N THE 

 GARDEN 



TN the early rains our gardens in North 

 * India suffer from a most pernicious 

 pest and one which will be well known to 

 all gardeners I allude to the black and 

 Orange Banded Beetle. This insect is 

 one of the oil or blister beetles of which we 

 have a small representative in England. 

 It possesses some medicinal properties 

 and is dried and crushed up and sold 

 medicinally in the bazars of this country. 

 The beetle is partial to mallows (Hibis- 

 cus], feeding on and destroying the flower- 



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