110 ZOOLOGY. 



quitoes are occasionally seen, but never bite. A large brown 

 beetle is very common at certain seasons — their larvae are 

 very destructive in the gardens. White ants are unknown, 

 except at times showing themselves at Coonoor, and the black 

 ant is only found about the Ghats. The only animal of this 

 tribe, which is at all troublesome, is the flea, which is very 

 numerous in the early part of the monsoon. They are put to 

 flight by an infusion of the root of a plant called by the natives 

 Wassumboo, (Acorus calamus,) which is indigenous in the 

 hills. 



