THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 87 



Noctua segetum is the corn dart moth of England. 

 In India it or a variety or allied species is known as 

 the khumwa ; in its larva state infests the young poppy. 

 It gnaws out the stalk close to the ground, and a single 

 caterpillar, in the course of a night's raid, will cut down 

 from fifty to a hundred or more plants. It is the most 

 destructive of the insect foes of the young poppy, but 

 not unfrequently extends its ravages to the adjoining 

 crops of mustards, pulses, etc. It is checked by dust- 

 ing with a mixture of quicklime and ashes. 



A species of noctua in its caterpillar state in Bengal 

 attacks the young sprouts of the potato-plant, boring 

 into them under the surface of the soil, and consuming 

 the soft interior parts, so that the whole shoot withers 

 and dies. 



Noctua, sp., observed by Mr. J. Scott at Medapore 

 in gardens, had a caterpillar 1 to 1^- inch long, with 

 a small brown horny head, six pectoral, eight abdominal, 

 and two anal feet. They pass into the pupa state in 

 a thin webby cocoon, formed on the lower surface of 

 the poppy leaves. The moth emerges in from 14 to 20 

 days, measuring about 2^ inches from tip to tip of 

 the forewings. Its caterpillar feeds on the leaves of 

 the cabbage and the green leaves of the poppy. J. Scott. 



(Ecidium Thomson! infests the Abies Smithiana fir-tree. 



(Edipoda cinerascens and (E. migratoria are species of 

 locusts, the latter is the oriental locust. They are 

 exceedingly voracious, and when they appear in great 

 numbers, they do much damage in cultivated ground. 



