PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 155 
Kerosine Emulsion, when sprayed on Thrips-affected leaves, scorches Mr. Kunhi Kannan. 
them. Spraying with water only would be useful. 
A fly has been reared from paddy seedlings and is referred to in Mr. Fletcher. 
“Indian Insect Life’ [p. 638, tab. 76, fig. 3], where it is placed in 
Cordyluridee. The larve are said to live in the stems of young rice 
and to pupate there. It was reared at Pusa from transplanted paddy 
seedlings about ten years ago but since then it has not been observed 
to any extent and we seem to know very little about it. 
In Burma fly maggots have been noticed boring paddy seedlings in Mr. Shroff. 
an isolated patch. 
Crabs have come into notoriety lately, especially in Madras, as paddy Mr. Fletcher. 
pests. In Bihar we have only had one report of crabs attacking paddy, 
but about five or six years ago we had a report from Karachi of damage 
by crabs in fields of young paddy. Recently they have come into 
prominence in Madras and Burma and there seems to be no doubt that 
crabs do some damage to rice plants. 
In Madras reports of damage by crabs were received from the Kauveri Mr. Ramakrishna 
delta last July and August. It has been observed that the damage Ayyat. 
may be very serious m areas where single seedling transplantation of 
paddy is done. It appears that the crabs have been attacking paddy 
for several years but the damage was not noticed before because the 
practice of transplantation was to put in bunches of several seedlings. 
Have you found out anything about the life-history or habits of these Mr. Fletcher. 
crabs? It is a species of Paratelphusa which is concerned, I think. 
Yes; it is Paratelphusa hydrodromus, Hbst. Not much is known Mr. Ramakrishna 
about the life-history. The mother crab carries the young under the Ayyar. 
abdomen. 
The crab does not cut the paddy plants for the sake of feeding on 
the green portion but to extract the white pulpy inside portion of the 
stem. 
What control methods have been tried ? Mr. Fletcher. 
Many substances have been tried against these crabs. Crude Oil Mr. Ramakrishna 
Emulsion was found to have no effect on them. After the crop was AY¥ar- 
harvested, Carbon Bisulphide, Potassium Cyanide, and Kerosine Emulsion 
were poured into the holes found in the fields. These holes were examined 
sometime after and the crabs were found dead inside the holes. 
If the fields are thus freed from crabs, do they remain free, or do Mr, Fletcher. 
more crabs come in ? 
The fields will probably become reinfested but we have not yet been Mr. Ramakrishna 
working for long enough to say as we cannot say for certain whence Ayyar. 
these crabs come. It is probable they will come in again with irrigation 
water from higher levels. 
