MANGO HOPPERS. 173 



For the Indian species, this line of enquiry cannot be entered upon 

 until more is known of fruit flies in general. Very few enemies of fruit 

 flies are known in India and very little is on record of the habits or dis- 

 tribution of the species discovered. As in other cases, if the cultivator 

 would take an interest in his pests, seek for all infested fruits and 

 destroy them, much would be done towards checking them. As a rule 

 infested brinjals, for instance, are plucked and allowed to lie on the ground 

 near the plant, the natural result being that the pest is encouraged 

 and allowed to multiply unchecked. The same applies to other crops ; 

 maggotty mangoes lie on the ground and rot, breeding a fine large 

 brood of flies which lay eggs in every late mango fruit. 



Mango Hoppers. 1 



Mango trees suffer from the attacks of small insects, which we may 

 call hoppers, which infest the flowering shoots of the tree. These 

 insects resemble the Cicadas superficially but are much smaller being 

 one-sixth of an inch in length. They are somewhat wedge-shaped with 

 wings sloped at an angle over the back. Large numbers are found 

 on the mango trees throughout the hot weather but especially at the 

 flowering season when there is a flow of sap to the flowering shoots. 

 These insects pass through their active life on the tree, sucking the 

 juice of the soft shoots and causing them to wither. The cast skins 

 may be seen in abundance on the under surface of the leaves of the 

 tree. The insects when young jump actively, when full grown fly out 

 from the leaves when disturbed. They are rarely plentiful, and their 

 increase appears to be assisted by damp winds, such as the east winds of 

 Behar which in some seasons blow in February and March. The result 

 of this increase is seen by the withering of the flowering shoots and 

 consequent failure of the crop. Like other sucking insects these insects 

 excrete large quantities of sugary fluid, which falls upon the leaves 

 below and dries, leaving a sticky shiny deposit. When abundant, immense 

 quantities of this fluid fall, which is a symptom of the disease. There 

 is only one effective treatment which must be adopted vigorously ; this 

 is spraying with strong contact poison such as crude oil emulsion 

 or sanitary fluid ; a large spraying machine fitted to a barrel with a 

 good length of hose fixed to a bamboo should be used so as to reach 

 high up the tree, and the spraying should, if possible, be done before the 

 flowers open. 



1 Idiocerus spp. (Jassidae.) 



