The first species to be dealt with was received from M. Prosper Bovien, of the Statens Plantepatologiske, Forsøg, Lyngby, in October 1927. It was reared from larvae and pupae found abundantly among seed of radish (Raphanus sativum) that had been in storage for months, and it was thought that the larvae were preying on the mites (Aleurobius, etc.) which attack the seed. In a later letter it was stated that some years previously the midges were observed emerging in January from seed in which there were no Aleurobius but numerous Cheyletus. The midge occurs at irregular intervals in seed from Denmark, as well as in seed from Germany.

The object of this paper is to place on record, with as much detail as possible, a scientific and official account of this year's locust invasion and also to describe methods of control which were found to be, or thought likely to prove, efficacious. Thus in future years reliable information may not be lacking with regard to these very important points. It should be added that the paucity of previous scientific records concerning locust invasions of Palestine during earlier periods has proved a not inconsiderable handicap from a number of different points of view.

“ The condor lays a couple of eggs and the ostrich a score, and yet in the same country the condor may be the more numerous of the two ; the Fulmar petrel lays but one egg, yet it is believed to be the most numerous bird in the world. One fly deposits hundreds of eggs, and another, like the hippobosca, a single one ; but this difference does not determine how many individuals of the two species can be supported in a district.”—Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species.

The only Dipterous parasites of tsetse-flies at present known belong to the family Bombyliidae, and to the genus Thyridanthrax, O. Sack., as enlarged by the late Professor Bezzi. Hitherto the species of this genus definitely stated in literature to be parasitic in the larval stage in Glossina pupae consisted solely of Th. (Villa) lloydi, Austen, and Th. (Anthrax) abruptus, Lw. In the following pages the number of species of which specimens have been bred from pupae of tsetse-flies is raised to seven, including three species which are described below for the first time. With one exception (Th. argentifrons, sp. n.), in which the holotype emerged from a pupa of Glossina tachinoides, Westw., while a paratype was bred from a pupa of G. morsitans, Westw., form submorsitans, Newst., these flies are not known to attack any species of Glossina other than G. morsitans. Whether it will ever prove possible to make practical use of parasites for the purpose of tsetse-fly control, is a question for the future. In this connection, however, it is perhaps of interest to note that, whereas six out of the seven species dealt with below occur either in Rhodesia, or in countries to the south-east or north-east of that territory, the seventh species (Th. argentifrons) has been met with in Northern Nigeria.

The following methods of technique, along with many others, applicable to entomological work have been used by the writer in the course of a number of years' experience. Since a considerable proportion of the methods does not appear to be generally known, it is thought that the present article may prove of value particularly to investigators located in parts of the Empire overseas.

In July, 1926, a severe outbreak of a Hemipterous pest was reported from the village of Kattuputhur, in the Trichinopoly District, which threatened the total destruction of the standing paddy crop, and the writer was deputed to visit the locality, investigate the pest and advise suitable control measures. The present paper has been prepared with the object of presenting the results of the investigation made and the remedial measures tried.

The village of Kattuputhur is situated about three miles from Kattalai Railway Station and a mile and a half from the Cauvery River. The affected area is roughly about ten miles long with an average breadth of a mile and a half, and includes numerous villages around Kattuputhur. It is adjoined by a canal from the River Cauvery, giving a never-failing and plentiful supply of water, so that the crops of the area are no longer dependent on the monsoon. As the soil is fertile, intensive cultivation is carried on within this tract, paddy being the principal crop.

A study of the genitalia of both sexes of the Queensland pink bollworm, Pectinophora scutigera, Holdaway, originally named from the immature stages, has confirmed the validity of the species. Details of a comparative study of the genitalia of this species and Pectinophora gossypiella, Saunders, are given and figured.

For a number of years reports have been received from the banana-growing districts of Central and northern South America of a large white grub occasionally discovered in extensive borings in the base of banana pseudostems. While in the Santa Marta region of Colombia, the writer readily succeeded in rearing the adult, which turned out to be the Castniid moth, Castniomera humboldti (Boisduval), and was able to devote a short time to the study of the insect, discovering not only that it is far more abundant than has been supposed, but also that its presence has a very serious effect on the production of bananas.

Since the opening of the British Mosquito Control Institute, in August 1925, the mosquito control of Hayling Island (initiated in August 1920) has been carried on as part of the research work of the Institute's laboratory.

This work involves the routine examination of the different water-places of the Island throughout the year by an inspector who brings to the laboratory all specimens of mosquito larvae, etc., thus collected. These specimens are identified, recorded in the daily register and finally utilized in various ways ; the larvae remaining in the water-places being subsequently destroyed by appropriate means. The inspector's working year is therefore made up of “ collecting days ” and “ anti-larval days ” ; the time devoted to these two departments of the work being approximately the same.

The first reference to the existence in Argentina of the parasite that is the subject of the present article appears to be that of Messrs. Rosenfeld & Barber, who, for lack of a more exact determination, referred to it as “ el parásito díptero ” or “ el díptero.” Some time after the appearance of their publication, these entomologists sent specimens to the late Dr. Frederick Knab, who determined them as Sarcophaga ochropyga, van der Wulp ; these specimens had been reared from Diatraea saccharalis, Fabr. (sugar-cane moth borer) at the Tucumán Agricultural Experiment Station, and were later incorporated in the collection of that institution under the “ accession number 47,” and bore labels indicating Dr. Knab's identification.

Ischnotrachelus theobromae, sp. n.

♀. Derm black, covered with dense pale green scaling, varying to dull coppery ; the head and legs normally coppery.

