KEPOHT ON ECONO.^^^(^ ENTOMOLOGY 
225 
When alarmed, tlie larva either clings to the leaf with its prolegs and arches its body, 
remaining in this position for some time, or drops to the ground and feigns death. 
At Shendi, having exhausted their food supply, the caterpillars began to migrate in the 
fashion of the well-known army worm— Leucunin. u7>ipunc,ta. 
When full-fed, the larva spins up a cocoon composed of fragments of leaves, and 
sometimes frass. Pupal cases may frequently be found on the ends of leaves. 
The adult emerges in seven to eight days. 
The moths bred out in the laboratory all died without ovipositing. 
Preventions and remedies. —Pland-pick the larv®—children can he employed to do this 
at a price per oke or litre. 
Where they are migrating, dig a trench, with perpendicular sides, across their line of 
march. In this trench, at intervals of a few feet, dig deep holes. The larvm, falling into 
the trench, and being uuable to climb out readily, will crawl along the bottom, seeking an 
exit, and so drop into the holes, where they can easily be destroyed. 
CoCKC H APEU ATTACKING DUKHN 
h’hinhyptia, sp. 
Specimens of a small cockchafer were sent from Kordofan during December, 1907, 
w'itli notes that it was feeding on dukhn. It could not be identified with any of the chafers 
at the British Museum, and is iirobably a new species. 
Most of the chafers spend their larval stages in the soil, feeding on the roots of plants, 
and may take up to five years to complete their development. 
Preventions and remedies .—The adults of the common European cockchafer —Melolajithns 
vulgaris —usually spend the day clinging to the leaves and twigs of trees, when, by beating 
or shaking the branches, large numbers can be induced to fall on to cloths sjiread below to 
receive them. Probablj- this method of collecting the beetles could be adopted in Kordofan. 
The Duka Plant Bug 
Lggceus militaris, Fab. 
This insect was figui'ed in the Second Eeport of these Laboratories. 
Although known as the “ Dura hug,” I have rarely seen it occurring in sufficient 
numbers on dura to constitute a pest. It feeds on a variety of plants and appears to be 
universal in its distribution throughout the Sudan. 
Preventions and remedies .—Where the bugs are noticed in large numbers attacking dura 
or other crops, children might be employed to hand-pick them. 
The a n d a t a Bug 
.\ijonoscelus puberula, Stal. 
Plate XXVIII., fig. II 
A serious outbreak of this pest occurred in the Blue Nile Province during the autumn 
of 190G. The bugs swarmed on the dura, sucking the juices from the developing heads of 
corn, and in some districts completely ruining the crop. A certain number were observed 
during the following summer attacking young dates. 
They were rarely seen far from the river. 
x> 
A pest of 
dukhn 
I'he so-called 
■ • Dura bug ” 
