58 



attended and protected by the ants, is also in a large measure 

 controlled. Many Aphids have been found in dissecting the crops of 

 young fowls, including Aphis tnalifoliae (blue aphis), A. pomi (green 

 apple aphis), A. grossulariae (gooseberry aphis), Myzus ribis and 

 Rhopalosiphum hctucae (currant Aphids), A. pruni (plum aphis), 

 Hyalopterus arundinis {pruni) (mealy plum aphis), AmphoropJiora rubi 

 and Macrosiphum ruhiellum. In cultivated land wireworms, surface 

 larvae and leather jackets are cleared off, and weevils, including 

 Anthonomus pomorum (apple blossom weevil) and Otiorrhynchus picipes 

 (raspberry weevil) are searched for and devoured. 



Examples are given of analyses of the crop contents of four birds, 

 illustrating the variety and quantity of insect food eaten by old and 

 young birds. Care should be taken in the choice of breed suitable for 

 orchard or plantation ; lighter breeds are more active in hunting out 

 insects, but unfortunately they frequently attack fruit when almost 

 ripe and are able to fly to some height to reach it ; while still young, 

 they may be allowed free access to the orchard, and at any age until the 

 fruit is half-grown, while among standard trees they may be kept 

 permanently. 



Adkin (E.). Apples attacked by the Larvae of Porthesia similis 

 (aurifua). — The Entomologist, London, 1, no. 655, December 1917. 

 p. 279. 



At the end of September, in Sussex, apples growing near the tip of 

 a branch were found denuded of a large portion of their skin, about a 

 score of young larvae of Ardornis chrysorrhoea {Porthesia similis), being 

 found feeding on them. As there was plenty of foUage on the tree, 

 this attack on the fruit was made from choice and not of necessity. 



BovELL (J. R.) & d'Albuqueeque (J. P.). Report on the Sugar- 

 cane Experiments for the Season 1915-1917 .—Dept. Agric. Bar- 

 bados, 1917, 79 pp., 56 tables. 



The results of experiments wdth difierent varieties of sugar-cane and 

 with manures for them could not be regarded as conclusive owing to 

 the presence of a disturbing factor in the form of the larvae of 

 Dia]}repes abbreviatus, L. (root borer), and Phy talus smithi, Arrow 

 (brown hard-back), which attacked the canes in the experimental 

 plots to such an extent as to render it impossible to draw any definite 

 conclusions from the investigations. 



The monetary loss sustained from the attacks of these pests is 

 considerable and may involve a loss of 7 tons of cane or about £9 12s. 

 per acre. That these pests are increasing is proved by the fact that 

 although 8,122 of their larvae were destroyed on the experimental 

 plots in 1915, in 1917 the same plots yielded 8,227 larvae. 



In Porto Rico, where great loss is being sustained from the attacks 

 of the larvae of certain brown hard-back beetles very similar to those 

 in Barbados, the cost of hand-picking in one small district for two vears 

 is estimated at about £1,230, and even then the beetle is not held in 

 check, but continues to increase. 



