434 



years becomes exceedingly numerous. Its favourite host-plant is the 

 cowpea, either cultivated or wild, on the drying-up of which in the 

 autumn, it migrates to any other plants or trees in the vicinity. 



The fact that the cowpea is frequently grown in pecan groves in 

 the early summer as a manurial crop, and that bad outbreaks of 

 the kernel spot disease of pecan due to the fungus, Coniothyrium 

 caryogenum, coincide with the occurrence of 'N. viridula in unusual 

 numbers, has led to investigations being made on the probable 

 connection between the disease and the insect. The data obtained 

 from the preliminary experiments are strongly indicative of the fact 

 that this bug is an important agent in either the actual production 

 or the dissemination of the disease. 



Chapman (R. N.). Measures for Protecting Wheat-flour Substitutes 

 from Insects. — Science, Lancaster, Pa., xlvii, no. 1224, 14th June 

 1918, pp. 579-581. 



In order to heat cereals so as to kill any stages of insects that they 

 may contain, a temperature well above 113° F. at 24 per cent, of 

 relative humidity, and below 201° F., is required. This may be 

 effected by placing the cereal in pans about 2 in. deep and heating 

 it in an oven till the temperature on the surface reaches 185° F. In 

 the case of gas or oil ovens, the fire should then be turned out and the 

 cereal left in the closed oven for 45 minutes, but with a coal or wood 

 stove, the door should be opened and the fire kept low during the 

 same time. For household use, a wax melting at 185° F. is now sold 

 in small pieces, one of which should be placed on a sheet of paper 

 on the top of the cereal, the supply of heat being cut off when this 

 liquifies. 



Speyer (E. R.). Progress Report on Investigations into Shot-hole 

 Borer of Tea. — Trop. Agriculturist, Peradeniya, 1, no. G, June 

 1918, pp. 373-374. 



Further investigations in Ceylon on the shot-hole borer of tea [Xyle- 

 borus for meatus] have shown that development at an elevation of 1,600 

 ft. is more rapid by some 3 weeks than that at 4,300 ft. Observation 

 on the fungi upon which the larvae of X. fornicatus feed, and which 

 have been identified as Monacrosporiiim and a conidial Ambrosia 

 (though there is a remote possibility that the former may be a free 

 living stage of the latter), have led to the conclusion that economic 

 control by the destruction of this fungus in the galleries is impracticable. 



Experiments on the burying of prunings at a depth of from 2 to 

 5 inches w^th the addition of \ lb. cpiicklime (stone), | lb. slaked lime 

 (powdered), 2 Oz. ammonium sulphate, or 2 oz. calcium phosphate 

 (powdered), respectively, showed that by the end of two months a 

 certain number of the galleries heal over, causing in some cases the 

 death of the insects, and that this process is increased by rain, by 

 calcium phosphate and to a less extent by powdered slaked lime, 

 but not by unslaked lime or by ammonium sulphate. 



Experiments with paints showed that a coconut-oil soap-emulsion 

 could not be used on the bushes even in the most dilute solutions, 

 owing to its harmful effects. The use of fish-oil, emulsified with 

 Ceylon soap and resin, seems likely to be a success, and it may be 



