetia nigra, Nietn. (black scale) was found to be a verv 

 serious pest. It has now been shown that of the Seredo cottons intro- 

 duced into St. Vincent in 1914, all of which are immune to Eriopkyes 

 gossypii, Banks (leaf-blister mite), two types are also quite immune 

 to black scale, the immunity being inherited, and in breeding experi- 

 ments behaving as a partial dominant. 



Treherne (R.C). The Apple Maggot in British Columbia. — Canadian 

 Entomologist, London, Ont., xlix, no. 10, October 1917, pp. 329-330. 



The two adult flies captured on apple in British Columbia in August, 

 1916 [see this Review, Ser, A, v. p. 121] have finally been determined 



