386 



NATURE 



\_AugUSt 2 2, 1889 



much larger than the " mealie," of a red-brown colour, 

 and, "judging from the number of specimens usually con- 

 tained in collections received from South Africa, this ! 

 would appear to be a very common species in that | 

 country." 



It is desirable to destroy the insects belonging to this 

 family both in their beetle and larval conditions. In the 

 former case they may be shaken down from the trees and 

 shrubs upon which they rest in a sluggish state during the 

 day. The larvae can be reduced in numbers by digging 

 round the roots of the infested plants. " In Ceylon," Miss 

 Ormerod remarks, " where the grubs of various kinds of 

 chafers do much harm to coffee-plant roots, it is noted 

 that on one estate a gang of coolies was employed to dig 

 them out of the ground (for they are always near the 

 surface at the end of the feeding rootlets), which they did 

 at the rate of about a quarter of a bushel per man per 

 day. . Lime, salt, and carbolic acid were tried without 

 effect, I believe." 



Some species of Melolonthidae, especially the common 

 cockchafer {Mclolontha vulgaris), are so destructive 

 to ' trees, vines, and other plants in France, that the 

 French Minister of Agriculture has recently issued 

 orders to the various prefects to take steps to reduce 

 their numbers. 



A beetle of the family Dynastidce, styled Heteronychiis 

 arator, and the •' keever " by the farmers, is the most wide- 

 spread and destructive of the African pests, according to a 

 correspondent, being a subterraneous worker, attacking 

 wheat by eating away the roots. In length of body it is 

 from 1 2 to 15 millimetres, and resembles the British beetle 

 Aphodiiis fossor, belonging, however, to a quite distinct 

 family, of which no member occurs in Britain. 



They are rarely seen above ground, biting off the wheat 

 plants about an inch under ground. It will be plain to all 

 practical persons that this insect must be a very difficult 

 foe to deal with, as it comes out of the ground and flies 

 about trees during the night, and retires to the wheat roots 

 during the day. Miss Ormerod states that it is also found 

 in St. Helena, and it is more particularly to be met with 

 along the sides of roads near hay-fields and grass-lands, 

 where it may often be seen dead in considerable numbers, 

 "which points to this ' keever ' beetle being a grass as 

 well as a corn pest, and may give some clue as to where 

 to look for their grubs, as in common course of things 

 beetles die just after having laid their eggs." It is recom- 

 mended to dress wheat plants thus attacked with paraffin 

 and sand, or ashes, or dry earth, to prevent the attack of 

 this beetle. 



Two other beetles, the Pentodon nireus and Pentodon 

 contractus, injure the wheat crops. They are larger than 

 the HeteronycJius arator, but are similar in their method 

 of attack. Neither of these appears to have any common 

 or local name. 



Yet another beetle, belonging to the family of Cetoniidce, 

 in which the British rose chafer is grouped, and defined 

 as Rhabdotis semipunctata, a pretty insect with a bright 

 green upper surface marked with white lines and spots, 

 causes much injury to the blossoms of apple and plum 

 trees, and later on to ripening peaches and figs. In some 

 parts it is so plentiful that the only peaches and figs saved 

 were those tied up in muslin bags. Miss Ormerod suggests 



that the only measures against this insect are to catch the 

 beetles in nets when flying in the sunshine, as is done in 

 England, and destroying their grubs at the roots of trees 

 and plants. 



Among other Coleoptera figured are the Mylabris- 

 oculata, a large, handsome black beetle, with red or 

 yellow bands, of the family Cantharidcc, possessing the 

 same vesicating properties, and sadly troublesome to peas 

 and beans and fruit blossoms. Also a Bruchus, an un- 

 known species, but which Miss Ormerod conjectures may 

 be subarmatus, Gyllenhal. " Of the British Bruchi this 

 species is most nearly allied to Bruchus loii.^' From Miss 

 Ormerod's careful account of its larva, it does not much 

 differ from that of Bruchus pisi. 



This species of Bruchus infests peas and beans just in 

 the same manner as the British BrucJius rufimanus. 



" Its attack is seriously hurtful. In two of the beans 

 figured above, I found four holes showing where the 

 beetles had escaped ; in another seven beetles had been 

 present, and in another I found five beetles, or coloured 

 chrysalids, still within. Mr. Bairstow reported that this 

 pest when in larval condition reduces the interior of the 

 seed to a fine powder, and passes into a pupa, sometimes 

 in its powdery bed, which disappears almost immediately 

 on the emergence of the perfect insect." 



Miss Ormerod gives an elaborate account of the modes 

 of attack of this Bruchus, which do not much differ from 

 those of its British congener. Also, it is recommended 

 that infested beans should be steeped in a solution of 

 Calvert's carbolic acid, so diluted as not to damage the 

 seed. 



Among the destructive Lepidoptera, butterflies and 

 moths, in South Africa, the large handsome Papilia 

 deinoleus, or orange butterfly, figures prominently. The 

 larvae of this insect eat the leaves of orange trees, appear- 

 ing "generally at the end of November, or beginning of 

 December, and in greater numbers on trees whose lower 

 branches are allowed to trail on the ground. It is advis- 

 able to cut all branches one foot above the ground, to 

 turn as often as possible the soil within a circle of one 

 foot from the trunk, keeping it moist, and to watch for 

 the grubs, which are large, and of a yellowish-green colour, 

 during the summer season." 



The caterpillars of a moth, Trilocha ficicola, belonging 

 to the BoinbycidcB, cause much damage to fig trees by 

 eating their leaves and nascent buds. For this attack, 

 hand-picking is advised, and turning over the soil beneath 

 the trees where the cocoons may be. 



The " diamond-back " moth {Plutella cruciferarujn), so 

 well known in Britain, is a source of much trouble to Cape 

 cabbage-growers, for which Miss Ormerod prescribes 

 nitrate of soda applications to push on the growth of the 

 plants, and sweeping the infested plants with boughs fixed 

 to a scufifler. 



To fruit-growers, the orange fly " Trypeta" {Cetatitls 

 citripei'dd) is a bitter enemy. " In some districts last year," 

 Mr. Hellier writes, '' Albany amongst the rest, four-fifths 

 of our peaches, apricots, figs, and plums were uneatable." 

 The fly deposits some half-a-dozen eggs in a fruit when 

 it is getting ripe. From these maggots come, and soon 

 render the fruit useless. Concerning its life-history. Miss 

 Ormerod quotes Prof. Westwood's remarks, from which 



