356 



in Canada. In the United Kingdom the eggs are laid in June. The 

 larvae, which hatch in about two weeks, feed on grass, or on the ears 

 of wheat, if this is present. Feeding takes place at night ; during the 

 day the larvae remain beneath the surface of the soil. In August or 

 September they penetrate more deeply into the ground in order to 

 hibernate. They emerge in the following spring and feed on the 

 leaves and stems of cereals and grasses, pupating in May or June. 

 No appreciable damage by this insect has as yet been recorded in 

 Britain, but as it has been recorded as injurious in Russia, Denmark, 

 Sweden, etc., it is advisable to keep a watch for its presence, so that 

 control measures may be undertaken if necessary. 



Roebuck (A.). A Bad Attack by the Mustard Beetle on Watercress. — 

 Jl. Bd. Agric, London, xxiii, no. 3, June 1916, pp. 238-241. 

 1 plate. 



Phaedon cochleariae has for several years caused serious injury to 

 watercress beds in Shropshire. The larvae feed on the leaves and 

 outer layers of the stems of the plants between May and the end of 

 the year, and often cause complete defoliation. The beetles emerge 

 from hibernating places, such as loose bark, hollow stems of weeds, 

 etc., in the vicinity of the beds during the end of April and the beginning 

 of May. Adults from eggs laid by over-wintering females appear 

 about the middle of June, while adults of the second generation appear 

 at the end of July. Pupae occur in holes in the banks above the level 

 of the water and especially round the roots of grasses, and adults are 

 to be found on the aerial portions of the host and in the fields and 

 hedges surrounding the beds. Observations made in 1914 on four 

 series of beds proved that treatment in order to be effective must be 

 made over the whole area. The following control measures are sug- 

 gested : — (1) When the adults appear in May, the beds should be 

 flooded and stirred constantly. The beetles are thus kept in the 

 water, and since they usually collect at one end, may be drawn off. 

 Rubbish placed round the beds will serve to catch the escaping beetles. 

 The flood water should then be run off and the rubbish destroyed. 

 (2) Flooding should be repeated in June and July, if necessary, to 

 destroy larvae and adults of succeeding generations. Overhanging 

 banks should be cut away in order to expose the pupae to the water ; 

 adults may be captured as in the former case. (3) The cutting of 

 hollow-stemmed weeds and grasses, the pruning of hedges and the 

 destruction of refuse from the beds in winter should considerably 

 lessen the numbers of hibernating adults. Wire fencing or tarred 

 palings are preferable to ordinary hedges, since they afford no shelter. 



GouGH (L. H.) & McKiLLOP (A. T.). Report on the great Invasion of 

 Locusts in Egypt in 1915 and the measures adopted to deal with 



it. Cairo, 1916. Govt. Press, x + 72 pp., 1 fig., 2 charts, 6 maps. 

 Price 5 piastres. 



In 1915 swarms of locusts (Schistocerca peregrina) came both from 

 the east and west, as they also did in 1914. Their arrival in the Nile 

 Valley is dependent on weather conditions. Under Egyptian condi- 

 tions the best method of destruction of hoppers is by driving them 



