PllOCEEDINGS OF THE THIEP ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 371 



Food plants — contd. 



Dub {Cynodon dactyhn) — Marcli, June. 

 Gandli {Panicum miliare) — July. 



Tlie above are some of the foodplants from which these flies have been 

 reared in the Insectaiy. Fly maggots are found in other grasses and 

 •even in the top shoots of bamboo branches. The maggots work at the 

 base of the heart-leaf, lacerating and chewing the part entirely, producing 

 the characteristic "dead heart." Usually the maggots are found in 

 young plants. In China and Gandli, however, they occur in plants in 

 ear, gnawing the bases of the ears which dry up. The effect is exactly 

 similar to that caused by lepidopterous borers in ears of rice and wheat. 



These muscid flies are a real pest and very little is known about 

 them. As will appear from the dates of collection of maggots given 

 along with the foodplants above, the flies are active throughout the 

 year. The period of their life-cycle is short, being completed approxi- 

 mately withm a fortnight. 



Pachydiplosis oryzce. 



Plate 30. 



Foodplant — Rice. ^ 



This small Cecidomyiad fly causes serious damage to newly trans- 

 planted rice seedlings, especially when transplanting is done late in the 

 season. The maggots feed in the middle of the shoot, producing a peculiar 

 long tube-like gall in place of the main stem. Further growth of the 

 shoot is thus stopped. Therefore the result is the same as that of attack 

 by the ordinary borers which cause " dead heart." 



This has not been observed to occur in the neighbourhood of Pusa, 

 but it is a serious pest in parts of Bihar and Orissa, Bengal and Madras. 



Stictaspis ceratitina. 



Plate 31, fig. 1. 



Foodplant — Bamboo. 



The maggots of this Fruitfly have been observed to occur in large 

 numbers in the new bamboo shoots which grow in the Rains. The grubs 

 bore the soft stem, killing the shoots entirely. These, together with 

 termites and to a less extent caterpillars of Argyroploce paragmmma, 

 are responsible for the death of a large proportion of the new shoots, 

 which do not become immune until their stem hardens. The stem 

 and especially the apical portion of it, which is the part liable to attack, 



