Mr. H. Hargreaves, Government Entomologist, Uganda, has sent me identified, larvae of several species of beetles. I now describe those which are of economic importance.

Among the diverse forms of insect life infesting stored agricultural products in South India those belonging to the Lepidoptera are by no means unimportant. Though no accurate estimates of the annual losses in value of grain, pulses, etc., due to their depredations are available in this country, it has to be admitted that the extent of the damage may occasionally be considerable. It is, therefore, unfortunate that these insects have not attracted sufficient attention at the hands of Economic Entomologists in this country; consequently very little information is available as to the exact identity of the species, their relative importance, or their life-histories. The present investigation was undertaken to make a detailed study of this problem in South India with a view to elucidating the points just raised.

A few years ago a paper appeared in this Bulletin (Buxton, 1931) describing methods of controlling and measuring humidity. Since that paper was written, we have evolved a number of improvements which tend to make the methods easier in practice, though none of them are novel in principle. It is now known that humidity has diverse and unpredictable effects on many insects. In experimental work it is advisable that humidity should always be measured and controlled even if it is not a factor in the experiment. Moreover, workers should state what method of measurement or control they have adopted.

In January 1932 the writer received for examination a sample of narcissus bulbs, variety Diadem. The bulbs, which had been grown in Abingdon, England, for a number of years, were submitted on account of their persistently unsatisfactory growth. It was found that they were heavily infested by a species of Tarsonemid mite, which was present in sufficient numbers to account adequately for the unhealthy condition of the bulbs. No record could be found relating to the occurrence of such an infestation actually in Europe; the condition was, however, already known in the U.S.A. Ewing4 in 1929 described a new Tarsonemid occurring in narcissus, which he named Tarsonemus approximatus, Banks, var. narcissi, Ewing. The mite was named from material obtained in narcissus bulbs from the Pacific coast, which bulbs it appears had been imported from Holland. Doucette2 in the same year, 1929, published a short account of the activities of the mite with which he had become familiar in both Philadelphia and California as early as 1925, in these cases also in bulbs of Dutch origin. No other reference to the mite could be found in literature, although it is perhaps hardly necessary to state that allied species are known to be highly injurious to plants, e.g., Tarsonemus tepidariorum on ferns (Cameron1), T. fragariae and T. pallidus on strawberry (Massee7), and T. essigi on blackberry, etc. (Essig3).

In the British Solomon Islands Protectorate Agricultural Gazette (1 no. 3, pp. 2–3, pl. i, July 1933) Mr. R. J. A. W. Lever has described and illustrated the life-history of a Coreid which is injurious to the inflorescence of the coconut palm. This species which had previously been provisionally referred to the genus Dasynus now proves on further investigation to be referable to the closely allied genus Amblypelta, and is herewith described.

The presence in Southern Nigeria of a well defined group of mosquitos whose breeding is confined to holes in trees has been known for some time, and Dalziel (1920) recorded a number of such species from Lagos.

Observations in the laboratory on the larva of Glossina tachinoides and G. submorsitans show that in both species it is slow in crawling and burrowing and often cannot burrow at all. It penetrates coarse sand more readily than fine, and fine sand than wood ash, and burrows easily in fine sand with pebbles. In nature it probably always burrows eventually, unless it is attacked by predators or parasites to which its behaviour renders it vulnerable.

Previous field work indicates that the depth to which the larvae burrow influences the effect of predators and parasites and sometimes of solar radiation on the puparia. Records of breeding-places suggest that larvae often crawl over hard soil to reach suitable places in which to burrow, and that unless the female fly, before depositing a larva, carefully selects such a place, the mortality due to other insects is probably high.

1. Collections of Cydia pomonella were made in France in 1928 and 1929–30.

2. The numbers of moths and parasites that emerged from the collections are given.

3. The biology and host-lists of the parasites are dealt with, and information on the larval anatomy is given.

4. Low percentages of parasitism of the larvae were found, and it is concluded that predacious birds, and the removal of larvae with the crop, must be important factors in the control of the Codling Moth in France.

