114 



permission to land the cargo has been withheld, there still exists the 

 danger to growing cotton due to moths reaching the shore by flight 

 from the place of anchorage. 



The question has arisen as to whether the existing legislation is 

 sufl&ciently effective to deal with such a case, and it is urged that if 

 this is not so, immediate steps should be taken to render it adequate. 



Ramakrishna Ayyar (T. V.). Some Notes on the Habits and Life 

 History of the Stem Weevil attacking Cambodia Cotton {Pempheres 

 affinis, Faust). — Madras Agric. Dept. Year Book 1918 ; Madras, 

 1918, i^p. 1-13, 4 figs. [Received 6th January 1919.] 



Petnpheres affinis (stem weevil), the most important pest of Cambodia 

 cotton, occurs in widely distant areas, such as Behar in North India, 

 and Coimbatorein South India, without being found in the intervening 

 districts. The larva bores into the stem just above ground-level, causing 

 gall-like swellings. When young plants are attacked they usually die, 

 but plants 4 or 5 months old may survive, though they are liable to 

 be bent by a strong wind, or they may dry up altogether, the loss 

 in bad cases being from 15 to 20 per cent, of the normal crop. 



The whole life-cycle is passed on the plant itself. The egg, which 

 is deposited just beneath the thin bark of the stem, hatches in 9 to 10 

 days, as many as 7 or 8 eggs sometimes occurring in one stem. The 

 larval period is approximately a month to a month and a half, during 

 which time the larva cuts irregular tunnels beneath the bark, though 

 these do not extend far up the stem. The pupal stage lasts for 9 or 10 

 days, but the adult remains a day or two longer within the stem before 

 emerging. The adult lives for from 25 to 30 days, the time required 

 for the completion of one generation being about two months. No 

 natural enemies, either parasites or predators, have as yet been 

 discovered. The weevil has been found to a slight extent on Hibiscus 

 cannubinus (gogu) and on H. esculentus (bhindi) and at Pusa has been 

 found breeding on a wild plant, Triimifetta sp. 



In the Coimbatore district Cambodia cotton is gi-own right through 

 the year, or even longer, allowing the weevil to breed continuously 

 all the year without a break. Since there is a possibility of 6 genera- 

 tions a year, the rapid multiplication of the pest is explained. There 

 does not appear to be any period of hibernation or aestivation. All 

 remedial measures must be of a preventive nature, but some of these, 

 such as smearing the base of the stem with dilute phenyl, or earthing 

 up the stem with a mixture of loose soil and powdered lead arsenate, 

 have proved useless, while the plucking and burning of badly infested 

 plants have given good results only when practised by all cultivators 

 in one area. Legislation requiring a close season for cotton growing, 

 during which no cotton plants would be found in a whole district, 

 would do much to eliminate this pest by starvation. 



McSwiNEY (J. ). Report of the Agricultural Department, Assam, for 



the Year ending 30th June 1918, Shillong, 1918, pp. 5-6. [Received 



7th January 1919.] 



The most common and serious pests of rice in Assam are Hispa 



armigera (rice Hispid), Leptocorisa varicornis (rice bug) and Schoenobius 



incertellus {bipunctifer), remedial measures that have been attempted 



