Ml. Ramrao 

 Vix. Ghosh. 

 Mr. Andrews 



622 rSOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



burning cowdimg cakes ia a pot ; the Thrips jumped into this and more- 

 than seventy-five per cent, were thus destroyed by the smoke. 

 What about the larval stages ? They cannot fly. 

 But they can jump away, although without wings. 

 Thrips can jump backwards and forwards equally easily. 

 Mr. Ramachandia There are two or three species of Thrips in Lantana flowers. One 

 Rao. species is useful in the fertihzation of the flowers. I conducted experi- 



ments to prove this. I enclosed some flowers in paper bags and removed 

 all the Thrips ; there were very few seeds in such flowers. In another 

 lot I enclosed Thrips in the bags and all these flowers formed seeds. 

 I am sure that some Thrips are important in pollination. 

 Mr. Ramakrishna It has been recorded that Thrips are very useful in pollination. 



Ayyar. 



27.— THE METHODS OF CONTROL OF AGROTIS YPSILON IN 

 BIHAR. 



By H. L. DuTT, M.Sc. A. {Cornell), Officiating Economic Botanist, Bihar 

 and Orissa. 



(I) Cultural MetJiod. In order to discuss the cultural method of 

 its control, it will be advisable to consider the character of the soil in 

 the chaur land. It is a stiff heavy clay and cultivation can be commenced 

 on it ten days after the flood water has left the land ajid can be continued 

 from fifteen to twenty days, after which it is so hard that it cannot be 

 ploughed. Ordinarily the cultivation consists in one ploughing followed 

 by dibbling behind the second plough or by a country seed drill, depending 

 on the moisture in the soil. The fact that the land on account of its 

 gradual slope does not all dry simultaneously enables the sowing to be 

 carried on for at least a month, although some land is generally left fallow 

 every year owing to its being too hard to plough. 



(o) From the habit of the caterpillar it is reasonable to suppose that 

 if the land is properly cultivated, i.e., if ploughed four or five times before 

 sowing, as in high land, the pulverized condition of the soil would, to 

 some extent, check the activities of the pest. But the character of the 

 soil, as noted above, does not allow of any such cultivation unless, of 

 course, the'number of ploiighs working on the whole a^rea is considerably 

 increased. So, as a general control method for the whole area, it is not 

 practicable, since 15,000 to 20,000 bighas have to be finished within a 

 month. 



(6) There is another system'of sowing common in the lower areas of 

 the chaur, viz., broad c^psting. It consists in scattering the seed on the 

 land immediately after the water has left it, i.e., when it is still muddy. 



