36 LIFE-HISTORIES OF TORTRICIDA 
“There are two periods of the year at which the caterpillars are most 
conspicuous, viz., March to May and August to September. They attack 
the topmost leaves of a [tea] shoot and the damage done in the early part 
of the season, though seldom serious, is greater than that done later in the 
season, for the following reason. The pest prefers succulent growth, and on 
this account will attack indigenous varieties of tea, on which the young leaves 
are soft and juicy, in preference to China or hybrid varieties, in which the 
young leaves tend to be more dry. Similarly, the new growth on cut-back 
tea is more succulent than that on tea which has been top-pruned, and hence 
bushes pruned in the former manner are more lable to attack than top-pruned 
bushes. Should a cut-back bush be backward in its growth in March it is 
very liable to receive a very severe check if attacked by this pest, more es- 
pecially so, as the rule at this time of year is to pluck such tea to a measure, 
leaving all bushes untouched which have not yet grown up to that measure. 
Should a shoot be attacked after reaching that measure, the damage done 
is negligible, as the pest and the attacked leaves are removed by the pluckers, 
and the main object, which was to allow the new shoots to attain a certain 
growth, has been achieved. In August and September, however, such condi- 
tions do not obtain. The main object then (for August and September 
are the two months during which growth is most rapid as a rule) is to 
get the leaf off. The caterpillars are removed by the pluckers almost 
as soon as they become established and only a small proportion attain 
maturity. 
“Thus ordinary garden operations as a rule exercise a sufficient check 
on the pest and, in cases where backward cut-back tea is affected in the early 
part of the season, it is now made a practice of plucking the affected tops off 
the shoots even if they have not attained the growth desired. The highest 
axillary bud then develops, and the shoot is afterwards left until it attains 
the desired measure. 
“Specimens of the different pests of tea are continually being collected 
in the field and reared in this laboratory in the hope of finding parasites, but 
so far no parasites have been found to attack Homona coffearia.” (E. A. 
Andrews, tn litt., 17th January 1917.) 
Homona coffearia was recorded (+) as a tea-pest in the tea districts of 
Southern India on the authority of Mr. R. D. Anstead, and I have no first- 
hand knowledge of its occurrence on tea in Southern India at all. Probably 
it does occur, together with Laspeyresia leucostoma and perhaps other species. 
Specimens of Homona coffearia, taken at Pollibetta in South Coorg by myself, 
had probably bred upon coffee, as there was no tea near by. It has 
