1910.] Notes on Insect and Fungus Pests. 299 



Soil that has produced a diseased crop should be treated 

 with gas-lime or with superphosphate of lime. 



The Pear Leaf Blister Mite, to which attention was drawn 

 in the issue of the Journal for June, 1909, has been notified 

 to the Board from several districts. 

 Notes on Insect, owner at Hunstanton referred to in 



Fungus and other , . , , , 



Pests number has recorded the reappear- 



ance of the pest in spite of all pre- 

 cautions, and the affected tree is to be destroyed. Fortunately, 

 the other trees in the garden have not been attacked. 

 On the other hand, the trees reported last year at Harpenden 

 are said to have been cured by the remedies adopted, viz., 

 washing with caustic soda, lime, and sulphur, and picking 

 the diseased leaves. Cases were also recorded from Hythe, 

 and Cumbrae in Scotland. In no case was the pest present 

 on many trees. 



Last year a correspondent from Worthing reported an 

 attack on his apple-trees by a tiny green caterpillar, which 

 turned brown later in the season. It had also occurred the 

 year before. The moths in July, 1909, were flying "in 

 thousands " about the trees. The caterpillar proved to be 

 Melanthia bicolorata or rubiginata, one of the Geometridas. 

 It feeds on many plants, but has never been recorded as doing 

 so much damage as was described. This year the pest has 

 reappeared, but the drastic remedy adopted last year, viz., 

 that of cutting down the trees, has prevented the attack from 

 being serious. In this, as in many other cases brought to 

 the notice of the Board, the caterpillar of the moth Tortrix 

 heparana was present, apparently doing considerable damage. 



Frit-fly was recorded in Bicester, Oxon, on June 20th. 

 The oats were sown after mangolds last year. Wheat Bulb- 

 fly was reported from March, in the Isle of Ely. According 

 to the writer, "it seems to be worst after a bad crop of 

 potatoes or mangolds." Several cases of attack of Mangold- 

 fly (Leaflet No. 5) have been reported from Beverley, and 

 Brough, in East Yorkshire, among others. In some cases the 

 damage is reported as extensive. The Board are also informed 

 that there have been many complaints from South-East Lan- 

 cashire as to the damage done by the same fly. In the same 

 district the caterpillars of the Common Ghost Swift Moth 



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