Mr. M. M. Lal. 
Mr. Ratiram. 
Mr. Robertson- 
Brown. 
Mr. Jhaveri. 
194 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 
connection we may recall the case of Liogryllus bimaculatus in gram- 
fields, when it feeds equally on caterpillars and on the contents of gram- 
pods. 
Spodoptera mauritia, which we have already considered under paddy, 
is also an occasional pest of wheat seedlings, on which it has been found 
at Pusa. But it seems to be a relatively unimportant pest of wheat. 
Microtermes anandi is the small Termite usually responsible at Pusa 
for damage to wheat seedlings and it is probably this same species which 
attacks wheat seedlings in other districts also. It nests in the ground 
without any indication in the shape of a mound to show where its nest 
is, but this may at times apparently be situated at a considerable depth 
underground. At Pusa when excavations were being made for the Drain 
Gauges, the tunnels of this species were found at a depth of about eleven 
feet below ground-level. Scattered small chambers seem to occur 
almost anywhere underground and those belonging to Microtermes 
may easily be recognized by the fact that they are quite small, usually 
rather globular in shape and contain a small mass of comb whose 
exterior surface has a characteristically roughened appearance. To 
deal directly with these termites in wheat areas seems to be rather impos- 
sible as it is not possible to locate and destroy their nests directly and 
the enormous areas to be dealt with must also be borne in mind. It 
is possible that deep-ploughing, such as is done with steam tackle at 
Pusa, may so disturb the upper strata of soil that the termites may be 
driven down at least until the plants have attained a good growth ; but 
this requires experiment and in any case is not possible in small holdings. 
In irrigated areas, a deterrent may be used in the irrigation water, but 
this again is possible only in some localities. 
It is generally the seedlings which are attacked—we shall come 
presently to the case of termite attack on grown plants—and, once 
they have made a little growth, they seem to be fairly immune. 
In the Punjab termites are very bad on wheat seedlings. 
Jn the Central Provinces wheat seedlings are also seriously attacked 
by termites. 
My experience in the North-West Frontier Province is that wheat 
when sown by drills suffers more than when sown broad-cast. I have 
further observed that the trouble from termites is much greater in light 
souls than m heavy soils. 
1 can corroborate Mr. Robertson-Brown’s latter statement. In 
Northern Gujarat wheat in black soil areas is not much attacked by 
termites. 
