♀ ♂. Black; head (including palpi), all legs (including the coxae, but excluding the feet which are strongly darkened), tegulae, and certain portions of the basal joint of the scape, pale red testaceous; the lateral membranous portions of the 1st and 2nd tergites, and the basal ventrites, very pale red testaceous; the plate of the 1st tergite only weakly coloured, and of the 2nd not much more strongly so, both probably more rightly describable as pale red testaceous also; 3rd tergite (except laterally and right across apex) also weakly coloured; the flagellum, and certain portions of the scape, brown; wing-veins and stigma brown, and the setae of the wings coloured; apical third of stigma commonly appearing to be to some extent hyaline.

The apple buprestid, Agrilus mali Matsumura, that was widespread in north-eastern China, was accidently introduced to the wild apple forest ecosystem in mountainous areas of Xinjiang, China. This invasive beetle feeds on domesticated apples and many species of Malus and presents a serious threat to ancestral apple germplasm sources and apple production worldwide. Estimating the potential area at risk of colonization by A. mali is crucial for instigating appropriate preventative management strategies, especially under global warming. We developed a CLIMEX model of A. mali to project this pest's potential distribution under current and future climatic scenarios in 2100 using CSIRO-Mk 3.0 GCM running the SRES A1B emissions scenario. Under current climate, A. mali could potentially invade neighbouring central Asia and eventually the mid-latitude temperate zone, and some subtropical areas and Pampas Steppe in the Southern Hemisphere. This potential distribution encompasses wild apples species, the ancestral germplasm for domesticated apples. With global warming, the potential distribution shifts to higher latitudes, with the potential range expanding slightly, though the overall suitability could decline in both hemispheres. In 2100, the length of the growing season of this pest in the mid-latitude temperature zone could increase by 1–2 weeks, with higher growth rates in most sites compared with current climate in mid-latitudes, at least in China. Our work highlights the need for strategies to prevent the spread of this pest, managing the threats to wild apples in Tian Shan Mountain forests in Central Asia, and commercial apple production globally. We discuss practical management tactics to reduce the spread of this pest and mitigate its impacts.

The term “Bush Locust” is defined.

The synonymy and known distribution of Phymateus aegrotus are given and previously published records of its occurrence are reviewed.

The occurrence of hopper-bands, and of adults, in East Africa for the years 1938–47, inclusive, is outlined.

P. aegrotus and other species of the genus are normally unimportant economically as adults, but the hoppers form bands after the manner of, though on a much smaller scale than, true locusts. Outbreaks of these hopper-bands appear to be sporadic but they are sometimes destructive to crops.

P. aegrotus has usually been of only local importance as an agricultural pest but areas in which the crops have been damaged are noted. Among wild host-plants there appears to be a preference for Euphorbiaceae although the hoppers are more or less polyphagous.

Other East African species which form hopper-bands and which are known to attack crops are mentioned.

The life-history of P. aegrotus is described so far as it is known, and observations made by Dr. H. B. N. Hynes on the closely related species, P. pulcherrimus, in Ethiopia are also recorded.

Reflex actions in Phymateus species, including such phenomena as autohaemorrhage and colour display by the adults when alarmed, are noted and the literature on the subject is reviewed.

Observations are made on hopper behaviour and band-size of P. aegrotus. The latter is usually only a square yard or two in extent but bands up to 25 square yards in area have been observed by the author and there are reports of even larger ones. These bands are very dense both when marching and when stationary (60–80 finalinstar hoppers per square foot). Notes on areas of infestation are also given.

In most cases it is sufficient to beat out the bands with branches. Poison bait and dusting with 7 per cent, di-nitro-ortho-cresol are also successful.

Detailed descriptions of the coloration of final-instar hoppers of P. aegrotus and the other East African Phymateus species discussed are given. Keys for the identification of these hoppers and of the adults of the four species, P. aegrotus (Gerst.), P. pulcherrimus I. Bol., P. viridipes Stål and P. purpurascens Karsch (for all of which standardised English names are proposed), are also included.

Treatment of rice fields in Sri Lanka with monocrotophos at 10 mg/litre or pirimiphos-methyl at 0·1 mg/litre gave a selective advantage to larvae of Anopheles subpictus Grassi and A. nigerrimus Giles carrying the oxidase- and acetylcholinesterase-based resistance genes, respectively. However, this selective advantage was apparent for less than ten days after spraying. There was no mortality of any larval instar with monocrotophos 12 days after spraying, and no fourth-instar larval mortality with pirimiphos-methyl 17 days after spraying. The chemical degredation curves for these compounds indicated that this short duration of efficacy was due to the instability of the compounds in water under field conditions. In contrast, the new growth regulator S-31183 (2-[1-methy1-2-(4-phenoxyphenoxy)ethoxy]pyridine) sprayed at 0·1 mg/litre conferred no selective advantage to larvae with either resistance mechanism and had a total efficacy period of at least 71 days. This difference can be attributed to the greater toxicity of the growth regulator and its slower chemical degradation under field conditions when compared to the organophosphates.

