29 ! Recent Literature. | ^\% 



Messrs. Jones and Mackie, writing of the Locust pest in The Philippine 

 Agricultural Review 1 (Vol. VI, Xo. 1, Jan. 1913) say thai the migratory 



locust is, and for many years has been, the worst destructive inseet pest of 

 the Philippines, and that their enemies the wild birds "are of more im- 

 portance than is generally believed for they, from the very firsl appearance 

 of tin- young locusts as they issue from the ground, wage a continuous 

 warfare upon the swarm." (pp. 18-19.) The chief locust destroyers are t lie 

 Luzon Shrike (Otomcla htcionensis), Carabao Bird (Bubulcus coromandus), 

 two species of kingfishers, Variegated Curlew (Numerous variegatus), 

 Golden plover (Charadrius fulvus), two species of quails, the Jungle Fowl 

 (GaUus gcdlus), Roller (Eurystomua orientalis) and two species of bee eaters. 

 In an account of the insect enemies of cacao. P. 1.. (hippy says:'-' "it 

 would seem that all birds are useful to the cacao planter, especially those 

 of the woodpecker type, even though some of the latter do occasionally 

 make holes in pods." The King-of-t he-Woods (Momotus swainsonii) also 

 accused oi eating pods, is shown to be chiefly insectivorous and to be an 

 enemy of the cacao beetle, the plant's most serious insect pest. "Birds 

 and lizards" says the author "are the planter's best friends." — W. L. M. 



More Economic Papers by Bryant. A Correction. — Mr. H. C. 

 Bryant's activity in his capacity as a research assistant, under the auspices 



of the California State Fish and Game Commission, has been so great and 

 the results so promising, that ornithologists will regret to learn of the dis- 

 continuance of the work. Two papers incidental to the investigation of 

 the food of the western meadowlark have recently appeared. These are: 

 ''The number of insects destroyed by western meadowlarks" - ; and "Some 

 insects and other arthropods in the diet of the western meadowlark." 4 

 In the first it is shown that western meadowlarks in certain localities in 

 California consumed on the average 10 cutworms or 10 grasshoppers per 

 meal, exclusive of other food. Tims each bird at the lowest estimate was 

 destroying from 10 to SO of one or the other of these groups of insects per 

 day throughout the summer, and according to Mr. Bryant such cases 

 prove that birds "play a much more important part as cheeks on the 

 numbers of insects than many people have hitherto believed." 



In the second paper the author gives a general review of the arthropods 

 found in stomachs of the western meadowlark. "The ordinary articles 

 of diet are ground beetles (Carabidse, Tenebrionidse) grasshoppers, crickets, 

 cutworms, wireworms. plant bugs (Pentatomida?) certain bees, wasps and 

 ichneumon Hies and ants. The extraordinary articles of diet can be 

 summed up as; centipedes, millipedes, scorpions, certain Crustacea, snails, 

 spiders, and protected and stinging insects ." It should be noted that the 



' Review of preliminary paper in Auk. 28. Oct., toil, p. 506. 

 - West Indian Bulletin. XII, No. 3, L912, p. 311. 

 ■Science, X. 8. M, pp. 873-575, Dee. 20. 1912. 



• Pomona College Journal of Entomology. Vol. i. No. ■>■. Nov. L912, pp. 807- 

 S09. 



