XI 



CAPSICUMS 377 



to 15 cents per 1,000, and in the market 30 cents per 

 1,000. 



Dried chilies are sold at 15 cents per lb., averaging 

 750 chilies to the pound. This appears to be the price 

 given for C. annuum. Consul Cane, in a report in 

 1897, gives the average price of bird's-eye chilies in 

 Zanzibar as 2*37 dollars per frasila of 30 Ibs., against 

 2*57 dollars in the previous year. 



N. Mukerji gives the price of capsicums (C. an- 

 nuum) in Bengal as 4 to 7 rupees a maund. 



Neff, in California, gives 35 to 75 cents (American 

 dollar) as the value of sun-dried capsicums, and 1J to 

 12^ cents for evaporated. 



In Australia they are quoted as saleable at 3d. per 

 lb. fresh and 6^d. dry. 



In Singapore, dried capsicums cost for the last few 

 years from 16 to 24 dollars a picul imported from India. 



PESTS 



Aloa lactinea, an Arctid moth, the caterpillar of 

 which is very destructive to all kinds of herbaceous 

 crops, attacks capsicums also in India, and has been 

 reported very injurious in Baroda (Indian Museum 

 Notes). The caterpillar is at first grey, then as it grows 

 it becomes reddish brown, and in three weeks becomes 

 sluggish, and dark brown sometimes, nearly black on 

 the back. It is then 1^ in. long, and J in. through. 

 When full-grown it migrates to the hedge, where it 

 pupates. The pupa is ovate, dark brown, f in. long. 

 After from two to ten months the moth comes out. 

 The moth is 1^ in. across the wings. The upper wings 

 are white, with a red margin on one side, and a few 

 black dots scattered over them, one black spot much 

 more distinct at the insertion of the wings ; the lower 

 wings are white with no red edge, and the dots larger 

 and more pronounced. The body is striped alternately 

 black and red. 



The caterpillar eats all kinds of cotton plants, 



