922 



Notes on Insect and Fungus Pests. [eeb., 



regularly set and regularly visited, though when the pest is 

 well established this will prove very tedious. The ants that 

 forage for food are the workers of the colony, and when they 

 are destroyed the young will not be fed, and would eventually 

 perish; the queen, however, continues to lay great numbers 

 of eggs, from which, through larval and pupal stages, new 

 workers continue to be produced. It is advisable, therefore,, 

 to search for the nest, which may be below flooring, or in 

 walls, or in the neighbourhood of a boiler or heating 

 apparatus. If the nest can be reached, boiling water should 

 be poured over it ; or an ounce of bisulphide of carbon may 

 be poured into it. The hole should at once be covered over. 

 As the bisulphide fumes are very poisonous to breathe and 

 are highly inflammable, this substance should only be used 

 exceptionally and with the utmost caution. All fires and 

 lights must be extinguished before it is used. The cases 

 reported to the Board occurred in Aberdeenshire. 



House Beetle. — A report was also received from Hudders- 

 field of a beetle which had recently appeared in the basement 

 of a new house, and which had become a nuisance. On 

 investigation, it proved to be Quedius mesomelinus, one of 

 the Staphylinidas, a species widely distributed in Great 

 Britain, and found in the open on rubbish heaps and the 

 refuse of hay stacks, as well as in cellars. The beetles are 

 found in damp places, and as both they and their larvae are 

 predaceous and carnivorous, they could probably be trapped 

 by baits of meat. 



The Flour Mite. — Another pest that was found to be 

 present in a building was the mite Aleurobius farince, a most 

 common and world-wide trouble. The mites are known to 

 infest museums, where they destroy the specimens, and to 

 live on all kinds of grain and hay, flour, cheese or hides. In 

 the case reported to the Board, the pest was found in Cheshire 

 in the premises of a manufacturer of feeding stuffs, who made 

 several observations on the creature. He found that it fed on 

 wheat, barley and oats, but would not attack beans, or maize 

 except in a fermented state. He also stated that the mites 

 had a strong "minty" odour, which rendered the feeding 

 stuffs in which they swarmed objectionable. This odour was 

 said to be given off rapidly on the application of heat, say 



