PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD E>-TOSIOLOGICAL MEETING 725 



VI. Miscellaneous^ 



Panipkal or Singhara, Water-uut (Trapa bispinosa). 



Bored by Rkizopertha dominica. 

 Tamarind seeds. 

 Bored by Caryohorus gonagra. 



Storage receptacles in use among the people. 

 Earthen vessels. Earthenware vessels and pots are in universal use. 

 These are made of various sizes and shapes. Some are shown in Plates 

 111 — 113. For storing small quantities earthen pots are probably the 

 only vessels used everywhere. In some localities larger vessels used are 

 specially prepared for storing larger quantities up to about four maunds 

 (81 lb. :=1 md.) in single vessels (Plate 111, figs. 1, 2) and these are called 

 jaJas, mothas, nands, and by various other names. Earthen covers are 

 used for them (Plate 111, fig. 3) and, when it is intended to seal up the 

 store, these covers are plastered with a mixture of cowdung and mud. 

 But this does not make the vessels proof against insects, as will 

 appear from actual experiments detailed later on. 



Mud-bins. In Bihar for indoor storage various kinds of vessels, 

 called hothis, are made of unburnt clay. The clay is mixed with long 

 bits of straw or grass so as to give a tough consistency to the walls which 

 are about one to one and a half inches thick according to the size of 

 the vessel. The entire wall is not built up all at once but is gradually 

 added to as the lower portions dry. Also high vessels are not built in 

 one piece. The vessel in Plate 112 (right) is a single piece, that in 

 Plate 112 (left) is of two pieces and that in Plate 113 is of three pieces, 

 the pieces being placed one above the other and prevented from 

 slipping off by means of projecting lips which fit on to each other at 

 the points of juncture. The hothis shown in Plate 112 are oval in 

 outhne and one of them has a hole at the lower part through which 

 the stored article can be taken out without opening the mouth. That 

 shown in Plate 113 is round in outhne. Square and oblong hothis are 

 also made and frequently they possess several chambers inside with 

 walls between them for storing different kinds of grain. The covers, 

 as shown in the photographs, are made of the same stuff as the 

 hothis themselves and are plastered with mud to .seal the store. The 

 joints also are similarly plastered (PI. 112, left). The joints and the 

 mouth of the hothis are their weak points and cannot be made proof 

 against insects, which fi'equently occur in the grains stored in them. 



Kerosine tins, being available everywhere at a small cost and being 

 not as brittle as the earthenware pots, are also used extensively for 



