In the autumn of 1928 Dr. J. Schwetz forwarded to the writer, from Stanleyville, a small collection of blood-sucking Diptera, the majority of which had been obtained by him in the region of the Lower Lomami River. The material sent included specimens of four species of Glossina, the determination of three of which (G. palpalis, Rob.-Desv., G. fusca, Walk., and G. tabaniformis, Westw.) presented no difficulty. The fourth species, however, which had evidently attracted the special attention of the sender, since specimens of it were received labelled “ ? G. pallicera,” proves to be new and is accordingly described below. Dr. Schwetz, who is already well known by reason of entomological investigations in Belgian Congo extending over a long series of years, is to be congratulated upon a discovery which brings the number of recognised species of Glossina up to twenty.

The beetle, Lema melanopa, is a serious pest of cereal crops in certain areas of Europe and is becoming increasingly common on cereals in Britain. A survey of the literature indicates that the life-history differs in various localities, and no previous account has been given of the life-history in this country.

The life-cycle in Britain is briefly as follows. The adult beetles emerge from hibernation in April, mate and commence to oviposit towards the end of May. Oviposition continues for nearly two months, and adults commence to emerge early in July and continue to do so until September. There is no indication that a second brood occurs, although the climate would permit of one.

The adults feed freely after emergence, but largely on grasses, prior to hibernating in November. In the spring they feed almost exclusively on the leaves of young cereals. The larvae feed principally on cereals. Adults tend to be gregarious and are very long-lived, numbers living over a second winter.

Two larval parasites occur in Britain and further information concerning these is being obtained. Of all larvae collected in the field 25 per cent. were found to be parasitised.

The loss of crop sustained as a result of attack by this pest amounts on the Continent, in extreme cases, to as much as 50 per cent. of the total. Control measures consist of cultural methods, spraying and dusting. Certain of these might be adapted for use in this country with reasonable hope of success.

The following report has been drawn up mainly from collections received through the Imperial Bureau of Entomology from Messrs. C. French and G. F. Hill. I have also included some records resulting from an examination of collections made by Dr. F. R. Rodway and Mr. R. Kelly, while E. E. Green, who has always been very ready to render every assistance, very kindly turned over to me for description several species which he had under manuscript names. Figures of previously described species have been added where considered necessary ; those given by Maskell are often, it must be confessed, misleading, while those used by Froggatt in his Catalogue are illustrations mainly of the external appearance, and, though excellent in their way, are not altogether satsifactory for the critical determination of species. Leonardi in his Monograph of the genus Lepidosaphes was content, where he gave an illustration at all, with one of the pygidial fringe, but there are other characters to be found in the pygidium, and for a full appreciation and understanding of these, this area requires to be figured in entirety. The whole of the Australian Coccid fauna, so distinctive in many respects, requires to be re-examined and fresh descriptions, based on morphological characters, drawn up. Of the numerous genera erected by MacGillivray I have accepted only one in the present paper ; as he based his genera on descriptions only, I prefer to express no opinion on the standing of the others he erected until I have examined a more extensive series of species.

In the February number (1928) of this Journal, a most interesting and valuable paper was published by Mr. F. D. Golding, Government Entomologist of Nigeria, on the bionomics of cotton-stainers (Dysdercus). In a footnote on page 319 of this paper it was suggested on my authority that three of the seven species mentioned by him as occurring in Nigeria were probably wrongly identified, since no representatives of these three species were present in the Nigerian material in the British Museum. Since then I have been able to examine Mr. Golding's collection and can state definitely that the specimens of Dysdercus nigrofasciatus, Stål, and D. migratorius, Dist., taken in Nigeria, were correctly identified. D. intermedius, Dist., however, does not, so far as is known, Occur in Nigeria. To the species mentioned by Golding as occurring in that country must be added D. antennatus, Dist., which however is probably generically distinct from typical Dysdercus species.

The following notes are written in the hope of supplementing what has been already published on the life-history of the Fig-tree Moth. In particular, the length of duration of the separate larval instars does not seem to have been given before. The observations began with the finding, on 27th May 1928, of caterpillars and eggs on fig-trees at Karradah, on the left bank of the Tigris below Baghdad. They were continued mainly in the entomological laboratory of the Agricultural Institute at Rustam, a few miles away, and were perforce discontinued after 21st June, as I had then to leave Baghdad on a tour of inspection and, shortly after my return, I fell ill.

C. B. Williams has shown that at the time of the first picking, i.e., about the second week of September, the extent of attack by Platyedra gossypiella averaged 75 per cent. of the bolls during the years 1916 to 1924, and that at the end of September the percentage had risen to 90–95. He also showed that there is a definite correlation between the date of maturity of the crop and the development of the attack.

Citrus trees in Egypt suffer very severely from the attacks of scale-insects, especially the black scale, Chrysomphalus aonidum, which, when unchecked in its ravages, renders the cultivation of this crop impossible.

The usual method of control is by fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas, which is conducted on a large scale by officers of the Ministry of Agriculture.

1. 138 larvae of Anopheles, Finlaya and Orthopodomyia, collected from three tree-holes described in Part I, were dissected and their contents examined.

2. Small algae, a few animals, bacteria and considerable quantities of rotting vegetation were found in them.

3. The algal and animal food seems to be insufficient for the anabolic processes of the larvae.

4. It is possible that bacteria may play some part in their nutrition, especially of Orthopodomyia.

5. It is also suggested that the larvae are able to utilise any food constituents present in the vegetable debris.

I wish to thank Dr. P. A. Buxton for the interest he has shown during the progress of this work, and Professor F. E. Fritsch for help in identification of the algal species.

