1. The damage done to coffee by Antestia lineaticollis, Stål, is shortly described and notes on its life-history are given.

2. It is parasitised in the egg-stage by two important species of Proctotrupoid parasites, the percentage of parasitism usually varying around 80 per cent. and in one case quoted being as high as 91 per cent.

3. Of the control measures employed, contact-spraying has not proved satisfactory; hand-picking of the bugs and egg-clusters and liberation of the parasites are widely practised and, though troublesome and expensive, are of considerable value; another method of value and widespread adoption has been called the “poison-baitspray” method. This is described in detail; it consists in the application of a stomach-poison in the form of a solution of sodium arsenite and sugar to the tree by spraying. Laboratory observations show that the insect imbibes the poisoned solution by lifting the proboscis into small drops on the leaf surface, and there is a definite kill due to the use of this poison.

4. In Kenya, its use commercially, while often of proved value, has not been invariably successful. Experiments showed that the egg parasites of the bug were strongly attracted by the poison spray and quickly died after feeding on it. It is suggested that this may be the cause of some of the unsuccessful results.

Various instances of the formation of a chitinous capsule around parasites in mosquitos have been described in literature. Worms as well as Protozoa, Hyphomycetes and bacilli have been seen encapsuled in this way.

1. Ecological studies on aphides attacking potatoes were commenced in 1928 with a view to elucidating certain problems of entomological interest and also the role of these insects as vectors of disease. The species include, Myzus persicae, Sulz., Macrosiphum gei, Koch, and Myzus pseudosolani, Theo.

2. The present study is confined mainly to the infestation of aphides on potatoes at a selected centre which is described.

3. Solitary apterous viviparous females were in a majority on potatoes during the period of initial infestation in early June. Their presence is explained by (1) the overwintering of aphides on weeds and field plants, (2) the first few alatae depositing single nymphs and then migrating, (3) infection from infested seed.

4. The maximum infestation was reached during mid-July, when 86 per cent. of the leaves were infested and there was an average of 2·8 aphides to a leaf. The infestation was below that of the previous three years. Macrosiphum gei bred up rapidly, at first on the flower-heads, and was the predominant species, its decline in numbers being equally rapid. Myzus persicae increased more slowly and did not reach such numbers, but the maximum was maintained longer and the disappearance of the species was delayed. Myzus pseudosolani was only taken in August and then in small numbers.

5. An estimate of the intensity of the aphis population is attempted, and in the present moderate infestation of 2·8 aphides to a leaf it was of the order of 2,000,000 aphides to an acre of potatoes.

6. A technique was established to ascertain the movement of aphides within the crop. Weekly records on observational leaves revealed that 100 per cent. of the aphides moved their site and at least 84 per cent. of each species moved from leaf to leaf within the weekly period. Daily records during the period of maximum infestation showed that 84 per cent. of Macrosiphum gei and 73 per cent. of Myzus persicae changed site within 24 hours, and of these at least 50 per cent. moved from the leaves upon which they had been observed.

7. It was noted that no attempt was made to maintain large local colonies, for the movement of both adults and nymphs was frequent, and observed colonies soon dispersed. The extended infestation of Myzus persicae is discussed with reference to its establishment on field plants, other than potatoes, during the autumn and winter.

Mosquito larvae and pupae which get their oxygen from aquatic plants have been seldom met with so far; all belong to the genus Taeniorhynchus. Examining Pistia for the latter I found a few times a larva attached to the roots of the plants by means of its modified air-tube. The adults which were bred from these larvae proved to be Ficalbia (Mimomyia) hybrida, Leicester*. The adult has been known for some time, but the larva is new.

In the collections received during recent years by the Geneeskundig Laboratorium in Batavia there were some specimens that seemed to represent new species. Moreover by rearing isolated larvae the hitherto undescribed larval and pupal stages of some species have been studied. In this paper are also included figures of the hypopygia of some species, already described, but not yet figured by other authors.

The male of which the peculiar hypopygium is shown in fig. 1 was bred from a lot of eggs received in March 1931 from Prof. Snijders (at that time in Medan, Deli, East Coast of Sumatra). Other males which had hatched from the same eggs were examined, but they had a normal hypopygium.

While on a recent visit to Victoria and South Australia, I made an attempt to collect long series of Calliphoras belonging to the subgenera Neopollenia and Proekon; a special visit was made for this purpose to Seaford and to Western Port, Victoria, the type localities of C. hilli, Patton, and C. rufipes, Macquart, respectively. The collections made represent at least seven species of Neopollenia and two of Proekon.

In the autumn of 1931 I received for determination from Dr. R. B. Jackson a small number of Culicine larvae collected in Hong Kong. These included two specimens of a Uranotaenia with very remarkable antennae, which seem well worth describing as a further example of the striking and unexpected deviations of structure which occur in various members of this genus. As the specimens sent were whole larvae and not skins, the identity of the species is somewhat uncertain, but an adult of U. testacea, Theo., was obtained by Dr. Jackson at the same time as the larvae, and it is most probable that the larvae belong to that species. Incidentally, U. testacea has not been recorded from Hong Kong before.

