200 



Hargreaaes (H.). Report of the Government Entomologist for 1st 

 April to 31st December 1920. — Uganda Dept. Agric. Ann. Rept., 

 1920, Entebbe, 1921, pp. 46-48. [Received 13th February 1922.] 



No new insect pest was reported during the period under review. 

 Many of the pests of cotton, coffee and cacao, recorded in previous 

 reports, occurred [R.A.E., A, viii, 243, etc.]. No reports were 

 received of serious damage to rubber by insects. Severe outbreaks 

 are recorded of the butterffy, Acraea terpsichore, L., on sweet potato. 

 Hand collection of the caterpillars was found to be the only practical 

 control method. As they are gregarious in their earlier stages 

 timely action greatly facilitates this. Ceratitis capitata was recorded 

 as a pest of mango. 



SuBRAMANiA Iyer (T. V.). Notcs Oil the more Important Insect Pests 

 of Crops in the Mysore State. II. Lepidoptera — //. Mysore Agric. 

 & Exptl. Union, Bangalore, iii, no. 3, September 1921, pp. 120-127, 

 2 figs. [Received 13th February 1922.] 



Amsada albistriga, Wlk., is only found in sandy-loam soils and 

 causes serious damage to early sown crops, including pulses and cotton. 

 A female may lay as many as 600-700 eggs ; these hatch in about four 

 days, pupation occurring a month later. The larvae hatching from 

 the end of May to the second week in June are the most destructive, 

 as those appearing later are heavily parasitised by a Tachinid. There 

 is one generation a year. Hand-picking the sluggish adult moths is 

 the most effective measure. They usually emerge in numbers the 

 third day after a heavy rain and on cloud}^ and windy days in June. 

 Diacrisia obliqua, Wlk., is only occasionally a serious pest of castor, 

 lablab and horsegram. Hand-picking the leaves containing the young 

 gregarious larvae is the best niethod of control. 



Other pests of castor include the caterpillars of Achaea Janata, Dru., 

 (castor semi-looper), which are sometimes found at the end of July and 

 early August, and sometimes only in September. There are two 

 generations a year, the first causing the greater damage. The 

 adults are fruit feeders. Remedial measures are hand-picking of the 

 larvae in the early stages, and destruction of stray plants in gardens. 

 Scattering cooked rice in the fields also attracts birds, which eat the 

 larvae in numbers. The second generation larvae are heavily para- 

 sitised by three species of Braconids and by a Tachinid. Dichocrocis 

 punctiferalis, Gn., occurs on castor pods in October and November. 

 Stray plants in gardens and the first attacked fruit pods and fruit- 

 stalks containing the insects should be destroyed. In the North, 

 larvae of Orgyia postica are occasional pests about September and 

 October. 



Larvae of Utetheisa pulchella, L., are occasional pests of sunn hemp 

 [Crotalaria jimcea] in March and April. Spraying with lead arsenate 

 and Paris green was effective on a small area, and hand-picking and 

 destruction of the larvae in the very early stages of attack is fairly 

 effective. In the cold season, November- January, Simplicia robustalis, 

 Gn., is an occasional pest of ragi earheads in the stack. The most 

 effective control method is to thrash the crop directly the presence of 

 the insects is noted. 



The weevil, Apion amplum, Fst., has been identified as a pest of 

 black gram. 



