556 



will trap many of them. Young cherry trees that had been badly 

 defoliated by them were sprayed with 1 lb. arsenate of lead dissolved 

 in 6 gals, water. The trees and ground were made white by the mix- 

 ture and next day hundreds of the beetles were lying dead under the 

 trees. 



From Ramco the peach aphis [Myzus persicae ?] is recorded as doing 

 considerable damage to peaches and nectarines, necessitating spraying 

 every other day to keep it in check. A contact spray, made by 

 boiling 4 oz. tobacco and i lb. soap in 4 gals, water, is recommended. 

 Winter treatment of the soil about the roots is no longer advocated 

 as it is not now thought that this aphis winters in the soil, though 

 winter sprays of 1 oz. soap boiled in 1 pint water, added to 1 quart 

 kerosene, to make an emulsion are recommended. This could be 

 used in the proportion of 1 part emulsion to 9 parts water when the 

 trees are bare, and acts rapidly, but after the trees are in leaf, it must 

 be much more diluted or the foliage will be scorched. 



MiSRA (C. S.). The Indian Sugar-cane Leaf-hopper, F^iMaaberm'ris^ 

 Kirby. — Memoirs Dept. Agric. in India, Agric. Res. Institute, 

 Pusa, V, no. 11, Entom. Ser., August 1917, pp. 73-133, 10 plates, 

 17 figs. [Received 17th October 1917.] 



A study of the sugar-cane leaf-hoppers at Pusa has revealed the 

 fact that it is only in occasional years that infestation becomes serious ; 

 during the nine years that Pyrilla spp. have been under observation, 

 there have been only four bad outbreaks. During the intervening 

 periods the hopper is present, but not in sufficient numbers to cause 

 serious injury, the presence of parasitic enemies and unfavourable 

 climatic conditions being efficient checks to its increase. Three 

 species of leaf-hopper are found infesting the canes, namely, Pyrilla 

 aberrans, Kirby, P.perpusiUa,^ Walk., and P. pusana, Dist. A 

 table is given differentiating these species and" their distribution, 

 but the life -histories and habits of all of them are so similar 

 that for economic purposes they may be considered together, 

 P. aberrans being the species to which the present paper mainly 

 refers. Sugar-cane is the preferred food-plant, but when occurring 

 abundantly the insects are also found on oats, wheat, Guinea 

 grass, millet and other tall grasses. In 1906, when the infestation 

 was extremely severe, oviposition occurred on bamboos, Ficus 

 religiosa, F. infectoria, Andropogon sorghum, (juar), peas, gram 

 and even on stones and rubbish, in fact practically anything 

 that was near the sugar-cane plots, although the insect breeds almost 

 exclusively upon sugar-cane, to which it transfers itself by the 

 beginning of June. Eggs are laid most abundantly from June to 

 August, preferably on the lower surfaces of the leaves, and are covered 

 over with a quantity of the white threads which form the chacteristic 

 anal covering of the female. They hatch in about 14 days, the nymphs 

 remaining clustered near the egg-masses for some time and then 

 becoming active. They prefer to feed on the lower surfaces of leaves, 

 particularly towards the base and near the mid-rib. While feeding, 

 honey-dew is exuded, giving rise to the gro^^i:h of a black fungus, 

 Capnodium sp. It is for the sake of this sugary secretion that 

 the ants, Prenolepis hngicornis. Latr., Camponotus compressus, F.,and 



