61 



the utility of fung-us diseases in killing off insect pests is greatly over- 

 estimated. Especially' is this true with reference to their use against 

 destructive locusts. The chief objections are the difficulties with 

 which pure cultures are obtained and later transmitted to the insects to 

 be destroyed, and the frequent adverse influence of climatic conditions. 



Much of this false notion as to the absolute effectiveness of inocula- 

 tion as a cure-all, which has gained a firm lodgement in the minds of so 

 many people throughout the land, is, no doubt, due to the careless 

 way in which agrijultural and other newspapers of the country make 

 definite statements on incomplete information. Then, too, very fre- 

 quently contributors to such papers write concerning matters they 

 know little or nothing about. This sort of business on the part of the 

 press certainly places the economic entomologist in a peculiar posi- 

 tion since it creates a misunderstanding between him and the people 

 in whose interest he is supposed to labor. 



Were the writer required to give his opinion as to which of these 

 different fungi seems the most promising, he would, without hesita- 

 tion, say, "The native one." He would sa}^ this, because the impor- 

 tation of these locust-killing fungi from one country into another 

 depends greatlj^ on the similarity which exists in the climatic condi- 

 tions of the countries concerned, in the relationship of hosts to be 

 considered, and in the ease with which the fungi can be handled in 

 the laboratory. Between the Empusje and Sporotricha the latter 

 seem the more preferable, because they are more readily handled arti- 

 ficially, growing, as they do, quite readily on different culture media. 



THE CONFLICT OF THE RUSSIAN ZYEMSTVOS" WITH THE 

 ENEMIES OF AGRICULTURE.^ 



By V. MORACHEVSKI. 

 [Abstract by Dr. Peter Fireman.] 



Not the measures employed by the individual farmer in his fight 

 against the animals and insects injurious to agriculture are described 

 in the present article, but those adopted by the local self-government 

 organs in Russia. 



Grasshoppers ( Acridiid js) . 



[a) PacJiytylus migr((tor!m. It is at present accepted as proved that 

 the islands of some rivers (Ural, Volga, Kuma, Kuban, Terek, Manich, 

 Egorlik, Don, Dnieper, Danube, and Sarpa) serve as nurseries for this 

 insect. Such islands furnish an enormous store of food for grasshop- 



« Zyemstvo— A governmental body in Russian provinces and local districts, elected 

 by the people. It consists in each case <jt" a council and an executive board. 



&(Syelskoye Khozyaistvo e Lyesuvodstvo (Agriculture and Forestry), vol. 193, 

 1899, April, jip. 183-208; vol. 194, 1899, August, pp. 193-226, September, pp. 445-454. ) 



