were noted from January to March, and another was evident in April in certain districts. Thus there were at least five and perhaps six generations from December to April. The abnormal fermentation of the soil, which was so pronounced as to sour the air in the fields, not only stopped the activity of the plants but probably killed a large part of the enemies of the caterpillar. The common Eucelatoria australis, one of the Compsilurine flies, was found commonly in the fields in April and was reared from the caterpillars. It does not go into the soil for pupation as a rule, while other muscoid species that probably attack the caterpillar enter the soil to pupate and were uncommon in the fields. Every detail of the complex of unusual conditions appears to have been exactly in favor of the caterpillar. The moths appear to have been carried to a considerable extent from one irrigated valley to another by the strong southeast wind already mentioned. The southernmost districts were the first to show decided injury, beginning early in January. The injury spread northward in a wave of increasing intensity during the next two months, while the greatest injury in some of the southernmost districts came later in April. In the Casma valley, which is in the northern edge of the region of greatest defoliation, the caterpillar was noted as alarmingly abundant in isolated spots in the upper districts about the end of January. Fifteen days later there was a general infestation by spots, and active general defoliation began about the last of February and was completed about March 5. In the lower districts of the Casma valley, unusual multiplication of the caterpillar was not noted till February 9, and defoliation did not become complete. From March 5 to 21 there was practically not a leaf or sign of growth in the defoliated areas. No arsenates were on hand in any quantity, and by the time the planters awoke generally to the importance of the outbreak, the caterpillar was so far advanced that little could have been done had poisons been available. The American Upland is the variety universally cultivated in all the districts in question, the yield being from 460 to 500 pounds lint cotton per acre. Some of the largest plantations in these valleys lost heavily by the caterpillar, one estimating its loss at £12,000. The Casma valley had about 3.500 to 4,000 acres in cotton, the loss by the caterpillar being over £20,000 on this acreage. The entire loss by the caterpillar in the Chancay to Casma districts, from January to April, is estimated at something over £70,000. 4 NOTES ON SOME MEXICAN SUGAR CANE INSECTS FROM By F. W. URICH, Entomologist Board of Agriculture, Trinidad The sugar plantation on which I spent the months of August, September and October last year is situated about twelve miles from Santa Lucrecia on the Coatzacoalcos River. There are about 3,000 acres of canes under cultivation which were growing in a most luxuriant way and most of which were ratooning for the seventh time. (See Plate 7.) The climate of that part of Mexico was quite tropical and the fauna and flora reminded me often of those of Trinidad and northern South America. On the whole there were few insects that did much damage to the canes, in fact there was only one that called for serious attention and that was the Cercopid, Tomaspis postica Walk. It is reported that this insect has been known as a pest to grass lands of the State of Vera Cruz since 1880 and in 1903 was observed attacking sugar cane at Tantoyuca. The natural food plant of Tomaspis postica consists of grasses of several species, especially those growing in damp clay soils; from the grass it has spread to canes and there by the combined activity of the nymphs on the roots and the adults on the leaves, causes considerable damage when numerous and unchecked. Luckily it is controlled naturally by a parasitical fungus which also attacks Tomaspis varia Fabr. in Trinidad, and which has been determined as Metarrhizium anisopliæ Metschnikoff. In some places a species of Empusa was also killing a good many of the adults. Unlike Fulgorids these Cercopids do not appear to have any egg parasites or parasites on the nymphs, at least I did not find any and have not been able to discover any records of such. A Reduviid bug, Castolus plagiaticollis Stal. (det. Heidemann) was very common in the fields where T. postica was numerous and many adults were to be seen carrying around these Cercopids impaled on their proboscis. Unfortunately the eggs of Castolus were attacked by a species of Telenomus (det. Crawford). The old cane pest, Diatræa saccharalis, was not wanting and there was a second stalk borer present which Dr. H. G. Dyar has determined as Diatræa grandiosella Dyar. It cannot be said that either of these were very serious pests. It was not an easy matter to find egg masses of these moths in the In my "Notes on some insect pests affecting the sugar cane" Journal of Ec. Ent. Vol. 4, p. 225, I refer wrongly to this insect as T. postica. cane fields, but the only two that were found were parasitized; D. saccharalis by Trichogramma pretiosa Riley (det. Howard) and D. grandiosella by a Telenomus sp. (det. Crawford). Dr. Dyar has been good enough to draw up the following description of the larva of Diatraa grandiosella Dyar: Head rounded quadrate, narrowing a little below; clypeus high; para-clypeal pieces reaching about two-thirds the height of the front; pale orange-brown; a little darker on the vertex, median and para-clypeal sutures whitish; clypeal sutures dark, mouth black, the color covering the epistoma and bases of maxille; ocelli with black central dots, a patch of black covering the lower ocelli; labium and palpi pale; a.black triangular spot at side of occiput near the middle; setæ rather coarse, pale, without visible tubercles. Body cylindrical, elongate, moderately robust, tapering posteriorly but only slightly so anteriorly. Thoracic feet moderate, pale brownish, like the head with smoky patches before and behind; abdominal feet very short, thick, the crochets in circles, anal feet somewhat longer, their circle of crochets broadly broken behind. Color whitish with a broad purplish shaded subdorsal stripe, which is quite faint and blotched in the fully grown larvær. Tubercles large and conspicuous, blackish brown, I larger than II, IV and V forming a single tubercle, VII an elongate patch; on the thorax a narrow chitinous band on the posterior edges of joints 3 and 4 dorsally; tubercles Ia and Ib, Ia and IIb, III and IV, VI with two setæ. Cervical shield large, containing six setæ on each side, pale brown like the head with a pale dividing dorsal line; a small black stain on the lateral margin, otherwise unmarked. Joint 13 rather distinctly divided, its anterior part with the subdorsal tubercles joined over the back by a black stain; anal plate pale reddish brown with three sela on each side, irregularly joined by brown stains, the plate appearing bimaculate." Canes damaged by the Gopher (Heterogeomys hispidus Le Conte) called "Tuza" in Mexico often contained larvæ of Metamasius sericeus Latr. var. carbonarius Chev, (det. Schwarz) but in no case was this beetle observed attacking perfectly healthy canes. When the canes were fermenting, from damage done by Gophers or Diatraa sometimes they were attacked by Xyleborus affinis Eichf. (det. Lt.Col. Winn Sampson) but this Scolytid was never observed in sound stalks. A Tingid, Leptodictya tabida Champ., which Mr. Heidemann has been good enough to describe and figure was not very numerous, and although it damaged the cane leaves in the characteristic way of this family, it cannot be considered a pest at all. The grassy spaces between the fields of canes harbored a great many grasshoppers of different species, some did trivial damage to the cane leaves, but were never numerous enough to make their presence felt. The following genera were represented: Macharrocera, Taniopoda, Schistocerca and Neoconocephalus. No doubt these grasshoppers are kept in control by natural enemies, among which there were many insectivorous birds. The sugar cane leaf serves as food for many caterpillars but at the |