424 



California Agricultural Experiment Station, and hence arises the 

 question of the food-plant of this Trypetid in that State. 



Observations have established the fact that specimens of R. pomo- 

 nella bred from apple are larger than those bred from blueberries 

 (Vaccinium spp.), plants that are common in the eastern and northern 

 parts of N. America, but absent from California, where, however, 

 the smaller form of this fly is the one found. In Maine the small 

 form of R. pomanella is bred from huckleberries, Gaylussacia baccata, 

 which also are absent from California, being there represented by 

 Vaccinium ovatum (Californian huckleberr}'-). Though R. pomonella 

 has been bred from haws, and though two species, Crataegus rivularis 

 and C. douglasi, are found in California, yet the fact that individuals 

 bred from these are practically of the same size as those bred from 

 apple precludes the possibility of the Crataegus being the host-plant 

 in California. 



It has been suggested that the original host was a species of Crataegus, 

 and that the species has spread on the one hand to the apple and related 

 fruits, and on the other to the huckleberry and blueberry, in which 

 an independent and quite different strain has arisen. Flies captured 

 on apples refused to oviposit on blueberries, and half- grown larvae 

 transferred from blueberries to different varieties of apple failed to 

 develop. 



Lees (A. H.). The Raspberry and Loganberry Beetle {Byturus tomen- 

 tosus.) — Aim. Rept.for 1917, Agric. & Hortic. Research Sta., Long 

 Ashton, Bristol, pp. 35-36. [Received 31st July 1918.] 



Byturus tomentosus (raspberry beetle) is a widely-spread pest that 

 since the introduction of loganberry culture has shown such a decided 

 preference for this fruit, that when it is grown with raspberries, the 

 latter remain comparatively free. 



The insect hibernates as an adult in the soil underneath the plants, 

 appearing as soon as the weather becomes warm and attacking the 

 flowers immediately they open. As many as three or four beetles 

 may be foimd in one flower, where, attracted by the nectaries, they 

 feed on the tissues of the base of the petals and stamens and oviposit 

 there. The young larvae burrow into the receptacle and attack the 

 fruit, causing a deformed growth ; later they come to the surface, 

 breaking the skin, which is then liable to attack by moulds. 



Spraying with lead arsenate and ordinary contact washes has 

 proved unsuccessful as a means of control, and though violently 

 shaking the flowers over pans filled with tree grease effects the capture 

 of large numbers, it does not keep the fruit free in bad cases. 



Good results have been obtained by the experimental use on a 

 small scale of the following mixture : — Soft-soap 20 lb., paraffin 

 2 gals,, nicotine \ lb., water 100 gals. In practice it was found 

 necessary to give a preliminary spraying to force the insects from 

 their hiding places, and for tlus, the 2 per cent, parafiin emulsion 

 without nicotine was used. This double spraying was done three 

 times during three weeks, and resulted in only 33 per cent, of the 

 plants in the sprayed rows being infested, as against 100 per cent. 

 in the imsprayed rows. 



