NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



Insect Pests of the Household. By R. D. Whitmarsh {U.S.A. 

 Exp. Stn., Ohio, Bull. 253, December 1912 ; i pL, 45 figs.). — Detailed 

 accounts are given of many domestic insect pests, the most 

 important being the house or typhoid fly. This fly is known to carry 

 the germs of typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera, and dysentery, and may 

 possibly carry also smallpox, leprosy, plague, and other dangerous 

 diseases. It is estimated that 95 per cent, of the house flies come 

 from horse manure, and that one pound of this substance is capable 

 of producing 1,200 flies. — V. G. J. 



Irises of the Reticulata Group. By W. R. Dykes {Card, 

 Chron. Feb. 28, 1914, pp. 143-4 ; 3 figs.). — Points out distinctions 

 in modes of increase which separate histrio and histrioides from 

 reticulata forms. Classification and geographical facts are chiefly 

 dealt Wiih.—E. A. B. 



Irrigated Soils, Evaporation from. By Samuel Fortier and 

 S. H. Beckett [U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bull. 248, April 1912).— A dis- 

 cussion on the effects of surface and deep irrigation on the evaporation 

 of water from the soils. The authors suggest that an irrigation depth 

 of 6 to 9 inches will be found the most satisfactory, as giving the best 

 crop results with the least loss. — C. P. C. 



Irrigation, Water. By J. A. Widsoe and L. A. Merrill {U.S.A. 

 Exp. Stn., Ohio, Bull. 115 to 120 inclusive, 1912). The authors have 

 in the above bulletins throughly discussed the various phases of 

 irrigation. — C. P. C. 



Jonathan Spot Rot. By M. T. Cook and G. W. Martin {Phyto- 

 pathology, iii. p. 119, April 1913). — The authors appear to con- 

 sider this trouble of apples, characterized by dry, shallow masses of 

 brown or black tissue around the lenticels, slightly sunken, and about 

 I cm. in diam., to be produced by a species of AUernaria. * Jonathan ' 

 seem.s to be the most usually affected, but ' Nero,' ' Smokehouse,' 

 and ' Newtown Pippin ' are also attacked. (See Fruit Spot " above.) 



F. J. C. 



Kniphofia carinata {Bot. Mag. tab. 8545). — South Africa. 

 Herb, perennial. Leaves 2J feet long, i inch wide. Scape, with 

 raceme 6 inches long, dense-flowered. Perianth clear yellow. — G. H. 



Lady Beetles of Connecticut, Some Common. By W. E. 

 Britton {U.S.A. Exp. Stn., Conn., Bull. 181, Jan. 1914, Entom. 

 Series 19 ; 24 fi^gs.). — These beetles are of great benefit to plant-growers 

 because they feed in both larval and adult stages on many noxious 

 pests, especially aphides and scale insects. 



Dr. A.. S. Forbes examined the stomach contents of thirty-nine 

 specimens, and found that though they ate some vegetable food, such 

 as pollen and the spores of fungi, a greater portion of their food consisted 

 of insects, principally aphides. — V. G. F. 



