Laboratory For Entomologists

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30941, 23 December 1965, Page 6

Laboratory For Entomologists

The insect quarantine facilities of the entomology division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Nelson will be greatly expanded by the construction of a two-storey laboratory block, tenders for which have now' been called. The new block is being provided by the Cawthron Institute Trust Board for the division’s use.

It is an interesting reversal of the usual pattern in research aid—a private institution in this case providing facilities for Government research. Since it took over the entomological functions of the Cawthron Institute in 1956, the entomology division has used buildings rented from the institute.

Because of the large number. of agricultural entomological problems requiring urgent attention, the activities of the division have developed considerably in recent years and have far outgrown the existing accommodation. Rapid Growth

Growth has been particularly rapid in the field of biological control, the emphasis on which has increased with the trend away from the more complex organo-chiorine insecticides. This has created a need for considerable improvement of the facilities for quarantine studies of potentially useful introduced insects, specially those it is hoped to use for the control of weeds. One project now in hand is the search for insects

to control sweet briar, which has become a serious pest in the South Island since rabbit populations were reduced.

Such insects must be studied thoroughly in quarantine before they are released, in order to make sure that they will not attack other plants than those they are intended to control.

In the limited quarantine facilities now available, the division has been able to carry on only one such project at a time. The new building will give a five-fold increase in these facilities, and will make it possible to study a number of insect introductions simultaneously. The quarantined space in the building will include three controlled-temperature rooms with a sufficiently high light level to allow adequate growth of plant material, and also a laboratory in which experiments on quarantined insects can be carried out. In addition, the building will provide office and laboratory accommodation for parts of the systematics, insecticides and ecology sections of the di vision.