[ 7" ] 



legs and jointed antennae, and of very offensive smell, -from 

 which it derives the name Gandhi. It settles on the rice 

 plants in large numbers and sucks up the juice when'Jthe 

 ear-heads are just coming up. It often destroys half the 

 crop of a whole locality or district. The mode of parasitism 

 has not been studied ; but it seems the winged insects only 

 lay eggs on stems, while it is the larvae hatching out of the 

 eggs which actually burrow into the stems of the plants and 

 do the work of destruction. The pupae probably hybernate 

 in the soil, and when owing to early approach of the rainy 

 season, a long preparation of land is not possible, the majority 

 of these pupae get the chance of transformation into images 

 and continue breeding, as soon as rice plants are up on which 

 the oviposition is effected. In any case, there is hardly a 

 rice field where a few leptocorisa acuta may not be observed 

 if search is made for the insect, and if for two or three 

 seasons they get a chance of rapid multiplication due to 

 imperfect cultivation and short exposure of turned up soil to 

 the attack of birds, ants, &c. 



1.244. The remedy obviously suggested is a preventive 

 one, i. ., ploughing up of rice fields, in the cold weather and 

 stirring up their soil from time to time till the sowing season. 

 If the soil is too hard immediately after the rice harvest, 

 the first shower of rain after the harvest should be taken 

 advantage of in ploughing up the stubble. 



1.245. A caterpillar that does not do much harm may be 

 incidentally mentioned here. It is the paddy stalk borer 

 (Chilo sp.). 



1.246. The Rice Hispa (Hispa aenescens). We had 

 at the Sibpur Experimental Farm swarms of this black 

 beetle in the rice transplanting season of 1899 , i. e. } at 

 the same time when several districts reported damage 

 from this pest. It belongs to the family Chrysomelidae, 

 of the order Coleoptera. It does damage both in the 

 larval and imago stages, and it pupates on the young 



