62 HOPS. 



them slowly through the fire or immersing in water for a few 

 days will infallibly kill the inhabitants ; and brushing the 

 poles over with tar is highly efficacious, if somewhat labori- 

 ous. 



2. Otiorhynchus Ligustici, the heart wort or lovage weevil 

 or " glutton," is of less frequent occurrence. It bores holes in 

 the stems and also gnaws the young, shoots, but no great 

 damage from this source has yet been recorded. If the 

 weevil is noticed about in large numbers it can be easily 

 got rid of by spreading sheets and shaking the bine.^ 



Beneficial Insects on Hops. 



The natural enemies of the pests attacking the hop con- 

 stitute so many natural protectors of the plant. ' Special 

 mention of these beneficial insects is necessary, because the 

 hop-grower is apt to regard as injurious, and destroy, any 

 member of the insect tribe present in the hop garden, without 

 thinking of the existence of any evincing a friendly disposi- 

 tion and affording assistance in the destruction of the real 

 foes of the plant. Therefore, to remove misapprehension of 

 this kind, some of the useful insects will now be described. 



1. Aphides are destroyed in large numbers by the larva 

 of the golden-eye, Chrysopa vulgaris, on which the name of 

 " Blattlauslowe " (aphis hon) has been appropriately be- 

 stowed. 



This fly hibernates in sheltered spots, and in the spring 

 lays its eggs like a string of pearls on the surface of the leaves. 

 The green larvae have three pairs of legs, and strong man- 

 dibles by means of which they catch the aphides, the latter 



1 Translator's Note, — Miss E. A. Ormerod, in her fifteentli report on In- 

 jurijOus Insects, 1892, p. 53, and also in the sixteenth report, 1893, p. 74, 

 mentions damage done by the " strig maggot," believed to be a species of 

 Oeoidomyia, which bores in the strig or spike of the hop cone. 



