1552 INJURIOUS INSECTS AND OTHER LOWER ANIMALS. - GENERALITIES 



INJURIOUS INSECTS AND OTHER 1.0 WER ANIMALS. 



GENERALITIES. II37 - IllSect PcstS III India. — Fletcher, T. h., in AiiHcultural Research Institute, Pusa, 



Bulletin No. SQ, PP- i-39. Eig- i 20, Calcutta, 1916. 



The work in question contains one hundred short notices on Indian 

 insect pests. 



The following observations, dealing for the most part with agriculture, 

 are worth}^ of special notice. 



Among the Coleoptera, Adoretus lasiopyp^tts (fam. Riitelidae) is a very 

 common species in the Pusa district, where it causes considerable damage 

 to the leaves of plants between June and September ; at Begum Serai it 

 attacked vines stripping off the leaves and injuring the fresh shoots. 



A . vers'Utus is also very common in numerous Indian localities ; it was 

 reported in June 1910 and 1912 from the Kumaon gardens as a pest on the 

 leaves of vines, pears, plums, apples, and figs, which it attacked in asso- 

 ciation with A. horticola Arrow and Brahmina coriacea Hope. Similar 

 damage is caused by another species of Adoretus {A. duvauceli Bl.). 



Niunerous Coleoptera belonging to the iamily Ciirculionidae inflict more 

 or less extensive injuries upon cultivated plants. There are Phytoscaphus 

 dissimilis and Corigetus hidentulus on tea in Assam and Upper Burma ; 

 Rhynchaenus (Orchestes) magnijerae (mango leaf boring weevil), Cryp- 

 torhyncus poncollis and Alcides frenatus on mango trees ; Xanthotrachelus 

 faunus and A', perlahts which attack the heads of Heliantkus anniius ; Ca- 

 landra linearis on the fruits of tamarinds and Myocalandra exarata on 

 bamboos. 



In July 1915 Lytta actaeon (Family Meloidae) attacked the fields of 

 Setaria in the region of the Chota Gandak River in great numbers, complete- 

 ly devouring the leaves. 



Among the Lepidoptera, Calpe ophideroides caused great damage to 

 fruit in 1914 in the Kumaon Government, especially to peaches and necta- 

 rines. 



The larval stage of Argyroploce erotias (Family Eucosmidae) caused 

 considerable damage to the foliage of mangoes by rolling up the leaves 

 and biting holes in them. 



Laspevrcsia trichnryossa, which belongs to the same family, in its lar- 

 val stage bores its way into the pods of Cajanus indicits and there pupates, 

 having destroyed the seeds. 



In March 1912 at Pusa the larvae of Anarsia melanoplecta were seen 

 to hollow out tunnels in the top shoots of mango twigs. 



Anataractis plnmigera formed galls on the stems of Indigofera in which 

 the larvae underwent their first developmental stages. 



The larv'ae of Acrocerops syngramma, A. cathedra and A. isonoma 

 attacked the leaves of mangoes (mango leaf-miners) . The caterpillar of A . 

 ordinatella feeds in the parenchyma of the leaves of camphor leaving the 

 epidermis intact. 



Prays citri (Family Hyponomeutidae) is found in southern Europe, 



