[ 73 



1.247. ^ n the vernacular the hispa is variously known as 

 Morche pokd, Sukho pokd, Senko pokd, Pdmari pokd, Paruli 

 pokd. 



1.248. A chrysomelid beetle (Phcedon brassicae) is known 

 to attack the mustard crop, and another (Leptispa pygmaea) 

 to attack young sugar-cane plants. 



1.249. The Rice Midge (Cecidomyia oryzas]. Serious 

 injury to the paddy crop done by this dipterous pest, was 

 first reported in October 1880 by the Magistrate of Monghyr 

 and since then it has been recognised as a pretty common and 

 very destructive pest of the aus paddy crop, specially in 

 Bihar districts, where it is known as mechhia. The Hessian 

 fly of Europe and America (Cecidomyia destructor) which 

 feeds upon the sap of green stalks of wheat, and the wheat 

 midge (Cecidomyia tritici) which renders wheat plants abortive 

 by devouring the pollen grains, are two allied species. The 

 rice-midge is known to devour pollen grains in the same way as 

 the wheat-midge. The maggots which are probably deposited 

 on the ears of rice in the living stage are at first semi- 

 transparent, but they get darker with age, and when full- 

 grown, resemble linseed imbedded in the substance of the 

 ear-head. The destruction caused by the wheat-midge and 

 the Hessian fly is so considerable, that it would be wise to 

 guard against the rice-midge. 



1.250. The ' Pattanai' butterfly (Suastus gremius.) 

 Occasionally green paddy plants are attacked by the larvae 

 of a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae and 

 sub-order Rhopalocera of the order Lepidoptera. The butter- 

 fly (Fig. 72) from one extremity of the wing to the other when 

 fully expanded, is about if inches and it is of glossy brown 

 colour on the upper side of the wings, with pale yellow spots 

 at the fore-wings. The larvae when full grown are about an 

 inch in length, cylindrical and tapering at both ends, light 

 green in colour, with a deep green line extending down the 

 middle of the back from one extremity to the other. The 



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