1907.] Insect, Fungous and Other Pests. 



161 



appear to have occurred in oats in swarms. These little beetles 

 lay their eggs in grain — oats, wheat, &c. — and the grubs from the 

 eggs feed inside the grain. The adult beetles also feed on the 

 grain. The beetles can breed even under dry conditions and 

 may live and lay eggs for many months. Granary weevils may 

 be destroyed by fumigating with bisulphide of carbon. Small 

 lots of infested corn should be placed in an air-tight receptacle, 

 and saucers containing the bisulphide should be placed on the top. 

 The receptacle should then be closed for forty-eight hours, when 

 the beetles and grubs will be found to be suffocated. If a granary 

 is infested it should be made as air-tight as possible and sub- 

 mitted to the fumes of bisulphide of carbon for forty-eight hours, 

 after which it should be well ventilated by windows and doors 

 for an hour or two before entry. One to 2 lbs. of bisulphide of 

 carbon would be sufficient to fumigate a hundred bushels of 

 grain, and 1 lb. would fumigate 1,000 cubic feet of space, 

 s The striped pea weevil (Sitones lineatus), which is described 

 in Leaflet No. 19, has also been received from Bishop's Waltham. 

 In one case where peas were so destroyed by this insect 

 that they had to be sown three times over, the owner found 

 that where fine soil was spread over the rows the peas were 

 spared. The idea underlying this treatment is that the beetles 

 shelter in coarse lumpy soil, and that the fine soil covering the 

 rows deprived the beetles of shelter places. 



Species of Otiorhynchus weevils (see Leaflet No. 2) were also 

 found devouring maidenhair ferns in a greenhouse at Beckenham., 

 In conservatories and greenhouses the following procedure has 

 proved useful : — Well-tarred wooden boards should be placed on 

 the ground under the plants at nightfall, and after it has become 

 dark the plants should be shaken or their stems tapped ; the 

 feeding weevils fall on to the tarred boards and may then be 

 destroyed. Another method is to place here and there among 

 the attacked plants loosely twisted bands of hay. These are 

 used by the beetles as shelter places, and may be removed in the 

 morning and the sheltering beetles collected and destroyed. 



Caterpillars on Vines. — The caterpillars of a moth (Xylina 

 rhinoliihd) common all over the country, were sent by one corre- 

 spondent from Montrose, who stated that they were feeding on 

 vines. To get rid of this pest the vines should be shaken, and 

 the caterpillars, which fall off, collected and destroyed. Unless 



(l620) L 



