776 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



KUiTounded by Walnuts, Oaks (jQuercusjucancC) and Deodars — and the following 

 spring these were full of hundreds of thousunds of a medium-sized somewhat 

 hairy caterpillar, that covered the whole tree with a net-work of very strong 

 web, like that of a spider's, making the tree look as though it were in a mist. 

 They eat otf all the leaves and keep them eaten down— till they have 

 killed some of the trees, by such treatment, year after year. 



Birds cannot get at them, the web is so plentiful and strong — (some of it 

 when twisted into a strand of, say g" thick, is too strong to break) — and all my 

 efforts to collect and burn them ; cover the trees with dry pine needles and 

 set fire to them, &c., &c,, have been of no use in getting rid of them. Is there 

 anything practicable, that will do so ? 



NORMAN F. T. TROUP. 

 Kausanie, Kumaun, Silt August, 1899. 



NOTE ON THE ABOVE BY G. C. DUDGEON, F.E.S. 



The two moths which were sent to me for identification by jVIr. Phipson 

 are both females of Naxa textilis, Wlk., var hiigeli, Feld. I should much like 

 to receive specimens of the larva. As far as I can find out, the latter has 

 never been described. The species belongs to an abnormal sub-family of 

 the Geomelridce called Orthostixince, which is near the primitive stock of the 

 family. In another sub-family, CEnochromince, belonging to the same family, 

 a few ancestral forms are said to have larvae with a tendency to develop 

 additional prolegs and a consequent different mode of progression from the 

 typical one. It would be interesting to know whether the caterpillar here 

 mentioned ' loops ' in walking, this being the normal method of progression 

 among larvtB of the family. 



Caterpillars can be easily preserved in a bottle of spirits of wine or glycerine, 

 and do not suffer much in transit. To eradicate them, spraying the web with 

 a solution of saltpetre and igniting the same when dry, should effectually 

 reduce their numbers, but it will probably be found that they wiU not recur 

 in following seasons in such large quantities even if not interfered with, as 

 their parasites will probably increase in like proportion. 



G. C. DUDGEON, F.E.S. 



Mr. E. H. AitWen published iu this Journal a graphic account of a somewhat similar 

 phenomenon observed by him in N. Oanara (vide Vol. VI, page 489)— [Editor]. 



No. XXI.— NESTING OF THE BLACK EAGLE. 



On page 589, in the last number of this Journal Mr. Mahon Daly asks for 

 information on the nesting of the Blask Eagle (1210, Ictinaetus inalayens, 

 Blf., Fauna of B. India). 



I took the nest of this bird on the 29th April this year, about 10 miles 

 from Murrec. It was situated 60 feet from the ground, in a large Hill Oak, 

 the tree being about 100 feet high, growing on a thickly wooded and steep 