This paper is my report of a year's work on the sheep blowfly problem at the Farnham House Laboratory of the Imperial Institute of Entomology. The investigation had a two-fold aim. Its immediate object was the development of a satisfactory large-scale methodof rearing Alysia manducator, and practical results in the form of shipments of the parasite were required. Its ulterior purpose was the accumulation of exact quantitative data on the interaction of a parasite and its host.

1. A serious form of coffee flower abortion that occurred in Kenya Colony in 1930 is described.

2. A Capsid, Lygus simonyi, Reut., is shown by experiments to be capable of causing this abortion.

3. It is shown that by feeding on the stamens at an early stage in the bud's development, the bug causes their early blackening and abortion, resulting in the complete failure of the flower.

4. Some notes on the life-history, habits, and natural enemies are included.

5. It is shown that owing to abnormal flowering conditions in 1930 the bug was enabled to do very serious damage.

6. Some other abnormal conditions of the buds, not considered to be caused by the bug are described.

7. A number of control measures that proved unsatisfactory are shortly described.

8. A detailed description is given of the application of a spray prepared by extracting the insecticidal properties of pyrethrum with paraffin. This spray is inexpensive, easy to apply quickly, and seems likely to prove efficacious on a large scale.

9. It is suggested that such sprays may have a considerably wider application.

My acknowledgements are due to the Senior Entomologist, Mr. T. J. Anderson, for kindly reading the manuscript; also to a large number of coffee-planters, in particular to Mr. P. J. Coldham, on whose estate much of the above work was done, and to whose interest and help, particularly with regard to cultural questions, I owe much.

Some years ago the writer published an account of the bionomics of the two species of Eumerus whose larvae attack narcissus and other plants. In this account it was pointed out that E. tuberculatus, first recognised as occurring in Britain by Collin in 1920, was far more abundant than E. strigatus, which had been described by Verrall in 1901. This finding was entirely contrary to expectation and threw serious doubt upon the accuracy of many previous records of injury to plants in which strigatus was invariably cited as the culprit. At the same time it explained in a large measure the absence of reports of Eumerus attacking onions in Britain, for in those countries in which damage to onions is of common occurrence the predominant species appears to be strigatus. In view of the foregoing, and of the fact that the successful cultivation of onions is exceedingly difficult and at times impossible in regions where attacks by Eumerus are experienced, it is desirable that further information be obtained as to the occurrence of strigatus in Britain.

The agricultural importance of the Collembola has in the past usually been regarded with some scepticism by economic entomologists. Recently, however, the activities of certain species, particularly those belonging to the genera Bourletiella and Smynthurus, have resulted in an increasing amount of publicity for this order of primitive insects. The subject of the present investigation is Smynthurus viridis, Linn., which, from its jumping habits and the depredations it causes to lucerne (alfalfa), has come to be known commonly as the “Lucerne Flea,” although the damage it causes to clovers is equally serious.

A procedure is described which makes it possible to differentiate nuUiparous from multiparous A. elutus and hence newly hatched from old mosquitos.

A long-horned beetle, Cerambyx dux, Fald., is a very serious pest of apricots, peaches, and grafted and wild almonds in Palestine. Its ravages are most probably not confined to these trees and further investigations will undoubtedly enlarge the already important list of food-plants. In localities around Jerusalemsuch as Beit-Jala, Artas, Bethlehem, El Maliha, and Ein Karim (approximate altitude 2,600 feet above sea-level), this pest has been allowed to establish itself over a long period of time and to such an extent that, if immediate and rigid control measures are not undertaken by the growers, apricot and peach trees will, sooner or later, disappear from these localities. These fruit trees can be cultivated without irrigation, which is of great advantage in Palestine, where water is scarce; the fruit fetches good prices both in the local markets and also in Egypt. Their cultivation is therefore of vital importance,especially to the population of the hill country, where conditions of life are difficult and every kind of loss is accentuated. In Jersualem, where almonds, apricots and peaches are planted in household-gardens, not a single healthy tree can be found, and many of them have already succumbed to the attacks of this beetle. In the coastal plain the writer has found this insect in almond trees at Haifa and in apricot and almond trees in villages north of Acre. No records are available of its presence in the coastal plain south of Haifa or in the Jordan Valley.

A study has been made of the small moth-borers (Diatraea), the giant mothborer (Castnia), and the froghopper (Tomaspis) of sugar-cane, in their respective primitive environments, primarily with a view to finding new parasites for them and secondarily to obtain light on their ecology under agricultural conditions.

The original hosts of Diatraea saccharalis are shown to be certain aquatic and semi-aquatic grasses growing at the edge of forest creeks in the Orinoco Delta and of rivers flowing through the Venezuelan llanos, and in lakes of the Greater Antilles.

In the llano habitat D. busckella and D. impersonatella were found under indubitably primitive conditions.

The original host of D. canella, another destructive cane species include two forms of Paspalum millegrana, growing on the Trinidad littoral.

The present paper is the outcome of a visit to Turkey at the invitation of the Turkish Government in the summer of 1931 to study the local locust problem and to advise on the general policy of locust control.