Descriptions are given of the larvae and pupae of Uranotaenia nigripes, Theo., Hodgesia sanguinis, Theo., H. malayi, Leic. (larva only), Aëdes (Banksinella) punctocostalis, Theo., A. (Aëdimorphus) abnormalis, Theo., A. (A.) tarsalis, Newst., and Ficalbia malfeyti, Newst.

H. sanguinis is remarkable chiefly for the structure of the respiratory trumpets of the pupa, each of which is cleft almost to the base in the form of two leaflets.

Brachyurothrips hargreavesi is of interest as the material has enabled me to characterise clearly the genus Brachyurothrips ; Zeugmatothripoides is a new genus related to the recently described neotropical Hystrichothripid genus Zeugmatothrips ; and Hoplandrothrips coffeae is a new coffee thrips causing curled-leaf galls.

I am further able to show that Dolichothrips varipes is in no sense related to Neoheegeria indica, though treated by Karny as a synonym of that species, and to characterise more clearly Gigantothrips gracilis and elegans.

I am indebted to Dr. G. A. K. Marshall, F.R.S., of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology, and to the Authorities of the British Museum of Natural History for the bulk of this material, types of which are deposited in the British Museum collections.

In India the economic rôle played by insects of the order Thysanoptera, popularly known as “ thrips,” has not become so conspicuous as in some other parts of the world. The different kinds of thrips affecting specific crops such as wheat, oats, tobacco, fruits, onions, cacao and hot-house plants, in Europe, America, the West Indies and many tropical areas, are insects of established notoriety, and some of them cause severe and extensive damage to valuable crops from time to time ; but so far no species of Thysanoptera has as yet gained such prominence in India. Neither Lefroy in his book on “ Indian Insect Pests ” (1904), nor Fletcher in his publication on “ South Indian Insects ” (1914), has recorded any insect of this group as a definite pest among the numerous forms listed as injurious. In his other and more voluminous text-book, “ Indian Insect Life ” (1909), however, Lefroy, in the course of a brief chapter devoted to Thysanoptera, just refers to the three Indian species which were the only ones recorded till then, viz. : Idolothrips halidayi and Phloeothrips anacardii, described by Newman in 1856, and Panchaetothrips indicus, described by Bagnall in 1912 ; and only one of these, the last, had any economic importance, having been noted on turmeric in Madras.

At the request of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology I have had pleasure in studying the forms described below. In the alcoholic material examined some adult forms were accompanied by larvae ; I am thus afforded another opportunity of publishing further notes on the anatomy of Chrysomelid larvae. The drawings are by Mr. A. J. E. Terzi.

The most favourable areas for the cultivation of grape-vines in Ukraine are the sands of the lower reaches of the Dnieper in the district of Kherson, the shore of the Black Sea, the Kherson-Odessa districts, and along the Sea of Asov, chiefly in the district of Mariupol. Moreover, as is well known, vines do not suffer from Phylloxera when grown on pure sand. For these reasons, numerous State Departments, and also many private individuals, have spent a great deal of money in utilising this enormous extent of shifting sands for growing grapes.

The unexpected appearance of the larvae of various Scarabaeid beetles, especially Polyphylla fullo, L. (fig. 1), has been a great obstacle to the successful exploitation of these barren spaces. The larvae in the soil generally average about 10–12 to the square metre, and they often completely destroy the newly planted vines in one summer. Many enterprising persons have thus been ruined in their endeavours to form vineyards on the sands. It was stated officially in pre-war times that these pioneers had spent over £2,000,000 sterling without any result.

There are in the Sudan three species of migratory locusts : Anacridium moestum melanorhodon, Walk., or the tree locust, Locusta migratoria, L., and Schistocerca gregaria, Forsk., sometimes termed the desert locust. Of these the last-named is the plague locust of the country—the other two species being relatively unimportant—and is the species referred to as the “ locust ” throughout this paper.

From 1899 till 1917 swarms of locusts occurred annually, but then followed a period of ten years during which the Sudan suffered no damage from this pest. In 1927 and again in the succeeding year the locust reappeared as a plague, and there is little doubt but that it is to be expected year by year over an extended period and until the cycle either naturally terminates or is artificially brought to an end. The swarms of fliers appear from May onwards and oviposit in July and August when and where in the arid regions sufficient rain has fallen, the resulting generation of adults emigrating in October. A certain amount of breeding takes place during the winter on the Red Sea littoral, where winter rains occur, but this district is relatively small and easily dealt with ; the main problem is how to prevent breeding during the summer rainy season throughout the vast areas of the central and northern Sudan.

Eulimneria stellenboschensis, Cam.

Limnerium stellenboschense, Cameron, Trans. S. Afr. Phil. Soc., xv, 1904, p. 200.

♀♂. Black ; mandibles (except at apices), palpi, the four anterior coxae (except basally), trochanters and trochantins of the four anterior legs, the hind trochantins, tibial spurs of the four posterior legs, tegulae, costal veins at base, white or nearly so ; basal three-fourths of the hind tibiae (except for a darkish area above in basal fourth), very pale reddish testaceous, approaching white ; the bases of the four anterior coxae, the femora and the tibiae and tarsi of the four anterior legs, the hind tarsal joints basally, pale red tetaceous ; hind femora (except at apex above, which is blackish), 1st tergite above at extreme apex, 2nd tergite in apical fourth and to some extent laterally, 3rd tergite in the greater part (except discally at base), succeeding tergites at least at apex, red or red testaceous ; hind trochanters red, darkened above ; flagellum varying from white to red testaceous below, and from red testaceous to black above ; wings slightly infumated ; stigma and wing veins dark brown (except possibly towards the base of the wing), the stigma with a testaceous cloud basally.