PEStS OF ETCil AND 



made fast with silk. The caterpillar is a semi-aquatic one, provided with 

 gills for obtaining air from water. If the water is let out of the fields, 

 the insect is less destructive, and remains by day on the wet soil. It 

 pupates in its leaf -case and the moths are found in large numbers in the 

 affected fields. 1 



Another and larger caterpillar that folds over the leaf is the green 

 caterpillar of a butterfly. 2 A large green caterpillar, distinguished by 

 having two large processes on the head, is the caterpillar of the butterfly 8 

 reproduced (fig. 139). This caterpillar clings tightly to the leaf and is 

 protected by its cryptic colouring. The larva of a small black and 

 yellow moth* twists the leaf -blade into a shelter and feeds within. 

 Other caterpillars live openly on the rice leaves, and it is not unusual to 

 find that swarming caterpillars will destroy large areas of this crop (see 

 page 187). One species 5 in particular appears in vast numbers on the 

 plants, strips the leaves to the mid-rib and spreads rapidly from field to 

 field. Against these pests, the bag (page 72) is often useful. Branches 

 of trees placed in the fields encourage insectivorous birds which can 

 perch there in the intervals of making a meal on these pests^ 



Blister beetles attack rice when in flower (page 206) and several 

 cockchafers have the habit of destroying the soft grain before it is ripe 

 (page 200). 



The Wheat Stem Borer.e 



It is not uncommon to find the stems of wheat withering prema- 

 turely, the plants becoming yellow and dying. Such plants contain 

 borers, which will be found by splitting up the stems. The eggs from 

 which these borers hatch are laid in clusters on the lower leaves near the 

 stem ; they are the usual small white rounded eggs, in compact clusters 

 of twenty to thirty. The caterpillars bore into the stem of the wheat 

 plant, feeding in the centre of the stem. The plant dies, withering up, 

 and new shoots are formed at the base. The full grown caterpillar is 

 about one inch long, smooth, with a brown head and a rather pinkish 

 body ; it is not the dull white of most borers, but tinged with pink and 

 thus easily recognised. The chrysalis is found in the wheat stem. The 

 moth is the colour of dry grass, similar in appearance to many other 

 moths which live in grasses. 



1 Report of Katiram Khamparia, Entomological Assistant, Central Provinces. 



2 30. CTiapra mathias, Fabr. (Hesperiidae.) 



* 236. Melanitis ismene. Cram. (Nymphalidse.) 



4 48. Cnaphalocrocis medinalis. Guen. (Pyralidse.) 



5 236. Spodoptera mauritia. Boisd. (Noctuidae.) 



91. Nonagria uniformis. Ddgn. (Noctuidae.) 



