1907.] 



Insect, Fungous and other Pests. 



219 



in orchards they do not appear to be of any help as agents in 

 pollination. 



Fever Fly. — From Slough the Board received specimens of 

 the pupae of the so-called Fever Fly, Dilophus febrilis. The 

 flies vary in colour according to sex, the males being black and 

 hairy, while the abdomen of the female is brown. There are 

 two broods in the year, the summer brood issuing in June. 

 Great swarms of the flies are common. The grubs live in 

 the soil and have been reported as injurious to the roots of 

 grasses and hops. They have been found in numbers, however, 

 in horse and other manure, and as the family Bibionidre, to 

 which Dilophus belongs, is a family of scavengers, probably 

 the real habit of the Dilophus grubs is to act in the same way. 

 They could thus easily be conveyed to gardens in manure. 

 If the grubs are known to be doing any harm they may be 

 destroyed by injecting carbon bisulphide into the soil. 



Mites. — Enlarged buds of nut trees sent from Welwyn were 

 found to be infested with the Nut Bud Mite, Eriophyes avellaena. 

 The operations of this mite are very similar to those of the 

 Black Currant Gall Mite (E. ribis), and the treatment adopted 

 should be the spray recommended for that pest in Leaflet No. 1. 



Mites, &c, on Rhubarb. — Specimens of rhubarb forwarded 

 from Leeds were infested by three distinct creatures, one of 

 these being a mite belonging to the family Trombidiidce, and.,, 

 according to Mr. Albert B. Michael, our greatest authority on 

 mites, probably to the genus Ereynetes. The family Trom- 

 bidiidcB is, to a great extent, a predatory one. One section 

 does affect plants, but the majority are not plant feeders but 

 are carnivorous in diet and predaceous in habit. Mr. Michael 

 believes that in the case quoted the mites were not injuring 

 the rhubarb but were preying on small animal life in the soil. 



Eelworms and Enchytraeid Worms. — In connection with the 

 foregoing paragraph it will be convenient here to deal with the 

 two remaining animals found in the rhubarb. In the rotting 

 tissue eelworms were numerous. These pests are described 

 in Leaflet No. 46, but, in the case under consideration, the 

 i remedial measure advised below for the Enchytraeid worms 

 would probably render any further treatment against the 

 eelworms unnecessary. 



The third species of creature present was an Enchytraeid 



