620 



i'hoceedings of the third entomological meetixg 



Mr. Ramakrishna 

 Ayyar. 



Mr. Senior- White. 



Mr. Ramakrishna 



Ayyar. 



Mr. Andrews. 



Mr. Ramakrishna 



Ayyar. 



Mr. Fletcher. 



Mr. Senior-White. 

 Mr. Fletcher. 



Mr. Senior-White. 



Mr. Ramakrishna 



Ayyar. 



Mr. Senior-White. 



Mr. Ramakrishna 



Ayyar. 



Mr. Andrews. 



I have with me material collected on indigo, red gram, agatlii, ground- 

 nut, etc., some of which have occasionally given trouble. Thrips are 

 generally believed to be harmless although there is no foundation for this 

 belief. In favourable seasons they multiply enormously and give great 

 trouble. 



So my idea is to invite your attention to the economic aspect of the 

 several species of Thysanoptera and point out that this is a group which 

 is well worth special study not only from a scientific or systematic aspect, 

 but from the standpoint of Economic Entomology also. There is plenty 

 of literature on foreign species by Haliday, Hood, Moulton, Bagnall, etc., 

 although there is very, very little on Indian forms. 



I am thinking of specializing in this group and shall be glad if any 

 collectors will send me in material. 



Do you want specimens sent in spirit ? 

 Yes ; that will do. • 



Do Thrips do daniage in the Hills or Plains ? 

 Everywhere, both in the Hills and in the Plains. 



Thrips are very common everywhere in India and probably do much 

 more damage than lias been observed so far. We must have a very 

 large number of species but they have not been collected so far. At 

 Pusa we get a very handsome species, bright crimson and green, on Ficiis 

 about December. 



Some species are aquatic. 



Are they aquatic in the real sense of the word or is it that you have 

 found them sitting on the surface film ? 



Probably they were only sittuig on the surface of the water. 



They are also found under bark and in old posts. 



They cluster on plants. 



I have tried spraying with plain water and that is quite sufficient to 

 kill them. We have not tried this on a large scale. 



Water may work in some cases, but not in all. Thrips on tea make 

 the leaves curl up and are often found in partially opened buds and are 

 therefore protected and in such cases th« only spray that can do any 

 good should be very volatile so that the fimies can get inside the buds and 

 curled-up leaves. I have found XEX quite good as a spray. Thrips may 

 occur for years without domg any damage but, if the plants are attacked 

 by another insect or weakened in any way, then the Thrips may cause 

 considerable damage. In one case in Cachar I noticed in one year that 

 the tea was very badly attacked by Red Spider and in this case it did 

 not flush but after some time it started growing slowly but its growth 



