266 Tea: Its Cultivation, &c. [Sess. 
There is no arbitrary rule for naming teas, each garden having 
its own standards, The different grades of tea are then fired 
for the second time. This operation is of short duration, and 
is intended to drive off any moisture which may have been 
absorbed during sorting. 
The manufacturing processes are now concluded, and the 
tea is packed up in boxes for shipment to the London market. 
The second section of this communication refers to the pests 
of the tea plant. These are numerous, and are dealt with at 
some length in the report by Dr Watt published at the 
Government printing-office at Calcutta in 1898.1 The subject 
is too large to be dealt with here, so we shall confine our 
attention to those pests of which we have specimens, 
Red spider (Zetranychus bioculatus, Wood Mason).—The red 
spiders are very small insects, living together in colonies on 
the leaves. The red spider, or tea-mite as it is also called, 
injures the leaves by sucking out the sap. As a result the 
leaves take on a bronzed appearance, and eventually fall off. 
The vitality of the bush is reduced, and the yield of tea 
correspondingly affected. 
Mosquito (Helopeltis theivora, Waterhouse).—This insect 
inserts its proboscis through the epidermis of the leaf or shoot 
and sucks the juice. A pale brown spot, from 4 to } inch in ~ 
diameter, with a darkened rim and a spot in the centre, marks © 
the area of depredation. In time the colour deepens and — 
becomes dried up and blackened. The mosquito pays its — 
attention to the very young leaves and buds, the ones specially — 
wanted by the planter for manufacture. If the mosquito is — 
too abundant, the leaf crop is seriously affected, and the yield — 
of tea much diminished. 
Orange beetle (Diapromorpha melanopus, Lacord).—This is 
a small orange-coloured beetle with hard pitted wing-cases. 
It is a grass-eater by nature, but has taken to tea plants. 
Orange beetles, like the mosquitoes, confine their attention to 
the portion of the tea plant most desired by the planter. 
They scrape away the green stem of a shoot fit for plucking, 
1 The Pests and Blights of the Tea Plant, being a Report of Investigations 
conducted in Assam, and to some extent also in Kangra, by George Watt, M.B., 
C.M.,C.LE. Calcutta: 1898. 
