31 



and tlie ploughing and flooding of infested fields immediately after the 

 harvest. A brief description is given of the life-history and various 

 stages of this moth, which is universal in Java, where it also infests 

 sugar-cane. 



Bernard (C). Verschillende Aanteekeningen over fl^e?oj»eZ«t5. [Various 

 Notes on Helopeltis.] — Meded. Proefstation voor Thee, Buitenzorgy 

 hx, 1918, pp. 1-20, 1 plate. 



The Tea Experiment Station at Buitenzorg is continuing investi- 

 gations on Helopeltis, the work being based on Leefmans' results 

 [see this Review, Ser. A, v, pp. 131 and 413]. It has been estimated 

 that on an estate of about 1,900 acres the average annual loss (crop 

 damage and expenses of remedial measures) may amount to £2,000, 

 while the total annual loss in the Dutch East Indies is estimated at 

 11,000,000 lb. of tea of a value of £200,000. The Dutch planters are 

 warned against a too confident acceptance of methods employed in 

 British India, for the conditions in Assam, where all estates prune 

 at the same time and insect pests disappear during the winter, cannot 

 be compared with those in Java. Leefmans has recorded that some 

 Leguminosae are attacked by Helopeltis, and further experiments 

 enable the author to state that neither Sesbania aegyptiaca nor Acacia 

 decurrens is attacked, so that they are useful green manure plants 

 for infested districts. A case is recorded of injury by Helopeltis to a 

 Java-coffee plant among severely infested tea. Several Capsids, 

 as yet unidentified, were collected. It is confirmed that H. cuneatus,. 

 Dist., confines itself to a small number of Araceae. Some anatomical 

 details of this species are described and figured. 



Writing from Sumatra, Leefmans states that H. theivora, Waterh., 

 occurs there on Gardenia florida, Psidium guajava, and other plants. 

 On a plant called " Djaran " the same observer has also found Pachy- 

 peltis vittiscutus, Berg., which in Java severely injures cinchona and 

 also occurs on tea. 



Bernard (C.) & Gianetti (E.). Het Vangen van Helopeltis door 

 Middel van " Tanks " op de Onderneming Goenoeng Mas. [The 

 Capture of Helopeltis on the Goenoeng Mas Estate by Means of 

 "Tanks."] — Meded. Proefstation voor Thee, Buitenzorg, Hx, 1918, 

 pp. 23-36, 3 plates. 



It is customary in Java to employ women to catch Helopeltis, but 

 they tend to collect the larvae in preference to the more active adults 

 and are not always available. In an attempt to employ male workers 

 without increasing the cost the following method was evolved : — -A 

 tent or cover made of white cotton material stretched on a light 

 wooden or bamboo frame is carried by a coolie and placed over the 

 tea bushes which are disturbed, thus causing the Capsids to fly up on 

 to the white walls and roof where they are easily seen and caught. 

 The framework has an outline similar to that of a house and is open 

 at the bottom, the sides of which measure about 7 foot square. The 

 cross-bars which hold the sides together enable the cover to be easily 

 carried by the worker standing under and in it. From their slow 

 methodical progress through the plantations, the author calls these 



