THE USE OF ENDRIN AND OTHER INSECTICIDES AGAINST LETTUCE ROOT APHID, PEMPHIGUS BURSARIUS L

Several insecticides have been used as protectants against lettuce root aphid, including, in 1955, lindane, schradan, aldrin and endrin; the last-named giving the most promising results. With a dressing of an equal weight of 50% endrin dust added to lettuce seed, 86% reduction in aphid numbers was obtained. In 1957, a seed dressing with endrin also gave a good control, which was superior to that obtained with thimet 44D. However, in 1956 and 1958 endrin seed dressing failed to control the aphid. When a seed dressing with endrin was supplemented by an endrin spray applied to the seedlings a consistently good control resulted.
A high level of aphid control was obtained in 1958 with two sprays of diazinon applied along the lettuce rows, the first applied after singling and the other at the early rosette stage. Diazinon or endrin, applied to the soil at 4 lb. actual insecticide/acre and rotavated into the top 3 in. before sowing, also gave high levels of control.
No recommendations for the use of endrin on lettuce can be made until levels and persistence of residues are known.     

INSECTICIDES FOR PREVENTING BARNACLE SETTLEMENT

During the summer of 1950 experiments were made to test the use of insecticides for preventing the fouling of oyster spat collectors by the barnacle Elminius modestus.
The insecticides used were DDT, BHC (benzene hexachloride-γ-isomer) and dieldrin (hexachloro-epoxy-octahydro-dimethano-naphthalene), made up as 5% solutions and tested on egg-box collectors and quarry tiles. The tiles were used for frequent observations on settlement.
When the solutions were sprayed on to the surfaces, in sufficient quantity to give a covering of 200 mg./ft.² of active insecticide, none of them interfered with either barnacle or oyster settlement.
When the test surfaces were dipped in the solutions, DDT and BHC prevented barnacle settlement almost completely, while dieldrin reduced it by approximately 50%. Settlement of Ostrea edulis was also reduced on the treated surfaces.
Urea-formaldehyde resins made up as varnishes, to which DDT or BHC had been added, were also tested. A varnish incorporating 20% by weight of DDT provided an effective anti-fouling compound which lasted at least 3 months and completely prevented barnacle settlement.
The possibility of insecticides dissolving into the water and inhibiting barnacle growth on adjacent surfaces is discussed.     

NEWER INSECTICIDES AND SCABICIDES

Experimental and clinical data show that taking thiamine chloride internally protects against flea bites. Application of DDT powder to the breeding places of fleas controls infestation.Clinical data appear to show that the use of an ointment containing gamma isomer hexachlorocyclohexane is an effective and pleasant means of treating scabies.     

INCORPORATION OF H3-THYMIDINE INTO SHOOT AND ROOT APICES OF CERATOPTERIS THALICTROIDES

Gifford , Ernest M., Jr . (U. California, Davis.) Incorporation of H³-thymidine into shoot and root apices of Ceratopteris thalictroides. Amer. Jour. Bot 47(10): 834–837. Illus. 1960.—The localization of tritiated thymidine in apical meristems of Ceratopteris thalictroides by the autoradiographic method is described. Intact, floating plants of the fern were placed in 1/2 strength Hoagland's inorganic nutrient solution containing H³-thymidine (10 μc/ml.) for 3 days. The material was killed, dehydrated and embedded in paraffin. Autoradiographic stripping film (AR 10 Kodak) was applied to serial sections. After an appropriate exposure period, the film was developed and the sections with the superimposed film were stained lightly with Harris' hematoxylin. The autoradiographs revealed the presence of the H³-thymidine in nuclei of the large, individualized apical cells of shoots and roots which is proof of DNA synthesis. In no instances were these nuclei unlabeled. If endomitotic reduplication is excluded the results of these studies lend support to the concept that apical cells actually do divide and perhaps at a higher rate than envisioned by other workers. Considerable cytoplasmic labeling occurred and its significance to general problems of DNA synthesis is discussed.     

PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITY OF RIBULOSE BISPHOSPHATE CARBOXYLASE FROM TWO PHOTOSYNTHETIC DINOFLAGELLATES1

Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase / oxygenase (Rubisco) from the dinoflagellates Symbiodinium sp. Freudenthal and Amphidinium carterae Hulburt rapidly loses activity following cell lysis. Evidence presented indicates that this is not due to proteolysis. Using the tight binding inhibitor [¹⁴C] carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate as a marker, the Rubisco large subunit (LSu) from Symbiodinium sp. was purified. The subunit molecular weight was 56 kDa, while non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that the purified protein had a molecular weight significantly less than that expected of the intact hexadecameric protein. No trace of the small subunit was apparent. The initial loss of carboxylase activity following cell lysis may be due to instability of the quaternary structure of the enzyme. Antibodies prepared to the purified LSU cross-reacted with LSus from other dinoflagellates but not with the LSus of higher plants, diatoms, and other chromophytic algae. This suggests that the LSu of at least some dinoflagellates is antigenically different from that of other eukaryotes.     

METHODS FOR MASS REARING AND INVESTIGATING THE HOST RELATIONS OF APHIS FABAE SCOP.

