Oct.  I,  1895.J 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
277 
PARASITE  AGAINST  PAR/\SITE. 
WHAT  LADYBIRD  BEETLKS  ARE  DOING. 
During  recent  ye.vs  many  workcr.-j  have  been  study- 
ing to  good  purpose,  so  far  as  the  agriculturist  is  con- 
cerned, the  often  curious  relationship  of  one  insect 
10  another,  or  perhaps  of  a plant  to  an  insect.  How- 
ever small  it  may  he,  every  animal  is  sure  to  have 
some  particular  plant  or  other  animal  especially 
suited  to  prey  upon  it  if  it  once  gets  the  opportuniW. 
We  have  before  noticed  how  the  common  house  fly 
is  attacked  by  a fungus.  In  the  same  way  otlur 
insects  are  liable  to  serve  as  hosts  for  different  kinds 
of  fungi  or  moulds,  and  as  these  insects  are  some- 
times very  injurious  to  fruit  trees  and  crops,  advan- 
tage is  now  taken  of  the  fact  in  just  the  same  way 
in  which  Pasteur  proposed  to  take  advantage  of  the 
liability  of  rabbits  to  disease. 
More  has  been  done  in  this  way  in  America  than 
in  Australia,  and  the  results  have  been  in'  some 
cases  wonderfully  successful.  In  Kansas,  for  ex- 
ample, the  well-known  chinch  bug  had  become  a 
great  pest  when  the  idea  occurred  to  the  state  en- 
tomologist, Mr.  F.  H.  Snow,  of  fighting  it  by  means 
of  one  of  its  plant  enemies,  a fungus.  Taking  one 
of  the  chinch  bugs  affected  with  fungus  he  confined 
along  with  it  numbers  of  other  healthy  ones.  These 
became  affected,  and  when  released  in  the  fields 
carried  the  infection  far  and  wide,  and  by  this 
means  the  insect  xsest  was  kept  under  control.  From 
Kansas  the  disease  has  been  introduced  into  several 
other  states. 
In  this  distance  wo  have  a plant  parasitic  upon  an 
animal  which  is  itself  a parasite.  In  other  cases  only 
animals  are  concerned. 
Mr.  Tryon,  in  Brisbane,  has  pointed  out  how  the 
Moreton  Bay  fig  tree  is  attacked  by  a small  insect 
like  a little  jumping  cicada,  the  life  history  of  wdiich 
is  as  follows.  The  insect  lays  its  eggs  upon  the 
under  surface  of  the  leaf  ; the  eggs  are  enclosed  in 
strong  leathery  cases,  out  of  which  in  course  of  time 
emerge  little  grub-like  creatures.  These  soon  begin 
to  form  a case  which  encloses  them,  and  under  the 
shelter  of  which  they  can  bore  their  way  into  the 
soft  tissues  of  the  leaf.  It  is  not  easy  to  kill  either 
the  insects  or  the  larval  grub,  as  the  former  are  very 
active  and  the  latter  only  exposed  for  a very  short 
time,  while  the  eggs-cases  are  too  thick  to  be  pene- 
trated by  such  fluids  as  kerosene  emulsion.  There 
is,  however,  another  insect  allied  to  the  bee  whose 
mission  in  life  appears  to  be  that  of  searching  out 
the  young  grubs,  and  by  means  of  a sharp  pointed 
tube  at  the  end  of  its  body  introducing  its  eggs 
right  into  the  grub.  The  result  is  that  the  eggs 
grow  at  the  expense  of  and  finally  kill  the  grub, 
so  that  here  w'e  see  first  an  insect  living  as  a para- 
site on  the  tree  and  then  another  insect  living  as  a 
parasite  on  the  first. 
Still  more  interesting  has  been  the  discovery  by 
Mr.  Tryon  of  a special  form  of  insect-eating  in- 
sect. Though  this  particular  insect  and  its  habits 
were  described  in  Australia  by  Mr.  Tryon  it  is  really 
better  known  in  America  than  with  us,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  Governments  of  the  various  states  are 
far  more  alive  to  the  economic  importance  of  spend- 
ing money  in  studying  and  experimenting  upon  such 
matters  than  we  are. 
There  are  numerous  little  insects  which  from  their 
appearance  are  known  as  scale  insects,  and  which  do 
BO  much  damage  to  trees,  such  as  the  orange  and 
lemon,  that  if  left  unchecked  the  trees  ai'e  often 
killed.  However,  fortunately  for  us,  a iiatural  check 
is  close  at  hand  ; the  little  ladybird  beetle,  both  in 
the  adult  and  grub  state,  devours  these  scale  insects 
by  the  thousand,  and  so  effectively  does  it  keep  down 
the  numbers  that  the  Agricultural  Department  of 
the  United  States  sent  across' an  officer  of  the  de- 
partment en  purpose  to  secure  the  ladybird  and  accli- 
matise it  amongst  the  orange  groves  of  California. 
