15 



hoppers must have attained a certain size before beginning laboratory 

 operations. During the summer of 1915, an epizootic destroyed in a 

 few hours a swarm of young hoppers near Sidi-Bou-Baker in Tunis. 

 Infestation had been carried out 3 weeks before, about 20 kilometres 

 further south. To determine whether this epizootic had been brought 

 about by the passage of infested swarms, dead individuals were 

 collected, pulverised in water, and the latter injected into healthy 

 insects. Although the dead insects had been exposed to the sun for 

 five days before collection, the death of inoculated insects occurred in 

 four hours. Further experiments with the bodies of locusts preserved in 

 a sealed tube for two years showed that the Coccobacillvs was virulent 

 and caused the death of healthy insects in six hours. The above results 

 suggest that the following method of procedure is advisable. Begiiming 

 with a culture of C. acridiorum, passages through a series of locusts 

 is effected, until a virulence is reached by which death ensues in 

 eight hours. The bodies of such locusts are dried in a desiccator over 

 sulphuric acid, then reduced to powder and sealed in glass tubes. 

 Under these conditions, the virus should keep without alteration for 

 two years. When required for use, the powder is mixed with a few drops 

 of water or sterile broth and the bacillus isolated on gelatine. The 

 colonies are sufficiently developed in 18 hours for use in inoculating 

 locusts. The most suitable medium consists of 5 gr. peptone, 5 gr. 

 meat extract, 5 gr. salt and 1 litre of water. The culture should be 

 kept at the temperature of the air. 



ScHABLOWSKi (H.). Dbf Koloradokafcr {Leptinotarsa decetnlineata, 



Say) : Sein Auftreten in der Feldmark Stade 1914. [The Colorado 



beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, Say, and its appearance in the 



Stade district in 1914.] — Zeitschr. fiir Pflanzenkrankheiten, 



Stuttgart, xxv, no. 4, 17th July 1915, pp. 193-203, 1 fig. 3 plates. 



This paper deals with the outbreak of Leptinotarsa decemlineata, 



Say (Colorado beetle), in Germany in 1914, which has already been 



recorded [see this Revieiv, vol. ii, p. 711 ; iii, p. 712]. 



Dalmasso (C). Diaspis e Prospaltella. [Atdacaspis pentagona and 



Prospaltella berlesei.] — Riv. Vitic. Enol. Agrar., Conegliano, xxi, 



no. 21, 1st November 1915, pp. 487-490. 



In Venetia, the Coccid, Aulacaspis pentagona, has been practically 



stamped out. According to Grassi, this result is largely due to an 



infectious disease and attention is drawn to the fact that even before 



the introduction of Prospaltella berlesei, this pest, in certain years and 



localities diminished very greatly in numbers. According to Berlese, 



the decrease in the number of scales was due to the withering of 



branches infested by them. The author believes, however, that the 



existence of an infectious disease is possible, 



LuNDEN (0.). Borax, ett medel till utrotandeaf fluger och insektlarver, 



sarskildt sadesknapparens larver i tradgardsodlingen. [Borax, a 



remedy against flies and insect larvae, especially wireworms in 



the garden.]— Fi7iska Trlidgardsodlaren, Helsingfors, ix, no, 7, 



July 1915, [Received 1st November 1915.] 



The author summarises the experiments with borax against the 



larvae of the house-fly in the United States and recommends the use 



of a 1 per cent, solution against wireworms on strawberries. 