All the species of scale-insects described in this paper were found at Peradeniya, Ceylon.

The two new species described below were included in collections sent to the Imperial Bureau of Entomology by Dr. P. A. Buxton, of the London School of Tropical Medicine, having been obtained in Kashmir by Major Stevenson in 1926, and again in 1927. The same collections contain examples of a third species of Simulium which appears indistinguishable from the European S. equinum (L.) Edw. Examples of this species had previously been obtained in Kashmir by Mr. F. J. Mitchell.

As a basis for further work on the biology of termites, the need for which is now being generally recognized in view of the importance of this group of insects as pests in all tropical countries, the present list of the termites of Tanganyika Territory has been prepared. It incorporates the results so far obtained from the examination of a collection made by the writer during the past three years in a number of widely separated localities in Tanganyika, with the records given by Sjöstedt (1926). Previous records have been mainly from the Kilimanjaro-Usambara area in the extreme north-east of the Territory.

The occurrence of the African ichneumonine Ctenochares bicolorus (L.) in Australia and New Zealand as a parasite of the crop pest Chrysodeixis chalcites (Esp.)/C. eriosoma (Dbd.) is reported. The advent of the species to Australasia is discussed in relation to the known distribution and host associations of the genus.

An investigation into the possible development of insecticide resistance in Glossina was carried out by comparing the susceptibility to topical applications of endosulfan and dieldrin between two populations of G. pallidipes Austen in Kenya, one from the Lambwe Valley, where there has been a long history of spraying operations, and the other from Nkruman which has never been sprayed. Dosage-mortality regression lines and LD50 and LD95 data showed that wild-caught, non-teneral males and females from Lambwe were significantly more tolerant of both insecticides than their counterparts from Nkruman, with the exception of males treated with dieldrin. The differences were insufficiently great, however, to be incontestable evidence for the development of resistance in the Lambwe strain, although there were no other obvious sources of variability between strains adequate to account for the differences in susceptibility.

Two new genera and species of Phycitinae found with Hypsipyla robusta (Moore) attacking Meliaceae in Nigeria are described. The three genera and species are differentiated, and the genus Hypsipyla is briefly reviewed. Illustrations of the wing venation and wing pattern of the adult male and of the genitalia of both sexes are given for the two species described as new, Catopyla dysorphnaea and Gyroptera robertsi, and also for H. robusta.

In laboratory experiments with Dysdercus fasciatus Sign, systematic testing of the stylets with a sucrose solution and distilled water has shown that the receptors mediating the salivary response to sucrose are located either on the maxillary stylets or at some site internal to them. Electronmicroscopical examination showed that the maxillary stylets were not innervated, and histological evidence further suggested the epipharyngeal organ as the site of gustatory discrimination. Dendrites located in the mandibular sclerites by means of the electron microscope could possibly have a proprioceptor function.

The writer took over the Shinyanga fly-rounds in November 1934 from Mr. W. H. Potts, Senior Entomologist, under whose charge they had been since June 1932. The Maswa fly-rounds were not taken over until April 1935, when some of them had been in progress for a few months.

The Shinyanga area, its climate, topography, game and vegetation, have been described by Mr. H. M. Lloyd (1935), by Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton (1923 and 1936), and by Mr. W. H. Potts in an hitherto unpublished paper, and no further general account is necessary. Table I gives in summarised form a synopsis of the seasons. The Maswa fly-belt lies to the east of the Shinyanga belt, separated from it by the Sukuma Cultivation Steppe, and was, until recently, part of the main G. swynnertoni belt that stretches from the bottom of the Serengeti Plains to Arusha and Moshi. As the result of reclamation measures carried out by the Tsetse Research Department during recent years, this belt has been severed from the main fly-belt, and the south-eastern section of this severed portion has again been cut off from the remainder by clearings. In this small isolated block of some 150 square miles an experiment in the exclusion of grass fires as a control measure against the tsetse was initiated in 1934, and fly-rounds were started in that area in order that a control might be kept on the progress of the experiment. Owing to administrative difficulties the experiment had to be discontinued in mid-1935, but the writer decided to continue the fly-rounds and to increase them by two additional rounds in the hopes of producing information, complementary and supplementary, to that from the Shinyanga rounds. The results of the fly-rounds from these two areas appear to throw light upon the vegetational preferences of G. swynnertoni and form the subject of this paper.

