330 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTTCTILTTTRAL SOCIETY. 



I placed the lai'Vfe in a tin box containing soil taken from the field. 

 This box I placed out in my garden at Hollow ay, covered in with cheese- 

 cloth, but otherwise exposed to all sorts of weather, sometimes, especially 

 during the present month of July, being flooded by torrential rains. 



From Lime to time since July 1909 I have examined the soil, each 

 time finding the larvae alive; in winter they went down deeper. 



It is a fact much to be regretted that here in Great Britain we have 

 no Bureau of Agriculture such as that of the United States of America, 

 where insect pests of all kinds are studied in their natural haunts by the 

 various members of the staff, all of whom are expert field naturalists. 

 Any farmer who finds a crop pest which is unknown to him can 

 send it up to the Bureau, feeling certain that he will receive information 

 at once; and, should the pest be a new one, one (or more) of the experts 

 is sent down to work out its life-history. Had such measures been 

 possible in the instance of the Tenby wheat pest the Board of Agri- 

 culture would have seen that the wheat and barley were at once burned, 

 and so prevented the myriads of flies which emerged in June and 

 after from coming to life. 



This neglect may result in a vast army of devastating insects which 

 may yet make their presence felt, for, unlike the Hessian Fly, the Tenby 

 wheat pest has now successfully passed through a very trying English 

 winter. 



The work of studying these insect pests ought not to be left to 

 those whose time is otherwise occupied, and who do it from an earnest 

 desire to obtain knowledge which may be of interest and scientific 

 value to their fellow-workers. 



