114 



CooLEY (R. A.). Fourteenth Annual Report of the State Entomo- 

 logist of Montana. — Montana Agric. Expt. Sta., Bozeman, Bull, 

 no. 112, December 1916, 76 pp. [Received 2nd January 1918.] 



The occurrence of the chief insect pests of 1916 is recorded and the 

 text is given of the Quarantine Proclamation against the alfalfa weevil, 

 Hypera variabilis {Phjtonomus posticus), in the State of Utah and parts 

 of the States of Idaho and Wyoming, which came into force in 

 July 1916. 



The severe outbreak of the army cutworm [Euxoa agrestis] in 1915 

 afforded opportunity for the study of the life-history and habits of this 

 pest, the results of which have already been noticed [see this Review, 

 Ser. A, iv, p. 477]. Cerodonta femoralis, Meig. (wheat-sheath miner), 

 is a pest widely distributed in the State and one which continues in 

 destructive numbers year after year. A recfent paper on its life-history 

 and habits has already been noticed [see this Review, Ser. A, v, p. 260]. 

 Pemphigus betae, Doane (sugar-beet root-louse), has been successfully 

 controlled by irrigation measures [see this Revietv, Ser. A, iii, p. 578]. 

 Hypera {Phytonomus) nigrirostris (lesser clover-leaf weevil), which 

 feeds in the terminal growi;h and opening blossoms of clover, and the 

 larva of which closely resembles that of the alfalfa weevil, has done 

 damage for two years in a valley in eastern Montana. 



Blakey (J. G.). The Mealy Plum Aphis. — Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 London, Ixiii, no. 1619, 5th January 1918, pp. 1-2, 5 figs. 



The life-history of Hycdopterus arundinis (pruni) (mealy plum aphis), 

 w^hich is found chiefly on the plum, and which has been believed to 

 migrate to another food-plant, probably reeds or grasses, shows 

 no such migration in the author's experience. The eggs, which are 

 laid singly or in small numbers — up to six — in the axil of a leaf-bud, 

 hatch out early in May, these stem-mothers beginning to produce 

 young 10 days later. The young of the first generation are all wingless 

 females which produce a mixture of winged and wingless forms until 

 towards the end of the season, a large proportion certainly remaining 

 on the plum all the year. In August winged females appear ; these 

 are local migrants, i.e., on the same tree, and at the end of August or 

 the beginning of September they produce broods of from 12-20 

 wingless egg-laying females, only some of which, however, appear to 

 be fertile. The eggs remain dormant on the trees for seven months. 

 No males have as yet been discovered by the author. 



Brown (N. E.). The Defertilisation of Flowers by Insects. — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, London, Ixiii, no. 1619, 5th January 1918, p. 4. 



The complete depollination of the flowers of Pelargonium by a 

 Syrphid fly is recorded, even the pollen that had already been deposited 

 on the stigmas being removed. The same agency may probably be the 

 cause of the failure to set seed in the case of artificially pollinated plants, 

 such as the South African Euphorbia gorgonis experimented upon at 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in 1912. 



