Mr. Shroft. 
Mr. Fletcher. 
Mr. Jhaveri. 
88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 
Myllocerus viridanus [Fauna of India, Curculionidee, Vol. I, pp. 301- 
303, fig. 93] was found on castor at Coimbatore and is widely distri-— 
buted in Madras and Ceylon but is scarcely a pest of castor. 
Cyrtacanthacris ranacea [* South Indian Insects,” pp. 530-531, fig. 
424] is sometimes found commonly on castor but is scarcely a pest. 
The seeds of castor are attacked by a few insects and these are of 
course of more importance when the crop is grown for oil purposes. 
In the seeds we get :— 
Dichocrocis punctiferalis. 
Heliothis (Chloridea) obsoleta. 
Dichocrocis punctiferalis [“ South Indian Insects,” p. 433, tab. 34] 
occurs throughout the Plains of India, Burma and Ceylon and is often 
a serious pest of castor, the !arva boring in the seed-pods and also in 
the shoots. The attacked pods show an extruded mass of frass and 
should be collected and the caterpillars destroyed. 
Heliothis obsoleta occasionally bores into castor pods but is scarcely 
a pest of this crop. 
A good many sucking insects oceur on castor :— 
Aleyrodes ricint. 
Empoasca flavescens. 
Nezara viridula. 
Mites. 
Aleyrodes ricini is generally rather a sporadic pest of castor but may 
be very bad when it occurs, covering all the leaves, which wilt under 
the attack. There is a plate [No. 81] showing this insect in “ Indian 
Insect Life” and this plate also shows the small Coccinellid, Clania 
soror, which preys on it. A minute Chalcidid [“ South Indian Insects ” 
p. 202, fig. 89] also parasitizes this Aleurodid. In spite of these natural 
checks, this Aleurodid is often destructive and requires remedial 
measures, such as spraying with Crude Oil Emulsion. At Coimbatore 
I once tried spraying with ordinary flour-paste, and it did some good, 
but was not altogether successful, as the sprayed leaves were soon 
reoccupied. Aleyrodes ricini seems to be widely distributed in India 
and has been noticed to do serious damage at Coimbatore and Pusa. 
In Burma I have also seen it serious at Mandalay and Padu. 
Empoasca flavescens also occurs commonly on castor. 1 have des- 
cribed and figured this in “ South Indian Insects,” p. 498, fig. 387, this 
figure being drawn from a specimen sent by Mr. Green as occurring 
on castor at Peradeniya. It is possible that more than one species 
may be concerned in India. 
Yn North Gujarat an Hmporsca occurs on castor. 
