rEOCEEDIXGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 875 



Status. 

 I am of the opinion that on rubber the insect is more imj)ortant 

 mycologically than entomologically. During the North-East monsoon 

 the old webs are ahnost completely stripped from the trees, leaving 

 exposed the inner cortical ti.siSues, whilst the pupal pits collect water and 

 form good nidi for fungal spores. 



Rearing. 

 This is extraordinarily troublesome. It is with the greatest difficulty 

 I have ascertained the exact pupal period. If the inner lid of the pupal 

 chamber is lifted to ascertain the statcof the contained insect and this 

 is found to be still pre-pupal, it is ahnost a certainty that the next visit 

 will reveal an empty chamber, the larva having left or fallen a victim to 

 a predator, whilst pre-pupal larvse removed to the laboratory nearly 

 always fail to turn. However, if within 24 hours or so of turning, the 

 change can sometimes be successfully accomphshed, and the imagines 

 bred. ' 



Points on wJiicIi further information is required. 



1. There appears to be nothing whatever known of the egg stage. 



2. Where is the insect from September to December ? 



3. Is Antram's figure 2 the same or another species ? 



4. A mycological investigation of the wounds caused in the bark. 



This is quite an interesting; account of a Microlepidopteron of which Mr. Fletcher. 

 personally I have no first-hand knowledge. As regards Mr. Senior- 

 White's third c]uestion, however, I can say something, as I have examined 

 the specimen (unique in the Indian Tea Association's Collection) from 

 which was drawn the second figure in Mr. Antram's Bulletin on the Bark- 

 eating Borers of Tea. Mr. Antram States that it is a variety of Comoc- 

 rilis pieria. The specimen is now in very poor condition but it seems 

 to me quite distmct from C. pieria and seems to belong to an undescribed 

 .species. 



54.— NOTES ON REARING INSECTS IN HOT CLIMATES. 



By T. Bainbrigge Fletcher, R.N., F.L.S., F.E.S., F.Z.S., Imperial 

 Entomologist, and C. C. Ghosh, B.A., Assistant to the Imperial Ento- 

 mologist. 



(Plates 131—138). 

 The importance of rearing insects needs little emphasis here. The 

 identification of insects being based as a rule on adult characters, in the 

 case of an immature form found doing damage it is usually necessary 



