- H - 
feed. Since graeshoppere vere able to surrtTe longer on an ezclaelye 
diet of castor-'bean plants than without food, the poisonous principle 
in the plants had very little, if any, effect on the insects. There- 
fore, these plants could not be regarded as having any direct value 
in the control of grasshoppers or in preventing them from injuring 
crops,— Spain ( ^5) • 
It was thought that the conflicting reports on the toxicity of 
castor-bean foliage to grasshoppers might be due to differences ex- 
hibited by different varieties of the plant. The following 11 var- 
ieties of Ricimie coamunis were tested on nyxophs and adults of Melan- 
oplus differential is (Thos.): africanus . bourboniensis . Brazi?.ian, 
cambodgensis , coBuaunls . Duchess of Idinbur^, £lbsoni, panomitanus . 
Eed Spire, sanguineus , and Zanzibar ensie . Individual nyinphs were caged 
on the leaves and the amount eaten was noted daily. With zanzibarensie 
8 days and with Red Spire 37 days were required to obtain 50 percent 
kill. The other varieties showed intermediate periods. Soiie of the 
nyophs that stirvived transformed to adults on the foliage. The amount 
of foliage eaten by the nymphs and adults that died was barely suffi- 
cient to sustain life, so that the factor of starvation could not be 
eliminated. There can be no doubt that castor-bean foliage contains a 
toxin, for a number of nyaiphs that fed on the foliage were paralyzed 
in the legs, althoo.^ some so affected continued to live for days. The 
foliage of no variety tested, however, was found to be sufficiently 
toxic to be satisfactory as a practical insecticide. — ^Harteell and 
Wilcoxon (26, p, 138), 
Beetles,— Twenty- four acres of tea bushes were interpleuated with 
castor-bean plants to test the value of the latter as trap plants to 
help control the tee shot-hole borer ( jtyleborue fornicatus Eichh,) 
in Ceylon, This method of controlling these beetles was apparently 
effective, provided the infested castor-bean branches were systemat- 
ically remdved.— Jepson (30) , 
Castor-bean plants gro%m near sugarcane in Puerto Rico will 
attract many weevils,— Wolcott ( ^2) . 
Pests of the avocado in Puerto Rico include the weevil Diaprepes 
abbreviatus (L.), which attacks the leaves and is only repelled by 
arsenical iprajt, but may be attracted by a trap crop of castor-bean 
plants. — Gonzlb.e8 R£os and Mayoral Reinat (22). 
In northern Caucaeas larvae of Pedinus feme rails (1.) that were 
fed on seedlings of castor-beans survived, — [Stepantzev] (J^S). 
Castor-bean plants grown near sugar beets in Rumania were attacked 
by ( Cleonue ) Bothynoderee ponctiventris (Germ.). All the beetles 
feeding upon the cotyledenous leaves died, 10 to 15 being found dead 
daily around each plant. — Orinberg ( 2U) • 
