403 



fact that they directly infest seeds has been confirmed by many 

 investigators, including the Japanese observer, Inanmra, in 1904. 

 More than 20 species of the genera Syntomaspis, Megasiigmus, 

 Evoxysoma, Prodecatoma, Decatoniidea, Euryloma and Bruchophagus, 

 have been recorded to have this habit. 



All these species have only one annual generation, and this may 

 be due to the fact that they infest the seeds of annual plants. 

 The adults always appear at the time when the seeds are still young 

 and can therefore easily oviposit in them. The only species from 

 Japan, hitherto recorded, are Megasiigmus sp. by Biley, and 

 M. aculeakis, Swed., by Weiss, The occurrence in Japan of 

 Prodecatoma phytophaga, Crosby, which w^as obtained from Japanese 

 ivy in America, has not yet been confirmed. 



The following new species are described by the senior author 

 (Yano) : — Callimome tsugae, infesting Tsnga sieholdi ; MegasHgmus 

 cryptomeriac, in Cryptomeria japonica and Chamaecyparis obtusa ; 

 M. thuyopsis, in Thuyopsis doluhrata ; and M. inamurae and Eurytoma 

 laricis, in Larix Icptolepis and L. dahurica. 



When infested, fruits such as apple or plum shrivel up, w^hile in the 

 case of conifers, the injury may be restricted to the seed only. The 

 average degree of damage in Japan, according to statistics collected 

 in 1913-1916, amounted to 94 per cent, in Chamaecyparis obtusa ; 

 in Cryptomeria japonica the maximum injury was 13 per cent, and 

 the minimum 3 "6 per cent. ; in Larix leptohpis and in Thujopsis 

 dohbrata the injury was 2 ^er cent. Statistics are wanting regarding 

 other sj^ecies of trees. Though these Chalcids are injurious to the 

 seeds, they make it possible to distinguish new and old seeds, as the 

 presence of exit-holes in them indicates material that has been stored 

 at least one year. 



Fumigation with carbon bisulphide destroys this pest, but it also 

 affects the vitality of the seed. Generally speaking, each larva only 

 damages the seed in which it lives and does not infest others of the 

 same cone. The sound and injured seeds may be separated by sub- 

 merging in water or wannowing, and the latter should be burnt. 



]\Iatsumoto (S.). Nashi no Shinkuimushi ni kwansuru kenkyn. 



[Studies on the Pear Borer.] — Rinji-Hokoku [Extra Report]^ 

 no. 19, Okayama Agric. Expt. Sta., 5th June 1918, 22 pp., 

 3 plates. 



Though the pear borer {Nephopteryx rubrizonella, Rag.) has been 

 studied by various entomologists in Japan, the results arrived at do 

 not agree with one another. The author has therefore made further 

 investigations on this Pyralid moth with the following result. It 

 appears twice a year and hibernates in the larval state in the buds, 

 mainly in the flower-buds of the pear ; this is contrary to the statements 

 of Matsumura and Takahashi, who say that it winters in the egg-state, 

 or the results published by the Agricultural Experiment Station of 

 the Gmiba Prefecture in which it is stated to pass the winter as a pupa. 

 In the sj)ring it bores into the newly developing buds, injuring two or 

 three in the same manner. Towards the end of April it bores into the 

 yomig fruit, ejecting its excrement from the burrow. The larva may 

 injui'e three or four fruits in this way ; it matures in the middle or 



'C496) c2 



