12 MONTHLY NOTES ON GRUBS AND OTHER CANE PESTS. 



"On 5th November several specimens of Anomala australasiae, a 

 small dark-green Rutelid beetle, were confined in cages at the Insectary, 

 and when examined a week later a number of eggs were found that 

 hatched on the 22nd of the same month. We intend working out the 

 life-history of this insect, and of other species affecting cane not hither- 

 to recorded. 



Parasitism. 



"AVith reference to investigations nov/ in progress regarding cer- 

 tain indigenous parasites of root-eating cane beetles, it may be men- 

 tioned that male wasps of Campsomerh radida are now emerging from 

 pupae derived from eggs laid by this species on grubs of Lcpidiota 

 frenchi at our Insectary. 



' ' It is interesting to note that the male sex of C. radula resembles 

 in general appearance that of the better known digger-wasp, Dielis 

 jormosus, with which, apparently, it has often been confused by entomo- 

 logists. 



"The latter species was described by Tryon in 1902 in an able and 

 instructive treatise entitled 'A Parasite of Sugar Cane Beetle Grubs' 

 ('Queensland Agricultural Journal,' X., No. 2). 



"So remarkable, indeed, is the similarity in form and colouration 

 of the adult males of formosus and radula, that specific distinctions are 

 confined principally to the presence of a few additional yellow markings 

 on the latter species that are barely visible to the naked eye." 



Light Traps. 



It is our desire, in present experiments with light-traps, to so 

 simplify them that they may come into common use in canegroAving 

 regions. 



A very successful type is simply a large pan, about a yard square, 

 with sides about 4 inches high ; the light being furnished by an ordinary 

 acetylene lamp. A sheet of glass, 9 inches by 2 feet, attached to the 

 stem of the lamp with a string, is found to give excellent results in 

 heading off the beetles which circle about the flame, landing them in the 

 tray of kerosene-coated water. 



It is found best to have the pan placed on the ground, for if ele- 

 vated the circling beetles often land beneath it, and in many cases never 

 find their way into the trap. 



It is interesting to learn that, though the light appears to have 

 little attraction for the grey-backs or the frenchi beetles after they 

 have rciU'hi'd their feeding trees, L. rotlici continues to enter the trap 

 througliont tlu; night. This latter species, though usually rather un- 

 •common, was very abundant last season at Meringa, breeding in an old 