In order to determine the method of entry of a contact insecticide such as pyrethrum into the body of an insect, studies were undertaken which showed that:—

(a) The rapid penetration of the insecticide into the body cannot be effected through the cuticle.

(b) When a mosquito has been sprayed with a mixture of pyrethrum extract and oleic acid, the deposition of fat globules around the tracheal trunks is a characteristic feature; this suggests that rapid diffusion of the insecticide takes place through the tracheal wall.

(c) Experiments on flies with their spiracles closed indicate that the absorption of pyrethrum, either in the liquid and powdered states, was very slow. This fact indicates that normally pyrethrum enters the body through the spiracle.

Research on the control of maggot-fly on sheep has in the past been seriously handicapped by the uncertainty of natural incidence of strike ; many experiments have been rendered invalid by the failure of the controls to react, the absence of controls, or by reason of the fact that the incidence of strike was so low as to make differences between comparative groups of no significance. For these reasons much of the published evidence does not bear critical examination.

There are now available, however, critical methods for the estimation of the protective value of dips and sprays, and it is essential, if further progress in maggot-fly control is to be made, that use be made of these methods for the accurate assessment of the larvicidal and repellent properties of experimental dressings, and for the duration of effect of these properties. A continuation of the present tendency to general statements that such and such substances were found to protect sheep for so long, without specification of what precisely the sheep were being protected against, and especially when unaccompanied by detailed protocols which will.allow the reader to exercise an independent judgment of the reliability of the results, will only lead to further discordance in a subject already suffering from a lack of uniformity in the standards of different workers, and the absence, even, of any precise definition of much of the technical jargon associated with it.

In the first part of this paper the nature and potentialities of the three possible functions of a maggot-fly dip or spray have been outlined, and the appropriate terms defined. It has been pointed out that field tests, for which it is difficult and sometimes impossible to furnish logically acceptable control data, are unreliable and may be definitely misleading ; at best they still leave the investigator uncertain as to which function of the dressing is responsible for the protection conferred, and consequently handicapped in his efforts to improve still further the protective value of the preparation under test.

In dealing with the maggot-fly problem, two principal lines of attack are possible ; the fly may be prevented from laying its eggs, or alternatively, the fleece may be so impregnated with toxic chemicals that the eggs, or any larvae which succeed in hatching from these, are killed. If a completely reliable repellent were available, no larvicide would be necessary ; conversely, if a thoroughly effective larvicide were available, a repellent would be not only unnecessary but also undesirable, for the more eggs which the flies could be induced to lay on sheep the better.

A third possible line of attack is the use of an antiseptic, which neutralises the bacterial activity in the fleece, and so ends the attraction of the sheep for the gravid female fly. Since, however, such neutralisation is so easily overcome by accidental fouling of the fleece, scouring or other cause, it is obviously unsafe to rely on this negative virtue alone for immunity from attack. The overcoming of the antiseptic property is the chief reason why carbolic dips, which rely on their antiseptic value, tend to have no effect, or even to have a harmful effect, after the dipping solution begins to get fouled by urine and faecal matter. With larvicidal dips, this fouling is of much less consequence, for the active protection conferred by the toxic chemicals prevents the blows which result from any such fortuitous “ attractivation ” from developing to strike.

With regard to the two principal lines of attack mentioned above, it may be stated here that prolonged and thorough tests have failed so far to reveal any substance possessing a reliable repellent action, which remains completely reliable for more than a few days. In all the commonly used repellents tested, the protection was found to be uncertain and seldom of a high degree, It appears, therefore, that we have yet to find the ideal repellent, and until such time it is obviously safer to rely on larvicidal protection.

It is equally obvious that, to ensure thorough penetration of the larvicide, it must be applied by actual immersion of the sheep. Spraying, though the ideal method for applying a repellent, cannot be regarded as suitable in the case of a larvicide, since it coats only the outer part of the wool staple with the spray fluid, and does not thoroughly saturate the fleece down to the skin surface.

With regard to the experimental evidence given in detail in the present paper, the results may be held to suggest the following conclusions:—

1. Carbolic dips neither repel the adult fly nor prevent larvae from establishing active strike on the skin.

2. Cresylic acid, incorporated in a mineral oil base, is not effective as a spray or as a dip in protecting susceptible sheep or preventing development of strike from blow.

