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Fletc^her (T. R.). & Inglis (C. M.). Some Common Indian Birds. 

 No. 3. The Spotted Owlet (Athene brama). -Agric. Jl. India, 

 Calcutta, XV, no. 3, May 1920, pp. 235-238, 1 plate. [Received 

 21st July 1920.] 



The spotted owlet {Athene brama) is one of the commonest owls in 

 the Plains of India and Burma, and is constantly found about houses 

 and cultivated gardens. Its prey consists of termites, beetles, crickets 

 and other insects and, to a less extent, mice, shrews and lizards. In 8 

 birds examined, 69 insects were taken, one of which was beneficial, 

 26 neutral and 42 injurious. At Pusa the chief food seems to be the 

 large crickets, Brachytn/pes and Gryllotalpa, and dung-beetles. It is 

 therefore a most useful bird, especially in the control of crickets which 

 are also nocturnal in habit. 



Mann (H. H.), Nagpurkar (S. D.) & Kulkarni (G. S.). The Tambera 

 Disease of ^oisiio.— Agric. Jl. India, Calcutta, xv, no. 3, May 1920, 

 pp. 282-288, 2 plates. [Received 21st July 1920.] 

 In the Poona district of Western India the potato crop is a very- 

 important one and, in the case of plants grown during the rainy 

 season, much damage is caused by the presence of large numbers of 

 a very small mite that may be a Tetranychid. This pest sucks the 

 juices from the epidermal cells of the leaves so that they are unable 

 to stand the heavy drain on them and wither p^ematureh^ The mites 

 crawl from plant to plant where these are in contact, and they may 

 possibly be carried also by insects and other agencies. The affected 

 plants acquire a reddish colour, almost as though they had been burnt, 

 this condition being known as tambera. The disease may appear at 

 any stage in the growth of the plant, but is more general after it is 

 a month old. A very similar disease occurs in potatoes in Hawaii and is 

 caused by a mite that is apparently identical \R.A.E., A, vi, 552 ; 

 vii, 196]. In order to determine the cause of the disease inoculation 

 experiments were undertaken, which proved the causal connection of 

 the mites. 



Spraying with sulphur wash and dusting with sulphur were tried and 

 proved very effective ; three applications were given ; the first when 

 the plants were three weeks old, the second about three weeks later, 

 and the third two or three months after planting. The yield of an 

 unsprayed plot in 1919 was only 1,000 lb. per acre, that of a plot 

 sprayed after the attack commenced being 5,000 lb. per acre, and of 

 a plot sprayed from the beginning 8,720 lb. per acre. Spraying, 

 though the more effective method, is a new process to the cultivators, 

 and dusting with sulphur from muslin bags will probably be more 

 general for some time. 



It is not known how the mites survive from year to year. They 

 may possibly be carried over on the potato plant itself. There are two 

 distinct seasonal crops grown ; one is sown in June or July and is 

 harvested in September and October or even in November ; the other 

 is sown in November and gathered in March. Stray plants arising 

 from the old tubers of the previous crop are always foim.d in the fields, 

 and although the November-sown crop is not seriously attacked, it is 

 by no means free from the mites, which become active again as soon 

 as the hot weather begins in April and May. It is also possible that 



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