250 



into the wood below ; they attain a length of two inches when full- 

 grown and excavate large irregular tunnels through the sap-wood and 

 heart-wood. The tunnels are often betrayed by the castings extruded 

 from openings in the bark. Infested trees of little value should be 

 removed and burned before June. Valuable trees may be saved by 

 cutting out the boring grubs in the early autumn, or by killing them 

 with injections of benzine or carbon bisulphide. Leptocoris trivittaius, 

 Say, (box elder plant bug) is often found congregating in immense 

 numbers about houses and out-buildings in the warm days of late 

 autumn. During the early part of the season they breed upon the 

 foliage of the Manitoba maple and other trees and are seldom very 

 conspicuous. The gregarious habit appears only during the latter 

 half of summer. Dense masses may be destroyed with boiUng water 

 or by spraying with kerosene. Suitable screens upon the windows 

 and doors are most effective in keeping them from dwelling houses. 

 This article also gives instructions regarding spraying apparatus and 

 formulae for the sprays mentioned. 



NowELL (W.). Some New Entomogenous Fungi in St. Vincent. — Agric. 



News, Barbados, xv, no. 363, 25th March 1916, p. 110. 



Early in 1915 Mr. W. N. Sands found a fungus, apparently a new 

 species of Cordyceps, in the Botanic Gardens, Kingstown, where it w^as 

 growing on the larvae of the beetle, Cryptorrhynchiis cortzcalis, Boh., 

 boring the wood of Codiaeum variegatum (common croton). The 

 affected larvae are found in their tunnels in the stems, retaining their 

 form and colour, but converted into hard sclerotia. On 1st January 

 1916 the author found, in the soil near the roots of a cacao tree at 

 Mount William estate, a dead grub having the larval characters of 

 Diaprepes and Exoplithahmis, the common root-feeding weevils in the 

 West Indian islands. In the laboratory, a fungus of the genus Isaria 

 developed from this. Messrs. Sands and Harland have had under 

 observation for some months a fungus found on Heliothrips rubrocinctus, 

 Giard, infesting cacao leaves. It has the appearance of being parasitic 

 on this insect, being found on larvae as well as adults. It is said to 

 have been seen in such abundance as to justify its being regarded as a 

 considerable factor in the control of this pest. During a visit to 

 Queensbury estate in January 1916, the author observed a slate-grey 

 fungus extending over considerable areas of pigeon pea, which were 

 heavily attacked by Aulacaspis pentagona, Targ. The fungus closely 

 resembles Septobasidimn pedicellatum., Schwein., common in St. Lucia 

 on colonies of the purple scale {Lepidosaphes beckii) on citrus trees, and 

 will probably prove to be that species. It appears not to have been 

 previously recorded in St. Vincent. The same remark applies to the 

 fungus, Ophionectria coccicola, E. & E., which was found on the same 

 occasion growing on scale-insects infesting lime trees. The circum- 

 stances of its occurrence under very sheltered conditions suggest that 

 its non-development in other districts is due to insufficient humidity 

 rather than to actual absence. Another fungus, an Aschersonia found 

 on the purple scale at Queensbury, appears to be quite new to these 

 islands. Sphaerostilbe coccophila, Tul. (red fungus) and Myriangium 

 duriaei, Mont, (black fungus) were also present in abundance. 



