Biological Control of Insect Pests Series No. 1 - Parasites of the European Corn Borer

Library and Archives Canada: 16mm, 28mm, 35mm, VHS, digibeta.
"Film about the use of biological methods to control the European Corn Borer. Part One shows: opening title indicating that the film has been made under the direction of A.B. Baird, entomologist in charge of parasite work with the Entomological Branch, federal Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, Ontario. This is followed by: an intertitle explaining that the film was made by Province of Ontario Pictures in Trenton, Ontario; intertitle about the introduction of the corn borer to Ontario in 1920; medium shot of dried-up corn husks on stalks in fields; close-up of corn in husk, destroyed by parasite; hand holds small knife to show the detail of the damaged plant; intertitle about the natural enemies of parasites, including Tremex, a parasite of the maple tree; close-up of the Lchneumon fly; intertitle which reads "The Tremex adult takes a peek at its foe"; close up of soft-focus Tremex bug in foreground and Lchneumon fly; Lchneumon fly drilling hole to deposit egg in tunnel of prey; intertitle about work being done in Canada and the United States to breed enemy parasites of the corn borer; two shots of a house with the Union Jack flying in front, apparently the site of Canadian research, the second shot including a man carrying crates; interitles about "raising and liberating parasites under controlled circumstances"; medium shot a man picking flies off a screen which is mounted upright on a table and putting them in breeding jars; close-up of instrument picking off flies; various shots of the same procedures shown at different angles; intertitles about "full grown corn... placed in an incubator"; close-up of hands putting worms into small jars and placing jars on a tray; man putting tray into incubator; intertitles explaining that the next day the worms are removed, limp and helpless, covered with the eggs of the fly; close-up of limp worm in jar, being prodded by tweezers; worms taken out of the jars and laid in rows; close-up of worms; intertitle explaining that the "resulting maggots devour their hosts"; close-up of maggots eating hosts; various shots of maggots eating their hosts; intertitle explains that they "spin white silken cocoons in which they change to flies completing the life cycle of 10 days"; close-up of cocoons; camera pans over the cocoons; medium shot of screens full of flies on a rack; cages of flies; cages taken off screens; see flies on screen; intertitle about the case of the Habrobracon, in which each borer host supports 25 parasite maggots; the second imported parasite, Exeristes roborator, requires one host for each maggot and hence requires larger quarters; medium shot of larger cages with large crawling insects; close-up of crawling insects; close-up of female insect drilling holes into corn pith to deposit eggs; various angles of drilling holes; close-up of female depositing the eggs; intertitle which reads "The eggs hatch in 24 hours so the piths are changed daily"; medium shot of a man changing the piths and putting the glass back on the case containing the insects; medium shot of man opening up the piths and removing the contents onto glass; medium shot of two men putting borers into can of water; medium shot of man dipping cup in water and then dumping the contents onto table; shot of maggots; medium shot of two men using tweezers to pick up the maggots and place them on a trays; close-up of small vials in container; intertitle reading "Young maggots being cannibals must be kept in separate compartments..."; close-up of eggs being placed in small glass vial; intertitles about the warmth of the incubation, the maggots, and the flies emerging from cocoons; medium shot of man carrying crates from incubator; various close-ups of cocoons in vials; medium shot of cocoons being placed in special storage box;various shots of the containers; intertitles about flies emerging "into wire screen cages for mating and liberation"; medium shot of wire screen cage; and close-up of wire screen cage. Part Two contains the following footage: intertitles about the collection of borers; medium shot of men in corn field picking borers off the corn; camera pan to right to show men picking at the corn; close-up of hands picking borer and putting it in a container; close-up of borers on a hand; close-up of borers being put in copper screen containers; intertitles explaining at the new materials are transported to the U.S. and Canada to teach people more about the parasites; medium shot of two men opening case of the material, containing small boxes; close-up of contents of the small boxes; intertitle reading "Next import of (Microgater) parasite to kill young borers"; medium close-up of small brush picking up small parasites; close-up of brush and parasites in silhouette with other insects; intertitle reading "Inserting an egg beneath the skin of each"; close-up of brush pushing parasite onto insect; close-up of hand holding brush, moving brush from screen to individual vials; medium shot of scientist looking through a microscope. close-up of what is seen in the microscope - needles prodding the cocoon; various close-ups of maggots coming out of cocoons and cocoons lying still; intertitle about introducing another species; close-up of parasites and insects together; close-up of cocoons; close-up of insects under microscope; micro-close-up of maggot or borer on a stalk; intertitle explaining that the borers for this work are obtained by breeding them in the laboratory and the moths deposit their eggs on wax paper; medium shot of glass jars full of borers or moths; moths on some type of screen; close-up of moths; young borers developing in string beans; dish full of borers; medium shot of washing out batches of vials with a hose; medium shots of making wire plugs for the vials; medium shot of various cages used in the experiments to find ways to control the European corn borer; Habrobracon parasites liberated from the screens onto the infested corn so they can destroy the corn borer; close-up of fly entering a hole in he corn; extreme close-up of the fly and the corn borers; medium shot of men removing the screen from the corn; medium shot of corn husks with holes in them; close-up of a fly on the corn; several extreme close-ups of female parasites pulling out borers and eating them; various shots of infested corn fields; close-up of infested corn; knife cutting through the infested corn to show borers; medium shot of health corn corps and medium shot of a young girl eating corn on the cob."