88 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



Rice. Work on the borer pests of rice has been 

 continued. By continued observation of the crop through- 

 out the year and by actual counts it has been ascertained 

 that the percentage of damage (about 29 per cent, on the 

 average) given in last year's Report was exaggerated, due 

 to the fact that this figure was arrived at by examination 

 of the stubble only. Actually the damage done in the 

 vicinity of Pusa does not seem to exceed about 4 per cent., 

 but this cannot be taken as a normal figure for the more 

 important rice-growing districts of India. The presence 

 of unusually large numbers of the three principal borers 

 in the stubble (viz., Schcenobius bipunctifer, Sesamia in- 

 jerens and Chilo) is due to the large pre-winter broods 

 which, however, are not capable of doing much damage to 

 the ripening crop. 



A new external agent of damage has been discovered 

 in the form of a Chrysomelid (Halticine) grub which bores 

 into the stems of rice and millet seedlings from outside and 

 causes a regular dead-heart. This insect has occurred in 

 some numbers and ranks as a pest. 



Sugarcane. Work on the borer pests of sugarcane 

 and other gramineous plants was continued (1) to ascertain 

 the effect of treatment of attacked canes by the cutting out 

 of " dead-hearts," (2) to ascertain the species of borers in 

 cultivated as well as in wild grasses, (3) to discriminate 

 the various species hitherto confused under the name of 

 Chilo simplex (" moth-borer "), (4) to find out the alterna- 

 tive foodplants of these various borers, (5) to trace out 

 their seasonal life-histories and habits, and (6) to study 

 other insects which are not actual borers but which affect 

 the crop, especially the young sugarcane crop, in such a 

 way as to produce effects similar to those caused by the 

 actual borers; as these other insects occur along with the 

 borers, their study is necessary in order to allocate the 

 damage done to the actual agents. 



As noted above, the preliminary results attained have 

 been incorporated in a paper, by the present writer and 

 C. C. Ghosh, read at the Third Entomological Meeting, 



