RICE BUG. 



117 



off aud liberatins!: the bug-. 



Tliey are quite easily seen, the cg-gs forming' a conspicuous object on the 



"•recn leaf. When ready, the eg'g- opens, the delicate inner membrane and 



part of one end of the outer shell coming 



The little bugs are most quaint 



insects, all legs and feeler?, with a 



slender green body. The antennae 



are banded in black, white and 



brown, the legs black, all extremely 



long in comparison with the tiny 



green body. The proboscis is 



very long, reaching beyond the 



insertion of the hind legs. 



At each moult the insect grows 



larger, the body remaining green. 



Wings are formed gradually. 



When full grown the insect is about 



two-thirds of an inch long, the 



wings folded over the abdomen, the 



body green with a tinge of straw 



colour, the antennae parti-coloured. 



It flies actively and may be readily Fig. 133. 



made to fly out of the field. ^^^* ^/ '^" ^''' ^'^^- (^''^'^^J^''^ *'"^''-^ 



This bug feeds upon ripening seeds; it will attack rice, small 



millets, grasses and other plants as the seeds form and fill with milky 

 juice. Sama [Panicum Jrumentacenm) is a favourite food, and the bug s 

 normal food is the wild grasses in the jungle and waste lands. Though 

 common in cultivation during the rains, it breeds only when a crop is 

 ripening and food is plentiful. Then the eggs are laid on the leaves of 

 the plant and the young find abundance of food. 



Cultivators know the pest, which has many vernacular names, but 

 do nothing to check it. It is prevalent in Burma, Assam, Bengal, the 

 United Provinces and Madras, practically throughout the rice districts of 

 India. In other parts of India it is to be found where the conditions 

 are suitable ; it extends to Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, Malayan Archi- 

 pelago and China. As the winged form is fairly active, it can be driven 

 from the rice-fields with little effort. The unwinged young when dis- 

 turbed simply fall to the ground or to the surface of the water, whence 

 they climb u])on the plants again. There is no easy means of checking 

 it, but if sufiicient trouble is taken and a large area treated, the insect can 

 be destroyed. Ihe simplest method is to draw a bag through the rice, 

 simply running it over the plants. Two coolies can easily manage a bag 



