120 



tESTS OF RICE AND WHEAT. 



August or September. It is easily recognised from the figure, the short 

 wings, the uniform colour and the indented black marks on the thorax 

 being distinctive. 



The life history is passed in the rice-fields and occupies seventeen 

 weeks. The eggs are found embedded in the soil, in the fields or 

 embankments ; each egg mass is a hard cylindrical body, about half an 

 inch long with one end rounded, the other flat ; the eggs inside are 

 densely packed in a hard cement, 

 and the outside crust consists of 

 cement and earth. These eggs 

 hatch after the first heavy rains 

 and the small active insects emerge ; 

 they are at first dark coloured, with 

 a green dorsal stripe, but later 

 become green. The little insects are 

 very active and feed on the growing 

 rice. They undergo the usual five 

 moults and become full grown in 



eight to ten weeks. The imago is FlG> 136 FIG. 137. 



found in two forms (figs. 135 and Egg Mass of Effff Mass ofRice 



138), one with the long wings, the ^ ce G-rasshopper. Grasshopper to show 

 ,, .., , . . . interior. (Magnified twice.) 



other with short imperfect wings. 



As the insect never flies, wings are apparently useless. After mating the 

 eggs are laid in the soil ; this takes place in late September or early 

 October, as a rule, but the dates vary according to the rains and the sowing 

 and reaping of the rice crop. This grasshopper is found in grass-fields, 

 in damp waste lands, in rice-lands and, more rarely, in sugarcane fields. 

 It is also a pest of cane, and in irrigated cane-lands there may be an 

 early brood of the pest, the eggs hatching when the land is irrigated in 



March or April. It is 

 injurious principally 

 by devouring the 

 young rice crop or by 

 eating the soft grains 

 of rice in the ear. 

 A useful method of 

 dealing with this pest 

 was worked out by 

 Mr. S. Stockman and 

 has been applied in 

 the Central Provinces 



FIG. 138. 

 The Rice Grasshopper, small winged form. 



