BAD NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 79, 27 December 1907, Page 8

BAD NEWS.

IS THE CODLIN MOTH PARASITE A FAILURE? MR.FROGGATTS VIEW. Mr. Froggatt, tho well-known entomologist of Victoria, seems to havo set out on liis insect-inspecting tour of tho world with a preconceived prejudico against, tho " natural enemy" as an article- of any. commercial value. Nevertheless, his reports are ontitled to consideration. In the Government's December "Journal of Agriculture-," ho reports on a visit in August to California, where tho natural enemy of the codlin moth (an ichneutaon fly collected in Europe by Mr. Comfere, tho Yfost Australian ■entomologist) , was reared and tested and distributed. Aftor stating that those apple-growers who spray systematically do not bandage tho trees, except with sticky baiids, to catch the tent-moth caterpillars, he gets to work on Mr. Comfere's treasure as follows: — . v "In this valley, a number of the codlin .moth parasites (ephialtes carbonarius) wero turned out over a year ago, but none of the residents havo over seen them since. And I might state that I hayo been unable to find any instances in which this ichneumon parasite'has been found in an orchard. Mr. Isaac (Commissioner at Sacramento) said ho found two in his garden a few weeks before, whore a great number had been turned out in an infested applo tree, but I could find no traces of them, though codlin moth grubs were very plentiful. I asked all tho officers of the Stato Horticultural Department if they could send mo into an) orchard where I .could see this parasite working under natural conditions, hut they did not know of any. Tho genera.l opinion of all tho apple-growers with whom I talked is that this parasito is a failure up to the present time in California, and will not make tho least difference in their spraying work. .... Tho codlin moth, parasite, in spite of Mr. Comfere's accounts of its work, and tho offer of a colony by tho Stato Board of Horticulture to several of our States for £1000 each, has dono nothing outside tho office insectnrium." If tho ovidenco Mr. Froggatt has stated is tho only evidence that ho has adjudicated on, then it must bo apparent that ho has condemned ephialtes without a fair trial —a condemnation that tho Now Zealand experience does not confirm. The mere fact that Mr. Froggatt failed, in the few'instances ho cites, to find-tho parasito, is very weak ovidence that it is not doing,good work. If Mr. Froggatt searched only for tho winged form—a tiny insect in a great Continent liko America —he might as well havo looked for tho proverbial needlo in a haystack. If, however, ho looked for parasitised codlin grubs — a inoro reasonablo quest—his report does not show that his search was oxtensive. Tho fact that tho fruit-growers themselves havo not seen tho fly proves equally little. They would not bo likely to see it if it swarmed in all tho orchards. Wo have had the codlin, moth itself in tons of thousands in Now Zealand orchards for over twenty years past, and probably not a hundred of our orchardists havo eveir soon the mature moth, or, seoing it, havo known,what it was. .As against Mr. Froggatt's negative evidence, wo have in New Zealand positive evidence of a most encouraging kind. Officers of tho Horticultural Department havo eolleciol, from our orchards, numbers of codlin moth chrysalides parasitised by tho natural 1 onomy. Our original specimens of the insect wcro obtained ns a gift from California in return for a supply of grubs for tho Califoriiiaii inscctarics, and, apart from thoir ravenous activity in confinement, tho discovery of parasitised grubs in tho open at this early stago is distinctly encouraging. It is quite likely that many of tho Californian specimens have been captured by. tho ropes

of stick-fast which they tie round their trees to catch moths. Those ropes would bo tho most likely places in tho world for ephialtes to go hunting for codlin griibs. On tho wholo, therq is good reason for our fruitgrowers, whilo not relaxing their bandaging and , spraying, to remain hopeful about tho usefulness of ephialtes carbonarius.