39. Apanteles taeniaticornis, sp. n.

♀. Black; the four front legs (except their coxae), the basal third of the hind tibiae, red testaceous; hind femora red to red-black; basal ventrites and the lateral membranous margins of the 1st tergite pale reddish; palpi and hind tibial spurs white; the 9th to the 12th flagellar joints inclusive entirely cream-white; the apical half of the 8th, and the basal half of the 13th joint, rather pale; ovipositor red; stigma and wing veins dark brown; wings infumated.

The moth, Hieroxestis subcervinella, Wlk., has recently become a pest of economic importance to the banana cultivators in the Canary Islands.

Notes on the genus Hieroxestis and on the synonymy and distribution of the moth are included, and descriptions of the various stages of the insect are given. Details regarding the external morphology and chaetotaxy of the full-grown larva are enumerated, and setal maps showing the distribution of the setae have been added.

The pupa is described in detail, and sex characters are noted.

The economic importance of the pest is considered in its relation to its host-plants, while its method of attack and resulting injuries caused are discussed.

The insect is considered as apodemic in the Canary Islands, and no parasitic natural enemies were encountered.

During the latter half of the year 1926, the writer collected parasites from rodents and insectivores in Nigeria. From 1st August to 20th October collections were made in the wet forest near Lagos; 26th October to 2nd November and 10th to 20th November in the guinea grass savannah near Ibadan and Oyo; 3rd to 7th November in the heavy rain forest at Ife; and 28th November to 11th December about Kano on the border of the desert. The animals were usually captured in traps, but a few were shot. They were always placed at once in tight cloth bags or wire cages in order that their ectoparasites might not escape. A general account of the character of the country where collections were made has been given elsewhere (Pearse, Science Monthly, xxv, 1927, pp. 228–239). My thanks are due to the late Major Ingoldby, of the British Museum, and Dr. Karl Jordan, of the Tring Museum. The former identified all the mammals and the latter helped with the identification of several of the fleas.

Many parasitic Hymenoptera are already known to live on lac-insects, and they are of importance either as noxious insects by destroying the Coccid (Tachardia lacca (Kerr)), or as useful insects when parasiting the predators of lac. As a result of the studies of Cameron, Imms, Misra and Mahdihassan, something is already known about them, but the systematic position and the identity of many of the species are still uncertain.

The following Aphids were collected by Professor Guido Paoli, of Chiavari in Italian Somaliland and in Eritrea.

Aegerita webberi, Fawcett, is a very interesting parasitic fungus which has been recorded as attacking Aleyrodes citri in Florida, Aleyrodes and Aspidiotus in Ceylon, and an undetermined scale in New Zealand, and of which our knowledge has been recently summarised by Petch.* He notes that on the characters of the seal-brown sterile stromata it appeared probable that the forms from the three localities represented three species, but the sporodochia are identical in all, and they must therefore all be referred to A. webberi.

There are in Britain three species of gall midges the larvae of which may be found in pea-pods: the pea midge (Contarinia pisi, Winn.), which is the most common and is sometimes a pest; Lestodiplosis pisi, Barnes, a predator on the former; and Clinodiplosis pisicola, sp. n., an inquiline. The larvae are readily distinguishable both by their colour and by the structure of their anal extremities (fig. 1).

The foregoing observations and experimental work clearly indicate that the bulb mite, Rhizoglyphus echinopus, is not a primary pest of the narcissus. At the same time there is every indication that the mite does bring about the destruction of bulbs originally damaged by other organisms or by mechanical means, which would normally recover from their original injuries. Further, the mites can undoubtedly carry fungus spores from bulb to bulb. It is therefore very desirable that every effort should be made to reduce the mite population in bulb-growing areas to a minimum. This can be effected by careful attention to the points enumerated under the heading of control measures.

As Tirathaba rufivena, Walk., is proving to be one of the important minor pests of coconuts in the Federated Malay States, some attention has recently been paid to the parasites of this Pyralid moth.

During 1926 and subsequently in 1927 the writer's attention was called to the presence of a mite infesting apples in newly planted orchards around East Mailing, Kent.

Though our knowledge of this remarkable insect remains far from complete, fresh material, procured through Dr. C. F. C. Beeson, has enabled me to throw more light on its envelopment and to correct some misinterpretations in my earlier article (Bull. Ent. Res., xvii, p. 55, July 1926).

Until the end of 1926 it was not known that Pseudococcus gahani, Green, occurred in South Africa. That it had not been recognised before is perhaps due mainly to the fact that very frequently it is found in association with P. maritimus, Erhorn, and was thus regarded as a form of the latter species. It may be noted here that P. capensis, Brain (Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer., v, p. 182, 1912) is a synonym of P. maritimus, Erhorn, as previously recorded in “Farming in South Africa” (i, pt. 2, p. 64, May 1926).

1. The only biting fly of common occurrence in Mauritius is Stomoxys nigra.

2. The method of transmission of surra by Stomoxys nigra is direct, i.e., it occurs when flies take a meal on a surra-infected animal, with trypanosomes in the peripheral blood, and immediately afterwards feed on a healthy animal.

3. Trypanosomes are found active in the proboscis of Stomoxys from one to ten minutes after a meal, when the temperature of the room is between 25 and 27° C.

4. No active form of trypanosomes can be found in the gut, Malphigian tubes or salivary glands of the fly 24 hours or longer after a meal on an infected animal.

5. For successful transmission the interval between the feeding on the infected and on the healthy animal must not be more than ten minutes.

6. Trypanosomes in the gut of Stomoxys are active from one minute to one hour after a meal on a surra-infected animal.

7. Trypanosomes are partially disintegrated, the cytoplasm becoming more granular and the flagellum disappearing, 24 hours after an infected meal.

8. No developmental forms of trypanosomes have been found in the salivary glands, gut or Malphigian tubes of Stomoxys nigra 24 hours or more after an infected meal.

9. When trypanosomes could not be found in the peripheral blood of a surrainfected animal, transmission could not be effected.