For years the territory adjacent to the rivers on the floors of the Sacramento and northern San Joaquin valleys in California has been deluged each spring with hordes of fiercely biting “black gnats.” Certain areas locally known as “black alkali” locations seemed to form the foci from which these pests were blown by winds over wide areas, constituting such a pest in some seasons that agricultural field work was brought to a standstill and even town dwellers were driven indoors until nightfall. The bites are extremely irritating, causing nodular, inflamed swellings that itch persistently for several days or even weeks. In some individuals, particularly those inclined to be stout, the swellings caused by the bite become vesicular, rupture, and produce a moist open lesion that “weeps” a serous exudate for weeks, finally healing with a definite red scar. The insects insinuate themselves beneath the clothing and apparently prefer to bite at some point where their progress is impeded, such as around the hat band, at the belt line, or where the sleeves are closely rolled against the arms, and at the shoe tops. The usual repellents that are effective against mosquitos are of little use against these insects, the only casualties noted being the ones that were actually trapped or drowned in the oily applications used.

1. The shore of Lake Chad was suspected of being a reservation of both the Migratory Locust and the Red Lcoust. In 1931 a preliminary survey of the shore was made, as a result of which it was tentatively concluded that about one-half or less of the shore of British Chad may offer conditions suitable for the production of swarms of the Migratory Locust from the solitary phase. The Red Locust was present only in the southern half of the shore. A village named Kalkala, at the south-western corner of the Lake, was selected as the most suitable locality in which to carry out ecological research.

2. The ecology of the two species of locusts and of about 60 other species of ACRIDIDAE was studied at Kalkala during the first six months of 1933. A description is given of agricultural and climatic conditions in the Kalkala area and some notes on the hydrography of Lake Chad are included. The vegetation, soils, fauna and microclimates of the habitats frequented by ACRIDIDAE are described.

3. Collections of Acrididae were made each month in all the principal habitats. It was found that the Acridinae occurred principally in the wettest habitats and that this subfamily exhibited a small degree of ecological plasticity. The Oedipodinae consisted chiefly of geophilous species which were most abundant on bare soil in farm-land. The Pyrgomorphinae were most abundant in two non-gramineous habitats, but were not uncommon in Cynodon dactylon; one species was associated with Calotropis procera. The Catantopinae showed a greater degree of ecological plasticity than did any of the other subfamilies; the majority of the species encountered were most abundant in the drier habitats.

4. Bionomical notes are given for the majority of the species of Acrididae met with in 1931 and 1933 in the Chad area. Evidence was obtained that many species of Catantopinae have a prolonged imaginal diapause. Certain species of Acridinae and Catantopinae are characterised by an embryonic diapause during the hottest months of the year, and one species of Pyrgomorphinae has a nymphal diapause during the early part of the dry season.

5. The Red Locust frequents tall grass habitats from November to the end of April, the adults then gradually move to short grass and farm-land and begin to breed in late June. The imaginal diapause lasts from early October to late July. Biometrical examinations of adults and other data indicate that the Red Locust is in phase transiens (congregans). There is no evidence that swarms have left the Chad area. It seems probable that conditions in this area are unsuitable for the production of phase gregaria.

6. The solitary phase of the Migratory Locust was present in the survey area throughout the six months; it was never numerous and decreased steadily in numbers from January to June in spite of the fact that it was breeding from late February to June. The decrease in numbers is thought to have been due, chiefly, to the attacks of the Carmine Bee-eater and to bush fires.Phase transiens (dissocians) was found until mid-March; there is no doubt that most of the locusts present were derived from the survivors of hopper bands which had been baited or trenched in the autumn of 1932. Swarms arrived in late May and early June and repopulated the area. The principal habitats of the Migratory Locust were Cynodon dactylon, Brachiaria ramosa and Chloris gayana. The scarcity of this species in the southern half of Chad indicated that this area is unlikely to be a reservation; but research over a number of years is necessary to confirm this opinion.