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Umbonia crassicornis Amyot & Serville, a continental tropical American treehopper or membracid, probably was introduced accidentally into Puerto Rico from the mainland. The manner of introduction is not known, but possibly either with infested plant material hidden in passenger baggage or as a fertile female hitchhiker in an airplane arriving at San Juan from the U.S. where it apparently found suitable breeding conditions in the vicinity of the Isla Verde International Airport. This treehopper mainly attacks leguminous trees. It was seen first in the Santurce area of San Juan, in May 1972, attacking its favorite host, Pithecellobium dulce trees. It since has spread throughout several towns in the interior of the Island, and along the north and west coast as far as Mayagüez. It has been recorded locally thus far on 11 different host trees. Umbonia is considered to be a pest of ornamental trees and thus is of economic importance. Although it has not killed trees thus far in Puerto Rico, it has affected their appearance by destroying many of their twigs and branches. When massive infestations occur, adults of both sexes and their nymphal stages are present by the thousands on the branches of the trees. The insect secretes honeydew, a sugary substance favorable to the growth of sooty-molds. These fungal growths cause blackening of foliage of plants upon which the honeydew falls. The female has a long pointed spinal process on the pronotum. This horny, splinter-like protuberance is a nuisance for barefooted people, as well as for those who catch the insect inadvertently. These treehoppers can be controlled by periodic spray applications of any one of the following insecticides: Diazinon AG-500, Spectracide, Sevin 80, Malathion 57%, Isotox Garden Spray, and Endosulfan.

Diplodia natalensis was isolated from the diseased cankers of Casuarina equisetifolia in Puerto Rico. A stem-puncture technique was employed to inoculate Casuarina seedlings. Sunken areas or cankers appeared on the bark 3 months after inoculation. The causal organism was reisolated. Among the fungicidal chemicals tested (Dithane M-45, Thiodan, Captan, Benlate and benzoic acid), Benlate seemed to be the most promising for inhibiting mycelial growth of D. natalensis in vitro.

This is a supplement to the "Aphididae of Puerto Rico." (12) The key to the "Aphididae of Puerto Rico" has been revised. A new Field Key to the Apterous Aphididae of Puerto Rico is also included, with a photograph of each species. Five additional species are recorded: Capitophorus hippophaes javanicus H. R. L., Macrosiphum rosae L., Picturaphis puertoricensis Smith, Rhopalosiphum padi L., and Tetraneura nigriabdominalis (Sasaki), bringing the total known species of aphids from Puerto Rico to 51. Macrosiphum mesosphaeri Tissot is listed as a new synonym of Macrosiphum (Sitobion) salviae Bartholomew.

En este trabajo se informan 38 especies de plagas, que incluyen insectos, ácaros, caracoles, lapas y ratones, las cuales se han encontrado atacando orquídeas silvestres y cultivadas en Puerto Rico. En casi todos los casos se informan la localidad en que se encontraron, el daño que ocasionan, las orquídeas afectadas y una breve descripción de las plagas.

Since February, 1930, the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, P. R., has been engaged in collecting and shipping mole-cricket parasites, with the purpose of establishing them in Puerto Rico, to aid in the control of the Puerto Rican mole-cricket or “changa,” Scapteriscus vicinus Scudder. At the beginning of the work, Dr. George N. Wolcott traveled in various countries, such as Trinidad, Haiti, the Guianas, Venezuela and Brazil. Except in Brazil these searches were unsuccessful, because Larra americana Sauss., was not present at all or not in sufficient quantities to make shipments of value. Later on, the author was sent to Belem, Para, Brazil, to collect there during the month of January-February, 1938. Taking as a basis the previous experiences in shipping parasites from Brazil and by including live parasitized mole-crickets with the wasps, exceptionally good results were obtained. Dr. Wolcott returned to Brazil during May-June, 1938, and even better success was obtained as the methods were further perfected.

Much more careful collecting and rearing needs to be done in this group before anything nearly complete can be presented for this area. The primary object of this paper is to lay a basis for the future by summarizing our limited knowledge of the psylliids of Puerto Rico and their relationship to the rest of the neotropical fauna. Other than accidental or incidental records there has been no effort to determine the fauna of the Caribbean region with the possible exception of Cuba and Puerto Rico. The recent records contained herein were acquired incidental to a survey by Caldwell and Martorell relative to bunchy-top disease of papaya, (Carica papaya). More nearly complete data from this survey for the auchenorhynchus Homoptera have been submitted for publication elsewhere.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND HOST PLANTS OF THE CACTUS MOTH, CACTOBLASTIS CACTORUM (BERG) IN PUERTO RICO AND THE UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS

The first section of this paper furnishes a discussion of the origin of the name Desecheo, notes on the geology of the Island, a chronological history of the scientific investigations conducted there and a detailed account of the different plant communities. The second section is an annotated checklist of the plants of Desecheo, representing 43 families in the Angiosperma and only one in the Gymnosperma. Of 128 plant species hereby recorded, 65 are new records for Desecheo, the remaining 63 had been mentioned previously in Britton and Wilson, Flora of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

PRELIMINARY SCREENING OF PESTICIDES FOR CONTROL OF BANANA ROOT BORER, COSMOPOLITES SORDIDUS GERMAR (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE)