74 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 



in India, and do much mischief to trees. Lachnosterna 

 pinguis of Walker, ' the yellow-bellied cockchafer,' a 

 brown species, about an inch long, injures the coffee 

 trees in Dimbula, Ceylon, and in parts of India. See- 

 Coffee Trees. 



Lady-birds. See Coleoptera ; Coccinellidse, 



Lamellicornes, an insect family of the order Coleoptera. 

 Its genera most hurtful to living and dead vegetable 

 substances are the Euchirus and Lucanus. 



Lathyrus sativus, Linn., is the lathyros of the Greeks, 

 and cicercula of the Eomans. It is a coarse kind of pea, 

 notorious for its effect in producing paralysis if eaten in 

 quantity. This has been ascribed to its nitrogenous 

 constituents, in which it is excessively abundant. Colonel 

 Sleeinan, in 1833-34, found half the youth of both 

 sexes of villages in East Oudh affected with it, and many 

 had entirely lost the use of their lower limbs. The 

 widespread occurrence of paralysis in Sind, after a season 

 in which this crop was grown in an exceptionally large 

 area, attracted considerable attention ; and in the Azam- 

 garh district of Hindustan, where it forms an important 

 item of diet, similar effects have been observed. Horses 

 and bullocks when much fed on it are equally liable to 

 lose the use of their limbs. Cases of paralysis among 

 the horses in the military station of Almora were traced 

 to the fraudulent admixture of this pea with the gram 

 supplied for the use of the troops. D. & F. Vem, 

 Kasari. 



Latrodectes lugubris, the kara kurt or black worm of 

 the Kirghiz, is about the size of a finger nail. It can 

 jump several feet, and its bite is very venomous. 

 Sclmyler, ii. p. 123. 



Lecanium, a genus of the CoccidiB family of insects. 



