252 Recent Literature. LApril 



The sweet-potato leaf -folder (Pilocrocis tripunctata) . This Pyralid 

 moth larva was found to be very injurious to sweet potatoes near Browns- 

 ville, Texas. Mr. M. M. High who studied it there, states that the Boat- 

 tailed Grackle, feeds upon this species among " a number of insects that 



attack truck crops and particularly on larvae Observed it first feeding 



on the cabbage looper (Autographa brassicce Riley) in 1913, two days after 

 cabbage had been sprayed with an arsenical. Some species of larvae after 

 being poisoned have a habit of crawling to the top of the leaves of the 

 plant upon which they are feeding before dying, and here they fall easy 

 prey to the grackle. The poison apparently does not seriously affect the 

 birds, since none have been found dead in the vicinity of sprayed crops." l 



The pecan-leaf case-bearer (Acrobasis nebukila). The larva of this 

 Phycitid moth is a serious pest in the southern part of the pecan growing 

 district. "Three species of birds — the Blue Jay,. . . .Mockingbird,. . . . 

 and the Orchard Oriole .... — have been observed feeding upon the larvae 

 of the pecan-leaf case-bearer. These birds, as well perhaps as those of 

 other species, do much to check the ravages of this pest, and their protec- 

 tion in the pecan orchard should be encouraged. The Blue Jay very likely 

 is more beneficial than harmful to the pecan grower. In the writer's 

 opinion the good that this bird does in feeding upon injurious pecan insects 

 more than offsets the injury that it is accused of doing in the fall of the year, 

 when it may take a few nuts from the pecan trees." 2 



The fall webworm ( Hyphantria textor) . The facts concerning the serious- 

 ness and ubiquity of this pest need no restatement. Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt 

 informs us that, " The study of the natural control of the fall webworm was 

 extended to Nova Scotia in 1916, and it is interesting to record that of the 

 different factors operating in the reduction of this insect the Red-eyed 

 Vireo, Vireosylva olivacea L., appears to be the most important. It was 

 estimated that about 40 per cent of the larvae had been destroyed in the 

 webs by this bird at the five observation points." 3 Other really effective 

 bird enemies of the fall webworm, on the basis of their record in the United 

 States are the Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Baltimore Oriole. 



The emperor moth (Samia cecropia) . This large moth, while attracting 

 considerable attention on account of its size can hardly be classed as a pest. 

 Dr. Hewitt's comment on its bird enemies, nevertheless, is of interest. 

 " Studies in the natural control," of this moth, he says, " have been made, 

 and .... it was found that most of the cocoons were destroyed by wood- 

 peckers " (op. cit., p. 9). 



West Indian mole cricket (Scapteriscus vicinus). In a recent important 

 bulletin 4 on this " most serious pest of general agriculture in Porto Rico,"' 



i In Bull. 609, U. S. Dept. Agr., by Thos. H. Jones, Nov. 22, 1917, p. 9. 



2 Gill, J. B., Bull. 571, U. S. Dept. Agr., Dec. 15, 1917, pp. 14-15. 



3 Bep. Dominion Entomologist, 1917, p. 8. 



4 Van Zwaluwenburg, B. H., Bull. 23, Porto Bico Agr. Exp. Sta., Feb. 12, 1918, pp. 

 18-19. 



