436 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



of useful work, the paramount point. At present there is little help to 

 be obtained from literature or from the work of naturalists in India. 

 The facts regarding insect life histories in other countries do not apply to 

 India ; it is all new work. On the whole there is a profound darkness in 

 this subject too, illumined here and there by a really thorough piece of 

 life history work : something is known of the Lepidoptera, because good 

 specimens have to be bred : but this is by no means clear or complete, 

 being based more on specimens reared in captivity than on speci- 

 mens breeding freely in the field. I may instance the importance of 

 this work by two cases : the Bombay Locust (Acridium succinctum) 

 is one of our commonest insects ; we are yet in doubt whether it 

 has two broods in a year or one, and the simplest facts of its life 

 history are unknown. The moth borer (Chilo simplex) which attacks 

 cane, corn, juari, etc., was believed to lay eggs on the cane and was 

 believed to breed throughout the year. The eggs have been found 

 for the first time this year, and we have just found that the 

 caterpillar hybernates in the cold weather and so does not continue 

 breeding. 



As I said before, butterflies are not economically important, so the 

 life history work done in this group does not help us : in other 

 groups, save for an occasional insect, we know little accurately, and 

 the most urgent need at present is in this line. Habits and habitat, 

 again, is an unknown subject. We know that this pest is aquatic, 

 that one lives in stems, that another makes galls, but nowhere is 

 there any consecuting account of the aquatic insects, of the stem-boring 

 insects, of the gall makers. I would like to see work done in this line, 

 naturalists working at all insects that live in a particular habitat ; pond 

 life and aquatic insects, the gall insects, the scavengers, the predators, 

 the various groups of parasites, the social insects, there are numbers of 

 extremely interesting groups. The only papers of this kind I can recall 

 are Mr. Wroughton's and Mr. Rothney's on " Our Ants " published 

 in this journal. I think one cannot easily overrate the importance of 

 such work to the economic entomologist ; daily he is confronted with 

 questions, and it seems to be useless to turn to the literature for any 

 help. It is perhaps in this branch that we may look to the ordinary 

 working naturalist, who cannot devote many hours to the subject, for 

 help ; I should be very glad if anything I could do would rouse an 

 interest in this among members of the Society. 



