ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FOE 18(34. 125 



were rotting where they stood ; falling over, decaying, and dis- 

 appearing, "leaving not a wreck behind." One farmer, whose 

 apparently fine crop I was admiring, told me that fully one half 

 of them were so much decayed as to be perfectly worthless, and 

 the other portion lacked their usual solidity. 



"Wheat, barley, and oats, were very generally infested with the 

 Siphonophora cerealis, Kalt., (Koch, 1. c. 186, figs. 255, 256, 

 Aphis Avence, Fabr., Curtis, 1. c. 499,) which in its wingless 

 stages varies veiy much in colour, being green, brown, red, yel- 

 low, or nearly white. These were found in great numbers upon 

 the ears of the different species of grain, comfortably located 

 between the grains, out of which they were pumping the vital 

 fluid. In some places they were so numerous, as to interfere 

 with the reaping of the grain. One field of oats was shown me 

 by the farmer, which was so much infested, as seriously to im- 

 pede the delivery of the reaping machine — the delivering board 

 becoming so clammy with the squashed myriads, that it had to 

 be stopped at short intervals and cleansed. On examining the 

 grain little apparent damage could be seen, but no doubt there 

 would be a percentage less yield per acre ; besides which, the 

 chaff and portions of the straw were blackened and clammy 

 with the excrement of the Aphides, which would no doubt render 

 them unpalatable to cattle, in itself no small drawback in a season 

 of drought, when all kinds of forage are scarce and dear. The 

 same Aphis was found on various species of grass, on which I 

 believe they are generally found, only migrating to other plants 

 when opportunity offers. The stunted second growth of red 

 clover was rendered still more stunted by swarms of another 

 Aphis, (the Siphonophora pisi, Kalt., Koch, 1. c. 190, figs. 261, 

 262 ; Aphis Vicice, Curtis, 1. c. 493,) a variously coloured species, 

 and one which feeds npon a great number of plants. This Aphis 

 was so abundant in September amongst clover, that a five minutes' 

 sweep of an insect net would take it by thousands. 



Beans perhaps suffered more than any other plant from the 

 presence of the black species, so generally known as the ' ' Cholera 

 fly," '[Aphis Fabce, Sapoli, Curtis, 1. c. 357, and 428, plate 0, 

 figs. 1, 2 ;] and from its presence alone the crop of beans was 



