AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

The response of Tenebroides mauritanicus (L.) in the vacuum fumigation of jute with methyl bromide.

by Hector. A. Monro




Institution: McGill University
Department: Department of Biology.
Degree: PhD
Year: 1958
Keywords: Entomology.
Record ID: 1503385
Full text PDF: http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/thesisfile111455.pdf


Abstract

The work described in this thesis has contributed to scientific knowledge in the following ways: (1) For the first time it has been shown that the response of insect to poison gas at reduced pressures may follow a complex rather than a regular curve when mortality is related to pressure. (2) A zone of high resistance between 30 and 50 mm. has been demonstrated with larvae and adults of Tenebroides mauritanicus (L.). Resistance in this zone is related to the effects of reduced pressure and is connected in some way with reduction of the visible activity of the insects at these pressures. The response in this zone is apparently independant of humidity. (3) It has been shown that at pressures lower than the zone of high resistance the mortality of T. mauritanicus is due more to dessication than to the action of the fumigant.