Reports to various Correspondents . 117 
the squares are forming freely : — One gallon cane or sorghum 
molasses ; 1 oz. arsenic (90 per cent.) boiled in one gallon oi water 
until dissolved ; 6 ozs. of arsenate of lead dissolved in a gallon ol 
water ; 47 gallons of water, and mix well . 
The times to spray are as follows : — Once before the squares are 
formed upon trap rows with No. 1 solution ; then the main crop, 
first with No. 1 solution ; then every week up to midsummer with 
No. 2 solution ; later once in every two weeks is sufficient. 
Spraying and trapping combined will probably soon check the 
ravages of this pest. 
Cockchafers ( Lachnosterna ) damaging Mulberry 
Trees in China. 
Some beetles sent by Mr. F. W. Slynan to Mr. C. E. Fagan 
reported as damaging the mulberry trees in the silk district, Shanghai, 
proved to be one of the family of Cockchafers (Melolonthidse) and 
belong to the genus Lachnosterna. The species cannot be identified 
at the Museum. It is probably a new species. Most likely the 
larvae feed upon the roots of trees, shrubs, etc., just as do those of 
the Cockchafer found elsewhere. 
The leaflet (No. 25) on Cockchafers issued by the Board of 
Agriculture was sent to Mr. Slynan, as the methods of collecting 
the beetles would be the same in China as in this country. 
The Melon Bug. 
(Aspongopus viduatus , Fabr.) 
Some bugs ( Aspongopus viduatus , Fabricius), attacking melons, 
etc., at Khartoum, have been sent from Dr. Balfour, Director of the 
Wellcome Laboratories, Khartoum.* 
This is a very variable hemipteron, and is found all over Africa, 
and in the island of Sokotra, according to Mr. Distant, but Kirkaldy 
says (“ Natural History, Sokotra,” p. 389) that the Sokotran Aspongo- 
pus is A. assar, Kirkaldy. 
Another species, A. nubilis, Burm., attacks melons in Bechuana- 
land and Orange Liver Colony. 
The remedy is shaking off the bugs into pans of paraffin or tar 
early in the year, when they first make their appearance. The 
females (gravid) that have wintered are then destroyed, and so the 
hosts of young that they give rise to are prevented from appearing. 
* This bug is also recorded as spoiling the leaves of batikle and gaun at Luxor. 
