LIFE HISTORY i 
the red soil’. However, this contrast is in certain locali- 
ties being obliterated and the infestation 1s gradually 
spreading out on to the red soil areas also. There seems 
no a priort reason why black soil areas should be worse in- 
fested, unless it is the fact that oviposition is decidedly 
more difficult in the red soil. This point will be touched on 
later. The possibility of the two types of soil producing 
plants which will be eaten by the grasshoppers with dif- 
ferent degrees of avidity (a view commonly held by raiyats) 
cannot be entertained. 
LIFE HISTORY OF THE JOLA GRASSHOPPER. 
The life history of the Jola Grasshopper is, in general, 
as follows:—The eggs hatch in July after the early 
monsoon rains have fallen. The young hoppers begin 
feeding upon the grass at the borders of the fields and up- 
on the young crops, if they have already come up. Growth 
continues throughout July, August and September, the 
erasshoppers assuming the adult form late in October 
and November. Copulation takes place soon after the 
adult form is reached and shortly after this, egg-laying 
begins. This continues through November and into 
December, during which time the insects are particularly 
lethargic and very little feeding is done. By the end of 
December, most of the insects are dead, although a few 
may be found alive as late as January. The eggs remain 
in the soil till the following monsoon, when the young 
hoppers hatch and begin their work of destruction again. 
Let us now examine more closely the individual stages 
of the life history. 
Egg-laying.—As already stated, the worst infestation 
in the infected areas in Mysore is to be found in crops 
grown on black soil and it is here that the greatest num- 
ber of egg-masses are laid. The grasshoppers seem to 
have no “preference for particular parts of a field or for 


1 This dacs not appear to hold universally. Ina mate eel nS Mr. ae arson 
dra Rao, Assistant in Entomology, on this pest in Bellary District, and kindly furnished 
to me by Dr. C. A. Barber, Botanist tothe Madras Government, the author states :— 
“The hopper is equally severe in both black and red soils, but, as far as observed, more 
harm is done in red soils, as here the eggs hatch out earlier.”” As already stated, this 
does not agree with observations made in Mysore. Information received from Mr. M. L. 
Kulkarni, ‘Divisional Inspector of Agriculture, Bombay, indicates that in Dharwar Dis- 
trict the infestation is worse on black than on red soil areas. 
