463 



distinguished from microsporidiosis. In Lewis, Outer Hebrides, 

 14 outbreaks occurred between 1909 and 1914, the disease appearing 

 in from one week to six months after the introduction of the stock. 

 In one case, the disease lasted a few days, and then recovery 

 followed ; another stock showed the disease for several weeks, then 

 recovered, but suffered a second attack in the following year. The 

 remaining stocks died out after varying periods. Spores of N. ajris 

 were found in only two cases in which symptoms of the disease were 

 shown ; young stages occurred in two affected stocks, one of which 

 recovered. Other stocks were found to be infected by Nosema, but 

 did not exhibit signs of disease. In Craibstone and Deeside cases of 

 spontaneous recovery were observed, and in some instances bees affected 

 by the disease gave negative results when examined for Nosema spores. 

 Examination of the gut contents of apparently healthy and diseased 

 bees has led to the conclusion that there appears to be no causal relation 

 between the presence of Nosema and the disease. Records made in 

 other countries show that spores are as frequent in healthy as in 

 diseased insects. Nosema is therefore considered, not as an essential' 

 factor, but as one which, by weakening the bees, favours the develop- 

 ment of the disease in certain cases. Attempts made to produce 

 infection among healthy bees by feeding with a mixture of honey and 

 pulp obtained from bees which had exhibited the crawling symptoms of 

 the disease, met with negative results. In two instances disease 

 developed after a greater or less interval among swarms which had 

 come from or were introduced into infected hives. It is thus doubtful 

 whether these cases should be regarded as having been directly infected 

 through the hive, or whether infection was due to other sources. The 

 general conclusion deduced from the foregoing facts is that the Isle of 

 Wight disease, although probably infectious, requires the coincidence 

 of other, unknown, external factors for its development. The disease 

 is not necessarily carried by contact with infected hives or combs, or 

 by feeding on infected stores. 



Brues (C. T.). a New Species of Lepidopria from North America. — 



Psyche, Boston, Mass., xxiii, no. 4, August 1916, pp. 126-127, 1 fig. 



The Diapriid, Lepidopria aberrans, sp. n., reared from a Tachinid 

 pupa, probably that of Cryptomeigenia thelitis, found in an adult 

 Lachnosterna inversa, is described. 



ScHOENE (W. J.). The Cabbage Maggot : its Biology and Control. — 



New York Agric. Expt. Sta., Geneva, Bull. 419, March 1916, 

 pp. 99-160, 3 figs., 8 plates, 15 tables. [Received 13th 

 September 1916.] 



Chortophila (Pegomyia) brassicae, Bch., is widely distributed in the 

 British Isles and northern Europe, including Scandinavia, Holland, 

 Switzerland, Germany and Austria, while in America it is found in 

 Canada and in the United States as far south as 40° N. lat. The host 

 plants include cultivated cruciferous crops of all kinds, as well as the 

 wild Barbarea vulgaris (winter cress) and Sisymbrium officinale (hedge 

 mustard), which are attacked in Europe, and S. officinale and Brassica 

 alba in America. The host plant selected by the female for the purpose 



