152 



singly on the base of the stem about half an inch above the level of the 

 soil. The larval stage lasts about 20 days and the pupal stage 6-8 

 days. The length of life of the adults is not known but they will live 

 in dry earth for three months without food, and not longer than 17 

 weeks with food ; crop rotation and very clean cultivation are suggested 

 as remedies and parasites should be utilized if they can be found. 

 [C. sordidus is found in banana -growing areas in the Old World tropics 

 from Madagascar eastward to Fiji, as well as in Brazil and the West 

 Indies.] A common West Indian species is Metamasius {SphenopJiorus) 

 sericeus, while S. limtus occurs in Martinique; Rhabdocnemis 

 (S.) ohscutus in Papua, the Sandwich, Solomon and Society Islands 

 attacks bananas as well as other plants, while in Queensland it only 

 attacks sugar-cane, Ligyrus ebenus {Tomarus bitubercidatus) damages 

 the leaves in the West Indies and tropical America, the burning 

 of badly attacked leaves being the best remedy. In South America 

 and Trinidad the larva of a large moth, Castnia licus, bores in the 

 stem of bananas as well as of sugar-cane. The so-called banana 

 " scab " in Fiji is due to the larvae of a small moth [Nacoleia 

 odosema, Meyr., also recorded from Java and Queensland] ; minute 

 longitudinal cracks are found on the incurved side of the fruit, and 

 these increase in size and may extend to the edible portion, which 

 then begins to decay ; dusting with pyrethrum powder is recommended 

 against it. In New Zealand the ripe-rot fly, Drosophila ampelophila,. 

 attacks all kinds of fruit in warm weather, whether growing or cut. 

 The fruit-fly, Dacus fernigineus F. {tryoni, Frog.), punctures the skin 

 of the unripe fruit and oviposits in the hole made ; a black spot results, 

 and the larvae burrow into the pulp and set up decay ; when only a 

 few days old the larva passes out of the fruit and drops to the ground 

 to pupate. Try on recommends the eradication of breeding grounds 

 near banana plantations, and the destruction of bananas and all other 

 infested fruit, as well as of all wild fruit trees. In South Australia 

 the use of woven covers was formerly compulsory and is effective if 

 applied when the fruit is two-thirds grown. Another fruit-fly, Dacus 

 curvijjennis, has been bred by Froggatt from bananas shipped from 

 Suva, though no specimens have actually been found in Fiji. In 

 Surinam small black bees, in searching for honey, scar the very young 

 fruits and render it unsaleable when full grown. One estate lost 15,000 

 bunches from these attacks in one year. 



Patterson (.J. T.). Observations on the Development of Copidosoma 

 geJechiae. — Biol. Bull., Marine Biol. Laboratory, Woods Hole, 

 Mass. Lancaster, Pa, xxix, no. 6, December 1915, pp. 333-360, 

 6 plates, 6 tables. [Received 19th February 1916.] 



Copidosoma gelechiae, a Chalcidoid parasite of a Microlepidopteron, 

 Gnorimoschema salinaris, has one generation annually. The egg 

 of the parasite is probably laid within the host during May. Early 

 development takes place beneath the hj^odermis of the host ; in 

 later stages the larvae enter the body cavity, where they continue to 

 feed until the entire contents are destroyed. The pupal stage of the 

 parasite is reached during the first ten days of August and lasts about 

 a month. The number of adults emerging from one host larva varies 

 from 25 to 395 ; about 55 per cent, of all broods are females. 



