Mr. Fletcher. 
Mr. Gupta. 
Mr. Ratiram. 
Mr. Gupta. 
Mr. Ramakrishna 
Ayyar. 
Mr. Shroff. 
Mr. Fletcher. 
Mr. Ramakrishna 
Ayyar. 
154 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 
How far were these measures adopted ? 
These measures were adopted only on the Experimental Areas ; 
but nothing was done in the fields of the cultivators. 
Last year in Assam these caterpillars came in large numbers soon 
after the floods but this year we got Cirphis unipuncta instead of Spodop- 
lera. 
In the Central Provinces one year [? 1908] in August, Spodoptera 
mauritia appeared simultaneously in thirteen districts. In Balaghat 
District, 1t was found very serious and nothing could be done there ; 
the result of the damage was that the affected fields appeared as if they 
had been grazed down by cattle. Eight days afterwards there was a 
very heavy downpour of rain, lasting for three days, and after the 
rain not a single caterpillar was found. New shoots were thrown 
out by the plants and the cultivators harvested a bumper crop. In the 
following year the same trouble was expected but the pest was reported 
froma few districts only, and the attack was not at all serious. Since 
then every year a few specimens are sent in from the districts but 
the pest has never reappeared in any large swarms. 
In Assam Spodoptera is found most serious in paddy seed-beds. 
In certain parts of Madras ducks have been found very useful in 
clearing the fields of these caterpillars. ~ 
In Burma it has been noticed that districts lable to floods suffer 
more from the attack of Spodoptera. 
Thrips oryze@ is only known at present from Southern India but is 
probably more widely distributed, but overlooked at present. Even in 
Southern India it has only been recorded in the last two or three years 
and the insect itself was only described quite recently in the “‘ Bulletin 
of Entomological Research ” [| Vol. VI, pp. 353-355]. It is not included 
im “ South Indian Insects,” but I saw an attack of it on paddy seedlings 
when I was at Coimbatore at the end of August 1915. The attacked 
plants had gone quite a light yellow colour as the result of the attack 
of this Thrips. As regards control-measures, in this case what was 
done was to pour kerosine oil onto the irrigation water running into 
these plots, until a film of oil was formed over the surface of the water, 
and then to draw a bamboo over the plants so as to submerge them. 
By this means the Thrips were killed off, but I did not see the result of 
the treatment, as I left Coimbatore. 
Thrips oryze is very bad in some rice-growing tracts im Madras, 
on the seedlings. The attacked leaves turn a very pale yellow and 
have a sickly appearance as if they suffered from want of water. Good 
rains have been found to bring the attack under control in Madras. 
