WOOD-BORING INSECT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 257, 13 October 1932, Page 7

WOOD-BORING INSECT

PARASITE SUPPLIES IN NEW ZEALAND. Nelson, Oct. 12. During the last few years the attention of those interested in the commercial production of pine trees has been drawn to the activities of the steel-blue horntail borer, which js now well established in the Dominion. Though it does not damage vigorous trees, it is much too common to be discarded as of minor importance. , A parasite of the borer being known to occur in England, Dr. D. Miller, director of the entomological department at the Cawthron Institute, arranged with the director of the Farnham Royal Parasite Laboratory for the parasite to be studied ahd for supplies to be sent to New Zealand. This was quite a new departure in biological control in that it was the first attempt ffiade to transport the parasite of a wood-boring insect from one country to another and establish it in a new environment.

Several consignments of the parasite were sent to the Cawthron Institute, where the work has been carried out as one of the major operations. Though many of the parasites perished before reaching maturity, a considerable number survived and many were liberated among the borer-infected trees near Blenheim Hanmer and Moutere.

The appearance of the first generation of the parasite to be »reared in New Zealand is one of the most important developments in insect pest control during the year, and gives great promise of the successful establishment of the parasite and the subjection of the horntail borer in the Dominion.