It  is  somewhat  strange  to  realise  that  the  gi’owth  of 
oranges  in  California  may  be  largely  influenced  by 
the  application  of  knowledge  derived  by  Mr.  Trj'on 
from  the  study  of  the  life-history  of  so  insignificant 
a creature  as  a little  Australian  ladybird  beetle. — 
Auntralanian. 
THE  JAVA  COFFEE  CROP. 
According  to  a telegram  from  the  Governor-Gene- 
ral of  Netherlands-India,  dated  August  23,  the  Go- 
vernment's coffee  crop  in  Java  for  this  year  is  es- 
timated at  338,200  piculs.  It  is  said  that  there  will 
be  a deficit  of  3^  million  guilders  on  the  war  budget 
in  consequence  of  the  Lombok  expedition. — L.  £ C.  Ex- 
press,  Aug.  30. 
_ « 
TEA  PLANTING  IN  THE  CAUCASUS. 
A Reuter’s  telegram  from  St.  Petersburg  says  that 
a tea  planter  in  the  Caucasus  proposes  to  gather 
next  month  his  first  crop  of  tea.  Present  indications 
lead  him  to  hope  that  this  undertaking,  which  was 
an  experimental  one,  will  be  crowned  with  entire  suc- 
cess, in  which  case  the  area  of  cultivation  will  be  very 
largely  increased. — Morning  Post,  Aug.  27. 
GREAT  BRITAIN  AND  THE  NETHER- 
LANDS IN  THE  EAST. 
Particulars  of  the  arrangements  made  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  Netherlands  concerning  the 
boundaries  between  the  possessions  of  the  two  coun- 
tries in  New  Guinea  have  just  been  published.  The 
boundary  starts  from  the  southej^i  coast  of  the  island 
at  the  middle  of  the  moutli  of  the  Bensbaeh  River, 
situated  at  about  141°  1’  47‘i)''  of  east  longitude 
(meridian  of  Greenwich),  and  proceeds  to  the  north, 
following  the  meridian  which  passes  through  the 
mouth  referred  to  up  to  the  point  where  that  meri- 
dian meets  the  Fly  River.  From  that  point  the  Fly 
River  forms  the  boundary  up  to  the  141st.  degree  of 
east  longitude,  which  after  this  continues  the  boun- 
dary up  to  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  boundaries 
of  the  British,  Netherlands,  and  German  possessions. 
Navigation  on  the  Fly  River  is  free  for  the  subjects 
of  both  contracting  Powers,  excepting  as  regards  the 
carriage  of  warlike  stores. — European  Mail,  Aug.  28. 
BRITISH  EAST  AFRICA. 
Mr.  Alex.  Whyte,  in  a report  on  tlie  economic 
products  of  British  East  Africa,  makes  tire  fol- 
lowing rein.arks : — 
Tobacco  has  been  extensively  eultivated  by  the 
Messrs.  Buchanan  for  some  years,  both  at  Blantyre 
and  Zomba.  They  have  now  a large  local  sale  for 
their  cut  tobaccos  and  cigars,  which  are  excellent. 
They  have  also  obtained  remunerative  prices  for  their 
leaf  in  the  London  market,  much  of  which  is  avail- 
able for  “ wrappers.’’  Mr.  Robert  Buchanan,  of  this 
most  euterpi'ising  firm,  which  has  already  done  so 
much  to  develop  the  resources  of  Nyassaland,  is  now 
at  home,  and  is  busily  engaged  in  the  study  of  to- 
bacco manufacture,  and  selecting  coffee,  sugar,  and 
other  machinery.  There  is  unlimited  score  for  the 
cultivation  of  this  promising  product.  In  Ceylon  and 
many  other  British  possessions  this  industry  has 
made  no  headw'ay,  owing  to  the  expense  of  labour 
and  the  scarcity  of  suitable  land.  Here  the  one  is 
perhaps  the  cheapest  in  the  world,  and  the  other 
almost  boundless.  The  natives  have  grown  tobacco 
for  their  own  use  for  many  j'ears. 
CiNCUo.NA,  of  best  varieties,  had  a fair  trial  in  the 
Shire  Highlands,  and  did  well,  but,  from  the  ex- 
tremely low  price  to  which  bark  has  fallen,  it  has 
not  been  found  remunerative.  But  it  costs  little, 
need  not  be  harvested  until  remunerative  prices  are 
to  be  had,  and  the  older  the  trees  become  the  more 
enhanced  is  the  value  of  the  property. 
Tea  of  good  varieties,  Assm  and  China,  has  been 
introduced,  byt  is  not  as  yet  cultivated  to  any  ex- 
tent. It  grows  luxuriantly,  and  ought  to  do  well  in 
some  districts.  Our  long  dry  season  would  prevent 
its  flushing  so  freely  as  it  does  in  Ceylon  or  Assam, 
but  aga.inst  this  we  have  to  put  the  abnormally  low 
price  of  labour  at  from  '.)d.  to  Is.  per  lb.  I see  no 
reason  wdiy  it  should  not  become  a profitable  cultiva- 
tion. I shall  do  all  I can  to  introduce  seeds  and  plants 
of  the  very  best  teas  procurable. — A.  A-  C.  Express. 
