﻿PROCEEDINGS 
  OF 
  THE 
  FOURTH 
  EXTO^IOLOGICAL 
  MEETING 
  117 
  

  

  Generally 
  speaking, 
  young 
  transplants 
  and 
  young 
  tillers 
  of 
  earlier 
  trans- 
  

   planted 
  and 
  therefore 
  advanced 
  plants 
  are 
  attacked. 
  Usually 
  the 
  

   damage 
  is 
  severe 
  in 
  the 
  former 
  and 
  when 
  the 
  transplanting 
  operations 
  

   become 
  late 
  as 
  much 
  as 
  50 
  to 
  75 
  per 
  cent, 
  of 
  the 
  plants 
  may 
  be 
  affected. 
  

   Also 
  plants 
  standing 
  in 
  water 
  are 
  more 
  liable 
  to 
  be 
  attacked 
  than 
  those 
  

   in 
  waterless 
  lands. 
  

  

  The 
  fly 
  lays 
  reddish 
  elongated 
  tubular 
  eggs 
  about 
  0-5 
  mm. 
  long 
  

  

  and 
  about 
  0-125 
  mm. 
  thick, 
  with 
  rounded 
  ends 
  " 
  on 
  the 
  hairs 
  of 
  the 
  

  

  ligules 
  or 
  on 
  the 
  lower 
  surface 
  of 
  the 
  basal 
  parts 
  of 
  leaves 
  and 
  rarely 
  

  

  also 
  on 
  their 
  upper 
  surface. 
  The 
  tiny 
  young 
  larvse 
  creep 
  down 
  between 
  

  

  the 
  leaf-sheaths 
  till 
  they 
  reach 
  the 
  growing 
  point 
  of 
  the 
  apical 
  or 
  the 
  

  

  side 
  buds. 
  On 
  entering 
  the 
  interior 
  of 
  the 
  buds, 
  they 
  seem 
  to 
  lacerate 
  

  

  their 
  tender 
  tissues 
  and 
  feed 
  on 
  their 
  nutritious 
  juices. 
  Whether 
  by 
  

  

  actual 
  feeding 
  or 
  continual 
  irrigation, 
  an 
  oval 
  chamber 
  is 
  formed 
  

  

  round 
  the 
  maggot 
  in 
  the 
  tissues 
  of 
  the 
  growing 
  point. 
  Further 
  normal 
  

  

  apical 
  growth 
  being 
  stopped 
  all 
  the 
  nutrition 
  is 
  directed 
  to 
  the 
  walls 
  

  

  of 
  this 
  chamber 
  which 
  elongates 
  like 
  a 
  normal 
  internode 
  (forming 
  

  

  the 
  characteristic 
  long 
  gall). 
  By 
  the 
  time 
  the 
  outgrowth 
  begins 
  

  

  to 
  be 
  visible, 
  the 
  maggot 
  will 
  generally 
  have 
  turned 
  into 
  a 
  pupa 
  and 
  

  

  in 
  about 
  six 
  days 
  will 
  be 
  ready 
  to 
  emerge 
  as 
  a 
  fly. 
  When 
  about 
  to 
  

  

  transform, 
  the 
  pupa 
  with 
  the 
  help 
  of 
  the 
  dorsal 
  spines 
  of 
  its 
  abdominal 
  

  

  segments 
  wriggles 
  up 
  the 
  hollow 
  tube 
  and 
  boring 
  a 
  hole 
  at 
  the 
  tip 
  

  

  with 
  its 
  front 
  spines, 
  partially 
  projects 
  out. 
  The 
  adult 
  now 
  emerges 
  

  

  and 
  flies 
  away, 
  leaving 
  the 
  empty 
  pupal 
  skin 
  at 
  the 
  tip 
  of 
  the 
  hollow 
  

  

  shoots 
  " 
  (Y. 
  Eamachandra 
  Rao). 
  Each 
  female 
  is 
  capable 
  of 
  laying 
  

  

  about 
  100 
  eggs. 
  The 
  time 
  occupied 
  from 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  oviposition 
  

  

  till 
  the 
  emergence 
  of 
  the 
  fly 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  about 
  two 
  to 
  three 
  weeks. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  not 
  known 
  how 
  the 
  fly 
  passes 
  the 
  rest 
  of 
  the 
  year 
  or 
  whether 
  

   it 
  breeds 
  in 
  any 
  other 
  plant 
  than 
  paddy. 
  In 
  1917 
  Rao 
  Sahib 
  Y. 
  Rama- 
  

   chandra 
  Rao 
  published 
  his 
  observations 
  on 
  galls 
  occurring 
  in 
  various 
  

   grasses 
  in 
  Madras. 
  {Proc. 
  Asiatic 
  Soc. 
  Bengal, 
  New 
  Series, 
  Vol. 
  XIII, 
  

   No. 
  5, 
  pp. 
  299-306, 
  28th 
  December 
  1917— 
  Reprinted 
  in 
  Pusa 
  Bull. 
  

   No. 
  89, 
  Second 
  Hundred 
  Notes 
  on 
  Indian 
  Insects). 
  He 
  noticed 
  in 
  October 
  

   1916 
  similar 
  silver 
  shoots 
  as 
  in 
  rice 
  in 
  Panicum 
  staninum, 
  an 
  aquatic 
  

   plant 
  common 
  at 
  Samalkota 
  .along 
  canals, 
  in 
  shallow 
  tanks 
  and 
  along 
  

   water 
  channels 
  in 
  wet 
  lands. 
  The 
  fly 
  reared 
  from 
  this 
  gall 
  was 
  found 
  

   to 
  be 
  identical 
  with 
  the 
  rice 
  gall 
  fly 
  (Pachydiplosis 
  oryzcs). 
  At 
  Coim- 
  

   batore 
  however 
  this 
  grass 
  did 
  not 
  show 
  any 
  gall 
  formation 
  although 
  

   the 
  rice 
  gall 
  fly 
  was 
  common 
  there. 
  Similar 
  silver 
  shoots 
  were 
  also 
  

   observed 
  by 
  him 
  at 
  Samalkota 
  in 
  wild 
  varieties 
  of 
  Paspalum 
  scrobi- 
  

   culatum 
  and 
  Oryza 
  sativa, 
  but 
  no 
  fly 
  could 
  be 
  reared 
  from 
  them 
  on 
  account 
  

   of 
  heavy 
  parasitization. 
  The 
  question 
  of 
  alternative 
  foodplants 
  and 
  

  

  