REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 195 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



have 200 acres of wheat, and out of that they are only going to cut 35. I think the 

 damage is more widespread than people have any idea of. I have put my own loss at 

 15 per cent of the crop and probably more, but we have had two heavy rains since 

 these bugs appeared, and this seems ta have washed many of them off. — Ranald 

 Stewart.' 



These specimens sent by Mr. Stewart were at first thought to be the dreaded 

 ' Green Bug/ but winged specimens were afterwards received and they were found to 

 be the Grain Aphis. Specimens of the same species were also sent from localities in 

 Manitoba, mostly from the west of the province. Parasites were reared in numbers 

 from all the material sent, including that from Welwyn. 



Unfortunately for the Grain Aphis there is no practical remedy which can be 

 applied in a wholesale manner, but Prof. F. M. Webster, who has devoted much 

 attention to the insects which attack grain crops, has constantly drawn attention to 

 the great advantage of practising good agricultural methods in working land, such 

 as the adoption of a regular rotation of crops, so as to keep up the fertility of the soil, 

 and advises that care should be taken to sow grain at the best time to secure a vigor- 

 ous growth, which will enable the plants to withstand the attacks of the aphis sufli- 

 ciently long to allow the natural parasites which always sooner or later appear, to 

 increase, so that the numbers of the plant lice may be reduced before serious injury 

 is done to the grain plants. In the case of the Oat Grain Aphis and the Apple Aphis, 

 the two commonest species in Ontario and the east, as these pass the winter in the 

 egg condition upon apple trees the regular spraying of apple orchards with kerosene 

 emulsion or the lime and sulphur wash would not only clear those trees of enemies 

 which sometimes do much harm but, also, to a large measure protect the wheat fields 

 the following season. Fortunately for the wheat grower a severe outbreak of grain 

 plant lice is almost invariably accompanied by a rapid increase in the numbers of 

 various parasitic and predaceous enemies, which as a rule prevent serious losses. 



Grasshoppers, Melanoplus spp. — Locusts, or as they are more generally spoken 

 of as grnsshoppers, were injuriously abundant in some places in eastern Ontario and 

 along the Quebec shore of the Ottawa river. A great amount of injury was done to 

 pastures and all growing crops. Large swarms of the ordinary species which are 

 common in Ontario also occurred in many places in western Ontario, where injury 

 was done not only in field crops but in vineyards and orchards. The species sent in 

 were Melanoplus femur-rubrum, DeG., Melanoplus atlanis, Riley, and M. hivittatus. 

 Say. In Manitoba the same species were all present and destructive as well as M. 

 paclcardii, Scudd., and Camnvla pellucida, Scudd., was destructive in British Colum- 

 bia. The following letters chosen from many received show the extent of injury by 

 some of these swarms and the time they appeared: — 



' Kamloops, B.C., May 31. — Please send the latest information on fighting grass- 

 hoppers. They took my crop last year and are now hatching in great numbers. I 

 have just put out Paris green and salt mixed with horse manure and a little water. 

 My neighbours have tried this also, but they tell me the grasshoppers will not eat it. — 

 J. P. Shannon.' 



' Treesbank, Man., August 16. — Grasshoppers are decidedly on the increase again, 

 and with favourable conditions I fear that they might be as bad as ever in a year or 

 two. We shall, however, watch them and try and put out the poisoned horse manure if 

 they attack the crop. — N. Criddle.' 



' Neepawa, Man., September 7. — I send specimens of grasshoppers which are most 

 luiusually numerous this fall in this vicinity. They were never seen so thick before. 

 I am wondering if they are the forerunners of a grasshopper plague next summer. Is 

 there any danger from their laying eggs which will hatch next spring? If so what is 

 the best thing to do?— E. T. Moody.' 



Tlie species sent by Mr. Moody was the Two-striped Grasshopper, a large heavy 

 species, which as a rule is found in rather low ground near bushes, and is not so 

 often injurious to crops as some of the smaller and more active species. 



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