3. Arsenic remains in the fleece, and continues to exercise a protective effect against development of strike for some weeks after application. This protection may be only partial (Table III) or almost complete (Table II, IV and VII) ; under winter conditions it lasts for about four weeks, and in the case of one form of soluble arsenic at least, it has been shown to be only slightly affected by heavy rain.

Twenty-one collections of larvae and pupae from Bromeliads, growing in trees or on the ground, were made in São Salvador, the capital of the State of Bahia, Brazil. Four species of Microculex and one Sabethine were bred out. Of these, one new species and certain new forms are described. The new species is called Culex (Microculex) davisi in honour of Dr. Nelson C. Davis, at whose suggestion this study was first undertaken. Since no Aëdes (Stegomyia) aegypti were found, it would appear that Bromeliad breeding is probably of no importance from the standpoint of a yellow fever control campaign in this region.

Chemical insecticides have been widely used to control insect pests, leading to the selection of resistant populations. To date, several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have already been associated with insecticide resistance, causing reduced sensitivity to many classes of products. Monitoring and detection of target-site resistance is currently one of the most important factors for insect pest management strategies. Several methods are available for this purpose: automated and high-throughput techniques (i.e. TaqMan or pyrosequencing) are very costly; cheaper alternatives (i.e. RFLP or PASA–PCRs) are time-consuming and limited by the necessity of a final visualization step. This work presents a new approach (QSGG, Qualitative Sybr Green Genotyping) which combines the specificity of PASA–PCR with the rapidity of real-time PCR analysis. The specific real-time detection of Cq values of wild-type or mutant alleles (amplified used allele-specific primers) allows the calculation of ΔCqW–M values and the consequent identification of the genotypes of unknown samples, on the basis of ranges previously defined with reference clones. The methodology is applied here to characterize mutations described in Myzus persicae and Musca domestica and we demonstrate it represents a valid, rapid and cost-effective technique that can be adopted for monitoring target-site resistance in field populations of these and other insect species.

The following observations were made during eighteen days spent at Tokar in October and November, 1912. Only a limited amount of time could be given to the work of searching for the breeding places of sandflies, but it is thought that possibly these very brief notes may be of some interest to those engaged in similar research elsewhere.

The town of Tokar is situated about eighteen miles from the port of Trinkitat on the Red Sea and some fifty-eight miles south-east of Suakin. It is the centre of a cotton-growing area comprising between 30,000 and 40,000 acres watered by the flood-river (or khor) Baraka. This khor comes down in flood during the months of July and August and spreads over the plain. As soon as the land is dry enough it is cleaned and almost the whole of it sown to cotton. A few heavy rainstorms usually occur during the months of October, November and December, and cotton picking extends from the latter month till May. The soil is alluvial, and on drying cracks vertically to a depth of several feet, and also horizontally, forming shale-like plates of varying thicknesses. There are scarcely any trees and only a moderate number of low bushes.

Parental environments could play an important role in controlling insect outbreaks, provided they influence changes in physiological, developmental or behavioural life-history traits related to fluctuations in population density. However, the potential implication of parental influence in density-related changes in life-history traits remains unclear in many insects that exhibit fluctuating population dynamics, particularly locusts. In this study, we report a laboratory experiment, which enabled us to characterize the life-history trait modifications induced by parental crowding of female individuals from a frequently outbreaking population of Locusta migratoria (Linnaeus) (Orthoptera: Acrididae). We found that a rearing history of crowding led to reduced female oviposition times and increased offspring size but did not affect the developmental time, survival, fecundity, and the sex-ratio and the number of offspring. Because all studied females were raised in a common environment (isolation conditions), these observed reproductive differences are due to trans-generational effects induced by density. We discuss the ecological and evolutionary implications of the observed density-dependent parental effects on the life-history of L. migratoria.

The three species of the genus Mus mentioned above follow in the wake of civilised man and may be looked upon as more or less domestic animals. Moreover, when they appear in any new locality, they seem to possess the power of eliminating the previously established native species of rats and mice, and they thus obtain for themselves a wider field and the opportunity for a rapid permanent increase in number of individuals. Of the three, Mus rattus alone habitually infests ships, but by accidental transference in vessels from port to port all three have become distributed throughout the world. Australia is especially rich in peculiar local species of rats, abundantly distinct from, but to some extent resembling, Mus rattus. This circumstance renders it not improbable that on occasion animals from Australia may have been incorrectly identified with that cosmopolitan species.