392 



three in any European specimen {Jonrn. Eco. Ent., iv., p. 304, 

 PL XVI, figs. 22-24). 



Fletcher has referred to this pest in Canada, saying that 

 in the summers of 1899 and 1890 it practically destroyed the 

 whole of the crop of late peas from the Southern States and 

 over the greater part of Canada, east of the prairies {Insects 

 Injurious to Grain and Fodder Crops, Root Crops, and Vegetables, 

 Bull. No. 52, p. 27, Dep. Agri. Ottawa, Canada). 



Fletcher gives a fuller account of this pest in Canada in 

 his annual Report for 1899, PP- ^70~74- ^^ this reference 

 is made to another kind of Aphis, attacking the roots of sweet 

 peas, of a brick red colour. 



He also refers to several kinds of predacious insects attacking 

 the Green Pea Louse, including Lace-wing Flies, Lady-birds, 

 Syrphus larvae. Of Lady-birds the chief were Hippodamia 

 £onvergens Guer, Coccinella g-notata Herbst, the larvae of 

 Syrphus ribesii Linn. ; also Plaon cerasaphis Fitch and 

 Aphidius fletcheri Ashmead. 



Birds Feeding on the Green Aphis. 



At Kingsnorth Mr. Hart found that starlings came by 

 hundreds to feed upon them, and to some extent willow wrens, 

 white-throats, and the smaller tits {Paridœ). During a bad 

 attack at Wye Court Farm in 1900 sparrows were noticed 

 •clearing on the "Green Dolphin" in company with hosts of 

 starlings, also brown linnets, and had it not been for these 

 birds the crop would have been more seriously damaged. 



Treatment. — Two methods of treatment have been tried, 

 namely (i) spraying, and (2) the brush and cultivator method. 



Spraying can only satisfactorily be carried out in staked 

 garden peas; dwarf varieties, like " Wilham Hurst" and field 

 peas, cannot be properly treated in this way. As a spray I 

 jhave found soft soap and quassia at the usual strength quite 

 sufficient to destroy them, but tobacco extract and soap certainly 

 act more quickly. 



The brush cultivator method used in America is scarcely 

 hkely to come into vogue in Britain, as it necessitates planting 

 the rows of peas too far apart. One plan adopted in America 

 is for two boys to walk along the spaces between the rows, 



