I am indebted to Dr. Guy A. K. Marshall for a small but important collection of Tachinid flies from the Federated Malay States, mostly parasites of insects of agricultural importance.

The following paper deals with a collection of Thysanoptera from various tropical countries, but especially Africa, received by the author from the Imperial Bureau of Entomology for determination. As most of the species before me are from new localities or from new food-plants, I have thought it desirable to give the data not only for the new species, but for all the others also.

The cultivation of citrus trees in Palestine is by no means modern, for as far back as the tenth century A.D. the Arabs discovered the “ bitter orange ” in Northern India, and it was, in all probabllity, brought into this country shortly afterwards. Jacques de Vitry, who made a visit to Palestine in the 13th century, mentions several varieties of citrus.

If the destruction of the breeding-places of Aëdes argenteus (aegypti, fasciata) is carried out too completely, it is known that some of the females lay their eggs in abnormal places in which they would never oviposit if their peace of mind had not been very greatly disturbed. Carter has advocated placing pots of water on verandahs in order that the female mosquitos may follow their sexual instincts without perversion ; at the same time no breeding takes place, as the pots are emptied, dried and refilled once a week. A drawback to this method is that it must be done by a careful, methodical person or the pots may become breeding-places and larvae will adhere to the bottom of the pot and survive.

This insect has been referred to in various publications of our Department under the name of Monophlebus stebbingi var. octocaudatus, Gr. It occurs every year at Pusa on many fruit trees, but is especially bad on peach, plum, mango, and jak (Artocarpus integrifolia, Linn.).

♀. Very slender, strongly resembling an Atractomorpha in general appearance.

Antennae basally somewhat dilated and slightly compressed, about half as long again as the head. Head conical, as long as pronotum. Face very strongly oblique, obsoletely punctured and with irregular subobliterate longitudinal rugosities. Frontal ridge between antennae raised, below ocellum very low, with the sulcus distinct throughout, widened at the fastigium ; margins very obtuse. Eyes strongly elongate. Fastigium of vertex (fig. 4) about as long as an eye, and about half as long again as the basal width ; its sides, seen from above, distinctly concave ; surface convex, with a faint trace of the median carinula in the hind part, the carinula being better developed on the occiput.

In spite of the notable economic importance of the scale-insects and in spite of their extraordinary biological interest, all of which has generated a very considerable activity in their study, it cannot be said that the systematics of the group are in anything that even approaches a satisfactory condition.

In a previous paper, “ On the use of experimental plots when studying forest insects ” (Bull. Ent. Res. x, pt. 2, Jan. 1920), the author emphasised the necessity of using every effort in order to obtain accurate records of the degree of infestation and amount of injury of forest trees. During recent years the author has developed a method of recording and graphically illustrating the part played by different insects in killing a tree. This method having yielded very good results, he proposes here to bring it to the notice of other entomologists, especially those interested in forest insects.

For some years past, when using insecticide dusts on a small scale, we have employed a very simple, improvised apparatus as a distributor, which has given such satisfactory results that we venture to describe it.

Human experience in the past has often been crystallized into homely saws, of which the one that states that “ Prevention is better than cure ” should be regarded as one of the foundation stones of all work in economic entomology. We see this put into practice in such routine measures as the destruction of mosquito and fly larvae, ploughing fields in the dry weather to destroy grasshopper egg-masses, the destruction of weeds and stubble, the collection of egg-masses, caterpillars and hoppers, the enforced removal of cotton-plants after harvest, legislation against the introduction of pests into new countries, and similar measures which are so familiar that they need not be enlarged on here. Such measures are directed to and, if applied consistently, are largely effective in keeping within bounds insects which, if not thus checked, normally attain to destructive numbers, and by “ normally ” I mean that on the average they occur in such numbers every year, or for a series of years. There are, of course, fluctuations, due to natural causes, in the pest-status of many insects, which may be insignificant in normal years and occasionally rank as bad pests, or vice versa ; of such causes we know as yet very little, beyond the pious ascription of them to the effects of parasitic control or climate. But, after eliminating these fluctuations, we still often find our expectations upset by outbreaks for which it is very difficult to invoke any adequate explanation other than that they are the effect of a large influx into the area affected of the insect concerned. Such a theory may appear far-fetched at first sight, especially as it is very difficult of proof in most cases, but we find in India an accumulation of cases for which such an explanation seems the only one possible.

The following new species was reared from the eggs of a Pentatomid bug, Tectocoris lineola, F. (banksi, Don.), which attacks cotton. It occurred in company with Hadronotus nigricornis, Dodd, and was more abundant than that species.