A method is described for producing some hundreds of apterous and thousands of alate virginoparous Aphis fabae every day continuously throughout the year. Broad beans are used as the host plants, in a 'production-line' arrangement of eleven ventilated breeding cages, with additional cages for starting subcultures and rearing alatae, all contained in a portion of a small greenhouse with supplementary lighting in winter. When running smoothly, the culture requires about half an hour's work by one man per day.
An 'aphid gun', being a modified type of aspirator catcher, is described, with which large numbers of aphids could be handled and counted rapidly without damaging them.
Amodified technique for host-transference experiments is described, which permits individual leaves to be compared one with another as host-units for the aphids. Two types of small metal cages are used, both easily attached to leaves in their natural positions on growing plants. One type confines the aphids to a part of a single leaf and is used mainly for determining relative reproduction rates on different leaves. The other type encloses equal areas of two different leaves between which the aphids can move freely, and is used for determining their behavioural preferences. The principles underlying the use of such cages, the experimental procedures and the interpretation of the results obtained are discussed.     

FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ON PHYTOCHROME-CONTROLLED SUCROSE UPTAKE INTO APICAL BUDS OF ETIOLATED PEAS

When etiolated pea epicotyls are severed at the ground level and immersed basally into ¹⁴C-sucrose, P_fr phytochrome promotes both the uptake of label into the terminal bud and the growth of that bud. Movement of label up the epicotyl requires active metabolism; it is inhibited by anaerobiosis, low temperature, and 2,4-dinitrophenol. Increase in bud label is detectable within 15–30 min and precedes the first detectable increase in growth rate. Stem tissues, whose growth is inhibited by red light, show a corresponding decrease in content of label. Sixty to 70% of the label of the bud is carbohydrate; the remainder is found in organic acids and phosphates, amino acids, and cell wall components. The major metabolic effects of red irradiation are (1) promotion of sucrose hydrolysis, probably through an induction of higher β-fructofuranosidase activity, and (2) enhanced incorporation of sucrose into ethanolinsoluble wall components.     

棉铃虫的谷胱甘肽S-转移酶(GSTs):杀虫药剂和植物次生性物质的诱导与GSTs对杀虫药剂的代谢

棉铃虫Helicoverpaarmigera（Hubner）中肠谷胱甘肽S-转移酶（GSTs）对甲基对硫磷和灭多威的代谢能力明显高于对马来酸二乙酯（DEM）和两个混剂。LD5剂量的对硫磷和灭多威对棉铃虫3龄幼虫GSTs的活性均没有诱导增加的影响,用LD50的选择剂量仅对硫磷组GSTs活性增加15％。用含0．01％的芸香苷、2-十三烷酮和槲皮素的人工饲料饲养棉铃虫经1～4代后,GSTs活性提高4～18倍。3种植物次生性物质诱导组对灭多威和溴氰菊酯的敏感度均没有明显的变化,而槲皮素组对甲基对硫磷的敏感度则降低近一半,芸香苷和2-十三烷酮组对甲基对硫磷的敏感度略有降低。这种对甲基对硫磷敏感度的变化可能与上述GSTs活性的变化有关。     

INVESTIGATIONS ON THE ROOT FORMATION IN THE TISSUES OF HELIANTHUS TUBEROSUS CULTURED IN VITRO

Excised rhizome fragments of Helianthus tuberosus ‘Violet de Rennes’ produce roots in vitro; the sequence of morphogenetic phenomena is as follows: proliferation, differentiation of phloem and tracheids, organization of cambiums, and formation of root primordia from cambiums. This rhizogenesis is conditioned by five limiting factors: mineral salts, sugar, auxin, temperature, and light. The optimum level of each of these factors was determined and in certain cases also the threshold of action. For white light the beginning was about 1/1000 lux. These five limiting factors do not represent the same site of action. The mineral salts, especially nitrogen and calcium, have their effect when the cambiums have been organized. The sugars act before the formation of cambiums. Light operates principally upon cambium and this action is independent of photosynthesis. It was not possible to determine whether the auxin has a preferential site of action. A temperature higher than 15 C is essential to obtain the formation of cambiums but further production of roots is possible at 15 C or even less. The variations in temperature more or less around the optimum stimulate rhizogenesis. The supra-optimal temperatures mainly have their effect before the formation of cambiums and infra-optimal temperatures after. The effect of light can be exhibited at low temperature. Gibberellic acid in association with auxin favors root formation in the dark whereas in light it exhibits inhibiting properties. Rhizogenetic potentialities of tissues are reduced when these are cultured in the dark in presence of auxin. On the other hand, if auxin is applied after the isolation of explants, rhizogenesis is stimulated and the tissues are able to produce roots even in the dark. The action of light and of auxin can be dissociated; when the explants having absorbed a small quantity of auxin are transferred to a medium without auxin for 60 days in the dark, they conserve the rhizogenetic potential which is expressible on transferring them to light. Finally, grafting experiments suggested that light could induce the formation of a rhizogenetic factor in the tissues which is transmittable from cell to cell. These experiments have definitely established that the induction of root formation is governed by several factors which have complex interactions.