PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIED ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 57 



Amsacta albistriga, Wlk. 



S. I. I., p. 369, t. 17 ; Proc. Second Entl. Meeting, pp. 55, 91, 

 179, 187, 199. 



Occurs in Southern India, especially in tlie South Arcot and Salem 

 districts in Madras and in Mysore, as a serious and destructive pest of 

 almost all local crops, e.g., cholam, cumbu, groundnut, pulses, castor, etc. 

 Also stated to occur iij Baroda, but I have not seen specimens, and the 

 species concerned here will j)robably turn out to be ^. lineola. 



For control measures see South Indian Insects, pages 85, 135, and 

 369. 



In the Mysore Agricultural Calendar for the year 1915, the life- Mr. Kunhi Kannan, 

 history and simple method of controlling Amsacta albistriga was described. 

 It was stated there that Kumblihulas are the offspring of a kind of moth 

 with white wings and golden banded body, which comes out in the field 

 during the rains and lies helpless until nightfall, when it begins to fly 

 about. As each female lays about 1,000 eggs it was explained that, 

 if the few thousands of moths that emerge in a village are hand-picked 

 and killed, their offspring (the Kumblihulas) will not appear and the crops 

 will be saved from devastation. The value of the remedy has been 

 repeatedly demonstrated in several villages where its adoption by the 

 raiyats has yielded very satisfactory results. Nevertheless there are a 

 few raiyats in every village who refuse to co-operate with the rest in 

 picking work. From this want of co-operation the whole village suffers 

 for the moths are prolific and it is enough that a few moths are left un- 

 picked for Kumblihulas to arise in large numbers and these will be the 

 cause of the pest the following year, whereas if all the moths are picked 

 regularly for three or four years then the chances are that the village 

 should be rid of the pest for a very long time. A whole village is there- 

 fore made to suffer for the neglect of a few. 



To avoid this possibility a Pest Act was passed in 1917 and it was 

 applied last year to two Hoblis, viz., Santebennur in Chennagiri Taluq 

 and Burmanayakandrug Hobli in Holalkere Taluq. The following regu- 

 lations were drawn up under the Act : — 



(1) As soon as the earliest mungar rains have fallen a diligent search 

 is to be made daily in the morning or evening for the Kum- 

 blihula moths which are to be picked and placed in a vessel 

 containing water with a small quantity of kerosine floating 

 on the surface. All moths so collected will be handed over 

 to the headman of village for inspection by the fieldman 

 in charge of operations in the village. 



