‘Metarchon’ : a New Term for a Class of Non-toxic Pest Control Agents

Abstract

CONCERN over the contamination of the environment by pesticide residues is directing attention to the possibility of combating insect pests by means of chemical or other influences which, without being toxic, are able to affect an organism adversely by inducing deviations from the normal behaviour. Insect repellents and insect attractants (both chemical and optical) are familiar examples, but they do not exhaust the possibilities. For example, a sex-attractant scent could be distributed broadcast in order to confuse or attenuate the male response, and other olfactory signals might be used to induce a female to oviposit at the wrong time or place. Other possibilities no doubt remain to be discovered.