Head with the frons convex, raised much above the level of the eyes, and with a very shallow transverse impression on the vertex ; the eyes much less prominent than usual, as in I. viridipennis, Fst. Rostrum longer than broad, parallel-sided, and set with short stout erect setae ; the dorsum without distinct carinae, its lateral margins not angulated but rounded off, with a fine median stria in the basal half and a low carina at the apex ; the scrobes strongly curved downwards in the basal half and there adjoining the lower margin of the eye. Antennae with the scape somewhat compressed, strongly dilated from the middle to the apex, and with its dorsal edge markedly sinuate ; the funicle short and thick, widening distally, joint 1 longer than 2+3, 2−7 all transverse. Prothorax slightly longer than broad, gently rounded laterally, widest beyond the middle, and without any apical constriction ; the apex a little narrower than the base and dorsally with a dense fringe of recumbent scale-like setae, the postocular vibrissae obsolete ; the dorsum comparatively smooth, the sculpture being hidden by the scaling, with a mere trace of an abbreviated median stria near the base ; the setae very short and recumbent behind, becoming slightly longer and suberect anteriorly. Scutellum minute or obsolete. Elytra rather narrow, oblong-ovate, with a shallow transverse impression at the base so that the margin is slightly raised ; the striae and punctures almost entirely obliterated by the dense scaling ; the intervals each with a row of small subrecumbent setae ; the scales (like those on the prothorax) irregularly rounded and each with a shallow central puncture. Legs with a sharp tooth on all the femora ; the anterior pairs of tibiae strongly denticulate, the hind pair with much smaller teeth.

Ipobracon peronatus, Cam.

Iphiaulax peronatus, Cameron, Biol. Cent.-Amer., Hym., i, 1887, p. 337.

Trinidad : 3 ♀♀, 25.xi.1928, 5.xii.l928, 21.ii.1929 (J. G. Myers).

Host. Dr. Myers considers this parasite to be associated with the Cerambycid beetle, Stirastoma depressum, L., infesting cacao logs.

These specimens agree absolutely with the type (which is in the British Museum) with the possible exception that they appear to have the 2nd cubital cell relatively somewhat longer ; this difference, however, is so minute that it is a character upon which I am not prepared to describe a new species.

Ipobracon peronatus is easily separable from the two other recorded Braconine parasites of Stirastoma, as follows : From Cyanopterus depressi, Vier., by the thorax and legs, the colour of which in this latter species is black throughout ; and from Cyanopterus steirastomae, Vier., by the nature of the 2nd tergite, which from Viereck's description would appear to be fine and smooth.

The Sudan dura (millet) bug, Agonoscelis versicolor, F., a member of the family Pentatomidae, Hemiptera Heteroptera (Rhynchota), is an important pest of millet. Its depredations vary from year to year, depending chiefly upon the rainy season, but every few years it causes serious losses of millet (Sorghum vulġare and Sorghum sp.), which is the main food crop of the Northern Sudan.

This bug is widely distributed in Africa, but so far as the writer is aware, it is only in the Sudan that it occurs as a serious pest of grain, or, indeed, as a serious pest at all. In view of this, and the little work that has been done upon it, it was felt advisable, when a severe outbreak took place in 1927, not only to concentrate upon the control but also to effect as complete a study as possible of the bionomics and essential morphology of the bug.

Upon completion of the work it was found better to publish the results as two separate papers : (1) A Sudan Government Entomological Bulletin, giving an account of the bug as a pest in the Sudan, the control measures carried out, the bionomics and parasites ; and (2) a paper for publication in a scientific journal giving the results of the morphological studies, and their relation and application to the bionomics of the insect. The present paper is the result of the latter study.

The map of South America shows Peru as a rather long, narrow country, broadening at the north, and presumably tropical in climate judging by its position just south of the Equator, but with high mountains close to the coast. But it does not show the cold ocean current coming from the south—the Humboldt Current—or ar least we are not accustomed to noticing such presumably minor features, even though in the case of Peru, this is equal in importance with the mountains in determining the climate of the country and every factor that the climate may affect.

The material on which the following notes are based was submitted to me for study by the Imperial Bureau of Entomology. It is necessary to describe two new genera and three new species. The material contains two larvae, on which remarks have also been made.

The drawings were made by Mr. D. E. Kimmins.

Imms & Chatterjee in their classical study of the lac insect say : “ In the newly hatched larvae the sexes are indistinguishable by any external characters and it is not until after metamorphosis has set in that the separation into sexes becomes evident. We have examined a large number of the newly hatched larvae of Tachardia lacca and other Coccids and have been unable at this stage to find any external manifestation of the sexes.” There is not a word separating the first from the second sentence of the above statement, yet Negi, in his recent contribution on the lac insect, who also quotes Imms' & Chatterjee's first sentence, erroneously credits the second part of their statement to me. Further, in my paper on lac insects there is a photographic reproduction (Pl. ix, fig. 26) of two larvae of different sexes which are only four days old. Again, figs. 17 and 18, on Plate vi, are male and female larvae, which have been only 24 hours on the tree and are for all purposes identical with crawling larvae.

Ever since forest entomologists began to inquire into the interrelation between the action of the forester and the prevalence of noxious insects, the pine weevil (Hylobius abietis) has been quoted as a classical example of what unfortunate results large clean cuttings and planting on and in the vicinity of the cut-over areas may produce. This is due to the fact that the females oviposit under the bark of the stumps, where the larvae make their long tunnels far down into the roots of the trees and that large clean cuttings offer them greatly increased facilities of ovipositing in suitable places. At the same time the great number of young pine—or spruce-plants—offer the emerging weevils plenty of tender and nourishing food. The same thing happens if in the vicinity of a successful plantation an area is cut over ; the only difference being that in this case the young plants are attacked in the spring following the cutting by weevils attracted by the smell of the stumps but not yet sexually mature until they have fed on the young plants, whereas in the former case the injury appears 2–3 years after the cutting, when the beetles of the next generation appear.